Lady Deathstrike

Lady Deathstrike
Lady Deathstrike as seen in X-Men: Messiah Complex. Art by Simone Bianchi.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	As Yuriko Oyama Daredevil #197 (Aug 1983) As Lady Deathstrike in Alpha Flight #33 (1985)
Created by	Dennis O'Neil and Larry Hama, Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith
In-story information
Alter ego	Yuriko Oyama
Team affiliations	Reavers Army ofThunderbolts
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, agility, and reflexes, Adamantium skeleton and retractable claw nails, Accelerated healing factor

Lady Deathstrike (Yuriko Oyama), occasionally spelled "Deathstryke," is a Marvel Comics supervillain, a foe of the X-Men, especially Wolverine. She first appeared in Daredevil #197.

Her father Lord Dark Wind created the adamantium-bonding process that was forcibly utilized on Wolverine. A self-styled warrior, Lady Deathstrike hired the villain Spiral’s "body shoppe" to bond adamantium to her own skeleton in addition to other cybergenetic enhancements. She has since worked as a mercenary and assassin and feels a need to prove herself by killing Wolverine.

Yuriko Oyama was created by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Larry Hama. However, writers Bill Mantlo and Chris Claremont added defining characteristics such as her connection to Wolverine. Artist Barry Windsor-Smith designed her cyborg appearance.

Played by Kelly Hu, a mutant version of Lady Deathstrike, without any of her back story, appeared as a brainwashed henchwoman of William Stryker in the 2003 film X2: X-Men United. She also re-appeared in X-Men: The Official Game, where she was revealed to be Silver Samurai's apprentice.

Fictional character biography

Yuriko's original costume‎

Yuriko Oyama's father was Lord Dark Wind (Kenji Oyama), a Japanese crime lord and criminal scientist who created the process by which adamantium can be bonded to bone. Kenji was a former Japanese kamikaze pilot during World War II. His face was horribly scarred in a failed suicide attack on an American battleship. Feeling shamed by his failure decades earlier, he scarred the faces of Yuriko and her two brothers in a ritual design. Her two brothers would later die while in the service of their father.

Yuriko teamed up with Daredevil to free her lover, Kiro, from her father's servitude, and to gain vengeance for her scarring and the death of her two brothers; when Yuriko slew her father (just as he was about to kill Daredevil), the devoted Kiro chose suicide to honor his master.

Distraught, Yuriko belatedly embraced her father's ideals and sought to track down whoever dishonored him. Her trail led to Wolverine, whose skeleton had been bonded with adamantium. Deathstrike sought to kill him to right the wrong what she considered the theft of her father's theories and thus restore her family's honor, ignoring the fact that Wolverine had been forcibly enhanced with adamantium; however, Yuriko was defeated by Wolverine and Vindicator of Alpha Flight. She then went to the Mojoverse and sought Spiral's "body shoppe" where she received extensive cybernetic enhancements including adamantium bones and talons.

Lady Deathstrike was once a member of the team of criminal cyborgs called the Reavers, led by Donald Pierce, who once managed to successfully defeat the X-Men. The Reavers have since been annihilated by the Sentinels, and Yuriko has been operating independently.

At times she has resigned her quest to kill Logan and has even worked with the X-Men cooperatively toward a common goal. (In this case the goal was to defeat Stryfe.) In an encounter with Logan shortly after Magneto removed the adamantium from his skeleton, Lady Deathstrike nearly defeated him, but ended the fight upon seeing his bone claws. As Logan no longer possessed the adamantium stolen from her father, she felt there was no honor to be gained by killing him. However she still remains a mercenary and assassin. Despite all this, Yuriko is set apart from many of the X-Men's foes in that she adheres to an honor code, despite being emotionally disturbed.

When Captain America unexpectedly appears in Japan after a year spent in another dimension, he manages to find Lady Deathstrike working with terrorists. Their goals were to drive American influence out of Japan, by any means possible, including mass murder. Captain America defeats her before any innocent lives are lost.

Deathstrike resurfaced as an ally of William Stryker. She displays a new ability to access the Internet via her cybernetics but this led to her being co-opted and controlled by Mount Haven's computer systems.

Deathstrike was responsible for mutilating and nearly killing Sunfire, whose legs she severed in battle. Dying, he had Rogue absorb his powers so she could battle Deathstrike. The X-Men later went to see where Sunfire's body had been left, only to see it had disappeared. He later resurfaced as one of the new Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Civil War

Following her confrontation with Rogue and Sunfire, Deathstrike resurfaced as a member of one of the United States government's Army of Thunderbolts in the super hero Civil War, temporarily released from prison in order to go after the Secret Avengers, who resisted the Superhuman Registration Act. She fights alongside other criminals such as Venom, Jester, Bullseye, Jack O'Lantern, Taskmaster, and Songbird. She participates in the final battle of the Civil War in Times Square, New York, before being sent to the Negative Zone Prison.

Messiah Complex

Deathstrike returns during the Messiah Complex story to play an important role in the series, facing off against X-23 . This was confirmed by IGN Comics, who, in their editoral analysis "13 Days of Messiah Complex," revealed that Deathstrike would be leading a new team of Reavers throughout the event. As reported, Deathstrike appears alongside the Reavers. Having allied with the Purifiers to destroy mutantkind, Deathstrike leads the new Reaver team against the New X-Men, gravely wounding Hellion in the process. Her armor was destroyed by X-23 and Rockslide. She appears again in pursuit of Cable and the mutant newborn where she battled X-Force and X-23 again and X-23 apparently kills her.

Powers and abilities

Lady Deathstrike is a cyborg with superhuman strength, speed, and agility. Deathstrike's skeleton has been infused with adamantium, rendering her skeletal structure practically unbreakable. Initially, it was a mystery as to how Deathstrike survived this process, as it is generally believed that without a healing factor, the process would be fatal to a human. Later, in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, it was shown that Lady Deathstrike, along with former Hellfire Club guards Cole, Macon, and Reese (the three of which had been nearly killed by Wolverine) were transformed into cyborgs by Spiral in her "Body Shoppe". It was during this process that Deathstrike gained her adamantium augmentation. Spiral used magic to infuse the metal into Deathstrike's body; it is unlikely that Deathstrike could have survived the process on her own. Deathstrike's fingers have been replaced by 12-inch adamantium claws. Aside from being as indestructible as her skeleton, these talons are capable of slicing through virtually any substance, other than adamantium itself. She is capable of extending these claws to twice their usual length. Although her normal form is obviously that of a cyborg, she uses disguises when necessary. She is an expertly trained assassin and is highly skilled in a variety of Asian martial arts. Lady Deathstrike is especially skilled with swords, and while she prefers stealth and subtlety in her killings, she is emotionally disturbed and this interferes with her effectiveness.

Before she received her cybernetic enhancements, Deathstrike used a special sword that was sheathed in energy. The energy sheath enabled the sword to cut through most substances, except for Wolverine's adamantium claws and Vindicator's force field.

Deathstrike revealed that she possessed an accelerated "healing factor". This cybernetic healing factor enables her to quickly repair damage done to her biological and cybernetic components. At one point, Lady Deathstrike engaged Wolverine in a fight in which she was heavily damaged. Wolverine noticed that his claws hadn't inflicted the sort of damage he had originally thought. Deathstrike revealed to him that his claws had caused the damage, but her latest visit with Donald Pierce resulted in an upgrade that provided her with a kind of "cybernetic healing factor" that functioned in ways similar to Wolverine's, although not as efficient. Evidently, this power enables her to regenerate damage done to both her biological and cybernetic parts.

Other versions

Ultimate Lady Deathstrike

File:ULTXM60 COV.jpg

Cover to Ultimate X-Men #60.
Art by Stuart Immonen.

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Lady Deathstrike has also appeared in Ultimate X-Men. There, her connection lies mainly with Storm, instead of Wolverine as in the original story-line. As Yuriko (or 'Yuri'), she taught Storm how to hotwire vehicles and be a car thief. The two later had a falling out, and Yuri ended up being run over by a truck. Yuri survived, but ended up confined to a wheelchair. There, Dr. Cornelius of Weapon X offered to have her shattered body rebuilt with adamantium and an accelerated healing factor, which would allow her to have her revenge against Storm, though if she wanted to kill Storm she would have to kill Storm's friend Wolverine as well. Yuri agreed, and underwent the modifications. She later went after Storm and Wolverine, but was defeated, and later imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D.

While imprisoned at the Triskelion she encountered the X-Men Dazzler and Angel (who were out searching for their friends, elsewhere in the base). After Dazzler taunted Yuri, saying how Storm had mentioned her to them, the power went out, allowing Yuri to escape her cell and stab Dazzler through the stomach. Before she could do anything else the mutant Longshot (another prisoner at the Triskelion) snapped Yuri's neck. Whether or not this attack killed her is unknown. She has previously survived being struck by lightning and smashed by a falling tree.

Dazzler survived Yuri's attack, remaining in a coma for a few weeks before awakening.

Ultimate Lady Deathstrike's former relationship with Storm appears to be based very loosely on Storm's friendship with the unpredictable (and similarly named) Yukio in the main Marvel Universe. She might also be compared to Achmed el-Gibar, the master thief who taught the Earth-616 Storm.

In other media

Television

Lady Deathstrike on the X-Men animated series.

• Lady Deathstrike appeared in the X-Men animated series that ran from 1992-1997. She had a romantic past with Wolverine, likely merging her character with Wolverine's fiancée, Mariko Yashida. She first appeared in the Season 3 episode "Out of the Past", and was voiced by Tasha Simms. Deathstrike joined the Reavers and became a cyborg in order to avenge the death of her father, Professor Oyama, during Logan's rampage at the Weapon X headquarters. In this continuity, The Professor and Lord Dark Wind are the same man. In the comics continuity, the Professor is a man named Thorton and has no blood relation to the Oyamas.

Film

• Lady Deathstrike/Yuriko Oyama was portrayed by the actress Kelly Hu in the film X2: X-Men United released in 2003. In her film incarnation, she is not portrayed as a cyborg, but as a mutant with regenerative abilities similar to those of Wolverine. This version of Deathstrike also demonstrates superhuman strength in the film, throwing Wolverine across a room with enough force to shatter concrete. In the film, she is William Stryker's assistant; She was also involved in the same government program (Weapon X) as Wolverine, giving her adamantium claws that come out of her fingers. Although she is portrayed as a villain in the film, her actual orientation and origin are unclear because she is under the effects of mind control. Nevertheless, Wolverine disabled her in a fight by a fluid adamantium injection. The fight takes place in the laboratory where Wolverine underwent his own transformation.

Video games

File:Deathstrikelegends.PNG

Lady Deathstrike, as she appears in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

• She appears as a "boss" in the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse voiced by Kim Mai Guest. If Wolverine is on your team, or your active character is an X-Man, you must fight her, but if your active character is a Brotherhood member you have the option of paying her off to leave you alone. Outside of that, she has special dialogue with Wolverine.

• Yuriko/Deathstrike appears as an enemy in X-Men: The Official Game (which fills the gap between X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand) voiced by Vyvan Pham. In this video game is revealed that Deathstrike had survived the overdose (though offers no explanation for her survival, or how she managed to get the hardened adamantium out of her body), and proceeds to battle Wolverine two times in the game. It is also revealed that Deathstrike was an agent of HYDRA and a student of Silver Samurai. She was sent to spy on Stryker, but instead was brainwashed into becoming his bodyguard. Deathstrike's final battle with Wolverine once again leaves the impression of Deathstrike's death, as she is crushed under rubble, but as seen before, she is not so easily disposed of.

• Lady Deathstrike also appears as a playable character in X-Men: Next Dimension

• Lady Deathstrike was also the final boss in the game X2: Wolverine's Revenge. She also mentions her bionic implants.

• Lady Deathstrike also appears as a boss in Wolverine: Adamantium Rage.

References

• The Women of Marvel Comics Deathstrike Page