Mariko Yashida

Mariko Yashida is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #118 (February, 1979).

Fictional character biography
Mariko was the daughter of Shingen Yashida, the half-sister of the Silver Samurai, and cousin of Sunfire and Sunpyre. Upon her father's death, she became head (Oyabun) of his Yakuza crime family, Clan Yashida.

She first met the X-Men when they returned from a sojourn in the Savage Land and were asked to help Japan, which was being blackmailed by the terrorist Moses Magnum. She became close to Wolverine and eventually his fiancée, but their wedding was halted by the supervillain Mastermind, who used a mind control device to change Mariko's mind. When the control was lifted, Wolverine and Mariko resumed their relationship after a period of separation, but have not reconsidered marriage.

The X-Men returned from the first Secret Wars and accidentally end up in Japan, fighting a dragon their companion Lockheed had brought along. During the chaos, a young girl named Amiko Kobayashi loses her mother when a collapsing building crushes her. Dying, the woman begs Wolverine to take care of her daughter. Since Wolverine could not take care of her himself, he chose to place Amiko in Mariko's care, whom the girl soon adopted as a surrogate mother. Akiko and Mariko were at one point targeted by Ogun, one of Wolverine's old enemies, but the attack was averted by Wolverine and Kitty Pryde.

Mariko was poisoned with tetrodotoxin from a blowfish by an assassin named Reiko, in the hire of her rival Matsu'o Tsurayaba. She asked Wolverine to kill her to avoid a painful death and preserve her honor. Wolverine killed her and vowed to avenge Mariko by yearly severing parts of Matsu'o's body on the anniversary of her death.

Age of Apocalypse
In the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline, Mariko was a member of the Human High Council, a group of humans that opposed Apocalypse's tyrannical rule. While not engaged to Logan, Mariko was his former lover and she birthed him a daughter, Kirika, who is an amalgam of X-23 and her 616 daughter Amiko Kobayashi. Mariko participates in an attempt to bomb forces of Apocalypse based in North America, though she knows this would mean extensive civilian deaths.

Exiles


In an alternate universe (Earth-2109), Mariko was Sunfire and became a member of the Exiles from issue #2 (September, 2001) until her death in issue #37 (January, 2004) In the 2109 alternate universe, Mariko had the same powers as her 616 Marvel Universe counterpart Sunfire and his sister Sunpyre. This version was created by Judd Winick and Mike McKone. A Japanese citizen and a member of the X-Men in her reality, she was one of Marvel's few openly homosexual characters. She has a relationship with one reality's version of Spider-Woman, Mary Jane Watson.

Reception
Sunfire's open homosexuality has attracted some interest after coming out in issue #11. Her death has also garnered some attention. Perry Moore includes her as an example of the poor treatment of gay superheroes, paralleling the earlier Women in Refrigerators.

Judd Winick has been accused of pursuing some broader social agenda, making Sunfire gay being one of his ideas used to support this notion, as he explains in an interview with Comic Book Resources:

"I've done a smattering of stories that are socially relevant and I'm considered the soap-box guy. I've done one story arc in 'Green Lantern' featuring a gay character who was a survivor of a hate crime. Sunfire was gay in 'Exiles.' And there's other stuff sort of there that people like to hang their hat on, saying I'm just this big commie out there pushing an agenda. It's only a handful of stories."

Powers and abilities
Sunfire had the ability to absorb sunlight, and convert it into superheated plasma which burst into flame on contact with the air. She could use her plasma to fire beams of scorching heat or powerful bursts of solar fire. She could fly close to 100 mi/h by surrounding herself with a corona of fire, and then pushing the flames downward in a tight jet of superheated gas, shooting her through the air like a missile. Sunfire could see heat, by shifting her range of vision from normal light to infrared light. Sunfire was immune to extreme heat and radiation.

Wolverine Noir
Mariko appears in Wolverine Noir as a businesswoman looking to expand her father's interests into New York City.

Television

 * Mariko appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Code of Conduct" voiced by Gwendoline Yeo. She's depicted as Logan's former love and the wife of the Silver Samurai. A flashback showed how she fell in love with Wolverine, but the Yakuza had him duel Silver Samurai over her. When Silver Samurai abducted the X-Men years later, Mariko arrived at the Japanese Embassy looking for her husband. She was present at the recent duel with Silver Samurai and Wolverine. After Silver Samurai acted dishonorably by using his mutant powers when it wasn't allowed, the Yakuza Leader annulled the duel and had his men take Silver Samurai away. When the Yakuza Leader agreed to release the captive X-Men, she told Wolverine that Silver Samurai will be driven from the Yakuza in shame and that they will not admit him again. When Wolverine asks her why she chose Silver Samurai, she said that she swore an oath of loyalty to him or else the Yakuza would've killed both of them. Mariko and Wolverine then went their separate ways.

Film

 * It was confirmed by X-Men and Wolverine producer, Lauren Shuler-Donner, that Mariko will be a main character in the upcoming sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.