Known Powers:

Lady Darkness is a powerful mentalist and a skilled sorceress from Terra Nova. The magical artifact known as the Stone Crown of Krim has amplified both her mental and magical talents. In addition, she has received other powers and enhancements from the parasitic creature known only as the Darkness that coats her body.

Notes:

Very little is known about Ashley's early life on Terra Nova. It is known that she was a young, beautiful, and skilled sorceress who attracted the attention of agents of the previous Lady Darkness. There was a group of such sorceresses who worked for the Empress and would serve as her eventual replacements should the need arise.

While a part of this group, she met and fell in love with the man who called himself Lord Evil. Lord Evil was an Earthman who had been stranded on Terra Nova over thirty years in the past. There was something attractive about the very unusual man that Ashley found very appealing. The two were soon married and both served the Empress of Darkness.

Eventually the time of the Joining came and Ashley was selected for the honor. Ashley was taken into a private chamber with the black clad Empress. A few hours later, Ashley emerged with the Darkness covering her body and now calling herself Lady Darkness, the Empress of the Empire. The previous Empress, also covered by the Darkness, departed on a scheme to grant herself great power. She seemingly disappeared and was eventually slain in her attempt.

Now coated by the Darkness, Ashley's personality began to slightly change. She had always been malevolent and overbearing to the lesser races, but now these traits were more intense. The new Lady Darkness was driven to conquest and the subjugation of her enemies. Lord Evil joined her as her consort. It was an honorary position, as only the Empress could wield total control and command the Ectolians.

The campaign of conquest against the Kingdom of Cynalon was failing, forcing the Empress to directly intervene. She and Lord Evil were confronted by strangely costumed individuals who possessed fantastic powers. Facing capture, Lord Evil desperately cast an enchantment he had researched. A spell that would transport the pair back to Lord Evil's world of origin: Earth.

The pair arrived in Great Britain and found themselves in a world neither could comprehend. Magic was not as powerful on this world and even worse a magical barrier had been erected to block their return to Terra Nova. The couple was now stranded on Earth.

In time, they assumed the identities of Lord and Lady Carrington to gain access to their vast wealth. They also fell in with the criminal organization known as DEMON. They had hoped that the magical organization would lead them to uncovered magic items that could be used to allow them to return home. Meanwhile, Lord Evil hoped to develop a technological means of going back to Terra Nova based on the accident that had originally sent him there.

Later, Lord Thorne, the leader of DEMON assigned the pair to the New York post after the mysterious disappearance of Lord Shadow and Lady Zee. The former Morbanes had been attempting to piece together an artifact called the Crystal when they had disappeared. Lady Darkness was familiar with the magic item and was in possession of one shard of the artifact.

Shortly after their arrival in New York City, a young would-be sorceress named Blaise Morgan petitioned Lady Darkness to become her apprentice. Lady Darkness accepted, figuring that Blaise could be useful to her needs and should the need arise as a future Lady Darkness.

Once in control of the local DEMON base, Lord Evil and Lady Darkness' plans began in earnest. While Lord Evil used agents to acquire the parts he needed to build the Portal Device, Lady Darkness sought to increase her powers by way of an artifact called the Stone Crown of Krim. She learned that a team of mystic heroes called the Circle had turned it over to the local PRIMUS authorities for safekeeping. The pair then embarked on a plan of deception and misdirection.

They captured the Avenger known as Lightburst and he underwent torture and mental conditioning at the hands of Lady Darkness. Lord Evil and the Chameleon assumed the identities of Crusader and Lightburst to commit daring bank robberies. The action caused considerable friction between PRIMUS and the Avengers, forcing both groups into a confrontation. While that was going on, the Morbanes raided PRIMUS headquarters with their operatives dressed as VIPER Agents to cause even further confusion.

Lady Darkness gained the Stone Crown from this raid. The relic further enhanced her magical and psionic abilities and made Ashley even more obsessed with conquering and controlling others. She quickly dominated the wills of the villains Ogre and Thermax, making them little more than her personal slaves.

Next, the pair attempted to acquire the Crystal for Lord Evil to make use of. By directing mental energy into the shard they had, Lady Darkness summoned the Crystal itself. By this point the Crystal was complete save for the shard in Lady Darkness' possession. The arrival of the Avengers interrupted this meeting and the Crystal took the last shard and completed itself.

Unknown to Lady Darkness, the Crystal was a powerful magic item from Terra Nova. It had been constructed by Oeramm the Merciless in an attempt to kill Lady Darkness, allowing Oeramm to conqueror her lands. It was sent to Earth piecemeal to avoid detection. Now complete, the Crystal released those it had absorbed so that they could act as its servants. This included Lady Zee, Lord Shadow, Ghostfire, and the Dreadknight.

Growing weary of the constant interference from the Avengers, Lady Darkness and Lord Evil decided to perform another act of misdirection to throw the heroes off their track. The heroes located the New York DEMON lair and launched a major assault. The DEMON Agents and Warriors were sacrificed during the attack and it appeared that Lord Evil and Lady Darkness had been captured as part of a demon summoning that had gone awry. In reality, it was the Chameleon who was disguised as Lord Evil, while Blaise Morgan was made to look like Lady Darkness. The disguised pair were then imprisoned at Ryker's Island to await their hearing.

With their apparent defeat, the pair were free once more to proceed with their plans without interference. The Darkness coating Ashley was highly secretive in concealing his existence, which in turn made Lady Darkness want to act in secret and without notice.

During their raid on PRIMUS Headquarters, they uncovered who the current guard crew was at the Ryker's Island. Being a Stronghold installation, PRIMUS was in charge of security. Aided by that information, it was a simple matter of Lady Darkness to mentally enslave the Stronghold staff virtually without notice. With that task complete, Lady Darkness mentally dominated the prisoners incarcerated at Ryker's Island to use as personal warriors.

Finally, Lord Evil completed the Portal Device and activated it, creating a way back to Terra Nova. Lady Darkness and her enslaved supercriminals departed and in less than a week restored her to the throne. While restoring herself to the throne, the barrier erected by her enemies to block dimensional transported had been removed. The previous Empress was instrumental in removing the barrier before her death.

Now free to move back and forth between worlds, Lady Darkness returned to earth in the company of her enslaved supers and General Vilsimbra, her Ectolian commander. The time of the Joining was rapidly approaching and a worthy candidate was going to be needed. There wasn't time to launch a recruiting campaign back on Terra Nova, so an Earthly sorceress was chosen for the honor. Blaise was not yet ready, so the heroine known as the Enchantress was picked. At Lady Darkness' command, a plan was set in motion for Lightburst to lure the Enchantress to Ryker's Island. The plan worked as the Enchantress was captured and prepared for the Joining.

The Crystal and his enthralled minions attempted to directly assault Lady Darkness, but were turned away by her operatives. In the process, the former Lady Zee was captured. For one of the rare times in history, the Darkness was going to split into two other extra copies so a second sorceress was going to be needed. Lady Zee was to become yet another Lady Darkness.

It was also after her return from Terra Nova that Lady Darkness became aware of the existence of the Ravager. She found the monstrous creature to be to her liking. Even better, the Ravager had been turned over to Ryker's Island for safekeeping. So, it was an easy matter for Lady Darkness to capture the man-beast. She failed to dominate the creature here on Earth and took him to Terra Nova where her magic would be far more powerful. While it has not been shown, it does seem that Lady Darkness did succeed in gaining control of the Ravager and considers him to be her personal weapon.

Finally, the time of the Joining was at hand and the Darkness coating Lady Darkness spread to the bodies of Lady Zee and the Enchantress. Both were quickly dominated by the Darkness and became new Lady Darkness's. Muskateer and his allies launched a raid on the Carrington Estate while this was going on, forcing the trio of Lady Darknesses and Lord Evil to retreat. Once back home new plans were made to conqueror not only Terra Nova and Earth, but two other worlds reached via the Portal Device. It remains to be seen if their plans of conquest will succeed or ultimately fail.

Lady Darkness was created by Spectrum.

Appearances:

Avengers # 2, 3, 5, 7-10, 12-13, 26-30, 32 - Present
Muskateer #23
Troubleshooters # 21, 26

Awards:

Voted Best Villainess for 2001