Sasha Bordeaux is the bodyguard of Bruce Wayne and later on becomes an agent and the Black Queen of Checkmate.
History
Bodyguard, superhero
Sasha Bordeaux was hired as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard. She was assigned by Wayne Enterprise's second in command, Lucius Fox, against Wayne's wishes.[1] Wayne at first tried to avoid her, but she kept doing her job. She eventually became suspicious and discovered that Bruce is secretly Batman.[2] For a time, Bordeaux did not reveal her knowledge until, during an encounter with the Mad Hatter, Batman learned that she knew.[3]
Knowing he couldn't fire her because she knew his secret identity, Batman trained her to be his apprentice.[4] After thirty days of intense training, she was fit enough to go out with him on patrol in a suit, though he still treated her as a total stranger both as Batman and as Bruce Wayne.[5] During this time, she fell in love with him, even as he insisted on having her around while he dated other women.
Framed
One night, while Batman and Bordeaux were out on patrol, the assassin David Cain lured Wayne's girlfriend, Vesper Fairchild, to Wayne Manor. He killed her in a way that frames Wayne. Both Wayne and Bordeaux were charged with murder. Sasha refused to exonerate herself by giving up Wayne's secret. They were arraigned and held without bail awaiting trial. After a while, Batman escaped to leave his alter ego behind, leaving Bordeaux inside Blackgate prison. Batman eventually confronted those who framed him and Wayne and Sasha were cleared of all charges.[6]
Checkmate
While in prison custody, Sasha was severely wounded by another prisoner. She would have died had the government agency Checkmate not given her medical treatment. They faked her death and offer to give her a new name and identity (complete with plastic surgery) if she would work for them. With no other options, she agreed.[7]
Batman searched for Sasha, not believing she had died in prison. To facilitate this, he disrupted all of Checkmate's operations in Gotham City. They organized a meeting between the two, where Wayne confessed he loved her. Sasha told him to let her go.[8]
Bordeaux rose through the ranks of Checkmate to become right hand to Maxwell Lord, the group's leader.
Maxwell Lord hijacked the Brother I satellite that Batman had created to monitor all superhuman activity. Brother I itself had recently become sentient due to the actions of Alexander Luthor, Jr., as a part of his plans for the Infinite Crisis. He also created an army of cyborgs known as OMACs programmed to hunt and kill all superhumans and or specific targets. During his rule, Lord killed all who oppose him, assisted by Brother I who monitors for rebellion. Sasha feigned loyalty to stay alive, but broke this when Lord killed his former ally Blue Beetle. Sasha was given the job of disposing of the body. She stole the goggles and sent them to Batman as part of a message detailing Lord's madness.
When Brother I revealed Sasha's betrayal, he sent out an OMAC squad. They only partly succeed: Sasha is captured but Batman escapes. Lord discovered he could not get anything out of Sasha; she is resistant to telepathy. Lord then caused a brainwashed Superman to attempt to kill Batman. To stop this, Wonder Woman snapped Lord's neck.
Cyborg
With the help of another imprisoned agent, Jessica Midnight, Bordeaux escaped and headed out to kill Lord, unaware he was already dead. As they were on their way out, an OMAC attacked the two and impaled Bordeaux. This attack somehow activated her programming, turning her into an OMAC cyborg. She retained most of her human features, although her skin now resembled a metallic coating and one of her eyes was empty. She also discovered that she retained her free will; unlike the other OMACs, she was not under Brother I's control.
Brother I, with Lord's death, rechristened itself "Brother Eye" and activated all the remaining OMACs to kill Earth's superhumans. Bordeaux contacted the other various factions of Checkmate who had left when Lord took over, apologizing for Lord and asking them to rejoin.
She then created a computer virus and hooked herself up to the Brother Eye satellite; the virus, along with a massive EMP blast that the various superheroes created, disabled the majority of the OMACs. Brother Eye escaped with 200,000 OMACs.
Infinite Crisis
Eventually, with the aid of the new Blue Beetle, Batman located Brother Eye. He gathered a team of heroes, including Bordeaux, to attempt to destroy it. The attack sent Brother Eye crashing to Earth, but the satellite's central memory remained intact. With the various superheroes needed elsewhere, Batman tasked Bordeaux with destroying Brother Eye once and for all. Sasha resisted the machine's brainwashing long enough to blow it up. She survived the blast with the sacrifice of the majority of her OMAC shell.
One Year Later
Bordeaux was made the "Black Queen" of the reformed Checkmate organization. She was proactive and cold-blooded, which put her into conflict with other high ranking members like Alan Scott, Fire and Mister Terrific, with whom she is romantically involved. This violent side of her personality eventually subsided.
She was captured and tortured by Chang Tzu, who wished to lean learn more about her cybernetic implants. Although she survived this encounter, she had to regain her confidence, especially when the healing process resulted in even more of her body becoming cybernetic.
Sasha intervened in the trial of Wonder Woman (for murdering Maxwell Lord) by secretly delivering exonerating evidence to Wonder Woman's lawyer, Kate Spencer.
Final Crisis
She continued to serve as the Black Queen until Final Crisis where, by using her connection to Brother Eye, she sacrificed her consciousness in a desperate attempt to reactivate Brother Eye and the OMACs under Checkmate's control to help against Darkseid's forces. She remained in a coma for a while.
She resigned from Checkmate not long after.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- O.M.A.C. Cybernetics: A rough ten-to-twenty percent enhancement over even an Olympic level athlete across the board--in strength, stamina, speed, dexterity...". Her skin has taken on a metallic coating.
- Enhanced Strength
- Enhanced Stamina
- Enhanced Speed
- Enhanced Dexterity
- Enhanced Durability
- Enhanced Resistance: During the procedure, she also demonstrated a rapidly increasing tolerance to the sedatives being used to keep her unconscious.
- Enhanced Healing: Body parts encased in the OMAC composite shell...nanobot scabs covering your weaker flesh. Sasha also has the ability to turn her nanorobotic components on and off at will, and they also help her to regenerate from damage she sustains, particularly to those non-biological parts of her body.
- Enhanced Vision: (Via Sasha's) ocular implant, the whole of the visual spectrum and more is revealed to her.
- Infrared Vision: Sasha demonstrated the ability to see in the infrared spectrum.
- Optimized Targeting Optics: make a terrifyingly accurate sniper.
- Telepathic Resistance: Sasha is resist to telepathic abilities.
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)
- Espionage Master
- Expert Tactician and Strategist
- Expert Marksman
- Multilingualism: Can speak both English and Chinese.
Notes
- Sasha renounced her American citizenship when she entered Checkmate. She still holds her Swiss citizenship.[10]
Related
- 90 Appearances of Sasha Bordeaux (New Earth)
- 40 Images featuring Sasha Bordeaux (New Earth)
- 3 Quotations by or about Sasha Bordeaux (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Sasha Bordeaux (New Earth)
Footnotes
This article needs maintenance and organization, as it may have become cluttered or confusing. Its heart is in a good place, it's just a little special. Won't you please help out an article in need? This template will categorize articles that include it into the Clean Up task category.
  This character was a member of the top secret government organization Checkmate. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Checkmate members" and "Government Agents" categories. |
 This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category. |