Lady Deathstrike
Real name: Yuriko Oyama
AKA: Lady Dee (as the Reavers liked to call her)
First appearance: As Yuriko Oyama, DareDevil 197. As Lady
Deathstrike, Alpha Flight 33. As Lady Deathstrike with...er,
enhancements, Uncanny X-Men 205.
Favorite quote: "I always give better than I get." (Uncanny X-Men 252,
to Donald Pierce, financier and leader of the Reavers, and one-time member of the Hellfire Club)
Abilities: Yuriko was skilled with a katana, a weapon she discarded when she underwent the alien metamorphic process that turned her into a cybernetic organism. Her transformation gave her unbreakable, possibly adamantium claws that slash through most substances and cybernetic implants that enhance her natural senses.
Team Affiliation: Long time field leader of the Reavers before they were destroyed by Sentinels, Yuriko first appeared in the Marvel Universe when she teamed up with DareDevil to fight her father, Japanese crime lord Dark Wind (Kenji Oyama). Yuriko killed her father to free her lover Kiro from Oyama's servitude; the devoted Kiro, however, chose suicide over a life without Dark Wind. Distraught, Yuriko belatedly embraced her father's ideals and determined to track down whomever dishonored him, starting with the person who absconded with Dark Wing's adamantium-to-bone bonding process. Expecting to be led to the assassin Bullseye, Yuriko instead found herself confronted with Wolverine. When Vindicator shattered Yuriko's sword in her first outing as Lady Deathstrike (Alpha Flight 33-34), Yuriko gave herself over to the ministrations of Spiral's Body Shop (Uncanny X-Men 205) to obtain unbreakable claws and bones so that she would be more able to face Wolvie on his own terms. Since then, numerous confrontations with Wolverine, with and without the Reavers, have ended in some out-and-out defeats and many draws. She has become re-dedicated to her late father's nationalistic fervor.
Favorite Storyline: Her original, pre-Deathstrike appearances in DareDevil 197-199.
Least Favorite Storyline: Uncanny X-Men 205. Incoherent plot, murky motivations, and a narrative that starts in the middle of the story. (Although I gotta say: Wolverine 35-37 runs a close second, for most of the same reasons!)
Future For the Character: With Wolverine's skeleton now composed of calcite rather than adamantium, Deathstrike no longer has an arch-enemy. One wonders if she'll hunt down Bullseye, her original target before she got side-tracked... Juggernaut's mystical beginnings!
