A
super-hero published by
Marvel Comics. Magik
first appeared in
Giant Size X-Men #1.
Illyana Rasputin was the youngest child of
Nikolai and Natalia Rasputin. The Rasputins
liven in Baikal Lake, Siberia in the USSR where
they worked as farmers. Illyana's oldest brother, Mikhail,
was an astronaut who was believed to have been
killed in a launch accident, but later was found
to have been transported to another dimension through
the use of his emerging mutant powers. Illyana's other
brother, Piotr, worked on a their parents' farm using
his mutant ability to transform into an organic metal form
with great strength for the good of the commune. One day,
Piotr was approached by Charles Xavier, the leader of the
mutant hero team, the X-Men, to join the team. Piotr left
Russia and fought with the X-Men for many years.
One of the X-Men's enemies, the villain Arcade, kidnapped
a number of loved ones of the X-Men including Illyana to
get the heroes to protect him from the Latvarian king and
villain, Doctor Doom, whom Arcade had angered. The X-Men
fought Doom, while a second group of heroes
rescued their loved ones from the depths of
Arcade's amusement park of death called Murderworld.
After her rescue, Illyana stayed with her brother in
America. She was with the team after they had defeated the
villain Magneto on an island in the Bermuda Triangle. While
exploring some ruins on the island, Illyana was transported to
the mystic realm of Limbo which was ruled by the demon lord
Belasco. The X-Men followed Illyana to Limbo, and fought
Belasco, his demon henchman S'ym, and twisted versions of
themselves who had become trapped there in an alternate timeline.
The X-Men defeated Belasco and sought to escape when Illyana was
pulled back into by Belasco. She spent seven years in Limbo during
which part of her nature was corrupted by Belasco in a plan to
create a gate to allow the elder gods access to Earth. She also
found that she had the mutant power to create light circles that
would move her through space and time. She also learned to
wield magical forces, the ultimate expression of which was a mystic
sword that would destroy or deflect all magically based attacks.
Illyana used her new found power to defeat Belasco and S'ym. In defeating
Belasco, Illyana became the new ruler of Limbo and used her powers to
return to the moment she was separated from the X-Men. What for the
X-Men was but a moment was for Illyana seven years, so she returned
a teenager. She remained with the X-Men, becoming a member of
the secondary team of learning mutants, the New Mutants. She took the
code name Magik.
Illyana and Limbo played a major role in the Marvel crossover called
Inferno, when the demon S'ym and N'Astirh fought for control of the
demon realm and the Earth. At the end of the crossover, Majik sacrificed
herself to defeat the demons and returned to being a seven year old with
no memory of her time as a teenager. She returned to Russia to live with
her parents.
In recent years, Illyana's parents were killed and she returned to the
United States to live with her brother. During this time, the Legacy
Virus was striking down those with mutant abilites. Illyana caught the
disease and died as a result of it.