Jiaying (Mandarin: äœłéą JiÇyĂng) was an Inhuman gifted with the power of life force absorption after experiencing Terrigenesis. Using her ability, Jiaying retained her youthful appearance for several decades by draining the life from a number of Inhumans who had willingly sacrificed themselves for her. Thanks to this, she used her wisdom and experience to guide a number of Inhumans throughout dozens of generations, helping them to cope with their powers, and in time, harness them. She worked in a clinic in China, alongside her husband, Calvin Johnson, and had a daughter whom they named Daisy. Jiaying was captured by HYDRA and vivisected by Werner Reinhardt, who killed her. Her body was found by her husband, who stitched her back together, allowing her healing powers to bring her back to life.
Her experience with Reinhardt and the subsequent taking of her daughter by S.H.I.E.L.D. warped Jiaying's moral compass, and she developed a dispassionate attitude towards humanity, which pushed her away from her husband. Eventually, she became the leader of Afterlife, the Inhuman community on Earth, and was reunited with her daughter. She then started an open war against S.H.I.E.L.D., when they approached her for peace. Jiaying's hatred for humans led her to attack her own daughter when she sided with S.H.I.E.L.D., which ended with Zabo turning against her and killing her.
"ćŠăè«ïŒäžèŠăäžèŠéæšŁć[4]" "Discovery requires experimentation... Remarkable, what makes you so special? I think it wise we prepare her for surgery, we must examine exactly what makes her tick."
Near the end of World War II, Jiaying was one of the inhabitants of a village in Hunan where HYDRA had discovered a Diviner and had immediately begun attempting to discover and understand its power, unaware of the existence of Inhumans. Upon Werner Reinhardt's orders, HYDRA captured several of the villagers, including Jiaying, as unwilling test subjects to discover the abilities of the alien device. Jiaying was bought into the room with Reinhardt where she was politely asked if she desired to pick up and examine the Diviner.
However, as Jiaying looked around the room she spotted the burnt finger of the last of Reinhardt's victims, causing the HYDRA guards to force her down towards the artifact. When Jiaying survived her contact with the Diviner, Reinhardt sought to have her experimented on to discover why she could safely touch the artifact. However, with the Allies rapidly approaching, Reinhardt was informed by one of his soldiers that the Red Skull died and he was forced to flee from his base, but not before ordering Jiaying to be locked in a cage. She would later be found and freed when Reinhardt was arrested by Peggy Carter and Strategic Scientific Reserve.[2]
By 1983, Jiaying had undergone Terrigenesis and was granted the power of absorbing the life force from others; an effect of this power was that Jiaying could heal from any injury almost instantly as well as retain her current age. Because of this, Jiaying was able to retain the appearance of a young woman for several decades. She became the mother figure of other Inhumans who emerged from Terrigenesis, working alongside Yat-Sen to transition them into their powers. Her longevity allowed her to help many generations of young Inhumans adapt to their metamorphosis.
One such person was Gordon, who lost his eyes upon emergence from the Terrigen Mist, causing him to crash into walls. She calmed him and got him to control his newfound power of teleportation.[5] Jiaying's usefulness in this area made her a principal element in the Inhuman community, so much that every few decades, Inhuman elders would allow Jiaying to absorb their life forces, thus killing them, to keep her alive and continue the traditions of the Inhumans. Jiaying would beg them not to make such a sacrifice, but she would become convinced to do this for the good of her people.[3]
Losing Her Daughter[]
"I think, in the original timeline, sheâ" "She went through with it. Which is why my mom would have left Afterlife to go to charity work and meet my dad."
Over time, Jiaying had a daughter named Kora who underwent Terrigenesis. However, she was unable to control her destructive powers. Jiaying did everything she could to help Kora control her powers, promising to keep her safe, but her powers grew more and more unstable.
Kora was isolated in the practicing room away from the other Inhumans and although she tried to escape several times, Gordon was always there to get her back. One day, Kora could not take life at Afterlife anymore, so she caused an energy explosion in her room, knocking her guard down and escaping after stealing his gun. By the time Jiaying discovered her escape, Kora had already run away from Afterlife and committed suicide with the gun she stole.[6]
Time not spent with the Inhumans was spent in her home village, where Jiaying was considered a village elder since the locals were aware of her unusual nature and true age. During this time, Jiaying met and fell in love with Calvin Johnson who opened a clinic in the village. Since his Chinese was poor, she helped with translations.[5] On July 2, 1988,[7] the couple married and had a daughter they named Daisy, to whom she often sang the song Daisy Bell.[8]
"They took her... and said she was dangerous. I knew better. Her gift wasn't like that. I left you with people that I trusted. I tracked your mother to Europe. But by the time I caught up with them, it was too late. Whitehall cut her to pieces. He took her organs, her blood... and when he finished butchering her, he dumped what was left in a ditch, like she was garbage."
In 1989, a group of armed HYDRA operatives, posing themselves as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, raided the village and abducted several of the elders, including Jiaying. HYDRA operatives brought Jiaying and the elders to Austria, where Jiaying was horrified to find herself reunited with Werner Reinhardt who was released from prison by HYDRA. When Reinhardt saw that Jiaying was alive and physically unaged, he was fascinated and questioned how she had stayed young while he had become an old man in his prison cell.
Reinhardt told Jiaying that he would find the answers he was seeking through experimentation. Jiaying was tied down by HYDRA and, after hours of torturous experiments, she finally died as a result of the subsequent surgery, which involved the removal of her organs and bodily fluids to find what made her Inhuman. Although Reinhardt was unable to find out why she survived to touch the Diviner, the experimentation was still beneficial to him, as he was able to use her DNA to regress his body back to a younger age. He then had Jiaying's body disposed of in the wilderness.
Jiaying finally dies from the experiments
Unbeknownst to Reinhardt, the body of Jiaying was discovered by her husband, who had left their daughter in the care of the villagers and tracked her to Austria. Breaking down at the sight of her mutilated body, Johnson swore vengeance on the people who had killed her.[2] In desperation, Johnson stitched Jiaying's corpse back together and let her healing powers bring her back to life. The pair returned to the village but found that in their absence, their daughter had been taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. The parents desperately searched for their daughter, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake.
Jiaying, whose hatred of humanity had grown after her encounter with Reinhardt, manipulated Johnson into getting her various villagers so she could absorb their life forces and heal her wounds. Eventually, after their efforts were continually met with failure, Jiaying realized that she was turning into a monster and gave up the search. When it became apparent that Johnson would continue on his dark path, Jiaying returned to her people. Johnson, however, refused to give up and continued on a two-decade-long journey to find their daughter, changing his name to Calvin Zabo and growing increasingly unhinged over the years. As a result of his change, Jiaying divorced him.[9]
Eventually, Jiaying became the leader of the Inhumans living in Afterlife, a settlement established to hide them from the rest of the world, with Gordon as her aide. During Jiaying's leadership, Eva Belyakov decided that her daughter Katya, who was living in the outside world, should be exposed to the Terrigen Mist and undergo Terrigenesis without the proper mental conditioning Inhuman children usually received. To this end, she stole some Terrigen Crystals and used the crystals on her daughter, who went insane. The two were ultimately killed by Melinda May, and Jiaying took that incident as a lesson.[7]
As a leader, Jiaying kept a Ledger with the genealogy of the Inhumans inside, one that she allowed no one else to see. She booby-trapped the book with a Terrigen Crystal so that no human could access the book and know every Inhuman who had ever been to Afterlife.[10] Among the Inhumans take to Afterlife was JT James, who Jiaying caught stealing a Kree Beacon, which had connections to Hive, from her private archives. Upon seeing this, Jiaying banished James from Afterlife and refused to allow him to undergo Terrigenesis, something she granted to Lincoln Campbell.[11]
"I have chosen to be your guide, should you remain with us. All I ask is for a few days, I'll look after you, train you, watch you grow, and if you don't feel a connection between us worth exploring well, we never have to see each other again."
Calvin Zabo told Skye her origins and that he knew Daniel Whitehall killed his wife in 1989 when they were reunited by Grant Ward in the Ponce de LeĂłn Theaterââ in San Juan. He explained that he was working for Whitehall to see Skye and to exact his revenge for her mother. Whitehall forced Skye, at gunpoint, to touch the Diviner; when he saw that she was not petrified by the artifact, he told her that her mother could touch it as well. He revealed to her that her mother did not age physically over time and wondered if Skye had this power as well. He contemplated experimenting on her to learn the answer but was killed before he could try.[8]
After Skye's arrival at Afterlife, Jiaying confronted her but did not reveal that she was her mother. Jiaying stopped Skye from hurting Raina, who was also in Afterlife, and offered to be Skye's trainer and to help her with the transition to her new life after Terrigenesis. Jiaying was then teleported by Gordon to the sealed room of Calvin Zabo, where she thanked and hugged him for keeping his promise to reunite her with their daughter and for helping her to fulfill her potential in becoming an Inhuman. However, when Zabo asked her if he could leave his prison to see her, Jiaying refused him.[12]
Jiaying helped Skye with controlling her powers, teaching her to understand that her powers gave her much more than the ability to make various things shake. Jiaying explained that her gifts allowed her to chose what and how items shook by responding to its sense of frequency. Jiaying demonstrated this by first watching Skye start a controlled avalanche, telling her not to be afraid of herself and when Skye celebrated her achievement, Jiaying told her to remember that feeling and be afraid of it. Returning to Afterlife, Jiaying her called away by her assistant and recommended that Skye eat and rest.
Jiaying reveals the truth to her daughter
Continuing the training, Jiaying then got Skye to vibrate the water in glasses, playing different notes. However, after Skye shattered the glasses, she told her story about her younger years in foster homes, and the feeling that no place was truly home. Jiaying listened, shocked, as her daughter told her that she did not even know the day of her birth. Finally, Jiaying told Skye that her birthday was July 2nd, and described the day for her, revealing that she was her mother and that she had been searching for her for decades.
Having briefly spoken to Ethan Johnston, Jiaying requested that Skye not reveal their relationship to anyone else in Afterlife yet, telling her the tragic story of how Eva Belyakov had disagreed with Jiaying's leadership and stolen Terrigen Crystals for her daughter, Katya, despite her lack of mental preparation for Terrigenesis. She related the results of Katya's transformation, and the fact that this experience caused the Inhumans to dislike those who go through the process without the proper preparation, and that their relationship would be looked upon suspiciously.[7]
"It's not a lesson. This is personal, a debt I owe to your father, and if you trust me in this I will be eternally grateful." "He's a monster." "He was good once. Cal lost himself to a promise he made me out of love. Now he's made good." "That shouldn't mean all is forgiven."
Jiaying asked Skye for a favor; to have dinner with her father Calvin Zabo. Though Skye was hesitant to do so, as she still believed him to be a monster, Jiaying explained to her that her father had lost himself to the promise he had made to her so many years ago to reunite their family. Jiaying claimed that now he had fulfilled his promise and he deserved something for never giving up. Seeing that Skye was still highly skeptical about the idea, Jiaying promised that after this dinner she would send Zabo away.
Jiaying has dinner with her family
Skye eventually agreed and the three had dinner together, with Zabo giving his beloved daughter flowers and commenting on how perfect this evening could be, thanking them both for giving him another chance. Jiaying asked Zabo to tell Skye about the day of her birth, and he enthusiastically told the story, with Skye noting that she had always assumed she was a year younger than she really was. Jiaying took great pleasure in seeing her family reunited and enjoying each other's company as they gave a toast to one another.[7]
"We've both changed, we're not the people we used to be. To lament that is a waste of time." "You're right. She's here now, with us. That's pretty cool, right?"
Jiaying met Calvin Zabo in his room the day after their dinner, where he remained delighted at their reunion, despite knowing Skye was still afraid of him. They discussed how Zabo's presence in Afterlife made Jiaying's life more difficult. They made arrangements for their next family dinner and Jiaying made the suggestion to Zabo that he should briefly leave Afterlife in order to retrieve his belongings. However, she did not tell him that Gordon was to leave him there and not return.
Later, as she and Gordon discussed Raina's new found powers to see vision into the future, with Gordon noting that she could be the first of her kind and could warn them of threats before they ever happened. Skye then entered and Jiaying ordered Gordon to leave. Skye asked if sending Zabo away was really a good idea as he could likely hurt innocent people once he realized that he had been abandoned; Jiaying told her that it was necessary and noted that she was not concerned for the safety of the human lives.
Skye came to Jiaying once again to advise her not to leave Zabo in the middle of a city where his temper would result in people being hurt or killed, comparing him to a raging pit-bull. Skye claimed that she understood what kind of a man Zabo was as she had spent her whole life breaking laws searching for the family she had no memories of. Skye asked if she could go with Zabo to Milwaukee in an attempt to keep him calm. Jiaying was reluctant but agreed to let Skye go, however, she assigned Lincoln Campbell to watch over Skye.
While in her office worrying about the situation she had left her daughter in, Jiaying was visited by Gordon, who informed her that he had had no word from Campbell about how things were going with Zabo. Gordon informed Jiaying that he was concerned about Ethan Johnston who he had dropped off for a camping trip the day before, but now he was gone and could not be found. Gordon noted that he could have been found by HYDRA and Jiaying questioned who was so interested in finding the Inhumans.[13]
"I know exactly what HYDRA is capable of doing, I've carried the memory of what they did for decades. I wish I could save Lincoln from that, but I suspect somehow HYDRA's tracking Gordon's movements. Anyone I send will be at risk too and Lincoln wouldn't want me to. These people are important to him, he wouldn't want them to risk their lives. We can't rescue Lincoln, not now."
Jiaying heard Raina cry out in her sleep; knowing of her powers, Jiaying waited by her bedside for her to awake. When she did Raina confronted Jiaying for disturbing her, Jiaying asked about her dream and was told that Raina had seen Lincoln Campbell being held hostage and tortured by an unknown group. Before Raina could go into more detail, they were interrupted by Gordon's return.
Going outside, she heard Calvin Zabo, who had returned with Gordon. Zabo was furious and Jiaying listened as he ranted about her attempted abandonment. Zabo revealed that Skye was their daughter, and Jiaying watched as people started to whisper, Jiaying ordered Zabo to go and calm down so she could speak to him later. Skye, who had also returned with Zabo and Gordon, asked where Lincoln Campbell was, and Gordon attempted to retrieve him, but returned moments later and revealed Campbell had been taken by HYDRA.
Jiaying was in her office when Skye asked about a rescue attempt for Lincoln Campbell. Jiaying told her that there would be no rescue as she knew HYDRA was tracking Gordon and if he was captured it would be far too dangerous for her people. Skye attempted to argue that she did not understand what HYDRA was capable of and what Campbell would suffer as their captive, but Jiaying reminded Skye of her own experiences of being tortured by Daniel Whitehall, noting that Campbell would not want them to come after him.
Once Raina convinced Gordon to take Skye to S.H.I.E.L.D., Jiaying went to Zabo's room, jokingly commenting on how he had been pacing up and down to calm down and asked him to walk with her. Zabo apologized for his earlier outburst, and Jiaying explained that she felt it was simply too dangerous to keep Zabo in Afterlife, but she decided to allow him to stay for the time being. With Zabo now much happier, she asked him about Raina, and Zabo warned her of Raina's dangerous traits, calling her deceitful and manipulative.[14]
"We should discuss your visions. Especially I'd like to discuss how you used them to convince Skye to run off and rescue Lincoln." "I didn't convince Skye, I just told her what was going to happen." "It was dangerous, and it was foolish, and it won't happen again. From now on, any decisions based on your gift will be made by me."
That night, Jiaying visited Raina in her room again, and asked her why she convinced Skye to leave Afterlife in order to rescue Lincoln Campbell from HYDRA; Raina insisted she had not convinced her to go, but simply told her what would happen. Jiaying informed her that from now on any decision involving her gift would go through her.
Raina began questioning Jiaying's leadership when she had a vision so powerful and frightening that it threw her head back and she envisioned thousands of deaths. Jiaying tried to calm Raina as she told her of a vision involving a beautiful Scepter which was not yet finished but would cause an unprecedented amount of destruction. Raina told Jiaying that what she had seen in her vision was truly terrible, describing an army of Ultron Sentries that could tear their cities apart and would change the world forever.[14]
"S.H.I.E.L.D. wants us to be afraid, to fracture. But we're all tied together, a history that goes back thousands of years. They will not take that away from us."
When Raina had a vision of a Monolith which could prove deadly to the Inhumans, Gordon rushed to inform Jiaying. She explained to Raina the history of the stone and how the Kree had built it to destroy the Inhumans after they declared them to be abominations. Jiaying ordered Gordon to locate it, and Raina offered to help, as she could recognize the area it was being stored in from her vision; Jiaying agreed and ordered them to find it on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. ship the Iliad.
Jiaying called Calvin Zabo into her office to discuss Raina once again, wishing to know if she was truly dangerous. Zabo briefly lost his temper when thinking about if Raina ever hurt his family, threatening to rip out Raina's heart if she did, but he quickly calmed down. Zabo went on to tell her how he had met Raina as a homeless child with no family and had witnessed her turning from resourceful and clever to manipulative and selfish. He told her that he had never known Raina not to want something, so Jiaying asked what she wanted now.
When Gordon and Raina returned, having successfully located the Monolith in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession, they began discussing their next step, with Calvin Zabo joining in on the discussion, much to Gordon's annoyance. Zabo insisted he should be involved as their daughter was currently still at S.H.I.E.L.D. and was likely in danger. As tensions rose, Zabo accused Raina of putting on an act to control them and cause chaos. Jiaying managed to calm the situation and assured them that they would not allow S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring down the civilization she had worked so hard to create.
Jiaying welcomes Skye back to Afterlife
She spoke to one of the residents of Afterlife, who gave her one of the Terrigen Crystals that had been grown by the Inhumans, ready to be used as a precaution. Gordon then returned with Skye and Lincoln Campbell, who had been saved from HYDRA by S.H.I.E.L.D. Jiaying sent Campbell to be checked up in the recovery room while she spoke to Skye about what happened. Skye informed her that Phil Coulson wished to speak with her and bring peace between them, insisting that she should as Coulson was worthy of her time.
Jiaying informed Calvin Zabo that S.H.I.E.L.D. was coming to get his view on the matter; Zabo immediately lost control of his temper at the thought and smashed a table, although he immediately apologized. Jiaying asked him if he believed she could trust S.H.I.E.L.D., although Zabo made it clear he despised S.H.I.E.L.D. and especially Coulson, he knew that Coulson did care greatly for their daughter. When she asked Zabo about the Index, Zabo appeared horrified at the idea, telling her that S.H.I.E.L.D. would brand them, lock them all away in cages and take away her power.
He suggested she use her power to fight against S.H.I.E.L.D. and shoot their planes from the skies, but she insisted that that was not what Skye would want. Jiaying said that her people would never follow her blindly into a war, but Zabo insisted that he would. She lovingly told him that his boldness had not diminished with age, and he was still the man she fell in love with, but she had changed. Seeing no choice, Zabo suggested that she hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. as a gesture of good faith, allowing him to protect his family.
Gordon later informed Jiaying that Raina was seemingly plotting to overthrow her leadership. Jiaying, Gordon, Skye and a team of Inhumans stormed into Raina's room to confront her. Jiaying told her that while many would call her transformation a curse, they called it a gift. She told her that she had used her powers to manipulate those around her and take advantage of her good faith. Although Raina tried to convince them she was telling the truth, Jiaying did not believe her and ordered her to be locked inside her room so she could decide her fate once S.H.I.E.L.D. had gone.[15]
"How dare you compare your scars to mine? You're nothing like me, like us. Whitehall cut me to pieces. He ripped out my organs and stuffed them in jars! I will never let that happen to my daughter. To any of my people."
Robert Gonzales arrived at Afterlife instead of Phil Coulson. When Skye questioned this, Gonzales insisted he was there with the same intentions, Gonzales then asked why Calvin Zabo was present and Jiaying explained that she was willing to give him to S.H.I.E.L.D. as they had willingly returned Skye and Lincoln Campbell to them. She asked Skye to take Zabo to the Quinjet so she could begin her meeting with Gonzales.
As they began talking, Gonzales explained that he knew what Daniel Whitehall had done to her all those years before, and told her he had his own scars from HYDRA, indicating his damaged leg. He gifted Jiaying with a necklace that had been found in Whitehall's office after Phil Coulson had killed him, Jiaying recognized the necklace as one she had intended to give to Skye as a child. Gonzales went on to explain that S.H.I.E.L.D. simply wished to protect innocent people from the bad people who gained powers and said he wished to do this by meeting Jiaying's people and keeping a record of them.
Disgusted by the concept, Jiaying offered Gonzales her own gift, a Terrigen Crystal. She explained that over her many years she had seen countless generations putting people into categories to be controlled out of fear. She told Gonzales how her own fear of losing her Diviners led her people to create their own Crystals, quoting Daniel Whitehall's motto of discovery requires experimentation. She explained that the Diviner metal was stuck inside the Terrigen Mist, making it deadly to humans. With this, she smashed the crystal, causing the mist to wash over Gonzales, slowly petrifying him.
Once Gonzales had completely turned to stone, Jiaying then ripped Gonzales' gun from him, causing his hand to shatter. She then calmly turned the gun to her own shoulder and fired two shots at herself. The noise of the gunshots alerted everyone nearby who ran to her aid. Jiaying walked out of her office, clutching her bleeding shoulder, and told her people that S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to assassinate her. She told her people that war had now begun between the Inhumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., before collapsing from blood loss as Skye ran to her.[15]
As Jiaying fell into Skye's arms, she claimed to the Inhumans around her that Robert Gonzales had said that Inhumans needed to be exterminated, before shooting her. She ordered Gordon to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. while she sent Lincoln Campbell to get everyone to safety. Jemma Simmons volunteered to treat her but Jiaying refused, citing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had done enough and that the Inhumans had their own healers. Once their people were safe, Campbell returned to her side just as a Quinjet fired down at them. Having barely survived the explosion, Jiaying accused Skye of allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to attack them.
Jiaying's gunshot wounds are treated
Jiaying was taken to the healing room and her wounds were treated by Wilton. Skye asked Campbell why her powers were not helping her with the pain, but he informed her that her powers allowed her to heal but she still felt the pain. As tensions raised and Campbell blamed Skye for the attack, Jiaying calmed them down and took responsibility. She manipulated Skye by saying that she should feel betrayed by S.H.I.E.L.D. when Skye attempted to argue, Jiaying sent them away claiming to be too weak to discuss the matter any further.
Jiaying heals by killing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Gordon returned to Jiaying's room with a captured S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; he informed her that all Inhumans in need of protection were safe, while the others were all willing to fight for her, as they believed S.H.I.E.L.D. was directly responsible for the attack. Jiaying told him that Lincoln Campbell would fight and she believed Skye would join them as well. Needing to heal, Jiaying placed her hands on the agent's head before using her powers to suck the life force from him, killing him and healing her body's injuries.
Skye came to visit Jiaying and asked how she was even standing, Jiaying told her that she had a good doctor and others had been generous. Skye expressed her horror at the recent events and told her that she had spoken to Raina, who had said that more bad things were on the way. Jiaying began attempting to convince Skye that their next action should not be to hide but to fight back. She handed Skye the necklace that Gonzales had returned to her, and told her to give it back if she decided to fight with them.[9]
"Everything I will do is for the protection of our people." "You killed Gonzales. You want a war." "War was inevitable. I struck first so we would have the advantage."
Jiaying met Raina in the night, and apologized for not believing in her visions; Raina explained that she had not foreseen Jiaying being injured. When Jiaying offered to make Raina an adviser, Raina revealed that as a child her dream was to lead the Inhumans. She told Jiaying that her gifts had allowed her to accept her fate as she had seen the future, including Jiaying's plan to wipe out the humans with deadly Terrigen Crystals and that she knew that it was destined to fail.
When Jiaying asked if the plan would succeed, she revealed that the key to success or failure was Skye as she knew Skye would one day be the leader of their people. When Raina revealed that she would inform the other Inhumans of her plans, Jiaying grew furious and told her that she would not before stabbing her in the neck, only to see Skye, who had witnessed the murder. When Skye confronted her mother over the killing, Jiaying attempted to claim that Raina had threatened her and left her no choice, no matter what she said.
Skye realized her plan and knew that her mother had murdered Robert Gonzales with the intention of starting a war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans. Jiaying explained that she believed that no matter what the Inhumans did, S.H.I.E.L.D. would always find them and they would never have peace, so they had to strike first so they would have the advantage in war. However, when Skye made it clear that she wanted no part in Jiaying's crusade, she was hit over the head by Jiaying's Assistant who was then ordered by Jiaying to lock Skye away before disposing of Raina's corpse.[9]
"We have to show them what we're capable of. It's the only way. They'll never leave us alone." "We don't know what you're planning, but we'll play no part in it."
Gordon then took a team of Inhumans, including Alisha Whitley and Lincoln Campbell, to the Iliad to take over the ship, capturing or even killing any S.H.I.E.L.D. agents they found. The mission was a success and soon the ship was taken over. Jiaying was welcomed onto the ship and overlooked her hostages and prepared a batch of Terrigen Crystals to be used in the next stage of her plan.[9] Campbell, however, warned her that an emergency signal had been sent out to Phil Coulson's base and as a result of a squad of Quinjets were flying towards them.
Having thought of a new plan to wipe out S.H.I.E.L.D., Jiaying spoke to Agents Anne Weaver and Oliver and ordered them to expand the beacon and invite all of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. bases to their location. When Lincoln Campbell questioned Jiaying's plans as it seemed foolish to bring more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to challenge them, she told him that they needed to show S.H.I.E.L.D. exactly what the Inhumans were capable of so they would never dare attack them again. When Oliver bravely refused to help, Jiaying ordered her soldiers to lock him in a room along with several other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Turning to Anne Weaver, Jiaying asked her if she liked rare crystals. When the mortified Weaver asked if she was bribing her, Jiaying told her it was not a bribe but simply an incentive. She then dropped one of the Terrigen Crystals inside the room with Oliver and all the other agents, causing the deadly Terrigen Mist to engulf their bodies as they coughed and yelled out in pain, turning them into stone in a matter of seconds. Jiaying then turned to Weaver and once again ordered her to expand the beacon to the other agents, warning that if she did not, more agents would suffer the same fate.[3]
"There are descendants everywhere. I'm going to find them and build them a better world, where they're not hunted, not afraid." "And kill anyone in your way." "Only if they're in our way. Goodbye, Daisy."
When a team of Quinjets were spotted incoming, Jiaying watched their approach from the monitors. When all but one of the Quinjets fell back, Jiaying believed Skye must have escaped with the help of Alphonso Mackenzie and warned them of the attack, sending one of her soldiers to investigate. She then ordered Gordon to take the Terrigen Crystals and execute the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with the Terrigen Mist.
As Jiaying ordered for the Crystals to be moved onto a Quinjet, she was confronted by Skye, who once again implored her to reconsider her plans of mass genocide. Jiaying, however, remained immovable in her quest to wipe out the human race, explaining that there were Inhumans across the planet who she would give powers to and allow to live in a peaceful world where they were no longer hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. Before Skye could stop her, Jiaying walked away with her team, leaving her to fight Alisha Whitley's doubles.
As Jiaying attempted to escape, she was stopped by Calvin Zabo, who had failed to kill Phil Coulson and had instead teamed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to stop her mission. Zabo tried to convince her to stop and think of the effect her actions were having on their daughter, but Jiaying insisted she was simply trying to protect their daughter from the dangers of the world. Seeing Zabo was a threat, she ordered Gordon to lock him in a room while she continued her escape. As she walked away, Zabo slammed his fist against the glass and demanded to know where Daisy was, but Jiaying ignored his pleas.[3]
"This war started decades ago when S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded to guard the world against people like us, and it will never end. But you and I together, think of how powerful we could be. We could launch a revolution, side by side." "I don't want your revolution, because this isn't about protecting me or your people. This is about hate!"
Once she made it outside, Skye once again attempted to reason with her. Jiaying ordered her men to put the Terrigen Crystals inside the Quinjet while she spoke to Skye, trying to convince her that it was S.H.I.E.L.D. who started this war and they could rule the Inhumans together.
Seeing that Skye would not be convinced that her plans offered the greatest hope for the survival of the Inhumans, Jiaying walked close to her and softly touched her face before using her power to drain Skye's life force, telling her that although she had always thought her daughter was her greatest gift, now she knew it was her powers. However, Skye was able to muster whatever strength she had left and used it to create a shock wave that pushed the Quinjet off the ship and into the sea, causing the Terrigen Crystals to be lost.
With her plan in ruins, Jiaying once again tried to kill Skye, only for Skye to use her powers to try to kill her, causing Jiaying's scars to open and bleed. The pair were interrupted by Calvin Zabo, who had escaped and begged them to stop. When Zabo saw that they would not stop until one of them was dead, he pulled Jiaying away from their daughter and broke her nerve endings; he then lifted her high in the air and broke her spine, killing her, before breaking down and crying over the body of his beloved wife.[3]
"My mother created a halfway house for Inhumans, and it was not enough. I want Inhumans taking action with S.H.I.E.L.D. to see that being different can mean making a difference."
Jiaying would be remembered as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s toughest enemies, along with her husband Calvin Zabo, Aida and Kasius.[16] In the wake of her death, Jiaying's actions would have long-lasting consequences. The Terrigen Crystals that Skye knocked into the sea would dissolve and become ingested by sea life. Consequently, Terrigen-infected fish would be mass-produced into fish oil pills that, when consumed by those carrying dormant Inhuman gene, would undergo Terrigenesis. This then caused an Inhuman Outbreak with Inhumans unaware of their heritage or the nature of their own abilities would arise, inadvertently revealing the species' existence to the world.
Ironically, many of Jiaying's own fears were proven true, as widespread fear and animosity towards Inhumans would become a major problem. The property of Jiaying, including all of her books and the genealogy of the Inhumans in Afterlife, were taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Phil Coulson then gave the books to Andrew Garner to study so that he could create a better psychological profile of Jiaying for their own records. However, the Terrigen Crystal within the ledger listing many known Inhumans caused Garner, a latent Inhuman, to undergo Terrigenesis and then gradually become the monstrous Inhuman Lash.[10]
Following her death, Jiaying was buried in an unidentified cemetery under the name Jiaying Johnson. By 2018, Skye, now going by her birth name of Daisy Johnson, began digging up her mother's grave in search of a healing agent for the Centipede Serum to save a dying Phil Coulson.[1]
Personality[]
"Before Whitehall, an elder would sacrifice themselves every few decades so she could live on, carry on tradition. She would weep, scream, beg them not to. She had a good heart, Phil, she did, it was just... torn out."
In her younger years, Jiaying was a kind person. However, because of her power, the people at village forced her to consume the life of a sacrifice. Despite her pleads not to have her do it, she was forced to. This lead her to become colder overtime. Once she was tortured by Daniel Whitehall, she only grew colder and more heartless.
Jiaying acted as a leader and mother figure to all of the Inhumans under her care, and her strictness to adhere to the rules of their people was motivated by her strong desire to protect them. However, Jiaying's role as a leader also divided her duties and her humanity. She could be very gentle and compassionate when allowed to be, but her duty to the Inhumans made her choices questionable. While she loved her daughter Daisy Johnson, she insisted that their relationship remain a secret from others to avoid favoritism. But more significantly, she convinced her daughter to have a family dinner together with her father, Calvin Zabo, because even after she left him and knew what he has become, she remembered the good man he used to be, and that she owed their reunion to him.
But not long after that, her duty as leader of the Inhumans again made her indifferent with non-Inhumans, which extended to Zabo. Despite him being responsible for reuniting her with their daughter, she intended to abandon him without saying a word to him. She was not at all concerned about the people who might get hurt if Zabo got angry at her betrayal and became violent again, because she felt that her duty to protect her own people was more important than the risk of Zabo harming the people he would come in contact with after Gordon was to leave him.
It later became apparent that the trauma she suffered from Daniel Whitehall gave her a long-lasting lack of empathy, or even a deep hatred, towards people not of her kind. While Zabo says that she used to have a deep empathy and love for all people, even crying while draining the necessary life-force from Elders with their permission, HYDRA's cruel treatment erased any compassion for non-Inhumans, with her desire to lead and protect the Inhumans becoming so obsessive that her indifference towards non-Inhumans became absolutely callous and murderous. Despite being victimized by HYDRA, she continued to blame S.H.I.E.L.D. for what happened to her.
She rejected Robert Gonzales' attempts to negotiate with her peacefully and murdered him (even when he brought a genuine peace offering to show goodwill), and to protect her people from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Index (which would only be a precaution against any Inhumans who went rogue), she deceived her people to fight a war against S.H.I.E.L.D., and didn't hesitate to use the Terrigen Crystals to petrify the human prisoners. She even killed Raina and attempted to kill her own daughter when each of them threatened to stop her war against S.H.I.E.L.D.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
"Do you know what your mother's special gift was?" "No." "She didn't age. At least, not like the rest of us."
Inhuman Physiology: Jiaying was an Inhuman who achieved her genetic potential after undergoing Terrigenesis, gaining superhuman powers. She used her knowledge of Inhumans to train and teach other Inhumans for decades before they went through Terrigenesis.
Life-Force Absorption:
Jiaying absorbing life-force from a man
Jiaying had the ability to absorb the life force of another being by touch. This power allowed her to heal rapidly from otherwise fatal wounds, and also allowed her to regress any aging she experienced, thus greatly extending her youth and overall lifespan. This power was sought out by Daniel Whitehall who tore her up and was able to extract the power for himself and make himself younger.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Jiaying was able to come back to life with just some scars when most of her internal organs were removed due to surgery after her husband stitched her body back together. After shooting herself, she was able to absorb a life to heal the bullet wounds. However, it never heals fully as she still had scars.
Longevity: Jiaying ages very slow with her absorption powers, having been noted to live for several lifetimes.
Expert Tactician: Due to her distrust in S.H.I.E.L.D., Jiaying killedRobert Gonzales and staged the incident as if he shot her as an excuse to start a war. She then had her men shoot down the building posing at S.H.I.E.L.D. so that the body would be destroyed. She also led her Inhumans for many years and prepared them for their powers.
Bilingualism: Jiaying was fluent in her native Mandarin, as well as English.
Terrigen Crystals: Jiaying owned many Terrigen Crystals to turn people into Inhumans. She also used it to kill many people that weren't Inhumans with the mist. She planned on taking the crystals and releasing it on the world.
Diviner: Jiaying owned a Diviner and it let Gordon know of Skye and Raina's terrigenesis. She also owned crystals that had the Diviner embedded in it. She could touch it without it killing her unlike Humans.
Ledger: Jiaying kept all information on Inhumans in a book called the Ledger. She trapped the book with a Terrigen Crystal so no human could open it.
Afterlife: Jiaying founded the Inhuman settlement of Afterlife in order to provide shelter to other Inhumans and help them throughout their Terrigenesis and the discovery of their powers. Jiaying welcomed numerous Inhumans in Afterlife, notably forming a close bond with Gordon, and remained in charge of the settlement for years thanks to her regenerative abilities. Jiaying was ultimately reunited with her daughter, who went under the name of Skye, in Afterlife, and helped her to control her newfound powers. Jiaying also agreed to hold a meeting with Robert Gonzales in Afterlife, but actually ambushed and murdered him, enabling her to start a war against S.H.I.E.L.D. However, her plans were discovered by Skye, who saw her murdering Raina in Afterlife's courtyard. Jiaying and her men later left Afterlife to capture the Iliad.
Iliad: Jiaying sought her war on the Iliad. She killed many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the Iliad and wanted to Kree Monolith that was on it.
Prisons[]
HYDRA Fortress: Upon being captured by HYDRA, Jiaying was imprisoned in the castle in Austria. She was interrogated and tortured by Daniel Whitehall, who figured out her special nature and literally cut her into pieces to gain his own regenerative abilities. Jiaying's body was taken out of the castle and buried in the wilderness, only to be later found by Calvin Zabo who stitched Jiaying's body pieces back together, enabling her to be resurrected.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Ex-Grandfather-in-Law â
Calvin Johnson - Ex-Husband, Savior, Resurrector and Final Killer
