Who is Marvel Comics' Karma? Exploring powers and origin of X-Men character

Frank Miller and Chris Claremont created Karma for Marvel comics. The character made her debut in Marvel Team-Up #100 in 1980, joining New Mutants as a founding member soon after.

Despite being a vital team member, she has always been left behind. That means she is a character who's not often discussed.

Almost every X-Men member has a tragic past life, and so does Karma.

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Marvel comics' Karma's powers are all about controlling minds

Born to a soldier in Vietnam, Karma has gone through several hardships. She saw her father die young during his duty. Later, she and her mother were s**ually abused, resulting in her mother's death and giving her the responsibility of her siblings, Leong and Nga.

Once, when a soldier attacked Karma's twin brother, Tran, she learned about her new mutant powers that allowed her to control the minds of any living being. Besides this, she can absorb the sensations and emotions of the target and can create a Psionic Deflector Shield that protects her from any psychic assault.

Karma used her powers to move the soldier away from Tran by controlling his mind. However, Tran also discovered his powers, which were similar to his sister, but he used them brutally by controlling the soldier's mind and commanding him to smash his own head.

Karma can control minds of beings (Image via Marvel)

Later, Tran partnered with their evil uncle, Nguyen Ngoc Coy, who used his powers to fulfill his evil desires. Coy also wanted Xian, aka Karma, to be on his team, but she rejected him.

So, the evil crime lord abducted Nga and Leong to blackmail Xian into joining him. Desperately looking for help, Xian possessed Spider-Man's mind so that she could rescue her siblings.

Being possessed by her, Spidey fought three members of the Fantastic Four at a party Coy hosted. Later, Xian had to forcefully free Spider-Man's mind, but when Spidey and the Fantastic Four learned about what Karma had been through, they stepped forward to help.

Karma had a traumatic childhood (Image via Marvel)

On the way to freeing Nga and Leong, Xian was left with no other option but to absorb Tran's life. She did it for the sake of her younger siblings.

Karma was thought to be dead for several decades, but it was revealed that the Shadow King had possessed her as he wanted to use her powers to establish a criminal empire.