Lyja
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| Lyja | |
 Cover to Fantastic Four #410. Art by Paul Ryan. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | as Alicia Masters Secret Wars #12 (April, 1985) as Lyja Fantastic Four 357 (October, 1991) |
| Created by | Jim Shooter Michael Zeck |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Lyja |
| Team affiliations | Fantastic Four Skrull Empire |
| Notable aliases | Alicia Masters Storm, The Lazerfist, Bridget O'Neil, Laura Green |
| Abilities | Shapeshifting formerly: Energy blasts |
Lyja is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As a Skrull, she possesses the ability to shapeshift into almost any humanoid or animal form. Modifications on her body gave her the power to generate energy blasts.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Longtime enemies of the Fantastic Four, the Skrull empire embarked on a plan to infiltrate the Fantastic Four via seduction. The author of the plan, Paibok the Power Skrull, selected the warrior Lyja to be the spy and espionage agent, possibly because they had once had a failed affair.
Unbeknownst even to readers, during the Secret Wars Lyja replaced Alicia Masters, blind sculptor and love interest of the Thing. Posing as Alicia Masters, she greeted the Fantastic Four on their return to Earth from the Secret Wars.[1] The Skrull plan almost hit a snag when Lyja discovered that the Thing opted to stay behind at the end of the war, instead of returning home to Earth. Lyja instead seduced Johnny Storm, and when the Thing learned that Johnny and "Alicia" were lovers, they became estranged.[2] She eventually married Johnny, under the false pretenses of being Alicia Masters.[3]
However, later, Lyja was forced by the Thing to transform back to her true Skrull appearance, revealing her real identity, as well as the fact that the real Alicia was a captive of the Skrulls.[4] Lyja revealed she was pregnant by Johnny Storm, and then aided the Fantastic Four in finding the real Alicia Masters in the Skrull Empire. In the ensuing battle to rescue Alicia, Lyja was believed to be slain, when she threw herself in the path of a blast which Paibok had meant for the Human Torch.[5]
Instead Paibok recovered her and revealed to Devos the Devastator that she was still alive.[6] Paibok, with the assistance of Devos, awoke Lyja from her comatose state, also bestowing her with the power to fly and fire energy blasts from her hands (becoming "Lyja the Lazerfist"). These powers were later revealed to come from a special device implanted into her. Joining them in search of vengeance, the three arrived on Earth, and isolated and battled the Torch at Empire State University. Panicking, the Torch burst into his Nova Flame and destroyed the campus.[7] Alongside Devos and Paibok, Lyja witnessed a battle between the Fantastic Four and an alternate Fantastic Four. However, Lyja still bore feelings for the Torch and once again betrayed her cohorts to side with the Four.[8]
Lyja then first encountered Uatu the Watcher, and aided the Fantastic Four against Doctor Doom.[9] Alongside the Fantastic Four, Lyja battled Devos, Paibok, Klaw, and Huntara.[10] Lyja impersonated Bridget O'Neil, and became jealous on discovering Johnny Storm's affection for Bridget.[11]
After returning to the Fantasic Four and Johnny, Lyja claimed she was pregnant with Johnny's child. Over time, Lyja and Johnny began to grow close again. When Lyja delivered the "child" (an egg), the implant that gave her the "Lazerfist" powers was also removed, returning Lyja to an ordinary Skrull with no extra powers beyond her shapeshifting. The implant was subsequently absorbed by a normal human, apparently an electronics expert named Raphael Suarez, who gained the "Lazerfist" powers, and attempted to contact the Fantastic Four for their assistance. However, after the hectic events that followed the hatching of the "egg", Raphael wandered off, realizing the Fantastic Four were not going to be of any help in their current state, and has not been referenced since.
Although Lyja and Johnny were growing close, Lyja was continuously torn about telling Johnny something. She was too scared to risk shattering the bonds they had managed to form again, and kept putting it off. Ultimately, it was too late. The "egg" was revealed, not to be their child, but rather a Skrull bio-weapon, which Lyja subsequently destroyed after it hatched. Johnny, enraged at being betrayed and deceived again by Lyja, broke things off with her again.
However, still in love with Johnny, Lyja stalked him while as a human, Laura Green. Johnny was initially interested in a fellow college student but when he realized nothing was going to materialize with her his focus shifted to Laura/Lyja. Lyja, having learned her lessons well, decided to eventually reveal herself before Johnny felt betrayed again. However, after sharing a kiss with Laura, Johnny already knew that his ex-wife was in fact Laura Green. During the Onslaught crisis when Lyja was injured she attempted to tell Johnny the truth but he informed her that he already knew. The couple seemed to be on track to reconciling their relationship but then the Fantastic Four were thought dead after fighting Onslaught, and Lyja left to attempt a normal life, masquerading again as a human woman.
[edit] Secret Invasion
During the Secret Invasion storyline,[12] Lyja poses as the Invisible Woman in order to send the Baxter Building to the Negative Zone [13]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Lyja's Deviant Skrull heritage give her the ability to change size, shape, and color at will, taking on the appearance but not the characteristics of other beings and objects. Skrulls cannot duplicate the superhuman powers of the beings they use their shape-shifting powers to impersonate.
For a brief time, because of genetic alteration (really an implant) by Paibok the Power Skrull, Lyja had the ability to project blasts of laser-like beams called her "bio-blasts" from her hands without harm to herself. She could suspend herself in the air by firing her bio-blasts beneath her. These powers were lost when her body rejected the power-generating implant during her giving "birth."
Lyja wears body armor of unspecified materials. She wore special contact lenses that rendered her blind while she impersonated Alicia Masters.
Lyja has been trained in armed and unarmed combat by the Skrull military. She is also trained in acting and educated in Earth culture and history and the English language by Skrull tutors. She is also talented as a creator of abstract sculpture.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Marvel Zombies
Lyja appears in the Marvel Zombies Universe on a planet besieged by the Zombie Galactus- consisting of zombie versions of Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine and the Hulk during a Black Panther crossover. Here she possesses the power of the Invisible Woman as part of an experiment following the death of the Super-Skrull in this universe; unable to replicate the Super-Skrull, the Fantastic Four's powers were instead given to four different Skrulls. She is loyal to the Skrulls and seems insulted when the Johnny Storm of the regular Marvel Universe admits to knowing her.
She is shortly thereafter infected with the zombie virus, along with the rest of her team. During the subsequent conflict between the two teams, she is decapitated by a vibranium dagger thrown by the Black Panther, and her head is subsequently destroyed by Storm before she can bite Johnny.
[edit] MC2
In the MC2 universe, Lyja is once again married to the Human Torch and is a member of the Fantastic Five, under the name Ms. Fantastic. The couple has a son, Torus Storm, who inherited both Lyja's shape-shifting abilities and the Torch's flame powers. She remains active among the Fantastic Five and is sporadically seen in the Spider-Girl series and related mini-series.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Television
Lyja appeared as a Skrull soldier in the Fantastic Four 1994 TV series, voiced by Katherine Moffat.
[edit] References
- ^ Fantastic Four #265
- ^ Fantastic Four #277
- ^ Fantastic Four #300
- ^ Fantastic Four #357
- ^ Fantastic Four #358
- ^ Fantastic Four #366
- ^ Fantastic Four #369-372
- ^ Fantastic Four #374
- ^ Fantastic Four #375
- ^ Fantastic Four #378
- ^ Fantastic Four #379
- ^ SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #2 - Marvel Comics Publishing Catalog
- ^ Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
[edit] External links
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