She became a regular character in Champions for the remainder of the series' brief run, though she never joined the titular supergroup. A memo from series writer Bill Mantlo revealed that he intended for her to be a "floating" member who would come and go from the book as the occasion called for.[4]
Fictional character biography
Champions
Laynia Petrovna and her twin brother Nikolai Krylenko are born in Minsk. After growing up, she becomes a special operative, working for the Soviet government.
Darkstar is a member of a Soviet super-team recruited to bring Black Widow back to the USSR.[5][6] However, she decides to switch sides and then fights alongside the Champions.[7][8][9] She helps the Champions on a few more missions before returning to Russia.[10]
Later, Darkstar and Vanguard are sent along with new Soviet Super-Soldier Ursa Major by the KGB to defeat Presence. They learned that Sergei is their father and that Professor Phobos has exploited the Super-Soldiers. Darkstar helps free Sergei and Tania Belinsky's Red Guardian, and defeats Phobos.[12]
The Soviet Super-Soldiers are then sent by the Soviet government to Khystym to battle the Gremlin. They fight the Space Knights Rom and Starshine, but later, ally with them against the Dire Wraiths. The Super-Soldiers befriend the Gremlin instead of fighting him.[13]
Afterward, the Soviet Super-Soldiers agree to help bring Magneto to justice. They fight the Avengers but turned against the Crimson Dynamo when it is revealed that he had been manipulating events.[14]
Darkstar, Vanguard, and Ursa Major defect to the United States seeking political asylum. They arrive at Avengers Island to ask for Captain America's help. They are beaten nearly to death by the Supreme Soviets, who had disguised themselves as members of the Avengers. The comatose subconscious minds of the Super-Soldiers form a "Great Beast" that follows the Supreme Soviets back to the USSR and tries to kill them. Captain America's negotiation skills were successful in convincing the Great Beast to back off, leading to the recovery of the three Super-Soldiers who had previously been injured and unconscious.[15]
The Soviet Super-Soldiers are captured and returned to the Soviet Union. They are rescued by Blind Faith and the Exiles (not to be confused with the reality-hopping team the Exiles), whom Darkstar joins.[16]
When the Supreme Soviets (who changed their name to People's Protectorate) are rechristened the Winter Guard, Darkstar was recruited back into the team.[17] When the team disbanded, Darkstar and Vanguard joined the Russian mutant team Siberforce,[16] and later joined forces with their father, the Presence.[volume&issueneeded]
When Vanguard dies on the Starbrand mission led by Quasar, Darkstar and the Presence decide to kill Quasar, who allows them to believe that they have succeeded while he had left Earth.[18]
A new, red-haired Darkstar named Sasha Roerich who is genetically modeled to resemble Petrovna first appears as a member of the Winter Guard.[22] After being altered again by The Presence, she is transformed into a multi-tentacled Darkforce beast, before being killed by Red Guardian.[22]
With Sasha's death, Reena Stanicoff takes over the role.[22] She is killed during an attack on Winter Guard headquarters by a Dire Wraith, who then assumes her form.[23] Although the Winter Guard fends off the attack, her death is subsequently covered up by the government.
Laynia Reborn
The Dire Wraith who assumes Reena's form is eventually overwhelmed and taken over by Darkforce energy. Petrovna seizes control of the creature and resurrects herself.[23] She reunites with her brother Vanguard and returns to active duty alongside her brother and Ursa Major.[volume&issueneeded] She fights Hyperion.[24] She is later blasted into space with other members of the Winter Guard by the Intelligencia, but manages to survive.[25]
Darkstar is present when the Winter Guard is reassembled.[26]
In the 2017 Iceman series, Darkstar joins the other Champions at a reunion to remember Black Widow after her death during the Secret Empire series.[27]
Powers and abilities
Darkstar is a mutant who has the psionic power to access the extradimensional energy of the Darkforce dimension, which grants her several superhuman abilities.[28] She is connected to the dimension by splitting her consciousness between her physical body and its Darkforce representation, both symbiotically linked. She can utilize the Darkforce for various purposes, such as causing Darkforce to behave like either matter or energy. Furthermore, she can project Darkforce as simple, mentally-controlled solid objects, possessing the density of steel, such as pincers, rings, columns, and spheres, or as a beam of concussive force. If Darkstar is rendered unconscious, any Darkforce constructs of her making immediately dissipate. Darkstar can teleport herself and up to three others by opening a portal into the Darkforce dimension and traveling through it; the maximum distance she can teleport has never been revealed. Because crossing the Darkforce dimension disorients her sense of direction, and the light of Earth blinds her for several seconds upon reemergence, traveling in this manner is risky.
Darkstar can levitate herself and fly at subsonic speeds by generating a virtually invisible portal into the Darkforce dimension along the contours of her body without passing through it, then balancing the attractive force of the dimension against that of the Earth's gravity.
Darkstar is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained by the KGB and by Black Widow. She is fluent in both Russian and English.
While the original Darkstar's costume was designed by the Soviet government and was made of a synthetic stretch fabric insulated against the cold, the other two Darkstar costumes are composed of Darkforce material.[22]
Reception
Critical reception
Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Darkstar a "role model" and "truly heroic."[29] Bradley Prom of Screen Rant included Darkstar in their "10 Best Black Widow Comics Characters Not Yet In The MCU" list.[30] Kara Hedash of The Mary Sue ranked Darkstar 5th in their "7 Female Superheroes Who Should Join Marvel’s Cinematic Universe" list.[31] Sage Kortenber of CBR.com ranked Darkstar 5th in their "Black Widow: 10 Most Powerful Russians In Comics" list.[32]
Other versions
Civil War: House of M
Darkstar is seen as a member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers.[33]
Exiles
Different versions of Darkstar have been encountered by the Exiles:
On Earth 3470, the native timeline of Heather Hudson of the dimension-jumping Exiles, the Soviet Union still exists. Darkstar is part of the Soviet Super-Soldiers.[34]
An alternate version of Darkstar is shown in yet another universe. She is a member of the Republican Guard, Russia's superhuman team, alongside Crimson Dynamo, Omega Red, Gremlin, and the Titanium Man.[35]
In other media
Television
Darkstar appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Red Dawn".[36] This version initially works as an enforcer for a group of Russian generals who seek to reestablish the Soviet Union until she learns of their work with Omega Red and works with the X-Men to stop them.
↑ Walker, Karen (July 2013). "'We'll Keep on Fighting 'Til the End': The Story of the Champions". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (#65): 17–23.
↑ Grace, Sina(w),Gill, Robert(a),Rosenberg, Rachelle(col),Sabino, Joe(let),Shan, Daniel(ed)."Champions Reunited"Iceman,vol.3,no.6–7(October–November 2017).New York City, New York:Marvel Comics.
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