History
Origin
Layla was born and raised in Hell's Kitchen with her two loving parents, Mrs. and Mr. Miller. When the Millers died in a tragic automobile accident, Layla was placed in the Saint Joan's Orphanage on the Bowery in New York City. Soon after relocating to the orphanage, Layla's mutant power manifested and she grew horns and discovered she could breathe fire, frightening the human orphans and causing them to reject her.[4]
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Young Layla Miller
House of M
When the insane mutant, the Scarlet Witch, used her powers to remake reality into a world in which mutants were the dominant species, everything changed for Layla. Her parents were alive and in health, and she lived with them and attended Brooklyn's PS 45. Additionally, a new set of mutant powers manifested and enabled her to perceive divergent realities, allowing her to remember the old reality. Seeking the help of Daredevil, Layla instead found Luke Cage, Hell's Kitchen's most powerful crime lord and leader of a human resistance movement. Layla was able to restore Luke's true memories, and after rescuing Wolverine, Cage's group set out to use Layla's powers to unlock the unconscious memories of other heroes. Under the guidance of Emma Frost, Layla restored the memories of many of Earth's heroes, who then led an assault on the Scarlet Witch in Genosha. The attack on Genosha prompted the Scarlet Witch to restore reality, only with a significantly reduced mutant population, an event later called M-Day.[6]
X-Factor Investigations
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Layla working as a file clerk for X-Factor Investigations
With reality restored, Layla woke up and found herself back in the orphanage she hated - only without her former mutant powers.[7][8] Shortly thereafter, an adult Layla returned from the future to speak with her younger self and uploaded all the knowledge about her lifetime and information from the next 80 years into the mind of her younger self.[9] Armed with this pseudo-precognitive knowledge, Layla showed up at the office of X-Factor Investigations in Mutant Town offering help and claiming she "knows stuff". Without an invitation or permission, Layla began working as a file clerk and using her knack for predicting the future to give X-Factor advice and steer them in certain directions.[10]
Layla turned Siryn onto the Santiago case, saving her life,[11] and later saved Rictor from a Singularity Investigations assassin.[8] But when Siryn was severely beaten by Tryp Junior, Layla was blamed for not warning X-Factor and voluntarily returned to the orphanage. Layla was beaten and ridiculed at the orphanage, and Madrox and Wolfsbane brought her back to X-Factor.[4]
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Layla fighting Quicksilver
Not long after Layla returned from the orphanage, Quicksilver arrived at X-Factor's office with information about the true cause of M-Day. At their meeting, Layla declared herself Quicksilver's nemesis. When the Inhumans came looking for Quicksilver, Layla advised him that Black Bolt wasn't going to kill him during the confrontation and that he should take a small trip to the future to see the outcome of what happened to them. She and Jamie went to the meeting where she revealed to Jamie that she tried to kill Pietro but couldn't because he escaped and that his actions were meant to happen.[12]
Not long after, a group made up of ex-mutants, calling themselves X-Cell, who believed the government had depowered mutants, began operating in Mutant Town. Around this same time, Siryn and Monet returned from their brief trip to France, with an ex-mutant named Nicole, which shocked Layla because she didn't know of her arrival. After Quicksilver had restored most of X-Cell's mutant powers using his Terrigen Crystals, Layla paid him a visit. She revealed to Callisto and Marrow that it was he and Wanda Maximoff who caused M-Day, and Pietro had lied.[13]
Nicole attacks Layla in Central Park
Later in Central Park, Layla was ambushed by Nicole only to be saved by Quicksilver, who believed that he needed to kill her. After escaping Quicksilver, and having him arrested,[14][15] Layla was tracked down again by Nicole. Layla tricked Nicole into falling in front of a train, which destroyed her, revealing she was actually a robot.[16]
Around this time she was also offered a place among Nick Fury's Secret Warriors by Daisy Johnson but declined, claiming the mutants would need her more.[17]
Messiah Complex
Layla and a Madrox dupe jump into the timestream
After the birth of the first mutant born since M-Day, Cyclops contacted X-Factor to request some favors.[18] Madrox and Layla were sent to Eagle Plaza in Dallas to meet with Forge to investigate new mutant populated possible futures. After the first dupe was sent into the time stream, the second dupe prepared to leave, but Layla jumped in with him and the pair was sent 80 years into the future.[19] While there, they discovered that the mutants were living in internment camps. In an internment camp, both Madrox and Layla were branded as mutants. They learned from a young Bishop that the "mutant messiah" had caused this world, by killing a million humans. Layla then proceeded to kill the dupe to send the information back to the original Jamie, leaving her alone and stranded in the future.[20] [21][22][23]
Despite being trapped in the future, Layla still interacted with Jamie as a figment of his imagination. This figment served as "stuff [Jamie] knew deep down", appearing in moments of self-realization, such as when Jamie admitted to himself that he knew about Siryn's pregnancy.[24]
Adult Layla Miller kissing Jamie Madrox
The Summers Rebellion
Layla eventually escaped the camp and helped a new mutant called Linqon. After revealing to some people an operation called Operation Purity, which involved every citizen being tested for mutant genes, she went to Atlantic City and met up with Cyclops and his daughter Ruby. Together with Ruby, she initiated the Summers Rebellion.[2]
After years of trying, Layla found a way back into the her present. Pretending to be a nun, she made arrangement to meet with Pastor John Maddox. When she arrived at John's church, she found Jamie about to kill himself. She stopped him and revealed who she really was, much to his shock.[25] She revealed herself to be a holographic projection and took Jamie into the alternate future.[26] When Layla and Jaime returned to the future, Jamie met Ruby, who berated Layla for traveling back in time when warned not to. The group was then attacked by Sentinels.[27] Once they were safely back in Atlantic City, Layla and Jamie argued about how they never came for one another, the two finally gave into their emotions and shared a kiss. Jamie was awkward about starting a relationship with Layla, feeling she was still a child, though Layla told him she never really was.[27]
The next morning, Cyclops briefed Madrox on the disappearance of certain members of the Summers Rebellion. To find out more about time-travel, Madrox, Layla and Ruby went to enlist the help of Doctor Doom, the resident time-travel expert.[28] Doom reveals he has previously met Layla, and explains the concept of a Doomlock, an individual or machine that can change the past without creating divergent time lines. They bring Doom back to Atlantic City to aid is solving the mystery, but Doom betrays them all by enslaving Cyclops and summoning Cortex to kill them all. Cortex quickly killed Trevor Fitzroy, and Layla was forced to reveal her real powers and revived Fitzroy by Ruby's request.[29]
After defeating Cortex, Anthony Falcone and his Sentinels, both Layla and Madrox were sent back in time via Doctor Doom's Time Platform. Jamie arrived at XF Investigations Headquarters just a few days after he left, but Layla went even further back to arrived at Saint Joan's Orphanage just before she joined X-Factor to give her younger self information about the future.[29]
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Layla with Doctor Doom
Back From The Future
Once she was back in the present, Layla traveled to Castle Doom in Doomstadt, Latveria, to speak with Doctor Doom. After explaining her knowledge of the future, Doom agreed to share some of his knowledge of science and magic in exchange for Layla's advice about the future. Layla stay with Doom as an adviser for a year[30] until the disappearance of Invisible Woman brought X-Factor into direct confrontation with Doom.[31]
Layla next appeared at the Dublin Airport with Shatterstar to save Banshee from Trask's MRD.[32] After they escape, the trio joined the rest of X-Factor back in New York City.[33] Once she was back with X-Factor, Layla was back to her old tricks of giving advice and steer others in certain directions. Layla has still maintained an odd relationship with Madrox, including joking about marriage[34] and acting playful jealous.[35]
When her teammate, Strong Guy, was fatally wounded by an attack from Ballistique, Layla used her reanimation powers to bring him back to life much to the astonishment of X-Factor and Doctor Castillo.[36] Later, Layla tearfully promised she'd find a way to return his soul.[37]
With the birth of Wolfsbane's child approaching, Layla began to prepare to defend the X-Factor Investigations Headquarters from being besieged by mystical forces. Despite having some disagreements with Rahne's return,[38][39] Layla seems to have put a full effort into protecting her.[40]Attributes
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Powers
Layla reanimates a dead butterfly
Layla Miller is a mutant with a variety of former and active powers, including:
- Reanimation: Layla has the ability to reanimate dead beings, restoring their consciousness, but not their souls.[4][9][36] However, this reanimation can only be performed within minutes of the individual's death.[3]
- Reality Warp Immunity: Layla was immune to Scarlet Witch's reality warp, retaining her true memories during the House of M.
- Mental Awakening (formerly): Able to pierce the veil between divergent realities. She can enable others to see this, by clearing their minds in an unknown manner. Ability to restore the memories of individuals affected by changes to reality.
- Fire-breathing and horns (formerly): When Layla's power first manifest just prior to the House of M, she claimed to have grown horns and breath fire.[4][41]
In addition to her mutant powers, Layla has acquired:
- Pseudo-Precognition: When an adult Layla returned from the future, she uploaded all the knowledge about her lifetime and information from the next 80 years into the mind of her younger self at Saint Joan's Orphanage just after M-Day before Layla came to join X-Factor Investigations. However, the process was imperfect and left gaps in her knowledge, or "blind spots", but enabled her to seemingly "predict" the future, or "know stuff."[9] The adult Layla still retained a large amount of knowledge acquired about the world and the future. Much of her knowledge as an adult seemed to be from a journal that she wrote, and planned to read again in eighty years, for her younger self to read. It is possible that this method of precognition created many diverging time-lines (Though Doom claimed that his time machine prevented this from occurring) and that she attempted this many times.
- Magic: After returning from the future, Layla spent a year in Latveria studying magic with Victor von Doom.[31]
Weaknesses
- Blind Spots: When an adult Layla returned from the future, she uploaded all the knowledge about her lifetime and information from the next 80 years into the mind of her younger self at Saint Joan's Orphanage just after M-Day before Layla came to join X-Factor Investigations. However, The process is imperfect and left gaps in her knowledge, or "blind spots". Notably, Layla's pseudo-precognition does not work as well on Quicksilver, Strong Guy (while brainwashed by Singularity Investigations), Tryp, and Nicole.
- Chaos Theory Rebounding: Presumably according to her if she tells anyone what she knows she will be struck down dead on the spot. (If there is any truth to this it would mean that her powers most likely rebound back on to her).
Layla's mysterious device
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Formerly
- Layla's device: On her right hand she wears a gauntlet device, designed and created for her by Victor von Doom. This device allows Layla to create a protective force field[33][42] and emitted energy blasts.[32]
Transportation
Notes
- Layla has long claimed she would eventually marry Jamie Madrox.[43] At the time, Layla was his junior by at least a decade. Since Layla's return to the present as an adult, Jamie has shown a romantic interest in her, but is still confused about his feelings.[27][41][34] Additionally, Wolfsbane's did have a vision of herself murdering both Layla and Jamie on their wedding night.[44][39] Recently Madrox has actually been inadvertently transported to the wedding night massacre.[3]
- Banshee once described Layla Miller as "Nostradamus reborn as Wednesday Addams".[45]
- She is one of the few people with whom Shatterstar "connected", and who can be used as a "anchor" for his teleportation powers.[33]
- Some, including Doctor Strange, have theorized Layla powers and even her existence may have been a manifestation of Scarlet Witch's subconscious desire to undo the House of M.[46] However, it has also been stated that the Scarlet Witch cannot create souls.[47]
Mutant Status
Whether Layla Miller is a mutant is quite unclear. If she had now proved to possess mutant powers, some events indicated doubts:
- When Quicksilver tried to harm her with Terrigen Crystals, she wasn't affected, and he stated she wasn't a mutant.[48]
- While in the future, Layla was scanned as both a flatscan human and as a mutant within seconds of each other. Her only explanation to this phenomenon was "Yeah, it comes and goes."[5]
Trivia
See Also
- 116 appearance(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 5 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 5 minor appearance(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 14 mention(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 160 image(s) of Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 17 quotation(s) by or about Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Layla Miller (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Layla Miller (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 X-Factor Special: Layla Miller #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 X-Factor #228
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #26
- ↑ House of M #4–8
- ↑ House of M #8
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #50
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ Silent War #2
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #17–20
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #23
- ↑ X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead #1
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #24
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #13
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #492
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #25
- ↑ New X-Men (Vol. 2) #44–45
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #205–206
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #26–27
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #494
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #32
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #40
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #41
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #43
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #44
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 X-Factor (Vol. 3) #48–50
- ↑ X-Factor #202
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 X-Factor #200–202
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 X-Factor #205
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 X-Factor #206
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 X-Factor #215
- ↑ X-Factor #221
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 X-Factor #218
- ↑ X-Factor #219
- ↑ X-Factor #208
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 X-Factor #216
- ↑ X-Factor #221–222
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 X-Factor #200
- ↑ X-Factor #211
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #10
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #12–13
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #7
- ↑ House of M #7
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #526
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #20
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #12
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #8
- ↑ X-Factor Vol 1 200