- "Look. You're special, Jean. And if you stop fighting that force inside you, if you embrace it, you will possess the very power of a god."
- ―Vuk urging Jean Grey to embrace the Phoenix Force[src]
Vuk was a mysterious shapeshifting D'Bari who took the form of Margaret Smith to blend in on Earth. She manipulated Jean Grey to embrace the Phoenix Force and turned her against the X-Men.
Biography[]
Dark Phoenix[]
The being which would later be known as Vuk was born tens of years ago, as a member, later the supreme leader of the D'Bari, a race of humanoid beings with the ability of shape-shifting and with high intelligence and psychological warfare skills, which originate from a planet far away from the regions of the Earth. One day the unimaginable destructive cosmic entity known as the Phoenix wandered across the universe, and later used its powers to destroy the D'Bari and their planet. However, only Vuk and a few of the D'Bari survived and escaped, causing Vuk to vow revenge against the Phoenix and vowing to find a new home for her race.
Upon losing her home and nearly all of her people, Vuk led the last surviving D'Bari straight to Earth, the home planet for humans and mutants.
From the reason that she and her people are alien beings from an unknown planet, they took forms of humans, with Vuk taking the form of a young tall and white-haired human woman named Margaret.
Vuk began to track down the Phoenix new host. A powerful telepathic mutant named Jean Grey who was also a member of the Mutant superhero team the X-Men. Vuk first came upon her father and after he refused to give them information about Jean she resorted to torturing him.
Vuk approached a fugitive and depressed Jean in a bar as due to the destruction she caused from being unable to control the Phoenix she was now fleeing from the authorities and X-Men alike. Vuk told Jean that the power of the Phoenix is something to be embraced and that it made her the strongest living creature on the planet and that she can show her how to harness it. Bringing Jean to her peoples base of operations in New York, Vuk proceeded to show Jean her peoples history and relationship with the Phoenix. Eventually both the X-Men and Magneto Brotherhood of Mutants arrived. The former to help Jean and the latter to kill her. As a fight broke out between the two factions both the respective leaders made it to Jean. Erik was the first and attempted to kill Jean as revenge for the death of Raven. However Jean easily overpowered him and knocked him unconscious. Charles Xavier arrived next and Jean proceeded to torture him by forcing him to walk on his paraplegic legs. Vuk then goaded Jean to kill Charles. However Charles managed to bring Jean back to her original self by bringing her into his memories and showing that he has always had faith in her and her inner goodness. Jean feeling remorseful for all her actions begged Vuk to take the Phoenix Force from her. Vuk agreed however as she began to drain the power from Jean it was revealed that this would kill Jean in the process. Vuk then coldy told Charles that after killing Jean and taking her power she and the D'Bari would eradicate their world.
Fortunately before the extraction of the Phoenix could be fully completed Cyclops arrived and blasted Vuk away. Vuk easily recovering from the blast observed as all the present mutants including Jean were taken into custody. Determined to take the rest of the Phoenix and now having a fraction of its power Vuk and the D’Bari launched an attack on the prison train carrying the mutants and Jean. The X-Men and Brotherhood however decided to join forces and managed to fight the D’Bari off. Vuk entered the battle and easily defeated many of them and was about to kill Charles and Scott when Jean awoken having gained full control over the Phoenix Force. Jean proceeded to kill the remaining D’Bari effortlessly. Vuk attempted to drain her again but the power proved to be too much and Jean began to overload her with the Phoenix Force power.
Vuk however taunted Jean as the latter noticed she was killing her friends and told her that her emotions made her weak. However Jean resorted to take Vuk into space and told her that her emotions were actually the source of her strength before killing Vuk in a seemingly self destructive blast finally ending her.
Character traits[]
Vuk was shown to be stoic, calm, and unsettlingly sociopathic. Having no problem with killing anyone that got in her way or who’s death would be of use to her as shown when she murdered a woman named Margaret simply just to take her form. Vuk was also shown to be very manipulative. Able to convince Jean to side with her against the X-Men by claiming that they were afraid of her due to her power.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- D'Bari Physiology: Vuk is a D'Bari, an extraterrestrial race of humanoids with shape shifting abilities along with numerous other attributes.
- Superhuman Strength: Like all the D'Bari, Vuk had superhuman strength.
- Superhuman Speed: As with the rest of her race, Vuk was capable of running at inhuman speeds. She used this to ambush Jean Grey at the debris site.
- Shapeshifting: Vuk had the power to change her appearance at will. D'Bari can even use their shape shifting to heal themselves to a certain extent.
- Telekinesis: Vuk had the soft power to levitate, move, immobilize and manipulate objects with her mind. It made her able to manipulate people's internal organs.
- Illusion Casting: Vuk possesses the power to create strong and believable illusions. She used that power to show Jean Grey the origin of the Phoenix Force.
- Superhuman Immunity: Vuk's mind cannot be read by telepaths, possibly due to her extraterrestrial physiology. Allowing to see through telepathic illusions such as Jean disguising herself as an old man.
- Energy Absorption: Vuk could absorb energy. She tried to absorb all of the Phoenix energy from Jean but was stopped by Cyclops before she could take it all.
- Phoenix Force Manipulation: By briefly absorbing some cosmic energy of the Phoenix Force within Jean Grey, Vuk gained a number of advanced abilities.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: When Magneto tried to use machine guns in order to kill her, her skin layer began to fall apart, but she was shown to be able to heal it back.
- Ergokinesis: Vuk could easily manipulate the lightning projected towards her by Storm and even redirect Cyclops' optic blasts against him.
Weaknesses[]
- Phoenix Force: Ironically, Vuk's very obsession is also the very thing that kills her. Jean Grey managed to overload her with cosmic power, disintegrating Vuk into mere ashes within moments.
Relationships[]
- D'Bari - Allies.
- X-Men - Enemies.
- Jean Grey - Ally turned enemy.
- Margaret Smith - Victim; deceased.
Appearances/Actresses[]
- Revised Earth-10005 (1 film)
- Dark Phoenix (First appearance) - Jessica Chastain
Behind the scenes[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- Lilandra Emma Frost, and Mastermind were cited as influences for Vuk's character in Dark Phoenix
- Vuk first appeared in Avengers # 4.
Gallery[]
Dark Phoenix[]
