Origin
Lillian Crawley was a recruit for Department H by the Canadian government. Little was known of her life prior to this outside of her home town, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Despite her powerful mutation, Lillian was relegated to the lower level team Gamma Flight when her poor disposition proved herself to be a poor candidate for the elite Alpha Flight team. After the government stopped funding the group, she was mind controlled by the robot Courtney Delphine and forced to join Omega Flight, a rival group of villainous mutants. She was incarcerated after losing to Alpha Flight but.later rejoined Gamma Flight when a restarted Department H offered her a full pardon in return. In time Lil proved herself worthy of becoming a member Alpha Flight.
Creation
Diamond Lil is a Marvel character created by John Byrne in 1983 and first appeared in Alpha Flight #1.
Character Evolution
Lillian Crawley grew up in a small city in Northern Canada, her combative personality derived from a life where she struggled to fit in as a woman of her size. Like other members of Gamma Flight, she resented being considered inferior to Alpha Flight and was easily convinced to join Omega Flight. While initially meant to remain a villain, Diamond Lil was shown as repentant and willing to prove herself to the Alpha Flight members, working diligently until she was invited into the elite team. Her relationship with Madison Jefferies was tumultuous due to Diamond Lil’s quick temper and Jefferies’ inability to adapt to a normal life and they separated unofficially. When Lil arrived at Utopia where Jeffries’ was stationed at, the two finally discussed their issues and reconciled after admitting their love for each other.
Major Story Arcs
Heather Hudson – Alpha Flight’s new leader Vindicator – resented Lillian because of the part she played in her husband’s death, but after Guardian returned to life they have resolved their issues although some tension remained between the two women due to their romantic histories with fellow team-mate Madison Jeffries. Madison and Diamond Lil did restart their relationship after Heather broke off her engagement with him. Shortly after, Lil found a lump in her breast but because of her mutation a biopsy could not be performed to determine its malignancy. During a fight with the Consortium, Lil was surprised to be cut by laser grafted to an attacking alien and ripped the weapon out of its body. Modified, the laser was used to perform a biopsy and fortunately it was found to be benign. During a battle with Diablo, Madison was seriously injured but Lil refused to leave his side despite it meaning certain death. Moved, he proposed to her and the couple survived the ordeal and were wed shortly after.
Although retired, her husband continued to help Alpha Flight with his robot Box unbeknownst to Lil and when his activities were discovered, she threatened to divorce him. Despite this, she did join him and other Alphans to battle Carcass but did not rejoin Alpha Flight officially like her husband and kept her job as a waitress. Unfortunately, Jeffries was captured during a mission but Lillian was unaware of this and went to the Department H headquarters and demanded to see him. Instead, she was kidnapped by facility’s Chief scientist Dr. Horatio Huxley. and taken to his labs. She was subjected to a barrage of tests and experiments, including being infected with a low dose of Thetagen-24, an aggressive strand of bacteria to study its effects on human physiology. Previous test subjects had died of the bacteria’s effects but Lil’s mutant power saved her, keeping the infection from spreading more than skin deep. As such, it couldn’t mess up her system and rather lived as a parasite on her skin. Diamond Lil was rescued when Alpha Flight eventually discovered Huxley’s experiments and his abduction of her.
Weapon X
It is unknown what happened to Lillian after this as she did not rejoin Alpha Flight, so presumably she was recuperating elsewhere. If she or Alpha Flight made any efforts to locate the missing Madison, they must have been futile, for he was later stolen from his kidnappers by operatives of the revamped Weapon X Progam. After having Jeffries brainwashed, the Director ordered him to design a concentration camp for mutants. In a cruel twist of fate, Lil happens to be one of the dozens of mutants who were captured by Weapon X and taken to Neverland Camp. Her bad temper getting the better of her, Lillian tried to fight with the guards but was beaten to a pulp, her mutant power canceled out by a negation field covering the entire camp derived from a mutant power dampening Leech.
The results of M-Day meant that the Neverland was abandoned and Diamond Lil was one of few mutants to retain her powers. She accepted the offer of sanctuary at the Xavier Institute and joined the ranks of the 198 on the Institute’s grounds, but she soon grew angry with their refugee camp like living area and left with Mr. M.
Utopia
Before her arrival on the island, Madison Jeffries was nervous about her arrival on Utopia. He recalls their troubles, and decides to stay away from her. But some days after Lil confronts her estranged husband, she furiously warns him to stay away from her. Jeffries goes about his business on Utopia, before Diamond Lil confronts him once again, informing him that Marrina is dead. Madison apologizes for hurting Lil. Jeffries spies on Lil while she sleeps, and some days later they argue again, with Lil asking Madison why he never fought for her. Madison tells Lil that he only wants her to be happy, and they get back together.
Necrosha
Selene and her Inner Circle attack Utopia and confronts a large group of mutants, including the X-Men and Lil. She tended to Iceman’s wounds before she grew impatient standing idly by. Despite warnings from her husband, Lil ran towards the deadly group of mutants before being grabbed by the neck by Mortis. Mortis’ powers generated an energy disruptive field, which made Lil’s force field non-functional, allowing Mortis to deliver the blow that ended Lil’s life. After Necrosha, Jeffries mourned her death and held a funeral for her, burying her in the waters of Utopia in a glass coffin he made for her.
Powers and Abilities
Diamond Lil’s mutant ability constantly generates an extremely strong force field around her entire body. She constantly saturates her body with a reinforcing bio-aura of impenetrable energy, rendering her virtually invulnerable to all forms of physical impact or assault, temperature extremes, or energy based attacks. The force field remains even when separated from her body, for example a piece of her hair is strong enough to choke someone even when removed from her head.
Characteristics
- Height: 6’4″
- Weight: 165 lbs
- Eyes: Hazel
- Hair: Brown
- Known Relatives: Madison Jeffries (husband).
- Citizenshp: Canadian
- Place of Birth: Canada
- Marital Status: Married
- Occupation: Government Operative
Alternate Realities
House of M
Diamond Lil is a member of the Red Guard who assisted them in their fight against the Hood‘s Masters of Evil.
Earth-5700 – Days of Future Now