| Cheshire | |
|---|---|
 Cheshire, Art by J.G. Jones. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | New Teen Titans Annual #2 (1983) |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman (writer) George Pérez (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jade Nguyen |
| Team affiliations | Injustice League Secret Six Underground Society Tartarus The Ravens |
| Abilities | lethal martial artist poisonous fingernails |
Cheshire is a DC Comics villain. She first appeared in New Teen Titans Annual #2 (1983).[1]
Contents |
Fictional character biography
Born (allegedly, see below) to a French father and a Vietnamese mother, Jade Nguyen had an unhappy childhood and was sold into slavery. As a young adult, after killing her master, Jade was informally adopted by Chinese freedom fighter Weng Chan, who taught her all he knew about guerrilla fighting. She acquired knowledge of poisons from Kruen Musenda, a famed African assassin known as the "Spitting Cobra" and to whom she was married for the two years prior to his death.
She is a long-standing rival of the superhero team the Teen Titans. However, when Roy Harper, a.k.a. the archer Speedy, went undercover for the government in a mission to get her confidence and turn her over, the two fell passionately in love. Knowing he would not be able to turn her in, he walked out; Cheshire would not learn his true identity until later. The result of their romance was a daughter, Lian, whom Roy raises.[1]
Returning to her mercenary ways after leaving Lian behind for Roy, Jade saved Deathstroke's life so he could help her in stealing nuclear weapons from Russia in an attempt to blackmail the world. To prove she is not bluffing, she obliterates the fictional Middle East nation of Qurac, reasoning that since Qurac is a stronghold of Muslim terrorists, that Western countries would be secretly grateful.[2] Cheshire's plans were foiled when her base came under attack and she was forced to flee. She later created her own team, The Ravens.
Cheshire volunteered to join Tartarus, a group created by Vandal Savage with the objective of destroying the Titans. During a confrontation with the Titans and the H.I.V.E, Savage shot Cheshire to distract Arsenal. She recovered, but was taken into custody for crimes including destroying Qurac. Sentenced to life imprisonment, she was broken out by the Ravens. Arsenal, however, forced her back into custody.
Eventually, Chesire discovered that her father was a Senator named Robert Pullman, and she attempts to torture and kill him. To that end, she defeated Lady Shiva, and devised a plan to use her to fake her own death and flee the country with her daughter. Jade ties up Shiva, duct taped her mouth shut, and locked her in the trunk of her car (which was wired to explode), hoping that the authorities will find the charred body of an Asian woman in the flaming car wreck and believe that Jade was killed while fleeing the Senator's murder. Unfortunately for her, Catwoman and Gypsy showed up and untied Shiva, while Huntress and Black Canary stop Jade from murdering the Senator, and then took her into custody. While escaping the scene of the attempted assassination, Jade was punched in the face and thrown out of the helicopter the girls were escaping in by Black Canary to avoid being beaten to death by an enraged Shiva.
In 2005, she appeared in the miniseries Villains United as a member of the Secret Six. During the series, she slept with Thomas Blake, a.k.a. Catman, and became pregnant. At the end of the miniseries, having betrayed the Six to Lex Luthor's Society, she is shot and critically wounded by Deathstroke. As the faux Luthor orders the Society's withdrawal, one of his last commands is to bring Cheshire with, provided she's still alive.
After the "Villains United" series, she later turned up alive, living in a mansion in the Himalaya Mountains with her son by Blake. Working with Vandal Savage again, she put out hits on the other members of the Secret Six except for Blake. Taking matters into her own hands, she stabs the Mad Hatter, who is working with the Six. Her blade was poisoned (as usual) and she later bartered the antidote to the poison to Catman in exchange for her safety.
In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #12, Cheshire was shown in prison, receiving a visit from Roy Harper and Lian.
In the Justice League of America Wedding Special, Cheshire was shown to be a member of the new Injustice League. She was later seen among the exiled villains in Salvation Run.
Cheshire returned as a member of a small army of villains attempting to collect massive bounties on the heads of the Secret Six. She manages to poison the meals of her targets, but is defeated by Jeannette.
Fatherhood question
In the Birds of Prey story arc Sensei and Student, Cheshire herself stated that she finally found out the real identity of her father. According to her, it was U.S. Senator Robert Pullman who raped her mother and left her alone with her unborn child. This would be a retcon, but it remains to be seen whether Jade is really telling the truth.
Powers and abilities
Besides being a skilled hand-to-hand combatant trained in several martial arts thought forever lost, Cheshire is an expert triple-jointed acrobat and uses this skill to move quickly and unexpectedly. Of bigger concern are her artificial fingernails, which she dips in several varieties of poisons. She gives her weapons and other accessories a similar treatment. In Birds of Prey #63, Black Canary calls her "the second most deadly assassin in the world', only topped by Lady Shiva.
Other media
Cheshire was one of the new villains appearing in season 5 of the Teen Titans animated series as a recruit of the Brotherhood of Evil. She resembles her comic incarnation, just apparently younger with a cat mask. She has the ability to turn invisible except for the eyes and grin of her mask, much like the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland. She is also extremely skilled at martial arts, and uses her long kimono sleeves, metal claws and her long hair as her primary weapons. She first captures Speedy for the Brotherhood, and later helps in defeating Herald inside the Brotherhood HQ, but she is not seen for the remainder of the battle.
She also appeared in Teen Titans Go! #34. In Teen Titans Go! #39, she appeared again, but her rematch with Speedy (Roy Harper, in his original superheroic identity) was interrupted when Larry the Titan shot the two of them with Cupid's arrows, causing them to (at least temporarily) fall in love. On the page where all the couples are creating chaos in the Titans Tower, it is seen in the back that Cheshire has taken off her mask to show Speedy her face, but it's shown from the back so the reader isn't able to see her face.
Cheshire is set to appear in the upcoming video game DC Universe Online.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Beatty, Scott (2008), "Cheshire", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 81, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
- ^ Deathstroke #19 (Feb 1993) DC Comics
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