Darkstar was part of a Soviet super team recruited to bring the Black Widow back to the USSR. Instead, she switched sides and joined the Black Widow's then-current team, the Champions of Los Angeles, remaining with the team until its disbanding.

While a member of the Champions, she and Bobby Drake, the former X-Man known as Iceman came close to entering into a romantic relationship, but Laynia liked Iceman as a friend, and not as a love interest. Darkstar quit the Champions and returned to Russia, leaving behind a devastated Iceman.

Darkstar joined the Soviet Super-Soldiers alongside her over-protective brother, Vanguard. The former Soviet Super-Soldiers eventually defected to the United States, but were captured and returned to the Soviet Union. They were rescued by a man known as Blind Faith and his team called the Siberforce (previously known as Exiles - not to be confused with the reality-hopping team the Exiles), whom she joined.

Later, when the People's Protectorate was rechristened the Winter Guard, Darkstar was recruited back into the team. After that team also disbanded, Darkstar and Vanguard teamed with a Russian mutant team and later joined forces with their father, the Presence.

Darkstar eventually joined the X-Corporation office in Paris, France. She perished while fighting creations of the Weapon Plus program in the Channel Tunnel between France and England. She was possessed by Weapon XII, and Fantomex was forced to kill her.^[1] A funeral was held in her honor at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where she was buried.

Necrosha

Darkstar, along with many other deceased mutants, has been resurrected by Selene and Eli Bard with the Transmode Virus, but was later returned to rest with Selene's defeat.

Legacy and Rebirth

Following her death, a gem capable of reproducing her powers and imbued with a measure of her essence was used by the Russian government to imbue specially selected agents with the powers and alias of Darkstar. First among them was Sasha Roerich, who served briefly with the Winter Guard against the Lady Liberators^[2], Skrulls^[3], and the chaos waves created by Chthon^[4] before sacrificing herself to destroy a mutated Igor Drenkov.^[5] Her predecessor, Reena Stancioff was the first to experience flashes of Laynia's personality, and served with the Winter Guard against the Remont 6^[5], King Hyperion^[6], and invading Atlanteans led by Krang^[7] before dying in battle with Fantasma and her Dire Wraith brood.

After being killed by one of the Wraiths, the entity took the form of Laynia and took possession of the gem, allowing it to possess her powers. Attempting to unleash the Darkforce powers on the Winter Guard and their allies the Protectorate, the Wraith was overwhelmed by Laynia's personality, resulting in a seemingly reborn Laynia, allowing the Guard and Protectorate to rally and defeat Fantasma and her ally, the Presence; she proceeded to join the remaining members of the teams as they escaped the exploding base that had served as a Dire Wraith hive.^[8]

When she and the Winter Guard tried to capture the Intelligencia, the group usedthe Zero Cannon on them, sending the team to space and apparently killing them.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Darkforce Manipulation: Darkstar had the ability to tap into and manipulate an intense-black form of extradimensional energy called the Darkforce. This energy, which appears to be related to the extradimensional black gas-like substance manipulated by Shroud and Cloak, possesses mass and form (whereas Cloak’s and Shroud’s does not). It may be that it is the same substance and that Darkstar simply knows how to manipulate it to greater effect then the other two. Her power seems analogous to that of Blackout.

Darkforce Projection: Darkstar could project the Darkforce into simple mentally controlled forms such as pincers, rings, columns, spheres, and so on. She could form objects with a maximum density of 175 pounds per cubic inch, and resistance to concussive forces of up to 320 pounds per square inch (500 pounds of TNT at 20 feet). She can form objects with a maximum volume of approximately 750 cubic feet, sufficient to encompass ten human beings comfortably. These objects are solid and well defined while she consciously wills them to be. If she rendered unconscious, they dissipate. Darkstar can also project a beam of solid force, capable of impacting an object with sufficient power to rupture 3-inch solid hard carbon steel or tip over an average, loaded railroad boxcar (15 tons).

Darkforce Teleportation: Darkstar could also employ the Darkforce to teleport herself and up to three others. She did this, in a manner similar to that of Cloak, by entering into the Darkforce’s dimension of origin, traversing a distance (which may or may not be the linear correspondent distance in this dimension) and reemerging in Earth’s space. She has so far been able to travel a maximum distance of about .85 miles (4,480 feet) in this way. Because journeys through the darkforce dimension are so disorienting (crossing through the inter dimensional portal disorients her sense of direction, and the light of the Earth dimension blinds her for several seconds upon reemergence) teleportation is a rather risky proposition. It also takes her several seconds to create a portal into the Darkforce dimension, preventing Darkstar from teleporting out of the way of such high-velocity danger as a bullet.

Darkforce Flight: Darkstar could utilize the attractive force of the Darkforce dimension to fly. By generating a invisible, intangible portal into the dimension in the contour of her body, she balanced its attractive force upon her against that of Earth’s gravity without passing through the portal. In order to increase its counterbalance with gravity and wind resistance, she had to angle the portal more steeply as she accelerates so that the attractive force did not leave her center of gravity (and her moment of inertia) behind as it draws her long. She could fly at speeds up to 120 miles per hour, the maximum velocity at which she is still able to breath. She could not support the weight of anyone other than herself while in flight.

Power Grid ^[9]

* Teleporter