Magik
- This page refers to the first Magik, Illyana Rasputin. For the second Magik, see Amanda Sefton.
| Magik | |
|---|---|
| File:MYSTIC ARCANA MAGIK.jpg Magik. Art by Marko Djurdjevic. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Dave Cockrum |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Illyana Nikolaevna Rasputina |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | New Mutants |
| Notable aliases | Darkchylde, Lightchylde, Little Snowflake, Redflag #133 |
| Abilities | Teleportation discs grants: Inter-dimensional transport, Time travel, Dominion over the dimension of Limbo, Skilled in sorcery, Wears mystic armor, Wields Soulsword |
Magik (Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina - typically anglicized to Rasputin) was a Marvel Comics character, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum, she first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975).
She was the younger sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus. In the 1983 limited series Magik (Illyana and Storm), she aged seven years while in a paranormal dimension called Limbo, became a sorceress, and developed the mutant ability to create "teleportation discs." She then became close to the young X-Man Kitty Pryde and joined the junior team The New Mutants. She eventually died of the Legacy Virus, a tragedy that haunts Colossus to this day.
Fictional character biography
Origin
Illyana Rasputin was born in the Ust-Ordynski Collective farm, near Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union to Nikolai Rasputin and his wife Alexandra Natalya Rasputina. Illyana's two older brothers, Mikhail Nikolaievitch Rasputin and Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin were both mutants. The X-Men suspected Illyana to be a mutant as well, but they figured that years would pass until her adolescence and the emergence of any possible powers. They were wrong in this hypothesis, however.
Abductions
When she was six years old, Illyana was abducted and brought to the United States by Arcade, who used her and several other hostages to coerce the X-Men to assist him in opposing Doctor Doom. She was rescued and brought back to the X-Mansion.
Shortly thereafter, Illyana was kidnapped again, this time to the Limbo dimension by Belasco and S'ym, inhabitants of this demon dimension. She was raised there and corrupted by Belasco, who taught her black magic and sought to claim her soul to be used as a key to bring forth the Elder Gods to rule Earth. She was later tutored in the practice of white magic by that dimension's version of Storm (who turned to magic when her mutant powers waned) and eventually rebelled against Belasco. Finding the use of magic abhorrent, Limbo's version of Shadowcat trained Illyana how to proficiently use a sword in combat.
Before he kidnapped Illyana, Belasco used both Storm and Shadowcat as potential gateways to freeing the Elder Gods by manipulating their souls with his evil. Both refused his magic before the process could be completed. Because of this, Illyana formed a mystical bond between both Storm and Kitty once she too was used in the same manner.
Using a portion of her own soul, Illyana created the Soulsword and took over limbo as its new ruler. During her battle with Belasco she magically developed horns, a tail and fangs. She discovered that these new features only appear when she holds the Soulsword. After winning the battle, she banished Belasco from Limbo and claimed S'ym as her servant. She then managed to return to Earth several years older, although no time had passed on Earth since her kidnapping. She subsequently joined the New Mutants.
Inferno
Over time, a strange armor began to appear on her body each time she wielded the Soulsword, which, much like her brother Colossus, gave her a form of invulnerability and increased strength. The armor appeared only on one of her shoulders and arms at first, but gradually began appearing on more of her body with each time that she wielded the sword. During the "Inferno" storyline, the demon N'astirh tricked Illyana into opening up a colossal teleportation disc between Earth and Limbo, which triggered an invasion of Earth by demons from Limbo. At the end of this ordeal, after S'ym had been defeated, Illyana regressed back to the age she was when she was kidnapped. However, she still possessed the locket Belasco gave to her, implying that she still had ties to Limbo.
Because of the mystic bond she shared with the Kitty Pryde from the Limbo dimension, the Soulsword then passed on to Earth's Kitty Pryde in England. It embedded itself into a stone near Excalibur's lighthouse headquarters, waiting for Kitty to claim it and become its new wielder. She rejected it out of fear she would become a twisted dark image of herself, just as Illyana had. Seeing how much its presence bothered her friend Kitty, Rachel Summers attempted to remove it from the bedrock with the powers of the Phoenix Force but could not move it, because, Kitty guessed, it would only move upon her command. It stayed embedded in England until it eventually fell into the hands of the supervillain Doctor Doom, who shortly thereafter lost it to the demon Darkoth. It eventually was acquired by Amanda Sefton, who would become the new Magik, and then go on to be ruler of Limbo and wielder of the Soulsword.
Illyana, still a child, returned to Russia where she lived with her parents for some months until they were murdered by the Russian government in order to secure Illyana's abilities to defeat a psionic being known as the Soul Skinner. Illyana then returned to the X-Mansion to live with her brother Piotr and the other X-Men.
Legacy Virus and death
Not long afterwards, Illyana contracted the Legacy Virus and died.
Her spirit however contacted both Wolverine and Piotr from the afterlife. She came to Logan shortly after he had the adamantium pulled from his body, and urged him to return to the world of the living to save Jean Grey. Illyana's spirit returned again[1], this time to her brother Piotr, who had recently returned to the X-Men and the United States with Kitty and Nightcrawler following the disbanding of Excalibur. When investigating odd occurrences inside the Mansion, Piotr located one of stepping disks that Illyana had magically bound to the school. He found himself transported to a pocket world, which held a memory imprint of Illyana. There Piotr manages to learn how to let go a little more and to move on with his life, while still remembering his sister.
Despite this, Illyana's memory convinced him to make one final sacrifice. When the cure for the Legacy Virus turned out to need the death of one mutant, he secretly and willingly gave his life, so nobody else would have to die like Illyana did.
Return
After finally overthrowing Amanda Sefton as leader, Belasco returns to his previous position as ruler of Limbo. He creates a powerful spell to return Illyana to him after seeing her reappear during the House of M crossover event. The spell manages to pull forth the remaining essence and memories of Illyana still held within Limbo's dimension. The essence takes shape and becomes the Darkchilde. Unfortunately, Belasco is not satisfied with his creation, claiming that it is not the true Illyana Rasputin (due to her lack of Illyana's soul) and banishes her to the outer parts of Limbo. He then attacks the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in the hopes that one of the younger mutants would know where the "real" Illyana is that he sensed during the House of M. He tortures them repeatedly but as they have no real knowledge of Illyana left after Wanda's reality warp was broken, Belasco's attempts prove fruitless. The newly reborn Darkchilde eventually finds some of the teenage mutants who became separated from their teammates and were being attacked by a horde of demons. But rather than helping them out of kindness, she instead takes the soul of Pixie, in order to create a new Soulsword, as her original one went 'missing'. The spell is interrupted by Anole, who breaks free from Illyana's confinement and punches her away. Pixie's soul extraction was partially successful however, creating a soul dagger. Illyana then attempts to complete the process and destroy those who wish to interfere, but a reformed Rockslide stops her and continues to assault her. During the beating, Illyana's human memories of her friends and life among the X-Men seemingly return to her.
Although only a part of Pixie's soul was taken, Illyana then informs the other students that Pixie is now capable of performing magic, the hole in her soul having been filled with "black magic." She teaches Pixie a simple teleportation spell, since Belasco sealed his castle from her own magic and powers, and the young mutants make an attack on Belasco. Belasco is soundly defeated by the combined efforts of Illyana (using a bloodstone amulet) and the Xavier student body. Illyana then gives into her Darkchylde persona and announces her desire to create several more bloodstones in order to become god-like in power. Before Illyana can begin the process, however, she is interrupted by the arrival of her brother, Colossus, who questions if his "Little Snowflake" has indeed returned to life. In a cry of pain and desperation, Illyana sends everyone back to Earth, rejecting Piotr's offer of help. Illyana then reclaims the throne of Limbo with S'ym and N'astirh as her servants. She tells them that she wants to retrieve her soul and creates a mystical representation of what appears to be Colossus and Shadowcat.
Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, the writers responsible for Magik's return, have stated that she is due to reappear in Summer 2008, although not in the New X-Men title.
Powers and abilities
Magik had the mutant ability to mentally control "stepping discs", which allowed her to teleport from one location to another, which are part of a dimension known as Limbo in the Marvel Universe. This dimension is specifically known alternately as "Demonic Limbo", "Limbo-Belasco", or "Otherplace". However, when Illyana mentally calls for a Stepping Disc she must use Limbo as a midway point before she can teleport to an alternate location. It is not known if she was genetically predetermined to travel through Limbo, or if she did so because, having been spirited there as a child, it was the alternate dimension she was instinctively aware of. Magik has succeeded in teleporting herself across continents, from one continent to another, and even interplanetary and intergalactic distances on occasion. Apparently she can mentally scan Limbo while on Earth in order to locate whoever she wishes to teleport from Limbo down to her on Earth.
Unlike most other teleporters in the Marvel Universe, Magik could teleport through time as well as space. She has teleported moments, days or centuries into the past or future. Especially early on, she had difficulty modulating this ability and would often inadvertently travel through time and space when intending to teleport only through space. Magik was told by Dr. Strange that she had potential for great feats of manipulating time on a wider scale.
Magik is the sorceress supreme of her limbo dimension. The extent of her powers there has yet to be defined, but powerful demons of Limbo did not dare challenge her. Magik can probably cast any magic spell that Belasco could, having had access to his store of sorcerous knowledge. Her sorcery was a unique mix of black magic that she learned from Belasco and white magic she was taught by an alternative-reality Ororo Munroe. On one occasion she was shown to have easily inhibited the powers of The Enchantress while in Limbo despite The Enchantress being a powerful sorceress in her own right.
Magik's magical abilities are far more limited in Earth's dimension. On Earth she can perform astral projection, sense mystical presences, and cast simple spells. Her magical powers on Earth are primarily the use of her Soulsword, which is the ultimate embodiment of her mystical might. The Soulsword will generally have no physical effect on a non-supernatural creature; it will pass right through such a creature as if it were intangible. However, the Soulsword can disrupt magic, or release a non-supernatural being from any magical spell that it is under. Moreover, the Soulsword can physically injure and even kill a supernatural being such as a demon.Whenever the Soulsword is summoned her left arm is automatically covered with mystical armor.
The more that Magik uses her magical power on any occasion, the more mystical armor appears on her body in addition to demonic features such as horns, hooves, a tail and scales. It was revealed in Excalibur, by Doctor Doom, that the mystical armor is a natural power of whoever rules in Limbo. At one point Doom, coming in possession of the Soulsword, sheathed his whole body in the armor, indicating he held it back by will alone. If this is to believed, then Illyana was subconsciously holding back the armor somewhat until the Inferno caper, at which point she summoned the full suit of armor to encase her. Also shown during the Inferno storyline was an aspect of limited super-strength while in the armor, which makes Illyana similar in power to her brother. This was shown when the rather large demon S'ym was easily thrown several feet by Illyana when he attempted to force her to the ground.
Magik's Soulsword can physically injure Kitty Pryde, even when Pryde is using her phasing power to become intangible. Pryde is also the only known person other than Magik who can wield the Soulsword effectively. When Pryde does so, Magik's armor begins to appear on Pryde's body. Moreover, when the Beyonder once freed Illyana from the influence of her darksoul, Pryde gained the ability to produce and wield the Soulsword. Illyana later took the darksoul influence back into herself in order that she could again wield the Soulsword to save Pryde's life from a demon. It is also mentioned that she has formidable psionic shields, most likely a result of the time she spent in Limbo and the effects of her partially demonic soul. As such even powerful telepaths such as Charles Xavier and Rachel Summers could not mentally read Illyana's thoughts.
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In Age of Apocalypse, Illyana was never kidnapped by Belasco at all. It was believed she had been killed during Apocalypse's attacks on Russia, but she was actually taken to the slave camp known as the Seattle Core, which provided energy for Apocalypse's empire. Colossus, Shadowcat and Generation NeXt rescued her, at the cost of the lives of every single member of Generation NeXt (except for Husk, who was later revealed to have survived). Illyana then helped Bishop go back in time to prevent the Age of Apocalypse from occurring.
Excalibur
During Excalibur's "Cross-Time Caper" storyline, the team encounters a child-like version of Illyana, clothed in the regalia of Dr. Strange, who runs an organised crime cartel in partnership with her friend Shadowcat. When Alistaire Stuart and a near comatose Rachel Summers are threatened by the authorities Illyana grants them sanctuary however she merely intends to use her guests to ensure her success in a bid for dominance over the world. When the authorities once more attempt to search Illyana's apartment, an altercation occurs and she is shot dead but merely resurrects into her fully demonic form, which was incredibly powerful, but not sufficiently so to withstand the assault of a restored Phoenix.
Exiles
An Illyana from yet another timeline (Earth-4210) was also a member of the team known as The Exiles. Illyana replaced Blink when the Timebroker apparently sent her home. She had been led to believe that had she not become an Exile, she would murder her family. This universe's Magik was much more temperamental and ruthless than the Earth-616 Magik and clashed with the team from the very beginning. Shortly after the Timebroker returned Blink to the team, the Timebroker decreed that half the members of the combined Exiles and Weapon X group had to die. Fearing for her life, Magik tried to join King Hyperion and told him of the mission Exiles and Weapon X had been given. In order to corroborate her claims, Hyperion snapped Magik's neck to see if a replacement Exile was sent. Magik's body was kept in the stasis gallery at the Panoptichron, until the Exiles took over the timeline fixing operation and sent the bodies of the fallen Exiles and Weapon Xers home. Magik was buried by Colossus and their parents.
House of M
Magik was seen once again in the House of M reality. Not a true Alternate Earth as such, House of M was a temporary recreation of Earth-616 by Scarlet Witch, in which mutants were dominant on Earth. Magik was a member of a S.H.I.E.L.D. squadron of young mutants called the Hellions. Like most of the other Hellions, she eventually joined the side of the New Mutants, a team being groomed as future leaders, in fighting the establishment of the House of M in Japan, in a showdown against impossible odds. Almost ironically, given her track record, Magik appeared to be one of the few to survive. She teleported to Limbo just before Scarlet Witch altered reality yet again, which lead to fan speculation that this version of Illyana was still alive. This possibility appears to be born out by the current story arc of New X-Men, "Quest for Magik", in which Belasco has sensed her apparent resurrection and is trying to use the current new X-Men team to gain access to his former prodigy. However, Belasco had sensed just Illyana's House of M presence, and although a Darkchild appears in the quest For Magik, it's a souless construct made by Belasco out of memories of Illyana. Belasco is finally defeated and the Darkchild remains on Limbo.
Shattershot
In the Shattershot crossover, a reality was shown in which Illyana was regressed in the same way as in Earth-616, but never succumbed to the Legacy Virus. She grew up to master her mutant and mystical powers, called herself Darkchild and joined X-Force alongside New Mutants like Sunspot and Cannonball.
Ultimate Marvel
Illyana has not appeared yet in Ultimate X-Men, though Colossus has mentioned her, saying that he wanted to win a teddy bear for her at the fair.
Other
- In another reality in which Illyana is an adult, her son is trapped in an incorporeal form. She makes a deal with Mephisto to provide him with a body, at the cost of all mutants' lives, but her son ultimately rejects the offer.
- In a 2006 issue of What If...?, Magik was a member of a soviet version of the Fantastic Four known as "The Ultimate Federalist Freedom Fighters".
In other media
Television
- In the 1992 animated television series X-Men, Illyana appeared the episode Red Dawn, voiced by Tara Strong. In that episode, she and her mother remained by the side of Colossus and the X-Men as they fought the newly-released Omega Red. She also appeared in one of Cable's visions of the altered timestream in Time Fugitives, in which, without the antibodies developed to fight Apocalypse's techno-organic virus, many mutants, like Illyana, developed harmful mutations which killed them.
Video games
- Illyana appeared as a non-playable character in the video game X-Men Legends voiced by Jeannie Elias. She was psychically kidnapped by the Shadow King in order to lure Xavier onto the Astral Plane.
- Illyana's skin from X-Men Legends has been uploaded to various modding sites so she can be a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
Novels and adaptation
- Illyana was mentioned in the novel for X-Men: The Last Stand stating that Shadowcat and Illyana were pen-pals.
Footnotes
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #365