Character History

Yuriko Oyama's father was Lord Darkwind (Kenji Oyama), a Japanese crime lord and criminal scientist who created the adamantium-to-bone bonding process. She teamed up with Daredevil to free her lover, Kiro, from her father's servitude; when Darkwind was slain the devoted Kiro chose suicide to honor his master. Distraught, Yuriko belatedly embraced her father's ideals and sought to track down whoever dishonored him. Her trail led to Wolverine, whose skeleton had been bonded with adamantium. Deathstrike sought to kill him to right the wrong of the theft and thus restore her family's honor, but she was defeated by Vindicator of Alpha Flight. Yuriko then went to the Mojoverse and Spiral's "body shoppe" where she received extensive cybernetic enhancements including adamantium bones and talons.
Lady Deathstrike was once a member of the team of criminal cyborgs called the Reavers, led by Donald Pierce, who once managed to successfully defeat the X-Men. The Reavers have since been annihilated by the Sentinels, and Yuriko has been operating independently.
Although she briefly resigned her quest to kill Logan and even assisted the X-Men on a few occasions, she still remains a murderer and assassin. Despite all this, Yuriko is set apart from many of the X-Men's foes in that she adheres to a code of honor.

Powers and abilities

Lady Deathstrike is a cyborg with superhuman strength, speed and agility. She still has some biological parts that do not seem to be affected by the adamantium bonding process which would be lethal to any ordinary human, it has been speculated that she may be mutant with similar powers to Wolverine; she has demonstrated the ability to regenerate her organic tissue in the past, though whether this is an attribute of her cybernetics or not is unknown. Although her normal form is obviously that of a cyborg, she uses disguises when necessary. She is an expertly trained assassin and warrior, and while she prefers stealth and subtlety in her killings, she often lets her hatred of Wolverine overcome her better judgment.