Real
Name: Ivich Williamson
Real
Name: Ivich Williamson
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Professional fighter
Group Membership: Gladiators
Affiliations: Dazzler (Blaire); Alexander
Flynn; Hugo
Longride; Magma
(Aquilla); Max Rocker;
Ralph; Shadow King (Farouk, possessing Karma (Coy Mahn)); Sunspot
(Da Costa)
Enemies: Alexander
Flynn, Heartbreak
Hotel mutants; New
Mutants (Cannonball (Guthrie), Magik (Rasputin), Magma,
Sunspot, Warlock, Wolfsbane), Rachel Summers, Shadowcat
(Pryde)
(formerly) Beast (McCoy); Dazzler
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None known
Base of Operations: "Underground" Mutant Theater, Hollywood, California
First Appearance: Beauty and the Beast#2 (February, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: Ivich is a mutant whose main mutation seems to be having green skin. While she is extremely skilled with a sword it is unclear how much, if any, of her fighting agility/abilities is the result of her mutations and how much is training.
History:
Ivich's early history is unknown. She apparently joined the
Gladiators
of her own free will and is a longtime member in good standing with
them.
(Beauty and the Beast#2) After fighting in the "war" in the Arena, Ivich went backstage to congratulate Dazzler on her impressive debut with the Gladiators. When she realized that Dazzler was still upset over the death of one of the other Gladiators Ivich tried to comfort her by telling Daz why she preferred life as a Gladiator to life in the "real world" outside of the Arena. Ivich then watched as Alexander Flynn used his hypnotic power and Max Rocker used a drugged drink to convince Dazzler to remain with the Gladiators and not leave with the Beast.
(Beauty and the Beast#3) Ivich was one of the Gladiators who were practicing in the gym when Dazzler had a practice bout against Horns and was one of the ones who congratulated Daz on a good performance. Later that day Ivich and Daz discussed life in the Gladiators when Max showed up to show them his new scar and to give Ivich a new weapon which they then proceeded to practice with. That afternoon Ivich and Max gave Horns one last warning about his behavior in the Arena and hinted at what might happen to him if he broke the Gladiators' Code one more time. That night, after the other Gladiators chose to follow Flynn by killing Hugo Longrider both Ivich and Max decided they did not like this development but decided that the best strategy for the moment was "wait and see."
(Beauty and the Beast#4) - Later that night Ivich and Rocker were angrily dismissed by Flynn while they were in his war room. While both Ivich and Rocker realized Flynn was mad Ivich told him that she was too much under Flynn's power to resist him while secretly admitting to herself that she wanted to sacrifice herself on the mission to attack Latveria. Ivich was one of the Gladiators who joined Flynn in the Arena in an attempt to kill Dazzler and Beast when they tried to escape the Theater, and went up against both Dazzler and Rocker during the fight. Once Flynn was defeated and his hold over Ivich and the other Gladiators was broken she was the first to join Rocker when he decided to restart the Theater and the Gladiators minus all the killing of each other.
(New Mutants I#29 (fb) - BTS) - Almost immediately the Shadow King (Amahl Farouk, in the body of Karma (Xi'an Coy Mahn)) took control of Ivich and the Gladiators and became the new leader of the organization, using Flynn as the public face of the Gladiators while hiding his own involvement in the organization. (see comments)
(New Mutants I#29) - Ivich engaged fellow Gladiator "Viperion" in a battle to the death in the Arena. She was almost killed by him until Dazzler intervened and stunned "Viperion", allowing Ivich to escape. When she tried to kill "Viperion" instead, Dazzler prevented that as well. Ivich chided Alison for her squeamishness and went to join Max Rocker and Axe in their bout with Sunspot and Magma, where she was almost fried by a mini-volcano created by Magma. Ivich then watched as Magneto came into the Arena seeking allies in the battle against the Beyonder and leaving with Cannonball, Magik, Lila Cheney, and Dazzler but leaving Sunspot and Magma when they decided to stay behind with the Gladiators.
(New Mutants I#30)
- Ivich and Max Rocker welcomed Dazzler back
to the Gladiators' fold. Ivich watched as Dazzler drank a flask
that contained a stronger version of the drug that Rocker originally
used
on her (back in the B&B series). A few days later Ivich was
present
with Rocker at the front desk when Rocker gave a potential new techie
named
Cat (an undercover Shadowcat) a broken radio module as a test of her
tech
skills. Ivich also caught Dazzler's act and her subsequent
victory
in the Arena. The next morning Ivich was present in the training
gym when Magma and Sunspot tried to give Dazzler a fright by almost
frying
her and tossing her into the air, where she was caught by Lexi.
(New Mutants I#31) - When Magik sent the Shadow King-possessed Dazzler into Limbo to eliminate her threat to the other New Mutants, Ivich thought she had been killed instead and led the other Gladiators into a charge against the New Mutants. The Gladiators, however, were quickly defeated by the Mutants. When Ivich became the last Gladiator standing she ask the now-returned Dazzler if she was "busted." Dazzler let her go instead, with the instruction that in the future Ivich should find herself a gentler line of work. Ivich's current whereabouts and activities are unknown.
Comments: Created by Ann Nocenti (writer), Don Perlin (Pencils), and Kim DeMulder (inks).
Ivich is mis-colored white in New Mutants I #29.
Though Chris Claremont clearly intended to ret-con the Shadow King in as the main power behind the Gladiators from their beginnings that does not jibe with how the Gladiators were seen in the Beauty and the Beast issues. The best place to put the Shadow King's takeover is in-between the two series, influencing Max Rocker and the other Gladiators to continue seeing Flynn as their leader despite what happened at the end of B&B #4. Though a good argument can be made that Farouk actually started his takeover in the early part of B&B #3, given that that was when Flynn started his whole "conqueror" bit. This is discussed more over in Flynn's entry.
New Mutants I #29 & #30 are part of the Secret Wars II crossover that ran in almost all of the main Marvel titles in the summer of 1985. SWII #1 takes place between the two New Mutant issues. Which explains why Magneto showed up when he did.
Ivich was not among the Gladiators who were hired by the Shadow King
in NM I #32, and thus was not among the Gladiators killed in that
issue.
Mother O'Grady, Sienkiewicz sure
did a number on Ivich with his art. - Madison Carter
Her last name was revealed in Gladiators' entry in OHOTMU A-Z Hardcover#4.
Clarifications:
Ivich has no known connections to
images: page count does not include ads
(main) New Mutants I #31, p12, pan3 (detail)
(face) Beauty & the Beast I #2, p20, pan.7
(costume) Beauty & the Beast I#2, p20, pan5 (detail)
Last updated: 11/02/07