YAGA DYARA
Real Name: Yaga Dyara
Identity/Class: Nillan lich, magic
user (necromancer); sub-atomic being from Earth-616's Sub-Atomica
Occupation: Conqueror, necromancer, Lich Duke
Group Membership: Nillans; leader of the Rotwave
Affiliations: Wolves of Interstellar Rot
Enemies: Grishka the Wise, Mardj, Polaris (Lorna
Dane), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), X-Men (Colossus/Piotr Rasputin,
Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Havok/Alex Summers, Longshot, Psylocke/Betsy
Braddock, Rogue/Anna Marie Raven, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James
'Logan' Howlett)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Lich Duke
Base of Operations: Tryfa, Sub-Atomica;
briefly the Australian Outback, Earth;
an unidentified Nillan homeworld
First Appearance: Scarlet Witch III#3 (May, 2023)
Powers/Abilities: Yaga Dyara is an ancient Nillan
lich and powerful necromancer. As an undead sorcerer he claimed that no
mortal blow could kill him. Yaga commands the Rotwave, a vast legion of
reanimated warriors and a toxic, necrotizing landscape capable of
spreading across and infecting living terrain. He maintained enough
control over the horde to direct it as a single army; when his attention
was diverted, the Rotwave became largely directionless but continued
carrying out his last order.
Yaga carries a magical fellstaff that can accelerate the passage of time
around a target, rapidly corroding and decaying matter. He used it to
make Colossus' organic-steel body rust and deteriorate within minutes.
Yaga could also envelop Colossus in a mass of undead flesh and roots,
and he was capable of traveling from his microscopic realm to Earth by
unrevealed means. He claimed to be prescient and said he had divined the
Rasputin bloodline by reading the names of Grishka's relatives in the
dead man's viscera. Whether this was genuine foresight or simple
divination is unrevealed.
Despite his supernatural durability, Yaga could be banished by
sufficiently powerful magic. A spell spoken jointly by the living
Colossus and the dead Grishka forced the Lich Duke, his Rotwave and the
infected landscape back through a microscopic gateway and sealed the
passage.
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Orange
Hair: White
History:
(X-Men: Outback I#3 (fb) - BTS) - For ages, the Lich Duke Yaga Dyara and
his Rotwave trampled the microscopic world of Tryfa.
(X-Men: Outback I#3 (fb)) - Resistance eventually came
down to a single warrior: Grishka the Wise, a wandering mystic and
secret scion of the Rasputin bloodline. After years of war, even Grishka
was exhausted. Yaga finally defeated him, severing his spine and
bleeding him dry. With his last breath, Grishka cursed the Lich Duke,
vowing that one day Yaga would fall to the Rasputin line.
(X-Men: Outback I#3 (fb) - BTS) - The threat took root in Yaga's mind.
He divined the other Rasputins from Grishka's remains and became
determined to cut every branch from the family tree before the prophecy
could come true.
(X-Men: Outback I#3) - Yaga emerged in the Australian Outback with the
Rotwave and went straight for Colossus. He trapped Piotr in a writhing
mass of undead flesh while his army infected the surrounding land. Yaga
gloated that he had killed many mutants before and revealed that
Grishka's final curse had led him to Piotr. Using his fellstaff, he
accelerated the decay of Colossus' organic steel, promising the X-Man he
would rust away within minutes. He also vowed to kill Illyana Rasputin
next as part of his mission to wipe the entire bloodline from existence.
(X-Men: Outback I#3 - BTS) - Psylocke sensed the overwhelming fear and
hatred pouring from the attack and psychically summoned the other X-Men.
The team quickly rushed to Colossus' aide.
(X-Men: Outback I#3) - Yaga answered Storm's challenge by
sending the Rotwave against them while keeping his attention fixed on
Colossus. With the Lich Duke distracted, the undead legion lost much of
its direction and simply followed its last order to spread and infect.
The X-Men tore through the advancing dead while Psylocke reached Piotr's
mind and reminded him what he was still fighting for. Colossus broke
free from Yaga's fleshy prison and shattered the fellstaff.
(X-Men: Outback I#3) - Yaga was enraged but unimpressed, boasting that
as a lich no mortal blow could kill him. He grappled with Colossus and
threatened to make his flesh wither in his hands. Before he could finish
Piotr, the spirit of Grishka appeared. The dead mystic revealed that
Yaga had lied about the extent of his victories over the Rasputin
family: Grishka alone had fallen to him. Grishka had arranged his own
death as part of a longer plan to lure the paranoid Lich Duke into
confronting another Rasputin.
(X-Men: Outback I#3 - BTS) - Colossus was contacted by his ancestor
Grishka who informed him he could power a spell against Yaga. But as one
of the dead he could not complete it himself. Colossus was needed to
supply a living voice. T
(X-Men: Outback I#3) - Together the Rasputins spoke the
incantation, ripping Yaga, the Rotwave and its toxic landscape out of
the Outback and hurling them through a microscopic gateway. The portal
sealed behind them, leaving the Lich Duke caged on his homeworld with
his army in shambles.
(X-Men: Outback I#3 - BTS) - Grishka then used the last of his borrowed
power to heal the damage Yaga had done to Piotr before returning to the
dead.
(Scarlet Witch III#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some later point, Yaga Dyara was
active on Tryfa again as part of the Nillan conquest of Sub-Atomica.
(Scarlet Witch III#3) - He and his army of death opposed the Tryfan
freedom fighter Mardj and her allies Scarlet Witch and Polaris while the
trio searched for the legendary Sword in the Star. Yaga and the other
Nillan forces were overcome as Wanda's magic and Lorna's magnetic powers
helped Mardj forge the mythical weapon for herself. Armed with the Sword
in the Star, Mardj led her people in driving the invaders from her city
and beginning Tryfa's liberation.
Comments: Created by Steve Orlando and Sara
Pichelli.
Yaga Dyara's publication history is a little backwards. He
first appeared in 2023's Scarlet Witch III#3, but X-Men:
Outback I#3 is set during the X-Men's original Australian period,
shortly after Uncanny X-Men I#231. That makes his 2026
appearance the earlier event in Yaga's personal chronology.
X-Men: Outback I#3 spells his conquered world "Tyrfa" in one
narration box. Scarlet Witch III#3 and established reference
material use "Tryfa," so that spelling is used throughout this profile.
The solicitations call Yaga an ancient necromancer from the Quantum
Realm, while his first appearance places Tryfa in Sub-Atomica. Both
descriptions refer to the same microscopic setting.
Profile by Norvo
CLARIFICATIONS:
Yaga Dyara should not be confused with
"BABA
YAGA", Limbo demon posing as the witchgoddess from European
folklore--Uncanny X-Men I#231
BABA YAGA,
the genuine goddess--Captain Britain II#11
Yaga Dyara's undead army, composed of desiccated warriors and a supernatural, toxic landscape that spread with them. The Rotwave could infect the ground it crossed, transforming the battlefield into part of Yaga's necrotic domain. Dyara boasted there was no land it could not infect and claimed to have used it to conquer entire star systems. The Rotwave normally moved according to Yaga's will. When Colossus kept the Lich Duke occupied, however, the horde became directionless and simply continued its last command: spread and infect. That gave the X-Men the opening they needed to burn, blast and cut their way through the undead. When Colossus and Grishka completed the banishment spell, the Rotwave and its infected landscape were pulled through the same microscopic gateway as Yaga and returned to his home realm.
--X-Men: Outback I#3
Images: (without ads)
X-Men: Outback I#3, p4, pan1 (main)
X-Men: Outback I#3, p5, pan4 (fellstaff)
X-Men: Outback I#3, p12, pan2 (withers Colossus)
X-Men: Outback I#3, p16, pan1 (banished)
X-Men: Outback I#3, p5, pan1 (Rotwave)
Appearances:
Scarlet Witch III#3 (May, 2023) - Steve Orlando (writer), Sara Pichelli
(pencils & inks), Elisabetta D'Amico (additional inks), Alanna Smith
(editor)
X-Men: Outback I#3 (October, 2026) - Steve Orlando (writer), Stephen
Segovia & Roi Mercado (artists), Darren Shan & Mikey J. Basso
(editors)
First Posted: 10/02/2026
Last Updated: 10/02/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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