Born in Vietnam, Chen was sold into slavery on the black market as an infant. She is not yet in her teens when she escapes a life of field labor, abuse, and molestation by killing her owner. Five years later she is a bar girl in Bangkok and has killed other men as well. Her reputation leads to her recruitment for an unnamed assassin’s guild, and over the next few years she rises to the top of her profession in southeast Asia. Growing dissatisfied with her compensation, she kills her employer (something which becomes a habit in her subsequent career), eventually joining the 1400 Club, a top-notch assassin’s guild run by the Foreigner. Eventually, she and four other female assassins (Maria, Roberta, Shiela, and Sophia) betray the Foreigner (although, unlike her other past employers, he is not slain by her) and form their own guild, with which Chen remains until, tiring of her way of life, she joins the heroic mercenary team known as the Wild Pack in the service of Silver Sable International (based in the Balkan nation of Symkaria).
As is customary, Chen’s sexual orientation is never actually stated but made clear through several hints, beginning as early as Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #7 and including her admiration for the Somalian mutant woman Lightbright. It is implied that she and Sophia (who is later killed during an attempt on Silver Sable’s life) were lovers and that, in fact, all of her guild sisters are lesbians. Chen has a fierce loyalty to Sable (whom she calls “M’lady,” as she did Maria), possibly reflecting a hidden love for her employer. Seen briefly as recently as Thunderbolts #41, she remains an active member of the Wild Pack.
Chen has no superhuman powers but is a remarkably skilled athlete, fighter, and martial artist, with access to a wide range of weaponry provided by Silver Sable International. Her favorite weapons include blades and a high-tech crossbow with a variety of capabilities.
Chen’s history of sexual abuse is shared by Karma (New Mutants), another Vietnamese lesbian heroine of Marvel Comics.
This character was arguably outed in Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #28.
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