History

Not much is known of Big Bertha before she responded to Mr. Immortal's advertisement for a super hero team, the team that would become the Great Lakes Avengers. When not using her powers she is the most recognizable super model in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In fact, it is Bertha's earnings from modeling that fund her team. Although offers have come her way to leave her town for more lucrative endeavors, Big Bertha has repeatedly expressed that she desires to stay with her team, and considers them her surrogate family. Bertha was one of the 198 mutants to retain their powers following the events of M-Day. Big Bertha has become a sanctioned hero under the Super-Human Registration Act with all the other members of the Great Lakes Avengers.

Bertha considered leaving the team after the death of team member Dinah Soar. She wanted to concentrate on her modeling career, but decided to stay with a group that accepted her appearance.

Bertha agreed to one date with Deadpool in an attempt to evict the mercenary from her headquarters. Deadpool is shocked when she appears before him in her slim form. Following a rescue at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, Bertha realizes that Deadpool was only attracted to her in her obese form. She lectures him about others only placing value on her slim form, and the mercenary removes his mask, revealing his severely scarred face. Bertha promptly vomits in the parking lot, much to Deadpool's disquietude.Recently, Bertha teamed up with Blind Al, Taskmaster, Macho Gomez, Weasel, and Sluggo to take revenge on Deadpool for being a lousy friend.

Ashley recently found a middle ground and a balance between her superhero life and her modeling career by retaining a portion of the weight she absorbed and becoming a plus size model. She even changed her name to Bertha as the general public knew the connection between her secret identity and her superhero persona anyway. She feels more comfortable as a plus size model even if it does mean she has to start from the bottom again. She and Mr. Immortal dated for a time but broke up over his drinking problem.

Recently, Bertha's agent, Jen, booked her a photo shoot for a dietary supplement, Dr. Nod's Good Bod. It turned out the shoot was a ruse that involved Jen, the photographer, his assistant, and the aforementioned Dr. Nod. Dr. Nod wanted to get a sample of Bertha's DNA so that he could create a 24-hour diet pill. To this end, Jen feigned ignorance of the ruse until she was able to inject Bertha with a tranquilizer. Bertha awoke, restrained, in Dr. Nod's lab and had to promise to behave before he released her. Dr. Nod and the other three now being of the same size as Bertha after taking a pill made of her DNA mixed with MGH. Dr. Nod called his cohorts, Bod Squad. She promised to behave and upon being freed from her restraints she immediately slammed Dr. Nod's face into the floor to subdue him and began fighting Jen and the other two members of the Bod Squad. Mumbling about giving her a chance, Dr. Nod took a large quantity of the new diet pill and became larger than even Bertha herself. Bertha, who had tackled Jen and crashed through a wall to the outside, was taken by surprise when Dr. Nod crashed through another wall. Dr. Nod and Bertha fought for a short while until he knocked her out and headed for the city.

Powers And Abilities

• Bertha has the power to alter her mass by increasing or decreasing the fat content of her body at will. She can increase her mass to the point where she is as large as the Blob. In her Big Bertha form she has super-strength, stamina and invulnerability. Bertha can purge the excess of her body fat through regurgitation of the collected fat masses in order to retain her original figure. Where the mass comes from has not addressed as of yet.
• She is also extremely wealthy having made a fortune as a super-model.
• Big Bertha is a skilled pilot of conventional jet aircraft.