DARKSTAR I (Laynia Petrovna)
Created By: Tony Isabella & George Tuska
First Appearance: The Champions #7 (Aug. 1976)
Role: Hot Russian Babe, Soviet Defector, Green Lantern-Type
Country of Origin: Belarus (formerly Russia/The Soviet Union
Group Affiliations: The Champions, The Winter Guard
PL 10 (160)
STRENGTH 1
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+10)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Russian Agent) 5 (+7)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Ranged Attack (Darkforce) 4 (+10)
Vehicles 2 (+4)
Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment (Costume), Improved Critical (Darkforce), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Concealment), Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Darkforce Control"
"Black Hand" Snare 10 (Feats: Dynamic, Reversible) Linked to Blast 7 (46) -- [59]
- Dynamic AE: "Blinding Tendrils" Affliction 10 (Strength; Hindered, Vulnerable & Impaired/Defenseless, Immobile & Disabled/Visually Unaware) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition +2) (Flaws: Limited to Visuals) (30)
- Dynamic AE: "Black Blast" Blast 10 (Feats: Precise) (22)
- Dynamic AE: "Improved Field" Force Field 4 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Impervious 8, Affects Others 8) (26)
- Dynamic AE: "Black Objects" Create 10 (Feats: Precise) (Extras: Movable) (32)
- Dynamic AE: "Black Cloud" Concealment 2 (Visuals) (Extras: Attack, Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (13)
- AE: Teleport 7 (Feats: Increased Mass 3- 400 lbs.) (Extras: Extended, Accurate) (Flaws: Distracting) (24)
- AE: "Wide Blast" Damage 9 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (18)
- AE: "Blast-Ram" Damage 10 (Extras: 30ft. Line) (20)
Force Field 4 [4]
Flight 7 (240 mph) [14]
Equipment:
"Darkstar Costume"
Immunity 1 (Cold) (1)
Communications (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Blast +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Black Hand +10 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +7
Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+7 Field, +11 Full Field), Fortitude +7, Will +7
Complications:
Responsibility (Russian Agent)- Though Laynia once defected, she currently serves the Winter Guard again.
Relationship (Iceman)- They kinda almost hooked-up, but Laynia always saw him as more of a friend until it was too late.
Relationship (Brother, Father)- Darkstar is devoted to her jerk of a brother Vanguard, and still honors her father, now known as The Presence.
Responsibility (Darkforce)- The Darkforce is a cold, unfeeling power source, and Laynia may often struggle against it- using her will against it's own.
Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 77 / Defenses: 13 (160)
Darkstar- Russia's Pre-Eminent Defender:
-Darkstar's unusual in that she's a foreign hero who actually got a small but protracted push from Marvel, mainly due to her link to The Champions, an honest attempt at making a team out of the most bizarre possible combination (Hercules, Angel, Ice-Man, GHOST RIDER, and Black Widow?). She joined the team after realizing her fellow Russians were truly evil (like every other Russian hero eventually did), stuck around for a while, then moved back to Russia by the time the series ended, where she basically stayed forever. There was a "will they/won't they" thing with Iceman that never went anywhere (the book was cancelled too quickly for it to pan out- all that was established was that Iceman was crushing on her hard), and she hung around with the losers of the Soviet Super-Soldiers and Winter Guard hanging around her neck like an anvil- SHE was a good character, but most of the others were one-note (if that).
-She appeared briefly in
Contest of Champions, then did some stuff in Iron Man's book along with her brother Vanguard, and the Russian bear-man Ursa Major. She & Vanguard learned that the vastly-powerful Presence was in fact their FATHER, then allied with Rom and the Spaceknights against the Dire Wraiths. She and the Russians fought the X-Men & Avengers for custody of Magneto, but ultimately turned on Crimson Dynamo when they discovered that he had been manipulating events. She spent most of the '90s in Comic Book Limbo, leaving the Soviets (and nearly getting killed by the People's Protectorate), then re-joining them when they became the Winter Guard (for example, the three original Soviets aren't there on the Protectorate during
The Crossing Line)- when her brother dies, she tries to kill the man who led the mission that killed him- Quasar (who fakes his demise to cover his leaving Earth).
Darkstar Dies & Returns:
-She was eventually killed in a very casual manner in an agonizingly boring
X-Men story, where she joins the X-Corporation of disparate Mutants in various parts of the globe (an attempt to centralize all of the X-Characters who'd gone into Comic Book Limbo over the years), and is taken over by Weapon XII- Fantomex has to kill her. Much like her brother Vanguard, she didn't stay dead for long- at Marvel, even MINOR characters get resurrections from pointless deaths!
-She got resurrected almost as quickly as she was killed in the three-part
Darkstar & The Winter Guard series, having replaced her SECOND replacement, who died in the process (Laynia's soul was residing within the amulet that empowered her replacements, and was able to take control of it when the second one died). Comics are weird sometimes. But hey, Darkstar's back! And she's... doing... nothing... again. Oh well. It's too bad that she gets so little use- she has a cool costume, a bitchin' codename, distinctive powers (essentially a Green Lantern/Darkforce User combo), a nice concept (Sexy Good-Natured Russian), and more. I think her links to lower-end concepts like Iceman, The Champions and the various Soviet super-teams is actually holding her back, as most of these little-used characters aren't really important, but seemingly ALWAYS have to be along for the ride whenever Laynia needs to do something. And so, as often as not, writers don't bother to use her.
Darkstar's Powers:
-An interesting power-set, Darkstar is basically using all of her powers Arrayed off of a massive Snare/Blast effect, which was powerful enough to hold back Sunfire for a fairly long time. That Linked set-up reflects the fact that it's Snaring AND Constricting foes. She's also got half-a-dozen side-powers, including a Force Field, various types of Blasts & Area Damage effects, a Darkness wave, and the ability to create objects out of the Darkforce itself. The Area Attacks & Teleport are not Dynamic (meaning she has to drop the full power of her Force Field to use them- a dangerous trick for someone who is otherwise much easier to hurt), but the rest is.