Darkstar (Roerich)

Origin

The original Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna) had perished at the hands of mercenary Fantomex, later revealed to be Weapon XIII. Some months after these events, it was revealed that a new Darkstar, named Sasha Roerich, had joined the ranks of the Winter Guard as a replacement, alongside the original Darkstar's teammates Ursa Major and Crimson Dynamo. She had received the Darkforce that was retrieved from the former Darkstar and seemed to have the same powers as the original. After her first appearance, it was revealed that Sasha has a fear of using her immense Darkforce energy manipulating powers.

Creation

Sasha Roerich was created by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness and first appeared in (adjectiveless) Hulk Vol.2 issue 1 (2008). This Darkstar was distinctively different from her predecessor, having long red hair.

Major Story Arcs

Daddy Issues

When the father of the first Darkstar heard of his daughter's death and a supposed return, he searched her out. The revelation resulted in a battle between the Winter Guard and Presence, who called Sasha a feeble imitation of his daughter and intended to reshape her on a sub-atomic level. The Red Guardian knocked out the Presence and freed Darkstar. Sasha and the rest of the Winter Guard battled a monster made out of an unstable protoplasmic lifeform which was a former Russian scientist named Igor Drenkov. Darkstar consumed the creature with her darkforce energy and the Presence was taken prisoner.

Winter Guard

While the Winter Guard were battling a group of Soviet revolutionaries called the Remont Six, Darkstar confronted the Presence and asked him why she was being haunted by the memories of his daughter. The Presence told Sasha that while he was remolding her genetic structure, he discovered that his daughter's lifeforce shared a symbiotic relationship with her medallion which was bound to her on the subatomic level. Sasha was simply a biological unit housing the darkforce energy. Darkstar told the Presence she was not afraid of the dark anymore and teleported to her teammates outside the Forbidden Zone. Darkstar transformed into a massive cloud of Darkforce and began to consume all the light and radiation in the vicinity. The Red Guardian got close enough to the center of the Darkforce form and removed the medallion. The Darkforce entity exploded and Sasha was no more. Sasha was replaced by a new Darkstar (Reena Stancioff).