Foes of the Superwomen of EVA #14: Dreamqueen
"Almost 800 years ago, Nightmare, the fear lord of the Nightmare World of the Dream Dimension, engaged in a forceful tryst with Zhilla Char, a succubus. Char was left pregnant by the fear lord, who then imprisoned her in a lower realm with no means of escape for her. Eventually, she gave birth to a daughter, and while her body burned away, her spirit was reborn in the daughter. The result was a being born fully-grown and having inherited all of her mother's memories. The woman learned how she was able to manipulate her surroundings to her liking, and how it was part of Nightmare's designs to gift her the very realm she dwelt in. Upon realizing this, the woman took the name Dreamqueen.
Over time, Dreamqueen became bored by her realm, and sought new things to toy with. Her attention was drawn to a village in ancient Japan suffering through a famine, and when a priest of the village sought to communicate with the gods to ask for their aid, he accidentally found himself in Dreamqueen's realm; taking advantage of this, Dreamqueen used the priest to create a link between her realm and the earthly plane. Aside from manipulating the perceptions of the villagers, she also sent a talisman through the link to provide a means for her to escape. When a wandering samurai realized that the priest was the cause of the village's troubles, he struck him down with his sword and left the talisman be; the samurai was the ancestor of the mutant swordsman Kenuichio Harada, also the mercenary known as the Silver Samurai. With the aid of the other holy men of the village, the priest's body and the talisman were buried in a vessel specially-built for them. Dreamqueen became furious over this, even more so when Nightmare informed her that he had warned the samurai of the talisman's dangers. In her anger, Dreamqueen destroyed many of her creations, but still craved the feeling she had whenever she savored a human being's terror. She then became further depressed and bored with her life, a state that remained unchanged for many centuries.
Eventually, the resting place of the priest and the talisman would be uncovered by an archaeological crew working for the Tokyo-3 Natural History Museum. The talisman itself would be accidentally picked up by Hikaru Shidou, the teenage daughter of the head of the crew, as she had been subtly manipulated by Dreamqueen's influence. Hikaru passed out as she became the new living link to the realm of Dreamqueen, who then spread her influence outwards until it covered Tokyo-3, causing people act out their own fantasies without even realizing it. This in turn got the attention of the Avengers, especially Ghost Rider (former Evangelion pilot Asuka Langley-Sohryu), who, realizing they were probably going to need more back-up in all things mystical, called in their ally Lady Suzaku, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. On meeting up, Lady Suzaku (real name Miaka Yuki) revealed she'd brought along additional help in the form of her new friend Sango, the latest to take up the mantle of the mystic warrior known as the Devil-Slayer.
When their first attempt to take on Dreamqueen failed, Asuka and Miaka did a quick bit of research on their foe, which led them to learn that anyone of the bloodline of the samurai that severed Dreamqueen's link the first time would be the only one to defeat her properly. While most of the Avengers kept Dreamqueen's forces busy, a few, along with Devil-Slayer, sought out the Silver Samurai and managed to acquire his help. Tracing the Dreamqueen's link to the archaeological site and the unconscious Hikaru, Ghost Rider and Lady Suzaku opened a portal to Dreamqueen's realm, where they and the rest of the Avengers (along with Devil-Slayer and Silver Samurai) took the fight to Dreamqueen herself. Silver Samurai ultimately dealt the finishing blow that left Dreamqueen disabled enough for Lady Suzaku to cast a spell that sent her to the farthest pocket dimension possible, where the reach of her powers wasn't that extensive. On returning to Earth and closing the portal, the team and their allies found Hikaru now fully awake; she was more than willing to hand the talisman over to Lady Suzaku, who in turn sent it to Kamar-Taj (where she'd learned her mystical abilities in the first place) for safekeeping."
*Author's Note(s)*
For the other half of this new wave of 'villains from beyond', the subject this time is a notable enemy of the fan-favorite Marvel team Alpha Flight. For my narrative purposes, I tweaked a few things that put her reign of terror in ancient Japan instead of having her menace an ancient Native Canadian tribe, as well as gave her a connection to a familiar alternating friend and foe of the X-Men (Wolverine especially) in Silver Samurai. Bringing in a take on minor Marvel hero Devil-Slayer was a little tribute to co-creator David Anthony Kraft, who sadly passed away last year; the Sango-ized (as in, the Inuyasha character) take on the concept will be for a future entry in the Tribute series.
As for the visual basis for this take on Dreamqueen (as seen on DeviantArt), the idea came to me after a first-time viewing of the classic Clamp creation Magic Knight Rayearth-specifically, after seeing the chief villain of season two: Debonair. Given that character's background and abilities, I knew she'd make a perfect anime-styled Dreamqueen, though more prim and proper than the 'heavy metal fantasy'-based look brought to life by original creators Bill Mantlo and Jim Lee. A simple Photoshop session later, and here we are.
