Mariko Yashida
Mariko Yashida | |
---|---|
The Uncanny X-Men #118 (Feb. 1979) | |
Created by | Chris Claremont (writer) John Byrne (artist) |
In-story information | |
Species | Human |
Team affiliations | Yashida clan Hand |
Partnerships | Wolverine (lover/boyfriend) |
Notable aliases | Scarlet Samurai |
Mariko Yashida is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as Wolverine's romantic interest.
She was portrayed by Tao Okamoto in the 2013 film The Wolverine.
Publication history
Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #118 (Feb 1979).[1] In an interview published in Back Issue! magazine #4, Byrne claims Mariko was based on Lady Toda Mariko, a character in the 1975 novel Shōgun: "I had just read Shogun, which Chris had not read at that point. I just absolutely wanted to steal that character, just shamelessly steal the character. And as you probably know, she was created to die.”
Fictional character biography
Mariko was the daughter of
She first met the
Some time later, however, Mariko was married by Shingen to yakuza gang leader Noburu-Hideki to solidify her father's connections to the Japanese underworld, and was subjected to brutal domestic abuse by her husband. She was later used by him to maneuver Wolverine into participating in an assassination of a rival by having the superhero inadvertently provide a distraction while protecting his true love/girlfriend from the rival's own assassins. This also had the intended effect of deepening Mariko's disgust for Logan upon witnessing Logan going berserk in battle. However, Mariko soon realized that her father was evil and was shaming her family with sinister schemes. To stop Shingen, Mariko planned to kill her father and then commit seppuku in recompense, but Logan, learning the truth about this manipulation and inspired by a personal epiphany about humanity, attacked and slew her father in a fair battle of honor before she could act. In doing so, Logan was convinced that Mariko would be honorbound to kill him for that and was prepared to die at her hands rather than harm her in self-defense. However, Mariko explained her opinion of her father and presented the family katana to Logan as a token of her approval as an honorable warrior who is properly entitled to it.[5]
Upon her father's death, she became head (Oyabun) of the yakuza crime family Clan Yashida.
Mariko happily became Logan's fiancée, but their wedding was halted by the supervillain Mastermind who used a mind control device to change Mariko's mind.[6] When the control was lifted, Wolverine and Mariko resumed their romantic relationship after a period of separation, but have not reconsidered marriage. Mariko also refused any closer engagement with Logan until she had dealt with her father's criminal legacy, which she felt honor-bound to rectify.
The X-Men returned from the first
Mariko was poisoned with
Phaedra, an agent of the Hand, resurrected Shingen and stole a piece of Wolverine's soul to torture. Wolverine made a deal with Azrael (the Angel of Death) to kill Phaedra to stop resurrecting the dead if Azrael would heal Wolverine's soul. Phaedra attempted to convince Wolverine to spare her by offering to resurrect Mariko, but Wolverine refused. Wolverine stated that he would pay any price to bring Mariko back, but Logan deeply loved Mariko because she was a better person than himself in every way, and he knew that Mariko would never accept life if it meant that someone as evil as Phaedra was allowed to live as well.[10]
Many years later, Wolverine was captured by the Devil and taken to Hell. In order to have Wolverine comply with his demands, the lord of Hell had Mariko's soul (who had been condemned to Hell for her leadership of the Yashida clan's criminal activities) brought to torture Wolverine into submission; Wolverine, however, was eventually rescued by
Old Man Logan faced off against the Hand during their Regenix operation, facing their latest member called the Scarlet Samurai. Logan later discovered that Scarlet Samurai is Mariko resurrected by the Hand to serve as their weapon. With help from Logan, nanites were used to free Mariko from the Hand's control while Gorgon got away.[13] When Logan prepared to return to his own time, he asked Mariko to keep an eye on the young girl would have been in his wife in his own timeline, feeling that asking the other X-Men to keep an eye on her would have risked bringing her too close to his own life, whereas Mariko understood the consequences of loving Logan and would be able to keep the girl safe while keeping her distant.[14]
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the
Exiles
In an alternate universe (Earth-2109), Mariko Yashida was
Reception
Sunfire's open homosexuality has attracted some interest after
Judd Winick has been accused[by whom?] 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:[17]
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.
What If?
In the
Wolverine Noir
Mariko Yashida appears in
Wolverine MAX
Mariko Yashida appears in Wolverine She is also much older in this continuity having been born in the 1860s but died sometime in the 1910s.
In other media
Television
- Mariko Yashida appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Gwendoline Yeo. This depiction is Wolverine's former sweetheart/lover and Kenuichio Harada's reluctant wife. She strongly fell romantically in love with Logan, despite her father wanting her to marry Harada due to yakuza connections. In the episode "Code of Conduct", Mariko is at the Japanese Embassy looking for her power-hungry husband when Silver Samurai had abducted the X-Men. She's present at the recent duel between Logan and Silver Samurai. After Harada acted dishonorably (using mutant abilities when not allowed) which annulled the duel and was taken away for dishonoring the yakuza clan who agreed to release the X-Men, Mariko told Logan that her husband will be driven from the yakuza in shame and will not be admitted again. When she's asked why she had chosen Harada over Logan, she said that her father and the yakuza would have killed them both had she not chosen Harada, awaiting her decision with drawn swords. She said that marrying Harada was the only honorable thing she could do, even if it meant keeping her and Logan forever apart from one another. Mariko and Logan then went their separate ways.
- Mariko Yashida appears in Marvel Anime: Wolverine, voiced by Fumiko Orikasa in the Japanese dub and reprised by Gwendoline Yeo in the English dub. This version is arranged by Shingen Yashida to be married to Madripoor's current leader Hideki Kurohagi, the anime's version of Noburu-Hideki. Logan spends the entire series on a quest to free her from this engagement so they can be together again. In the twelfth and last episode, Mariko is accidentally shot in the chest by Hideki but not before confessing the strong and enduring romantic feelings she has always had for Logan, assuring Logan that she will always be together in spirit as she peacefully bleeds to death in Logan's arms after sharing one last kiss.
Film
Mariko Yashida appears as a major character in the 2013 film
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ The Uncanny X-Men #118
- ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ The Uncanny X-Men #143
- ^ Wolverine (1982 miniseries) #1-4
- ^ The Uncanny X-Men #173
- ^ The Uncanny X-Men #181 (May 1984)
- ^ Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-4
- ^ Wolverine vol. 2 #57 (July 1992)
- ^ Wolverine vol. 3 #61
- ^ Wolverine vol. 4 #2
- ^ Wolverine vol. 4 #4
- ^ Old Man Logan vol. 2 #31-33. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Dead Man Logan #6
- ^ Gay League profile Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
- : "Who Cares About the Death of a Gay Superhero Anyway?"
- ^ Winick on "Green Arrow", Mia's HIV Status and More Archived 2010-01-15 at the Wayback Machine, Comic Book Resources, October 14, 2004
- ^ What If? vol. 2 #43 (1992)
- ^ "Wolverine Noir" 2009
- ^ Wolverine MAX #4
- ^ Wolverine MAX #1
- ^ De Semlyen, Nick. "The Future Of The X-Men Franchise: Wolverine 2". Empire. Retrieved 2009-10-25.