A secret agent working for the British secret service MI-6, Leiko Wu successfully goes up against furious foes such as Fu Manchu but ultimately betrays her fellow agents and country and chooses a more exciting criminal career.
British Agent
Leiku Wu was born in Hong Kong, China to a Chinese ambassador who had become westernized from growing up in England. She and her brother David grow up to work for the government, David a Hong Kong cultural attaché in America, while Leiko Wu grows up to work for the British secret service. She works alongside fellow agents Shang-Chi and Clive Reston.
Trained Super Spy
As a trained agent in the British intelligence agency MI-6, she is an expert in Martial arts, espionage, and in the use of firearms. She can quickly dodge an unstoppable opponent in a fight.
When Leiko’s resurrected from death, she gains mystical abilities from Mao Shan, ancestors whose combined power flowed through Leiko. Leiko gains enhanced strength and durability—resistance to wounds from sharp objects—levitating others, and acting as a conduit for the ancestors who can come through her and enact their vengeance.
Enemies of the State
Leiko’s enemies include Fu Manchu, criminal overlord of the Chinese Underworld, and Midnight Sun. While she defeats Fu Manchu on several occasions, it’s Midnight Sun’s assassins that murder her, though she’s resurrected by Midnight Sun, she avenges herself by attacking him.
Allies and Lovers
Among her colleagues at MI-6 are Shang-Chi, whom Leiko helps in the war against Fu Manchu. She has also worked alongside Clive Reston, her ex-husband, which contributes to tension on their missions. She eventually gets involved with Simon Bretnor, AKA Death-Hand, who turned out to be the assassin known as Mordillo.
Leiko becomes romantically entangled with Shang-Chi and helps him adapt to the western world. They attempt to live normal lives after leaving MI-6 but finds themselves hunted by the British intelligence agency led by Fah Lo Suee, Shang-Chi’s half-sister. During an adventure with Reston, Leiko and Reston share a kiss and she admits her infidelity to Shang-Chi. Shang-Chi forgives her despite Reston denying it occurred. Their relationship ceased when Shang-Chi went on a solo mission and Leiko marries Reston, despite still holding a candle for Shang-Chi.
An Agent’s Account
After Leiko leaves her husband Clive for another man, Simon Bretnor, she discovered he was the infamous assassin and double agent codenamed Mordillo. Mordillo was interested in Leiko because she had been conditioned by MI6’s Sir Denis Nayland Smith to memorize all of the data on Project: Ultra-Violet, a weapon designed to erode the Earth’s ozone layer. Leiko had also been hypnotized to forget all that she had memorized, though, and Mordillo had unwittingly slain the agent assigned to release her from the hypnosis. Though Mordillo captured her in hopes of forcing the information from her, and MI-6 launched a rescue comprised of Reston, Jack Tarr, AKA Black Jack Tarr, and Shang-Chi. As soon as she could, she fought Mordillo off and expressed shame that she left Clive to love such a criminal. In the midst of their rescue, Shang-Chi and Leiko found they shared a mutual attraction, much to Reston’s dismay.
Later, while she practiced Tai Chi, Reston snuck up on her claiming he couldn’t help it and accused her of turning to Shang-Chi for comfort. They fought but ended up rekindling their romance by sharing a passionate kiss.
In a subsequent mission against Fu Manchu and his Si-Fan organization, Larner was brought back to MI6, and he finally sacrificed his life saving Leiko from the Si-Fan. Following Larner’s funeral, Reston, Tarr, Shang-Chi,and Leiko all quit MI6 due to the unsavory nature of their missions.
Leiko shared her apartment in Soho with Shang as the couple grew closer, but they had to deal with retribution from MI6, who mistakenly believed that Shang and his friends were allied with Fu Manchu. After clearing their names and defeating Fu Manchu once again, Leiko and Shang stayed in New York with her brother to help address problems facing ChineseAmericans there, but they soon rejoined their friends in the private mercenary organization Freelance Restorations, based out of Sir Denis Nayland Smith’s castle in Scotland. She worked alongside Black Jack Tarr, Clive Reston, and Shang-Chi. Leiko and Reston then confronted the minions of Oriental Expediters, Ltd., who were led by Shang-Chi’s half-sister. Leiko, with Shang-Chi and Reston, then went up against Shang-Chi’s father, Fu Manchu, and together they attacked his Arctic Mountain Fortress.
They soon found themselves hunted by Eric Slaughter, AKA War-Yore, an MI-6 agent who believed himself to be various warriors of the past. Leiko tried to help War-Yore regain his sanity, but Reston shot the man dead, to Leiko’s disgust.
Leiko also helped halt Fu Manchu’s plans to disrupt the moon’s orbit, and fought back his Order of the Golden Dawn, which helped stop his diabolical plans to bring about World War III.
Shang-Chi left his friends to sort himself out, and Leiko joined him. They lived in New York with her brother, David Wu, for a time, as Shang-Chi attempted to end the violence between the Joy Boys and Golden Claws, two Asian youth gangs. In the meantime, Smith, Reston, and Tarr founded Freelance Restorations, a mercenary team operating from Smith’s castle, Stormhaven, in Scotland. Tarr approached Shang-Chi and Leiko for aid in dealing with the Cult of the Dawning Light, a front for a terrorist organization, and they agreed to join Freelance Restorations after the mission’s completion.
After the team went up against Fu Manchu again, and Shang-Chi left him near death, he grieved and left the world and Leiko behind to become a fisherman. Leiko continued working for Freelance Restorations under Tarr instead of Smith who had retired. While working against the Red Wolves, an amalgamation of terrorist cells, Leiko was captured by their leader, Brian Argus. He cut off her left hand and mailed it to Shang-Chi, which prompted Shang-Chi to rejoin his old team. With the aid of Shen Kuei, Shang-Chi saved Leiko, but at great cost—Argus poisoned him, leaving him with anywhere from a week to a year to live. Shang-Chi left on his own again but came out of retirement when Leiko was in danger again having been captured while on assignment, and Shang-Chi rejoined them to help rescue her. Shang-Chi and Leiko acknowledged that they still had feelings for each other, but while Shang-Chi was away, she had married Clive Reston, so they could not be together.
Finally, Reston, Leiko and Tarr all rejoined MI6. While investigating the terrorist leader called “the Ghost,” Leiko discovered that he was actually Fu Manchu, and Shang returned to his friend’s aid once again in order to halt his father’s Hellfire Objective weapon. Shang and Leiko found that they were still attracted to each other, but she ultimately remained faithful to Reston. Later, Leiko infiltrated the Triads, a Chinese secret society and criminal organization, in the United Kingdom. She falls in love with one of the Triad’s leaders, Chao Sima, AKA Skull-Crusher, and betrays MI-6 and becomes loyal to the Triads.
When she came up against Douglas Scott, AKA Razor-Fist, an assassin of the White Dragon working for M’Nai, AKA Midnight Sun, Razor-Fist murdered her. Midnight Sun then performed a ritual that resurrected Leiko, and she returned with the power of Mao Shan, black magic. She used this power and retaliated against him, Razor-Fist, and the Triads. Before she could slay Razor-Fist, Shang-Chi defended him to save his Leiko’s soul. Out of respect for their past, she refrained from slaying Razor-Fist and escaped but not before she left Shang-Chi a warning that she has no mercy left for those that threaten her people.
