CYANA

Real Name: Lucrezia Borgia

Identity/Class: Human cyborg, soul-enhanced by magic (soul presumably destroyed);
   16th century, modern era

Occupation: Portion of Borgia Omega; former agent of Satannish

Group Membership: None; formerly Lethal Legion (Axe of Violence, Coldsteel, Zyklon)

Affiliations: Hangman (field director), Satannish, Sazzik
former employer of Deadpool ("Wade Wilson")
former possession of Mephisto

Enemies: Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Mockingbird/H'rpra, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, US Agent, War Machine), Deadpool ("Wade Wilson"), Gorilla Man (Ken Hale), Mephisto;
(as Borgia) all her victims (including her husbands)

Known Relatives: Pope Alexander VI (father, deceased), Vannozza dei Cattanei (mother, deceased), Cesare Borgia (brother, deceased), Gioffre Borgia (brother, deceased), Giovanni Borgia (brother, deceased), Alfonso d'Este (husband, deceased), Alfonso of Aragon (husband, deceased), Betram (husband, deceased), Giovanni Sforza (husband, deceased), Borgia Omega (descendant)

Aliases: None known (to me)

Base of Operations: Mobile with Borgia Omega;
   formerly soul resided in Satannish's Hell;
   formerly soul resided in Mephisto's Hell;
   formerly Renaissance Italy

First Appearance (Historically): All-True Crime#39 (July, 1950), (as Lucrezia Borgia)
   (modern): Avengers West Coast#98 (September 1993) (as Cyana)

Powers/Abilities: Borgia's physical abilities were all enhanced by Satannish.  She could poison others with a kiss or a touch from her razor-sharp nails.  Her powers could be augmented or drained by Satannish as the Hell lord saw fit.

History: (Historical/Avengers West Coast#98 (fb) ) - Lucrezia Borgia was notorious for the poisoning of many of her enemies during the Italian Renaissance in the early sixteenth century.

(Tales of Suspense I#32/2 (fb)) - At some point Lucrezia's family befriended the gypsy sorcerer Sazzik, and marveled at the mystical power he displayed.

(All-True Crime#39) - She was married four times and each husband died by poison. She was aided in her crimes by her father and Cesare Borgia. Eventually her father and brother were killed and Lucrezia lived out her live alone.

(Avengers West Coast#100 (fb) - BTS) - After her death in 1519, she was consigned to Hell, specifically a branch controlled by the demon Mephisto.

(Gorilla Man#1 (fb) - BTS) - Her head was preserved in a glass jar and hidden in the pedestal of a statue.

(Mystery Tales#6) - A man named Howard Mullins purchased a mirror that Lucrezia Borgia once owned. Supposedly, the mirror reflected the true character of the person reflected in it. He showed the mirror to his wife Karen....only to see a frightening image of a woman in the mirror. Concluding that his wife was dishonest, Mullins renounced her. Karen, distraught jumped to her death. Realizing he was wrong, Mullins went to smash the mirror....and saw Lucrezia Borgia's laughing image on it.

(Avengers West Coast#98) - Another demon, Satannish, stole her soul, along with four others to create his Lethal Legion in an effort to gain vengeance on the Avengers West Coast for their previous defeat of him. Satannish imbued her with power, transforming her into Cyana, and promised her and her allies they could return to true life if they could bring him the souls of the Avengers West. Borgia participated in the brutal beating of US Agent.

(Avengers West Coast#99) - Then battled with Hangman WCA members Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye, while Axe of Vengeance slew Stella Houston, former lover of Hangman, as a diversion to allow other Legion members to abduct Mockingbird. She returned with all Lethal Legion members to Satannish's realm.

(Avengers West Coast#100) - As Satannish had planned, this drew the Avengers to his realm, where the Legion and Hangman defeated them. However, Mephisto had sneaked into Satannish's realm within the form of Hawkeye and attacked Satannish, demanding the stolen souls back. Borgia and the other members had their powers drained by Satannish to return himself to full power to battle Mephisto. Powerless, they were easily rounded up by the Avengers. However, Borgia and the rest of the Legion had their souls destroyed during Mephisto's and Satannish's struggle to obtain them.

(Gorilla Man#1) - Borgia Omega sent his agents to steal the preserved head of Lucrezia Borgia, hidden in a museum in Rome in a statues' pedestal, to add it to Borgia Omega's form. Gorilla Man tried to stop Borgia Omega by kidnapping the female agent with the head and paying her to hold on to it while they escaped. They worked together to apprehend Borgia Omega and his/her agents without damaging Lucrezia's head.

(Deadpool Team-Up#889 (fb) - BTS) - Borgia Omega somehow escaped and attained Lucrezia's head and went into hiding in a castle on an island in the Thyrrhenian Sea.

(Deadpool Team-Up#889) - Borgia Omega hired with Lucrezia's persona Deadpool to defend her against Gorilla Man. Gorilla Man eventually managed to reveal the truth about Lucrezia and Borgia Omega to Deadpool, who had no longer any interest to honor his bargain with Lucrezia and aided Gorilla Man against Borgia Omega. When Borgia Omega tried to flee the island Lucrezia and her brother (presumably Cesare) were disappointed in their descendant, but he reminded them how they wouldn't have a voice today if it had not been for him. Borgia Omega escaped the island on an airship, which was shot down by one of his own flying robot dinosaurs piloted by Gorilla Man and Deadpool. Using Borgia Omega as boat Deadpool was hit on by Lucrezia's head.

Comments: Adapted by Roy Thomas and David Ross.

I think either Mephisto or Satannish could have duped the other and hidden the souls somewhere for future use.

Lucrezia Borgia: though she *did* marry several men and some of them met an untimely fate, it is more possible that she did not arrange those deaths, as her whole family was implied, as times required, in intricate political ploys. Again, it should be noted that her *wickedness* is folklore legacy rather than documented history.
--Valerio Pastore

Lucrezia's hair color was inconsistent in her head's appearances.

Thanks to Gammatotem for pointing out that the mirror story was actually from Mystery Tales#6.

Borgia Omega updates by Markus Raymond.

Profile by Snood.

Clarifications:
Cyana (Lucrezia Borgia) has no known connection to:

  • Cyanide of the Warpies' Seraphim @ Excalibur I#62
  • Cyanide Jane (Alecto), middle of three trans-temporal sisters who appeared to Irene Merryweather @ Cable II#85
  • any other character with a similar name

images: (without ads)
Avengers West Coast#99, p11, pan5 (main image)
Gorilla Man#1, p3, pan3 (preserved head shot)
Deadpool Team-Up#889, p3, pan4 (as part of Borgia Omega)


Appearances:
All-True Crime#39 (July, 1950) - Stan Lee (editor)
Mystery Tales#6 (December, 1952) - Louis Zansky (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Tales of Suspense I#32 (August, 1962) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (penciler), Dick Ayers (inker)
Avengers West Coast#98-100 (September-November, 1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Dave Ross (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Gorilla Man#1 (September, 2010) - Jeff Parker (writer), Giancarlo Caracuzzo (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Deadpool Team-Up#889 (November, 2010) - Jeff Parker (writer), Steve Sanders (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)


First Posted: 12/08/2001
Last updated: 11/13/2016

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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