Cheshire, real name Jade Nguyen,[1] is a highly-skilled assassin working for the League of Shadows.[4] She is also Artemis's older sister.[1]
Personality
Cheshire has a true killer's instinct and is willing to go to any means necessary to accomplish her goals, whether it be through attacks, murder, or blackmail. She has a dry sense of gallows humor, and treats her opponents like a cat would treat a mouse, allowing herself to be involved in playful banter to a small extent. She actually enjoys the prospect of killing, but she is not without her own sense of duty, following the orders of her masters to the letter, despite how easy it would be for her to ignore them.[4]
Physical appearance
The woman behind the mask.
Cheshire is a human teenager standing with a slender build; she is 1.67m tall, or 5'6", and weighs 50 kilograms.[5] She has thick black hair and black eyes, as well as olive-colored skin due to her Vietnamese ancestry. She has proved to be very flexible in her time working as an assassin for the League of Shadows, and her fighting skills are enough to match the fighting ability of one with superpowers.[4]
The outfit she uses whilst working for the League of Shadows is a dark green colored kimono, and appears as though it has shreds and rips along it. Whether these rips are an intentional design or just wear and tear from her time as an assassin is unknown. The kimono is tied around her waist, where its length reaches just above her knees. Cheshire also wears black knee-high boots.[4]
A trademark of this assassin is a white mask, resembling a cat's head with a wide grin.[4]
History
Early life
Jade Nguyen is the daughter of Paula Crock and Lawrence Crock. Jade's parents shared a history as criminals. During one of their crimes, Paula Crock was crippled, and also took the fall for her husband. As a result, she was sent to prison.[6] During this time, the relationship between Jade and her father truly became acrimonious due to the mistreatment. It soon forced Jade to leave the house, to escape from her father, and subsequently left Artemis to be raised alone by him.[1]
Present
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Cheshire was present at the briefing about the assassination of Farano Enterprises CEO Selena Gonzalez, but did not, seemingly, participate in the attack.[7]
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Cheshire was part of a team of Shadows sent to kill Serling Roquette after her escape. With Hook and Black Spider, she eventually tracked her to Happy Harbor High School. She engaged Roquette and her protectors alone at first, and was almost successful. Only after facing the entire team did she retreat.
Cheshire plans to kill Serling for the entertainment value.
Hook and Black Spider joined the fight, and knocked out Aqualad. This time, she was bent on ending Roquette. But her next attack on Roquette was also unsuccessful. Roquette had been moved, and Miss Martian acted as a decoy. Cheshire fled, pursued by Artemis. She eventually made it to the new hideout.
Doctor Roquette has by now lost her value to the Shadows—she had already disabled the Fog. As there was no longer a reason for assassination, Cheshire made her way outside. Artemis confronted her, and in the fight, Cheshire's mask was knocked off. Cheshire was quite cool as her sister recognized her, and brokered a retreat by threatening to reveal everything about Artemis.[4]
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Cheshire's new hit was the independent arbitrator in the peace negotiations between delegations from North and South Rhelasia. Her first, crude attempt, firing a rocket propelled grenade at the arbitrator's car, failed due to Red Arrow's intervention. She is arrested, and sent to a local jail.
Cheshire is extricated from prison by Sportsmaster.
Red Arrow questioned Cheshire in jail, but got nothing out of her except vague and teasing remarks. He was too slow to realize she was being busted out, though Cheshire did not like her rescuer to be Sportsmaster. They escape together, headed for a waiting chopper. Red Arrow gave chase, and managed to shoot a rope at the helicopter as it took off. Cheshire cut it, but did not realize the arrowhead had a tracker.
Back at the League's headquarters, Cheshire met a disappointed Ra's al Ghul, who effortlessly spotted Red Arrow spying on them. Cheshire and Sportsmaster engaged the young hero on the rooftops, and forced him to flee. The Shadows, meanwhile, hatched a new plot to assassinate the arbitrator, Lex Luthor. At the conference, Cheshire went undercover as a servant, and carried a bomb to the summit. She was found out by Aqualad, who had come to help Red Arrow, and blocked the bomb's explosion with his water powers. Cheshire barely made it out of the blast area, and took on Red Arrow. Sportsmaster and more assassins joined the fight. When the tide turned against the assassins, Cheshire used a smoke bomb to conceal her own and Sportsmaster's escape.[5]
Powers and abilities
Cheshire is a highly trained assassin, whose skills include but may not be limited to:
- Martial arts: She has demonstrated incredible fighting skills able to hold her own against Aqualad's enhanced abilities;[4]
- Agility:[4][5]
- Marksmanship: She has impressive skills with long-range objects, particularly throwing stars;[4][5]
- Poison use: She has demonstrated a penchant to coat her weapons with jellyfish poison;[4]
- Tracking: She has shown the ability to track her enemies through assorted means.[4]
- Stealth: Cheshire has demonstrated the ability to disappear into the shadows at will with no-one being able to find her when she doesn't wish to be found. She also demonstrated stealth when sneaking past Artemis and Miss Martian while on watch duty.
Equipment
- Cheshire mask: Aside from protecting her face from identification and injury, the mask also works as scanner allowing Cheshire the means to track her prey. It has a built-in filter so that she doesn't breathe in toxins[4] or smoke.[5]
- Shurikens: Coated with jellyfish poison.[4]
- Sais: These are her primary weapons which she uses in battle for close ranged battles.[4]
- Collapsible katana: Easy to carry and use.[4][5]
- RPG-7: A popular Russian made rocket launcher used by terrorists. She used it in the first assassination attempt against Lex Luthor.[5]
Relationships
Ra's al Ghul
Ra's al Ghul is the leader of the League of Shadows and Cheshire's master. She respects him greatly and defers to him, kneeling before him whenever she is in his presence.[5]
Sportsmaster
Although both have worked for the League of Shadows, Cheshire has an adversarial relationship with Sportsmaster. Even when he broke her out of jail, she was angry that it was Sportsmaster who had saved her, and he called her "little girl". She hates to admit when Sportsmaster is right, and even claimed to want to kill him (but said she wouldn't while they were on the job). However, Sportsmaster seems amused by her grudge, even claiming that Cheshire would not have been hired if it wasn't for him.[5]
Red Arrow
- Main article: Red Arrow and Cheshire
Cheshire flirts with Red Arrow whilst behind bars.
Although they are obviously enemies, Cheshire seems to have an odd flirtatious interest in Red Arrow following their first confrontation. Cheshire takes particular amusement in baiting Red Arrow, often using flirtatious methods like winking at him to draw him close. Cheshire playfully called him territorial after he wanted to fight her at the summit, saying it was "only [their] third date".[5]
Artemis
Artemis and Jade are sisters, with Jade being the eldest by several years. She did not dislike her, but had no plans on taking her with her when she left the home.[1]
Appearances
Background in other media
- In the comics, Cheshire is an assassin, but not associated with the League of Shadows (or the Society of Assassins). She is a frequent opponent of the Teen Titans, and had an on-again-off-again relation with Roy Harper (Speedy/Red Arrow), and they had a daughter together.
- This is Cheshire's second animated appearances. She made several cameo appearances in the final season of Teen Titans. Jade's Cheshire Cat mask was first used in that series, and although it has not been used in the comics, it was carried over in Young Justice.
- In the comics, Cheshire was never related to or associated with Artemis or Paula Crock.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Weisman, Jon (writer) & Chang, Michael (director) (September 30, 2011). "Homefront". Young Justice. Season 1. Episode 12. Cartoon Network.
- ↑ Weisman, Greg (2011-09-16). "Question #13498". Ask Greg. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
- ↑ Weisman, Greg (2011-02-16). "YOUNG JUSTICE Episode #6 ("Infiltrator") Credits". Ask Greg. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Weisman, Jon (writer) & Oliva, Jay (director) (February 11, 2011). "Infiltrator". Young Justice. Season 1. Episode 6. Cartoon Network.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Robinson, Andrew (writer) & Berkeley, Christopher (director) (September 16, 2011). "Targets". Young Justice. Season 1. Episode 10. Cartoon Network.
- ↑ Weisman, Greg, Kevin Hopps (w). Jones, Christopher (p). Davis, Dan (i). Atkinson, Zac (col). Mangual, Carlos M. (let). Chadwick, Jim (ed). "Rabbit Holes" Young Justice 7 (August 24, 2011), New York, NY: DC Comics
- ↑ Aureliani, Franco, Art Baltazar (w). Norton, Mike (a). Sinclair, Alex (col). Mangual, Carlos M. (let). Chadwick, Jim (ed). "Hack and You Shall Find" Young Justice 3 (April 20, 2011), New York, NY: DC Comics