Luz

Origin

Luz is a member of the Children of the Vault that runs away from her home, the Quitado (it is implied that this has occurred more than once, however it is not stated how this may have occured). In order to escape the interdimensional city, she crawled through the waste interface, using her light-based abilities to render the interface’s laser filters harmless. She appears in Mumbai, India, during one of many storms that had been plaguing the city, and is found by Rogue, Magneto and a group of X-Men that included Anole, Loa and Indra.

Creation

Luz was created by Mike Carey and Clay Mann and first appeared in X-Men Legacy. Like her fellow Children of the Vault Luz, has Spanish influences, her alternative name Light.

Major Story Arcs

Rogue insists on waiting to question her, and she joined the team at Indra’s family home; where she was less than welcome- after making a lewd statue of herself and Paras naked, she was almost thrown out on the spot. Luz liked Paras and told him as much, also kissing him, but he refused to even consider returning her affections due both to his engagement and having just met the girl (Note that Luz’s creating the statue is odd in itself; the Children of the Vault reproduce asexually, and as such she is supposed to have no knowledge of sex, and even expresses an ignorance of the concept of marriage). When ‘painting’ with her light-manipulation abilities, Magneto asks who she is and where she is from, pointing out that with her abilities, she could ‘conquer small countries’, and that she would surely be missed. He asks Rogue to absorb her memories, which gets him punched in the face.

Magneto is soon proven to be correct when some of the Children of the Vault appear demanding Luz return with them. There is a battle, the X-men are nearly killed, and Luz surrenders to the attackers, asking that the X-men be allowed to live. The group, with Rogue and Magneto in tow, return to Quitado, ready to start up the Angelfire (a device that generates energy for the city). The machine fails, and it is revealed that Vipala, not Luz, returned with the Children, and that Luz is still in Mumbai. This is also revealed to Indra and his family during the marriage ceremony, as Luz reveals herself to have been disguised as Vipala. Rogue manages to cause the Quitado to crash into Mumbai, and the real Luz agrees to re-join her brethren, promising never to attempt escape again. The Quitado vanishes, and Luz is last seen in confinement, promising a light sculpture of Paras that she will see him again soon.

Powers and Abilities

Luz’s control over light is powerful, and is shown as being useful in a myriad of ways. She effortlessly breaks through the Children of the Vaults’ waste interface, which astonishes those who attempt to stop her escape. Magneto himself notes that her powers require levels of energy normally seen in supernovas, his wording of her powers being ‘sculpting light waves into finite, coherent patterns’. She, herself, has stated that she is able to do more than ‘paint pretty pictures’, including moving at the speed of light itself. How this is possible is not stated.