Cheshire

Origin

During the Vietnam War, American soldier Robert Pullman had an affair with a Vietnamese woman, leaving her pregnant with a child who would later become one of the deadliest and feared assassins on the planet. The girl was named Jade and spent ten years of her childhood being raised by her mother alone until she was separated from her.

Ten years old Jade wandered through Asia trying to get back home. Soon she was kidnapped by slavers and sold into slavery. Struggling with torments of being a slave, Jade killed her master shortly thereafter, swearing that no man would ever rule her.

Sometime after the escape she encountered Wen Ch’ang, a freedom fighter, former member of the World War II [[Blackhawk Squadron]]. The man took her under his wing and taught her everything he knew about guerilla warfare. He also unofficially adopted her.

At the age of sixteen Jade married Kruen Musenda, African assassin known as Spitting Cobra, who taught her everything he knew about poisons. Two years later it turned out that the student has surpassed the master as Jade poisoned Kruen which resulted in his death. After Kruen’s death Jade took the alias Cheshire and officially began her career as an assassin.

Jade would later learn that her biological father Bob Pullman has abused her mother and she would go after him to take revenge.

Creation

Cheshire was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. She first appeared in The New Teen Titans Annual #2 “The Murder Machine” (1983).

Character Evolution

She was a rival to the Teen Titans, but when Roy Harper (Speedy) was ordered by the government to gain Cheshire’s trust and turn her over to the authorities, the two fell passionately in love. She did not know his true identity at the time. Roy didn’t want to put her in danger and also wasn’t able to turn her in, so he walked out on her with no explonation. He didn’t know Jade was pregnant with his child. She gave birth to a daughter, Lian Harper, who Jade loved but could not care for due to her mercenary ways. She later left Lian behind to be raised by Roy, partially due to love she still felt for him. Jade returned to her mercenary ways, saving Deathstroke so he would aid her in a plot to steal nuclear weapons from Russia to obliterate the Middle East country of Qurac. These plans failed when her base was attacked and she had to flee. Cheshire later created her own team, the Ravens.

Cheshire volunteered to join Vandal Savage’s team, Tartarus, focused on destroying the Titans. During a confrontation with the Titans and the H.I.V.E, Savage shot Cheshire to distract Arsenal. She recovered, but because of her crimes, such as destroying Qurac, she was taken into custody and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Ravens broke her out but Roy forced her back in.

She later worked with the Secret Six and had sexual relations with Catman, becoming pregnant. But when she betrayed the team to Lex Luthor’s society she was shot and critically wounded by Deathstroke. Though she seemed to be dead, she showed up alive in the Himalayas with her and Blake’s son, Thomas Blake, Jr.

She then worked with Vandal Savage again, putting hits on the members of the Secret Six, minus Catman. Eventually she took matters into her own hands and stabbed the Mad Hatter with a poisoned knife. She bartered the antidote with Catman for her own safety.

She was later seen in prison receiving a visit from Roy and Lian. She was then seen as a member of the Injustice League Unlimited, but then disappeared, most likely sent to Planet Hell, a distant prison planet, to which Amanda Waller‘s Suicide Squad has been sending villains.

Major Story Arcs

Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student

After Lady Shiva and Black Canary’s sensei is poisoned to death both assume that the responsable is Chesire, a poison especialist considered by them the second most deadly assassin in the world. Shortly after questioning her about their sensei’s murderer Jade is believed to be innocent and claims that she has been set-up by Senator Pullman. With this Shiva, Dinah and Jade decide to join forces to bring him down. Later is shown that Cheshire discovered that her biological father was Robert Pullman, the senator they were after, and she attempted to torture and kill him. To that end, she defeated Lady Shiva, and devised a plan to use her to fake her own death and flee the country with her daughter. Jade ties up Shiva, gags her and locks her in the trunk of her car (which was wired to explode), hoping that the authorities will find the charred body of an Asian woman in the flaming car wreck and believe that Jade was killed while fleeing the Senator’s murder. Unfortunately for her, Catwoman and Gypsy show up and untie Shiva, while Huntress and Black Canary stop Jade from murdering the Senator, and then take her into custody. While escaping the scene of the attempted assassination, Jade is punched in the face and thrown out of the helicopter by Black Canary to avoid being beaten to death by an enraged Shiva.

Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal and Deathstroke’s Titans

In the events of Justice League: Cry for Justice, Star City was destroyed by Prometheus, killing Lian. Cheshire is outraged and blames Roy for not being able to protect their daughter. She tracks him down and attempts to kill him. After a fairly even battle where they both suffer some minor injuries, they eventually stop after Cheshire realizes Roy isn’t the one to blame as she breaks down in tears. Roy comforts Jade and they eventually settle their differences. However their attempt at love-making fails in the face of their shared grief, leaving them both frustrated.

Later Deathstroke creates a new mercenary team, Titans. Cheshire is one of the members he wants in his team. She refuses claiming that she is not interested. However Slade brings up Lian’s death as the reason Jade lost her edge and offers her help. She agrees to join, but as it’s later revealed only in order to accomplish her plan to take revenge on Slade. She later appears battling Ryan Choi with the rest of the Titans. While on the team, Jade and Roy restarted their relationship. She convinces him to betray Deathstroke when the time is right.

Cheshire’s son by Catman, Thomas Blake, Jr., is kidnapped, chronologically taking place after the death of Lian. Catman goes on a murderous rampage believing the child to already be dead only to find that the man who orchestrated the kidnapping has given the boy to a loving childless couple and that the kidnapping itself was an act of revenge against Cheshire for murdering his family. Catman, after realizing the child is better left where he is, informs Jade that their son is dead which sends her into a sorrowful rage, while Blake tells his son to rest in peace after killing all the kidnappers involved. Cheshire has now lost both her children.

Currently, Deathstroke and his team arrive at South Pacific island to kill the cult leader, Drago, who overlooks the production of blind warriors. However, Cheshire and Arsenal betray him, revealing that they had been working with Drago. That alliance is short lived however when Drago soon turns on Cheshire and Arsenal as well. Drago offers Jade to become his so that she can provide him an heir. She plays along until Arsenal is able to break out along with the other Titans and Deathstroke. Deathstroke spares Drago and the Titans depart from the island.

En route, they run into the Justice League of America, but manage to elude the league and make their way to Kahndaq. However the league shows up afterwards and a battle ensues. Jade engages Donna and the two exchange words and insults about their relationship with Roy. Donna proves to be too much for Jade and breaks Jade’s arm. The battle proves to be in favor of the League at the start, but that quickly changes with the arrival of Tattooed Man and Deathstroke’s kryptonite laced sword. Isis quickly intervenes and demands that both parties cease.

The Titans return to the Labyrinth where Deathstroke reveals that he can revive the dead, including Jade’s daughter Lian. Cinder is the only one to object to Deathstroke’s machine and attacks the rest of the Titans, Roy objects to the use of such an object and sides with Carla as well. Carla manages to detonate the machine by seemingly sacrificing herself, and Jade stands idly watching in agony as she now loses any chances of bringing back Lian. Roy quickly pulls Jade out of the way of the explosion. Outside, Jade tells Roy she wants to leave everything that has happened recently behind her, including him and leaves.

New 52

Cheshire makes her first appearance post Flashpoint in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Cheshire was trained by Bronze Tiger alongside Jason Todd. At some point Jason decided to leave, but as Jade did not share his moral ethics she stayed and became on of the League of Assassins.

Sometime later she is sent by Bronze Tiger and the League of Assassins to gather intel on Red Hood, Starfire, and Arsenal. Once again she has an immediate infatuation with Roy Harper, teasing, taunting him and going as far as taking his hat to remember him by. As Kori forces her to retreat, she disappears stating she already has what she came for.

Rebirth

Following DC’s relaunch of it’s line Chesire is seen once more working for the League of Assassins and it’s stated that she used to date Arsenal, but both parted ways due to Jade’s villanous tendencies.

Hired as one of the Four Horsemen, Cheshire was a key part of the Ninth Circle’s transformation of Seattle into Star City in terms of spreading fear and destruction. While seemingly walking innocently through the Seattle-Tacoma International airport and interacting with the airline employees, including pilots, she was actually poisoning them with her toxic nail polish. The effects of her poison were felt during the flight, causing 3 planes to crash, killing at least 537 people and grounding all flights out of Seattle. Later, Cheshire and Brick found and defended their fellow Horseman Eddie Fyers from Green Arrow, which they successfully did, forcing him to run away.

Cheshire continued out her contract with the Ninth Circle by poisoning a water treatment facility that supplied water to all of Seattle. According to her the chemical cocktail was non-lethal, but it would “cause brain damage, make their hair fall out and their skin rise into scabs.” She never specified if these were side effects of consuming the water or just contacting it. While doing so she was interrupted by (Emiko Queen) Red Arrow. As they fought Cheshire soon got the upper hand and was about to kill her, but she was stopped by Arsenal. Unable to fight both at the time, she threw a smoke bomb and left.

Cheshire appeared again later along with Brick to stop Arsenal and Red Arrow from entering the Queen Industries to aid Green Arrow against the Ninth Circle. She attempted to seduce Arsenal but failed. They then all engaged in battle with Cheshire facing Arsenal and later overwhelming him. However, as she attempted to deliver the final blow, Black Canary interfered by using her power to send Brick flying over at Cheshire, knocking her out in the process. Later on, Cheshire was seen among the crowd with the other Horsemen, observing Oliver Queen stand trial for the murder of Wendy Poole.

In Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Cheshire appeared down the street of Commander Etta Candy’s house and together with other assassins and bounty hunters, cornering Wonder Woman and Etta. She intended to collect a bounty someone putted on Wonder Woman and her body. Coating her claws with Amazon-strength sedative, Cheshire was the first among the assassins to attack Wonder Woman. Wanting to collect all the money to herself, she also attacked other assassins, who she considered in her way like Abolith, to prevent them to take her prize. Wonder Woman quickly subdued her then threw her at Plastique, stopping both of them. She was no where to seen afterward.

Later, Cheshire was hired by the Brotherhood of Evil to steal a sample of drug material called Bliss. However, Roy Harper was on the trail for the drug as well. Cheshire played him into helping her, poisoning him during a sexual encounter leading him to believe he had relapsed on drugs. Soon after, still under the employ of the Brotherhood, she, along with a few thugs, defended Monsieur Mallah and The Brain by fighting off Arsenal. Devastatingly mismatched, Arsenal was nearly beaten to death by the thugs while Cheshire stepped back and watched. She spared him the misfortune of being beaten to death and provided him with euthanasia. As she was about to do so Donna Troy arrived to stop her. Nearly losing to her, Cheshire attempted to taunt Donna into killing her as she was told of recent events that were highly sensitive to Donna. As she decided what to do next with Cheshire, Arsenal defeated her with a trick arrow.

Cheshire secretly attended Roy Harper’s funeral, standing away far from everyone else, in the back. She looked inexpressive, yet sheds a single tear, possibly feeling remorse their about last interaction.

Infinite Frontier

Following the reboot of the multiverse after Death Metal, it’s revealed that Lian is alive and in order to protect her, Jade left Lian at a local church in Gotham after fleeing from ninjas.

Later, Jade is shown pursuing a redemption path alongside Clayface, as they aid Catwoman to save Alleytown from the Magistrate, an authoritarian para-military force.

Moreover, Jade is reinstated as the daughter of André Chaumont and Anna Nguyen, as her profile on DC FESTIVAL OF HEROES: The Asian Superhero Celebration asserts that she is only Vietnamese.

Powers and Abilities

Cheshire is a fromidable fighter and a brilliant tactitian. She mastered several martial arts that no longer are thought to exist as well as she mastered weapon use. She is a triple jointed acrobat which makes her moves quick and unexpected. Her speed and agility allowed her to dodge Starfire’s blasts or to defeat Jesse Quick.

Her great fighting and planning skills allowed her to become an absolute team buster. She is known to defeat or stalemate members of both Teen Titans and the Justice League. She used to be one of the four greatest foes of Teen Titans next to Deathstroke, Brother Blood and Trigon.

Jade is also an expert in poison use. According to Black Canary she is the most brilliant toxicologist since Pamela Isley. Her artificial poisoned fingernails and weapons dip in poisons make her opponents tremble. She has been seen to mix her poisons in with just about anything. The Secret Six were poisoned by her food, which is highly impressive considering that Catman with his enhanced senses did not notice it.

Jade is also a multilingualist, speaking at least: Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French and Spanish.

She is judged to be the second deadliest assassin in the DC Universe, number one being Lady Shiva.

In the New 52, Cheshire appears to have the ability to became intangible taking on a translucent green form when active,also can teleport throught a device implanted on the wrist. The teleportation ability combined with her fighting abilities make her an opponent hard to defeat even for the Outlaws with the help from Green Arrow.

Characteristics

• Height: 6′ 0″
• Weight: 155 lbs
• Eyes: Green
• Hair: Black

Status

• Identity: Secret Identity
• Occupation: Assassin, Mercenary
• Citizenship: Vietnamese
• Place of Birth: Vietnam
• Marital Status: Widowed
• Known Relatives: Robert Pullman (biological father), Wen Ch’ang (adoptive father), Kruen Musenda (Spitting Cobra, husband, deceased), Lian Harper (daughter with Roy Harper, deceased), Thomas Blake Jr. (son with Catman)

Other Media

Television

Teen Titans Animated Series

Cheshire makes several appearances in the fifth and final season of the Teen Titans animated series as a younger version with a cat mask, where she is drafted into the expanded Brotherhood of Evil and proves herself to be a valuable asset to the team.

She first has a cameo in “Homecoming Part 2” when the expanded Brotherhood of Evil is first seen as she stands amongst dozens of fellow Titan foes.

Later, in “Calling All Titans”, she is sent out by The Brain to take out Speedy (Roy Harper) and attacking him in the forest she remains in the shadows much like a Cheshire Cat. However, when she decides to show herself, she uses her kimono sleeves to easily deflect Speedy’s arrows and uses her hair and nails to take him out with ease bringing him back to the Brotherhood headquarters where he is flash-frozen.

She makes her final appearance in “Titans Together”, where she helps capture Beast Boy‘s team when they arrive at the headquarters but when reinforcements arrive she too is overpowered and when defeated by the Titans she is flash-frozen, as payment for her crimes.

Young Justice

In Young Justice, Cheshire first appears in “Infiltrator” in which she is working with the League of Shadows to kill Serling Roquette. It is also revealed that she has an old connection to Artemis. She is voiced by Kelly Hu.

Cheshire’s next appearance is in “Targets” where she is assigned the task of assassinating Lex Luthor at a peace negotiations conference between delegations

from North and South Rhelasia. It is also shown that Ra’s al Ghul is her employer and mentor. Ra’s Al Ghul claims Luthor is a thorn in his side and wants Cheshire to eliminate him. Despite the help from Sportsmaster, the assassination attempt failed due to Red Arrow and Aqualad. Although it is revealed by the end that Ra’s Al Ghul secretly counted on her failure all along as he was in league with Luthor. This episode is the first time that Red Arrow and Cheshire are able to properly interact. Cheshire enjoys toying with Red Arrow and taunting him, constantly getting on his nerves by mentioning Green Arrow and how Red Arrow is not on her level. She clearly has a strong liking for him.

In the episode “Home Front” we see a younger version of Cheshire in a flashback from Young Justice member Artermis. Through this flashback we learn that Artermis and Cheshire are actually sisters and that she ran away when they where younger. This also makes her the daughter of Sportsmaster.

Cheshire appears once again alongside Sportsmaster, Klarion, and the Brain in “Insecurity” where they break out Professor Ivo and his equipment. The team tracks Sportsmaster and Cheshire down and a fight ensues. Cheshire mocks Artemis for her lack of skills and plays on her insecurities saying the team will never fully trust her. When Red Arrow joins the fight Cheshire exclaims that she and Red Arrow are dating much to the surprise of Artemis. Roy tries to deny this, but during a fight between the teams, Cheshire attacks Red Arrow pinning him down and pressing her sword to his neck. She then kisses the helpless hero for as long as it took to make sure Artemis saw it.

Cheshire’s final appearence in Season 1 was in “Usual Suspects”, where she is initially teamed with the Riddler and Mammoth. The team tracks her down. While fighting, Artemis is nearly crushed to death by an avalanche but is saved by Cheshire. She tells stunned Artemis that they are sisters after all and she does not want to see her dead. In the confrontation at Santa Prisca, Cheshire along with Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, Bane, Blockbuster, and Sportsmaster are fighting the team. While the villains try to escape, Sportsmaster and Blockbuster are trapped and left behind. Sportsmaster calls out to Cheshire for help, but she refuses to help him and disappears into the shadows.

In “Usual Suspects” it is also revealed that Cheshire’s entire family was all villains at one point. Her father Sportsmaster, her mother Huntress (retired Paula Crock) and her sister Tigress (while undercover).

Young Justice: Invasion

In Season 2, it is revealed that during the five years time skip Cheshire has cut all ties with the League of Shadows to help Red Arrow (who is the clone of the real Roy Harper as it was revealed in Season 1) in his search for Speedy, the original Roy Harper. They eventually married, but it was not without fights. Jade accused Roy of being obsessive over Speedy. Sometime later Jade became pregnant, but she didn’t tell Roy. Feeling that due to Roy’s self-destructive drive they can’t create a right environment to raise a baby, Jade left and gave birth to their daughter Lian alone. Few months later Jade returned to Roy’s apartment to get him clean up his act. She introduced him to his daughter and revealed that all the time she was away, she was still searching for Speedy. She told him that while she was away she called in many favors and found the final lead to find the original Roy Harper.

In “Bloodlines” Cheshire and Red Arrow travel to Tibet where according to Jade’s intel Speedy is kept. It is revealed that they took their daughter with them. Roy thinks it seems too easy, as the good guys were looking for the real Roy Harper for years and then she suddenly found the lead. Jade disagrees as she goes to places the good guys don’t. She also seems annoyed by Roy keep calling Speedy the real Roy Harper. She tells him that she and Lian need him to be real. After fighting themselves past the guards, Lian who is held by her mother in a papoose giggles as she sees her parents defeating two men. The sound of her giggles attracts the attention of every guard in a monastery. Roy reveals his true feelings about taking Lian with them on a dangerous mission. He tells that they should have left her with Artemis. Jade disagrees as she claims that Lian’s presence would keep him focused. But even all the guards weren’t enough to stop them. They reached the door the guards were protecting. Red Arrow blasted open the door and found a cryogenic pod. Cheshire watched as Red Arrow caught Speedy as he fell out of the pod.

Cheshire is voiced by Kelly Hu.

Young Justice: Outsiders

In Season 3, in “Triptych”, Cheshire is shown on a job for Branchwater Security, a shell company of Stagg Industries, that ran a meta-human trafficking ring. While on the job, Cheshire is shot and has to receive medical attention from Doctor Moon, attention she decides to receive without anesthesia, as she affirms to the doctor that she doesn’t trust him, but as in doing so she warns him to not take it personaly, as she doesn’t even trust herself. During her surgery Artemis shows up to question her about the Shadows activity, to which Jade informs that she no longer works for the Shadows. Still, she let’s Artemis know that the Shadows are based in Santa Prisca. Artemis also asks Jade to return home to see Lian, to which Jade responds negatively, affirming that Lian is better off without her. However, before escaping, Jade asks Artemis to hug Lian for her.

In “Exceptional Human Beings”, Jade visits her home and it’s caught by Will Harper (Red Arrow), the latter invites her to come inside and see Lian, but Jade feels unworthy of being part of their family and feels Lian is better off without her, and that Will is also better off without her. Thus, Jade, in tears, asks Will to move on from her, right before running away from him.

Young Justice: Phantoms

In Season 4, in “Tale of Two Sisters”, Cheshire is shown in Infinity Island. Jade goes to Infinity Island to end the bounty Ra’s al Ghul had put on her, but she is stopped by O-Sensei, who let’s her know the al Ghul family is no longer involved with the Shadows. Therefore, her betrayal of the Shadows to save Red Arrow during the five-year gap was no longer their concern. In Infinity Island, Cheshire’s views on motherhood are also challenged by Talia al Ghul, who confronts her and calls her a coward for not being there for Lian, to which Jade responds saying she did what was best for her girl, as she thinks Talia is a selfish fool for deciding to maintain Damian by her side.

Later, Cheshire receives a signal that shocks her and she quickly flees to her sister’s home in Star City. In Artemis’s home, Jade meets her mother and asks where what was wrong with Lian and why her mother called her, to which Artemis intervenes, saying she was the one to call her, and that nothing was wrong with Lian.

In a flashback, it’s shown that during their trainings with Sportsmaster, a young Cheshire looked out for Artemis and suffered for it in the hands of Sportsmaster. Later, she flees their house and is shown in a bus sorrowfully starring at the night through the bus window.

DC Super Hero Girls

Cheshire appears in the Web Serie, debuting in second season episode “Odd Couple”.

Film

A version of Katana in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earth was dressed liked Cheshire from the Teen Titans.

Batman: Soul of the Dragon

Cheshire appears in Batman: Soul of the Dragon voiced by Jamie Chung. In this animated movie, Jade is a martial arts student who trains at Nanda Parbat with O-Sensei, alongside Bruce Wayne, Bronze Tiger and Richard Dragon. She’s shown to question her master decisions, but the latter recognizes her skills. Later in the movie Jade is killed by Rip Jagger, so he could open the Naga Gate and release the Cobra spirit.

Catwoman: the Hunted

Cheshire appears in Catwoman: the Hunted voiced by Kelly Hu.

Video Games

Young Justice: Legacy

Cheshire appears in Young Justice: Legacy as one of the bosses.

Batman: Arkham Origins

In Batman Arkham Origins Black Mask has a file of a disapproved assassin with the name “Cheshire.”

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Cheshire is a playable character, voiced by Tara Strong

LEGO DC SUPER-VILLAINS

Cheshire is a playable character in this game.