MAGIK

Illyana Rasputin was the younger sister of Piotr Rasputin, who left their home at the Ust-Ordynski collective farm in Siberia when Illyana was quite young to become Colossus, one of the X-Men. A few years later Illyana was somehow abducted from the Soviet Union through the machinations of the woman known only as Miss Locke, the assistant to the eccentric assassin Arcade. Arcade was being held captive by one of Doctor Doom's robotic duplicates, and Miss Locke took Illyana and other people dear to the X-Men hostage in order to force the X-Men to go to Arcade's rescue. A team of reserve members of the X-Men freed Illyana and her fellow captives from Miss Locke. Unwilling to risk the dangers as a defector returning to the Soviet Union to bring the now seven-year-old Illyana back to her parents, Peter Rasputin decided to have Illyana stay with him at the X-Men's Westchester headquarters.

Some months later, the sorcerer Belasco brought Illyana and the X-Men to his extra-dimensional realm, Limbo. A group of X-Men from a divergent Earth had come to Belasco's Limbo earlier, but most of them had been killed there. The sole survivors had been Kitty Pryde, who had become an adult there named Cat, a demonic Nightcrawler, and Storm, who had also grown older and become a sorceress. As the X-Men of our Earth escaped back to Earth, Belasco seized Illyana's arm. The Kitty Pryde of our Earth seized Illyana's other arm, but Belasco ripped Illyana from Pryde's grasp, and held her captive in Limbo.

Belasco turned a portion of Illyana's soul demonic in nature, giving that part of her a strong tendency towards what humanity considers evil. In the process Belasco also conjured a "bloodstone" from Illyana's soul and placed it within the so-called Beatrice Medallion. If and when Belasco conjured five bloodstones for the medallion, Illyana, who would then be the Darkchilde, entirely demonic in nature, would serve as the means by which Belasco's masters, the demonic Elder Gods, would invade and conquer the Earth and its entire universe.

Belasco's spell also gave Illyana's darksoul considerable sorcerous power. The sorceress Storm took Illyana under her wing, hoping to teach her how to combat Belasco's evil influence. Storm gave Illyana her first lesson in how to utilize magic. However, when Illyana got stronger, Belasco made her his apprentice in sorcery.

The demonic side of Illyana's soul reveled in serving Belasco, and his influence over her grew continually stronger, no matter how hard she resisted. But her true, good personality remained in control, and as she studied Belasco's magic books, she searched for a means to destroy him. Years after becoming his apprentice, Illyana discovered her own mutant power to create energy discs by which she could teleport herself through space and time.

Storm finally fought Belasco in an attempt to save Illyana, but Belasco had Cat wound Storm. Horrified, Illyana tried to keep Cat away from Storm, and Belasco, displeased, ordered Cat to attack Illyana. Illyana found herself forced to kill Cat to save herself. Belasco had already conjured a second bloodstone from Illyana's soul. He now conjured the third and intended to sacrifice Storm's soul to the Elder Gods. Illyana killed Storm as the only means of saving her from this dreadful fate. Finally, Illyana, who had mastered the magic in Belasco's books, did battle with Belasco himself. She used her weapon, her newly-formed Soulsword, the ultimate expression of her mystical power. Illyana nearly killed Belasco with the Soulsword, but decided instead to let him live, and not to give in to her demonic side. She drove Belasco from Limbo and became its new mistress.

Illyana then returned to Earth at long last, at a point only seconds after the X-Men's escape from Limbo. However, whereas only seconds had passed for the X-Men, Illyana had aged seven years in Limbo, time having passed more quickly for her there than it did on Earth due to Limbo's unknown temporal laws. Illyana was now fourteen years old, and turned fifteen shortly afterwards. Belasco's principal demon servant, S'ym, followed Illyana to Earth but Illyana defeated him in battle and demanded he renounce Belasco. S'ym did so and from that time forward Illyana was the undisputed master of Belasco's Limbo. However, Illyana preferred to live on Earth, where she eventually became a member of the New Mutants.

After many adventures with the New Mutants, Magik found herself in the middle of the crisis called Inferno, where Sy'm led the demons of Limbo in a invasion of Earth. In helping to thwart the invasion, Illyana somehow reverted to the age she had been before she first went to Limbo. In the process she lost her magical abilities and her soul was no longer partly demonic. Illyana became a seven year old girl again, and was sent home to live with her parents in Russia.

Magik was both a superhumanly powerful mutant and a highly trained sorceress. Her mutant power was the ability to teleport herself and others through time and space by creating "stepping discs" of an unknown form of energy. If she teleported herself or someone else from one place on Earth to another, the person being teleported passed through Magik's Limbo in the process. Magik could also teleport herself or someone else into Limbo or out of it. Apparently she could mentally scan Limbo while on Earth in order to locate whomever she wished to teleport to Earth from it. Magik succeeded in teleporting herself and another person across a continent on one occasion, and across centuries in time on another.

Magik was the supreme sorceress of her Limbo dimension. The extent of her powers there has yet to be defined, but she could possibly cast any magic spell that Belasco could, having had access to his store of sorcerous knowledge. For unknown reasons, Magik's magical abilities were far more limited in Earth's dimension. On Earth she could perform astral projection and sense mystical presences. However, her magical powers on Earth were primarily limited to the use of her Soulsword, which was the ultimate embodiment of her mystical might. The Soulsword had no physical effect on a non-supernatural creature; it would pass right through such a creature as if it were intangible. However, the Soulsword could release a non-supernatural being from any magic spell that it was under. Moreover, the Soulsword could physically injure and even kill a supernatural being, such as a demon.

After the young Illyana was sent home to Russia, her older brother Mikhail later resurfaced, and her parents were killed. She returned to the X-Mansion, where she lived with her brother, Colossus. Eventually, the young girl who had no memories of her time as a teenage superhero contracted the Legacy Virus. Though it took several months, Illyana eventually succumbed to the disease and passed away.