Lady Deathstrike


Kelly Hu as Yukiro Oyama, aka Lady Deathstrike, in X2: X-Men United (2003).

Lady Deathstrike

(pop culture)Lady Deathstrike is a cyborg of super proportions. As an assassin and CEO of her father's Oyama Heavy Industries, she has a deep history rooted in Japanese culture, martial arts, and espionage. She was introduced as Yuriko Oyama, the daughter of criminal scientist and Daredevil enemy Lord Dark Wind (once World War II Japanese kamikaze pilot Kenji Oyama) in Daredevil vol. 1 #197 (1983), and as Lady Deathstrike in Alpha Flight vol. 1 #33 (1985). Lady Deathstrike is a highly skilled martial artist, who is known for her mastery of art of Kenjitsu and other samurai warrior skills. She is endowed with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes. Her skeleton has been artificially laced with the metal adamantium, making her bones virtually unbreakable. Although Lord Dark Wind developed a process for bonding adamantium to human bone, he did not experiment on his daughter. It was the villain Mojo's accomplice Spiral who had Yuriko converted into a cyborg in his “Body Shoppe.” A key opponent of Wolverine, Lady Deathstrike has also gone up against the U.S. government– sponsored Freedom Force team, other members of the X-Men, and Captain America. Lady Deathstrike's fingers have all been replaced with 12-inch-long adamantium claws, which she is capable of extending to twice their original length, making her a match for Wolverine, whom she has hunted in lands both far and near. She is able to cybernetically interface her consciousness with external computer systems, allowing for direct data access to her brain's memory and granting her the ability to remotely operate such systems. Deathstrike's body also includes an automatic self-repair program. However, the version of Lady Deathstrike in Marvel's Ultimate X-Men comic (2001–present) appears to be a mutant rather than a cyborg, and works for the Weapon X program. Actress Kelly Hu portrayed Lady Deathstrike in X2: X-Men United (2004), although in the film the character is referred to only by her real name of Yuriko Oyama. The character also appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997).