- "I would kill you, but I'd just be killing myself."
- — Kuasa to Amaya Jiwe
Kuasa (2361-2381; resurrected 2390) is a female Human who lives in the 24th century, she is the sister of Mari McCabe who searched for the mystical Anansi Totem and later the Water Totem. She died in a duel with Benatu Eshu, wielder of the Fire Totem, but was resurrected by a follower of Mallus, now wielding powers of hydromancy on her own. She was nicknamed Water Witch by the Time Bureau, Ray Palmer, Nate Heywood and Zari Tomaz.
She was killed a second time by Nora Darhk who took the Water Totem from her in the process.
However, as a result of the Legends' machinations in Zambesi 2365 that saved the village in order to free Mallus, she grew up to become the defender of her village alongside Mari. The two sisters happily share the the mantle of Vixen, as well as the Anansi Totem.
Biography[]
Original multiverse[]
Original timeline[]
Early life[]
Kuasa was born in the Zambesi Village in 2361, located in the M'Changa Province of Zambesi. She had a younger sister named Mari and was close to her grandmother, Amaya, viewing the latter as her role model.
When Kuasa was four years old, she was named the guardian of the Spirit Totem. However, a local warlord, Benatu Eshu, attacked the village in his hunt for the totems of Zambesi; murdering Kuasa's father and grandmother in the process. Esi then fled with Mari and the Spirit Totem, leaving Kuasa bitter and obsessed with retrieving it.
Feeling the pressure to protect Zambesi as a duty to honor the dead, as she grew up Kuasa became a criminal forming alliance with dangerous people and obtaining power, men and resources in order to find her sister and the totem.
Pursuing the Spirit Totem[]
In 2388, Kuasa tracked her sister, now "Mari McCabe", to Detroit in the United States. She hired a gang of thugs to retrieve the Spirit Totem from Mari, which failed once the totem awakened and formed a bond with the latter. Kuasa then approached Adam Macalester, a renowned professor and historian in Detroit, presumably for information on the totem and her sister. Later, Kuasa learned from Macalester that Mari had come to see him about her totem. Pleased, Kuasa promised to completely fund his next expedition once she gained the Anansi Totem.
When Mari went to visit Macalester once more, Kuasa busted into the office with two armed men, threatening Mari to hand over the totem or she would get one of her men to kill her. After Mari failed to remove the necklace, Kuasa decided to "remove it from her corpse". Mari tried to escape but was shot by one of Kuasa's guards. Kuasa treated Mari's wound and brought her sister to the Zambesi Village.
When Mari awoke, Kuasa revealed that she was her older sister, telling Mari of their past and how she was the true guardian of the Spirit Totem. Kuasa claimed to Mari it was still her obligation to protect the village, even if there is only the dead left. Apologizing for having no choice, Kuasa had Anansi in the form of a spider bite Mari to unbind the totem from her. After Mari was bitten, she managed to flee. Kuasa halted her men from following Mari, knowing her sister wouldn't get far. Sure enough, Mari soon collapsed, allowing Kuasa to catch up to her and claim the Spirit Totem.
Kuasa brought the totem back to the village, where her associates worshipped her. Kuasa was then confronted by Mari, who scolded her over stealing the Anansi Totem. Kuasa claimed it was her birthright to wield it, but Mari pointed out the animal spirits told her their mother wanted to keep the totem away from Kuasa. An enraged Kuasa engaged Mari in battle while an animal herd chased off her men. As Kuasa harnessed the spirit of the rhino and elephant to attack her sister, Mari used a spear to graze her arm. Kuasa got close enough to bite Mari's injured shoulder, only for the latter to have Anansi bite her spear wound. Rapidly weakening from the venom having directly entered her bloodstream, Kuasa still insisted the Spirit Totem was hers. She warned Mari it wasn't over before the latter knocked her out with a punishing uppercut and took back the totem.
Stealing the Water Totem[]
Sometime later Mari returned to Africa alongside Professor Macalester to find out more about Eshu and how to stop him. Kuasa, who had been hospitalized by the poison Mari used to stop her, revealed that to counteract Eshu's Fire Totem, they had to retrieve the Water Totem. Kuasa told them she knew of its whereabouts, and would lead them to it with the provision that she could join them in the fight against Eshu.
With the assistance of Felicity Smoak, Mari and Kuasa managed to break into the mansion in which the Totem was located in Star City. However, once they retrieved it, Kuasa attempted to steal the Totem for herself and tried to escape, only to stopped by The Atom, Red Arrow and Black Canary. Mari then convinced Kuasa to join them all in their fight to stop Eshu from destroying Detroit, and to avenge their village of Zambesi, to which she agreed. She fought alongside Mari, Ray, Typhuss and Laurel, but they were clearly outmatched. Kuasa refused to run from Eshu, saying she wasn't her mother. She was quickly overpowered by Eshu, being incinerated by Eshu's fire, along with the Water Totem.
Resurrection and finding Zari Tomaz[]
Kuasa is resurrected
Sometime after her demise, Kuasa was resurrected by a woman, who identified herself as a servant of Mallus, who required her services.
Kuasa was sent to operate in Seattle 2442, to apprehend a hacktivist named Zari Tomaz, to acquire an air totem, with her powers intact despite her former death. At first, she ambushed an A.R.G.U.S. shuttle which carried Zari and killed two A.R.G.U.S. soldiers only to find out she escaped. She tracked down Zari to her hiding place at her warehouse where she saw the Legends were also looking for her and tailed them until they led her to Zari in a bar. In an ensuing fight, Kuasa defeated Sara Lance until a diversion allowed the Legends to escape. Eventually, Kuasa found the Atom and Zari and quickly beat him and nearly killed him by drowning him until Zari stepped in. Kuasa offered Zari revenge on A.R.G.U.S. in return for the totem she had as she couldn't wield it. When the proposal was refused, Kuasa was preparing to kill them until she was ambushed by the Legends.
Kuasa transforms into water
Amaya Jiwe stepped forward to challenge her and Kuasa quickly tried to strike at her with water, but Amaya blocked it by using the power of her totem. Recognizing the power of the Anansi Totem, Kuasa was temporarily left in shock which gave Amaya the chance to throw her with the strength of an elephant. Realizing that Amaya was her grandmother, Kuasa said that if she killed Amaya, she would only be killing herself, hinting at their relationship. She then teleported herself away using a time stone. Later, she accompanies Damien and Nora Darhk. She fights against Amaya and escapes.
Kuasa meets her time-traveling grandmother, Amaya
Damien, with his daughter and Kuasa, went to Hollywood in 1937, where they followed the anachronism - Helen of Troy. Darhk quickly became an agent of a woman who, wanting to break away from her life, decided to become an actress. At a K&B Pictures party, he met legends that, surprisingly, he had no intention of fighting, and gave them the choice to give him free rein and leave him alone. Sara, however, did not agree, took Helena to the Waverider and ran away with her friends. When things seemed to be going their way, Martin Stein in Jax's body stood up for Hedy Lamarr and was attacked by Darhk's allies. The legends immediately went to the scene, and for Kuasa it was a chance to confront her grandmother on the Waverider, where she introduced her to her during the fight. By surprise, Helena stabbed her in the back, which forced Kuasa to flee.
Kuasa traveled to Star City in 2390 to the Sumner Psychiatric Facility, where she was to watch a young patient until she reached her destiny - Mallus' possession. There, however, she encountered Amaya with whom she began to fight. The duel was interrupted by Nate, who froze the warrior using a freezing cannon. This was only unfrozen on board the Waverider in the cell, where Amaya showed interest in her, promising to help her. Kuasa liked the idea when suddenly Heywood attacked the woman. The opponent turned out to be cleverer and with her abilities she started to water the man. To avoid bloodshed, Jiwe put down the gun and admitted once again that she could help her, but Nate would be part of it, so she had to leave him alone. Hearing this, Kuasa decided to trust her grandmother and left the ship.
When the Darhk kidnapped Ray Palmer and took him to his hideout, Kuasa and her allies tried to figure out why they needed a man. Ultimately, it was about fixing a broken fire totem that terrified the woman. At the same time, she was angry that Eleanor was in charge of the Anansi totem, but she nonetheless allowed the criminal to act and try to repair the artifact, when she herself managed to take care of the rest of the mission.
Nora murders Kuasa
Eventually, Kuasa began having second thoughts about helping the Darhks to free Mallus and double-crossed them by handing Nate over in exchange for the Anansi Totem, which she secretly returned to Amaya. Later, after Nora caught her father just pretending to torture Nate while actually confessing to him his displeasure about Mallus taking over his daughter's body, she was furious and started to drain Nate's life force by herself. However, she was stopped by Wally, Amaya and Kuasa who she easily defeated. In retaliation for what her former ally did, Nora used her magic to extract the Water Totem from Kuasa's body, killing her in the process and forcing the Legends to flee.
Current timeline[]
Nora ready to fight alongside the Legends in Salvation
Because of the Legends' intervention in Zambesi 2365 Kuasa was never abandoned by her mother who only made sure that her baby sister got to safety with the the spirit totem. Nor did she witness her grandmother and father being murdered. When she got older the responsibility of being the village guardian was split between her and Mari due to their strong sisterly bond. She briefly went to the year 1874 during the old west era in America to help her younger time traveling grandmother defeat Mallus who was pleased to see her as another timeline version of Kuasa had died right in front of her not that long ago. After the defeat Kuasa went back home with four of the totems. Seeing how her family's future was intact this led to Amaya's decision to return to 1942 with intact memories of her time as a Legend to ensure this better future happened for everyone in the village.
Anti-Monitor Crisis[]
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Kuasa as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor on December 10, 2392, only to be restored a month later, after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.
New multiverse[]
Kuasa remains alive in the new multiverse.
Personality[]
- "Family is true power. I know you're in there somewhere, Nora. You have your father, I have my grandmother. We don't have to become our demons."
- — Kuasa to Nora Darhk
Kuasa was an innocent girl at her youth prior to what happened to her village.
As an adult she became ruthless, but at the time of both of her deaths, showed a side to her of wanting to protect her own family's existence.
Despite Kuasa having some resentment towards her younger sister, Mari for inheriting the Spirit Totem (due to her being the eldest of the two siblings) even trying to kill her at one point, in her own way she does love her sister, even trying to protect her in the hospital, as she got injured while trying to save people from a fire due to not having power of the Spirit Totem (as Damien Darhk took it from their grandmother, who was still a member of the Legends at the time).Because of the Legends' intervention in Zambesi 2365, Kuasa never resented Mari, as the two share a strong sisterly bond; they also share the mantle of "Vixen", as well as the power of the Spirit Totem, growing up to become the guardians of Zambesi Village.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
- Abilities via Anansi Totem: All of Kuasa's powers come from her necklace, which allows her to harness the life force of animals, in essence harnessing their abilities.
Former powers[]
Kuasa turns into water
- Abilities via Water Totem: Kuasa used the Water Totem in the original timeline, it was shown to give her intense strength and reflexes.
- Superhuman speed: During her fight against Sara Lance, Kuasa managed to evade all of her attacks very quickly.
- Enhanced strength: Kuasa was shown to have an extreme level of inhuman strength, able to overpower Sara Lance with ease and send her flying with a single throw.
Abilities[]
- Peak of human physical condition: Even without her powers from her totem, Kuasa has shown to have incredible strength and reflexes.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Kuasa is a highly trained hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist; working with Ava Sharpe, she was able to defeat several pirates from Mallus' forces with ease. Her fighting style appears to consist of krav maga and boxing.
- Occult knowledge: As the shared wielder of the Anansi Totem, Kuasa has a great knowledge of its supernatural powers as well as the other totems' powers and the general nature of mysticism and how it works.
Original timeline abilities[]
- Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Kuasa was a formidable unarmed combatant. Despite being surprised by Sara Lance, who had League of Assassins training, Kuasa managed to overpower her with ease to the point that Sara needed Mick Rory to cause a distraction to escape. She uses a fluid style of fighting, able to evade incoming attacks and counter them. Kuasa was also able to go toe to toe with and overpower Amaya Jiwe, an excellent martial artist in her own right, multiple times, even when the latter used her Anansi Totem.
- Occult knowledge: Kuasa was seen to have the ability to resurrect and control the dead ancestors of Zambesi.
Equipment[]
- Vixen suit: In the current timeline, in which Kuasa is a co-defender of Zambesi Village alongside her sister, she wears a suit similar to that used by Mari.
- Anansi Totem: Kuasa briefly bonded with the Anansi Totem after stealing it from Mari to summon the animal spirits and use their powers. Shortly after, she lost it after being bitten by a spider - Anansi's true form. However, as a result of the Legends' machinations in Zambesi 1992 that saved the village, Kuasa grew up to wield the Anansi Totem, sharing it and the mantle of Vixen, with her sister.
- Water Totem: In the new timeline following Mallus' death, the Water Totem was entrusted to Kuasa along with the Fire, Earth, and Death totems to find them new worthy bearers.
- Fire Totem: In the new timeline following Mallus' death, the Fire Totem was entrusted to Kuasa along with the Water, Earth, and Death totems to find them new worthy bearers.
- Earth Totem: In the new timeline following Mallus' death, the Earth Totem was entrusted to Kuasa along with the Fire, Water, and Death totems to find them new worthy bearers.
- Death Totem: In the new timeline following Mallus' death, the Death Totem was entrusted to Kuasa along with the Fire, Earth, and Water totems to find them new worthy bearers.
Former equipment[]
- Time stone: While working with the Darhks as a follower of Mallus, Kuasa used a mystical stone allowing her the powers of teleportation and time travel. In the new timeline, in which her village was never destroyed, Kuasa presumably no longer has the time stone.
- Water Totem: After Kuasa briefly gained Water Totem, she used it to summon and manipulate water. Kuasa was later incinerated along with the Water Totem, but later resurrected thanks to Mallus, after which the totem bonded to her person, allowing Kuasa to retain a much greater scope of its powers. Later though, Nora Darhk killed Kuasa by ripping the Water Totem out of her heart.