X-Books Forum FAQ/Mutant Tracker III

[worstblogever]

Cable FAQs


Q53: Why was Cable sent into the future?

A53: In X-Factor (vol. 1) #66, Nathan Summers, as a baby, was kidnapped by Foxbat, of Apocalypse’s Dark Riders, and taken back to Apocalypse himself. His destined nemesis infected him with the techno-organic virus, that would slowly destroy his body cell by cell, and replace it with techno-organic material.

When Nathan’s father, Cyclops, arrived to rescue his son from Apocalypse in X-Factor (vol. 1) #68, he encountered a mysterious woman who claimed to be the future named Askani. She thought that Nathan’s only hope of survival would be to be sent to the future with her, where they might find a cure for the virus, that would save his life. Cyclops acquiesced, for the good of his son’s life, and Askani returned to her own timeline with the young boy who would one day grow up to be Cable.

For more details on that timeline, Peter Luzifer over at uncannyxmen.net has a great article about the Askani future timeline there.


Q54: How does the techno-organic virus affect Cable and his powers and has he ever been without his powers completely due to the infection?

A54: Cable figured out how to use his vast telekinetic and telepathic powers to somehow stay focused and slow the spread of the techno-organic virus through his own body. He received further training from Blaquesmith in his powers, with Nathan’s survival in mind. Without the virus in his system, however, Cable would be easily the strongest psionic mutant on the face of the Earth.

There was a time, which began in Cable and Deadpool #22-25, that Cable did not have access to any of his psionic powers, whatsoever, to keep the techno-organic virus in check, and instead he substituted them with technological devices. Nate effectively plugged himself into the “Infonet” using the Dominus Objective, which gave him access to all the world’s information online in an instant, a roundabout way to overcome the loss of his telepathy in most practical ways. He also then stole the designs for the “Cone of Silence”, a gravimetric field producing weapon which Cable used to effectively replace his lost telekinesis.


Q55: What’s the relationship between Cable and Stryfe?

A55: Upon his immediate arrival in the future Askani timeline, Mother Askani asked her followers to make a genetic clone of Nathan, in case the original died from his infection with the techno-organic virus. Immediately after, though, the dog-soldiers of En Sabah Nuhr attacked the Order of the Askani's stronghold. The cyborg kinsman Boak was able to retrieve young Nathan from his tank, but couldn't reach the clone before he had to flee. Therefore, the virus-free clone was captured by Apocalypse himself. This was revealed in Cable (vol. 1) #7-8.

Apocalypse raised the boy and named him Stryfe, after an old foe he had encountered in the 20th century. As the boy’s powerful mental abilities began to emerge, Apocalypse taught him in their optimum usage. The ancient schemer would need Stryfe’s abilities mastered before trying to inhabit the body. The time of bonding came, but, to Apocalypse’s surprise, the procedure failed. To Apocalypse’s horror, the boy was a clone and thus unsuitable for as a host.

After Redd and Slym Dayspring (two future members of the Askani with Jean Grey and Scott Summers’ past minds inhabiting their bodies) raided Apocalypse’s fortress with young Cable, to try and prevent that clone from being a host, Stryfe would grow to resent the man he had been cloned from, for having been raised by his actual parents, rather than being groomed to be a new husk for Apocalypse to steal the body of. He would, similarly to Cable, return to the present day Marvel Universe to menace his “better half”. Most of these details would be revealed during the Askini’son mini-series.


Q56: Who are the Six Pack, and what are their relationship to Cable?

A56: Upon arriving back in the “present day” Marvel Universe after spending most of his life, to that point, in the Askani future timeline, Cable soon would recruit allies amongst the world’s mercenaries that he hoped to lead on missions that would prevent his rival, Stryfe’s goals. This group would call themselves the “Wild Pack”, or due to the fact their were six of them, the “Six Pack” and would consist of the following characters:

• Cable
• G.W. Bridge
• Garrison Kane
• Domino
• Grizzly
• Hammer

The group would separate for many years, after a botched mission to steal data files from one of Stryfe’s bases, when they were ambushed by the villain. In the ensuing chaos, Cable would doggedly pursue Stryfe, leaving his teammates to flee on foot from their own explosive charges, rather than stay and teleport them all to safety, with the advanced technology they had arrived with. Hammer’s injuries left him confined to a wheelchair, and Garrison Kane would lose limbs that he would eventually have Department K replace with cybernetic prosthetics.

While the team would reunite in the present day on occasion during stories in the Cable & Deadpool series with Cable again as a member of the team, the deaths of Grizzly and Garrison Kane would leave the team down to four surviving members. In Cable and Deadpool #7-12, G.W. Bridge would oppose Cable when he had set up his island nation of Providence with a repackaged Six Pack that included substitute members for Kane, Grizzly, and Cable. In their place, his team included the mercenaries:

• Anaconda
• Constrictor
• Solo

The Six Pack would reunite one more time on a mission in Rumekistan in Cable and Deadpool #33, and Constrictor would be absent from the group, replaced with Deadpool.

Uncannyxmen.net has a detailed article on the Six Pack by their users Peter Luzifer and Monolith, if you have any other inquiries about the group, it should answer them.

[worstblogever]

Multiple Man FAQs

Q57: How do Madrox's duplication powers work?

A57: Madrox is able to utilize the kinetic energy released upon impact on his person (even as light as tapping his foot) as a catalyst agent to initiate a complete and total replication of his body‘s cells (including clothing), splitting off exact duplicates of himself with whom he shares an empathic link, but operate independently, and can be absorbed back into himself later. (While it seemed during the story arc “They Keep Killing Madrox” in X-Factor (vol. 1) #230-232 that the duplicates might actually be connected somehow to alternative universe versions of Madrox that he might simply be pulling into Marvel-616, this is only speculative theories by some fans, and in no way confirmed.)

Anyhow, Madrox’s powers were established as above during his origin in Giant Size Fantastic Four #4, written by Chris Claremont and Len Wein, which were the status quo from his birth through most of his adult life. Initially, Madrox would reabsorb his duplicates without much fuss, with the only hindrance he faced being that “Madrox-Prime” would absorb half the physical damage of whatever duplicate he absorbed back into his prime form. This also applied to poisons, and diseases (for example, why he didn’t want to reabsorb his duplicate that was exposed to the Legacy Virus in X-Factor (vol. 1) #91.) As Jamie would discover in X-Factor (vol. 1) #73, he could not absorb duplicates of himself that had been killed.

Some duplicates, however, showed a greater sense of autonomy than others when created, such as one rogue duplicate that worked for Mr. Sinister and attempted to replace the original Madrox in X-Factor (vol. 1) #75, or when Madrox was stressed out in X-Factor (vol. 1) #95-97 from the realization that one of his duplicates had contracted the Legacy Virus in X-Factor (vol. 1) #91.

For the longest time, however, Madrox would reabsorb duplicates without the memories of what they’d experienced while separate from him becoming part of his own memories. This was confirmed especially in X-Force (vol. 1) #17, during “X-Cutioner’s Song, when Siryn asked Madrox how he could ignore all they’d been through together when they were a bit of an item during the Fallen Angels miniseries, only to have Jamie explain that he had no memory of any time they shared, because the relationship she shared was actually with the rogue duplicate he’d absorbed in X-Factor (vol. 1) #75. And that he had no recollection of any of his previous relationship with Siryn.

The status quo on Madrox’s duplicates changed sometime following his cameo in New X-Men (vol. 1) #130, because in 2004, when Peter David wrote the Madrox mini-series. In it, Jamie’s came to try and solve his troubles with deciding on his place in the world - he had been sending "explorer" dupes out into the world on their own for years to learn a new trade, language or a new way of thinking, and eventually return to him and "share" what they had learned through the reabsorbing. It also became clear that Multiple Man's power was no longer working exactly as it had years ago, before his duplicate’s death from the Legacy Virus. For one thing, Jamie no longer absorbed half of a duplicate's injuries when merging with them: he only picked up on residual psychological trauma a dupe may have been experiencing. More importantly, however, was a new wrinkle in his powers that was causing many duplicates he created to act as manifestations of one aspect of his personality or another, instead of normal carbon copies of his psyche. This created a humorous sense of novelty at times with "inner peace dupes" or "homosexual dupes," but could also prove troubling if he manifested "self-loathing dupes", "depressed dupes, or in particular, one very sociopathic, chaotic dupe who dubbed himself the true “X-Factor” who appeared first in X-Factor (vol. 3) #1.

Some of Madrox’s “explorer” dupes became, among other things, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (revealed in X-Factor (vol. 3) #14, And a priest (revealed in X-Factor (vol. 3) #16 who calls himself Father John Maddox that he has yet to reabsorb, and a detective in Detroit (revealed in X-Factor (vol. 3) #17. Perhaps the most bizarre dupe to appear since Madrox’s powers went into flux was Sean Madrox, who turned up in X-Factor (vol. 3) #39 which I won’t get into because… SPOILERS. But suffice to say it wasn’t a normal dupe.

And that’s all that can be said on the topic, currently.

[worstblogever]

Cannonball FAQs

Q58: Cannonball has a bunch of brothers and sisters. How many Guthrie kids are there, anyway?

A58: I’d give a straight answer, but a few times, writers have miscounted. Some have the number at nine, others at ten. Eight have been named, at least. Sam (Cannonball), Paige (Husk), Josh (Icarus), Joelle, Elizabeth, Melody (Aero), Jeb, and Lewis are confirmed. Not all of them are confirmed as mutants, or have demonstrated powers. Lewis has an unnamed twin sister, and there’s one additional sister who’s been cited before. Here’s a whole listing of the Guthrie family tree from Peter Luzifer over at uncannyxmen.net.

[worstblogever]

Moonstar FAQs

Q59: Dani Moonstar has had a few different power sets through the years. Can you explain the changes?

A59: Alright, this is another one of those chronology of power shifts questions…

• Originally, when Dani Moonstar first debuted in Marvel Graphic Novel #4, she had the mutant power to generate astral energy in the form of psionic images drawn from the subconscious minds of herself or others, typically a representation of their greatest fear, which appeared real only to those being directly affected by her power , as well as an affinity with animals. Over time and practice at the Xavier’s School, she would eventually learn to use other images from the subconscious minds of others, such as their greatest love, or traumatic images from their childhood, which she would accomplish for the first time in New Mutants (vol. 1) #4, while probing the psyche of Stevie Hunter’s stalker, Peter Bristow.
• When Moonstar and the New Mutants were kidnapped through the machinations of Loki and taken to Asgard, the interdimensional home of the Norse gods, in New Mutants Special Edition #1. There, Dani rescued a winged horse from a group of hunters. Mirage had an immediate psychic rapport with the horse, which she named Brightwind after her pony on Earth, and the horse selected her to be his rider. Little did Dani know this binding between herself and Brightwind bestowed part of the Odinpower upon her and she thus became endowed with the Valkyries’ power to perceive the coming of death in the form of a mark on those individuals about to die, and a duty to guide the spirits of the recently deceased to the Afterlife. This would be revealed to Moonstar by Hela in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) Annual #9.
• During the “Evolutionary War” storyline, Magma was kidnapped and placed inside a machine by the High Evolutionary’s Purifiers that was meant to strip her of her powers. Moonstar and the New Mutants rescued her before this could happen, however, another of the Purifiers through Dani inside the machine, attempting to instead remove her powers permanently. Fortunately, the mutants Glow Worm and Bulk as they were dying, figured out how to flip the switch on the power-stripping machine, instead, increasing Dani’s powers to their fullest potential. She now could make her spirit images real, though only one at a time. Whenever she created a new solid illusion, the one before would disappear. She often kept the image of a spear amulet manifested as the “default” of this power around her neck. This all occurred in New Mutants (vol. 1) Annual #4.
• After being used as a pawn of Hela in a plot to kill Odin, where she was completely under the Norse goddess of death’s thrall by her Valyrkie ties, through a story arc that extended from New Mutants (vol. 1) #79-87, Moonstar decided to stay in Asgard to repair the damages she had done to the realm, and restore the now-tarnished reputation of the Valkyrior.
• Little is known of what happened to her while she remained in Asgard, the closest description was that when she returned in X-Force (vol. 1) #27, she described her leaving as, “I fell screaming from the skies, an angel cast out of a heaven I didn’t belong in. I’ve held life in my hands, I’ve stared death in the face. I got tired of never knowing which was the better alternative.”
  Through the remainder of her time in Asgard, and then the S.H.I.E.L.D. training she had upon her return, Danielle’s powers further evolved, in that she was now capable of focusing her astral energy into a semi-tangible bow and arrows, which, upon contact with the intended target, would either allow her to establish mental contact, projecting the person’s primal thoughts in her own mind's eye, or create a backlash into her opponent, overwhelming them with their own mental images, up to the point of causing severe injury and even death, or, depending on Moonstar’s intentions, healing.
  If that change wasn’t radical enough, her horse Brightwind’s coat had changed from pure white to the deepest black and she referred to him as Darkwind in X-Force (vol. 1) #43, right before he was killed by Reignfire.
• During an encounter she had later while a member of X-Force with operatives of the Damocles Foundation in X-Force (vol. 1) #84, Dani was accidentally transmorphed into a crystal-like state by the reality warping Arcadia DeVille, who had no real control over her own abilities. A few minutes later, Moonstar reverted back to flesh and blood, and it seemed that nothing had changed. X-Force and Arcadia parted ways, unaware of the side effects that this incident would cause. That being, her body had been altered on a molecular level and that she possessed a new power. She could now channel the quantum energies that make up the universe, which allowed her to affect matter at a subatomic level. Actually learning-by-doing, Dani found a way to perceive these quantum energies as interconnected particles and waves. She found she could affect those connections, changing the physical nature of all things, in X-Force (vol. 1) #87.
• After using her quantum powers to defeat Arcadia Deville in X-Force (vol. 1) #100, however, these powers faded and Dani returned to her ability to channel her psychic powers through psionic arrows again.
• In House of M #7, the Scarlet Witch would use her reality-warping powers to cause the Decimation, and Dani Moonstar would be among the many mutants who lost their powers in its wake. She was, in effect, an ordinary human. It would be confirmed that she lost her mutant powers in House of M: The Day After #1, which led to her being fired from the Xavier’s Institute faculty in New X-Men (vol. 2) #20.
• It would be much later, after Moonstar returned to the X-Men in San Francisco, that she would be sent to Las Vegas by Cyclops, who was seeking a way to negate the threat posed by one of Norman Osborn’s Avengers, in the Greek God of War, Ares. There, she would regain her valkyrie powers through a bargain with the Norse goddess Hela in Dark Avengers #8.
  

As of the time of this posting, that’s her current power set.

[worstblogever]

Sunspot FAQs

Q60: Sunspot has had a few different versions of his powers? Why is that?

A60: The history of Roberto DaCosta’s mutant powers goes a little bit like this:

• When Sunspot first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4, he was 14 years old and in a publicized soccer match when his mutant powers first manifested. While enduring a physical beating from the rival team, his body began absorbing sunlight and super-charged his strength. As he pushed his assailants away, his body turned pitch black, pulsing with absorbed energy. For the longest time, Roberto had a limited amount of stored energy which he could channel at will, but if he ran out, any increased strength he had would fade as well until he could recharge.
• In Marvel Team-Up (vol. 1) Annual #6, (written by Bill Mantlo) during an excursion the New Mutants made into New York City, the team attracted the unwanted attention of a group of street thugs. The New Mutants retaliated but, in the ensuing battle, Sunspot and Wolfsbane were knocked unconscious, kidnapped and taken to a scientist who tested experimental drugs on teenagers. The scientist intended to transform Sunspot and Wolfsbane into pawns he could use to combat two of his former subjects, Cloak and Dagger, who were now crime-fighters dedicated to stopping crimes like his. Before the New Mutants, with the help of Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger, could save them, both Bobby and Rahne were injected with the same synthetic mutagen that gave Cloak and Dagger their powers. The darkness of the drug consumed both of them, amplifying their powers and driving them berserk. Supposedly, in that moment, Cloak and Dagger nullified them and dispelled their enhanced abilities. However, over time, through New Mutants (vol. 1) #22-25, (written by Chris Claremont) Sunspot began acting sullen and angry. He lashed out at Colossus during a training session and then assaulted him later off campus. During a subsequent attack, an eerie shadow emanated out of Roberto’s body and engulfed Colossus—an ability similar to the one possessed by the superhero Cloak that left Colossus in a coma. When Roberto’s peers realized Wolfsbane was suffering from a parallel affliction, they deduced that the experimental drugs forcibly injected into their bodies—long believed dormant—were the culprit. Worse, they had apparently stolen the powers from Cloak and Dagger, who were now free from their influence. However, while Cloak and Dagger could control these powers with ease, Roberto and Rahne could not control them at all. When they both seemed lost to these malignant forces forever, Cloak and Dagger returned and volunteered to take back the burden of their powers. Magik and the X-Men helped purge the shadows from Sunspot’s body and returned them to Cloak, resetting his powers to their original state.
• Much later, in X-Force (vol. 1) #12 (plotted by Rob Liefeld and written by Fabian Niceinza), upon the External, Gideon, learning that Sunspot was himself, not an External as he believed, he assaulted him, and turned him over to a scientist in his employ, Dr. Segismund Joshua, for genetic experimentation. After having Roberto’s body’s cells bombarded by massive quantities of solar radiation, taxing his body to the limit over an extended period of time, Sunspot was rescued by his old friends from the New Mutants, who were now calling themselves X-Force, in X-Force (vol. 1) #15 (written by Fabian Nicenza). Due to the experiments, Sunspot gained the ability to project concussive blasts of solar energy, fly through the air, and sustain himself physically entirely on solar energy. He no longer seemed to be limited by running out of power when he overexerted himself, or needed to be immediately recharged.
• Around the time Sunspot appeared affiliated with X-Corporation in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #35 (by Chris Claremont), he had apparently reverted to his original powerset, as these days, he seldom flies, and has not been seen creating blasts of concussive force, instead only using his powers to enhance his strength.

Q61: Are Sunspot and Reignfire both Roberto Dacosta, or aren't they?

A61: There’s a good reason why you might be confused by this…

Originally, Reignfire’s version of the Mutant Liberation Front turned up in X-Force (vol. 1) #26 (written by F. Nicienza), and while he led the mutant terrorist organization on their assassination attempt of Project: Wideawake director Henry Peter Gyrich, X-Force intervened, with Sunspot as a member of their own team. So at first, it seemed evident they were two different individuals.

As the battle wound down in X-Force (vol. 1) #28, Sunspot had to use his powers to save Gyrich from one of the attacks from the MLF member, Locus, throwing himself in its path. He disappeared in a large explosion of his own energy combined with her teleportation energies and Sunspot and Locus both were missing and presumed dead for some time.

When the Mutant Liberation Front and Reignfire returned to oppose X-Force again in X-Force (vol. 1) #43 (written by F. Nicienza), in the midst of that battle, Reignfire lifted his mask and claimed to them that Reignfire was, and always was, Roberto DaCosta, in spite of the fact that the first time they crossed paths, both Sunspot and Reignfire were in the same place at the same time. We were led to believe in that issue that after disappearing in Locus' energy blast, somehow Roberto became Reignfire. Cable would psychically remove the influence of Reignfire, apparently restoring Sunspot’s personality, and freeing him from what was thought to be, at the time, to be an alter-ego.

Much later, in X-Force (vol. 1) #78 (written by John Francis Moore), while hanging out in Boulder, Colorado, a demonic-looking man calling himself Reignfire assaulted Roberto and murdered an innocent bystander. Sunspot was dumbfounded by this man’s existence; since he had believed Reignfire to be his deranged alternate persona. Before he had time to comprehend these new circumstances, Reignfire drained all of Roberto’s “heat” and kidnapped him and the rest of X-Force with the help of Locus. At Reignfire’s hideout in Las Vegas and imprisoned in X-Force (vol. 1) #79, Reignfire finally revealed the truth:

He was a protoplasmic mutant given a human template thanks to a genetic transfusion from Sunspot, courtesy of Gideon’s employee Dr. Joshua, who also worked for an organization called the Damocles Foundation. This all happened off panel, in between the time Sunspot was knocked out by Gideon and handed over to Dr. Joshua in X-Force (vol. 1) #12 (plotted by Rob Liefeld and written by Fabian Nicenza), and before the rest of X-Force rescued him in X-Force (vol. 1) #15 (written by F. Nicenza).

The genetic bond that resulted from the tranfusion fostered a psychic bond, which allowed Reignfire to control him telepathically (which was why he claimed to be Reignfire and turned up as the head of the Mutant Liberation Front back in X-Force (vol. 1) #43). With some assistance from Dr. Joshua, who gave Roberto a molecular disruptor gun, Sunspot and X-Force managed to defeat Reignfire, turning him back into his protoplasmic form, a withered pile of goo in X-Force (vol. 1) #80.

Reignfire would be used by the Damocles Foundation again in X-Force (vol. 1) #96-97 (written by John Francis Moore), when Dr. Joshua was attempting to merge him with a Celestial golem to give him near limitless power. As the merger was completing, the golem was destroyed by Dani Moonstar and Arcadia Deville, however, killing Reignfire before his true, original identity could be discerned.

[worstblogever]

Magik (Ilyana Rasputin) FAQs
Q62: Magik seems like she has complicated powers, what with the teleporting, and magical background. How did this come to be?

A62: All right, here’s the thing. Ilyana Rasputin was born with an X-Gene, and her mutant power was to be a teleporter, not unlike Nightcrawler. However, whereas Nightcrawler teleports through the Brimstone Dimension, Ilyana’s teleportation “stepping disks” are portals to and from the infernal realm known as Limbo. The “stepping disks” are native to the dimension, that open portals between different points in time and space, and Ilyana can access them, although at times, she led her teammates on the New Mutants to different points in time, by accident.

It would only be after Ilyana first wandered through stepping portals and into Limbo while the X-Men were staying upon the mysterious island in the Bermuda Triangle the team had made their temporary base of operations, in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #160.

The X-Men pursued, and had a nightmare of a time while navigating through Limbo. Among the mysteries they encountered there were future versions of themselves, some just skeletal remains, and others, such as Nightcrawler, twisted mockeries of their real self that worked for Belasco himself. The one ally they found was the future version of Storm, who wielded white magic. They managed to rescue Ilyana, and the future witch version of Storm opened them a portal home, but the threat was not quite over. At the last instant, Belasco grabbed Ilyana again, and held her in Limbo for, what would be an instant for the the X-Men, would be years in captivity for Ilyana.

Belasco would immediately take his young captive and extract a portion of her soul into the Bloodstone amulet, which, if it gained five such pieces (which Belasco had hoped to take all five from Ilyana) would free the Elder Gods of Limbo, who he served. Belasco then left, and the Limbo-Storm took her in, and attempted to train her in the use of white magic to protect herself from Belasco in the future, for the demon clearly had further plans for her. After an attempt by Cat (Limbo’s version of Kitty Pryde) and Ilyana to break into Belasco’s palace and send her home failed, Belasco captured Ilyana again, and made her his pupil. This time, she willingly used the Bloodstone Amulet to place the second stone in it, before spending the next several years being tutored in black magic by the ruler of Limbo himself. After another unsuccessful escape attempt through one of her own created stepping disks, Belasco would extract a third piece of Ilyana’s soul.

Ilyana would use some unknown portion of her remaining soul to create the Soul Sword, before returning to attempt to kill Belasco. Realizing that this would seal her fate as ruler of Limbo, however, she instead decided to summon a stepping disk, where she would emerge in front of the X-Men, several years older, despite only being gone a moment to them on Earth. Ilyana’s magical training, and original corruption by Belasco took place in Magik #1-4.

Anyway, Ilyana confirmed that her original mutant power was the use of “stepping disks”, and that she had also become a sorceress in Limbo when she confessed as much to Colossus in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #188.

[worstblogever]

Magik I FAQs, continued...

Q63: I’m a bit confused about all the aging and de-aging of Magik, as well as the nature of Magik’s “resurrection”… is this the original Ilyana?

A63: Not quite, apparently…

• Ilyana, as a six year old girl, would go through a stepping disk and into Limbo in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #160. After spending years there being trained in the arts of white and black magic by Limbo-Storm and Belasco, respectively, she emerged missing what amounted to about 3/5 of her soul via the Bloodstone Amulet, at the physical age of thirteen.
• Ilyana’s oldest brother, Mikhail Rasputin, would contract the Legacy Virus years in the future, hoping that his sister’s magical nature could somehow help cure him of the disease, and went back in time to see her to derive it. In his attempts to find a cure for himself, he deliberately infected Ilyana with the Legacy Virus. Even worse, his theory proved wrong, and only served to set Ilyana to be one of the first mutants to die of the terminal illness. This all took place in New Mutants: Truth or Death 1-3 which chronologically is believed to have taken place between New Mutants (vol. 1) #25-26.
• Ilyana had two encounters early on, that showed her demonic side, known as the Darkchilde, that began to develop towards the end of her time in Limbo was hardly in check, when opponents would bring it to the fore of her personality. The first being, during the New Mutants’ encounter with the Beyonder in New Mutants (vol. 1) #30 , and the second, when Ilyana was held captive by the Enchantress in Asgard in New Mutants Special Edition #1. For some time, as Magik would teleport through Limbo and cast black magic, she would note her physical appearance was slowly growing more demonic.
• After the Ani-Mator killed Cypher in New Mutants (vol. 1) #61, Ilyana opened up a stepping disk to Limbo to throw the scientist into it, feeding him to S’ym and her demon servants. The horns and tail she’d been developing would be further accentuated by goat-like legs, and her skin began to show more of a red tinge.
• Ilyana would be tricked into using her magical abilities for the benefit of her teammates by the demon N’astirh in New Mutants (vol. 1) #71, making her completely give in to her demonic side, becoming the Darkchylde, and unleashing the invasion of New York by Limbo’s demons known as “Inferno”.
• Magik fled to Limbo and with her dark side fully active, easily resuming leadership there. When Wolfsbane asked to at least to save the seven-year-old Illyana she saw earlier in Limbo, it gave Magik an idea how to put a stop to N’astirh’s scheme. She used a combination of magical spells, her Soulsword and stepping disks to suck all the demons back to Limbo and sacrificed herself in a last stroke that would purge herself from ever having existed. When the others found her scorched eldritch armor they thought her dead, but suddenly a voice from the inside of it was heard. Colossus ripped it apart to discover the six year old Illyana within it in New Mutants (vol. 1) #73.
• The return of the child Ilyana would sadly, be short lived, as she would somehow still be afflicted with the Legacy Virus long before a cure was devised. She passed away at the Xavier Mansion in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #303.
• Years later, when the Scarlet Witch would create the “House of M” universe, the reality where mutants had become the ruling force on the planet, where there would exist a version of Ilyana Rasputin that had never been kidnapped by Belasco, and had never caught the Legacy Virus and died. She served as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in that universe, and not having been aged in Limbo, was one of the youngest members of her field team, the Hellions (In New X-Men (vol. 2) #16-19). This version of Ilyana would cease to be when the Scarlet Witch reset reality in House of M #7.
• However, the events of “House of M” did not escape the watching eyes of Belasco. As was revealed in New X-Men (vol. 2) #37, he was still obsessed with the young girl he once corrupted, he overthrew Amanda Sefton to again become lord of Limbo, and attempted to recreate Ilyana with a magic spell, using shards of her being. What he got instead was a soulless simulacrum that appeared as the Darkchilde once did. Disgusted by his failure, Belasco banished his creation from his sight.
• The simulacrum of Magik would soon sense the attempt by Belasco to kidnap the latest students at the Xavier’s School to torture for information about the location of the true Ilyana Rasputin, and would use her control over stepping disks to make some of them arrive in her presence, instead of Belasco’s. There, she would barter her own services to assist them in battling Belasco for Pixie’s soul. The soulless version of Ilyana be prevented from taking all of Pixie’s soul in her ritual, instead just getting a portion, but would still overthrow Belasco, and allow the students to return to Earth in New X-Men (vol. 2) #41. Magik, or at least, the soulless version of her, would remain in Limbo, unable to be seen in her demonic form by her brother, Colossus, and focus on first finding the Bloodstone Amulet, and reclaiming the portions of her own soul, which were still in it, as well as her missing SoulSword.
• In the X-Infernus miniseries, Ilyana would return to Utopia after sensing Pixie, battling Nightcrawler in a training exercise, pull the Soul Sword from his chest. After quickly appearing to claim her weapon and escape back to Limbo, she fled from the X-Men, only to discover the location of the Bloodstone Amulet when she was captured upon her return by Witchfire, who had claimed it and intended to use it to help stake her own claim as the new ruler of Limbo. With some help from the X-Men, Witchfire was defeated before she could combine the Amulet, with three Bloodstones in it already, with the fourth Ilyana had extracted from Pixie, as well as a fifth she also attempted to take from Pixie in battle that became lodged in Pixie’s Soul Dagger.
• As was revealed in New Mutants (vol. 3) #9, the soulless Ilyana would leave the X-Men again, and spend years searching for the Bloodstone Amulet, hoping to reclaim its contents in Limbo. She would eventually find it, and slay her rival, Witchfire, with her Soul Sword to claim them. However, in the moment she did so, Ilyana failed to prevent the Bloodstone Amulet from being used to summon the Elder Gods, who would kill the X-Men. Instead, she used a stepping disk to go back in time to attempt to change the present to stop them, and that is when she re-appeared to join the New Mutants in New Mutants (vol. 3) #1.
• After the Bloodstone Amulet fell into the possession of a military organization known as Project Purgatory, who had been deployed to Limbo after the events of “Inferno”, and tasked with preventing future attacks from that realm with their elite soldiers, the grown up “Inferno Babies”. This was all revealed in New Mutants (vol. 3) #16. After being abandoned by the military within the demonic realm of Limbo, General Ulysses, the leader of Project Purgatory, and his chief scientist, Dr. Noc, believed they could both summon and control the Elder Gods with the amulet after putting the fifth stone, from Pixie’s Soul Dagger, back into it. Ulysses was, predictably, slaughtered by the evil eldritch beings. Magik’s plan, however, was to have Legion brought to Limbo, and with his “Legion, the God Mutant” alternate personality, with near-limitless reality-warping power, he tore the Elder Gods from existence, pried the five Bloodstones from the Amulet before also destroying it on Magik’s behalf in New Mutants (vol. 3) #21. Magik gave the two Bloodstones back to Pixie, and claimed the other three from the original Ilyana for herself. Thus, the simulacrum of Magik now how has a portion of the soul, but not all the soul of the original.

That's the status quo of Ilyana, as of this post.


Q64: So what is the Soul Sword, exactly?

A64: Uncannyxmen.net has a pretty good article written about the history of the Soul Sword. Albeit, it was written back in 2003, but it does a pretty good job of giving its origins and special qualities up until that point. It should help answer any questions you might have about Magik’s weapon of choice.

[worstblogever]

Cypher (Doug Ramsey) FAQs

Q65: What was the relationship between Cypher, Warlock, and Douglock?

A65: Here’s the details…

• Doug Ramsey debuted in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #177, where he met Kitty Pryde for the first time at Stevie Hunter’s dance studio, and quickly formed a friendship catalyzed by their mutual love of computers. He would eventually meet the New Mutants, after being kidnapped by Emma Frost in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #180, and then rescued in New Mutants (vol. 1) #17.
• In New Mutants (vol. 1) #21, a young Technarch named Warlock crashed near Xavier’s school in Breakstone Lake. He was quickly drawn to the power emitted by the mansion’s Shi’ar technologies. The New Mutants briefly fought Warlock before realizing that they needed a means of communicating with the alien. Cannonball remembered that Cypher was a mutant with a gift for languages and brought him to help. Doug successfully used the Danger Room’s computers to communicate with Warlock.
• During New Mutants' time in Asgard in Uncanny X-Men Annual (vol. 1) #9, Warlock was badly injured, and left dying, desperately in need of energy, or “lifeglow”. With no power outlets, or obvious source to drain it from. Cypher would offer his Technarch friend some of his own life energy to wean him, and allow him to mend from his injuries, risking potential infection with the Transmode Virus. The two would soon return to Earth.
• In the New Mutants Annual (vol. 1) #2, Warlock and Cypher were forced to merge into one full being, in order to use both their abilities in tandem to free Psylocke from the control of Spiral and Mojo. Their forms were blended for longer than they planned, with a greater chance that Cypher would be permanently infected with the Transmode virus.
• In Uncanny X-Men Annual (vol. 1) #10, Mojo returned to harass the X-Men, and Cypher again merged forms with Warlock, doing so in spite of the continued risk of his contracting the Transmode Virus.
• Faced with the threat of the Magus, Cypher would merge forms with Warlock a third time in New Mutants (vol. 1) #50. He did so in order to learn how to read the “code” that was, in effect, Technarch DNA. Using it, he “re-wrote” the code of Magus, turning him into a the Technarch equivalent of an infant, so he posed no threat to Warlock, or Earth.
• In New Mutants (vol. 1) #53, Doug Ramsey had a dream that he had been infected with the Transmode Virus through one of the three occasions he’d merged with Warlock. When he awoke, he was relieved it was “all a dream”, however, it was revealed as he looked in the mirror, zooming in, that on a cellular level, Cypher had in fact been infected with the virus.
• Cypher would be killed, though, when he knocked Wolfsbane out of the path of a bullet fired by the Ani-Mator that was meant for her, and was shot himself in New Mutants (vol. 1) #60.
• Warlock, grieving for Cypher, was confused by many of Earth’s tales of life and death (especially zombie films), leading him to take control of Doug Ramsey’s corpse at his funeral, and animating it to try to “resurrect” his friend in New Mutants (vol. 1) #64. After briefly visiting Doug’s mother at the hotel where she was staying (and probably laying the seeds for her to later be put in a mental asylum), Wolfsbane intervened to get Warlock to bring Doug’s body back.
• Later, the residents of Xavier’s were targeted by the Genoshan government who had allied themselves with X-Factor’s enemy, Cameron Hodge. The Genoshan Magistrates attacked the X-Men and New Mutants in Westchester without warning, and Warlock was captured along with Boom-Boom, Wolfsbane, Rictor and Storm in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #270. The prisoners were “digitally transported” to Genosha for processing and, even though the transit left Warlock weakened, he valiantly helped free his fellow mutants after learning the Genoshans’ plans to turn them into mindless mutate slaves. Knowing that his friends had no chance if they brought him along in his weakened state, Warlock insisted they leave him behind and seek help. They reluctantly did so and Warlock was easily re-captured by the Genoshans. The monstrous Hodge wanted Warlock’s metamorphing powers for himself and devised a means of infecting himself with the Transmode Virus, killing the young alien in the process. Wolfsbane returned to try and save Warlock. While she managed to disrupt the transfer of the Transmode Virus, Warlock had lost too much of his life-energies due to the process and his form completely discorporated into a pile of dust in New Mutants (vol. 1) #95.
• The pile of dust that was Warlock’s remains was collected by mutants after the defeat of Cameron Hodge, and placed on the grave of Warlock’s “best friend”, Doug Ramsey, per instructions from Wolfsbane, in X-Factor (vol. 1) #62, meant to be a way for the two friends to be together forever.
• Unbeknownst to his friends, it was revealed in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #313, that the Genoshans did somehow recover or acquire some of Warlock’s remains. Desperate to rebuild following the destruction of their mutate-based economy, they sold a sample of Warlock’s techno-organic form to an unknown agency composed of scientists. Apparently working for a mutant-hating group calling themselves the “Friends of Humanity,” their goal was to use Warlock’s unique traits to create a new breed of Sentinels. They enlisted Dr. Stephen Lang, to serve as their cybernetic interface with the collective of techno-organic creatures they were about to create, who would call themselves The Phalanx. As part of their scheme, the Phalanx’s creators kidnapped and absorbed into itself various associates of the X-Men. They also somehow got hold of the memory engrams of Doug Ramsey; either Warlock’s body cells had stored his friend’s personality files from their many mergers or Douglas had indeed been infected with the Transmode Virus before his death and a genetic sample was stolen from his grave. Whatever the case, the result was a Phalanx member who not only possessed some of the memories, skills and personality traits of the late Cypher while calling itself Douglock. It asserted enough free will to attempt to defy Lang’s control of the collective in X-Factor (vol. 1) #106, before finally being granted complete independence by the time-displaced android known as Zero in Excalibur (vol. 1) #80, aiding him in surviving the destruction of the Babel Spire at the end of the “Phalanx Covenant” in Excalibur (vol. 1) #82.
• It was confirmed that Cypher was still deceased and Douglock was a techno-organic entity with some of his memories in Excalibur (vol. 1) #105, when Kitty Pryde would phase through the ground to examine Doug Ramsey’s corpse still in its grave.
• After being kidnapped by the Red Skull, being taken aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where he had to assert his independence yet again (in X-Men (vol. 2) Annual 1999), Douglock would begin to realize who he actually was before he was altered by the Friends of Humanity… Warlock. He checked Cypher’s grave to assure he could not resurrect his friend, and that there were no traces of the Transmode Virus on his body in Warlock (vol. 5) #1. In spite of the revelation from New Mutants (vol. 1) #53, regarding Cypher’s infection with the virus, Warlock found no sign of any Transmode cells.
• Warlock spent months on Earth, purging the planet of any traces of the Transmode Virus, before leaving Earth for the stars. In Warlock’s absence, much later, Doug Ramsey’s grave site was be disturbed by Eli Bard, and Cypher would be resurrected using a different strain of the techno-organic virus in X-Necrosha #1. Doug would re-write the code of the strain of the techno-organic virus used to revive him in New Mutants (vol. 3) #8, reasserting his free will from Eli Bard and Selene.

[worstblogever]

Magma FAQs

Q66: I've heard something about how Magma's origin has been retconned back and forth between her being a Nova Roman girl named Amara Aquilla as well as an brainwashed English girl named Alison Crestmere. And there was some plot hook about her being Selene’s grandaughter, too. What gives?

A66: There have been a few retcons, back and forth, about Magma’s origin.

• Magma debuted in New Mutants (vol. 1) #8 (written by Chris Claremont), where she had run away from her home, Nova Roma, disguised as a part of a Native American tribe in the Amazon Jungle, introducing herself to the New Mutants as Amara, and in New Mutants (vol. 1) #9, she revealed her full name to be Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla. Her home was apparently an ancient Roman colony that had somehow remained lost, hidden within the jungle, and had not advanced along with the rest of the world technology. Her own father, Lucius Aquilla, was the ruler of Nova Roma, and there the New Mutants had to escape the dangers posed by Lucius’ chief rival, Marcus Domitus Gallio, and his wife, Selene. As it would be revealed in New Mutants (vol. 1) #10, Selene was the feared “black priestess” of Nova Roma, who would have young virgins sacrificed to increase her mystical powers. At one point, she bragged that she also had killed Amara’s mother in one of her rituals. In reality, Selene was an ancient mutant and sorceress whose powers were to drain the life force from victims, and use to power various abilities she possessed. After Selene’s defeat in New Mutants (vol. 1) #11, Amara, discovered to be a mutant herself, would be granted permission by her father to accompany the New Mutants back to Rio, and then Westchester, for training in the use of her powers, and to learn of the “futuristic” world outside of Nova Roma.
• The New Mutants were invited to a party at the Hellfire Club in New Mutants (vol. 1) #53, (also written by Chris Claremont) where a man named Gerhard van Ostamgen arrived with a marble bust that he claimed was an ancient relic, a statue of the Roman Goddess Selene carved by Gauis Lucullus Umber., hoping that it was his ticket to impressing the Black Queen, Selene, and gaining membership in the Hellfire Club. Amara interrupted his presentation, claiming that the statue actually portrayed her grandmother, many times removed (which meant it wasn’t an artifact from Ancient Rome, but just a statue from Nova Roma about fifty years old). Van Ostamgen disputed her claim, but Selene took the statute and stated, they were both right - it is Selene and Amara’s ancestor. She exclaims that those women are one and the same, and declared that both their heritage and destiny were bound far more closely than she ever dreamed. Magma called Selene a liar, and after she had examined the statue, Selene dropped it by her feet and it shattered. Selene agreed at least, that it was a forgery, however, her claim that she was Amara’s ancestor has yet to be determined to be truth, or a lie. But Selene definitely has a grudge with Magma, considering she had her targeted on Utopia, specifically, during “Necrosha”, sending a revived Doug Ramsey to kill her.
• Amara briefly joined the Massachusetts Academy, until her father sent a letter to demand she return to Nova Roma in New Mutants (vol. 1) #62 (written by Louise Simonson). Emma Frost sent Empath with her, ordering him to use his powers on Amara’s father to coax him into allowing her, and the Hellfire Club to exploit Nova Roma’s mineralogical wealth.
• Much later after Trevor Fitzroy had murdered the rest of the Hellions, Firestar and Warpath, and Cannonball paid them a visit to deliver the sad news , in New Warriors (vol. 1) #31 (by Fabian Nicienza). Once there, they found something was not quite right with Nova Roma. As they investigated, Empath confessed that he had discovered the entire city of Nova Roma to be a lie, its inhabitants consisting of kidnapping victims who had been brainwashed through the powers of Selene. The people were kept at a low technological and theological level so they would worship and sustain the “Black Priestess”. Once she had left the hidden city of Nova Roma, the spell slowly faded and people had started to remember, but Empath had tried to prolong the scenario as, for the first time in his life, he was happy with Amara. With the secret now out, he revealed to Magma what appeared to be her true name and heritage: Allison Crestmere, daughter of a British diplomat stationed in Rio. The other Nova Romans were also told told their “true identities,” Empath and “Allison” decided to stay and help the people adjust to life in the 20th century. She would leave to go to England and find her true family that she’d been supposedly kidnapped by Selene from at the end of the “Child‘s Play" storyline.
• In all of Magma’s appearances through the rest of the 1990s, mostly as a member of King Bedlam’s Hellions, she referred to herself as Alison Crestmere. After she ended up as one of the victims of the Church of the Humanity, and crucified on the lawn of the Xavier Institute in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #423 (by Chuck Austen), she would remain in a coma for some time, eventually being awakened by Josh Foley, aka Elixir, in New Mutants (vol. 2) #7 (by Nunzio deFilippis & Christina Weir) Magma destroyed part of the building and ran away from the institute confused, not to be seen for some time.
• As she revealed to her friends in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #46 (by Chris Claremont) The shock of being “killed” and brought back to life again, her “real” memories reinstated themselves. When she calmed down a bit, Magma knew for sure that she was Amara Aquilla, daughter of Nova Roma, and that the identity of “Allison Crestmere“ was the fake one. While it has yet to be revealed who exactly was responsible for messing with her sense of self, be it Empath, Selene, or some other individual, or for what reasons, Amara herself believes that this manipulation was to steal her away from her home and torment those who love her.

Since that issue, that’s been her status quo.


Q67: Magma can fly? When did this start?

A67: When she was introduced, Magma supposedly needed to touch the ground to use her seismic powers, up until X-Men: The 198 #1 (written by David Hine), where she flew down into a volcano with her boyfriend, a pyrokinetic named Antonio, in South America. Apparently this is cited by most as the first time Magma has shown the ability to fly through the air, not unlike the Human Torch does, in spite of the fact that for the longest time, her powers faced the limitation that she needed to be close to the ground for them to work, and her fiery form did not allow for flight. Others counter, however, that she was not actually flying, but floating or falling down somehow, in this instance.

There were also two panels during Young X-Men #5 (by Marc Guggenheim) where Cannonball destroys an X-Jet that Magma is in, and she’s in her fiery form as she’s falling, and while it seems like Cannonball approaches her in mid-air to prevent her from falling, for a moment, it appears as if she’s flying of her own accord.

Definitively, however, Magma is clearly shown flying sideways, alongside Cannonball, without assistance in her fiery form in Secret Invasion: X-Men #4 (by Mike Carey). After this point, particularly in group shots of Uncanny X-Men penciled by Greg Land for the next two years, it became a bit of a common occurrence.

There was a whole discussion thread here on old X-Forum to discuss the phenomenon that is the “flying Magma”.

[worstblogever]

Jubilee FAQs

Q68: I just read something about how Jubilee is a vampire now. Really?

A68: Yes, really. Let’s run down your timeline for the finer points of how Jubilee went from her plasmoid fireworks powers to being a vampire:

• The Decimation fell upon mutants in House of M #7, when the Scarlet Witch used her powers to strip the great majority of mutants on the Earth of their X-gene. Jubilee was one of the mutants who lost their powers as a result, and this was confirmed in Decimation: House of M- The Day After #1.
• Jubilee eventually would resume a career as a vigilante under the guise of Wondra, utilizing various stolen technologies, from Pym Particles, to the Wizard’s Wonder Gloves, to anti-gravity devices, and whatever else she and her teammates on the newest incarnation of the New Warriors could reverse engineer from their benefactor, Donyell Taylor, who led the team as the new Night Thrasher. This continued through all twenty issues of New Warriors (vol. 4).
• It was in X-Men (vol. 3) #1 that Jubilee was at a San Francisco café with Pixie, where a vampire suicide bomber arrived on the scene, and his bloody remains, a biological weapon ,covered Jubilee, as well as several humans present. This bioweapon was meant to react as a vampire’s bite might, by making those covered in it a vampire’s willing thralls. However, with no specific master, those infected would seek out vampires, going to them to allow them to feed. In X-Men (vol. 3) #2, Jubilee assaulted Dr. Kavita Rao, and fled Utopia, seeking out the son of Dracula, Xarus, who transformed her into a full vampire. She would be rescued by her friends in X-Men (vol. 3) #6, but a full cure for her vampirism is yet to be developed.
• In the Wolverine and Jubilee miniseries, it was revealed the X-Club had begun extracting regular doses of blood from Wolverine to feed her a new serum, hoping it might prevent her from giving in to her vampiric urges and feeding on innocents. It was apparently working, and in X-Men (vol. 3) #23, she would encounter Raizo Kodo, who would take her in to meet the rest of The Forgiven, a group of vampires who fight their bestial nature and do not feed on humans. After she, and several X-Men helped fight off a legion of assassins sent by other vampires to kill Raizo and the Forgiven, Jubilee decided to stay with the Forgiven in X-Men (vol. 3) #27, to seek out a way to avoid feeding on other humans through her own self-control. She would return to the X-Men, apparently in control of her blood hunger, in X-Men (vol. 4) #1.

Currently, that’s Jubilee’s status quo, a repentant vampire.

[worstblogever]

Chamber FAQs

Q69: Chamber has had a few tweaks to his powers, and appearance through the years. What happened?

A69: Again, this is another character who has been in flux through his history in the X-books. Let’s do a quick recap…

• Chamber’s full origin was mentioned in Generation X #12 (written by Scott Lobdell), and fully shown on panel in Weapon X (vol. 2) #16 (written by Frank Tieri). Jonothan Starsmore was a teenage mutant whose powers had yet to manifest. At a party with some of London’s elite, Jono tried to sneak away with his girlfriend, Lady Gayle Edgerton, for some privacy to get romantic in the coat check room. As things started to get hot and heavy, Jono began profusely sweating, before his powers manifested for the first time in an explosion of psionic energy out of his chest. This left Gayle crippled and Jono with a large hole where his lower face, and upper chest used to be. A furnace of psionic energy constantly burned within the hole left behind, and Jono no longer needed to eat or drink. He could not speak, instead having to rely on developing his psionic powers to communicate with others in their stead. This was the iteration of Chamber’s powers from his origin up until…
• In Weapon X (vol. 2) #16 (again, written by Frank Tieri), Chamber infiltrated the Weapon X Project, as a deep cover operative for the X-Men. Weapon X believed Chamber to have fallen out with the group, and they promised him they would restore his face and body, in exchange for his services as a member of their elite team of assassins and operatives. To prevent the damage that had been done to his body when his powers first manifested from occurring again, they applied a prosthetic energy regulating valve in the middle of his chest for him to utilize his abilities without risk to himself.
• In House of M #7, the Decimation would occur, where the Scarlet Witch would cast a spell to strip the majority of the world’s mutants of their X-genes, and any abilities they might have had. It was revealed that Chamber lost his powers in Generation M #1 (written by Paul Jenkins) when he was shown on a respirator in an internal care unit of a hospital, his body somehow damaged in a similar manner to his original injuries, but without his powers. In New Excalibur #9 (again, written by Frank Tieri), it was revealed in a flashback that Chamber was depowered as the Weapon X project battled amongst each other, with three factions vying for control of the unit, but the energy regulating device in his chest exploded as a result in the change to his mutant physiology, as his X-gene was stripped from him, causing his severe injuries.
• Chamber was eventually transferred home to London, where he remained hospitalized, until one day he was kidnapped Frederick Slade and other operatives of Clan Akkaba in New Excalibur #9. As Chamber would find out, the Starsmore family had long since been a part of Clan Akkaba, and they sought to “take care of their own”. A blood transfusion was given to Chamber with blood from Apocalypse himself, and while Chamber’s powers were not restored, the injuries to his body were healed. However, his skin and facial structure took on a remarkable resemblance to Apocalypse.
• Chamber, still without his powers, but with an appearance similar to Apocalypse, would resurface as a part of the New Warriors team working for Donyell Taylor, who led it while he took up the mantle of the new Night Thrasher. Jono, however, would begin going by the moniker of Decibel, and wielded sonic technology, some of it including solid sound constructs. This lasted through New Warriors (vol. 4) #1-20 (written by Kevin Grevioux).
• During the “Age of X” (written by Mike Carey), one of Legion’s many divergent personalities, X (a.k.a. Moira), would create a pocket universe where Legion could be the perfect hero he’d always been, and every day the surviving mutants of the world battled from a location they called Fortress X, for survival against a militant, seemingly never-ending army of advanced Sentinels sent by humans day in and day out. The catch was, it wasn’t an alternate reality, but a pocket reality created by X that held most of the mutants from the Marvel-616 Earth, who had no memory of their true selves. One of the mutants who survived an attack by that reality’s version of the Avengers, as revealed in Age of X Universe #1, and fled to Fortress X was Chamber, who was first shown there in Age of X: Alpha. Amazingly, when X’s machinations were discovered, and the mutants contained within the “Age of X” returned to Marvel-616 Earth in New Mutants (vol. 3) #24, their true memories had to be restored telepathically. Even stranger, not every mutant returned physically the same as they were before they found themselves in the “Age of X”. Most notably was Chamber, who was never on Utopia before Legion’s actions, and now, he maintained the same physical status, and status of his X-gene that he’d held in the “Age of X”. That being, he had his X-gene back, and his powers, but his body was returned to missing his lower jaw and upper chest, as was the case when he first appeared in Generation X #1.

As of this post, that remains Chamber’s status quo.

[worstblogever]

Marrow FAQs

Q70: Marrow has had a few different appearances, and powers. Can you explain?

A70: Another character who’s had some shifts to their powers through the years! Let’s do a quick synopsis:

• Marrow has been established in flashbacks in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #347 (written by Scott Lobdell) and Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #350 (written by Steven Seagle) as a having lived in the sewers as one of the Morlocks from the time she was a child. And from that young age, her mutant power was that she could produce bone growth at an accelerated rate. She had little control over this power, and thus, she often had bones protruding from her forehead, sometimes breaking to the skin where they would eventually be snapped off. Fortunately, she also had enhanced recuperative powers to compensate for her condition, as well as enhanced agility, reflexes, strength, and a second heart.
• Over time, after she had gone to Mikhail Rasputin’s inter-dimensional settlement on “The Hill”, over the course of a brutal 10-15 year period of time, as it passed there, Marrow learned how to remove the bone growth of her own free will, often fashioning them into makeshift weapons. She also learned how to leave bone plating in some places to serve as armor for herself. Flashbacks to her time on “The Hill” occurred in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #374 (written by Alan Davis).
• In X-Men (vol. 2) #88, the X-Men were transported against their will to a strange dimension with different laws of physics, affecting their powers in unexpected way. Marrow would be accidentally seriously injured by Gambit when he lost control over the flight path of his cards. She was still unconscious by the time the X-Men had completed their mission and were transported back to their own universe. However, they ended up a few years in the past and several light-years away on the Skrull homeworld - in a training camp for Skrull spies just before Galactus arrived to destroy that planet. Gambit, seeking to heal Marrow, placed her in a healing device at a Skrull clinic in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #370. When she emerged from the machine in X-Men (vol. 2) #90, it was revealed that it had not only healed her, but also to given her control of her painful bone-growing mutation and a more pleasant look. Additionally, she could now shoot bones from her body in an offensive manner. In X-Men (vol. 2) #91, she demonstrated the ability to create small bone tools with her powers, and when challenged to do so by Professor X in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #372, she managed to successfully retract bones all the way back into the body for the first time. All of these stories were written by Alan Davis.
• Somehow, during the “Six Month Gap”, Marrow lost her advanced control over her bone growth powers and left the X-Men. The reasons why have yet to be revealed.
• Marrow was briefly shown de-powered by the High Evolutionary’s orbital base in X-Men (vol. 2) #99. Her powers were restored when the effect was reversed in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #380 (written by Alan Davis).
• Marrow kept a low profile for a while, until she received word of someone able to provide her with her greatest desire - a flawless appearance. In return for her becoming an agent of the revamped Weapon X program, the project’s scientists promised to do their best to restore her good looks. Although painful, the experiment succeeded, as all Sarah’s excessive bones were cast out of her body, killing some of the lab staff in the process. Despite her looking entirely human now, she could still create bone weapons when needed. This occurred in Weapon X: The Draft- Marrow #1 (written by Frank Tieri).
• When the Decimation was caused by the Scarlet Witch in House of M #7, she was one of the mutants who lost their X-gene, and their powers. This was confirmed when she first appeared after it in Generation M #4 (written by Paul Jenkins) and again when she appeared during the “X-Cell” storyline in X-Factor (vol. 3) #18 (written by Peter A. David). At that time, she was wielding metal knives in lieu of her traditional bone weapons.
• Marrow returned to be a member of Cable’s X-Force team in X-Force (vol. 4) #1. Somehow, as has yet to be explained, she has regained her ability to produce bone growth, but the means by which her powers have come back has yet to be fully explained.

[worstblogever]

Shatterstar FAQs

Q71: I've heard Shatterstar is somehow Longshot and Dazzler's son from the Mojoverse, yet I also hear he's connected to a character named Benjamin Russell. What is the deal?

A71: This one has a few retcons, up until the last answer we got in X-Factor (vol. 1) #259...

• In X-Men (2nd series) #11 (written by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell), Xavier mentally discovers an unborn child within Dazzler. When Dazzler next appeared in X-Men (2nd series) #47 (written by Scott Lobdell) Iceman wants to ask her about the baby, but Jean prevents him. After Alison left, Jean explained…
  
  

  Bobby : "I was just going to ask how her baby is doing."
  Jean : "That's just it, Bobby. I ... I didn't sense another life within her."
  Bishop : "It seems obvious to me that she was distressed."

  Something happened to Dazzler's baby in the Mojoverse most assumed it was a miscarriage, an abortion, or that the baby was taken in utero from Dazzler, Alison only believes to have miscarried.
• When they first learned of the pregnancy, Longshot suggested “Shatterstar“ as a name. Also Shatterstar’s mutant power of transforming sound into a vibrational shockwave (channeled through his sword) seems to point at him being related to Dazzler who has the similar ability of transmuting sound into light. On the other hand, Dazzler was supposed to have lost the baby, and Shatterstar has been clearly named to be from 100 years in the future on more than one occasion, including New Mutants (vol. 1) #100 (written by Fabian Nicienza) and X-Force (vol. 1) #60 (written by Jeph Loeb). Still, Spiral states that the savior of the Mojoverse is to be the male child of a human and an Arize-spawn named “Shatterstar” in X-Factor (vol. 1) Annual #7 (written by Fabian Nicienza). Which again, sounds like Dazzler and Longshot having that same baby…
• Benjamin Russel was revealed as a mutant from earth, looking exactly like Shatterstar (or Shatterstar like him). He was comatose and held at the Weissman institute, and first shown on panel in X-Force (vol. 1) #46 (written by Jeph Loeb). Spiral, which not everybody might know, also originates from earth. She was a stuntwoman called Ricochet Rita and was one of the first Earth people that Longshot ever met. Once she was captured by Mojo, tortured and modified into Spiral. In X-Force (vol. 1) #61, (written by Jeph Loeb) Shatterstar’s body was dying and so his essence was placed into the comatose body of Benjamin Russel. Spiral knew where to find the boy, and was asked about it on panel:
  
  

  Cable : "Spiral, how did you know to come to this place (Weissman Institute) ? How did you know about this particular boy?"
  Spiral : "Is it not enough that Shatterstar will live again to fulfill his destiny? Is it not enough that both young men mean more than all the world to me?" (tears in her eyes)
  Shatterstar : “I ... live And for the first time in a long while ... I feel whole. Thank you."

• The resemblance between Longshot and Shatterstar obviously seemed more than coincidence, but in X-Factor (vol. 1) #217, Shatterstar told Rictor there’s no relationship between the two, and Longshot, watching from a distance, is shown grimacing. Which, was a pretty good tease, but not the last of the story.
  
• In X-Factor (vol. 1) #259, all was finally explained. It appeared in X-Factor (vol. 1) #256, when Mephisto struck Rictor and Shatterstar with a magical blast that they were killed, but in fact, they were sent far back in time, and into the Mojoverse. They arrived prior to the creation of Longshot, and Arize had found Shatterstar, and after taking a sample of his DNA, genetically altered it to create an imperfect clone, Longshot. Thus, in a manner of speaking, by being a genetic donor, Shatterstar is actually Longshot‘s “father“.
  
  Attempting to escape from Mojo‘s forces, Shatterstar realized not only were he and Rictor in the wrong place, but the wrong time, and attempted to use his teleportation power to return to the present. He came up short, instead arriving at the point when Dazzler and Longshot were battling Mojo for control of the Mojoverse, and she was pregnant and going into labor… with Shatterstar, who is Longshot‘s biological son.
  
  Shatterstar had to make events match up to the actual timeline. Thus, he used technological means to re-write her memories and forget she met him and Rictor as adults, that she was ever pregnant, and find Longshot and also re-create his memories to omit getting Dazzler pregnant. Effectively kidnapping himself as a newborn, he then stated his plan to use his teleportation blades to continue moving through time, until he and Rictor could arrive 100 years in the future, where he would leave his newborn self with the adoptive parents who raise him in the Mojoverse in that era.
  
  I know. It’s complicated, but that‘s it.

Q72: Shatterstar has shown the ability to teleport, when and how did this start?

A72: The first time Shatterstar showed an ability to teleport was X-Factor (vol. 3) #49.

The exact nature of this ability has yet to be revealed, although, the way he utilizes swords to do so seems oddly familiar to Spiral… don’t know if that’s significant or not at this time. All that is known, is Shatterstar has to have someone else focus on a location to teleport them there, as clarified in X-Factor (vol. 1) #201. All instances of Shatterstar teleporting, to this point, have been written by Peter A. David.

[worstblogever]

Adam X FAQs


Q73: Isn’t Adam-X half-alien?

A73: Yes. Adam-X is the genetic son of former Shi’ar Emperor D’Ken, created as part of a breeding experiment by D’Ken to find a hybrid monarch of considerable power. He is genetically half-Shi’ar. This was revealed in Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #3.



Q74: Is he the third Summers brother?

A74: While it has been confirmed that D’Ken was the genetic “father” of Adam-X, his mother’s identity has yet to be confirmed on panel. However, writer Fabian Nicienza, who handled most of Adam X’s appearances in the 1990s has stated in several interviews that it was his intention to reveal that Adam-X was, in fact, the third Summers brother. There’s a whole article about all the hints Nicienza dropped to that end, over on uncannyxmen.net, written in 2002 by their user Peter Luzifer. It would eventually be revealed that Gabriel Summers, who had a similar origin tale to Adam-X’s, was Cyclops’ and Havok’s third brother written in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #4. Whether or not Adam-X is now the fourth Summers Brother (which would have to mean Katherine Anne Summers was his mother, somehow)… well, fans are going to have to continue to wait and see.

[worstblogever]

Lifeguard FAQs

Q75: Is Lifeguard really Shi’ar royalty?

A75: Signs point to “yes”. It was revealed in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #14 that Heather Cameron, a.k.a. Lifeguard, is half-human mutant/half Shi’ar of royal lineage. Her father, Miles Warbeck, the Australian crime lord known as Viceroy apparently had an extraterrestrial encounter of a romantic nature with a member of the Aerie race.

While never outright revealed as Lifeguard’s mother, there are four strong hints pointing at Deathbird as the only likely candidate. Her Shi'Ar facial markings indicate that Lifeguard is of royal descent, Deathbird had been banished from the Shi’Ar Empire and was living on Earth for an unknown amount of time, two other children of Deathbird – Black Light and White Noise – sport golden metallic skin as well (see X-Men: Spotlight On… Starjammers #2 for a look at them) and a cryptic entry in Destiny’s diaries depicted Deathbird and a female with Shi’Ar facial markings in an X-uniform, along with the line “mothered by War”, which happened to be Deathbird’s Horseman moniker while she was still serving Apocalypse.