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Quote1 She is a living weapon. The true and ultimate woman of war! Quote2
Spiral[src]

Yuriko Oyama is a cyborg with a self-repairing machine body and deadly Adamantium claws, being better known as the samurai warrior Lady Deathstrike.[7] She is the daughter of Lord Dark Wind, an insane and abusive Japanese kingpin who invented a process to coat bones with the indestructible metal Adamantium.[8] After putting an end to her father,[9] Oyama became devoted to carry on his legacy by becoming obsessed with the mutant Wolverine, who had been unrightfully enhanced with Adamantium and disgraced Oyama's honor.[10] To be as lethal as Wolverine, Oyama sacrificed her humanity and made a deal with the exquisite witch Spiral in order to be transformed into Lady Deathstrike.[7]

Deathstrike's hate for Wolverine has led her to forge alliance with despicable elements, especially Donald Pierce and his Reavers.[11] She is also closely associated with the mutant-hating militant, Reverend William Stryker.[12] Her activities usually lead her to clash with the mutant group which Wolverine is associated with, the X-Men.[13][14][15]

More recently, Lady Deathstrike became a target of a rebranded Weapon X Project, which was particularly interested in seizing control of augmented subjects to serve as living weapons.[16] After being rescued by a band of other victims,[17] she joined them in a team who claimed the name Weapon X for themselves.[18] Eventually, the group disbanded after their leader Sabretooth was gone during one last adventure.[19]

History

Early life[]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Daredevil Vol 1 197 0001

A young Yuriko carries the mark of her father's cruelty

Yuriko Oyama (小山 ゆり子) is the daughter of Kenji Oyama, a former Japanese kamikaze pilot during World War II, whose face was horribly scarred in a failed suicide attack on an American battleship.[20] Considering his survival a disgrace, Oyama dedicated his life to atone for his failure. After setting up home on a private island, getting married and fathering one daughter named Yuriko and two sons, he became the cruel Lord Dark Wind. In a perverse way, Lord Dark Wind scarred his children's faces in the very same way he had his face disfigured.[8] He also had his children privately tutored by Marcy Stryker, wife of an American soldier named William Stryker. For that reason, the Strykers were acquainted with Yuriko since she was born.[21] In his extremist and insane activities, Lord Dark Wind built a criminal cult empire on his island, employing assassins as followers who he forced to adopt feudal traditions. He had his sons killed in an attempt to assassinate the Japanese prime minister. Concurrently, Yuriko fell in love with one of her father's assassins, a warrior named Kira. As Kira blindly followed Dark Wind's violent ideology, Yuriko grew to despise her father.[8]

Moreover, Lord Dark Wind also developed a means for bonding the virtually indestructible metal Adamantium to human bone, a procedure he hoped to use in creating an army of super-soldiers for Japan. However, his notes were mysteriously stolen, demanding him years to recreate the process. Eventually, he contacted the Kingpin, wishing to recruit the Kingpin's then-crippled assassin Bullseye to his private army by healing him with Adamantium.[22] In Japan, Dark Wind replaced some of Bullseye's broken bones with Adamantium implants, hoping that in return Bullseye would assassinate Japan's minister of trade for him. Arriving in Japan in order to capture Bullseye, the blind costumed crime-fighter Daredevil encountered Yuriko in one of her father's ships.[20] Seeking vengeance on her father, for scarring her face, for the deaths of her brothers and for putting Kira in danger, Yuriko guided Daredevil to her father's private island. During the ordeal, Yuriko found in Daredevil a man who was not disgusted by her appearance.[8] After the fight, Bullseye escaped, while Yuriko herself slew Lord Dark Wind as he was about to murder Daredevil. Freed for her diabolical father, Yuriko found herself unable to mourn his death by wishing to enjoy happiness with her lover Kira.[9]

Lady Deathstrike[]

Tragically, following Daredevil's departure, Kira committed suicide in despair over Lord Dark Wind's death. The shock of Kira's death radically altered Yuriko's outlook on life as she resolved to carry on her father's legacy. Yuriko attempted to track down Bullseye, who had fled her father's service without repayment. By tracking his Adamantium skeleton, she inadvertently located the mutant adventurer Wolverine, who had gained his Adamantium-laced skeleton by means of the process stolen from Lord Dark Wind years earlier. Garbed as a samurai and calling herself Lady Deathstrike, Oyama led a number of her father's warriors to Canada, where they confronted Wolverine, seeking to retrieve his Adamantium skeleton which was an unrightfully product of her father's experiments. She was defeated by Wolverine's long-time friend Heather Hudson, who had adopted the costumed identity of Vindicator in her role as leader of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight.[23]

Having failed to defeat Wolverine, Lady Deathstrike resolved to better him as his equal. She struck a deal with the eccentric Spiral, who transformed Deathstrike into a cyborg in her Body Shop, healing her facial scars in the process. Lady Deathstrike sacrificed her humanity to recover her honor by becoming a living weapon, being granted with a strong machine body and Adamantium claws to rival Wolverine's own. She teamed up with three other cyborgs who had been wounded by Wolverine in the past -- former Hellfire Club soldiers Cole, Macon, and Reese. Wolverine was brutally assaulted by Deathstrike and her associates, but was assisted by the child super-hero Katie Power. In a one-on-one combat, Wolverine bested Deathstrike, leaving her body in scraps. Again meeting defeat, she begged for Wolverine to mercy kill her, but he refused. She considered her failure in defeating Wolverine another sign of being forever bound to her macabre father.[7]

Reavers[]

Reavers (Earth-616) from Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 252 cover

Deathstrike and the Reavers

Interested in vengeance, Deathstrike joined Donald Pierce and the Reavers as part of a plan to recover the Reavers base from Wolverine's associates, the X-Men.[11] For days, the Reavers prepared themselves to destroy Wolverine and the X-Men by secretly hiding in the Australian outback. Even though Lady Deathstrike's code of honor distinguished her from the other Reavers, she got involved in their affairs to the point of developing a bizarrely abusive relationship with Pierce.[24]

The Reavers ambushed Wolverine when the other X-Men were in the Savage Land by getting their base back. By crucifying him on an X-shaped cross, they left him to die in the scorching hot desert. Wolverine was rescued by the young mutant Jubilee, who hid him to nurse him back to health.[13] While the Reavers searched for Wolverine, Lady Deathstrike went to his quarters and found one of the Reavers, Pretty Boy, using Wolverine's Honor Sword of the Yashida Clan to destroy some dear belongings. Despite her hatred for Wolverine, as a daimyo noble warrior, Deathstrike confronted Pretty Boy and decided to protect the blade by hiding it where Jubilee had nursed Wolverine, until her foe would claim it back upon her death or vice-versa.[25] Wolverine and Jubilee managed to escape from the Reavers after a brief clash. The pair was later spotted from afar by Lady Deathstrike. However, she chose not to attack them as there would be no honor in striking down a foe from ambush when he was too weak to defend himself. She ultimately let Wolverine escape by expecting to meet him again as an equal on a field of honor.[26]

Pierce believed that Wolverine had fled to the mutant research facility run by Moira MacTaggert on Muir Island.[26] The Reavers made their move and clashed with both a ragtag group of X-Men and the U.S. government-sponsored Freedom Force. Deathstrike severely wounded the mutant Avalanche during the fight. After both sides suffered casualties, the tide of battle turned against the Reavers, who retreated by teleporting away.[27] The Reavers kept searching for Wolverine by concurrently causing distress for their adversaries.[28] After recruiting Cylla Markham to become a cyborg, Deathstrike alerted her of the consequences of losing her humanity.[29]

Hunting Wolverine[]

Hoping to succeed alone after her failures with a team, Deathstrike tracked Wolverine by herself. In Osaka, she acquired information about his whereabouts. She had the Reavers' enslaved ally, the mutant aborigine Gateway, teleport her to Madripoor, where she blackmailed Tyger into revealing Wolverine's location. Forcing Gateway to bring her to Vancouver, Deathstrike finally found Wolverine, but was tricked by Gateway, who teleported her, Wolverine and his ally Puck back in time to 1937 in Spain. Caught in a skirmish during the Spanish Civil War, Deathstrike was met by the nazi Captain Schlachter.[30] Schlachter and his men tried to eliminate Deathstrike with no success. She saw her stay in the past as an opportunity to prevent her father from becoming the disfigured Lord Dark Wind which would save her from her disgraced fate. In order to achieve it, she joined forces with Schlachter to capture Wolverine, offering him to weaponize Adamantium on her foe's bones.[31]

During a one-on-one fight against Wolverine, Schlachter accidentally jeopardized Oyama's tactics by tearing her arm off. Enraged, she violently stroke back at her ally mortally wounding him. Gateway's powers eventually returned all of the time-travelers to the present in a vortex. As Deathstrike battled Wolverine, they kept traveling across time. Fearing about the damage her activies caused to the timestream, Pierce had Deathstrike teleported back to their base, interrupting her vendetta.[32] Back home, Lady Deathstrike had her arm rebuilt by the Reavers.[33]

Still acting solo, Lady Deathstrike went to New York City, where she planned to lure Wolverine into a trap by associating herself with Ronald Parvenue, who carried out a display of a bestial creature in public. This attracted not only the attention of Wolverine but also of Sabretooth.[34][35] Both Deathstrike and Sabretooth attacked Wolverine after he revealed himself. During the fight, Lady Deathstrike was furtively shot and incapacitated by Emmy Doolin, but was rescued by Parvenue.[36]

With Parvenue's help, Deathstrike located Wolverine once again. In Canada, she found him alongside Heather Hudson and Puck.[37] During the violent fight, Wolverine exhibited his bone claws no longer coated in Adamantium, as the metal had been forcibly removed from his body by Magneto. As a consequence, Lady Deathstrike lost interest in her quest for vengeance and recovering her birthright. As she left in search of purpose, she crossed paths with Cylla and Bloodscream, who were also pursuing Wolverine, and refused to join them.[38]

Without a Cause[]

Pierce eventually rebuilt the Reavers, giving Deathstrike self-repairing assets. Under his orders, she captured Dr. Milo Thurman, a former government employee who possessed incredible natural prophetic abilities, from a secret facility.[39] As Thurman's former wife, Domino intervened, she directly confronted Deathstrike. With her mutant based luck powers, Domino detonated a bomb that destroyed most of Deathstrike's body.[40] She was rebuilt by Pierce, who intended to transform Thurman into a cyborg Reaver under his control. The plan was foiled by Domino, who escaped the Reavers and managed to throw Deathstrike into an acid pool, although at the cost of Thurman's life.[41]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Wolverine 2004 Vol 1 1 0001

Going after Wolverine's loved ones

Striking out on her own, Lady Deathstrike once again clashed with Wolverine over an ancient casket that belonged to her family. Wolverine was unwillingly in possession of the artefact, and Deathstrike settled for a truce to investigate the mystery behind it. However, during the mission, Deathstrike's body was possessed by the spirit of Wolverine's former sensei and current enemy, Lord Ogun.[42] Eventually abandoned by the spirit once it had learned from her how to infiltrate cybernetic systems, Deathstrike subsequently allied with the Japanese terrorist group Strikeforce Ukiyoe and they clashed with the super-soldier Captain America following his return from an extradimensional exile.[43]

She next found herself targeted by Prime Sentinels, mutant-hunting cyborgs under the command of the time-traveling villain Stryfe. Although not a mutant herself, Deathstrike unknowingly carried within her cybernetic programming the control codes for the more powerful Omega-class Sentinels. With the help of Wolverine and his teammates in the X-Men, Deathstrike defeated Stryfe and his forces.[44]

Despite their shared victory, Deathstrike's dislike for Wolverine endured, and she was subsequently recruited by Wolverine's arch-nemesis, the feral mutant Sabretooth, to assist him in striking at Wolverine's loved ones in exchange for valuable information. Deathstrike, alongside the Russian super-soldier Omega Red, crippled Wolverine's friend Yukio and abducted his ward, Amiko. Having obtained what he wanted, Sabretooth subsequently double-crossed Deathstrike and Omega Red, cheating them out of the information he had promised them.[45]

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Lady Deathstrike and Wolverine blood feud

Deathstrike later worked for a mafia mobster named Nicopetti, the most powerful Oyuban in all of Kobe and who considered her like a daughter and his most deadly weapon. After succeeding in completing all of her assignments she asked for his help into killing Wolverine but he refused, saying that Deathstrike had made the mistake to go after Logan's family and now she was doomed and he didn't want any part of this. Instead Nicopetti gave Deathstrike money and a new identification so she could flee away before Wolverine killed her. Angry by what Nicopetti said, she scarred him face and threw him through a window just as Wolverine confronted her. She decided to run away but Wolverine went after her, angry after what Deathstrike did to Yukio and Amiko when she was working for Sabretooth.

After catching up to her, Logan drew his samurai sword and gave another samurai sword to Deathstrike, he then told her that if they were going to end this feud, they needed to do it with honor and not as wild animals, but as samurai. Deathstrike grabbed the sword and started to fight him. Wolverine gained the upper hand, and as Deathstrike fell to the ground he lowered his guard and told her to give up but Deathstrike wasn't done, she impaled Wolverine on her sword and grabbed his heart with her claws but she couldn't tear it apart thanks to Wolverine's adamantium bones. Wolverine then told her to kill him but Deathstrike couldn't do it, Wolverine then pushed her away, and started to slash her several times with his sword, cutting her claws but he refused to kill her, saying she was sick and needed help and that their blood feud was over. Wolverine then left her with a samurai sword, just as Nicopetti and his men arrived to get their revenge on Deathstrike after what she did to Nicopetti but Wolverine told them it was their funeral. As Nicopetti's men approached, Deathstrike rose to her feet, grabbed her sword and was now ready to face them.[46]

Stryker[]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from X-Treme X-Men Vol 1 25 0001

Helping William Stryker

Lady Deathstrike later went to the aid of her former associate William Stryker, who had since become a minister and led an anti-mutant crusade that resulted in his imprisonment due to the murderous actions of his Purifiers soldiers. Breaking him out of government custody, Deathstrike gave him access to the resources of Oyama Heavy Industries. In the course of aiding Stryker in his efforts, she fell under the control of Paul, a sentient computer entity who sought to protect the community of mutants living in Mount Haven. Under Paul's control, Deathstrike fought both Stryker and the X-Men, once more dueling with Wolverine and, ironically, meeting more success under Paul's control than she ever had on her own. In the course of one clash, Deathstrike was buried beneath collapsing rubble, but when the X-Man Bishop investigated he found only her severed cybernetic arm.[47]

Blindspot[]

Later on, Lady Deathstrike discovered that she was suffering from missing memories but thanks to her improved technologies, her C.P.U reconstructed them and she discovered that Mystique, Rogue, Sunfire, and Blindspot stole Lord Dark Wind's adamantium process a long time ago. Angry after that discovery, Deathstrike captured Blindspot who was responsible for her missing memories and used her to publicly leaked that Sunfire was affiliated with Rogue, Blindspot and Mystique back when they were part of the Marauders, in order to lure Rogue to Japan.

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Rogue Vol 3 7 0001

Going after Rogue

After Rogue arrived in Japan, Deathstrike attacked her but she was able to escape, Rogue then teamed up with Sunfire in order to confront Deathstrike. In the ensuing battle, Sunfire's powers triggered the sprinkler system, filling the room with steam. Lady Deathstrike moved behind him and severed his legs from his body and then captured both Sunfire and Rogue. She then learned that Rogue, Mystique, Sunfire and Blindspot never managed to recover the schematics of her father's adamantium bonding process, seeing no use for them anymore she decided to kill them but Rogue was able to absorb the powers of Sunfire and was now too powerful for Deathstrike who decided to run away.[48]

Civil War[]

During the Superheroes Civil War, after a battle between the Pro and the Anti Registration forces, Goliath was killed by a clone of Thor As a result, the Pro-Registration side lost more members than anticipated, necessitating a fast-tracking of the 50-State Initiative. The CSA, with help from Songbird, gathered several ex-villains as part of a new Thunderbolts team, Lady Deathstrike was among those villains and was now working alongside the betrayer of her father, Bullseye.[49]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Civil War Vol 1 4 0001

Tracking the unregistered heroes

Their goal was to capture the underground "Secret Avengers" but to make sure nothing went wrong, Mister Fantastic tagged each member with nanites to monitor their actions. Before fighting as a unit, Jack O'Lantern and the Jester were deployed to capture Spider-Man who just switched sides, but they were killed by the Punisher.[50] Not long after, the Pro and the Anti Registration forces in a super-prison located in the Negative Zone where several unregistered superhuman were held prisoners. Lady Deathstrike assisted Iron Man and the other heroes from the Registration forces against Captain America and the anti-Registration forces.[51]

During the battle, she fought against Spider-Man alongside Venom until Cloak teleported everyone back to New York City, she then teamed up with Venom, Taskmaster and Bullseye and beat Captain America down. As Yuriko and Bullseye were mocking Captain America, they were suddenly attacked by the army forces of Atlantis and Namor who took them down. She was later sent back to her cell in the the super prison of the Negative Zone.[52]

Messiah Complex[]

New X-Men Vol 2 45 Textless Bianchi Variant

Tracking the Messiah baby

She resurfaced with a second incarnation of the Reavers, who had allied with the Purifiers. When the New X-Men attacked, she mortally wounded Hellion.[53] The New X-Men barely escaped alive. The Reavers then went for Cable, who had the messiah baby.[54] While they attacked, X-Force, attacked as well. X-23 went against Deathstrike, ending with X-23 defeating her and apparently killing her.[55]

Sisterhood of Mutants[]

Deathstrike was apparently repaired by Spiral in her Body Shop. While Spiral repaired Deathstrike's body, she also gave her a more submissive personality, as she continually did whatever she is told, while referring to Spiral as "Mistress".[56]

Spiral and Deathstrike joined Madelyne Pryor a.k.a the Red Queen's Sisterhood of Mutants. After the Sisterhood resurrected Kwannon using the life-force of Psylocke, they finally made their move on the X-Men.[14] Deathstrike was tasked to take down Wolverine, by piercing his lungs. Deathstrike kept Wolverine busy while the Sisterhood raided his room for one of his most treasured possessions: a lock of Jean Grey's hair. After the team was defeated by the X-Men and the Red Queen died, Deathstrike escaped through one Spiral's portals.[57]

Descendants[]

She led a Reaver attack on Utopia that was thwarted by X-Force,[58] and later fought and killed Kangaroo while working for Doctor Octopus and his plan of world domination.[59]

Lady Deathstrike was then seen in Madripoor, Lowtown with her brother, Lord Deathstrike, they both had been invited alongside several villains to a party organized by Sabretooth. But Wolverine heard about it and decided to crash this party, he then defeated Lady Deathstrike, her brother and the other villains present before wishing an "Happy Birthday" to Sabretooth as a revenge for what he did to him in the past.[3]

Lady Deathstrike joined the being known as Father and his crossing along the Descendants to claim the domain of the world for the robots, as she was a cyborg.[60] She took part in the final raid on New York City.[61]

Death of Wolverine[]

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Dealing with Wolverine's death

Not long after, Lady Deathstrike and other people possessing adamantium became targets of Abraham Cornelius who just restarted a new Weapon X program and was trying to secure every piece of adamantium in the world, as a result Lady Deathstrike was now tracked by one of his agent: Ogun. Yuriko managed to go to Madripoor where she saved Wolverine from Sabretooth and asked for his help against Ogun, but she then discovered that Wolverine didn't have any healing factor anymore, he was defective. She decided to use this opportunity to capture the weakened Wolverine in order to trade him for her freedom. As she was about to attack Wolverine, Yuriko was attacked by Ogun who was now possessing the body of Kitty Pryde, Ogun easily defeated her and destroyed her hand with the phasing powers of Kitty Pryde.

Ogun then told her to go, as Cornelius tasked him to bring him Wolverine's alive and because Ogun wanted to possess Wolverine's body.[62][63]

Not long after Wolverine died fighting Cornelius and she was now free, but after her foe's death she discovered that the Honor Blade of Clan Yashida which belonged to Wolverine had been stolen by the Yakuza. Just like she did years ago,[25] she decided to get the sword back and made sure that it was now safe not for pity or kindness for her old foe but in order to maintain ritual and tradition. Once done, she was now free to be the blade of her own mark and making.[64]

But not long after, Lady Deathstrike was kidnapped with several other people including Mystique, Sabretooth, X-23, Daken, and Elixir by Shogun.[65]

Wolverines[]

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The Wolverines team

Lady Deathstrike found that their kidnapper was a mysterious man named Shogun who threatened them with the “control words” that could manipulate, sedate or even kill each of them in order to force them into helping him and his group of allies find the adamantium-petrified body of Wolverine in the burnt-down Paradise facility. Before they could leave on this mission however, they were attacked by Siphon, who killed Elixir and drained Daken's healing factor to nonfunctional. They proceeded with the mission, and Daken and X-23 initially kept Daken's inability to heal a secret from their impromptu teammates. They encountered and fought the Wrecking Crew, hired by Mister Sinister, who were also looking for Wolverine's body. When Daken and X-23 found the body, Mister Sinister appeared, took Wolverine's body, and also ripped an eye and arm from Daken,[66] and left bleeding out and not healing.[66]

After they failed in their mission to retrieve Wolverine's body, Mystique then declared herself as the leader of the team, and made Sharp help her retrieve the zhulong, or sun dragon, on Taipei, Mystique then revealed to Sharp than Lady Deathstrike was attracted to him and then tricked Sharp into revealing her control words to her. Ogun then ordered Sharp to go back to Sinister and to work for him so he could help him stop the genetic time bomb put inside of him but suddenly Deathstrike appeared and attacked Sharp. During the fight, Ogun took control of Sharp body, and was able to counter Lady Deathstrike which shocked her asking how did Sharp do this move, Ogun answered: "You know how". Lady Deathstrike recognized Ogun and started to kiss him but they were interrupted by the arrival of Fang who was seeking revenge for Logan's death.[67][67]

Despite putting up a brave fight the team was defeated by Fang, who then decided to take each one of them one by one on a trip to honor Logan's memory but also to punish them for what they did to him when he was alive starting with Daken. But the team decided to find a way to beat Fang before he came back.[68] Back on the Changeling, Sharp' and Lady Deathstrike' relationship started to blossom, Yuriko then mentioned that Sharp reminded her of an old lover: Ogun, Sharp revealed to her that Ogun's spirit was in his head. Sharp then fell to sleep, while asleep Ogun then took over his body once again and talked to Yuriko and the two started to plan how to have Ogun fully control Sharp's body.[69]

Yuriko and Ogun then started to work together in order for her to free him, to that end she decided to train ferociously with Sharp, the training over, Sharp being tired fell asleep and once again Ogun took control of Sharp's body and spoke with her. He then told Lady Deathstrike to fight Sharp in order to exhaust him physically and mentally which would result in Sharp's spirit becoming weak. But under no circumstances she should kill him or she would kill Ogun, but with Sharp on the brink of death Ogun could finally took over his body completely and the two of them would be finally reunited. Lady Deathstrike then started to ferociously attacked Sharp.[70][71]

Wolverines Vol 1 12 Textless

Lady Deathstrike ready to free Ogun

Lady Deathstrike fought against Sharp and seriously wounded him, making him lose a lot blood, during the fight Ogun finally revealed the truth to Sharp and how they set him up. As Sharp was about to give up and with Ogun about to finally take over his body, Fang returned and was attacked by the rest of the team who this time overpowered him. But before being defeated Fang teleported away with Sharp just as Lady Deathstrike was about to strike him with one last blow that would have allowed Ogun to take over Sharp body completely.

After being teleported to an unnamed planet by Fang, Ogun tried one last push to take over Sharp's body but Fang stopped him and put Ogun away allowing Sharp to take control of his own body again before being sent back to the Changeling where Yuriko discovered that Ogun was now gone.[72]

Later on after the team attacked Sinister's fortress, Sharp was fatally injured when he saved Yuriko from a dangerous attack revealing to her that his feelings for her were real, which changed the way Yuriko was looking at him. On the brink of death, Sharp lost consciousness allowing Ogun to take control of his body once again.[73][74] With Sharp's body under his control, Ogun faced against Sinister but during their fight Sinister revealed that he discovered how to cure the genetic time bomb implanted in Sharp body and understood that Sharp's proximity to death was what allowed Ogun to take control of his body. Using a syringe with the cure inside of it, Sinister then used it on Shogun, curing Sharp of his condition and as a result allowing Sharp to take control of his body and locking Ogun's spirit away once more.[74]

The team was then betrayed by Mystique who, thanks to Siphon, drained Sabretooth, X-23 and Lady Deathstrike's healing factors. Mystique was the only one left with an healing factor, so the team used Siphon to track her in order to get their revenge. After finding her, Lady Deathstrike killed Siphon and the team confronted Mystique, but she proved to be too powerful for them and she single-handily defeated all of them by making them fight each other. In the midst of the battle, a powerful bond formed between Sharp and Yuriko who decided to not attack each other, but Mystique still defeated them.[75]

Facing Old Man Logan[]

Some time later, Lady Deathstrike heard the news that Logan was back, she decided to investigate and discovered an old Wolverine also known as Old Man Logan being alive so she decided to reform the Reavers and went after him.[76] She tracked Old Man Logan to Killhorn Falls where her Reavers started to massacre people. But the old man killed all of her Reavers after a brutal battle before confronting her.[77][76] Still thinking that this old man was the Logan she once knew, Deathstrike became angry that Logan cheated death, she decided to take hostage a young girl, Maureen, and her mother, and told Logan to choose which one she was going to kill. Thanks to the intervention of a sheriff, the two were saved and Logan confronted her.

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Old Man Logan Vol 2 5 001

Facing Old Man Logan

But the old man was too slow against Lady Deathstrike who stabbed him several times and almost killed him, thinking her opponent was beaten she turned her attention to the sheriff who previously shot her but the old man wasn't beaten, he rose to his feet and cut both of her arms and started to dismember her. Because of his wounds, the old man couldn't finish Deathstrike and despite missing several limbs she was able to escape.[76]

Now on the run from Old Man Logan who was tracking her as a revenge for what she did, Deathstrike got captured by a strange group called the Silent Order and their leader, General Sohei before being transported to a remote village near Tokyo. She was then put into a cell and chained to a wall in order to lure Old Man Logan, that the Silent Order wanted to capture, as a result Old Man Logan fell into the Silent Order's trap and was captured as well.[78]

Old Man Logan was then thrown in a pit while Lady Deathstrike was put in a cage, but after the old man escaped,[78] he decided to free her and despite her hatred for the Old Man Deathstrike decided to team up with him in order to face the Silent Order's army together.[79] After defeating their army, the duo was confronted by Sohei, angry after being caged and used as bait by Sohei, Lady Deathstrike decided to fight him alone but she was defeated. Sohei was then confronted by Old Man Logan who defeated him but in the end the old man was subdued by the Master of the Silent Order, a mutant child known as Silent Monk.[79]

After seeing a vision of the future where Old Man Logan killed him and his army, he decided to thrown both Lady Deathstrike and Old Man Logan in a pit. The Silent Monk decided to kill the old man in front of Lady Deathstrike's eyes by throwing him into the pit over and over again with his telekinetic powers. But having had enough of this torture, Lady Deathstrike grabbed an arrow that was laying at the bottom of the pit and threw it into the Silent Monk's thigh, causing him to fall into the pit with them. Old Man Logan then threatened to kill the boy if Sohei didn't let them come out.[80]

Thinking they won, Lady Deathstrike told Logan she owed him one and he responded that if they got out of this he would made her an X-Man but she responded that she wouldn't join his club even if she was paid and besides she knew that Logan was bluffing, he would never hurt a kid. But suddenly, the Silent Monk unleashed his full power and transformed into a giant creature, blowing up the pit and Lady Deathstrike and Old Man Logan with it. Having had enough of all of this, Deathstrike tried to confront the Silent Monk but he unleashed a giant explosion that blew her away.

Old Man Logan then convinced the young boy to read his mind, assuring the future he came from and where the Silent Monk died would never come true, the young boy then understood that Sohei had been manipulating him. After subduing Sohei and the remaining Silent Order ninja, Logan put a call to S.H.I.E.L.D. and offered to take the Silent Monk to X-Haven, an offer that he accepted while Lady Deathstrike escaped.[81]

Weapon X[]

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Lady Deathstrike joining the Weapon X team

After the fight with the Silent Order, Yuriko decided to stay hidden for a while, but she was tracked down and captured by the resurfaced Weapon X as part of the organization's process to refine their mutant-hunting cyborgs.[82] She was eventually rescued from containment by a team of mutants led by Old Man Logan who all had been targeted by Weapon X.[17] William Stryker was behind this new Weapon X project and with the help of Doctor Alba they created a new weapon by combining the DNA of the members of the team and Amadeus Cho a.k.a The Totally Awesome Hulk, something called Weapon H. Following the destruction of the Weapon X facility where Weapon H had been created, the team of mutants turned their alliance into a mutant-rescue squad, and started by taking back the name Weapon X.[18][83]

After finding Weapon H, the team was beaten by this new weapon,[84][85] and soon after they discovered that Stryker had also been beat down by this new weapon after being betrayed by Doctor Alba. Stryker survived his encounter with Weapon H because he had been transformed into a cyborg previously, he decided to help the team locate Weapon H as revenge against Doctor Alba.[86] With the help of their new prisoner, the team was able to locate Weapon H[87] and broke Alba's control over him. Now free, Weapon H escaped while Doctor Alba was handed to the X-Men and kept as a prisoner but during the battle with Weapon H, Stryker escaped and started a small church afterwards.[88]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Weapon X Vol 3 17 001

Deathstrike having her own agenda

Not long after the team went to Santo Marco in order to deal with its dictator Emilio Duarte and his Nuke Platoon who were exterminating mutants and mutant sympathizers.[89] Along the way, the team came across Nuke and discovered the supply factory of the Nuke Platoon.[89] After being betrayed by Nuke,[90] the team was forced to take the Nuke pills in order to face Nuke and his platoon before blowing up the factory while Nuke escaped and assassinated Duarte putting an end to this threat. Afterwards, Lady Deathstrike revealed to Sabretooth that she decided to keep some of the pills used by the Nuke Platoon for herself in case she didn't want to play a hero anymore, Sabretooth smiled at this reveal and agreed with her.[91]

Orphans of X[]

Shortly after, Lady Deathstrike and others people whose powers were similar to Wolverine such as Laura Kinney, Old Man Logan, Sabretooth and Daken came under threat of the clandestine organization called The Orphans of X.[92] Lady Deathstrike, Sabretooth, Daken and Old Man Logan were captured and executed by the Orphans of X with bullets created with the metal of the Muramasa Blade that could nullify their healing factor.[4] The bullets were later removed by Laura Kinney, resulting in their resurrection and after discovering the reasons behind the Orphans of X's hatred of them, Laura managed to reason with them and reach an armistice.[5]

Hunt for Wolverine[]

Hunt for Wolverine Claws of a Killer Vol 1 3 Textless

A deadly hunt

After hearing reports that Wolverine might be alive, Lady Deathstrike teamed up with Sabretooth and then contacted Daken, the duo asked him to help them investigate Logan's possible return and in case he was alive to kill him once again, Daken agreed and joined them. Using data from military satellites, the team tracked down an adamantium signature similar to Logan's in Maybelle and discovered that a company named Soteira was conducting experiments there which resulted in the town being infested with zombies.[93] Along the way the trio discovered that their healing factor weren't working and that the bites of those zombies could be lethal to them.[2] On top of zombies, a Soteira kill team composed of two soldiers attacked the trio. Much to Yuriko's surprise one of the soldiers was revealed to be her dead father: Lord Dark Wind.[94]

Shocked by this reveal, Lady Deathstrike lower her guard and was stabbed and fell to the ground at the mercy of her father. As Lord Dark Wind was about to kill her, Daken intervened and fought against him but he was no match for Dark Wind who killed him. Regaining her senses, Yuriko was able to avoid a zombie's attack and confronted her father, she understood that the adamantium signature she's been tracking wasn't Logan but her father the whole time. As she tried to reason with her father and understand what was going on, he attacked her once again, during their fight she discovered that he was only repeating the same words over and over: "You will be useful" and kept attacking her. In the midst of the battle, Lord Dark Wind cut Yuriko's left hand off with his sword prompting Yuriko to stab him in the neck with her claws, resulting in her father dropping his sword and stop attacking her.

She then went after Sabretooth and stabbed his assailant in the neck as well, Lady Deathstrike and Sabretooth then decided to leave Daken's dead body behind and later found a strange green glowing device responsible for suppressing their healing factor.[95] Running out of time after learning that the town was about to be burned to the ground by Soteira, Sabretooth destroyed the device, and as a result their healing powers returned. The next day Yuriko and Sabretooth hijacked a car and left the town. Unknown to Lady Deathstrike, Sabretooth later contacted Kitty Pryde and he gave her the details of what happened in Maybelle because he wanted to atone for his past sins.[96]

Weapon X-Force[]

Yuriko Oyama (Earth-616) from Weapon X Vol 3 27 001

Lady Deathstrike as a member of Weapon X-Force

Quickly after Logan ceded field leadership to Sabretooth due to his ailing health, Lady Deathstrike became aware of Victor's intentions to return to his mercenary ways, and expressed her interest in joining him.[97] After the recruitment of Omega Red, Warpath quit the team due to his disagreement with Sabretooth's behavior,[98] Victor successfully shifted the team's modus operandi to become mercenaries.[99]

After several successful missions, the team decided to rescue Monet, who had fallen under the influence of a cult secretly led by Mentallo.[100] After freeing Monet and being joined by Deadpool, the team decided to take down the cult and discovered that its real leader was William Stryker.[101] Along the way the team was captured and forced to fight in an arena against several mutants put under the control of Mentallo but thanks to the Nuke pills that Lady Deathstrike kept after the Santa Marco mission, they were able to free all the mutants from Mentallo's control and killed Stryker.[102] But After learning that Stryker went to Hell and planned to return, the team decided to go to Hell in order to deal with him once and for all, to that end they went to see Azazel.[103] After a brief fight with him, he agreed to send them to Hell,[104] the team was then able to stop Stryker but as the cost of Sabretooth sacrificing his life. Unknown to the team, a feral Sabretooth free of the inversion and back to his older self was later sent back to the land of the living by the Devil.[19]

Criminal Technology Show Expo[]

Lady Deathstrike was seen at the Criminal Technology Show Expo alongside several other supervillains. When King Cobra revealed that Iron Man and M.O.D.O.K. were in attendance while disguised as other villains, Lady Deathstrike joined in the ensuing brawl.[105]

Equinox Blade[]

Lady Deathstrike attempted to steal the Equinox Blade from the British Museum and used it to steal the souls of the security guards. She was stopped by Shang-Chi who punched her out of the window. Afterwards, he broke the blade which returned the souls of the security guards back to their bodies. Lady Deathstrike was next seen holding part of the broken blade which was glowing with energy.[106]

Atelier[]

Desiring to join the Atelier, an elite assassins guild that her brother was a high-ranking member of, Yuriko was partnered with Deadpool -- to her dismay -- and assigned Valentine Vuong as a handler. Ordered to assassinate Doctor Octopus, Yuriko was furious when Deadpool failed to rendezvous with her and set out to complete the mission on her own.[107] Finding Deadpool had been captured by Harrower -- who had allied with Doctor Octopus -- and implanted with a clone of the Carnage symbiote, Yuriko was livid to discover he hadn't even noticed he'd been partnered with her due to being smitten with Valentine. While Deadpool was able to escape, Yuriko learned that they had failed the mission due to taking too long and was denied membership to the Atelier.[108]

Accusing her brother of setting her up to fail, Yuriko vowed to exact revenge on Deadpool and hunted him down at the Metropolitan Zoo, where he was on a date with Valentine. Attacked by giant arthropods mutated by the Harrower,[109] Yuriko fought her way to Deadpool -- who was in the middle of a battle against Doctor Octopus and the Harrower -- and attempted to kill him. Deadpool's symbiote succumbed to Harrower's control, grabbing Yuriko and fatally impaling her on dozens of spikes when she attacked Deadpool. Valentine -- who had lost one of their arms in the fight -- synthesized a formula to resuscitate and heal Yuriko, demanding she help them rescue Deadpool. When Yuriko refused, Valentine revealed they were a high-ranking member of Atelier and that they had dosed her with a poison that would slowly and painfully kill her unless she complied.[6]

Attributes

Power Grid[110]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Master: Several Forms of Combat:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Enhanced:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Powers

Lady Deathstrike possesses various superhuman attributes as a result of allowing herself to be transformed into a cyborg.

  • Nail Manipulation: Deathstrike's main modus of offense are her ten extendable razor sharp fingernails she can elongate up to 12' (300 mm) in length each. The claws, much like her cybernetic skeleton, are laced with Adamantium which enables her to cut and pierce through any substance. Save adamantium and Captain America's Shield, her ability to tear through a substance is proportionate to the amount of strength behind her swings. Yuriko can also hyper-extend her fingers & claws to great lengths to impale targets from a distance.[30]
  • Superhuman Strength: Lady Deathstrike is superhumanly strong and is capable of lifting about 1 ton with supreme effort.
  • Superhuman Speed: Deathstrike is capable of running and moving at speeds greater than the finest human athlete.
  • Superhuman Stamina: Deathstrike's artificial musculature produces less fatigue toxins than the natural musculature of an ordinary human. She can physically exert herself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue begins to impair her.
  • Superhuman Agility: Her agility, balance, and bodily coordination have all been enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
  • Superhuman Reflexes: Her reflexes are similarly enhanced and are superior to those of even the finest human athlete.
  • Cybernetic Healing Factor: As as result of receiving an upgrade from Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike is able to rapidly repair damage done to both her cybernetic and organic parts within a brief period of time. She has proven capable of fully repairing damaged or destroyed cybernetic and organic tissue inflicted by Wolverine's Adamantium claws within the span of a few minutes. The more extensive the damage, the longer her reconfiguration program takes to repair her body.
  • Mental Resistance: Because her consciousness is part computer and can be backed up in non-organic databanks, Deathstrike is highly resistant to telepathy and brainwashing efforts that only target her human side.[44]
  • Cyberpathy: Deathstrike is able to cybernetically interface her consciousness with external computer systems, allowing for direct data access to her brain's memory centers and granting her the ability to remotely operate digital & computerized systems.[30][98]

Abilities

Lady Deathstrike is a supremely skilled martial artist, considered an expert in the art of Kenjutsu and other samurai warrior skills. She is an accomplished pilot of various aircraft and seacraft, and is fluent in both Japanese and English.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Lady Deathstrike formerly wore a wristband that contained instrumentation capable of detecting Adamantium.

Weapons

Adamantium Skeleton and Claws: Lady Deathstrike's skeleton has been infused with Adamantium. As a result, her bones have been rendered virtually unbreakable. Her fingers have been replaced with 12 inch Adamantium claws that she is capable of extending to twice that length. Her claws are capable of cutting almost any known material, with the exceptions of Adamantium itself and Captain America's Shield. Her ability to slice completely through a substance depends upon both the amount of force she can exert and the thickness of the substance.

Prior to her transformation into a cyborg, Lady Deathstrike wielded a five-foot-long electromagnetically tempered steel katana. The weapon was destroyed after it shattered against Vindicator's personal force field. She subsequently used a high-powered, long-range blaster that fired armor-piercing explosive bullets, and has also used grenades of great explosive force.

Trivia

  • Yuriko, along with her brothers, were tutored privately by Marcy Stryker, the wife of William Stryker.

See Also

Links and References

Recommended Readings[]

References

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  2. 2.0 2.1 Hunt for Wolverine: Claws of a Killer #2
  3. 3.0 3.1 Wolverine (Vol. 2) #304
  4. 4.0 4.1 All-New Wolverine #28
  5. 5.0 5.1 All-New Wolverine #30
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Deadpool (Vol. 9) #4
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Uncanny X-Men #205
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Daredevil #198
  9. 9.0 9.1 Daredevil #199
  10. Alpha Flight #34
  11. 11.0 11.1 Uncanny X-Men #247
  12. X-Treme X-Men #25
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  22. Daredevil #196
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  96. Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends #1
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  105. M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #2
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