Jade Nguyen

Lore & Background

Cheshire's origins are a tangled web of tragedy and reinvention. The earliest tale: born to a French father (Andrê Chaumont) and a Vietnamese mother, she was abandoned by age 10 and sold into slavery. As a teenager, she was adopted by Weng Chan, a Chinese freedom fighter and World War II veteran who once served with the Blackhawks, and he mentored her. She later met Kruen Musenda, the famed African assassin known as the 'Spitting Cobra,' whom she married at sixteen. Under his tutelage, she mastered poisons and toxicology—knowledge she honed until his death two years later. Returning to Weng's side for a time, she fully embraced her identity as the assassin Cheshire. Later retcons rewrote her past: she became the biological daughter of American Senator Robert Pullman, who had raped her mother, and was raised in secrecy. In The New 52, her backstory is deliberately obscured; she is simply Vietnamese, with no ties to Pullman or Chaumont—shrouded in mystery, as a killer should be.

In Their Own Story

Cheshire is a long-standing rival of the superhero team the Teen Titans. When Roy Harper goes undercover for the government in a mission to get her confidence and turn her over, the two fall passionately in love. Knowing he will not be able to turn her in, he walks out; Cheshire does not learn his true identity until later. The result of their romance is a daughter, Lian, whom Roy raises. Returning to her mercenary ways after leaving Lian behind for Roy, Jade saves Deathstroke's life so he can help her in stealing nuclear weapons from Russia in an attempt to blackmail the world. To prove she is not bluffing, she obliterates Qurac, reasoning that since Qurac is a stronghold of Onslaught terrorists, Western countries will be secretly grateful. Cheshire's plans are foiled when her base comes under attack and she is forced to flee. She later creates her own team, The Ravens. In Justice League: Cry for Justice, Prometheus destroys Star City, killing Lian. Cheshire attacks Roy, outraged at him for not keeping Lian safe, injuring him in the process. However, Cheshire loses the will to fight and tearfully recalls the daughter she abandoned—and now can never reclaim.

Reader's Guide

Cheshire appears in Young Justice, voiced by Kelly Hu. Unlike her comics' version, the character is made the daughter of Sportsmaster and Huntress (Paula Brooks), the latter renamed Paula Nguyen and made Vietnamese, and is the older sister of Artemis Crock. Her first animated appearance was a non-speaking role in Teen Titans. In the comics, she is a member of the League of Assassins, the Secret Society of Super Villains, and other villainous and criminal groups. She volunteers to join Tartarus, a group created by Vandal Savage with the objective of destroying the Titans. During a confrontation with the Titans and H.I.V.E, Savage shoots Cheshire to distract Arsenal. She recovers, but is taken into custody for crimes including destroying Qurac. Sentenced to life imprisonment, she is broken out by the Ravens. Arsenal, however, forces her back into custody. In 2005, she appears in the miniseries Villains United as a member of the Secret Six. Cheshire is blackmailed into joining by Mockingbird, who claims that there is a small bomb implanted in the back of Lian's head. During the series, she sleeps with Catman, and becomes pregnant with a replacement child, thereby allowing her to leave the team and no longer needing to worry for Lian's safety. At the end of the miniseries, having betrayed the Six to Luthor's Society, she is shot and critically wounded by Deathstroke. As the faux Luthor orders the Society's withdrawal, one of his last commands is to bring Cheshire with them, provided she is still alive.

Did You Know?

• Cheshire first appeared in New Teen Titans Annual #2 (September 1983), created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.
• She is the occasional love interest of Roy Harper and the mother of Lian Harper (later known as Cheshire Cat).
• In Young Justice, Cheshire is voiced by Kelly Hu and is the daughter of Sportsmaster and Huntress (Paula Nguyen), and the older sister of Artemis Crock.
• Her earliest origin involves being born to a French father (Andrê Chaumont) and Vietnamese mother, abandoned by age 10, sold into slavery, and later adopted by Chinese freedom fighter Weng Chan.