DRAGONESS

BIOGRAPHY

Tamara Kurtz was a mutant whose family survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Exposure to this level of radiation was the likely cause of her mutation. Some time after her mutant power to generate bio-electric stings manifested, Tamara acquired a pair of mechanical wings, adopted the codename Dragoness, and joined Stryfe’s Mutant Liberation Front. Dragoness and her teammates, Sumo and Kamikaze, served as Stryfe’s assassins. On a mission in her native Madripoor, the trio were tasked with poisoning the water supplies of the world‘s major capitals. They met with opposition in the form of Cable, the New Mutants and their ally, Sunfire. Dragoness promptly engaged Sunfire, vowing to get revenge on mankind. She went toe-to-toe with Sunfire, who was attracted to her despite her vile motivations.

During this conflict, Dragoness and her teammates captured several of the New Mutants, including Cannonball and Boom-Boom. Dragoness clearly expresses her hatred for humans as she talked to Cannonball, who tried to understand why the MLF was doing this. Dragoness kissed Cannonball passionately, which caused friction between Cannonball and Boom-Boom, who jealously suggested that Dragoness had probably given him rabies. Unbeknownst to Dragoness, Sam had only feigned interest in order to pilfer the means for their escape while she was close to him.

Dragoness returned to her original mission but the captive New Mutants were freed by their teammates and another battle with the MLF ensued. Dragoness' rematch with Sunfire ended when Rictor attacked her, causing her to fall out of the sky and crash into crates filled with weapons and explosives. The crates ignited, destroying the MLF’s supplies including the drug they planned to use to taint the water supply. The MLF’s carefully laid plans were foiled. [New Mutants (1st series #93-94]

Dragoness survived the fire, and soon expanded her role in the MLF beyond Stryfe's assassin group. It was presumably during this time that she forged a friendship with her MLF teammate, Thumbelina. She assumed her first leadership role in the group when they began stealing artwork from all over the world. Dragoness, Sumo, Wildside and the mind-controlled Skids terrorized L’Museum D’Orsay in Paris, where they retrieved a sword. Cable tracked them down and Sumo was killed during their fight. Dragoness and the others managed to escape but without the sword. Dragoness then led Reaper, Kamikaze and the mind-controlled Rusty Collins to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, where Cable once again tracked them. Recognizing that Dragoness was their field leader, Cable took her out first. [Cable: Blood & Metal #1-2]

Soon, Stryfe launched a plot that involved kidnapping Jean Grey and Cyclops. This drew the MLF into direct conflict with several X-Men teams. Dragoness was with the Mutant Liberation Front when a combined strike-force of X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force members uncovered the MLF’s base in Arkansas. Dragoness was leading the MLF’s forces when she was attacked by Cannonball, who wanted to settle the score with Tamara. Dragoness bluntly admitted her attraction towards Sam but this didn’t stop her from battling and defeating him. She was then confronted by Polaris, Storm and Rogue who easily overpowered her. The X-Women realized that Dragoness’s wings were not organic and Polaris used them to immobilize Dragoness allowing Rogue and Storm to deliver the coup de grace. [X-Cutioner’s Song crossover]

Dragoness and the Mutant Liberation Front were taken into custody following this battle. Some time later, several MLF members were freed by Reignfire, who reassembled the team to serve him. Oddly, Dragoness was not among them. It is unknown what Dragoness was doing during this time - she may have been incarcerated or pursuing a life that did not include anti-human terrorism. The former is the more likely scenario given her decidedly hostile views toward humanity. [X-Force (1st series) #26]

Wildside eventually took over as leader of the MLF and Dragoness rejoined the team - with a new look that did not include her dragon-like wings. She and the unstable Wildside became lovers, and though he was the MLF’s leader, Dragoness was clearly the brains behind their operation and held significant sway over her new lover. She and the MLF seized control of the Wakeman Oncological Research Center. The MLF targeted the Center believing it to be a government laboratory developing its own version of the Legacy Virus. Operation: Zero Tolerance had provided the MLF with this false intel in an elaborate ploy to capture the notorious terrorist group. Their act of terrorism gained a great deal of media attention and the facility was surrounded by police and forces from Operation: Zero Tolerance. Disguised as a news team, members of X-Force entered the facility claiming they wanted to interview Wildside. Dragoness recognized X-Force and the two teams clashed. Their latest tussle was interrupted by O:ZT’s Prime Sentinels who were undercover within the Center. The entire mission was a set-up. The MLF and X-Force were forced to work together to combat this new breed of Sentinels. As a result, Moonstar revealed that she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. covert agent sent to infiltrate the MLF. Dragoness was incensed at this and vowed to get revenge on Moonstar for her betrayal. Tamara and most of the MLF members were left to fend for themselves when X-Force escaped. Once again, Dragoness and the MLF were taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. [X-Force (1st series) #67-68]

In the years that followed, most members of the Mutant Liberation Front resurfaced. Dragoness was a notable exception. Due to her hostile nature, it’s likely that she was in prison otherwise she would have been at the forefront of some anti-human campaign. Her lover Wildside was quite active during this period and it is unclear what became of their relationship. When M-Day hit and most of the world’s mutants were depowered, Dragoness was one of the few mutants left with active powers. She was identified by the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E*) as being a “general” threat. Clearly, they were not fully aware of her extreme anti-human attitude when they made that assessment. [X-Men: The 198 Files #1]

At some point after “M-Day,” Dragoness was freed from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. She donned her original costume and mechanical wings and journeyed to San Francisco, where the majority of mutantkind was now residing. When Proposition X, which sought to limit the reproductive rights of mutants, was announced violence spread through the city. Government-sanctioned H.A.M.M.E.R. agents were sent to deal with the uprising. Dragoness, Toad and Trance were caught up in the incident and the trio was pursued by H.A.M.M.E.R. operatives. In a surprising act of heroism, Dragoness took on the H.A.M.M.E.R. forces to give Trance and Toad a chance to escape. She put up a good fight but she soon overwhelmed and taken out. Luckily, she and the others were rescued by Gambit. [Utopia crossover]

Shortly thereafter, Dragoness accepted the offer extended to all mutants to live on Utopia, a safe-haven for mutantkind established by Cyclops. One of the few former X-Men villains on the island, Dragoness has found herself spending most of her time with other former X-Men enemies like Avalanche and Toad. She has expressed that she is not enjoying here stay on Utopia. Dragoness took part in Toad’s attempt to take control of Utopia’s water source when the more isolated mutants irrationally feared that the X-Men were rationing water. Dragoness and her allies were quickly defeated by Iceman. [X-Men Legacy Annual #1, Nation X #1] 

Dragoness and other former X-Men enemies continued to keep to themselves and were together when the X-Men encountered the beings called Evolutionaries. While many X-Men battled the powerful Evolutionaries, Dragoness and her associates were concerned about these strange, new foes and, seeking answers, Dragoness and Litterbug confronted the X-Club. They were stopped, however, by several of the young mutants on Utopia before they could do any serious damage, although the former villains never did find out what the story behind the Evolutionaries was. [X-Men (3rd series) #12-14]

Following the X-Men's “Schism,” Dragoness and most of the other former X-Men villains remained on Utopia. However, even with fewer mutants on the island, tensions between the factions were still high, so when the supposed mutant messiah, Hope Summers, was not with her team known as the Five Lights, Dragoness led a confrontation against the younger mutants, demanding to know why they received such special treatment from Cyclops. Dragoness and the others simply wanted their fair share. When they were told they should talk to Cyclops, the group pointed out that they didn’t even rank on his list, despite helping out when Utopia was under attack.

Dragoness gave Transonic instructions to tell Hope that she and the others want a place at the table, as they had been fighting for mutantkind for years. However, when Transonic suggested that Dragoness and the others might be left out because they can't be trusted, Dragoness didn't take kindly to that. Further, after Transonic pointed out that Dragoness' choice of violence over the years – working with the terrorist Mutant Liberation Front – may have made things worse for mutantkind, she proceeded to tell Dragoness to leave the Lights alone so they can make something of themselves. Enraged, Dragoness smacked Transonic in the face, resulting in a battle breaking out. Dragoness thought Transonic was a coward as she pursued her through the air, not realizing that was Transonic's plan, as she was soon taken out of the battle when Transonic shifted her form and dropped down on her. The battle ended when Hope and Cyclops boke the squabbling factions apart. [Generation Hope #15]

Following the abandonment of Utopia, Dragoness relocated to her native Madripoor, which Mystique was attempting to turn into a mutant safe-haven. [Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #23] While in Madripoor, Dragoness was somehow transformed into a vampire by a cult known as the Creed, and began killing humans and mutants. During this time, she wore some sort of armored suit and a helmet that covered her head. Her actions were noticed by X-Force and one night, while at a construction site, Dragoness was confronted by Wolverine. The two fought, during which Wolverine sliced one of her wings. Unable to fly, Dragoness fell several stories and was impaled on a large spike at the bottom of the construction zone, where she burst into ashes and vanished. [Wolverine vs. Blade #1]

In circumstances not revealed, Dragoness was somehow restored to life (if she even died at all) and, when a cabal of mutants planned to use the virus known as Mothervine to create new mutants or give mutants secondary or tertiary mutations, and place a mutant under their influence, giving them an army of mutant soldiers, Dragoness fell under their control. She worked alongside Wildside and other criminal mutants against the makeshift team of X-Men that was attempting to shut down the cabal. During this encounter, Dragoness did not demonstrate any secondary mutation, so it is possible she was not transformed by Mothervine other than being a pawn of the cabal. [X-Men: Blue 26]

Taking control of her own actions this time, Dragoness joined up with several other former Mutant Liberation Front members and began attacking laboratories that manufactured a new anti-mutant gene vaccine. Dragoness and her teammates were confronted by a team of X-Men students sent to stop them from blowing a lab up. Dragoness tried to convince the young mutants that they would be doomed if the vaccine was allowed to be used, so the MLF were really doing mutantkind a favor. Senior X-Men soon arrived on scene and took out Dragoness and the other MLF members. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #1]

When most of the X-Men were seemingly killed in battle, the MLF resurfaced and continued to strike out against the anti-mutant vaccine, the use of which had been passed into law.  As such, they now targeted the medical facilities that distributed the vaccine. This saw them working alongside Hope Summers. Dragoness and the MLF attended a pro-human rally where they confronted the new X-Men team, and were quickly captured by the experienced heroes. Afterwards, Dragoness and the others were taken into custody by Mystique, who was disguised as Captain America. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #15-16]

When the mutant nation of Krakoa was established, mutants from around the world were invited to live on the island, the Mutant Liberation Front no exception. Dragoness and her teammates took up residence in a habitat together and, while they have generally kept to themselves so far, Dragoness was not happy when several New Mutants burst into their home needing assistance. [New Mutants (4th series) #9]

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

Dragoness was one of Magneto's earliest followers before his establishment of the House of M. She was part of the strike force that liberated Genosha and claimed it for mutantkind. In this altered reality, Dragoness' wings were organic as they were copied by the Mimic during a failed attempt to kill Magneto. This operation had been ordered by the US government and Magneto launched a pivotal retaliatory attack on Washington, DC. Though Magnus emerged victorious, Dragoness was killed by a Sentinel blast during the battle.