X-Books FAQ/Mutant Tracker Thread II

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Q23: What can you tell me about Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton, and adamantium in general?

A23: Wolverine was implanted with his Adamantium Skeleton in the Weapon X Saga, in Marvel Comics Presents (vol. 1) #72-84, by the Weapon X Project, overseen by Professor Hudson, Dr. Cornelius, and Dr. Hines. As well as his skeleton, his claws (which he already had within his body as part of his mutant biology) were coated in the metal, and were sharp enough to cut through virtually anything.

Wolverine’s skeleton was pulled out of his body during the ”Fatal Attractions” crossover, in X-Men (vol. 2) #25, which revealed to readers he had always had bone claws before receiving Adamantium from Weapon X. Wolverine was finally given the metal back by Apocalypse in Wolverine (vol. 2) #145, when he was temporarily made into the Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death. He has had it within his body since.

Adamantium is a virtually indestructible steel alloy named after the fabled metal Adamantine of Greek mythology. The metal has its origins in the work of American metallurgist Dr. Myron McLain during World War II when the U.S. government assigned him to military research and development. Through a metallurgic accident, MacLain created the indestructible Vibranium-steel compound that was used to create the shield used by the super-soldier Captain America. MacLain spent decades attempting to duplicate the process, and although unsuccessful, he instead created True Adamantium in the 1960s.

Extraordinarily expensive to produce, Adamantium is created through the mixing of certain chemical resins whose exact composition is a closely guarded government secret. For eight minutes after the resins are mixed, Adamantium can be molded if kept at a temperature of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Its extremely stable molecular structure prevents it from being molded further, even if the temperature remains high enough to keep it in liquefied form. Hardened Adamantium can only be altered by rearrangement of its cellular structure. Given sufficient mass, Adamantium could survive a direct hit from a nuclear weapon or a blow from the most powerful superhuman. The only known substance able to pierce Adamantium is the compound known as Antarctic Vibranium, also called "anti-metal".

The U.S. government has shared the secret of Adamantium’s composition with certain allies, through the information has fallen into unauthorized hands. Attempts by the U.S.S.R. to reproduce the metal resulted in the creation of Carbonadium, a weaker yet far more malleable form that was used to create retractable coils wielded by the Russian super-soldier Omega Red. Due to the prohibitive cost of Adamantium’s creation, many parties have resorted to the use of a somewhat weaker compound named Secondary Adamantium.

The Japanese scientist Lord Dark Wind was the first to propose a procedure by which Adamantium could be bonded to a human skeleton. Dark Wind's theory was practiced by the Weapon X Program, who subjected their former mutant operative, Wolverine, to the procedure. Wolverine's mutant healing factor allowed him to survive the process and induced a molecular change in the metal, transforming it into a wholly new metal, named Adamantium Beta that does not inhibit the biological processes of bone.

Among those who have been associated with Adamantium:

• Wolverine's skeleton and claws
• Agent Zero’s combat knife
• The outer skin of some of Alkhema's robotic bodies
• Battlestar's shield
• Bullseye’s spinal column and some strips coating several of his bones
• Certain iterations of Captain America's shield
• Constrictor’s original wrist-mounted, prehensile metal coils
• Cyber’s claws and skin
• (one particular set of)Doctor Octopus' arms
• The outer layer of Citizen V's rapier
• Lady Deathstrike’s skeleton and talons
• One of Mister Fantastic's labs for extremely dangerous experiments
• Moon Knight’s crescent blades
• The coating of the sentient computer named F.A.U.S.T.
• A unique suit of armor once used by the villain Stilt-Man
• The outer skin of Tess-One
• One of several layers of containment at the superhuman incarceration facility known as The Vault
• An outer coating on the Swordsman's blades
• A special brand of bullet in the Iron Man suit's ballistic weapons
• Thousands of rounds of ammuntion meant to take down the Warbound Hulk during “World War Hulk”
• Ultron’s outer shell
• Bullets used by Underworld
• X-23’s claws
• Doom 2099’s suit
• Bucky Barnes' Captain America suit is laced with adamantium
• A statue of the Hulk, sculpted by Alicia Masters
• Hammerhead’s steel plate in his head is made of adamantium

The Adamatco company in New Jersey has developed a procedure to coat objects with a thin layer of Adamantium. As a result, the plant has been targeted by such costumed criminals as the Overrider and the Absorbing Man, who sought to obtain Adamantium for their personal use.

It must be noted that on several occasions, it has been stated that within a human body, adamantium is poisonous, and the only reason Wolverine or Sabretooth survived the Adamantium Bonding process was their healing factors. However, other individuals, such as Bullseye, Hammerhead, or the Adamantium Men, have had adamantium implanted within them without a healing factor, and did not die of poisoning. Whether or not the alloy they had used was a non-poisonous variant, or somehow coated in another material to prevent poisoning the human body has never been determined.

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Q24: Does Wolverine have any known relations, and is he related to Sabretooth or Wild Child?

A24: Well, yes.

• There is his mother, Elizabeth Howlett
• His biological father, Thomas Logan
• His apparent half-brother, Dog Logan (who was revealed to have been tossed through time from 1900 to present day by Mojo during the Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine miniseries)

There are also several children that he has fathered. Among them are:

• Daken, his son with his Japanese bride Itsu
• X-23 is a clone created from Wolverine’s DNA, and that of the scientist Dr. Sarah Kinney that she carried to term, thus making her his biological daughter.
• Erista (Savage Land child by way of Gahck),
• The Mongrels (Gunhawk, ShadowStalker, Saw Fist, Fire Knives, and Cannonfoot. All of them by presumably different mothers).

Other than both being watched by Romulus, as part of the “Lupines” he was studying, no, Wolverine is not closely genetically related to either Sabretooth or Wild Child. At some points in continuity, Wolverine or Sabretooth thought they might be father and son, or perhaps brothers. This, in the long run, was attributed to the memory implants they were given while working for the Weapon X Project. Wild Child is also not related to either Wolverine or Sabretooth directly, but is another of the “Lupines” watched by Romulus.

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Q25: What is the Muramasa blade that Logan had, and whatever happened to it?

A25: There have actually been two Muramasa blades in the Marvel universe. The first was able to grant its wielder increased physical attributes, but at the cost of their mind slowly descending into madness. Wolverine wielded it for a time, then eventually cast it aside to avoid its curse, when it nearly drove him to kill the Silver Samurai in a duel. The Silver Samurai took it, and the fate of the “first” Muramasa blade is unknown.

The second Muramasa blade was created after the murder of Wolverine’s wife, Itsu. Wolverine sought out the legendary Muramasa, himself, asking for a weapon that could “kill ‘em all”. Muramasa accepted, and promised to forge him a "mighty blade -...- against which all... even one as great as you... will fall" using a piece of Wolverine's soul. This blade had the ability to mystically overcome the resistances of those with healing factors, or other abilities that made them difficult to kill, and fell them as readily as an ordinary person would be against such a sword. Wolverine had used the Muramasa to decapitate, and kill Sabretooth in Wolverine (vol. 3) #55, and shortly thereafter gave the blade to Cyclops for safe-keeping, explaining that it might be the only weapon able to actually kill him.

Daken eventually tricked Cyclops into coming after him with the blade, without Wolverine’s knowledge, in San Francisco, hoping to steal the weapon to use to commit patricide. As Wolverine arrived to try and prevent this, the blade was broken, and Daken managed to escape with the broken end of the sword. He hired the villain known as the Tinkerer to attach the metal to one claw on each of his hands.

Finally, Wolverine took both the Muramasa blade’s broken hilt end, with the two claws Daken had made from the hilt, after defeating his son in combat and cutting them out of him, to the grounds of the old Howlett Estate in Canada, where he buried them in the hopes that no one could use them to harm anyone else again in Wolverine: Origins #48.

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Cyclops FAQs

Q26: How does Cyclops’ optic blast power work?

A26: Marvel.com’s Cyclops entry covers this pretty well.

Cyclops possesses the mutant ability to project a beam of heatless ruby-colored concussive force from his eyes, which act as inter-dimensional apertures between this universe and another. Cyclops' body constantly absorbs ambient energy, such as sunlight, from his environment into his body's cells that allows him to open the apertures. Cyclops' mind generates a psionic field that is attuned to the forces that maintain the apertures. Because this field envelops his body, it automatically shunts the other-dimensional particles back into their point of origin when they collide with his body. Thus, his body is protected from the effects of the particles, and even the thin membranes of his eyelids are sufficient to block the emission of energy. The synthetic ruby quartz crystal used to fashion the lenses of Cyclops' eyewear is resonant to his minds' psionic field and is similarly protected.

The width of Cyclops' optic blast is focused by his mind's psionic field with the same autonomic function that regulated his original eyes' ability to focus. As Cyclops focuses, the size of the apertures change and thus act as a valve to control the flow of particles and the beam's relative power. The height of Cyclops's eye-blast is controlled by his visor's adjustable slit. The beam's effective range is approximately 2,000 feet.

A quick reminder… Cyclops and Havok have, on many occasions, have been established to be unable to affect the other with their mutant powers. It would seem whatever blocks Cyclops from being able to harm his own cells with his powers, he is genetically close enough to his brother that Alex Summers is also immune.

Q27: Where did Cyclops get his ruby quartz visor?

A27: Alright, this answer involves some retcons, bear with me.

Originally, it was revealed in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #39, that Cyclops was given has ruby-quartz visor by an unnamed optometrist in Nebraska, that he was taken to while staying at his orphanage. The optometrist tried several sets of glasses, before a set with ruby quartz helped alleviate headaches Scott was having.

Later, in Classic X-Men #41-42, it was shown that it was Mr. Sinister, while observing Scott while he was staying in his orphanage in Nebraska, that originally gave him his ruby-quartz glasses, to control his developing powers. It could still be construed that the optometrist Xavier had talked to was brainwashed by Mr. Sinister to cover his own involvement in manipulating Cyclops, as he did with other orphanage employees.

However, it should be noted that the X-Men: Origins- Cyclops one-shot showed that it was Xavier, upon originally meeting Cyclops, had brought the ruby quartz visor with him, to help young Scott control his powers.

So really, there are three different answers to where the ruby quartz visor came from.


Q28: Who was the third Summers brother, other than Cyclops and Havok?

A28: Originally, X-writer Fabian Nicienza intended Adam X to be the third Summers brother, created by Emperor D’Ken using the captured Katherine Anne Summers as a brood mare. This potential storyline was never followed up upon.

Instead, the third Summers brother was eventually revealed to be the long-lost Gabriel Summers, whose origin was that when Cyclops father, Corsair, and Katherine Anne Summers were held captive by D’Ken and the Shi’ar, she was pregnant. D’Ken took her unborn child, Gabriel, and wanted him aged and studied for weaknesses in humans, and to be used as a slave by D’ken’s proxy, Erik the Red, on Earth. Gabriel would escape, and eventually be on the “lost” X-Men team that was the first to try and rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. This was all revealed in the X-Men: Deadly Genesis miniseries, written by Ed Brubaker.

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Nightcrawler FAQs

Q29: How does Nightcrawler teleport?

A29: From Marvel.com’s own Nightcrawler entry:

Nightcrawler is a mutant who can teleport by opening a portal into another dimension (nicknamed “the Brimstone Dimension), travelling through it via an unconscious direction-finding sense, and returning to his own dimension. When teleporting, Nightcrawler leaves behind a small portion of the atmosphere of the other dimension that escapes with a muffled “bamf” sound and smells of brimstone. On returning, his power automatically displaces any extraneous liquids and gases.

Nightcrawler can easily teleport north south along Earth's magnetic lines of force. However, teleporting east west against them or teleporting vertically is more difficult. Under optimal conditions, Nightcrawler can teleport 2 miles east west, 3 miles north south, and 2 miles vertically if he exerts himself. Nightcrawler's momentum is retained when teleporting, so he arrives with the same inertia he left with. He can reduce this by teleporting short distances in the opposite direction.

Nightcrawler has a limited unconscious extrasensory ability that prevents him from teleporting into any area that he cannot see or has not seen in the past, as doing so runs the risk of injury or death by materializing partially or entirely within a solid object.

Through practice, Nightcrawler has increased the mass he can teleport with him, though the limit to the amount of weight he can carry when teleporting and the distance over which he can teleport with such additional loads are unknown. Teleporting with Nightcrawler often leaves a passenger feeling weak and nauseous, particularly if it is their first time accompanying him on a teleportation.

Q30: Whatever happened to Nightcrawler's ability to disappear in shadows?

A30: Nothing, actually. Here’s the explanation for how it worked, again, from the Marvel.com Nightcrawler entry:

Nightcrawler can also render himself nigh-invisible in shadows by manipulating the ever-present portal to the dimension he teleports through so as to bend light around himself.

This power was first demonstrated, of course, in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #102-103, when Kurt was knocked out by the Juggernaut in Cassidy Keep, and into a shadowy corner, indicating that Nightcrawler can use this ability subconsciously. As far as “what happened to it?” goes… nothing. He never lost this ability. Most writers just don’t bother using it within a story, and it’s forgotten about.

Q31: Is Nightcrawler’s father really Azazel?

A31: The events that occurred within “The Draco”, written by Chuck Austen, are still considered canon. So yes, as the story goes in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #428, Mystique was married to Baron Wagner, and cheated on the baron with Azazel, who begat Nightcrawler. That’s what the story of his birth remains, until if and when retcons occur.

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Colossus FAQs

Q32: Are Colossus’ eyes vulnerable when he turns into his steel form, or are they steel as well?

Q33: Does Piotr need to breathe in his steel form?

Q34: Is Colossus vulnerable to heat or cold in his steel form?

A32, A33, A34: I’m just going to answer all three of these questions at once, since it’s all covered in the Marvel.com entry for Colossus, under “Powers”.

Colossus can transform his body tissue into an organic, steel-like substance that grants him superhuman strength enabling him to lift/press up to 75 tons and makes him impervious to most injury. His armored form can withstand ballistic penetration as well as temperature extremes from 70º above absolute zero (-390º F) to approximately 9000º F. Colossus cannot become partially or selectively armored; his body is either entirely converted, or not at all. Even his eyes become steel-like. Through an act of will, Colossus can transform virtually instantaneously into his armored state, and can remain in that form for an as yet undetermined amount of time. Once in his armored form, Colossus remains so until he consciously wills himself back to normal. If he is rendered unconscious, however, he spontaneously reverts to his normal form. In his armored state, Colossus retains his normal human mobility, though his endurance and speed are enhanced. He does not need to breathe while transformed, but it is believed that he could not survive for long in a vacuum.

I will note, however, that Colossus’ resistance to extreme temperatures does have one notable exception. During a battle with the Brotherhood of Mutants III (before they were Freedom Force), the Blob, Avalanche, and Pyro all battled Colossus in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #177. During that battle, Pyro superheated Colossus with flames until he was white-hot as but the first part of a trap, where the second part was Colossus was lured near a liquid nitrogen truck, that Avalanche destroyed with his powers, spraying him so he went from extreme heat, to extreme cold. As what would happen to any metal object under such rapid temperature change, Colossus’ armored form blistered, and cracked. He had to be taken to the Morlock, Healer, to repair the damage to his body.

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Angel/Archangel FAQs

Q35: Warren Worthington III has been both Angel, and Archangel at different points in X-Books, could you clarify for me his power changes?

A35: Alright, let’s start from the beginning. From the point where Warren Worthington III developed his mutant powers (first told in a backstory in X-Men (vol. 1) #54), Warren had his feathered wings.

That is, until a few years and many costume changes later, in X-Factor (vol. 1) #10, whilst he was trying to find Artie Maddicks in the Morlock Tunnels during the Mutant Massacre. He would be disoriented by Vertigo, then have his wings torn asunder by Blockbuster, before he was finally pinned to the walls of the sewers by Harpoon. After Warren was saved by Thor (in Thor (vol. 1) #373-374), he would be taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, where Cameron Hodge would place false information in his medical files that the only way to save Warren was to have his wings amputated. The doctors did so in X-Factor (vol. 1) #14.

The next issue X-Factor (vol. 1) #15, as Warren flew a helicopter that was rigged to explode by Cameron Hodge and The Right, he was teleported to safety by Apocalypse, who sought to use his Celestial technology to remake Warren as his new Horseman, Death. Thus, Warren first got his metal wings for the first time, and his blue-toned skin. He would take on the moniker Archangel, after asserting his will to free himself from Apocalypse’s control.

That was the status quo for several years, until Sabretooth: In the Red Zone #1. There, the savage foe of the X-Men managed to claw through one of Archangel’s metal wings. While rehabilitating slowly at his chalet in the Rockies with Psylocke, his metal wings would shatter and reveal his original feathered wings underneath in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #338. Warren’s skin, however, would retain its blue tint.

During the hunt for Wolverine years later, when he too had fallen into the clutches of Apocalypse, and was serving him as a new Horseman of Death, Archangel’s proximity to Apocalypse’s handiwork would have an unforeseen side effect. Briefly, Warren’s feathered wings were replaced with ones that were made of pure life energy. This only lasted for two issues, though, Wolverine (vol. 2) #146-147.

Much later, while the X-Men were investigating a distress call from Cassidy Keep, Warren would be attacked by Black Tom Cassidy, whose own mutation had turned him into a plantlike being who drained moisture from victims through vines. When Warren was bound and Black Tom did so, however, his skin was changed from its bluish tint back to its original hue in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #412.

Oddly, Warren would soon develop another quirk to his powers… healing blood. When both he and Husk were badly injured while battling Maximus Lobo’s group of wolf-like mutants, he somehow discovered his blood had developed healing properties, and used it to save her life in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #420.

That variation of his wings, skin, and powers held until X-Force (vol. 3) #4, when Warren would be attacked by a brainwashed Wolfsbane, and both of his wings would be bitten and torn off. As Rahne followed her brainwashing to return the severed wings to the Purifiers, Warren writhed in agony and began to spasm from his injuries, before his skin suddenly turned blue, and his metal “Archangel” wings returned with the darker, more savage aspect of his personality. For many months, Warren existed in an almost “Jekyll and Hyde” like relationship. In moments of great stress, or of his choosing, he could transform back and forth from his pink skin and feathered wings, to his blue skin and metal ones.

Apocalypse’s programming, though, proved fierce enough to constantly challenge Warren’s free will, and in Uncanny X-Force #10, after learning that a reporter who worked for Warren at “The Guardian” newspaper had received information that he had been leading a double-life as Archangel, his dark side took full control. After killing the editor of “The Guardian” and attacking the reporter who received the information, X-Force could not get Warren to regress to his normal personality, and powers.

That is, of course, until Uncanny X-Force #19, where Archangel was stabbed with the Celestial Seed by Psylocke, apparently killing Archangel, but causing him to be reborn with his pink flesh and feathered wings, albeit totally amnesiac. There was a hint, however, in Wolverine and the X-Men #4 that Warren may have developed an ability to resurrect dead living things, which he demonstrated on a child’s deceased puppy.

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Beast FAQs

Q36: I understand Beast has had many incarnations of his mutation, including regular skin, blue furry ape form, and the current blue leonine form… in what issues did his transformations take place?

A36: So as revealed in his origin story in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #49, Hank McCoy was born with enlarged hands and feet, and eventually he would develop superhuman intelligence, strength and agility to round out his power set.

But it would be while he was working at the Brand Corporation that he would develop a special serum was a genetic extractor that allows him to dilute the precipitate of the hormonal extract that causes mutation. In effect, a compound that advanced existing mutation. When he learned his boss , Carl Maddicks, was planning on stealing government documents, he tried to think of a way to stop him, and went to his serum to get a power boost. The side effects, though, included Hank getting muscle growth over his whole body, ape-like features, and a coat of gray fur. After failing to take the anti-serum fast enough, he was stuck in that hairy form as of Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #11. It was in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #15 that the Beast’s gray fur would start changing to a bluish black, as the serum worked further within his body.

Through the years, as the Beast would serve on the the Avengers, and the Defenders, he would maintain this appearance, up until a time while he had joined the original X-Factor, and have a second run-in with Carl Maddicks, who was seeking a cure for the mutant condition for his own son, Artie. Maddicks injected an experimental serum for that purpose into the Beast, but rather than completely strip him of his mutant powers, it rendered him back to his original non-furry form in X-Factor (vol. 1) #3.

Later, in battle with the Horsemen of Apocalypse in X-Factor (vol. 1) #19, Beast was touched by Pestilence, and the effects proved quite unpredictable. Acting with Maddicks’ serum in his bloodstream, whenever Beast used his heightened strength or agility, it began sapping his intelligence in turn, making him progressively more unintelligent for some time thereafter.

When Hank’s mind was nothing more than that of a child, he intercepted a mutant called Infectia, trying to kiss Iceman. Infectia had the ability to manipulate molecular structures through touch, creating mutated "monsters." When she kissed Beast in X-Factor (vol. 1) #31, he became feverish and began switching back and forth between his normal and furred forms. Finally, he stabilized in his furred appearance, kept his intelligence, and had more strength than ever.

There was a brief time where Beast was restored to a completely human form in X-Men (vol. 2) #99, when all the world’s mutant populace was stripped of their mutant powers by the High Evolutionary, who from orbit, created an anti-mutation wave. After Mr. Sinister’s plot to manipulate the High Evolutionary into this was foiled in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #380, Beast went back to his blue, furry form.

Finally, Beast was gravely wounded in battle with Vargas in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #2, and may have died from his injuries, if his mutation was not further advanced by Sage in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #3, who used her own power to unlock a latent healing factor he had, but in the process, would also cause him to take on a much more leonine appearance, which presented itself fully in New X-Men (vol. 1) #114, which he continues to maintain presently.


Q37: I heard someone on CBR say Beast has committed genocide several times. This can't be true, can it?

A37: Alright, this is a bit of a running gag around CBR, but to be fair, there is a bit of canon fact in its origin…
Way back in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #344, the X-Men were trying to defend the Shi’ar homeworld of Aerie from being taken over by the Phalanx. While the rest of the X-Men present battled around him, the Beast somehow figured out a way to destroy all of the Phalanx on a molecular level. Which, would kind of be genocide, even if they are just living techno-organic viral creatures bent on spreading their number.

That one isolated incident might not seem like much, but it would be in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #30, Beast was a part of an X-Men team that went to Wundagore Mountain to find out Forge had tried to undo the Decimation by creating his own artificial mutants, and had begun a conflict with a group of inter-dimensional invaders called the Annexers, who attempted to conquer other Earths through use of gateway devices called Ghost Boxes. In the heat of that battle, the X-Men revealed that S.W.O.R.D. was monitoring the situation, and had a two-zetawatt laser targeting Wundagore. Forge wanted to take the fight to the Annexers, and he tried to force the issue when he opened a portal to their home world using a Ghost Box. Beast threw Armor’s cell phone into the portal, and informed his girlfriend, Agent Abigail Brand of S.W.O.R.D. to use it to target the laser’s strike point. As the X-Men escaped the blast radius in the Blackbird, and as they departed, Beast surmised that the effect of the laser on the Annexers’ homeworld would have been like a ten mile wide star hitting them, and anyone in its wake would have been obliterated into foam. Now, in Hank’s defense, Agent Brand’s the one that fired that mega-laser. But still, some give him credit for the estimated body count.

And then, within the same calendar year, Beast was tasked by Cyclops during a Skrull invasion of Earth to find a way to defend San Francisco from the Skrulls. After discerning that Skrull shape-shifting stemmed from the fact that every one of their genes was in fact, an X-gene, Beast pulled out an old sample of the original strain of the Legacy Virus, which all mutants had already been granted immunity to in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #390, and that it could be used as a biological weapon to wipe out the Skrull invaders before they killed 50,000 human hostages. The word “genocide” was thrown around by Hank quite a bit as this happened in Secret Invasion: X-Men #4, as he made the ramifications of what they X-Men would do very clear. After the X-Men covered their clothing in the virus, they surrendered to the Skrulls to expose them to the viral agent. The Skrulls present realized they could infect the rest of their entire race, and chose to commit suicide rather than spread the plague. That would be the third supposed Beast-motivated genocide.

There have been other moments of note, such as in Secret Avengers #16, when the Beast was asked by Steve Rogers to make a fissile bomb out of an atomic Cadillac to prevent the Shadow Council forces from killing millions of innocents in an old Secret Empire base that existed under the city of Cincinnatti. So using that radation-fueled dirty bomb, and whilst protesting vehemently to Steve, Hank killed hundreds, if not thousands of Shadow Council members to save the population of Cincinnatti.

So those moments are the instances where… yeah, the Beast used his scientific mind to kill intelligent life forms, if not humans, en masse.

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Iceman FAQs

Q38: I hear a lot of people who say Iceman is gay, what’s their basis for this opinion?

A38: Nothing confirmed, mostly fan speculation, which began during Chuck Austen’s run on X-Men books. There was a scene where Nurse Annie noticed Northstar was attracted to Bobby Drake, but Jean-Paul dismissed the possibility of them becoming a couple because while he was attracted to Iceman, he could tell he was straight. That conversation took place in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #415.

From there, the snowball started rolling (no pun intended), and while Iceman’s list of love interests or girlfriends runs over a half-dozen, there still are those fans who note there is the possibility they could be “beards”, and Iceman is trying to hide his “true” sexuality. In any event, most of the discussion seems to pick up around the X-Forum when an Iceman fan denies such a possibility in a particularly dramatic, or perhaps, in some cases, homophobic matter.

There’s a whole thread dedicated to this discussion here on CBR’s X-Books Forum that’s been around since 2006. Here’s the link to the "Is Iceman gay?" discussion thread.

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Rogue FAQs


Q39: What is the deal with Rogue’s power set and when has it changed through the years?

Q39: Undoubtedly, the power set of someone who can steal someone else’s powers for lengths of time based on how long she touches them is going to go through some changes.

• Rogue’s powers, to steal the powers and memories of beings she touched, originally manifested when she got her first kiss with Cody Robbins, and event that has been shown in Rogue (vol. 1) #1, and Cable (vol. 1) #87. Apparently, Rogue’s drawback of not being able to control her power and touch anyone was psychological in origin, based on the guilt of this first incident.
• After the Avengers captured all of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants III, except for Mystique, Rogue began her quest for revenge on behalf of her adoptive mother, eventually hunting Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel in San Francisco. The exchange between the two superhumans had an unusual effect, that being that Rogue permanently absorbed the enhanced strength, durability, flight, and seventh sense from Ms. Marvel, with the drawback that some of Carol’s personality, and memories began to merge with Rogue’s own, and after seeking out Charles Xavier, he managed to partially restore her memories. This occurred in Marvel Super Heroes (vol. 2) #11, and Carol was found in Avengers Annual (vol. 1) #10.
• In Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #247, while battling Master Mold, Rogue was pulled into the portal of the Siege Perilous. She would emerge in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #269, with all her original memories, and none of the lingering ones from Carol Danvers. However, a magical simulacrum of Carol also emerged, and battled Rogue. Whoever had the upper hand in the fight grew stronger, and the other grew close to withering away. Finally, Magneto stumbled across the fight, and helped destroy the “Carol” entity, to save Rogue, who still had Ms. Marvel’s powers afterwards.
• In X-Men (vol. 2) #99, the High Evolutionary would unleash his anti-mutation wave, and Rogue would temporarily lose her powers, only to regain them again in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #380, when the effect of the anti-mutation wave was reversed.
• During the “Maximum Security” crossover, Rogue would absorb the powers and memories of a Skrull Deviant named Z’Cann. The side effect was that Rogue’s own half-Kree physiology (absorbed from Carol Danvers years earlier) merged with the Skrull Deviant genes, and gave Rogue the ability to recall the powers of any individual she had ever previously used her powers on, and absorbed. This occurred in X-Men (vol. 2) #107. She had difficulty in controlling this ability, however, and had to go through meditative training to avoid having a random power or memory triggered.
• Rogue had the control over all her previous powers stabilized by Sage in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #13, to be able to call upon them while battling the inter-dimensional warlord known as Shaitan.
• Rogue overwhelmed herself while doing battle with Vargas in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #17, and lost not only her ability to call on anyone she’d absorbed, not only Ms. Marvel’s powers, but also temporarily lost her ability to touch others and take their powers and memories.
• Rogue’s original powers, with still had her unable to touch another person, would eventually return in X-Men (vol. 2) #157, of their own accord, as she was placed back on active duty by Cyclops.
• Rogue would permanently absorb the powers of Sunfire, in addition to her absorption powers, when she was pressed against his face by Blindspot in Rogue (vol. 3) #11.
• Rogue would be injected with the virus known as Strain 88 by Pandemic in X-Men (vol. 2) #196,
  which made her touch lethal, for a brief time. She would use it to touch and kill the Hecatomb, while also absorbing the billions of consciousnesses that it had killed in X-Men (vol. 2) #199.
• This overwhelmed Rogue’s true psyche, and as she began to have trouble maintaining consciousness, Mystique shot her during an attack on the Marauders in X-Men (vol. 2) #200, which put her into a full coma, where she was still lethal to anyone who made skin contact with her.
• Mystique turned her over to Mr. Sinister for study afterward, with her diagnosis being of great concern in X-Men (vol. 2) #204. During “Messiah CompleX”, Mystique would eventually force the Mutant Messiah Baby into the face of an unconscious Rogue, which would reset her powers to their basic absorption powers, free her of both Strain 88 and the minds from the Hecatomb, as well as Sunfire’s powers in New X-Men (vol. 2) #46. She awoke fully in X-Men (vol .2) #207, but still could not touch others without her powers taking effect.
• Finally, in X-Men: Legacy #224, Professor Xavier entered her mind, and helped take away the last psychological blocks Rogue had preventing her from touching others without her absorption powers taking effect.

Q40: Has Rogue ever absorbed the powers of _________?

A40: Alright, rather than go and list them all and the issue numbers where it happened, I’m just going to go ahead and link to an uncannyxmen.net article that is good enough to link you to a list of all of Rogue’s absorptions, at least up to about 2005.

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Kitty Pryde FAQs

Q41: Kitty supposedly has ninja abilties, where and when did she learn this?

A41: Kitty’s sudden acquisition of advanced martial arts experience was due to the machinations of Wolverine’s old nemesis Ogun. He sought to turn Wolverine’s own pupil against him, and get Kitty to kill Logan on his behalf. In order to make her much more of a threat, Ogun brainwashed Kitty, perhaps with some sort of telepathic influence, to make her a much greater threat to Wolverine. It happened in Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2.


Q42: I remember hearing something about Kitty being one of the Neo. Is this true?

A42: So, there’s two reasons I can think of for this. The first being, that the Neo named Seth was romantically interested in Shadowcat, and was actually her boyfriend. When the Neo struck, attacking the X-Men, Seth chose to take her captive and insisted she be kept alive. When Domina asked him why, Seth told her that Kitty was a Neo. That happened in X-Men (vol. 2) #100, but seemed to just be the ramblings of a romantically obsessed Neo who wanted Kitty to be a part of their group.

The second time Kitty’s supposed true nature as being a Neo was referenced, was during the X-Men: Declassified #1. In that issue, Wolverine, Gambit, and Shadowcat are attempting to steal back computer files that were originally taken from the mansion by Bastion during Operation: Zero Tolerance. In the process of doing so, they encounter several hard-light holographic projections of the X-Men, meant to cast doubts upon their own teammates and allies. One of the holographic scenarios witnessed by Wolverine included him seeing a newborn Kitty Pryde at the hospital, switched out with a baby Neo. Thus, the child who grew up with the Pryde family was not, in fact their own child, and Kitty was a Neo the whole time. If the hologram wasn’t just a mind game, of course (which it was).

Q43: I saw a poster say something about Kitty Pryde being a racist. What are they talking about?

A43: They’re probably referring to what’s somewhat of a running joke around the CBR forums, a tongue in cheek kind of thing, based off of a few moments in Kitty Pryde’s history where she’s been a bit confrontational about the usage of racial slurs. I’ll just reference you to the “Does Kitty Pryde Need Her Mouth Washed Out With Soap?” Thread, and you can see all those moments, that are the basis for Kitty getting called a racist.

[worstblogever]

Psylocke FAQs

Q44: There have been many times where I’ve seen Psylocke displaying a different appearance, or powers... and other times, I thought she was supposed to be dead... Can you explain?

A44: Okay, bear with me, because Psylocke has undergone all sorts of physical changes, power shifts, and has been dead and resurrected, so I’ll just cover a summary of all those moments in one answer.

• Elisabeth “Betsy” Braddock debuted in Captain Britain (vol. 1) #8, and was a blonde Englishwoman without any psychic powers. She’s the third child of Sir James Braddock of Otherworld, and his wife, Elizabeth.
• Elisabeth soon starting a modeling career, as was revealed in Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #243, and began dying her hair purple.
• It was not long thereafter that she began to develop low-level telepathic abilities, as well as a sense of precognition, while working for the British spy organization STRIKE in Daredevils #3.
• Betsy would be cornered, and badly beaten by the villain Slaymaster, who would finish his assault on her by stabbing her eyes out. Betsy could still “see” the world through the eyes of others, using her telepathy, however. This occurred in Captain Britain (vol. 2) #13-14.
• It would be revealed in New Mutants Annual (vol. 1) #2 that Betsy was kidnapped and held for a year by the inter-dimensional tyrant known as Mojo, and his assistant, Spiral. She would be given bionic eyes to replace her lost ones that served as cameras for the lord of the Mojoverse, and would not reveal this to her new cohorts at Xavier’s for some time, finally divulging the secret in Uncanny X-Men Annual (vol. 1) #10.
• Psylocke and the rest of the X-Men would sacrifice their lives in the spell to defeat the Adversary during ”Fall of the Mutants, but would almost immediately be resurrected by Roma, and was also granted a magical immunity to detection by machines, as well, for a time in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #227.
• Feeling like a bit of a liability in combat, Psylocke soon designed an armored suit she wore to protect her body in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #232.
• After receiving a precognitive vision that the Reavers would attack the X-Men in their Outback Base, and they would be defeated, Psylocke chose to give the X-Men the option of fleeing through the Siege Perilous in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #251.
• What would be revealed through a series of flashbacks and retcons in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #255-256, and X-Men (vol. 2) #32, is that Betsy emerged from the Siege Perilous at the shore of an island in the south China Sea, naked and amnesiac. She was found by the Hand and brought to one of their agents, Matsu’o Tsurayaba, who recognized her as the X-Man Psylocke. Matsu'o saw in her the perfect chance to restore his lover, Kwannon. She had served Lord Nyoirin, a rivaling crimelord, and when they had battled each other, Kwannon took a fall off a cliff and nearly drowned, leaving her brain dead. He contacted Spiral at the Bodyshoppe for help. To please her employer, Mojo, Spiral twisted the two women further than she was asked. Besides switching their minds, she manipulated genetic coding between them. Both women now had traits of Kwannon and Psylocke and it was nearly impossible to tell them apart. Apparently, though, most of Betsy’s soul was transferred into the Asian woman’s body. Her telepathy not manifested itself in the form of a psychic knife, her hair seemed to remain purple of its own accord, and she no longer had her precognitive abilities.
• When Kwannon/Revanche died in X-Men (vol. 2) #32, the lingering powers and memories that Betsy had lost when both were experimented on in the Bodyshoppe were returned to her.
• Sabretooth would escape from his captivity in the X-Men’s Danger Room in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #328, and after he proved suddenly immune to Psylocke’s psychic knife, he grievously wounded her, putting her on the brink of death. Wolverine, Archangel, Dr. Strange, and Gomurr the Ancient would travel into Chinatown to acquire the mysterious Crimson Dawn, a magical liquid that helped to save her life, but with some consequences. The first being, that when it was applied in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #330, she received a red facial tattoo to mark that she’d been touched by the Crimson Dawn.
• In Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #338, Psylocke first demonstrated the ability to disappear into shadows, and reemerge from another one due to her exposure to the Crimson Dawn.
• During the ”Psi-War” crossover, in X-Men (vol. 2) #77-78, the Shadow King tricked Psylocke into initiating a telepathic shockwave that disabled telepaths all over the world, leaving the Shadow King in sole command of the astral plane. Although her astral form was destroyed, Betsy emerged in a new "shadow form" that was a by-product of her exposure to the Crimson Dawn. Invisible to the Shadow King, Betsy was able to free the X-Men he had captured and then taunted the Shadow King until he over-extended himself by trying to corrupt every mind on the planet. Betsy was then able to telepathically contain the Shadow King’s core, but at a great cost - to ensure that the Shadow King would never be able to escape, Psylocke was forced to permanently focus her telepathic powers on keeping the Shadow King imprisoned, and never could use her telepathy anymore without freeing him.
• When Jean Grey learned of this condition during “The Twelve” crisis, in X-Men (vol. 2) #96, she opted to help Betsy dealing with it in some unknown experiment that misfired, resulting in a power-switch between the two women. Jean acquired all of Betsy’s telepathic potential, adding to her own, even the shadowy astral image, while Psylocke now possessed all of Jean’s telekinetic power, her Asian body, and Crimson Dawn facial tattoo. This occurred during the “six month gap”, which took place between X-Men (vol. 2) #99-100.
  
• Psylocke would be killed by the mysterious Vargas in X-Treme X-Men (vol. 1) #2, being run through on his sword.
• A year after her demise, Psylocke would be find herself alive, in the same spot she died in Valencia, Spain in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #455. Upon her resurrection, she maintained her purple-haired, Asian body, and a higher level of telekinesis she’d ever had, as well as complete immunity to telepathy. She also no longer had her Crimson Dawn tattoo. The nature of her resurrection would eventually be revealed to be due to the manipulations of her reality-warping brother, Jamie Braddock, in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #460.
• Psylocke would eventually join the Exiles after being shunted off to the Crystal Palace in New Excalibur #8. She would not be returned Marvel Universe-616 until Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #508, after Madelyne Pryor and her Sisterhood would somehow aquire Betsy’s body from within the Multiverse, and also acquire Kwannon’s body from her grave in Japan, and conduct a magical ritual to resurrect Betsy. After Dazzler killed Kwannon in Betsy’s original body in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #511, Psylocke was freed from the Red Queen’s control, and she then had her Asian, purple-haired body back without the Crimson Dawn tattoo, as well as the powers of both telepathy, and some telekinesis. She no longer is immune to telepathic possession or intrusion, as shown when she was controlled by Proteus in X-Men: Legacy #231.
• During the “Dark Angel Saga", in Uncanny X-Force #18, Psylocke was briefly made into a Horseman using a Celestial Seed by Archangel. With the help of Earth-295’s version of Jean Grey, however, she escaped this brainwashing, and was apparently had omega-level telepathic potential unlocked (per commentary about the issue by writer Rick Remender).

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Havok FAQs

Q45: Was the "Mutant X" Universe canon, and how did Havok escape from it?

A45: Yes, what occurred in the “Mutant X” series is considered canon for Havok, and really happened.

In X-Factor (vol. 1) #149, Greystone, of the X.U.E. would become obsessed with building a time machine to return to his own era while highly mentally unstable. After Havok climbed on board X-Factor’s jet, which Greystone had loaded the device onto, it took off and in mid-flight, the device exploded, killing both Havok and Greystone.

But, in Mutant X #1, the Havok of Marvel-Earth-1298 was believed to have been killed in battle against Sentinels on his own Earth, and the displaced Havok of Marvel-Earth-616 somehow took over his body from that point on, up through Mutant X #32, when he was apparently “killed” again in battle against Earth-1298’s version of Madelyne Pryor, as she wielded a great energy known as the Goblyn Force.

However, Havok’s body would turn up in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #411, under the care of the nurse known as Annie Ghazikhanian. Alex was, however comatose. That is, until Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #418, when after being returned to the Xavier Mansion to be cared for in the infirmary, Carter Ghazikhanian, Annie’s son, would use his own mutant powers to somehow reach into Havok’s consciousness, and locate his psyche. Havok would awake from his coma in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #419.

[worstblogever]

Polaris FAQs

Q46:What really is the deal with Polaris’ parentage? I read that way back when, she was told she wasn’t Magneto’s daughter, and now she is his daughter. What happened?

A46: A few retcons, here, are what may be confusing you. Here’s the issues where it got referred to:

• Lorna grew up unaware of her family history until Mesmero and his Demi-Men captured her in the name of Magneto, activated her magnetic powers, and claimed she was the Master of Magnetism's daughter in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #50.
• Iceman did some research, however, and found newspaper files and documentation proving that Lorna's true parents were killed in a plane crash, and she was then adopted by her (supposed) father's sister and her husband...the Danes in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #52. Since the Magneto working with Mesmero turned out to be a robotic doppelganger anyway, Lorna accepted that Magneto was not her father for many years thereafter.
• Much later, she ended up learning that she and Magneto were actually were related by comparing her blood sample to Magneto's while in Genosha during his reign there, in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #430. She also uncovered evidence that the plane crash that supposedly killed her birth parents had been highly magnetized in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #431. The implication made in this issued seemed to be that Magneto left Lorna's mother and she found another man to love her and her child. Magneto returned, possibly because he didn't know about the child, and caused their plane to crash. Lorna was then adopted by her first adopted father's sister and her family.
• The cause of the plane crash, that killed Lorna's mother and legal father and left the wreckage magnetized was revealed in X-Factor (vol. 1) #243. spoilers:

  It was young Lorna, the first time her powers manifested, who was upset that her mother and legal father were arguing, and she tore the plane apart with her magnetic powers, unaware of how to use them. Magneto sensed this disturbance in the electromagnetic field, and investigated with the original Mastermind, who he had re-write Lorna's memories of the crash, to protect her from the knowledge of what she was, that he was her real father, and that she had killed her own mother.

  end of spoilers

Q47:I’ve read that Polaris and Zaladane were supposed to be sisters, but with Lorna having been adopted by the Danes, I’m confused if they’re actual sisters or adopted sisters. Which is it?

A47: uncannyxmen.net has a great article about this, by their user Peter Luzifer.

In it, he looks postulates a few theories regarding the relationship between Polaris and Zaladane. There are a few contradictions, though, to be sure. Moira MacTaggart seems to confirm that Zaladane and Polaris are at least, somehow blood-related in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #254, and Havok claims he can see a physical resemblance in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #250. The two possibilities are either that Dr. Mactaggart was wrong in her conclusion without all the knowledge about Zaladane’s power transfer device, or that Polaris could have been Zaladane’s cousin, who was adopted by her own aunt and uncle, the Danes, after her own biological parents’ death.

Now, why or how Zala Dane ran away from home and decided to become a cult priestess of Garokk in the Savage Land… that’s probably an even harder story to explain, that’s never been revealed, and probably never will be.


Q48: Polaris has had a few shifts to her powers, can you explain?

A48: Alright, there have been a few shifts in Lorna’s powers through the years, here they are chronologically.

• Originally, Lorna Dane was a mutant Cerebro detected who had green hair (that she was dying brown to conceal her mutant nature) with latent powers when she debuted in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #49.
• After Mesmero and his Demi-Men placed Lorna in the Mutant Energy Simulator in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #50, it unlocked all of her latent potential, and fully activated her magnetic powers.
• Polaris would be possessed by the Marauder named Malice in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #219, and she would remain under her control for some time.
• Polaris would be freed of Malice’s influence when Zaladane would use a device created by the Savage Land Mutate, Brainchild, to drain her of her magnetic powers in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #250. In lieu of her magnetic powers, Polaris developed the ability to convert negative emotional energy into super-strength and invulnerability.
• At the end of the “Muir Island Saga”, as Polaris was being used as the nexus of emotional energy by the Shadow King, Psylocke ended the threat by using her psychic knife on Lorna, and she immediately lost her added size and durability, while her magnetic powers returned in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #280. (It should be noted that prior to this in Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #275, Zaladane, who was still in possession of Polaris’ powers, was killed by Magneto.)
• When the Decimation hit in House of M #7, Polaris lost her magnetic powers again, but retained her green hair. This was confirmed in X-Men (vol. 2) #177.
• Lorna would fall captive to Apocalypse while trying to escape the Leper Queen in South America, and he would choose her as his new Horseman of Pestilence, as was revealed in X-Men (vol. 2) #185. As a result, she had developed the immunity to all diseases, and had the ability to become a carrier of every virulent infectious organism she exposed herself to, and could thereafter infect others with it.
• After being freed from Apocalypse’s control by the rest of the X-Men in X-Men (vol. 2) #187, Lorna discovered she again had electro-magnetic powers as a result of the experimentation by Apocalypse. His motives for returning them to her have yet to be explained.

[worstblogever]

Gambit FAQs

Q49: Gambit has his card-charging ability, but whatever happened to the powers he had when he was a Horseman?

A49: It's not an easy answer, but let's review a quick chronological breakdown of all the moments where Gambit was shown with his Death persona to explain:

• The status quo on that one is still in flux. Gambit was originally made the Horseman of Death by Apocalypse during Milligan's "Blood of Apocalypse" story in X-Men (vol. 2) #184.
• At the end of the “Blood of Apocalypse” story arc, in X-Men (vol. 2) #187, Sunfire fled from the X-Men with Gambit, and were trying to find a way to avoid their debt to Apocalypse, when both were approached by Mr. Sinister.
• When we next saw Gambit in X-Men (vol. 2) #200, he was again working for Sinister as one of his Marauders. Gambit was sent with Sunfire to assassinate Cable on Providence in that issue, and through “Blinded by the Light” and “Messiah CompleX”, he showed no visible signs of still having Apocalypse’s experimentation affecting him as Death.
• Gambit showed no signs of Death’s influence upon him until X-Men: Legacy Annual #1, when after the events of “Utopia”, as he was breaking into Alcatraz to destroy the Omega Machine on Cyclops' orders, he battled two H.A.M.M.E.R. security guards that were posted. One was a telepath named Input, and he probed Gambit’s mind, and found the Death persona lingering within Gambit’s subconscious, and brought it out, out of curiousity. Using Death’s powers, Gambit killed Input, before reverting to his normal self, destroying the Omega Machine, and returning to Utopia.
• It manifested again in X-Men: Legacy #229-230, when he received word that Rogue was in danger, while trying to save Bling from Emplate by sampling Trance’s powers, and she might not make it back alive. In an almost “Jekyll and Hyde”-like reaction, he started to revert into the Death persona.
• Gambit was completely overwhelmed by the Death persona during the “X-Men: Hellbound” miniseries, where it showed the ability to also possess others, and bring out their own darker natures to serve him, doing so to control both Dazzler and Northstar. The Death persona was attempting some sort of coup in Limbo, but was prevented from doing so by Cannonball, Anole, Pixie, and Magik. While at that point, several of the X-Men present did see the Death persona, they assumed it was just the corruptive influence of Limbo at work, and after Gambit was stabbed with Magik’s Soulsword, the persona retreated, tricking them into the assumption that whatever had affected Gambit was due to Limbo, and it had come and gone.
• Prior to ”Age of X”, Blindfold had a precognitive vision of a great threat to all of Utopia, and began trying to discern what the actual origin of that threat was. One of the possibilities, she felt, was Gambit’s alter-ego, and she asked to speak to Death, doing so in X-Men: Legacy #244.
• Several hints that Gambit was still struggling with the Death persona were given through the entire X-23 (vol. 2) series. In particular, during the “Misadventures in Babysitting” arc, after Hellion uses his telekinesis to grab X-23, Gambit threatens Hellion with having the rest of his arms and legs sent to wherever his hands are rotting. Hellion, threatens to kill Gambit, in turn, and Remy answers the young telekinetic’s own threats by hinting that “You can’t kill Death, but you’re more than welcome to try.”

The saga of Gambit's struggle against his Death persona is ongoing, at the time of this post’s last edit.