Candy was a childhood friend of Warren Worthington III. She was reunited with Warren and first met the X-Men at Bobby Drake's 18th birthday party. Candy and Warren then began dating, in fact, they were out on a date the night that Warren's father was killed^[1]. During this time, Candy learned of Warren's superhero identity as the Angel and visited Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the X-Men's headquarters.

While helping Cyclops and Marvel Girl locate Warren, Candy pretended to be Marvel Girl by dressing in her costume to confuse Blob and Mastermind.

Sometime after this, Candy and Warren attended a function at the Hellfire Club, having both inherited membership to the club but never attended before. They did not enjoy the experience, however, and soon left. They later used their membership to arrange invitations to a party at the club for the X-Men so they could infiltrate the club and attempt to rescue Jean Grey, who had been mentally controlled and abducted by them.

After Warren's second superhero team, the Champions of Los Angeles disbanded after financial problems, Candy and Warren began living together in his homes in New York, Colorado, and San Francsico.

Warren later joined the Defenders, and Candy began working for the team in a supporting role. She was subsequently named the leader of the Defenders in non-combat contexts. After Warren joined his former original X-Men teammates in a new team, X-Factor, his relationship with Candy became strained. Candy broke up with Warren and left her job with Worthington Industries because she mistakenly believed Warren was having an affair with his teammate Jean Grey.

Candy was later kidnapped and killed by Cameron Hodge, a former friend of Warren and Candy who had betrayed X-Factor as part of an anti-mutant plot. Later, the Phalanx produced a cybernetic duplicate of Candy Southern. The duplicate died during a fight between Cameron Hodge, who had joined the Phalanx, and Archangel and Jean Grey.