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Magik I
Real Name: Illyana Nikolievna
Rasputin (anglicized from Rasputina, the correct feminine form of her last name in Russian)
Occupation: Student
Legal Status: Citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; lived in the United States under a special visa;
no criminal record, a minor.
Identity: Secret
Place of Birth: Ust-Ordynski Collective, near Lake Baikal,
Siberia, U.S.S.R.
Place of Death: The Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State
Marital
Status: Single
Known Relatives: Nikolai Rasputin (father, deceased), Alexandra Rasputina (mother, deceased),
Piotr (Peter) Rasputin (Colossus, brother), Mikhail Rasputin (brother)
Group Affiliation: New Mutants
Base Of Operations: Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (later known as the Xavier Institute), Salem Center, Westchester County, New York
State. Also Limbo (also known as Otherplace--see note at end of entry).
First Appearance: (as child) GIANT-SIZE
X-MEN #1, (as adolescent) UNCANNY X-MEN #160
History: Illyana Rasputin was the younger sister of Piotr (Peter)
Rasputin, who left their home at the Ust-Ordynski collective farm in Siberia when Illyana was quite young to become Colossus,
one of the team of mutant adventurers called the X-Men. A few years later Illyana was somehow abducted from the Soviet Union through the
machinations of the woman known only as Miss Locke, the assistant to the eccentric assassin Arcade. Arcade was being held captive by one of Doctor Doom's robotic duplicates, and Miss Locke took Illyana and other people dear to the X-Men
hostage in order to force the X-Men to go to Arcade's rescue. The main team of X-Men battled the Doom robot and obtained Arcade's
release, and a team of reserve members of the X-Men freed Illyana and her fellow captives from Miss Locke. Unwilling to risk
the dangers as a defector returning to the Soviet Union to bring the now seven-year-old Illyana back to her parents, Peter
Rasputin decided to have Illyana stay with him at the X-Men's Westchester headquarters.
Some months later, the sorcerer
Belasco brought Illyana and the X-Men to his extra-dimensional realm, which he called Limbo
but is also known as Otherplace. A group of X-Men from a divergent Earth had come to Belasco's Limbo earlier, but most of
them had been killed there. The sole survivors had been Kitty Pryde, who had become an adult there named Cat, and Storm, who had also grown older, lost her power to control the weather, and become a sorceress.
As the X-Men of our Earth escaped back to Earth, Belasco seized Illyana's arm. The Kitty Pryde of our Earth seized Illyana's
other arm, but Belasco ripped Illyana from Pryde's grasp, and held her captive in Limbo.
Belasco turned a portion
of Illyana's soul demonic in nature, giving that part of her a strong tendency towards what humanity considers evil. This
part of her soul was what Illyana called her "darksoul." In the process Belasco also conjured a "bloodstone" from Illyana's
soul and placed it within the so-called Beatrice Medallion. If and when Belasco conjured five bloodstones for the medallion,
Illyana, who would then be the Darkchilde, entirely demonic in nature, would serve as the means by which Belasco's masters,
the demonic Elder Gods, would invade and conquer the Earth and its entire universe.
Belasco's spell also gave Illyana's
darksoul considerable sorcerous power. The sorceress Storm took Illyana under her wing, hoping to teach her how to combat
Belasco's evil influence. Storm gave Illyana her first lesson in how to utilize magic. However, Cat feared that the more Illyana
learned of magic, the easier it would prove for Belasco to corrupt her. Therefore, Cat took Illyana from Storm, and taught
her how to fight. Years before, Belasco had transformed Cat, giving her certain inhuman catlike physical characteristics.
When Illyana was physically nine years old, Belasco transformed Cat even further, giving her a catlike consciousness and putting
her under his control. Belasco then made Illyana his apprentice in sorcery.
The demonic side of Illyana's soul reveled
in serving Belasco, and his influence over her grew continually stronger, no matter how hard she resisted. But her true, good
personality remained in control, and as she studied Belasco's magic books, she searched for a means to destroy him. Years
after becoming his apprentice, Illyana discovered her own mutant power to create energy discs by which she could teleport
herself through space and time.
Storm finally fought Belasco in an attempt to save Illyana, but Belasco had Cat wound
Storm. Horrified, Illyana tried to keep Cat away from Storm, and Belasco, displeased, ordered Cat to attack Illyana. Illyana
found herself forced to kill Cat to save herself.
Belasco had already conjured a second bloodstone from Illyana's
soul. He now conjured the third and intended to sacrifice Storm's soul to the Elder Gods. Illyana killed Storm as the only
means of saving her from this dreadful fate. Finally, Illyana, who had mastered the magic in Belasco's books, did battle with
Belasco himself. She used her weapon, her newly-formed Soulsword, the ultimate expression of her mystical power. As the two
battled, Illyana grew mentally and physically more demonic, while Belasco reverted to human form, losing much of his power.
Illyana nearly killed Belasco with the Soulsword, but decided instead to let him live, and not to give in to her demonic side.
She drove Belasco from Limbo and regained her human form.
Illyana then returned to Earth at long last, at a point
only seconds after the X-Men's escape from Limbo. However, whereas only seconds had passed for the X-Men, Illyana had aged
seven years in Limbo, time having passed more quickly for her there than it did on Earth due to Limbo's unknown temporal laws.
(Although Illyana aged seven years in Limbo, it is unclear whether she actually spent the equivalent of seven years there.
Illyana herself has stated that she had difficulty keeping track of time there.) Illyana was now fourteen years old, and turned
fifteen shortly afterwards. Belasco's principal demon servant, S'ym, followed Illyana to Earth but Illyana defeated him in
battle and demanded he renounce Belasco. S'ym did so and from that time forward Illyana was the undisputed master of Belasco's
Limbo. However, Illyana preferred to live on Earth, where she became a member of the New Mutants, a group consisting of mostly
adolescent mutants being trained in the use of their powers. Illyana took the code name Magik and was the best friend of X-Man
Kitty Pryde.
S'ym later seized control of Otherplace and headed a demonic invasion of Earth. In helping to thwart
the invasion, Illyana somehow reverted to the age she had been before she first went to Limbo. In the process she lost her
magical abilities and her soul was no longer partly demonic.
However, sometime later Illyana contracted the Legacy
Virus and she eventually died from it despite the X-Men's greatest efforts. This was the tragic event that sent her brother,
Colossus, into the folds of Magneto and the Acolytes.
Height: 5 ft. 5 in.
Weight: 120 lbs.
Eyes:
Blue
Hair: Blonde
Stength Level: Magik possessed the normal human strength of a girl of her physical
age, height, and build who engaged in intensive regular exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: Magik is both a
superhumanly powerful mutant and a highly expert sorceress. Magik's mutant power is the ability to teleport herself and others through time and space
by creating "stepping discs" of an unknown form of energy. If she teleports herself or someone else from one place on Earth
to another, the person being teleported passes through Magik's limbo in the process. Magik can also teleport herself or someone
else into her limbo or out of it. Apparently she can mentally scan her limbo while on Earth in order to locate whoever she
wishes to teleport to Earth from it.
Magik has succeeded
in teleporting herself and another person across a continent on one occasion, and across centuries in time on another. However,
Magik has not yet mastered her teleportational ability. The greater the distance over which she teleports, the greater the
possible margin of error in terms of her arriving at the point in time she desires. Hence, when she once teleported herself
and a friend from New York State to California, hoping to arrive within seconds of the time she left and her friend instead
arrived one week later, having accidentally traveled into the future. Magik is continuously practicing the use of her teleportational
power in order to master it.
Magik is the sorceress
supreme of her limbo dimension. The extent of her powers there has yet to be defined, but she can probably cast any magic
spell that Belasco could, having had access to his store of sorcerous knowledge. For unknown reasons, Magik's magical abilities
are far more limited in Earth's dimension. On Earth she can perform astral projection and sense mystical presences. However,
her magical powers on Earth are primarily limited to the use of her soulsword, which is the ultimate embodiment of her mystical
might. The soulsword will have no physical effect on a non-supernatural creature; it will pass right through such a creature
as if it were intangible. However, the soulsword can release a nonsupernatural being from any magical spell that it is under.
Moreover, the soulsword can physically injure arid even kill a supernatural being such as a demon.
The more that Magik
uses her magical power on any occasion, the more mystical armor appears on her body. The nature and origin of this armor is
as yet unknown.
For unknown reason,
the soulsword can physically injure Kitty Pryde, alias Shadowcat, even when she is using her phasing power to become intangible.
Pryde is also the only known person other than Magik who can wield the soulsword effectively. When Pryde does so, Magik's
armor begins to appear on Pryde's body. Moreover, when the Beyonder once freed Illyana from the influence of her darksoul,
Pryde gained the ability to produce and wield the soulsword. Illyana later took the darksoul influence back upon herself in
order that she could again wield the soulsword to save Pryde's life from a demon. The reason for the mystical connection between
Illyana Rasputin and Kitty Pryde, each of whom is the other's best friend, is unknown.
Base of Operations:
Magik is the mistress of a dimension she calls limbo. The word "limbo" is frequently used to describe interdimensional voids.
Magik's limbo is not such a void, but is probably a small pocket dimension that is tenuously connected to True Limbo, where
time does not pass in a physical sense and, as a result, no one can age or die. Time does pass in a physical sense in Magik's
limbo, and she aged seven years during her first sojourn there. However, one might spend years in Magik's limbo while no more
than moments pass on Earth, due to the unknown temporal laws of the former place. The matter within Magik's limbo can be shaped
and transformed by the thoughts and emotions of the sorcerer who is its master.
Magik's limbo is populated
by demons who serve its master. The principal demon is known as S'ym.
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