Magik (comics) - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Illyana Rasputin (born Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina) 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 Colossus (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.

Colossus' superhuman powers manifested while saving Illyana from a runaway tractor.

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 a portion of her essence/soul was corrupted by Belasco, who sought to claim her soul in order to use it as a key to bring forth the Elder Gods to rule Earth. In order to free himself, Belasco needed to fill the Beatrix Medallion with five bloodstones. The blood stones would be created by corrupting Illyana's soul, with a new stone appearing as her corruption deepened. She was later rescued and 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, known as Cat, kidnapped and trained Illyana in hand to hand and sword combat. Cat along with Illyana attempted to storm Belasco's citadel and kill him after her training. They were overwhelmed by Belasco who further transformed Cat into a more feline demonic creature. With Illyana back under his control, Belasco was able to instruct her in the art of black magic in the hopes that it would further corrupt her soul. However, Illyana covertly plotted Belasco's defeat and continued to resist the dark influence on her soul.

Before he kidnapped Illyana, Belasco used both Storm and Cat 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 Cat once she too was used in the same manner.

Belasco was successful in using Illyana to create three parts of the bloodstone pendant and only needed two more in order to bring forth the Elder Gods. Realizing this, 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 appeared when she held 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.

Former New Mutants writer Louise Simonson's one-shot "Time Trial", written for Marvel's 2007 Mystic Arcana limited series, takes place during the events of New Mutants (vol. 1) #32, during which Magik misguided one of her teleportation discs through the space-time continuum and stranded herself and Mirage in ancient Egypt. There, Illyana met Storm's ancestor Ashake, an Egyptian priestess. Together, they defeated an evil sorcerer Heka-Nut who sought an ancient mystical sword called the Sword of Bone using Magik's Soulsword. Ashake helped Illyana and Mirage return to the present, with Mirage's memory of the incident erased in the process.

The series indicated that Illyana is mystically associated with the alchemic and classical element of air and the Suit of Swords in the mystic Tarot.

Over time when it came to the Inferno storyline, 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. Illyana's skill as a sorceress grew as over time and she was able to battle other beings with mystical powers such as Baba Yaga, the Enchantress, Forge, Spiral, and Heka-Nut. During the "Inferno" storyline, a routine trip-through Limbo went awry, leaving the New Mutants stuck in Limbo. Illyana's demonic nature began to completely overtake her body and the demons pressed her to become the full and true lord of their realm. Her efforts to escape provided the demon N'astirh the opportunity to open a colossal teleportation disc between Earth and Limbo, which triggered an invasion of Earth by demons from Limbo. Towards the end of this ordeal the seven-year old Illyana was seen in some part of timeless Limbo. Illyana made a supreme effort, which defeated S'ym. Afterwards, when the New Mutants examined the husk of Illyana's armor they found the seven-year-old Illyana inside it. She still possessed the bloodstone locket Belasco gave to her, implying that she still had ties to Limbo. The New Mutants' best guess as to what happened was that by forcibly removing her seven-year old self from Limbo, before she had been corrupted by Belasco, then everything since then had been negated and none of it had happened, except that they still had their memories of the teenage Illyana who had not existed and of events which had not happened.

Because of the mystic bond she shared with the Shadowcat from the Limbo dimension, the Soulsword then passed on to Earth's Shadowcat in England. It embedded itself into a stone near Excalibur's lighthouse headquarters, waiting for Shadowcat 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 and teammate, Rachel Summers attempted to remove it from the bedrock with the powers of the Phoenix Force but could not move it, because it would only move upon Shadowcat's 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. After a conflict with the necromancer Gravemoss, the Soulsword was eventually was acquired by Amanda Sefton, who would claim Illyana's mantle as 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 and the other X-Men.

Not long afterwards, Illyana contracted the Legacy Virus, succumbed to it and finally died in the X-Mansion, despite all efforts in order to save her made by Charles Xavier and Moira McTaggert. Not being able to be there for his sister, Colossus, consumed by grief and rage, betrayed the X-Men and joined the Acolytes right after her funeral.

Her spirit, however, contacted both Wolverine and Colossus 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, this time to her brother, Colossus, who had recently returned to the United States with Shadowcat and Nightcrawler following the disbanding of Excalibur. When investigating odd occurrences inside the Mansion, Colossus 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 he managed 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. Colossus would later be resurrected by an alien race.

Belasco eventually deposed Amanda Sefton's rule of Limbo and, after seeing Illyana reappear during the House of M and realizing he carried a torch for her, created a powerful spell to return her to him. The spell managed to pull forth the remaining essence and memories of Illyana still held within Limbo's dimension. The essence took shape but was the Darkchilde, the semi-demonic version of Illyana corrupted and transformed by dark magik. Unfortunately, Belasco was not satisfied with his creation, claiming that it was not the true Illyana Rasputin (due to her lack of Illyana's soul) and banished her to the outer parts of Limbo.

Illyana, now with her Darkchilde persona, eventually discovered some of the teenage New X-Men being attacked by a horde of demons. After aiding the mutants against the demons, she subsequently used a spell to immobilize them in order to steal a portion of Pixie's soul, in the hopes of creating both a bloodstone and a new Soulsword, as Illyana felt Pixie had the most innocent of souls present. The spell was interrupted by Anole, who broke free from Illyana's confinement and dispatched her.

Pixie's soul extraction was partially successful however, creating one part of a bloodstone pendant and a soul dagger. Illyana then attempted to complete the process and destroy those who wished to interfere, but Rockslide thwarted her, and caused Illyana's human memories of her friends and life among the X-Men to return to her.

Although only a part of Pixie's soul was taken, Illyana informed the other New X-Men trainees that Pixie was now capable of performing magic, the hole in her soul having been filled with black magic. Since Belasco had sealed his castle from her own magic and powers, Illyana taught Pixie a teleportation spell, with which the New X-Men attacked and defeated Belasco.

Illyana then succumbed to her Darkchilde persona and announced her desire to create several more bloodstones in order to become god-like in power. Before Illyana could begin the process, however, she was interrupted by the arrival of her brother, Colossus, investigating Illyana's apparent return to life. A pained Illyana rejected her brother's offers of help, and sent everyone back to Earth, before reclaiming Limbo's throne, and informing S'ym and N'astirh, now once more her servants, that her next move is to reclaim her soul.

Ultimately motivated by her friendship with Shadowcat and love for Colossus, Illyana tried to reclaim her soul through love and teleported to the Xavier Institute only to find it destroyed and abandoned. Saddened and angry, she declared that she would not get her soul back through love but through suffering and that she would target those who had wronged her and make them pay with their souls.

While in Limbo, Illyana attacked various demons in her search for the Bloodstone amulet, becoming enraged when referred to by her human name. Her activities were noticed by Mephisto, Blackheart, Satannish, Dormammu and Hela. Belasco's daughter, Witchfire appeared during the meeting and revealed she was now the current owner of Illyana's Bloodstone amulet and vowed to take her father's place as ruler of Limbo. Back at the X-Men's base in San Francisco, Pixie attacked Nightcrawler with her soul dagger during a training session in the Danger Room and in the process accidentally discovered where Magik's Soulsword was hidden — inside Nightcrawler. Having sensed its presence, Illyana teleported in and laid claim to it.

Pixie engaged her in combat, refusing to hand over the Soulsword and demanded the return of the bloodstone forged from her own soul. Illyana easily defeated her and reclaimed her sword, transforming from the Darkchilde into her Magik persona. However, Magik struck Colossus when he entered the Danger Room her and called out to her, realizing that something was wrong when she does not feel any emotions. She returned to Limbo telling her brother he cannot save her, and that she has to save herself.

Upon to her return to Limbo, she discovered that Witchfire had conquered Limbo and Magik's armies during her absence. Determined to destroy her, Witchfire engaged her in combat. Claiming everything that Belasco ever owned, Witchfire captured Magik, took her bloodstone and added it to the amulet.

After the X-Men arrived at the castle, Nightcrawler discovered Illyana chained to a pillar. She asked him to stab her with Pixie's soul dagger, as he was the only one who was attuned to magic. She apologizes and he stabs her. In doing so he re-released the Soulsword inside of her. Meanwhile, Witchfire completed the set of Bloodstones via another portion of Pixie's soul and released the Elder Gods. Illyana then teamed-up with the other mutants to hold back Witchfire and the Elder Gods. Using a combination of magic and the powers of the Soulsword and Souldagger, Illyana and Pixie were able to remove one of Pixie's bloodstones. Because of this, the Elder Gods were swept back to their dimension, along with Witchfire and the remaining bloodstones. Pixie's Souldagger then merged with the bloodstone that was pried loose by Ilyana. Angry that her second bloodstone was still lost and in the possession of Witchfire, Pixie then declared her hatred for Illyana and flew away.

Saddened by the loss of her and Pixie's remaining bloodstones, Illyana teleported the mutants back to the X-Base and was about to exile herself to Limbo. However, before she can do so her various former teammates begged for her to stay with them. But it was Cyclops that reminded her that they are a family and that, with so few mutants left, they needed her. Colossus then stepped forward and begged her not to leave and hurt him again. She reluctantly agreed.

After receiving an anonymous tip in Colorado about a young mutant endangering a small town, Mirage and Karma were sent to investigate and calm the locals. During their mission, Magik reappeared back at the X-Men's base in San Francisco after teleporting off into the future after the events of "X-Infernus". Upon her return, the younger mutants were still very distrustful of her and after a brief argument she informed Cannonball and Sunspot that Mirage and Karma were in trouble and that it would result in their deaths. Sam assembled a team consisting of himself, Sunspot, Magma and Magik to go find Dani and Shan. When questioned about his roster request, Sam replied that there is bad blood between Illyana and the younger mutants because they do not trust her, but he does. Illyana seemed to have undergone a personality change since her return from the future, becoming more detached emotionally in most cases, possibly due to the further loss of most of her soul during "X-Infernus".

While en route, Illyana asked Magma questions about her visits to Empath since he tried to kill her friends and asked if she still loves him. Magma just said he's blind and helpless and Illyana offered to cure him. Magma struggles to answer causing Magik to accuse her of liking him 'that way' but nevertheless offers to help him if she asks, adding that it could be their little secret.

While searching for Shan and Dani in Colorado, the girls split up because Illyana felt sorry for a lost little girl. Sam and Roberto came across a tied up and unconscious Shan in the back of a bar. Meanwhile Magik and Magma were tricked into freeing Legion from a box. Legion, as a result of absorbing hundreds of new personalities was even more insane, absorbed Shan's mind and sought to act on his vendetta against Dani for her part in one of his previous defeats. When Cannonball decided to locate Legion in order to bring him to Emma Frost, Illyana ignored his orders and entered Legion's mind by using Shan's mind as a bridge and began to kill all of Legion's split personalities in order to locate Shan. After locating Shan in Legion's mind, they teamed up with the lost girl, Marci and David Haller to find the doll that controls his body. After the doll was found, Magik and the others are returned to their bodies.

During the protests between anti-mutant and pro-mutant movements about mutant reproductive rights during the Dark Reign storyline, Illyana was seen watching the news coverage along with most of the other X-Men. Later, Cyclops sends her to team up (unknowingly) with X-Force to locate Wolverine and teleport them to Alcatraz to rescue any mutants taken prisoner by Norman Osborn's forces. Along with Pixie, they teleported all the X-Men from San Francisco to their new home, Utopia. In the aftermath of Utopia, Karma and Illyana were debriefed by Kavita Rao, where they informed her of what went on in Legion's mind. When Kavita mistook Marci for one of Legion's personalities, Shan corrected her and revealed that Marci was a real person, and that when she was about to exit his mind, Legion revealed to her that Marci did not have a body to return to. Shan explained how Legion's power works, that he absorbs the powers and personalities of people that die in close proximity to him and that one of Legion's personalities had killed Marci after she bought Legion water and played with him after he'd returned from the Age of Apocalypse. Feeling angry, Illyana offered her Soulsword to Shan, telling her that it would be their little secret. Shan used the soulsword to kill the personality responsible for Marci's murder but told Kavita that Magik had done the deed. Magik kept her promise and corroborated Shan's version of events.

When Hope Summers and Cable returned to the present during the X-Men: Second Coming storyline, Bastion began eliminating all mutant teleporters to trap the mutant population on Utopia. Magik was the first to fall while trying to bring Hope and Cable to Utopia. One of the Purifiers fired on her with some sort of supernatural weapon that opened a portal to Limbo that she could not control, she was then drawn into the portal by a cluster of demonic tentacles. Cyclops later designated Cannonball as the team leader of the rescue mission to extract Magik from Limbo. This team consisted of people that Cyclops was willing to spare but who were also deemed right for the job. She was eventually freed from her restraints by Pixie, and she and her rescue team returned to Earth.

In a reversal of fortune, Pixie was soon kidnapped by Project Purgatory, and Magik returned to Limbo with the New Mutants in order to rescue her. While in Limbo, the New Mutants encountered the Inferno Babies - mutants who were taken as infants by the government during the Inferno and were raised and trained in Limbo. This now-adult team of mutants attacked and overwhelmed Magik and the New Mutants. While the rest of the team was badly injured and captured, Magik managed escape to Earth with Karma and Pixie. After hiding the Soulsword inside Karma, Magik teleported the rest of the X-Men to Portal Epsilon, Project Purgatory's gateway to Limbo, for what the X-Men believed to be a rescue mission. They arrived just as Limbo's Elder Gods breached the gateway to Earth. Karma released Legion's mind with the soulsword, freeing him to use his vast powers to destroy the Elder Gods and return the bloodstones belonging to Magik and Pixie, thus finally restoring their souls. Confronted by Cyclops afterward, Magik admitted to putting the world in danger and manipulating the X-Men for the sake of a personal vendetta against the Elder Gods. As a result, Cyclops decided that she must be restrained. While she remained unrepentant, she accepted his decision.

During the Fear Itself storyline, Magik was seen in the X-Brig 2, a newly-constructed, ultra-high security prison 500 ft. below sea level. She was controlled by devices that detected and prevented the use of teleportation and magic. During a visit Magik accepted the blame for her incarceration when Colossus tried to comfort her. Soon afterwards she was approached by Moonstar's old friend Gus Grim, a Native American Cognitive Therapist from Colorado known for his work in the Cheyenne communities, who had come to Utopia to help Moonstar's "damaged" teammates. But before they could talk, Grim collapsed and three demons from Limbo burst from his body to rescue Magik; Magik, however, had no intention of leaving, as she wanted to stay and to regain her life and the trust of her friends. The demons were then banished by Danger using a protocol designed by Doctor Strange for just such an occasion. Grim recovered from this ordeal, and Magik explained that the demons used his body as a Trojan Horse to get into Utopia to rescue her.

When Juggernaut, who had become the Worthy Kuurth, attacked San Francisco, Cyclops sent Dani Moonstar to meet with Asgardian death-goddess Hela, in the hope that she could explain what was happening. However, on the way to Las Vegas, Dani was forcibly moved to Hel. Discovering that Dani was gone, the New Mutants sought the assistance of Magik, however, due to the devices attached to her, she could not use her powers, yet she could explain to them what happened to Dani and told Cypher how he could take the team to her. However, Doug made a mistake in the spell, and instead of Hel, he teleported the team into the Hell dimension of Mephisto.

As the had X-Men failed to stop Juggernaut, Magik was approached by her brother and Kitty who wanted her help to defeat him. She was released from her prison and used her powers to teleport herself, Colossus and Kitty Pryde into the Crimson Cosmos where they met with Cytorrak. Illyana told Cyttorak that Cain Marko had betrayed him and now served another god. Cytorrak took his power back from Marko and intended to make Magik his new avatar, but Colossus intercepted, and became the new Juggernaut, much to the dismay of Kitty Pryde.

Following the events of Schism, Magik was selected to be a member of Cyclops' "Extinction Team." Despite this status, she remains a prisoner. She is only released from the X-Brig for missions, and while in the field, her suit contains lethal fail-safes that prevent her escape. During the events of Avengers vs X-Men she with Cyclops and Emma Frost go to Jean Grey school for higher learning to talk to Wolverine, there Quentin Quire asks her on a date and she tells him she would tear him apart like the bear does the goat, Quentin counts that as a definite maybe.

During the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Illyana is chosen as one of the "Phoenix Five", a group X-Men granted additional powers by the Phoenix Force. After Ms. Marvel is defeated by Rogue, Magik appears and gags the Avenger before teleporting her into Limbo, trapping her and terrifying Rogue. Following the defeat of Cyclops, Magik and the other former members of the Phoenix Five are reported to have gone on the run.