Origin

Oya (born Idie Okonkwo) is a young Nigerian girl that developed mutant powers after Hope Summers returned from the future, and became the third mutant to manifest since the mutant Decimation. Upon being discovered by Storm, Idie had no relatives or friends to speak of. Instead, the young mutant's home was surrounded by raging villagers and soldiers who accused Idie of mass murder and witchcraft.

Creation

Idie was created by Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen to be a part of the Five Lights. Her alias is inspired by Oya, the orisha of the winds.

Character Evolution

Starting off as a very religious young girl in Nigeria, Idie started to hate herself for being a mutant. She thinks her powers are witchcraft, and now that they've manifested, she won't be able to get into heaven. She constantly talks about how she is a monster.

Major Story Arcs

Five Lights

For more information: Five Lights

Shortly after Hope had returned, five new mutant signatures activated; Idie being the third. On the day of her retrieval, Idie was under attack by Nigerian soldiers who accused her of mass murder and of being a witch. While this was going, on Storm and Hope came in to save her. Storm told the men that she knew what they were doing and threatened to injure them if they did any more harm. As the two of them came to assure Idie that all was well, Idie blasted flames towards them. Storm managed to deflect them, while Hope tried to tell Idie to be strong and calm down as Idie could not control her powers. Storm alerted her that the men outside were running weary and were getting ready to attack again. Idie then told them that it would have been good if they killed her, as she then classified herself as a monster. Hope convinced her that she wasn't as such and neither were her and Storm. She then reached out to Idie and made contact, awakening Idie's powers fully and getting them under control. The two of them then came outside with Storm for one last time, asking the men to leave her alone. As the men took no notice and continued to fire, Idie said "No" and used her fire powers to the fullest extent to stop the bullets and destroy the men's car's and tools causing them to run away in terror. After the battle was over Idie was in shock at what she had just accomplished, but Storm and Hope reassured her and told her that she was one of them and more things like this were sure to come.

The Future is a Four letter word

The team of new mutants went to make contact with Kenji the last light. Kenji had been left alone too long and was completely out of control. When he began attacking the X-Men, it was Idie that stood her ground and felt that it took a monster to fight a monster.

After Hope passed out by using too much of Kenji's powers, the Five Lights stayed to protect her with Idie saying that they all needed her help. Later the Five lights with Wolverine and Scott battled against Kenji again. Idie helped keep the area secure by freezing the lake as well as attacking Kenji's leg with a small flame.

When the battle was over the all went to Utopia.

Hope begins to train Idie and the others. Idie is doing well at using automatic weapons, considering her age and background. While not training, Idie and the others are in class. Hope decides that the class and Professor X are below her and they all leave the class.

Quarantine

After their return to Utopia, the mutant flu breaks out and both Idie and Laurie have it. Idie tells Laurie to stop complaining, that when her sister was ill she didn't complain nearly as much. Laurie asked if she got better and Idie answers and then tells her that she died but that wasn't the point.

The Ward

Idie was watching Laurie in the wind tunnel with Doctor Nemesis before the new light activates. Idie questions why the Doctor is experimenting on them instead of helping them get better instead. When the sixth Light activates, the entire team leaves for Germany. Idie is told to stay outside the hospital for her own safety. During the teams ordeal inside the hospital Idie, asks Kitty Pryde how her life has been after she got her mutant power's seeing as how they both got them at the same age. Kitty says its been OK so far but then begins to talk about how much she loves Peter. Idie asks her how it feels to be married but Kitty says nothing. Idie gets angry at her for not answering her question and storms off. As the battle in the hospital gets fiercer the effects of the sixth light's powers begin to increase dramatically affecting both Kitty and Idie as well. While under it's influence they both head to the hospital in a dazed trance, and Hope orders Laurie to go and rescue Idie since she was the main danger to the team. After being cautioned by Gabriel about the affects of the sixth lights' powers Laurie flies off into the skies with Idie high enough for the effects to wear off. Its this event that gives way to a remarkable transformation for Laurie. Idie looks at her in awe and then thanks her as they both head back down to the hospital with Kenji safe-guarding Idie as he did with the others. Seconds after they enter the room Idie helps Kenji block the hypnotized people by using her ice powers to freeze them and the door in-front of them. Hope asks Idie if she can in any way calm the sixth light down. She tries, using her faith as a way to reach the child saying that if the child is born it can be christened and will not go to hell when it dies, but is not successful and then apologizes to Hope. She then alerts Hope that she has subtracted all the heat in the area and asks what she she should do with it. Hope tells her to wait while they deal with the sixth light as Teon manages to successfully help calm the sixth light down and safely bring it into the world. After the mission was over Idie and the Five Lights head home.

Schism

For more information: Schism

Idie and the other Five Lights are waiting for Wolverine to lead a training session. When he finally arrived he told the team that the session was canceled. He looked at Idie and asked her about her age and told her she should be playing with dolls not training. Idie responded that her doll was destroyed when her powers activated and the men of her town tried to kill her. Later Wolverine would bring her a doll and the two eat ice cream together. When they were done, Wolverine and her began to walk and talk but were stopped when they saw Cyclops and others watching a video of Sentinels being reactivated. Wolverine wanted Idie to leave but Cyclops told her to stay. Wolverine was severally angry that Cyclops would not shelter her from the violence.

When the Museum of mutant history was opening, Laurie and Idie went together. Laurie and Idie found Kenji and Laurie and Kenji had a long discussion about using violence in retaliation against Sentinels. Idie walked off and spoke to David, aka Prodigy. Prodigy told her about Strykers attack on the Xavier School where 42 students were killed. Afterwards Idie went to the alternate timeline room where she found a video of Rachel Summers talking about being a Hound. Laurie finds Idie and who tells Laurie that Rachel looks like Hope. Laurie says they just both have red hair, and that she doesn't look like Hope to which Idie says that she does look like Hope a little. The new Hellfire club soon attacked the museum, easily taking out the X-Men's A-Team.

As Idie was contacted telepathically, she was linked to both Wolverine and Cyclops. Wolverine was on his way and wanted Idie out of there as soon as possible but Cyclops told her that she should do what she thought was right. Remembering what she said in Tokyo about monsters fighting monsters, she attacked the hellfire club members, killing 12 people. She managed to get the civilians out safely. When the rest of the team reached the museum they were having a heated argument about Laurie leaving Idie behind. To their surprise, Idie asked if they needed her to kill anyone else, and if not she wanted to go sleep.

When they get back to Utopia, she is talking to Cyclops. Cyclops tries to tell her that she did the right thing and that those deaths were on him, not her. All she could say was that she didn't regret killing them, just wanted the screams to stop. When it is realized that a new sentinel is going to be attacking the island, Cyclops has a tuff call to make because all the major X-Men are off scattered around the world, only the students remain. The Lights discuss whether or not the should fight this new sentinel but Transonic just wants to get off the island and take Oya with her. Hope is opposed to this plan and tells her to stay. Hope then asks Oya what she wants to do and Oya says that she wants to stay and fight. The situation infuriates Transonic to the point that she lashes out and attacks Hope. When Velocidad tries to seperate them, Primal attacks him. Oya has to shout to get their attention and stop the fighting. Then the Young X-Men arrive and the two teams discuss what they should do and they agree that they need to fight to save the "stupid rock" that they live on.

As the Young X-Men and the Five Lights come together to fight the sentinel with Cyclops, Wolverine arrives telling them that he has planted explosives around the island and when the Sentinel gets close enough, he will detonate the island. The kids all run off except Oya, she waits and looks at the two men. Cyclops and Wolverine begin fighting as the sentinel attacks. Then the students come back and start fighting the sentinel anyway. Oya and the others are able to defeat the sentinel but the damage has been done to the relationship of Cyclops and Wolverine. Wolverine says that Oya should not have been put in a place that would turn her into a killer, that these are children and Cyclops had forgotten that. Wolverine had decided to open a school back in Westchester for the students that were willing to go. Hope originally was opposed to splitting the Five Lights, she wanted all the new mutants to stay together. Transonic threatened Hope, trying to get Hope to let Oya lead a life of a child, Hope eventually gave in and brought Oya to Wolverine. When Wolverine decided to officially leave, Hope went to say good bye to Oya, the two hugged and Oya left for Westchester.

Hellfire Academy

As a member of the student body of Jean Greys Academy, Idie made quick friends with Broo, the genius level member of the Brood. Unfortunately, she started acting erratically after attending a new church. This church was run by Pastor Hail, a robot planted by the new teen Hellfire Club, hoping to corrupt Oya. He encouraged her to embrace her own damnation for being a mutant.When Broo tried to confront him, he was shot in the head and left for dead. This lobotomy ultimately reverted Broo to a feral state, which Oya used to domesticate him as her attack dog.

After learning one of the Hellfire Club members hurt Broo and has been trying to get her to defect to the Hellfire Academy, she went willingly to avenge Broo. She was followed by Quentin Quire, who has feelings for her. Although Quire’s plan to get close to the Hellfire Club was to cause trouble, Oya excelled at her class work until Kade Kilgore offered her the role of Black Queen. She accepts on the condition that Kade eliminates the feral Broo, tricking him into confessing that he had already tried to kill him once already.

It takes all her strength not to use her Hellfire training to kill Kade. Instead, she rounds up Broo and Quire and works on destroying the school, just as an X-Men rescue mission arrives to help. They return to the Jean Grey School as a couple.

Tomorrow Never Learns

When a corporation bearing the name of the Phoenix made themselves known, Quentin Quire had an identity crisis and abandoned the school to confront them. This upset Idie when she and the students were sequestered to the Academy while Storm and Wolverine go in search of them. It also left them open to attack from an Askani monk in service to the Phoenix Corporation. He was targeting Evan, the young Apocalypse clone. While Armor focused on defending the students inside, Idie led Hellion and Rockslide to protect Krakoa and Doop, fighting him on the front lawn.

Telepathically, he showed all the students what Evan would turn into if he was allowed to live. Idie refused to believe him. Rockslide stood by her, but Hellion bought into the vision, leading to a distracting fight between the two. When Wolverine and Storm return to take on the monk, Idie follows Quentin into the future to confront his older self, a variant of Quentin who was bonded to the Phoenix Force, had killed Evan as an older Apocalypse, and who has been pulling the strings to stop Evan before he turns evil.

Dark Phoenix Quire revealed that he never could kill Apocalypse because future Idie had become his Horseman of Death. If Apocalypse was killed, she would be activated as his replacement. Instead, he had Apocalypse caged by Cerebro. This feat made him a hero, but he wanted that to happen earlier so he radicalized and sent the Phoenix Corporation to the present. Quire and Idie disagreed with his actions and were forced to fight him with an old version of Wolverine. Idie manages to stab and kill Dark Phoenix Quire with a Phoenix blade.

All New X-Men

Sick of living in a bunker, the time-lost original X-Men decide to see the world. Idie, Evan, and Wolverine (Laura) decide to accompany them. Young Beast turns an RV into his own traveling lab with teleport capabilities thanks to Pickles, one of the bamfs he recruited to join them. Idie is constantly wrestling with her faith in the face of the mutant discrimination they face.

After awhile, she would return to the X-Academy after a new one was built in Central Park.

Krakoa

As a mutant, Oya was welcome on Krakoa, however, she was one of the first law breakers on the mutant utopia, specifically the second law: "Murder no man." She volunteered to patrol the waters surrounding Krakoa. She was partnered with Nekra, who convinced Oya to kill in defense of their new nation. The Quiet Council disagreed those actions were necessary.

She was locked up in The Pit, where prisoners were suspended by Krakoan vines with their minds trapped in a mind prison of Xavier's creation. However, when Sabretooth was imprisoned for killing humans, his angry psyche was able to take over the mind prison and manipulate it to convince his fellow prisoners to break out. Oya and Nekra materialized on the surface made from sand and stone so they could tell their fellow patrolperson, Bling, about their secret trial.

This psychic interruption caused physical trauma to the island, so Cypher made a deal with the prisoners. They would be released and exiled from Krakoa to stop their breakout attempts from hurting the land any further. They would be gifted a high tech yacht on which to live and travel. In addition, they would hunt Sabretooth down and use a special seed from Cypher on him.

Exiled

Using Third Eye's ability, Oya and her new de facto team of Exiles tracked Sabretooth to an Orchis island laboratory. There, Creed was being experimented on, leaving him weaker than usual. Creed managed to escape, but Orchis took Orphan-Maker in his place. Reluctantly, Creed joined these Exiles while they had an enemy in common.

They mounted a rescue mission on yet another Orchis prison laboratory, but Orphan-Maker's armor had been compromised, threatening to release potentially world-ending energy levels. In an attempt to anesthetize him, Third Eye sent him and the rest of the Exiles to the astral plane.

Afterward, there was one more prison they needed to liberate, keeping six powerful mutant newborns. In the process, Madison was killed, Sabretooth was abducted by Orchis again, and Nanny and Orphan-Maker decided to stay in the lab to care for the children free from Orchis. Oya and the others returned to the boat where they promised to care for the other prisoners they freed, who didn't feel welcome on Krakoa.

Sabretooth War

When Sabretooth was last abducted by Orchis, it was in service of his son, Graydon Creed, who had been hunting variants of his father across the multiverse. Creed was able to band together with variants to take Graydon out before recruiting more variants so that they can confront Wolverine on his next birthday. When he finally resurfaced, Third Eye sensed it, and Oya and the others decided to finally confront them. They missed their chance to use Cypher's seed the first time, and they will not make that mistake again.

They tracked Creed and his Sabretooth Army to the Krakoa landmass, which had been abandoned since Orchis' attacked the Hellfire Gala, sending mutants on the run. Their ship shapeshifted into a submarine so that they could get past the Sentinel guards. The team caught up with Creed, but, unfortunately, Sabretooth had killed Quentin Quire and was using his psychic powers to control Wolverine. After using Forge’s power neutralizer on Wolverine, Creed turned his aim toward him, allowing the Exiles to finally use the Krakoa death seed on him.

Oya made the team help Wolverine. After nursing his wounds, they brought Wolverine to an Alaskan cache that Forge had left specifically for him: an adamantium samurai suit that would slowly reverse the effects of Forge’s gun. They brought Wolverine back to Krakoa to make his final stand against Creed, and then Oya and her team decided to leave and continue being on their own.

Powers and Abilities

Thermokinesis: Idie has the ability to alter temperatures around her via temperature transference.

• Pyrokinesis: This ability enables Oya the capabilities of generating flames from thin air, not requiring the consumption of oxygen or combustible objects to maintain the flames. Idie can also use her heat manipulating abilities to extract heat from her surroundings and emit it as bio-heat from her body. She can also extract heat from other living things.
• Cryokinesis: Contrastly, Oya is also able to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, often used to control, generate, or absorb ice.

Training: Idie is being trained by Hope Summers, including the use of automatic weapons.

Status

Family

While little is known of her family, when Storm and Hope came to her Storm mentioned to the men around her how she heard that they were the ones that murdered her family.She also had a sister years ago who died after becoming very ill.

Age

Many comic book fans have expressed confusion about Idie's age, mostly because when Storm and Hope first meet Idie, she's small and looks like a young child, and Storm even says Idie is 12-years-old. The next few issues, Idie has grown significantly and appears to be around Hope's age, at most 17. According to “Generation Hope” writer Kieron Gillen, Idie’s age was erroneously printed as 12 instead of the intended 14.

Variants

Horseman of Death

In one future, Idie became the Horseman of Death for a version of Evan that grew up to be Apocalypse.

Other Media

Games

X-men: Battle of The Atom

Oya is featured in the mobile card game "X-Men: Battle of the Atom" based on the comic book story with the same name. Her cards are:

• Oya
• [New Hellions] Oya
• [Future] Oya
• [JGS Alpha] Oya