Nightcrawler

Growing up in the Bavarian Alps, German mutant Kurt Wagner was kidnapped in his early teens by the black ops Weapon X organization. They brutally trained him for months to become their agent. Speaking no English, he was isolated from his fellow captives until the X-Men were likewise kidnapped and the telepathic Marvel Girl communicated with him. When the captives escaped with the assistance of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Weapon X head Colonel Wraith tried to flee in a helicopter. The X-Man Storm blasted it out of the sky in retaliation for his crimes, but Nightcrawler teleported Wraith out, insisting Weapon X had ruined enough lives without turning Storm in to killer as well. The ungrateful Wraith was about to shoot Nightcrawler, but the newly arrived Nick Fury killed Wraith first.

Nightcrawler returned to Germany and learned English, ostensibly from watching television. After mutant terrorist Magneto, long believed slain by the X-Men, resurfaced, the X-Men became fugitives. Their enemies sought out their past associates, including Nightcrawler, who found himself pursued by the German authorities. Evading them thanks to his Weapon X training, he headed for Glasgow and Moira MacTaggert, whose contact information had been given to him by X-Men founder Charles Xavier. He nearly made it to her hideout before being captured and taken to Camp X-Factor in Guantanamo Bay. He was freed by a Brotherhood raid. When Magneto overloaded a Miami nuclear reactor, Nightcrawler was one of many mutants who helped evacuate the area. After the crisis was over, he joined the X-Men. During his time with them, he has hunted the serial killer Sinister, attempted to rescue his kidnapped teammate Rogue from Gambit and the Struckers, bonded with teammate Angel in secret pirate games in the Danger Room as the Dread Pirate Bluetail, and joined an unauthorized expedition to Krakoa to free convicted mutant murderer Longshot.

Nightcrawler and other X-Men Colossus, Dazzler, and Angel went to Kraoka to free Longshot. The X-Men had freed Longshot and escaped not knowing that Mojo had captured Angel. Nightcrawler had teleported them in accidentally dropping Colossus on the way the X-Men fought Mojo and managed to escape with Angel upon learning that Longshot was indeed a murderer it was too late to capture him because he had managed to escape. The team was going to be punished for there action though they new that Dazzler was the reason, Angel stepped up and took the blame knowing that Xavier would not expel him. Much to Nightcrawlers dismay after the incident Dazzler admitted feelings toward Angel.

His close friend Angel admitted his feelings toward fellow X-Man Dazzler as well and the two became a couple, though Nightcrawler himself had feelings for her to. He felt alone because everyone in the mansion had at least some type of romantic connection except him and Colossus. When his then friend Colossus revealed to him that he was a homosexual and dating Northstar, Nightcrawler pretended to be okay with it. But when Dazzler was comatose by Lady Deathstrike, he teleported to her bedside daily and spoke to her saying that he was never okay with it and now avoids Colossus because he is now dead to him.

Recently While visiting Dazzler she had awoken much to Nightcrawlers dismay her first words to him were about the whereabouts of her boyfriend Angel, Kurt teleported from the room back to the mansion never telling anyone not even Angel that Dazzler had awoken.
Afterwards, he kidnapped Dazzler and took her to a cave, seemingly lost his mind. After the X-Men finally find and save Dazzler, she quits the team. Professor X puts Nightcrawler into a deep mental trance to help rehabilitate him. When Rouge breifly touches Nightcrawler, she calls him a monster and runs away screaming.

Thing ( Benjamin Grimm)

Early Years On Yancy Street

Ben Grimm grew up in poverty at 7135 Yancy Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. His drunken father couldn't hold down a job, so much of their family's income came from Ben's older brother Dan, who led the Yancy Street Gang. Ben idolized his brother, and when Dan was killed in a gang fight, Ben grew increasingly bitter-especially after his aunt Sophie died of cancer that same year. Ben joined the Yancy Street Gang himself, eventually becoming its leader; however, when his parents were killed in an accident, the teenage Ben was forced to move uptown to live with his new guardians, his Uncle Jake and Aunt Alyce. The Yancy Street Gang denounced Ben as a sellout after he moved away, developing an enduring grudge against their former leader. A respected medical doctor, Jake had pulled himself up from the Yancy Street slums and hoped he could help Ben make something of himself as well. Jake and Alyce were tough but loving parents, and while Ben resisted them at first, their unconditional affection gradually won him over. Ben finished high school, discovering his natural football talent along the way, and won a full-ride sports scholarship to State University.

Off to College, New Friends, and Heartbreak

Ben roomed with Reed Richards, who dreamed of someday building a starship; Grimm jokingly promised that if Reed ever built it, he would fly it. Ben became a star quarterback at State, and spent much of his time trying to coax his more socially awkward roommate out of his shell. Outgoing and popular, Ben soon found a steady girlfriend in Alynn Cambers, his first true love. When Alynn abruptly dropped out of school, Ben tracked her down and proposed marriage. Though she loved Ben, Alynn wanted a Hollywood acting career, which left no room for a serious relationship. She rejected the heartbroken Ben's proposal, eventually becoming a star as she had planned.

The Jock Takes to the Air

After finishing college, Ben joined the U.S. military to continue his education and pursue his longtime dream of becoming a pilot. After training in a series of military operations, he shifted from combat duty to become a test pilot, one of the best in the Air Force. He formed close friendships with fellow pilots Desmond Pitt and Mick Clancy and found new love with scientist Dr. Linda McGill. As a test pilot, Ben undertook dangerous assignments on occasion, notably when the Pentagon recruited him to fly government agents Carol Danvers and Logan into Russia, supposedly to test a series of radio transmitters. The trio were shot down but managed to fight their way out of Russia while Logan completed his true mission, capturing the Russian Project: Red Storm. Ben eventually moved into the astronaut training program, where his colleagues included fellow pilot John Jameson.

Out of Space, Into the Fantastic Four

Reed had begun to build his starship and asked his old friend Ben to be its pilot. When the government abruptly cut off their funding, Reed asked Ben to help him make an unauthorized test flight before the project could be shut down. Ben feared that the ship might not be adequately shielded against cosmic radiation; but Reed's girlfriend Sue Storm -to whom Ben was somewhat attracted-played on Ben's machismo and he acquiesced. Joined by Sue and her kid brother Johnny Storm, they successfully launched the ship into space, but cosmic rays penetrated their shielding and forced them to crash-land back on Earth. The radiation had mutated them into superhuman beings-unluckily for Grimm, who transformed into the grotesque, scaly-hided strongman dubbed the Thing. The quartet decided to use their powers for the betterment of humanity as the Fantastic Four.

Severing Old Ties

Wandering the streets of New York shortly after his transformation, Ben was attacked by a terrified group of Yancy Street Gang members and fled into the sewers, where an encounter with some wretched tunnel-dwellers helped give Ben the determination to cope with his own situation. Returning home, Ben met his girlfriend Linda, who fled in fear of Ben's monstrous appearance. She soon sought Ben out again, trying to comfort him and expressing a willingness to continue their relationship; but he felt she would be better off without him, so he feigned an insane rage and threatened her, scaring her away. They never reconciled, and Dr. McGill went on to marry another man, raising a family and continuing her scientific career.

Fighting the Monster

Ben built a new life for himself as part of the FF; one notable early foe was the Impossible Man, a mischievous alien who later became a friend to the FF in general and Ben in particular. The super-strong Namor and the Hulk would encounter Ben repeatedly as both allies and enemies over the years, and the Hulk would become one of Ben's toughest recurring opponents. The Thing often partnered with the Human Torch to fight foes such as the Beetle, the Terrible Trio, Professor Jack and Kang. Initially, Ben spontaneously reverted to his human form for random intervals; but he always returned to his Thing form, and his mutation eventually stabilized in a more rock-like appearance.

Early on, Ben was so unhappy with his condition that it sometimes compromised his loyalty to the team: for instance, when Doctor Doom forced the FF to undertake a time travel quest, Ben found a new life in the past as the legendary Blackbeard the Pirate and very nearly abandoned his teammates to remain in the 18th century; later, Ben briefly agreed to serve Diablo in exchange for a possible cure for his mutation, though he soon turned on the evil alchemist to save the FF. Over time, Ben came to accept his new form, albeit somewhat bitterly. An immense help in this regard was the Puppet Master's stepdaughter Alicia Masters, a blind sculptress who claimed she could see the inner beauty of Ben's soul. Alicia and Ben fell in love and dated for years, though the insecure Ben was never entirely sure if he was worthy of Alicia and feared she would eventually abandon him. Other women in Ben's life included the alternate future Femizon named Thundra (an admirer) and the cat-woman Tigra (a good friend).

Poker Buddies and Fighting Friends

For years Ben and Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis have organized a series of floating super-hero poker games, attended by players such as Nick Fury, Wolverine, Blake Tower, Doctor Strange, Beast, Human Torch, She-Hulk, Black Cat, Archangel, Spider-Man and many of the Avengers. Ben has also teamed up in action with a dizzying array of super heroes over the years, ranging from icons like Captain America and Iron Man to fringe figures such as Son of Satan, Straw Man, Brother Voodoo, Jack of Hearts, Stingray, Blue Diamond and the Living Mummy. Ben even befriended his longtime enemy Sandman when the villain reformed. One special ally was the orphaned alien man-child Wundarr, who came to regard his "Uncle Benjy" with a familial affection that lingered even after he evolved into the enlightened Aquarian. When Wundarr was housed at the high-tech research facility Project: PEGASUS for study, the Thing joined their security staff to keep a closer eye on him. During his association with the Project, Ben helped protect PEGASUS from menaces such as the Grapplers and the Nth Man (both sponsored by Roxxon Oil), and he formed close friendships with fellow PEGASUS staffers Quasar (Wendell Vaughn) and Bill Foster.

In Love With the Monster

Over the years, Reed and others sought various cures for Ben's condition, some of which were temporarily successful. During a period where Ben had made a seemingly permanent reversion to his human form, the FF hired super-mercenary Luke Cage to serve as Ben's replacement; however, Ben soon rejoined the FF after Reed provided Ben with a suit of strength-enhancing armor that outwardly resembled his Thing form. Before long, Ben had transformed into the Thing again; but over time, Reed began to suspect that Ben's inability to assume human form was a strictly psychological limitation tied to Ben's relationship with Alicia, who had fallen in love with him in his Thing form. Reed theorized that Ben's fear of losing Alicia was the only thing preventing him from resuming his human form at will, but he was unsure of this theory and kept it to himself, not wanting to undermine Ben's romance. When the FF were among the many super heroes forced to fight in the Secret War on the Beyonder's Battleworld, Ben discovered that he could resume his human form at will-probably due in part to his prolonged separation from Alicia, though Ben assumed it was caused by some strange properties of the planet Battleworld itself. When the war ended, Ben decided to remain behind, recruiting She-Hulk to take his place in the FF. Ben had a series of strange encounters, unaware they were mostly formed from his own subconscious-including Tarianna, an idealized warrior woman with whom Ben fell in love, and the sorcerer Grimm, an evil mystical personification of Ben's human side. Tarianna and Grimm eventually killed each other, leaving Ben unable to retake human form. Returning to Earth, Ben learned too late of Reed's theory that his transformations had been psychologically-based, and also discovered that Alicia had apparently left him for Johnny in his absence.

In Pursuit of Identity

Feeling bitter and betrayed, Ben quit the FF altogether and hit the road, trying to find himself. He briefly joined the motorcycle stunt-riding Thunderiders, where he met and became smitten with champion sportswoman Sharon Ventura, a virtual twin of Tarianna. During his travels, Ben became a friend and mentor to the troubled young mutant runaway Vance Astrovik. Ben, Vance and Sharon all became involved in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, a professional wrestling league for super-humans (Sharon having become a superhuman and taking the codename Ms. Marvel). Ben befriended fellow wrestler Demolition Dunphy and began associating with the new western roster of the Avengers, whose leader Hawkeye worked relentlessly to recruit him. Ben was the reigning UCWF champion for some time, but personal concerns (including his growing awareness of corruption in the sport) led him to purposely throw an exhibition match and quit the league. He finally accepted Avengers membership, but resigned and went into seclusion the very next day after mutating into an even more monstrous form. He found sanctuary and acceptance in the subterranean realm of his old foe the Mole Man, who was planning to raise a new continent where his subjects could live above ground; but when the FF revealed that this process would cause devastating killer earthquakes, the Thing reluctantly sided with them and helped thwart the Mole Man's plans. Having nowhere else to go, and having reverted to his standard Thing form by then, Ben rejoined the FF.

Mutated, False, and Lost Loves

When Reed and Sue retired from active FF duty to focus on raising their son, they left Ben in charge. He recruited Crystal and Ms. Marvel to replace them and served capably as team leader, starting a romance with Sharon that deepened after new cosmic radiation exposure further mutated them both, turning Sharon into a sort of "She-Thing" and Ben into an even stronger, more hideous spiky-hided Thing. Their romance continued through several more changes of form (with Ben eventually settling back into his classic Thing form), even after Reed and Sue rejoined the group; but they were estranged after Sharon accepted Doctor Doom's aid in regaining human form. Ben has not yet had a serious relationship since his split with Sharon, though he has flirted with Reed's old friend Alyssa Moy and briefly dated Damage Control executive Kathleen O'Meara. When the Alicia who had eventually married Johnny was revealed to be the shape-shifting Skrull spy Lyja, the FF found and rescued the real Alicia, but she and Ben have remained only good friends.

Back To Roots

Ben has maintained a bizarre enmity with the Yancy Street Gang, his former peers having passed down their resentment of Grimm to the next generation of Yancy punks. Over the years, the gang has perpetrated a seemingly endless series of practical jokes, verbal abuse and petty assaults on Grimm, though many of the practical jokes credited to the Yancy crowd were actually played by a sneaky Johnny Storm. At the same time, the Yancy Streeters take a perverse pride in their distinguished alumnus, and have been known to come to Ben's aid on occasion-they seem to think only they have the right to abuse him. Though estranged from the gang, Ben has remained friendly with some of his childhood chums from Yancy Street, including Cholly (now owner of the Yancy Street Bar and Grill), helicopter pilot Hopper Hertnecky and old high school buddy "Slugger" Sokolowski. Ben has also kept in touch with his uncle Jake, who married a new wife-the much younger Petunia "Penny" Grimm-after Alyce died. Ben took a great liking to Petunia, whom he often jokingly described as a little old lady until the FF actually got to meet the beautiful Mrs. Grimm in person. Alynn Cambers also renewed her friendship with Ben (though not their romance), seeking his guidance and support after a stroke left her disfigured and partially crippled.

Death and Family

The Fantastic Four are not just Ben's friends; they have become his surrogate family, and he is like a beloved uncle to Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria. When he was killed during a recent battle with Doctor Doom, the rest of the FF followed his spirit to the gates of Heaven itself, where the heavenly Creator restored Ben to life. The Thing remains the big-hearted, brick-hided backbone of the FF to this day, ready to rattle evildoers with his Sunday punch and his eternal battle cry: "It's Clobberin' Time!"

Civil War

But even the strong bonds of friendship between the members were tested when a tragedy in Stamford, Connecticut led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people near a schoolyard and pushed forward a Superhero Registration Act. While Johnny was attacked and beaten into a coma by a group of angry New York citizens, Reed and Sue broke up after Reed spent more time working with the Registration forces and their leader, Tony Stark, then being concerned for Johnny's pain. In frustration and a refusal to pick either side - each being distasteful to him in some way - Ben quit the country and moved to France. After a very short career alongside the French super team Les Heroes de Paris, Ben soon found himself drawn back to America and joined the majority of his team against the Registration forces. Though their leader, Captain America, soon turned himself in after an epic battle in downtown New York that ended up doing more damage than the help he had imagined. And in the aftermath, the Fantastic Four were left to decide what to do with their fractured relationships and team.

Loki

Loki is the son of Laufey, king of the frost giants of Jotunheim, one of the "Nine Worlds" of the Asgardian cosmology. Odin, ruler of Asgard, led his subjects in a war against the giants. Laufey was slain in battle and the giants were defeated. Surveying the spoils of war, the Asgardians discovered a small god-sized baby hidden at the giants' main fortress. The infant was Loki, whom Laufey had kept hidden due to his shame over his son's diminutive size. Because Loki was the son of a king fallen in battle, Odin elected to adopt him and raise him as a son alongside his blood son Thor, the future god of thunder.


In childhood Loki greatly resented the fact that Odin and the other Asgardians favored the young Thor, who already had a nobility of spirit and excelled in all his endeavors, over himself. As a boy Loki began studying the arts of sorcery, for which he had a natural affinity. He became infamous for his mischievousness, but secretly resented Thor and the love that Odin lavished upon him. When Odin was preparing his greatest gift for Thor, the enchanted hammer Mjolnir, Loki interfered with its creation, causing its handle to be forged too short. Loki was envious that Thor would one day wield Mjolnir, and over the years repeatedly crafted schemes to make Mjolnir's power his own. His hatred of Thor grew, and while still a boy, Loki vowed to become the most powerful god in Asgard and to destroy Thor in order to achieve this end. After achieving adulthood Loki began making alliances with other enemies of Asgard.

When Loki and Thor were still young, Thor was attracted to the sword maiden Sif, who had beautiful gold-colored hair. Loki cut of her hair while she slept, but Thor guessed that Loki was responsible and demanded that he restore it. Loki enlisted the dwarves Brokk and Eitri to forge new hair for her, but as he did not pay them anything, they decided to craft the hair from nothing, making black hair from the night itself. However, Thor still loved Sif, even without her golden hair.

Thor and Loki occasionally adventured together as teenagers, though Loki always searched for an advantage over his brother. When Odin sent Thor, Sif and their friend Balder to gather elements needed to craft the blade Svadren, Loki secretly followed them, but when he learned that the sorceress Karnilla, queen of the Norns, was planning an attack on Asgard, he refused an offer to join her and instead alerted the others to her scheme. Later on, Loki and Karnilla became occasional allies, although her love for Balder prevented her from aiding Loki in any way that would affect Balder.

As Loki grew to adulthood, his inborn propensity for mischief had begun to manifest itself, and he earned the nickname "God of Mischief." Loki attempted many times over the centuries to destroy Thor and seize the throne of Asgard for himself. Finally, Odin magically imprisoned him within a tree as punishment for his many crimes to learn from his actions. Loki, fed up with Asgard, used his magic to escape his cell, and eventually met Eldred the sorcerer, who increased his training in the black arts. Finally, Loki confronted the fire demon Surtur of Muspelheim and offered him Eldred's soul in exchange for power. Surtur accepted, and Loki assumed ownership of Eldred's lands and minions. His foray into the black arts earned him the title of "god of evil" among the Asgardians, and he forged alliances with many of the realm's enemies. Loki mated with the goddess Angerboda, who bore him the monstrous offspring Jormungand (the Midgard Serpent) and the Fenris Wolf, as well as Hela, the goddess of death. Loki also tricked the goddess Sigyn into marrying him by posing as her true love, Theoric.

Loki eventually learned of the prophecies of Ragnarok, in which he was fated to bring about Asgard's ruin by slaying Balder, then leading the enemies of Asgard into final battle. Loki ultimately embraced this destiny, and sought the means to bring about Ragnarok on more than one occasion. However, Loki usually crafted his schemes so subtly that Odin and Thor could rarely justify punishing him, and Loki would continue to live in their midst, awaiting his opportunity.

Shortly after Blake regained the ability to assume the godly form and power of Thor, Loki succeeded in freeing himself from his mystical imprisonment. There followed a long succession of clashes between Loki and Thor. Sometimes Loki battled Thor directly. Loki sought victory over his brother by exploiting Blake's human weakness, and employed many pawns against him on Earth, including Jinku the Lava Man, the Weather Maker, Sandu, Amora the Enchantress, Skurge the Executioner, Skagg, Surtur, Cobra, Mister Hyde, the Absorbing Man, Destroyer and the Super-Skrull. In one attempt to trick Thor into battling the Hulk, Loki diverted a distress call intended for the Fantastic Four to Dr Blake's office, but it was also intercepted by Iron Man, the Wasp and Ant-Man (Henry Pym). When the four heroes learned of Loki's involvement and banded together with the Hulk to defeat him, they decided to form a team of heroes to face future threats, calling themselves the Avengers. Loki long regretted having caused their formation.

Loki made several attempts at claiming the throne of Asgard when Odin entered into his "Odinsleep" hibernation, but threats to Asgard such as the Mangog and Surtur frightened Loki into surrendering the throne. Loki once joined forces with Dormammu of the Dark Dimension to trick the Avengers and Defenders into assembling the mystical Evil Eye for them, but the combined heroes ultimately defeated them both. Loki even unleashed a direct assault upon Earth once, and Thor helped lead Earth's ground forces against his army, finally defeating him. After Loki usurped the throne of Asgard yet again, he was sent to Earth in the guise of a vagrant by Odin as punishment.

Loki regained his identity due to the presence of Harris Hobbs, a journalist who had been to Asgard but had the memory removed by Thor. Hobbs dreamed of Asgard in his sleep, and his dreams reached Loki, restoring him to normal. Loki finally set Ragnarok in motion when he arranged for Hoder to shoot Balder with an arrow of mistletoe, but Odin preserved Balder and eventually revived him. Loki also caused the mortal Red Norvell to gain powers similar to Thor's Loki was bound to Sigyn as punishment, but he finally obtained release by blaming Odin himself for his problems, claiming that Odin's favoritism towards Thor was the root of all his misfortunes.

When Surtur prepared to wage war on Asgard in order to complete the forging of his sword Twilight, he had the dark elf Malekith see that Loki remained out of the conflict by signing a non-aggression pact. However, Loki did not honor his agreement and stood alongside Thor and Odin in Asgard's defense. Odin seemingly sacrificed himself to imprison Surtur, and the realm was left without a ruler. Loki began his machinations to be named as the new ruler of Asgard. As part of his plans he magically transformed Thor into a frog, using power drawn from Surtur's abandoned sword. But Thor was returned to his normal form when the Asgardian Volstagg destroyed the engine draining power from the sword. Loki was unable to prevent the ascension of Balder to the Asgardian throne after Thor refused the throne himself.

After Thor rescued mortal souls from the realm of Hel, Hela laid a curse upon him so that he could not die, but also would not heal from injuries. Learning what his daughter had done, Loki amused himself by sending frost giants, the Midgard Serpent and the Destroyer against Thor. Although Thor's physical body was reduced to paste, his spirit took over the Destroyer armor and forced Hela to undo her curse. Thor broke Loki's arm for his part in the events, knowing that Loki could heal the injury easily. When Seth of the Heliopians (or Ennead, the Gods of Egypt) led his Demons of Death into conflict with Asgard, Loki refused an alliance with him, and in his astral form discovered that Seth was holding Odin prisoner within the Black Pyramid, the source of Seth's power. Loki secretly helped Thor rescue their father, and Odin repulsed Seth's invasion. Still smarting from the success of the Avengers, Loki concocted a scheme for the enemies of all super-heroes to obtain their revenge. During this "Acts of Vengeance" conspiracy, Loki appeared to Doctor Doom, the Kingpin, Magneto, the Mandarin, the Red Skull, and the Wizard as an anonymous lackey, offering them the power to manipulate Earth's super-villains into conflicts with the heroes who would be unprepared to unfamiliar adversaries. Each of the six "prime movers" was led to believe that he was the one arranging the scheme. Loki's plot was finally uncovered by Thor, and he was defeated. As a final act of vengeance, he merged three Sentinel robots into the powerful Tri-Sentinel, but it was defeated by Spider-Man, who used the Uni-Power as Captain Universe to face this threat.

Loki assumed the guise of a businessman on Earth, and enlisted Ulik the rock troll and Amora to aid him in a new plot against Thor, collecting the powers of the Wrecking Crew along the way to aid them. At this time, Thor was bound to the mortal Eric Masterson so Loki had Eric's son Kevin captured. Thor set Kevin free, but as an act of spite, Loki hurled a blast of energy at Kevin and his mother Marcy. Amora, now acting against Loki, took control of Kevin's babysitter Susan Austin and had her take the blast for Kevin and Marcy. Thor was so furious with this attack that he used Mjolnir to draw Loki's life force from his body, seemingly killing him. As punishment, Thor was banished into the sub consciousness of Eric, and Eric took the place of Thor.

However, Loki's consciousness had taken over the body of Odin while he was in Odinsleep, and through him took command of Asgard. Eric and Sif eventually found Odin's spirit within the demon Mephisto's realm, and they restored Odin to his body while Mephisto claimed Loki instead. Although he was now a prisoner in Hell, Loki's spirit continued to wander when Mephisto was distracted. he once schemed with Pluto of Olympus to trade enemies, with Loki arranging the death of Hercules while Pluto plotted Thor's demise. Loki enlisted the titan Typhon against Hercules, but he failed, and Loki's own minion the Flame aided Pluto, but Loki himself had to save Thor form the Flame when he threatened Sigyn. Loki once imparted some of his power (via a mystical dagger) to Knut Caine, a mad killer who patterned himself after Loki and called himself "Mad Viking." Caine began to create a pseudo-Asgard on Earth, but was defeated by the Hulk, Henry Pym, and the Wasp. The Hulk hurled the dagger into the ocean to prevent it from possessing someone else.

Loki finally escaped Mephisto's realm when Thor reluctantly enlisted him to aid him against the New Immortals. However, Loki's physical form no longer existed, and he had Sigyn temporarily bond him to a suit of armor. He continued to trouble Thor, as well as Eric Masterson (now the hero Thunderstrike), possessing War Machine (Jim Rhodes in alternate Iron Man armor) to attack Thor. Loki finally struck a bargain with Seth to have him genetically engineer a new body, and his spirit took possession of it. He sought revenge on Thunderstrike, but when War Machine, She-Hulk and Ant-Man (Scott Lang) were drawn into the fray, he was instantly reminded of the Avengers and ended the fight.

Loki eventually crossed over into the dimension of Earth-93060 (the Ultraverse), where the six Infinity Gems had been scattered. Loki began to gather the gems together, battling many of the local superhumans ("Ultras") for them. Finally, the Grandmaster revealed to him that there was a seventh gem, the Ego Gem, and they pitted the local heroes Ultraforce against the Avengers with the gem as the stakes. However, Loki did not win, and soon lost all six gems, returning to his native reality.

Attempting to stave off Ragnarok, Odin had allowed the world tree Yggdrasil to think that Ragnarok had already happened, and his the Asgardians on Earth in mortal identities. Loki became the businessman Tso Zhung, with no recollection of his earlier life. He was brought together with the other "Lost Gods" by Red Norvell, and became the first of them to reclaim his true form, confronting Seth, who had taken advantage of the situation to try and eradicate the Asgardians. When the other Asgardians regained their true identities, they defeated Seth.

Thor's most recent mortal identity, Jake Olson, was that of a paramedic slain during a battle, and Thor took on the man's appearance as a new secret identity. Loki reanimated the true Olson's body and began committing crimes so that Thor would be suspected, but Thor eventually bound the true Jake Olson to himself and Loki was trapped in a body identical to Olson, which was named "Loren Olson," Jake's twin brother, who was sent to prison for his crimes.

Karnilla released Loki from prison not long before Odin faced Surtur in battle once again, and this time Odin was truly slain. Thor ascended to the throne of Asgard, and Loki found himself surprisingly content under hi rule, seeing new opportunities for power, and genuinely pleased as Thor began to impose Asgardian values on the Earth.

Loki finally attempted to start Ragnarok again wielding an uru hammer of his own. However, this time Thor allowed him to play the events out to their conclusion, having realized that Asgard was caught in a repeating time loop of death and rebirth, denying them a true warrior’s death. Thor decapitated Loki, and kept his still-living head with him as he permitted Surtur to unleash the final assault on Asgard. Thor then confronted They Who Sit Above In Shadow, the powers responsible for repeating Ragnaroks, and he saw to their destruction. Loki was apparently consumed in the destruction of Asgard alongside his brother.Loki has been reborn as a woman.

Bride of Nine Spiders (Lightning Lords)

In 1928, as the Lightning Lords of Nepal were about to inflict cruel tortures on the man who killed their father, Orson Randall, the Bride of Nine Spiders stayed their hands. Even though she had allied herself with the three maniacal brothers, it was clear that she would not tolerate any insubordination from them. Still, she was more interested with Randall, the man who fled the Heart of Heaven before their contest of skill could take place. Bride of Nine Spiders challenged Orson to battle, but he refused and infuriated her to the point where she ordered the Lightning Lords to kill him. The Lightning Lords may have succeeded if not for a timely save by Orson's friend, Lucky Pierre. Most of her life remains unrevealed at this time, but in the most recent tournament between the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, there is a new champion bearing the same name that has taken her place.

One legend concerning her is that a man calling himself Murderous Lion held a makeshift tournament to decide who would be her mate, but the Bride of Nine Spiders was insulted rather than flattered. It was because of her unparalleled beauty Bride of Nine Spiders was sought after by many suitors, but to imagine she would willingly give herself to a mortal merely because he won her in a fight was something she didn't consider. Instead, she spurned Murderous Lion's advances only to engage him in a death match. Murderous Lion, although a highly skilled warrior, wound up dead at the hands of his would-be lover. The Bride of Nine Spiders was also gravely injured, and even though some say she died that day, there is no evidence to suggest the theory is true. In fact, there has been no physical evidence found to claim the battle ever took place save for a lone wounded spider that has lived for more than seventy years without food, water or sleep.

Note: The Singing Spider, as it came to be known, was auctioned off to a wealthy collector who wanted to unlock the creature's secrets, but he got more than he bargained for when he summoned the current Bride of Nine Spiders in an attempt to capture her.

Mantis

The enigmatic Mantis traces her roots back to the family of Vietnamese crimelord Monsieur Khruul who, disapproving of his sister Lua's marriage to German mercenary Gustav Brandt, hunted the couple across Indochina. The Brandts eluded him while Lua bore a child, but Khruul ultimately had their house burned to the ground, killing Lua and blinding Gustav, who fled with their infant daughter. They found sanctuary in the temple of the Priests of Pama, renegade pacifist members of the alien Kree race who were caretakers of the Cotati, a telepathic race of sentient plants. The Priests trained Gustav, granting him psychic sight, but separated him from his daughter, not wanting his violent nature to influence her development. Brandt eventually left the Temple, later joining the crime cartel Zodiac as Libra.

Believing Mantis might grow to be the Celestial Madonna and mother the genetically perfect Celestial Messiah, the Priests of Pama trained Mantis in their martial arts, which she mastered, and gave her the name "Mantis," in recognition of her skill in defeating male opponents. They also taught her telepathic communication with the Cotati, which gave her empathic abilities. On Mantis' eighteenth birthday, the Priests removed Mantis' memories, implanting false memories of an orphaned life in Ho Chi Minh City, and sent her to experience life among normal humans. Meanwhile, the Shao-Lom monks of Titan, whose teachings also stemmed from the pacifist Kree's beliefs, mentored another possible Celestial Madonna: Earth-born orphan Heather Douglas, later known as Moondragon, but her sheltered life denied her insight into human existence, making her a less-rounded candidate. Moondragon would eventually return to Earth, becoming involved with the Avengers.

As a bar girl coincidentally employed by her unwitting uncle, Monsieur Khruul, Mantis met the Swordsman, an adventurer turned alcoholic mercenary who worked for Khruul. Sensing a spark of nobility in the Swordsman and seeking a better life for herself, Mantis romanced and rehabilitated Duquesne, convincing him to return to America and rejoin the Avengers. She accompanied him, but had difficulty gaining the Avengers' trust after she deceived them, single-handedly taking down both Thor and Captain America as part of her plan to help the Avengers defeat the Lion God. Still, her abilities served the Avengers well; she aided the team during its Loki/Dormammu-masterminded Avengers-Defenders War; and against foes including the Collector, Klaw, and Ultron. Her empathic abilities helped save the universe when she deduced how Captain Marvel could defeat the Cosmic Cube-empowered Thanos.

During her association with the Avengers, Mantis became disenchanted with the Swordsman and began a slow seduction of the Vision, which further damaged Mantis' standing with the team. When the Avengers fought and defeated Zodiac, Libra was captured and revealed his identity as Mantis' father, telling her some portion of her history. Returning to the Pama temple, Mantis found the Priests slain by her uncle, who was in turn slain by the Star-Stalker, who had been kept imprisoned by the Priests. Though she still lacked her true memories, Mantis began doubting what she'd believed.

Knowing the Celestial Madonna to be among them and hoping to father the Celestial Messiah himself, Kang attacked the Avengers. Defeated, he identified Mantis as the Celestial Madonna and attempted to kill her, but the Swordsman took the blast himself and died. Mantis, guilt-ridden and grief-stricken, buried the Swordsman in the garden of the Priests of Pama; however, the eldest Cotati reanimated the Swordsman's body and confirmed that Mantis was the Celestial Madonna. Immortus, Libra and the Cotati revealed the full history of Mantis, who accepted her destiny as the Celestial Madonna (to Moondragon's irritation). In a ceremony conducted by Immortus, Mantis and the Eldest Cotati wed (as did the Scarlet Witch and the Vision), after which the celestial couple transformed into energy and departed Earth. Before she departed, the Avengers declared Mantis an official member of their ranks.

Merged with the Cotati's essence, Mantis gained Cotati abilities as well as her own, and began to evolve into "the essence of life," a change which physically manifested as a greenish hue in her skin. Conceiving the future Celestial Messiah, she left our universe, but even in other universes she found herself pursued -- on one alternate Earth she was aided by a league of justice-serving heroes against a mechanical construct which sought to prevent her child's birth. Eventually her son, Sequoia, was born, and Mantis attempted to raise him as normally as possible in the town of Willimantic, Connecticut. Dark forces rose against her, attempting to create an evil counterpart to her child, but she aided those who fought them; nothing eclipsed her attempts to raise the boy peacefully.

When the fast-growing child reached an age when the Cotati race chose to parent him alone, Mantis again took to the stars, where she uncovered a plot by the Elders of the Universe to acquire the six Infinity Gems and destroy Galactus. Fearing this would destroy reality, Mantis located the Silver Surfer and traveled with him as he fought the Elders, bonding romantically with him. When the Gardener attacked her using the Soul Gem, she barely escaped and transferred herself to Shalla-Bal, the Surfer's former beloved on his homeworld. She and Shalla-Bal were both subsequently captured by the Elders. When the Elders attempted to destroy them both, Mantis sacrificed herself, allowing the Surfer to rescue Shalla-Bal.

The power of the Elders' Infinity Gems proved too much for Mantis, who could not fully reconstruct herself, and fragments of her essence formed several "shadow" Mantises. One shadow form awoke on Earth as an amnesiac, lacking powers. Seeking help, she aided the Avengers against the Voice and the High Evolutionary, and they in turn aided her in regaining her memories. The Fantastic Four then helped her try to return to her son, but Kang and Necrodamus interfered; after foiling them, Mantis returned to the stars as pure energy. The Silver Surfer encountered a shadow Mantis on Verdant, a plant world threatened by Galactus, and this Mantis aided the Surfer, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers in defeating Galactus and saving the Shi'ar homeworld. Over time, most shadow Mantises ceased to exist, fading even from the memories of those they'd encountered. During the Immortus-guided conspiracy known as The Crossing, the Avengers fought a Mantis seemingly allied with Kang, but this Mantis was ultimately revealed to be a Space Phantom, with no relation to either the true Mantis or her "shadows."
Over time, the true Mantis began to recover as her scattered essence coalesced into five forms, each reflecting an aspect of her personality: freak, mother, lover, mystic, and Avenger. Thanos, a self-proclaimed god of death disturbed by the emergence of the Celestial Messiah and the Celestial Madonna as supposed deities of life, began killing fragmentary Mantises, unwittingly hastening the re-formation of the true Mantis, who was reborn as "the goddess of life." Fully restored, she teamed with the Avengers and the Squadron Supreme's Haywire to seek out Sequoia and defend him from Thanos, ultimately fighting beside Thanos to neutralize the reality-devouring Rot (though Thanos later claimed it was one of his Thanosi "clones" who encountered Mantis). Mantis offered guidance to both young Avengers recruit Silverclaw, another potential goddess, and her own son, "Quoi," who had become bitter and rebellious during Mantis' absence but ultimately accepted his mother and his own role as the Celestial Messiah. During the Thanos conflict, Mantis and Vision (now long-separated from the Scarlet Witch) finally became lovers, but the Vision decided his mechanical nature made him ill-suited for a relationship with the maternal Mantis because their union could not produce children, and he broke off the romance. Mantis returned to Earth and was among the Avengers who faced the deranged Scarlet Witch.

House of M

Following the events that disassembled the Avengers, Wanda Maximoff Scarlet Witch was left in the charge of Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier, both of whom were trying to rebuild the mutant nation of Genosha at the time. Enlisting the aid of Doctor Strange, Professor Xavier tried to cure Wanda of her insanity. Unfortunately, things appeared to be getting out of hand, and the combined efforts of Doctor Strange and Professor Xavier were not enough to help her.

Calling together the Avengers and the X-Men, Xavier and Strange held a group meeting to determine the fate of Wanda Maximoff. Quicksilver, who was eavesdropping, feared that the inevitable choice would be to kill her. Fearing for his sister, he hurried to Genosha where he pleaded to his father to protect Wanda. Magneto was torn-- he was unsure what the right choice was. His decision seemed to have been made.

When the Avengers and the X-Men flew to Genosha to check in on Wanda, Professor Xavier disappeared and suddenly the world burned white, to be replaced by a mutant utopia where humans had become the minority ruled under the House of M. No one remembered the world as it had been, except for S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Wolverine and a girl named Layla Miller, who exhibited the ability to unlock people's subconsciousnesses, reminding them of the world as it had been.

Uniting a group of heroes consisting primarily of the X-Men and the Avengers, those who remembered stormed the House of Magnus during a gala uniting all of the world's leaders, believing Magneto to be responsible for the world altering events. There, Doctor Strange discovered that it was not Magneto but Quicksilver who had manipulated Wanda into altering reality. Layla accidentally revealed to Magneto the world before the House of M. Enraged that Quicksilver had done such an atrocity in his name, Magneto killed his son. Wanda, who saw her brother's death, was traumatized. She quickly revived him from death and screamed to her father that he was a bad man, that mutants were freaks and that she hated him. As she seemed to calm down, Wanda said "No more mutants." Suddenly, the world burned white again... ...and the world returned as it had been, with only a few remembering the events of the House of M. As the world restored to normalcy, however, it became apparent that the majority of the world's mutants had lost their powers, Magneto and Quicksilver amongst them. With the bulk of the world's population ignorant of the world of the House of M, the shock of millions of mutants suddenly bereft of their genetic gifts caused widespread panic and the eventual quarantine of many mutants on to the grounds of the X-Mansion in Westchester.

Blackheart

Centuries of murder saturated the Christ's Crown area with evil until the attempted rape of a young girl named Sarah drew Mephisto to create a “son”, Blackheart, from the accumulated wrongs. Slaying both rapist and victim, Blackheart explored the nature of evil under his father's tutelage, clashing with and failing to corrupt Daredevil and Spider-Man. Mephisto and Blackheart soon drew Daredevil, Brandy Ash, the genetically engineered Number Nine, and Inhumans Gorgon, Karnak, and Ahura into Hell.

Observing these mortals led Blackheart to rebel against his father and seek a newer form of evil; in retaliation, Mephisto diminished Blackheart’s powers. Focusing on those who walked the line between good and evil, Blackheart tried and failed to recruit Wolverine (Logan), the Punisher (Frank Castle) and the Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch) to his rebellion. Blackheart also aided Wonder Man against Mephisto and helped Misha of the mercenary Warheads as her telepathic “Voice”, using Mys-Tech’s Rathcoole to obtain a mystic sword which could harm Mephisto. Returning to Christ’s Crown, Blackheart altered his followers into the Corrupt, and employed Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider as a feint to allow him to anoint the sword with an innocent’s blood. He apparently slew Mephisto, banishing his “father” from Hell and restoring his own powers to full strength.


As Hell’s ruler, Blackheart focused on corrupting the Ghost Rider, aiding the Furies to possess mortal bodies to torment Ghost Rider (Noble Kale) and resurrecting the Scarecrow (Ebenezer Laughton) to send after Ketch. From his palace in the Burning Flesh district, Blackheart created his own Spirits of Vengeance: his consort Black Rose (the deceased Roxanne Simpson, ex-wife of Dan Ketch’s brother, Johnny Blaze), Verminus Rex (a spirit who had battled the Ghost Rider during World War I), Wallow (a homicidal mortal suicide whom Ghost Rider had thwarted), Doghead (a downtrodden immigrant), and Pao Fu (who had died in the arms of Ghost Rider as he tried to save her). Blackheart bargained to free Ghost Rider’s relatives from their curse; in return, Ghost Rider agreed to lead Blackheart’s Spirits. However, the pair fell out and Ghost Rider destroyed Blackheart, banishing him from Hell.
While ruler of Hell, Blackheart had tormented the soul of the mutant Stryfe by manipulating the X-Force group, which attracted the attention of the mutant sorceress Selene. After banishment from Hell, Blackheart allied with Selene as the Hellfire Club's temporary Black King. After defeating Selene's enemy Alyssa Moy, Blackheart battled the Fantastic Four, Mechamage, Hellstorm, and Margali Szardos; they ultimately defeated Blackheart, binding him beneath New York's Hellfire Club. Trapped there, he continued to aid Selene, opposing X-Force in an attempt to corrupt Sunspot, while awaiting his inevitable release.

Sentinels

The Sentinel robots were created by noted anthropologist Doctor Bolivar Trask, who intended to use them to save humanity from mutants. During a televised debate between Trask and Professor Charles Xavier, Trask revealed their existence and activated the robots. Xavier and Trask were soon kidnapped by the rogue Sentinels and brought to their Master Mold. The X-Men arrived and with the help of Trask, seeing the error in his assumption that all mutants were a threat.

Bolivar's son Larry built the Mark II Sentinels in an attempt to carry out his father's original purpose. Larry had previously been given a medallion by his father to block the Sentinel's from sensing his mutant genes. Trask, unaware of his lineage removed it, and was slain by his creations. Fortunately, the second generation Sentinels were tricked into flying into the sun by Cyclops.

The Asgardian trickster god Loki later magically merged three Sentinels into the massive Tri-Sentinel, and sent the robot to destroy New York City by destroying the nearby nuclear power plant. Spider-Man, aided by the Uni-Power, became Captain Universe, and succeeded in destroying the Tri-Sentinel before in could carry out Loki's endeavor. However, the Tri-Sentinel's remains were gathered by a survivalist group, and rebuilt itself once again attempting to destroy the power plant, but was destroyed on a sub-atomic level by Spider-Man, with the help of Nova (Richard Rider).

Project: Wideawake, a government agency headed by Henry Peter Gyrich, purchased Sentinels built by Sebastian Shaw, the mutant Black King of the Hellfire Club. Wideawake also attempted to recreate Nimrod, an advanced Sentinel that had traveled back in time from Rachel Summers' timeline.

The Dark Beast, in the service of the psychic entity called Onslaught, reprogrammed a number of government-owned Sentinels. These Sentinels were opposed by the combined forces of the X-Men, the Avengers, and numerous other heroes. They also killed the parents of Hallie Takahama (Jolt), and permanently damaged Green Goblin (Phil Urich)'s equipment, forcing him to retire.

In the events of Operation: Zero Tolerance, a number of humans were transformed into cyborg hybrids known as Prime Sentinels. These Sentinels were led by the robotic humanoid Bastion. The Prime Sentinels succeeded in capturing many of the X-Men. However, the President was convinced by Senator Robert Kelly and Gyrich to suspend Bastion's operations and he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.. Karima Shapander, one of the Prime Sentinels, subsequently had her mind restored by Magneto and Xavier.

In the war against Kang, a squadron of Sentinels was sent to attack his space station. Kang, however, with his advance knowledge of robotics, easily gained control of the Sentinels and sent them back to Earth. During the course of the war, the robotic hero Machine Man was temporarily reprogrammed with Sentinel programming by Bastion.

Cassandra Nova, Professor Xavier's twin sister, convinced the last living relative of Bolivar Trask, Donald Trask III, to activate an abandoned Master Mold in Ecuador. Cassandra duplicated Trask's DNA so she could issue orders to the Sentinels, then used the Master Mold to send two massive, highly adaptive "Wild" Sentinels to destroy the mutant homeland of Genosha, killing over 16 million mutants. One of these Wild Sentinels was later given a conscience by Danger.

Nova also programmed a number of microscopic, nanite-based Nano-Sentinels to attack the blood cells of the inhabitants of the Xavier Institute, with which infected herself with just as she was captured by Cyclops and Wolverine. The Nano-Sentinels were all destroyed by Xorn except the Sentinels used to restore Professor Xavier's spine and legs.

A deactivated Sentinel was discovered by Juston Seyfert, who rebuilt and reprogramed it in an attempt to give himself a better life. After the CSA discovered his Sentinel, Juston decided to run away and use the Sentinel's DNA Detection skills in an effort to find his mother, who abandoned him.
In the aftermath of "M-Day", the Office of National Emergency (O.N.E.), a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, had Sentinels instituted at the Xavier Institute to watch over the X-Men. Many X-Men were uncomfortable with this, particularly, Rachel Summers, who considered it a real-life reminder of the anti-mutant future she originates from. This group of Sentinels is unique in that they are piloted armors. The current Sentinel Squad O*N*E was built with the aid of Tony Stark and trained by Jim Rhodes, the former War Machine.

Karma

The niece of notorious Madripoorian criminal General Nguyen Coy, Vietnamese-born Xi'an "Shan" Coy Manh has been chiefly concerned with raising her two younger siblings Leon and Nga since coming to the United States. Coy Manh has demonstrated extreme determination when it comes to the well-being of her friends and family, which has brought her into conflict with local and national United States authorities on several occasions. During one superhuman conflict, Coy Manh went as far as to kill her own brother Tran in order to save the lives of her other siblings. Coy Manh's own body is helpless while she is using her mutant ability, posing a notable weakness. Having honed her abilities under Charles Xavier at various times, Coy Manh is currently a faculty member at the Xavier Institute

Apocalypse

The man known as En Sabah Nur was one of the earliest mutants on the planet. Twenty years ago, Apocalypse, along with his trusted ally, Sinister, witnessed the first televised proof of the existence of other super-beings when Legion accidentally murdered his father, Charles Xavier. Apocalypse, a strict believer in the survival of the fittest, launched his offensive against humankind. With Xavier dead, and Apocalypse beginning his offensive ten years earlier than he did in the Marvel Universe, there was no one to stand in his way.

Eventually, Magneto created a team of mutants called the X-Men. By this point Apocalypse had already gathered his Horsemen. Originally, the Horsemen were his lieutenants, and he had many of them. After Apocalypse took over all of North America he announced the War of Secession, a battle between all of his Horsemen; he let it rage until only four Horsemen remained.

As time moved on, Apocalypse defeated most of the world's governments. The only remaining threat to his rule was the X-Men and the Human High Council in Europe. It was only a matter of time before the entire world would be his.

Apocalypse planned a surprise attack while he negotiated a peace treaty between mutants and humans. Named the Kelly Pact, it called for peace and the end of genetic testing, something Apocalypse never planned to do.

However, Apocalypse did not realize his kingdom was crumbling around him. His greatest and oldest ally, Sinister, had deserted him. His most powerful Horseman, Mikhail, had gone rogue. And Abyss and Holocaust were engaged in personal battles that distracted them from the big picture. Apocalypse had surrounded himself with powerful men who were proving to be less than reliable.

Apocalypse finally learned the whereabouts of Magneto and captured the X-Men's leader. A lesser player, the X-Ternal traitor Guido Carosella actually captured the most important piece of the puzzle, the M'Kraan Crystal, and delivered it to Apocalypse. Magneto planned to use it to change the past and ensure the Age of Apocalypse never came to pass.
The X-Men teleported into Apocalypse's New York City base and attacked his forces. Magneto was freed by X-Man, Sinister's genetic creation. Magneto fought Apocalypse and tore him apart by using all the magnetic powers at his disposal.

Hellcat

Patricia Walker was the only daughter of Joshua Walker and Dorothy Walker, a comic book writer. While she was still a child her mother acted as her agent, helping her at modeling and commercial work. Dorothy Walker’s greatest success was the creation of a comic book named after her young daughter, featuring romantic adventures of Patsy and her real-life friends as teenagers. The Patsy Walker comic book was very popular and continued for over a decade as Patsy grew into and out of her teens. Patsy Walker felt very strange about her mother’s fictionalized exploitation of her, and was relieved when the series ceased publication. Constantly exposed to comic books, Walker grew up to idolize the heroes her mother’s colleagues wrote about. However, she ceased daydreaming soon after high school and married her childhood friend, Robert Baxter (who had appeared in the Patsy Walker comic as her romantic interest.) Baxter was in the officers training program of the Air Force, and Walker spent the next several years of her life on a number of Air Force bases.

While her husband was assigned to a security post at the heavily government-subsidized Brand Corporation in New Jersey, Patsy Walker met the Beast and learned his secret identity. Walker had long idolized "super heroes", and she elicited the promise from him that in exchange for keeping his secret, he would help her become a "super heroine". Walker’s marriage eventually came to a bitter end, and she sought out the Beast, who was now a member of the Avengers, to remind him of his promise. Tagging along with the Avengers to investigate criminal activities at the Brand Corporation, Walker discovered a costume like that worn by Greer Nelson in her identity as the Cat. Putting the costume on, Walker dubbed herself Hellcat and used her natural athletic abilities to help the Avengers. Walker believed that the costume had somehow enhanced her agility and speed, and by the power of suggestion more than anything else, it had.

Although she hoped to join the Avengers, Hellcat was persuaded by the Titanian priestess Moondragon to accompany her to Titan to undergo a period of training. During her stay on Titan, Hellcat’s minor psionic potential was artificially enhanced by various electronic organic devices (Moondragon used similar technology to give powers to Angar the Screamer and Ramrod) and was given extensive martial arts training. Upon her return to Earth, she met the Defenders and decided to accept their offer of membership rather than the Avengers. Hellcat remained a core member of the loosely organized Defenders for several years, becoming particularly close to the and Valkyrie. Eventually she met Damion Hellstorm, who in his costumed guise of the Son of Satan, joined the Defenders for a short time, and after he was cured of his demonic aspect found that she was in love with him. Renouncing her costumed identity, Patsy Walker decided to marry Hellstrom. The couple was married in Greentown, Ohio, where her father currently resided. The wedding, attended by several of her Defenders colleagues, was interrupted by her ex-husband "Buzz" Baxter, who had assumed the costumed guise of Mad Dog, and the Mutant Force. The Defenders repulsed the attack and Hellstrom subdued Mad-Dog. The Hellstroms then moved to San Francisco where they established themselves as occult investigators. In this capacity, they helped several superheroes in mystical problems, notably the Avengers' West Coast branch. In helping the Avengers, Patsy again donned the Hellcat costume and remained on hand to help them capture the villains Tiger Shark and Whirlwind.

Sometime later, however, Hellstrom's dark soul reasserted itself and Patsy was driven mad at the sight of it. She languished in a near-vegetable state for months afterward until the mercy-killing entity Deathurge sensed her despair and, at her request, freed her spirit from her body, effectively killing herself. She soon after contacted Earth from a spirit plane and announced her intention via radio to return in the near future.

Patsy had ended up in the realm of the demon Mephisto, fighting an eternal battle in the so-called Arena of Tainted Souls, alongside fallen Avenger Mockingbird. Months later, the Avenger villain Grim Reaper resurrected Patsy and Mockingbird, among others, tainting them with his hatred for the Avengers and setting them against the team. With the help of the Scarlet Witch, Patsy and the others reverted to their true personalities and aided the Avengers against the Grim Reaper before returning from whence they came. Before she disappeared, Mockingbird was able to send a warning to her husband Hawkeye about a plan Hellstrom was developing. Hawkeye and his team theThunderbolts confronted Hellstrom and then used their sorcerous connections to go to Hell in order to restore Mockingbird. They were tricked however, by Hellstrom, and the Thunderbolts rescued Patsy instead, restoring her bodily to Earth.

Patsy remained despondent and depressed due to her perceived failures in life and time spent in Hell. She nevertheless presented a good front, wrote an autobiography and began a book tour. Shortly thereafter, Patsy returned to Centerville to find her high school rival Hedy had joined with the corporation that was built upon the Patsy comics fortune and turned Centerville into a tourist attraction. Patsy discovered the town was also infiltrated with demonic forces, led by the evil warlock Nicholas Scratch. Scratch had allowed a cult called the Son of the Serpents to use the citizens of Centerville for their occult purposes, and altering the Avengers, Patsy resumed her Hellcat identity and defeated the Serpents alongside her team.

Patsy was still despondent about life when later Scratch's minions attacked Hellcat. She then uncovered a plot by the extradimensional villain Dormammu to take over the various dimensions of Hell, each led by different demons, among them Mephisto, Hellstrom, and Satannish. Hellcat helped Mephisto thwart Dormammu by uniting the demons along with the death godsPluto and Hela. She also revealed Hellstrom's father was actually Satannish, a pawn of Dormammu. Ultimately, she escaped back to Earth by proving to Mephisto that he would be better served to have her on Earth. Revitalized by her adventure, Patsy rededicated her life to super heroics as Hellcat. (Hellstrom later admitted that he manipulated Patsy into believing the accusations of his origins in order that she could distance herself from him and return to a more "normal" life.)

Patsy's supernaturally-tinged senses brought her to the attention of a homeless man. She tried to recuperate him, and he turned out to be the Defenders' villain Yandroth the Magician, who began systematically attacking Earth by binding the spirit of Mother Earth itself. Patsy escaped and managed to contact the various members of the Defenders to stop him, re-forming the team after a long hiatus. As a result of the battle, several of the Defenders were cursed to continually band together, and Patsy and the remaining Defenders elected to stay together as a team to support them. As part of the curse, the Defenders found themselves distancing themselves from humanity until they struck upon the idea that in order to have peace, they would enforce it by ruling the world. Hellcat and the support Defenders organized a team to defeat the so-called Order, after which the Defenders were freed from their curse but disbanded once again.

Icarus

Jay is the son of Thomas Zebulon Guthrie, also referred to as "Ty" and "Zeke," and Lucinda Guthrie. Jay's older siblings Sam (Cannonball) and Paige (Husk) are mutants as well, and both have been members of the X-Men. Another of their siblings, Jeb, has developed the mutant ability to project electricity from his eyes, as well as his sister Melody (a.k.a. Aero) who was de-powered during M-Day. He has several other human brothers and sisters, and his whole family is generally hated by his home town due to the fact that they all seem to be developing mutant powers. When Sam and Paige left home to become X-men, Jay took over the role of the father in the house, feeling that he had to protect his younger brothers and sisters.

When he himself developed mutant powers, (red, angel-like wings that allow him to fly, strong regenerative abilities, and can vocally mimic any sound he hears or imagines; for example, he can sound like a whole choir when he sings) he hid them from his family. However, when performing in his band he exposed his wings to the crowd as a 'stage gimmick'.

Jay fell in love with Julia Cabot, but due to a long feud between the Guthries and the Cabots a fight broke out. Jay was struck down by Julia's father, who had acquired and modified some superpowered armor. Believing Jay to be dead, Julia dragged Jay's body to the river. She wrapped his arms around her, heading for the deepest part of the river. The two sank to the river's bottom and Julia subsequently drowned. Neither Jay nor Julia were aware of Jay's mutant regenerative powers, but when Jay sank to the bottom of the river, these powers manifested. Jay awoke at the bottom of the river with Julia in his arms. He swam to the surface with her and brought her to the riverbank. When he discovered she was dead, he tried (unsuccessfully due to his healing factor) to stab himself in the heart with a sharp piece of wood. Warren Worthington arrived on the scene, found Jay, and helped him carry Julia's body back to the Guthrie house.

After Julia's death, Jay attempted to kill himself a few more times, hoping his healing factor would fail. Eventually his mother sent him to the Xavier Institute against his will. Jay speculated this was just so she wouldn't feel guilt if he tried to hurt himself again. Originally placed with the Hellions squad, he traded places with Wither and joined the New Mutants. He is portrayed as a sullen, withered lover who keeps mostly to himself, but he always reminds his teammates how fortunate they are to be a "family" when they feud. His team seems to talk to him about their problems, as he isn't usually one to join the fights.

After the events of Decimation, Icarus was one of the few of the New Mutants team who didn't lose their powers. However, someone cut off his wings and left him bleeding at the doorsteps of the mansion. Emma Frost has stated that his healing factor was not working to heal these injuries. It was later revealed by Dr. McCoy that his healing powers came from his wings and without them this power won't work.

Jay was, seemingly, tricked by William Stryker. Stryker told Jay if he gave his wings "back to god" his friends would be saved by Stryker. He called Stryker to inform him the children were leaving on a bus, which led to the bombing of the bus carrying the de-powered students, and the assassination of Wallflower, as she was the one in Nimrod's vision of the future that killed the Purifiers. As X-23 put it to Dust after he gave her a piece of paper containing the address of Stryker's church, he shouldn't be trusted because "he smells like death". Choosing not to trust Jay, X-23 went to the church disguised as Dust, only to be gunned down upon entering. After this, Stryker confessed he was responsible for the death of Julia Cabot before he shot Jay, killing him.

Silver Samurai

Silver Samurai was a mutant rebel in his homeland of Japan. Alongside Sunfire, he stood as the last line of defense against the hordes of Apocalypse. During Sunfire's tragic, and diversionary, battle with Apocalypse and Nemesis, Samurai led the surviving people of Japan to safety. He and his wife, Viper, fought their way from the island of Japan through hordes of Apocalypse's Infinites. Tragically, Viper was killed saving Samurai's life. Never able to forgive himself for the death of his wife, Samurai threw himself into fighting Apocalypse's forces in Asia.

After Apocalypse was destroyed by Magneto, Samurai discovered that Sunfire was actually alive. Samurai made his way to America and reunited with Sunfire by joining Magneto's cause. Unknown to theX-Men, he also delivered a top-secret weapon to Magneto. Samurai also has a long-standing feud with Wolverine. What caused this has yet to be revealed.

It is clear Samurai sacrificed much in the service of Japan and now is one of Magneto's bravest warriors. But only the stoic Silver Samurai knows whether he is truly brave or does in fact wish to join his beloved Viper in death.

Selene

Selene Gallio is a fictional character, a comic book supervillainess from the Marvel Comics universe. The character first appeared in New Mutants vol. 1, #9. She is a mutant, and an enemy of the X-Men often associated with the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Fictional character biography

Her long life is attributed to the fact that she is a psychic vampire, able to drain the life from others to extend her own. Her name derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. She has claimed to have already been old when mankind was just emerging.

Hyborian Age

Selene was revealed to have been an old enemy of sorcerer Kulan Gath. Kulan Gath was active during the Hyborian Age (before any recorded civilizations) and is known to have faced both Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja. In fact, Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern era. Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian age.

Rome and Eliphas

Selene is assumed to have been wandering the world for millennia. She approaches Eliphas, a well respected senator whose wife had left him for a general named Mascius. Selene offers him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and absorb every soul in Rome. Eliphas goes about drawing pentagrams and performing rituals at several locations in the city, but warns a small girl to get her family out. The girl's father alerts the authorities and Eliphas and Selene are captured before the spell can be carried out. Just before they are burned at the stake, Selene kills the guards. She then curses Eliphas for his perceived betrayal with an eternal life of torture, turning him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas is buried alive for 700 years until a farmer discovers him in his field.

Nova Roma

In relatively recent times, she was trapped for centuries in the Amazon in the Romanesque town of Nova Roma (New Rome). She was worshipped as a goddess and worked to maintain the isolation of the town so she could maintain control. Eliphas, having at some point in time changed his name to "Eli Bard," finally locates Selene in Nova Roma, where she is worshiped as a god. Still in love with her despite her curse, Bard realizes that he must make an offering to her before he approaches her. She also was able to marry several times and have descendants. These include Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla. Her most recent known husband was Marcus Domitius Gallio, a Senator of Nova Roma.

In Nova Roma, Selene attempted to kill Amara Aquilla. She knocked Amara into a lava pool, thereby releasing her latent mutant powers, as Magma. Selene fought and defeated Magma, and plotted to turn Danielle Moonstar into a psychic vampire like herself and conquer the world. Selene fought the New Mutants, and was cast into lava and buried alive.

Becoming the Black Queen

Selene directed her worshippers to undertake tasks that eventually allowed her to leave Nova Roma. In New York City, she nearly seduced and attacked the Juggernaut. She attacked Phoenix III and fought the X-Men.^[5] Selene soon became the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. She then overcame and destroyed her ancient enemy, Kulan Gath. She was later revealed to have been manipulating a power struggle within the Hellfire Club.

After Selene left Nova Roma, the citizens regained their memories and sought to return to their previous lives. Later stories attempted to suggest Nova Roma had been an illusion, sustained by Selene, and later the mutant known as Empath.^[8] This was ultimately disproved by Magma, who discovered that the supposed revelation of Nova Roma being an illusion was a ploy to steal her away from her home and torment those who loved her. It is possible that Selene was the one who made Magma think Nova Roma was not real.

Of all the X-Men and their related teams, she possesses particular hatred for Magma and Rachel Summers. In particular, Rachel almost killed her once, before being stopped by Wolverine. She was seen during a membership change in the Hellfire Club, where she apparently has been kept prisoner beneath the building. However, she gained limited mobility from an alliance with Donald Pierce. She tried once again to take vengeance on Rachel, but was thwarted in this attempt as well. Selene remained trapped for a time beneath the Hellfire Club headquarters.

After M-Day

Selene was one of the few mutants to retain her powers after the events of M-Day.

Selene, disguised as an old woman, befriends Wither and they live together in Mutant Town. She encourages him to use his powers and not be afraid of his natural gifts. She then asks him if he would use his powers to save his or her life. She had been killing a large number of people by draining the life out of them, and during her last feeding her disguise was spotted by a witness. She reveals to Wither that Laurie has died; while he was away. Later she is attacked by the police and managed to kill two of them before being shot multiple times. Wither arrives and kills the other two officers, only for Selene to drop her disguise, telling him she is immortal and that they are two of a kind and should be together. She tells Wither that she will be his queen if he agrees, then kisses him, and he consents.

Eli Bard's offering

Selene's relationship with Eli Bard the rogue member of the Purifiers, is explained by Warpath to the other members of X-Force. It is revealed he had originally planned to sacrifice the Purifiers to Selene but changed his plans upon seeing Bastion reprogram an offspring of Magus. Using the Technarch transmode virus he re-animated the corpses in the burial grounds of the Apache tribe that he decimated decades earlier as well as Caliban and presented him to Selene for the purpose of finding other dead mutants and resurrecting them by the same means, so Bard can sacrifice them and their powers to her. Wither did not appear with her. There were, however, several figures standing behind Selene in the shadows, but it is unknown if he was among them.

Necrosha

Selene will be the primary antagonist in the upcoming Necrosha storyline in October 2009 that will run through X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy.

Powers and abilities

Selene is both a mutant and a powerful sorceress. She possesses a wide range of superhuman abilities, but it has never been clearly defined which of these are her actual mutant abilities and which are skills derived from magic or other sources.

Selene is a "psychic vampire" with the ability to sustain herself by psionically draining the life force of other human beings into herself. If she drains a person's entire life force, the victim dies and crumbles to dust in seconds. If Selene only drains the victim's life force partially, she achieves a measure of psychic control over her victim's mind, thereby subverting them to her will. Through unknown means Selene can also cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene's own will. Selene's youthful appearance and vitality depends upon her absorbing the life forces of one or more people on a regular basis. This restores Selene to a youthful and healthy appearance when she has been injured, or when she over-exerts her other powers, and sustain her centuries-long life. A side-effect of this process is that Selene remembers the life of anyone she absorbs.

By using the absorbed life energies that sustain her, Selene can enhance her physical strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and durability to superhuman levels. The amount of energy she has retained from her victims does seem to correlate somewhat with her physical strength and resistance to injury. Selene can momentarily move at superhuman speeds rivaling those of Quicksilver, though this requires a heavy expenditure of energy and can cause her to age rapidly and require more life energy immediately. It is not known how often Selene must drain a human's life force in order to survive. Great expenditure of power causes Selene to age rapidly, but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life force.

Selene appears to be immune to most forms of conventional injury; she has survived both a knife wound and a crossbow bolt to her heart with no apparent lasting effects. While not indestructible, she once survived and recovered completely from molecular discorporation, though it took considerable time to reconstitute herself.

Selene's most direct weapon is the telekinetic power to animate and/or levitate inorganic matter on a molecular level, by projecting part of her absorbed life force into it. She can affect nearly anything within her line of sight, and can warp and alter the molecules of inanimate matter to her whim, causing objects to wrap around and constrict others, creating lifelike humanoid structures to combat her opponents, or simply reducing objects to dust. She can use this power in more standard ways, such as creating powerful force-fields around herself, and can levitate herself and others but cannot truly fly. Selene can also control and manipulate fire in a variety of ways, though she cannot create the fire herself; whether this is a facet of her telekinesis or a separate power is unclear.

Selene possesses formidable telepathic powers that allow her to blend her own psychic signature into the background thoughts around her, making her difficult for other psionics to locate or track. Selene is not as powerful as high-order telepaths such as Professor X or Jean Grey, and is vulnerable to psionic attack should she be directly engaged. She often uses her telepathy to induce a hypnotic trance in others, and then slips away at superhuman speed, leaving them with the impression that she simply vanished.

Selene possesses considerable magical abilities and extensive knowledge of sorcery, enabling her to cast and counteract spells. While the full extent of Selene's magical skill is not known, her greatly extended lifespan has given her sufficient knowledge and experience to be considered a threat to Kulan Gath. She was able to cast an illusion sufficient to fool Kulan Gath at his most poweful.

In more recent appearances, Selene has been depicted as a being of semi-substantial living darkness with the ability to appear and disappear at will and, similar to Blackheart, imprison people in the dark energy she appears to be composed of.

Selene was revealed as one of several magic-users with the potential to be the next Sorcerer Supreme after Doctor Strange by the Eye of Agamotto.

Dazzler

Dazzler (Alison Blaire) is a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #130 (February 1980).

A mutant with the ability to convert sound vibrations into light and energy beams, Dazzler was originally developed as a cross-promotional, multi-media creation between Casablanca Records, Filmworks, and Marvel Comics until the tie-ins were dropped in 1980. The character was created by a committee of Marvel staff, principally writer/editor Tom DeFalco and illustrator John Romita, Jr.

Despite the fact that Dazzler was originally commissioned as a disco singer, the character shifted to other musical genres, including rock and adult contemporary. She starred in a self-titled solo series in the early 1980s which lasted 42 issues, a Marvel Graphic Novel titled Dazzler: The Movie, a 4 issue limited-series co-starring Hank "The Beast" McCoy titled Beauty and The Beast, and later joined the cast of the X-Men. She was briefly a member of the spin-off group Excalibur but now has re-joined the X-Men.

Fictional character biography

Alison was born in Gardendale, New York to Carter and Katherine Blaire. Her mutant powers first manifested when she was in high school. An aspiring singer, she volunteered to perform at her school dance when her light-generating abilities first appeared. Everyone at the dance assumed it was a technologically-generated special effect, an assumption commonly made before she reveals herself to be a mutant later in her life.

Using the stage name "Dazzler", Alison sets out to make a name for herself in the music industry, using her light powers and dancing ability to enhance her performances. It is at one of her shows that Alison first meets the X-Men who are attacked by the forces of the Hellfire Club. Angry at the interruption of her show, Alison lashes out in anger at the Hellfire intruders, unintentionally making one of them catatonic. Alison subsequently aids the X-Men in finding Kitty Pryde. She had always assumed that life as a disco queen would be exciting but finds the fight with the X-Men's enemies going a bit too far. Thus she turns down their offer to join the team.^[4]

Dazzler hides her status as a mutant from all but those closest to her. After acquainting herself with the various Marvel Comics superheroes, Alison finds herself continually using her abilities to fight both ordinary criminals and rogue superhumans — often at the expense of her career ambitions. On one occasion, she meets Spider-Man, and teams with him against the Lightmaster.^[5] She later battles the Enchantress,^[6] is overwhelmed by Doctor Doom, the Absorbing Man and then fights off Nightmare.^[7] She briefly allies with the Blue Shield,^[8] and aids the X-Men and Spider-Woman against the misguided Caliban.^[9] On another occasion, she battles the Hulk^[10] and establishes a long standing feud with the then-mentally unstable Rogue.^[11] She also had a romantic affair with Warren Worthington III.^{[volume & issue needed]}

In the course of her inadvertent adventures, she even encounters the planet-devouring Galactus, who initially thinks she is of little notice and generally ignores her. Nevertheless, he temporarily endows her with cosmic energy so she can retrieve his herald Terrax for him.^[12] In addition to being offered membership into the X-Men, Alison is also asked to audition for a place in the Avengers. She declines while facing Fabian Stankowicz (who is ultimately easily defeated by the Wasp), saying that the superhero "trip wasn't for [her]."

After moving to Los Angeles in a vain attempt to help her half-sister Lois London, Alison attempts careers in fitness training, dancing, modeling, and acting. Influenced both by her lover, Roman Nekoboh, and her desire to abate the growing anti-mutant sentiment, Alison publicly declares her mutant identity. The revelation backfires, destroying her reputation and career and inflaming anti-mutant sentiment, which sends Alison into a depressive state. Forced again into hiding, she spends some time as a keyboard player in rock singer and fellow mutant Lila Cheney's band. While on tour, the band's plane crashes, which leads to Dazzler, Lila, and a bandmate being successfully rescued by Cannonball and his brother, Joshua. Lila has been knocked out so Dazzler uses the music Joshua plays at the scene to blast a hole through the wreckage. Alison is later possessed by the psychic mutant Malice. She is saved and taken in by the X-Men, becoming a member of the team.

During her tenure with the X-Men, Dazzler receives training, attains greater control over her powers, and develops a romance with the extra-dimensional Longshot. She is also forced to work alongside the now-reformed Rogue. Despite considerable tension between them at first, due to Alison's difficulty getting over Rogue's attempts to kill her in the past, over time she eventually believes Rogue is genuinely remorseful and forgives her. Dazzler struggles with her career ambitions and personal insecurities, and eventually she and her team-mates in the X-Men enter the mystical Siege Perilous, which leaves her in an amnesiac state. Discovered washed up on a beach by her former bodyguard Strong Guy, she is nursed back to health by him and Lila Cheney, though their efforts prove unsuccessful in helping restore her memory. It is eventually restored when she is found by Longshot. Devastated by the loss of her career, Alison ventures to Longshot's native "Mojoworld", and remains there to help fight in the ongoing rebellion against the tyrant Mojo along with Lila Cheney.

Dazzler eventually returns to Earth without Longshot after an unfortunate series of events, including miscarriage and war. She helps Jean Grey in the fight against a repowered Magneto, who is backed by an army of Genoshans. She and Jean lead a small band of mutants to back up the original X-Men, who are in Genosha already. Dazzler faces down Magneto who turns her powers against her and incinerates her. As he arrogantly boasts about his triumph, Dazzler reveals herself to be alive and well. She and Jean had concocted a plan for Alison to generate a hard-light hologram of herself to distract Magneto who was then killed by Wolverine. After the conclusion of this incident, the X-Men offer Alison support for her personal problems, but she declines.

Characters in the Marvel Universe that are counted among her fans are Juggernaut,^[13] former teammate Colossus, the Hulk, Northstar, Julia Carpenter,^[14] The Rhino^[15], Molly Hayes, Kitty Pryde, and Pixie.

Powers and abilities

Dazzler is a mutant with the ability to transduce sonic vibrations which reach her body into various types of light. This ability seems to operate over a great range of frequencies, including the audible spectrum, and a great variation of sound pressure levels regardless of the complexity, dissonance, or randomness of the sound. For example, a car crash and a symphonic passage of equal duration will both produce usable incoming acoustic vibrations.

Dazzler, however, prefers utilizing the sound of music, particularly that which is rhythmically sustained. Not only is music more pleasant to her ears, but the steady beat of contemporary music provides a more constant source of sound to convert. The precise means by which this conversion process works is as yet unknown. Left undirected, Dazzler's light will radiate from her body in all directions, producing regular flashes of white light. By conscious control over the light she produces, she can control its direction, frequency (color), amplitude (intensity), and duration.

Apparently, Dazzler must consciously or subconsciously will the light to leave her body. Otherwise, light would "leak" from her at all times, even when she was asleep or unconscious. Dazzler can produce numerous effects with the light she converts from sonic vibrations. She can simply cause a bright glow all about her body. She can create very simple patterns out of rays of light like circles, squares, triangles, and stars, or even certain combinations of patterns which produce trance-like effects in her targets. She can also make a shrouding fog consisting of pure light. With effort, she can even create holograms of human beings and other three-dimensional beings and objects. She can create a pulse of light on the order of several thousand watts of power, which temporarily blinds people with its brilliance. She can create a chaotic cascade of sparkling lights and colors that severely upsets other people's equilibrium, or a pulsating strobe-light effect. By concentrating, Dazzler can generate a coherent beam of light, approximating a laser beam, with which she can cut through virtually anything.

Her training with the X-Men, especially with Cyclops, has taught her how to produce such laser-like beams with much less effort than it previously required of her. She generally directs the laser from a single finger when she requires precision in its use, since pointing aids her in defining its direction. However, she can also direct laser blasts from both hands at once when she wishes, as well as from her eyes, for example, to demolish a large structure. She most often uses her hands for directing her light effects, but she could also use other parts of her body.

Since studying with the X-Men, she has become adept at directing her blinding strobe light blast from her eyes. Dazzler has also learned how to create a destructive shield about herself with laser light that can vaporize oncoming projectiles. The most powerful manifestation of her abilities is a concentrated beam of solid photons she usually fires from her right index finger. The beam is extremely powerful and as a consequence uses a great deal of her energy reserves. She has since learned how to produce these blasts without draining herself, while still providing them with considerable power. She has also recently shown the ability to form her photon emissions into solid constructs, such as swords and staffs. Dazzler's potential to convert sound to light is unlimited. Curiously, she cannot use her own unamplified voice as a source of sound for her transduction abilities. Dazzler's body, especially her eyes, shields itself against any injurious effects of her light transducing abilities and against those of bright lights in general. Her ability to transduce sound also protects her from being deafened by loud noises.

There is no known upper limit to Dazzler's sound absorption powers. When Galactus enlisted her to retrieve his wayward herald Terrax from the heart of a black hole he had her exposed to unimaginable sounds, including the explosion of an entire galaxy, to boost her to sufficient levels.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Since the events of Dazzler: The Movie, Alison's body can store light energy for future discharge on occasional instances of extreme duress.

She has been shown to create a "null space" of sound in a certain radius of her person, as a result of "pulling" the sound in her area to her person, to either protect a crowd of people as in "Dazzler: The Movie" or to supercharge her power reserves.

Dazzler is a highly skilled athlete, and has become an excellent hand-to-hand combatant thanks to her training with the X-Men, and with the Gladiators. In addition, she is a talented singer, actress, and dancer. She is also a highly accomplished roller skater and can move at high speed; she occasionally wears a pair of roller blades which magnetically adheres to her boots.

Thanks to Professor X, Dazzler's costume contains devices that enable her to store sonic energy more efficiently and to gauge and focus the light she generates with greater skill. She formerly carried a customized radio/cassette tape player to provide her with sound until she acquired the sound storing devices in her costume.