Mortis

Biography

Dazzler

Born Lois Brown, Lois London is the younger, half-sister of the mutant disco queen, Dazzler . She was born to Alison's mother, Katherine Blaire, and her lover, Nicholas Brown. At a young age Lois watched her father beat her mother, and her mother spiral into drug addiction. Eventually, Katherine sobered up and took Lois with her as she fled her abusive lover. Katherine took on a new identity, Barbara London, and changed Lois' surname as well. Lois grew up with Barbara as a normal teenager, and studied at State University. Lois, a big Dazzler fan, never knew Alison Blaire was her own half-sister as Barbara was too ashamed to discuss her sordid past.

Meeting Dazzler

After the Dazzler reunited with Barbara London, Lois introduced herself. Lois, however, was unaware of the Dazzler's mutant powers until Alison used them to help the pair escape a building fire. Lois kept Alison's mutant powers a secret. Lois soon became a target for trouble as the Dazzler's then-enemy, Rogue, attacked Lois in her dorm room. Dazzler, with the help of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, was able to evade Rogue and draw her focus from Lois, as Lois watched helplessly.

Powers emerge

Lois soon became plagued by headaches and migraines, which she was hoping was a simple case of mono. When leaving a Dazzler concert and walking the streets alone, Lois was attacked by a hobo. When she attempted to get away, Lois's hand crackled with a mysterious energy. When she touched the hobo with her crackling hand he suddenly dropped dead. Lois fled to Alison's apartment for safety, confused and panicked over what occurred. Dazzler decided to take her younger sister, and flee to New York. While stopped at a motel, Lois attacked and killed the motel manager's cat after it scratched her. When she found out, Alison took Lois and fled again. Later, mysterious photos emerged of Lois killing the hobo in New York, with a blackmail message. The blackmailer demanded that the two sisters assassinate a man in California, or else the photos would be given to the police, and Lois would be arrested. Fearing what the judicial system would do to a mutant, Alison convinced Lois to go along with the plan. Lois's world turned upside down when she discovered the target was her own father, Nicholas Brown. Brown had sent an assistant to search for Lois, but the assistant went rogue and attempted to gain money in blackmailing Lois into killing her own father, his boss. The plan failed, and Brown and Lois were reunited with the Dazzler in the middle.

The Father she barely knew

Although she had been protected by her half-sister, and just reunited with an abusive father she barely knew, Lois decided to stay with Brown. Brown, now very wealthy and well-connected in California, offered Lois a sense of security she needed. Lois and Alison parted ways, with Alison angry and hurt. The two women have not spoken since.

Necrosha

Prior to the event's of Necrosha, Lois is still living with her father and the guilt that she killed a man for the last few years. While dining with her father he does everything he can to make her feel better but she pretends everything is fine. While watching the news she sees a report on the X-Men moving to San Francisco and sees her sister Dazzler with the other X-Men. It is revealed her feelings toward her sister have soured and now hates her. One night Lois receives a call from her father's secretary claiming her father is drunk. Lois goes to his office where he calls her a monster and asks for Allison. He blames her for the destruction of their family and slaps her. She turns around and tells him he was the one who destroyed their family, not her and in a fit of rage kills him. Afraid of what she has done, she tries to kill herself with her powers when her father's secretary comes in and reveals everything will be fine and tries to calm her down. Eventually it is revealed Selene has been pretending to be her father's secretary and sways Lois to her cause as well as giving her the name Mortis. As a part of Selene's new Inner Circle, the group travels to Selene's birthplace, Rome then New York. They slaughter the New York branch of the Hellfire Club before going to the ruins of Genosha. When the Inner Circle are dispatched to retrieve the mystical knife necessary for Selene's ritual, Mortis draws first blood when she casually kills Diamond Lil. She then uses her powers against Wolverine, but his healing factor allows him to survive the usually fatal effects. She then confronts her sister, claiming that she hates her. Wolfsbane battles Mortis during the final fight, commenting how Lois smells like Alison. Furious, Lois declares she is nothing like her sister, Wolfsbane agrees, saying Alison is a good person who would have helped Lois. She then slices Mortis' throat, ending her threat. Blink, injured herself, later flees Necrosha with the wounded Lois.

After Necrosha

After the events of Necrosha, it is revealed that Lois survived her injuries and recruits Arcade to attempt to kill Dazzler in a Murderworld scenario that pits Dazzler against robot duplicates of various opponents she has faced in the past, including the White Queen, the Grapplers, Doctor Doom, Rogue, the Enchantress and even Galactus (though Dazzler never fought Galactus, but was only used as a tool to retrieve his wayward herald Terrax). After Dazzler destroys the robot duplicates, she is confronted by the actual Klaw, whom she once unintentionally absorbed and was recruited by Lois to kill Dazzler should Arcade fail. When Dazzler defeats Klaw, Mortis confronts Dazzler herself, but is also summarily beaten.

Dazzler then takes Lois to Genosha for help. Despite the vehement objections of Cyclops, Psylocke agrees to work with Lois on the astral plane, repairing the psychic damage caused by her parents and Selene, although with the addendum that her therapy may take years. Lois remains in a psychically induced coma. Psylocke's progress in aiding Lois has yet to be revealed.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Photokinesis:

• Blast Power: Generate highly-destructive energy from her hands that, through molecular transformation, can disintegrate inorganic matter or cause living things to disperse their life-energies, either causing temporary bouts of pain and weakness or instant death
• Light Projection
• Heat Generation

Limitations: Lois's powers have been shown to be completely ineffective against her half-sister Dazzler. In addition, certain beings with enhanced healing capabilities, such as Wolverine, are able to resist the ordinarily lethal effects of her touch.