Domino (comics)

Domino
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Impersonated by Copycat in The New Mutants, vol. 1 #98 (Feb. 1991); in a flashback in X-Force, vol. 1 #8 (Mar. 1992); fully in X-Force, vol. 1 #11 (June 1992)
Created by	Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld
In-story information
Alter ego	Neena Thurman
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men[1] X-Force The 198 X-Corporation Underground Six Pack
Partnerships	Cable
Notable aliases	Neena Beatrice Thurman, Beatrice Thurman, Samantha Wu, Tamara Winter, Elena Vladescu, Jessica Marie Costello, Luisa Mendoza, Christina Elizabeth Alioso, Priscilla Sutherland, Hope Eldridge
Abilities	Probability manipulation Superb marksman with various firearms Skilled hand-to-hand combatant

Domino (Neena Thurman) is a Marvel Comics character, best known as a member of the X-Men offshoot X-Force. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, she first fully appeared in X-Force, vol. 1 #11 (June 1992).

In addition to her exceptional marksmanship and hand-to-hand skills, Domino possesses mutant probability-altering powers, similar to those of the X-Man Longshot. She often uses her skills as a mercenary, but has also been the partner, confidante, and lover of the superhero Cable, a lieutenant in his militant group X-Force, and a member of the X-Men.

Publication history

Apart from being a mainstay character in the first series of X-Force, Domino has had two limited self-titled series, one of which had her teaming with Puck against Lady Deathstrike and Donald Pierce. The second revealed her childhood.

Domino did not properly appear in Marvel comics until after several false starts. A Domino imposter, a mutant shapeshifter named Copycat, first appeared in New Mutants, vol. 1 #98 (Feb. 1991), although the real Domino did not appear in that issue. Domino made a brief appearance in a flashback in X-Force, vol. 1 #8 (Mar. 1992), and made her first actual present-day appearance on the last page of issue #11 (June 1992). She appeared in a number of issues of Cable & Deadpool^[2] and joined the first Wolverine-led X-Force as of X-Force, vol. 3 #8 (Dec. 2008).

Domino appeared in her own three-issue miniseries with Wolverine entitled X-Force: Sex and Violence, written by Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle and drawn by Gabriele Dell'Otto.^[3] The story centers upon Domino and Wolverine's mission to resolve a situation from Domino's recent past.^[3] Chris Yost has said, "It's a chance for us to go in-depth into a couple of the characters. In the story, Domino has a hit put out on her and Wolverine finds out about it. Essentially, it's the two of them going out to get that hit removed."^[3] Yost adds that the characters are up against the worst killers on the planet.^[4]

Fictional character biography

The woman who would become known as Domino is actually the result of a top-secret government breeding program intended to develop the perfect weapon. Domino was the only test subject to survive, but her "luck" power was deemed a failure at meeting the project's goals. Her biological mother broke her out of the project and left her with Father Rudolpho Boschelli in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Chicago. Domino eventually left the Church and became a mercenary. One of her first jobs was to stop "Operation: Jericho," which was a remote-controlled warbot project. Domino wrecked the robot, but in the process fried the mind of the soldier controlling it. She was then assigned to guard the genius Dr. Milo Thurman, whose analytical ability made him too dangerous for the government to let roam free. Somehow, Domino and Thurman fell in love and were married, apparently officially. Thurman had a thing for Dante's Inferno and called Domino "Beatrice." The two separated after a raid on the facility by AIM members, with Milo believing Domino had been killed during the altercation.^[5]

Six Pack

She then began work as a mercenary and helped found the mercenary band the Six Pack, which introduced her to the mutant time traveler Cable. Domino worked with the Six Pack for some time, taking on many missions for the pure cash value. The Six Pack was very brutal in their adventures, often shooting down entire crowds of people who got in their way. The team, also known as the Wild Pack, went on missions in Iran,^[6] and participated in a raid on a HYDRA base,^[7] which Domino participated in. During her time with the Wild Pack, she had her first confrontations with Stryfe, Cable's evil clone, in Afghanistan and Uruguay.^[6]

Replacement

When Cable became the leader of the New Mutants following their break from the X-Men, "Domino" (actually Copycat)^[8] joined him as his field leader, and stayed with the team as they changed from the New Mutants to X-Force. When it was revealed that the real Domino was actually a prisoner of the supervillain Tolliver for over a year,^[9] X-Force rejected the Domino imposter and, with Cable's reassurances, planned to rescue the real Domino and welcome her onto the team.

Meanwhile, the real Domino learned of Tolliver's destruction of X-Force's Adirondack base, and planned her escape.^[10] Cable found her at Tolliver's Italian home, along with her apparently murdered double.^[11] Domino was accidentally freed by Deadpool, whom she shot. Cable sent her to find X-Force. She escaped on Tolliver's helicopter, and survived a fall from Tolliver's helicopter into the sea.^[12] She found X-Force and joined the team.

Joining X-Force

Domino stayed with the team for most of its existence, becoming its de facto leader when Cable left the team on several occasions. For a while, she was a prisoner of the forces of Bastion, which severely affected her mentally and physically. During X-Force's existence, Domino had several solo adventures. During one, she was forced to kill her mentally ill, ex–Six Pack partner Grizzly.^[13]

X-Corporation

When X-Force briefly disbanded, Domino joined the X-Corporation.^{[volume & issue needed]} While working in their Hong Kong branch, Domino's partner, Risque, was murdered and she summoned the core group of the X-Men to help investigate. Together the mutants uncovered the truth behind John Sublime's "Third Species" movement: he was harvesting body parts from living mutants to create his U-Men. They also helped free the mutant named Xorn.^[14]

During her solo period, Domino began to search for her mother, Beatrice, and clues to her past. In her search Domino learned that the Project: Armageddon, was still active. Led to a secret base in Florida Domino finds a mutant boy named Lazarus who had the same eye tattoo imprisoned there for observation.^{[volume & issue needed]} Lazarus turns out to be her half-brother with powerful emotion controlling abilities and the true result of the Perfect Weapon program.^{[volume & issue needed]} Soon after attempting to liberate him, however, the Armajesuits, a fanatical group of quasi-priests who were against the project, arrive to kill Lazarus and prevent him from reaching his full development. Domino discovers that her mother leads the Armajesuits and is forced to shoot her to save Lazarus's life. She takes Lazarus to Father Boschelli and the Church she was raised in for sanctuary, although unbeknown to her, Beatrice subsequently abducts Lazarus from there.^[15]

Cable and Deadpool

Later, she was employed by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a member of the new Six Pack. Alongside G. W. Bridge, Hammer, Solo, Anaconda and Constrictor, she attacked Cable at his community Providence, though she quickly defected to his side after the Six Pack was defeated by Cable and Deadpool. Domino followed Deadpool to Rumekistan, where she assassinated the country's dictator, Flag-Smasher, only to find out it was part of a plan to install Cable as leader of that nation. After a conversation with Citizen V, she then attempted to kill Cable, believing that he would lead them to ruin.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Civil War

During the Civi War, Domino, Shatterstar and Caliban, under the X-Force name, lead an attack on the Xavier Institute and break out more than half of the 198, bringing the tension between the 198 and O*N*E to a head.^[16] After her other team, the Six Pack, disbands, she and Cable are allies on Providence, until a fight with Hecatomb causes the island to sink into the ocean, leaving Cable presumed dead.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Domino is later recruited by her G. W. Bridge along with Silver Sable and the Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to track down the Punisher. When a fake Punisher started targeting civilians, she was the only team member to believe in Castle's innocence.^{[volume & issue needed]}

X-Force

After the Punisher stint, Domino finds Wolverine and X-Force in Tokyo and joins them in trying to capture Vanisher.^[17] Questions to Domino's authenticity have been raised when her luck powers fail her several times.^{[volume & issue needed]}

On behalf of Wolverine, Domino is asked to stop in a cemetery to deliver flowers to a deceased loved one. She encounters Spiral, Chimera and Lady Deathstrike who have dug up Revanche's body. After a brief fight she wounds Chimera and the women escape with the body,^[18] but Domino manages to replace Jean Grey's body before the Red Queen could take it as her host.^[19]

Domino and Wolverine go on a mission to resolve a situation from Domino's past.^[20] Domino is the first person to learn Red Hulk's identity and is marked for death by him. Doc Samson provides Rulk with a list of people (Deadpool, the Punisher, Thundra and Elektra) to kill her. When the group arrives they find her in a bar with the members of X-Force,^[21] and afterwards she reveals it was her husband who named her Domino.^[22]

Powers and abilities

Domino is a mutant with the ability to subconsciously and psionically initiate random telekinetic acts that affect probability in her favor by making improbable (but not impossible) things to occur within her line of sight, thus causing her to have "good luck" and her opponents to have "bad luck." This "probability field" phenomenon can be anything from an enemy's equipment failure to hitting just the right switch with a stray shot to shut down an overloading nuclear reactor. The full extent of her powers is still unknown.

This subconsciously controlled talent is triggered when she is in a stressful situation (such as fighting or escaping). This effect constantly emanates from her body at all times and is completely subconscious. However, it is also largely participatory—in order for the luck to take effect, Domino herself must engage in an action whose chance she can affect.

For example, if debris falling from the sky was about to hit her in the head, she would still be hurt if she stood still. However, if she tried to avoid it, she would move perfectly to avoid each and every piece about to hit her. In addition, if Domino were to stand before a hail of bullets she would be a bullet-riddled corpse. Instead, she must take action, attempting to avoid the gunfire, and would miraculously bob-and-weave just perfectly to avoid every single shot.

As a byproduct of her probability abilities, Domino's cerebral cortex emits a current of bioelectric pulses down her spine to instinctively guide her movements during such situations, which has the added effect of augmenting her natural reflexes and reactions to superhuman levels.

During the 198 rebellion at the Xavier Institute, Domino was able to consciously utilize her abilities in order to affect the probability fields of storm clouds above a group of ONE Sentinels, calling down lightning to strike them.

Domino is also a superb marksman with various firearms, highly skilled athlete, excellent swimmer, and adept in use of explosives. She has extensive training in various armed combat techniques and the martial arts, with Olympic-gold level athletic and acrobatic ability. She also seems to be fluent in multiple languages.

Domino wears body armor of unknown composition, and carries conventional firearms. She has also used a staff that fires unspecified ammunition, which can be used for balance when jumping and is equipped with sensors. During her time as an X-Corporation operative, Domino wore contact lenses designed by Forge, capable of night vision or, with a triple blink, firing a high intensity laser beam.

Dominic Dunsinane

A male character named Domino (Dominic Dunsinane) aided the Scourge of the Underworld as an informant.^[23] He was killed by a rogue Scourge agent named Bloodstain in U.S.Agent, vol. 1#4 (Sep. 1993).^[24]

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Domino was a sadistic bounty hunter working for Apocalypse, alongside her two henchmen, Caliban and Grizzly. Domino was summoned by the Dark Lord to hunt down Nate Grey. Even though Domino's powers gave her the advantage, she was killed by Nate, who destroyed her mind by exposing her to all the suffering she had caused.

Ultimate Domino

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Domino was introduced in the second part of the "Cable" storyline, that can be found in Ultimate X-Men #76 (Jan. 2007). Once again, Domino appears to be part of Cable's team and looks just like her original counterpart.

X-Men: The End

In this alternate future of X-Men: The End, Domino, Rictor and Feral are the only three survivors of a brutal attack directed against X-Force. They are ambushed by shapeshifting enemies and Domino's luck runs out when a Super Skrull posing as Wolverine drives blades through her chest.

Earth X

In the Earth X storyline, an overweight Domino, still a member of X-Force, was one of the many people who was a pawn of the Skull.^[25]

Skornn

In an alternate future, Domino took on the identity of Stryfe. Coming to Earth-616, she rebuilt the Mutant Liberation Front and assisted Cable against Skornn. Her Earth designation is Earth-5014.^[26]

In other media

Television

• Domino makes several quick cameos throughout the run of the X-Men animated series starting with the first episode "Night of the Sentinels." She makes a standout cameo in the X-Men episode "Slave Island" voiced by Jennifer Dale.^[27]
• Domino appears in Wolverine and the X-Men voiced by Gwendoline Yeo. She first appears as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. She also appears in Professor X's alternate future as a member of his X-Men. As her abilities are subtle in nature, more emphasis has been put on her marksmanship, reflected in otherwise impossible shots such as clearing a full table of billiard balls on the breaking shot.^[28]

References

1. ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z, vol. 13 (2010) Marvel Comics
2. ^ Cable and Deadpool #7–12, 27–29, 33–35, 40–42
3. ^ ^{a b c} Manning, Shaun (2009-02-07). "NYCC: Yost & Kyle on 'X-Force: Sex and Violence'". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19903. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
4. ^ Sunu, Steve (2009-02-07). "[NYCC 'Sex & Violence' Q&A With Christopher Yost"]. Wizard Universe. http://www.wizarduniverse.com/020709nyccchrisyost.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Domino, vol. 1 #1–3 (Jan.–Mar. 1997)
6. ^ ^{a b} flashback in Cable: Blood and Steel #1–2 (Oct.–Nov. 1992)
7. ^ flashback in X-Force, vol. 1 #8 (Mar. 1992)
8. ^ New Mutants, vol. 1 #98 (Feb. 1991)
9. ^ X-Force, vol. 1 #11 (June 1992)
10. ^ X-Force, vol. 1 #13 (Aug. 1992)
11. ^ X-Force, vol. 1 #14 (Sep. 1992)
12. ^ X-Force, vol. 1 #15 (Oct. 1992)
13. ^ Cable, vol. 1 #24 (Oct. 1995)
14. ^ New X-Men Annual 2001 (Sep. 2001)
15. ^ Domino, vol. 2 #1–4 (June–Aug. 2003)
16. ^ Civil War: X-Men #1 (Sep. 2006)
17. ^ X-Force, vol. 3 #8 (Dec. 2008)
18. ^ Uncanny X-Men #508 (June 2009)
19. ^ Uncanny X-Men #511 (Aug. 2009)
20. ^ X-Force: Sex and Violence
21. ^ Hulk, vol. 2 #14 (Aug. 2009)
22. ^ Hulk, vol. 2 #17 (Jan. 2010)
23. ^ Rampaging Hulk, vol. 1 #4 (Aug. 1977); Captain America #320 (Aug. 1986); U.S.Agent, vol. 1 #1–4 (Jun.–Sep. 1993) [1]
24. ^ "Bloodstain (Scourge, US Agent foe)". Marvunapp.com. 2001-09-02. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/bloodstn.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 
25. ^ Earth X #2 (May 1999)
26. ^ X-Force, vol. 2 #4 (Jan. 2005)
27. ^ Slave Island. FOX. 1993-02-13. No. 7, season 1.
28. ^ Hindsight, Part II. 2009-01-23–2009-01-30. No. 2, season 1.

External links

• Domino (Neena Thurman) at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Domino's entry at UncannyXmen.Net