Profile: Magik

Illyana Rasputina, Magik
First appearance: She was first seen as a child in Giant-Size X-Men #1, but her first actual appearance was Uncanny X-Men #160. She’s the younger sister of Piotr Rasputin (Colossus), and like him is also a native of Russia. (In English, her last name does not include the letter A at the end, but that appears to be how they spelled it not just for her, but even for her mother!) She was a member of New Mutants and a good friend of Kitty Pryde.

Current status: dead

Was subjected to the following acts of discrimination: held captive by the villainous Arcade and his assistant Miss Locke to use as a pawn in attacking the X-Men, held captive by a sorceror named Belasco in the Otherplace (Limbo) dimension, where he turned part of her soul demonic, used it to conjure up bloodstones, and even made her look part vampiric before she finally beat him in a battle and drove him out of his own realm, regaining her human form again. However, she later became infected with the Legacy virus, and died from it, which had the effect of sending Colossus over the edge and into Magneto’s Acolytes for a time.

What’s wrong with how this was done? It’s the fact that they killed her off that is. Instead of developing her character full time, they chose to kill her off, all for the purpose of a storyline that focuses on the effects this had on her brother, who for a time turned criminal. Another story wherein the female’s death serves as a catalyst for a male, instead of one where you can focus on the female’s personality, a much better idea.

And while her brother has been revived from a death of almost four years (in Astonishing X-Men, written by Joss Whedon), she still remains in the grave.