Alias

Karma
Nick Name
|
Civilian ID
Xi'an (Shan) Coy Manh
Occupation

Adventurer

Executive Secretary

Mutant Rights Activist

Student

Teacher
Legal Status
Citizen of Vietnam with a work visa in the United States.
Nation or Planet of Origin
Vietnam
Group Affiliation
New Mutants
Base of Operations
Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York
Height
5' 4"
Weight
120 lbs.
Eye Color
Brown
Hair Color
Black
Skin Tone
Mongoloid
Known Powers
Mutation resulting in the ability to possess the minds of multiple sentient beings and/or animals, taking control of their actions without their knowledge.  When individuals possessed are released, they have no memory of their possession.
Accessories
|
Common Enemies

Shadow King

Viper II
Regularly Appearing
New Mutants Vol. 1 & 2
First Appearance
Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1 #100 (Dec. 1980)
Creator
Chris Claremont, Frank Miller & John Byrne
Origin
The daughter of a Vietnamese military officer, Xi'an Coy Manh and her twin brother Tran, manifest their mutant powers when threatened with death by a Viet-Cong soldier. Manh instinctively took control of the soldier's mind preventing her brother's death, but he in turn used his abilities to force the soldier to commit suicide.

At war's end Manh's family was forced to flee the country joining the throngs of boatpeople adrift on the ocean.  Her brother, Tran had been sent to the United States at an earlier date.  Sick and weak from hunger, Manh was unable to use her power in defense of an attack by Thai pirates, who killed her father and the other adult men on board, and sexually assaulted the women.  Manh's mother died the day the survivors were rescued by the U.S. Navy.

Manh and her two younger siblings were reunited with her brother and uncle Nguyen, who was a General in the Vietnamese military, and now a mafia leader posing as a prosperous business leader.  Aware of the twin's powers, Nguyen attempted to force Manh to join his criminal organization.  Refusing, she sought aid from a former American infantryman and Catholic priest, she knew in Vietnam.

Gaining employment, Manh settled into an apartment and enrolled her siblings into school.  Undaunted, Manh's uncle kidnapped the children in an effort to blackmail her into working for his criminal organization.  Desperate, and believing the accounts of the Daily Bugle that he was a criminal, Manh took possession of Spider-Man in an effort to rescue her siblings.  In the rescue attempt, Spider-Man was forced to fight members of the Fantastic Four, who unaware of his criminal ties were attending a party of Manh's uncle.  Discovering the truth, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four teamed with Manh to rescue her siblings.  In the battle, Manh was forced to confront and kill her brother by using her powers to absorb his life-force.

Shortly after the rescue of her siblings, Manh was invited to join Professor Charles Xavier's school to better develop her skills.  In addition to gaining employment as Xavier's executive secretary, she also lead his team of New Mutants as the mind controlling Karma.