Sat-Yr-9

Opul Lun Sat-Yr-9 (also spelled Sat-Yr-nin) is a fictional character and supervillainess in the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

Sat-Yr-9 first appeared in the UK title Captain Britain Monthly #3 (1984), and was created by Alan Davis. Her first US appearance was in Excalibur #3 (1988).

Fictional character biography

Dictator

Opul Lun Sat-Yr-9 is the dictator of Earth-794, along with her lover Kaptain Briton. When he flees to Earth-616 where he has an identical looking counterpart (Earth-616's Captain Britain), she sends armored troops to retrieve him. They mistakenly attack Captain Britain twice, but are repelled on each occasion. Sat-Yr-9 hires the interdimensional mercenary group, the Technet, but Briton swaps places with Britain, and the Technet take the wrong man back to Earth-794.^[1] Britain later convinces the Technet of their error. When Sat-Yr-9 tries to stop them departing with Britain, the Technet slaughter her soldiers; the already psychotic Sat-Yr-9 becomes completely unhinged.^[2] She kills her subjects, leading Roma to send Captain UK on a mission to overthrow and imprison her.^[3] While Britain is on Earth-794, Briton is killed by Betsy when he tries to rape her.^[4]

Courtney Ross

Sat-Yr-9 kills Courtney Ross to take her place. Art by Alan Davis.

Escaping to Earth-616 through a dimensional gateway that had been opened by Widget, Sat-Yr-9 kills her alternate reality counterpart, a businesswoman named Courtney Ross (and Captain Britain's ex-girlfriend), and takes her place.^[5] As Ross, she tries to create a rift between Captain Britain and his current girlfriend Meggan.

Sat-Yr-9 knows about Jamie Braddock's reality warping powers before anyone else (including Jamie himself), since she has already encountered Jamie's alternate reality counterpart. Sat-Yr-9 challenges Ross's coworker (and secret admirer) Nigel Frobisher to a high-stakes card game at the London Hellfire Club, and wins. Frobisher agrees to serve her, and she orders him to rescue the Earth-616 Jamie Braddock from Doc Croc, intending to use his powers as a living weapon against her adversaries.^[6] Sat-Yr-9 takes Kitty Pryde under her guidance,^[7] enrolling Kitty in the St. Searle's School for Young Ladies, and arranges a deal to save St. Searle's from bankruptcy.^[8]

Sat-Yr-9 uses Jamie's powers to change Frobisher into a duplicate of the female criminal Vixen, while changing the real Vixen into a fox. With Frobisher replacing Vixen, Sat-Yr-9 takes over the Vixen's crime syndicate. Her powerbase built, Sat-Yr-9 attacks Excalibur, revealing her true identity to them. She tries to enslave Captain Britain (with the implication she rapes him while he is under her mind control), against Frobisher's advice. Frobisher, already humiliated by Sat-Yr-9's treatment of him, rebels, but is killed by her. Excalibur defeats Jamie, and Sat-Yr-9 and her troops are forced to flee. Captain Britain swears to avenge Courtney's death, but is unable to track down Sat-Yr-9.

Hellfire Club

After the events of House of M, Sat-Yr-9 returns. Still posing as the Earth-616 Courtney Ross, she has joined the Hellfire Club as its White Queen, with Viper, a former HYDRA assassin, as her self-proclaimed "White Princess" and bodyguard. She tries to convince Captain Britain that she is the real Courtney Ross. Captain Britain remains unconvinced, but has not moved against her.

Notes

• Along with Courtney Ross, Sat-Yr-9 has another alternate reality counterpart; Saturnyne, the Omniversal Majestrix of Otherworld and a servant of Roma.
• An alternate version of Sat-Yr-9 appears in Paradise X: Heralds, where she displays the power to control men through pheromones. The regular Sat-Yr-9 never displayed this ability. This version is called Saturnyne, despite her appearance being that of Sat-Yr-9.
• Sat-Yr-9 can be distinguished visually from her alternate reality counterparts by a tattoo of her stylized knife emblem on her right thigh.

References