Illyana Rasputin has already lived through things her classmates can barely imagine when she joins the New Mutants in #14. She looks like another teenager at the school. Her con…

Illyana Rasputin has already lived through things her classmates can barely imagine when she joins the New Mutants in #14. She looks like another teenager at the school. Her connection to Limbo makes that surface description painfully incomplete. Teleportation gives her an obvious place in the team's practical life. She can move people across distances the others could never cover on their own. Those journeys pass through a realm tied to her own history, and her control is still something the stories can make uncertain. Accepting a ride with Illyana means trusting more than a convenient power. Her sorcery and Soulsword bring another kind of expertise into the group. During the Demon Bear story, the students face a threat that ordinary strength and training cannot simply batter into submission. Illyana has tools that matter against it, and her role in the resolution makes clear how much the class has changed by letting her in. The cost of that knowledge remains visible. Xavier's usual understanding of mutant powers doesn't give him effortless access to everything she has experienced. Her friendships, particularly with Kitty, matter because there are parts of her life that cannot be reduced to a training exercise or explained away by an adult. She also becomes essential to the Karma rescue. By #34, her work with Warlock and her use of time travel help expose the enemy controlling their teammate. Two of the strangest additions to the school help recover one of its founders. Illyana can be sharp, secretive and difficult to read. The team still has to make decisions about trusting her. In this era, that trust is built through shared danger, with her classmates seeing what she does for them even when they cannot fully understand where she has been.