Marvel's Wolverine Confirms A Mostly Forgotten Villain
Along with Sabretooth and the Reavers, Logan will be facing off against a blast from the past.
The X-Men have a pretty eclectic cast of villains, from the Master of Magnetism to the undying superpowered eugenicist Mister Sinister, but Wolverine in particular has one of the most underrated rogues galleries in comics. From Sabretooth to Silver Samurai to Omega Red, Logan has amassed countless foes throughout his extended life, and during his time with the X-Men, with many of those enemies echoing him in specific ways.
Several of those villains have even made it to the big screen, too. Sabretooth was a recurring antagonist in the Fox X-Men film series, and a version of the Silver Samurai appeared as the final villain in 2013’s The Wolverine, a cinematic reinterpretation of Logan’s time in Japan. However, there’s another classic Wolverine foe who appeared in those films and even showed up recently in Deadpool and Wolverine: Lady Deathstrike, who was played by Kelly Hu in X2: X-Men United and Jade Lye in the MCU and yet has never gotten her proper due as a villain. Hopefully that’ll change with the release of Marvel’s Wolverine, as a new cinematic trailer just revealed her presence amongst the growing roster of antagonists Logan will be facing off against.
The trailer doesn’t reveal much in the way of plot, instead focusing on Wolverine across numerous intercut battles, trying desperately to hold on to a photograph of him and Jean Grey. Across these skirmishes, we see many of the game’s confirmed villains: Sabretooth, the cybernetic mutant-hunting Reavers, and Lady Deathstrike, facing off against Logan in the streets of what appears to be Madripoor. The cinematic trailer won’t do much for fans expecting to see some gameplay, but it’s a possible indication that a tragically underutilized villain might finally get a chance to shine.
Lady Deathstrike’s first appearance, in her civilian persona of Yuriko Oyama, was technically in the pages of Daredevil #197, written by Dennis O’Neil and illustrated by William Johnson. Initially she was the abused daughter of the psychotic criminal Lord Dark Wind, a scientist responsible for the creation of the adamantium bonding process used by Weapon X. At first she sought revenge against her father for imprisoning her lover Kira, but after slaying Dark Wind and inadvertently causing Kira’s death, Yuriko’s mind snapped and she became obsessed with restoring her father’s legacy, particularly by collecting adamantium to make up for the theft of his research.
Yuriko’s bloody rivalry with Logan stems from her seeking revenge on those who received treatments based on her father’s achievements.
The version of Deathstrike most people know was a creation of writer Chris Claremont and artist Barry Windsor-Smith as part of Claremont’s acclaimed run on the X-Men in the 80s – during his time, Yuriko (now going by Lady Deathstrike) had adamantium bonded to her skeleton and received several cybernetic enhancements, including replacing her fingers with the trademark adamantium claws she uses in her frequent bouts with Wolverine. Despite being a popular villain in the 90s (enough to earn an episode of the original X-Men: The Animated Series), Deathstrike has slipped out of relevance recently in the comics, along with her misused nature in film adaptations.
Regardless of her fall from grace, Yuriko is still one of Wolverine’s most recognizable foes and has a ton of potential for Marvel’s Wolverine to explore, and if the game involves Logan’s past with the Weapon X program, then she and her father are sure to factor into the story far more than just a brief cameo.
