A memo from series writer Bill Mantlo revealed that he intended for her to be a "floating" member who would come and go from the book as the occasion called for.
The Soviet Super-Soldiers battle Iron Man and Jack of Hearts on the moon but wind up helping them against renegade Rigellians led by Commander Arcturus.
The comatose subconscious minds of the Super-Soldiers form a "Great Beast" that follows the Supreme Soviets back to the USSR and tries to kill them.
Captain America's negotiation skills were successful in convincing the Great Beast to back off, leading to the recovery of the three Super-Soldiers who had previously been injured and unconscious.
[16] When the Supreme Soviets (who changed their name to People's Protectorate) are rechristened the Winter Guard, Darkstar was recruited back into the team.
[20] She is temporarily resurrected through the Transmode Virus to serve in Selene's army of deceased mutants during their assault on Utopia.
[21] A new, red-haired Darkstar named Sasha Roerich who is genetically modeled to resemble Petrovna first appears as a member of the Winter Guard.
[27] In "Blood Hunt", Darkstar is among the Darkforce users who lose control of their powers, which blocks the sun and facilitates a vampire invasion.
[28] Darkstar is a mutant who has the psionic power to access the extradimensional energy of the Darkforce dimension, which grants her several superhuman abilities.
Furthermore, she can project Darkforce as simple, mentally-controlled solid objects, possessing the density of steel, such as pincers, rings, columns, and spheres, or as a beam of concussive force.
Because crossing the Darkforce dimension disorients her sense of direction, and the light of Earth blinds her for several seconds upon reemergence, traveling in this manner is risky.
"[30] Bradley Prom of Screen Rant included Darkstar in their "10 Best Black Widow Comics Characters Not Yet In The MCU" list.
[31] Kara Hedash of The Mary Sue ranked Darkstar 5th in their "7 Female Superheroes Who Should Join Marvel’s Cinematic Universe" list.