Karma (character)
| Karma | |
|---|---|
| File:Karma (comics).jpg Karma, by Michael Ryan | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Team-Up (vol. 1) #100 |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Frank Miller |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Xi'an Coy Manh |
| Team affiliations | Xavier Institute, New Mutants I |
| Notable aliases | Shan |
| Abilities | Ability to possess others at will. |
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Karma is a fictional character, a superhero from Marvel Comics, and is notable as one of their few lesbian characters.
Character biography
Xi'an ("Shee-ahn") Coy Manh had her powers, along with the identical powers of her twin brother Tran, develop while she was a prisoner in a Vietnamese concentration camp. While Tran was rescued by her crimelord uncle, General Coy, she escaped on a small, cramped, boat with hundreds of others, including her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga - her parents both died in the crossing of the ocean. Arriving in New York City, a program to help Vietnamese immigrants helped her find work and an apartment before her uncle first asked her to "help" him, as her brother was already doing, then kidnapped her younger siblings when she refused in an effort to force them to. "Possessing" Spider-Man, she attempted to use him to reclaim the children from a party her uncle was holding, before the Fantastic Four intervened and Tran (without realising she was in control of Spider-Man) forced her out of Spider-Man's mind in possessing him long enough for the Thing to knock him out. With technical aid from Professor X, the F4 and Spider-Man tracked her down. After an initial misunderstanding, they agreed to help her reclaim the children, but Tran possessed the F4 and set them against Spider-Man. Finally, Shan lashed out, absorbing her brother completely and taking the name "Karma" (NB: No side-effects to this have ever been shown).
Later, Professor X offered and she accepted a role as one of the original New Mutants. She was the group's first leader, but was believed dead after a fight with Viper and the Silver Samurai. Instead, another mutant telepath, Amahl Farouk, whose physical body was killed in a battle with Professor X on the astral plane, took her as a host body. Eventually she was found and freed by the other New Mutants, but a side-effect of the possession had left her grossly obese, as Farouk was a large eater in life, and continued to do such when using Karma's body. However, a time-dilation effect due to a mishap in Magik's teleportation on a trip to Asgard immediately after meant that she spent several months surviving in the desert and would have committed suicide but for a child which, unknown to her, had been manifested by the Norns, which she was intent on keeping alive. By the time she met up with the other New Mutants again, she had lost all the additional weight.
Later, she spent some time reluctantly working for her uncle on Madripoor, officially in opposition to but often covertly helping Wolverine, in an attempt to get him to find her lost siblings. He strung her along for several months before she angrily left him over this inaction. She was later reunited with her siblings by other means, and later still came out as a lesbian. She moved to Chicago and took a job as librarian for the University of Chicago while attending classes there, where she ran into Shadowcat, and there were strong hints she was attracted to her. While Kitty was on a mission with the X-Treme X-Men, Dani Moonstar, another ex-New Mutant, dropped by while trying to recruit Prodigy to the renamed Xavier Institute. At the end, she decided to return to Xavier's too, where she acts as librarian and lower school mentor. Karma retained her powers after M-Day.
Powers and abilities
Karma has the power to take control of others' minds, and force them to act as she pleases (their own minds are unconscious for the duration of the possession).
Ultimate Karma
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Karma is seen as a much darker character, working as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s PSY-Ops agents. She was called in by Nick Fury to find out whether or not the President was being mind-controlled by Charles Xavier, based on his recent pro-mutant stand. Upon the request of the President, she was added as the final member of the government sponsored New Mutants to observe the group. She was later instrumental in gaining evidence against a high ranking government official who was the head of the anti-mutant conspiracy, killing both high-ranking officials involved in attacks on the 'New Mutants' on the Capitol steps. Whenever she uses her powers, her eyes glow a dark pink color.