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Lyja is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As a Skrull, she possesses the ability to shapeshift into almost any humanoid or animal form. Modifications on her body gave her the power to generate energy blasts.

Fictional character biography

Longtime enemies of the Fantastic Four, the Skrull empire embarked on a plan to infiltrate the Fantastic Four via seduction. The author of the plan, Paibok the Power Skrull, selected Lyja to be the spy, possibly because they had once had a failed affair.

Unbeknownst even to readers, during the Secret Wars Lyja replaced Alicia Masters, blind love interest of the Thing. The Skrullian plan almost hit a snag when the Thing opted to stay behind at the end of the war, instead of returning home to Earth. Lyja instead seduced Johnny Storm and eventually went on to marry him.

However, later, Lyja's real identity was revealed, as well as the fact that the real Alicia was a captive of the Skrulls. In the ensuing battle to rescue Alicia, Lyja was believed to be slain, when she threw herself in the path of a blast which Paibok had meant for the Human Torch.

Instead Paibok recovered her and with the assistance of Devos the Devastator, reanimated Lyja, also bestowing her with the power to fly and fire energy blasts from her hands (becoming "Lyja the Lazerfist"). These powers were later revealed to come from a special device implanted into her. Joining them in search of vengeance, the three isolated and battled the Torch at Empire State University. Panicking, the Torch burst into his Nova Flame and destroyed the campus. However, Lyja still bore feelings for the Torch and once again betrayed her cohorts to side with the Four.

After returning to the Fantasic Four and Johnny, Lyja claimed she was pregnant with Johnny's child. Over time, Lyja and Johnny began to grow close again. When Lyja delivered the "child" (an egg), the implant that gave her the "Lazerfist" powers was also removed, returning Lyja to an ordinary Skrull with no extra powers beyond her shapeshifting. As a sidenote, the implant was subsequently absorbed by a normal human, who gained the "Lazerfist" powers, and attempted to contact the Fantastic Four for their assistance. However, after the hectic events that followed the hatching of the "egg", he wandered off, realizing the Fantastic Four were not going to be of any help in their current state, and has not been referenced since.

Although Lyja and Johnny were growing close, Lyja was continuously torn about telling Johnny something. She was to scared to risk shattering the bonds they had managed to form again, and kept putting it off. Ultimately, it was too late. The "egg" was revealed, not to be their child, but rather a Skrull bio-weapon, which Lyja subsequently destroyed after it hatched. Johnny, enraged at being betrayed and deceived again by Lyja, broke things off with her again.

However, still in love with Johnny, Lyja stalked him while as a human, Laura Green. Johnny was initially interested in a fellow college student but when he realized nothing was going to materialize with her his focus shifted to Laura/Lyja. Lyja, having learned her lessons well, decided to eventually reveal herself before Johnny felt betrayed again. However, after sharing a kiss with Laura, Johnny already knew that his ex-wife was in fact Laura Green. During the Onslaught crisis when Lyja was injured she attempted to tell Johnny the truth but he informed her that he already knew. The couple seemed to be on track to reconciling their relationship but then the Fantastic Four were thought dead after fighting Onslaught, and Lyja left to attempt a normal life, masquerading again as a human woman.

Other versions

MC2

In the MC2 universe, Lyja is once again married to the Human Torch and is a member of the Fantastic Five, under the name Ms. Fantastic. The couple have a son, Torus Storm, who inherited both Lyja's shape-shifting abilities and the Torch's flame powers. She remains active among the Fantastic Five and is sporadically seen in the Spider-Girl series and related mini-series.

Marvel Zombies

Lyja appears in the Marvel Zombies Universe on a planet besieged by the Zombie Galactus- consisting of zombie versions of Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine and the Hulk during a Black Panther crossover. Here she possesses the power of the Invisible Woman as part of an experiment following the death of the Super-Skrull in this universe; unable to replicate the Super-Skrull, the FF's powers were instead given to four different Skrulls. She is loyal to the Skrulls and seems insulted when the Johnny Storm of the regular Marvel Universe admits to knowing her.

She is shortly thereafter infected with the zombie virus, along with the rest of her team. During the subsequent conflict between the two teams, she is decapitated by a vibranium dagger thrown by the Black Panther, and her head is subsequently destroyed by Storm before she can bite Johnny.

In other media

Television

Lyja appeared as a Skrull soldier in the Fantastic Four 1994 TV series, voiced by Katherine Moffat.

External link

• The Women of Marvel Comics Lyja Page
• Lyja's page at Marvel.com
• Lyja Retrospective - Covers the appearances made by Lyja during her disguise as Alicia Masters.:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
    • Part 4.5
  • Part 5
  • Part 6
  • Part 7
  • Part 8
    • Part 8.5
  • Part 9
  • Part 10
    • Part 10.5
  • Part 11
    • Part 11.5
  • Part 12
  • Part 13
  • Part 14
• Lyja Restrospective Epilogue
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3

• Marvel Comics aliens
• Marvel Comics superheroes
• Extraterrestrial superheroes
• Fictional shapeshifters