Path: typhoon.aracnet.com!dallas-news-feed2.bbnplanet.com!crtntx1-snh1.gtei.net!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Message-ID: Supersedes: References: X-Last-Updated: 1999/06/20 Organization: none From: mblase@yahoo.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks,rec.arts.comics.info,rec.answers,news.answers Reply-To: xpage@yahoo.com Followup-To: poster Subject: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks FAQ - Part 2 Approved: billones@primenet.com Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU Date: 18 Jun 2000 09:08:24 GMT Lines: 861 NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 961319304 9431 18.181.0.29 Xref: typhoon.aracnet.com rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks:214607 rec.arts.comics.info:2072 rec.answers:21833 news.answers:72512 X-Cache: nntpcache 1.0.6 (see ftp://suburbia.net/pub/nntpcache) Archive-name: comics/xbooks/faq2 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: January 18, 1998 Version: 4.83 URL: http://x-page.com/texts/racmxFAQ/ rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks Frequently Asked Questions Part 2 Version 4.83 Last updated January 18, 1999 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Italics indicates a change to the contents listed since the last FAQ update. Also an asterisk will be following. Part 2 consists of short answers; part 3 is longer, more involved questions. This FAQ keeps related questions together as much as possible. (*) THE ACTUAL FAQS THEMSELVES (short answer) (*) Who were the original X-Men? Who was the first X-Man? (*) How come Professor X has so much money? (*) And, while we're on the subject, what classes does the Professor offer at his school, anyway? (*) Hey, wasn't there a title released in 1963 about this team of super-powered misfits who banded together under some smart guy in a wheelchair to fight against prejudice and the right to just be yourself? But wasn't it released by DC? (*) When did the Beast turn blue and furry? Didn't he turn unfurry again for a while? (*) Does Psylocke dye her hair? What about Rogue's stripe? (*) Is Rogue's inability to control her powers psychological in nature? (*) Was Rogue raped by the guards in the first Genosha storyline? (*) Do you lose your mutant powers in the Savage Land? Where is the Savage Land, anyway? (*) Where is Morph? (*) Why do so many people hate Scott? (*) How old is Kitty Pryde? (*) What about Jubilee? Isn't she fifteen? (*) Well, then, how old are the rest of the X-Men? (*) How do you pronounce Rahne Sinclair's first name? (*) Is the Malice who worked with the Marauders the same one that appears in Fantastic Four now and then? (*) Why did the X-Men lose their invisibility to electronic scanners? (*) Is Longshot Shatterstar's father? (*) There's an External at my door. What does that mean? Should I be concerned? Is it contagious? (*) Who are the Twelve? (*) Is Magneto Jewish or Gypsy? (*) What is the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth supposed to be? (*) Wolverine can regularly regenerate himself from a drop of blood, right? (*) What happens when the Blob meets the Juggernaut? (*) What are the names and ages of the Guthrie siblings? How many of them are mutants? (*) Who has Magik's Soulsword now? (*) AGE OF APOCALYPSE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ACTUAL FAQS THEMSELVES (short answer) Background information on the creators and the behind-the-scenes dealings of the X-titles editorial offices are based on over a decade's worth of accumulation of articles, interviews, and personal questions, and as such are not directly attributed here. Now that actual Marvel staff members are on Usenet, who might know better than this FAQ-keeper who relies solely on information printed in comic book interview magazines for insights as to what really happened behind the scenes, they are cordially welcomed to correct, amend or otherwise abuse the FAQ-keeper into presenting a view of reality in the Marvel offices that is closer to the actual truth. Q: Who were the original X-Men? Who was the first X-Man? A: The original X-Men, in the oh-so-darling blue and yellow geek suits, were Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman, and Marvel Girl. The first X-Man is a bit of a trick trivia question. While it is true that Xavier brought Scott to his mansion first to become the first X-Man, it was revealed late in the 1960's run of the title that he actually had already been helping Jean Grey cope with her telepathic powers. Thus, Jean was his first mutant student, and, by extension, his first X-Man, even though Cyclops was the first of his mutant students to don a costume and call himself by that title. It's a matter of semantics versus practicality. It should be noted that Scott Lobdell has retconned even this simple origin, to having Professor X be planning the second team of X-Men (from Giant-Size X-Men #1) back before he had picked up Scott for the first team. While this is a seriously annoying anamoly, it doesn't really change the answer to the question, since none of the second team of X-Men were ever contacted by the Professor until much after Scott and Jean became X-Men. Q: How come Professor X has so much money? A: Capitalism. The rich stay rich, and get richer. Apparently, the Xaviers are old money on the East Coast, since the Graymalkin estate (and the many mansions that get burned on it) have been described as being in the Xavier family for ten generations. So, Charles Xavier inherited a lot of money. On top of that, he has decent ties to the Avengers and, even better, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to get cheap access to funky technology (as the easiest two examples: the image inducer, toy of Nightcrawler, was invented by Tony Stark, and the unstable molecule costumes of the X-Men were made of fabric obviously supplied by Richards). Finally, Professor X was until recently the lucky consort of an occasional intergalactic queen (Lilandra), and got a bunch of cheap, high-tech alien goods and repairs passed under the bed, as it were. Among the cheap, high tech alien goods was a handy-dandy costume machine, which presumably works with Reed Richards' unstable molecule fabric (patent pending). Hence the X-Men aren't spending a lot of money on clothing. Which is a good thing, considering how costumes they go through on your average crossover. Also, when money is inaccessible (because the market is doing badly, Chuck spent his quota for the year, whatever) Warren Worthington is there to step in; he had a lot of money to start with, and appears to have regained the money Hodge took from him when Warren "died". Note also Emma Frost, Brian and Betsy Braddock are also financially well off. Q: And, while we're on the subject, what classes does the Professor offer at his school, anyway? A: Apparently, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters offered a fully accredited high school equivalency degree for its privately enrolled students. The "graduates," I suppose, could try for a higher degree, if it wasn't for the fact that they're really the X-Men, and usually have other things to do than cram for finals. Some X-Men have tried for higher degrees -- Jean Grey went on to Metro University, for instance -- but by and large there wasn't much higher learning going on at Xavier's. Since becoming the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, I have no idea if Xavier will be offering any actual classes, let alone allowing the X-Men to use their in-mansion experiences as degree material. Scenes from Claremont's run on the New Mutants show classes being held in world history, economics, and physical education (above and beyond Danger Room training). Presumably the classes in biology would be top-notch. Scenes post-Claremont haven't had the school in existence as a school, so they don't provide any help, although Jubilee has been shown studying algebra. Tom Galloway has more help: "It's strongly implied that Hank McCoy (the Beast) earned his doctorate at Xavier's. He leaves the school directly for what amounts to a job as a Principal Investigator at Brand Industries, and there's really no time in his history when he could otherwise have earned the PhD they credit him with." On the other hand, X-Factor Annual #3 features a backup story where Beast is showing the kids pictures of his time at a college outside of Xavier's, earning degrees in biochemistry and genetics. Don't mess with Marvel time, kids. These men are professionals. As it stands, the promotional comic for Generation X has a whole list of classes offered at Emma Frost's school. It includes lots of specialized PE, classes on leadership, cultural diversity, and physics with assorted guest instructors. Still, Gen X first showed the kids in a classroom in #21. Q: Hey, wasn't there a title released in 1963 about this team of super-powered misfits who banded together under some smart guy in a wheelchair to fight against prejudice and the right to just be yourself? But wasn't it released by DC? A: You're absolutely correct. The Doom Patrol came out in 1963 (the same year as the X-Men), and featured Robotman, Negative Man, and Elasti-Girl under the cryptic leadership of the Chief. And, yes, all the heroes were crippled or maladjusted by the nature of them being heroes -- Robotman was basically an "omniplegic," Negative Man was permanently wrapped in protective bandages, and so on. And the Chief did rule from his wheelchair, and their whole point was to prove that even misfits and freaks could make a productive part of society, despite prejudice. The interesting thing is that so far as anyone can tell this was yet another example in history of pure coincidence. Both the Marvel and DC creative teams apparently came up with the idea completely on their own. It's really not all that surprising when you think about the time this was going on. Marvel had revolutionarized the comic book industry with the "Marvel" style of superhero, who had the complications of dealing with "real life." Never ones to miss on the sales comparisons, DC began copying the Marvel style. Pretty soon we had families of superheroes with troubles, teenaged superheroes with troubles, clubs of superheroes with troubles... it didn't take much imagination to go to the next progression of "modern" superheroes, superheroes with physical troubles based on their physique or prejudice. A man in a wheelchair would be the natural authority figure to lead this team, since he'd be an iconic reminder that people with disabilities can still be functioning people, while still not suffering from such a major disfigurement that the Comics Code-wary comics of the time wouldn't accept him as an ongoing character. The wheelchair figure couldn't be one of the active, crime-fighting heroes, because giving him the power to leave his wheelchair to fight crime would invalidate the whole reason to put him in a wheelchair in the first place. Finally, the wheelchair figure had to be a man, since this was the 60's. After the leader is set, you then fill your team to taste with your choice of heroes suffering unwarranted prejudice. And after cancelling the book in the late 60s, bring it back later to large acclaim: as one final bit of trivia to further prove the existence of the Illuminati, both the X-Men and Doom Patrol came back in their first "new" forms in issues numbered 94 -- UXM #94 and Showcase #94, although the Doom Patrol had to get cancelled one more time before they became highly acclaimed. Technically, of course, the "new" X-Men debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1, but since we're allowing the Doom Patrol to slide on a technicality, we'll do the same for the X-Men as well. Q: When did the Beast turn blue and furry? Didn't he turn unfurry again for a while? A: The Beast's normal form isn't fuzzy. Up until the cancellation of the original X-Men series, he looked like a human with an apes's body: no fur, but big, elongated arms, hands, and feet. He still had the same powers as before, he just looked different. Then, in Amazing Adventures #11 (1972), the Beast got a job at the Brand Corporation, a subsidiary of Marvel's stand-in evil megacorporation, Roxxon. He was researching the "genetic source" of mutations (the X-factor), and managed to isolate a hormone that would activate the X-factor. In typical comic book timing, as soon as the Beast discovered this wonderful hormone, the sinister Secret Empire tried to steal it from him. So Hank McCoy did what any award-winning researcher would do with his potentially Nobel-prize winning experiment: he drank it. The resultant enchancement of his mutant nature turned him into his now famous fuzzy form, but with grey fur, and with a healing factor that would shame Wolverine -- bullet holes healed as fast as they were made. Various misadventures ensued, until the computer Quasimodo drained the Beast's excess life energy in Amazing Adventures #14, which left him not only without his nifty healing factor, but also turned his fur blue. He stayed that way all the way through his service in the Avengers and Defenders until X-Factor was inaugurated. In their second issue, a storyline was started which brought the Beast back to Brand, where much the same sort of process left him back the way he was in the original X-Men series. During the Fall of the Mutants he was infected by Pestilence (X-Factor #21?), resulting in a biochemical imbalance that increased his strength each time he used it with a corresponding decrease in his intelligence. A kiss from Infectia (#31) turned him back blue and fuzzy again, this time with near-Hulk level strength (X-Factor #33). Since that time, the Beast has apparently lost most of that superstrength, and is back in his "normal," highly agile, slightly-superstrong blue fuzzball form. One wishes him a most relaxing genetic future to come. Q: Does Psylocke dye her hair? What about Rogue's stripe? A: Psylocke's hair was certainly dyed in the beginning. Her hair is naturally blonde, since in "Captain Britain" (Daredevils #3/CB Archives #3) Brian was shocked to see her hair purple. She explains she did it for her career as a fashion model. All flashbacks to her childhood also have her as a blonde (UXM #256, for example). So we are fine up until the Siege. At this point it gets complicated. When Spiral messed with Betsy's mind and body in UXM #256, Spiral very easily could have made the color permanent. Rogue is a little simpler. Back around the late 100's of UXM, the letters column was answered by the characters for awhile. Wolverine said that Rogue dyed her hair. While you will occasionally hear rumbles along the lines of "peroxide in the Savage Land? I don't think so" there has not been any evidence to contradict Wolverine. Besides, it neatly explains why she mysteriously went from two white streaks to one, and occasionally just to white bangs without the stripe. Oh, and Rogue's hair is brown, colorists notwithstanding. Q: Is Rogue's inability to control her powers psychological in nature? That is a distinct possibility, although the real issue is what "psychological" problems she might have had. The most popular theory is that Rogue suffered some form of physical abuse in her youth, causing her to subconsciously keep her powers on all the time to prevent it from happening again. Skids' original inability to deactivate her force field was revealed in X-Factor #16 to be a result of her father's physical abuse of herself and her mother, and the same logic is typically applied to Rogue's problem. However, the problem with Rogue's powers may simply be a lack of practice. Steven Seagle in UXM #354 had Rogue giving mouth-to-mouth resucitation to Joseph, and she was able to partially control her absorption power in the process. At the time she claimed that since she was never allowed to use her powers except when needed in combat, she never had a chance to learn control, a rather obvious and clever solution to this longtime problem. Rogue's unexpected control over her powers isn't actually new, either; ever since prior to the Carol Danvers incident Rogue could control her absorption to some extent (see Dazzler, for example). There is one panel in UXM #239 that is used to support this; Carol, having taken over Rogue's body after the fight with Nimrod, touches Betsy on the shoulder. When asked, Claremont confirmed this was intended to indicate that Carol could control Rogue's power, even though Rogue couldn't. In addition, the X-Men '97 (Annual) portrays the Gamesmaster as able to "keep her power in check" using his own. Since the Gamesmaster's powers are solely telepathic, this indicates Rogue's real problem is solely a matter of mental control. Q: Was Rogue raped by the guards in the first Genosha storyline? A: No, she wasn't, and it says so right in the captions in the same issue (UXM #236) it supposedly happened in. Check the series of captions during the slow close-up to Rogue's cell. The guards slapped her around some and made fun of her, but nothing sexual happened. "All they did was touch her. Rude hands, ruder glances -- taunting promises of worse to come. She couldn't stop them. For so long, she dreamed of being able to touch another person, without her power absorbing his/her psyche. To hold, to caress, to kiss, just like any other -- normal -- teenage girl. In those dreams, it was the most beautiful of moments. She never imagined being handled against her will." Note also that Carol, as an eyewitness, so to speak, says in UXM #244 (also Jubilee's first appearance) that "Nothing happened. But that wasn't the point". Q: Do you lose your mutant powers in the Savage Land? Where is the Savage Land, anyway? A: The Savage Land is one of the fixations of Stan Lee, co-creator of much of the Marvel Universe, that has survived longer than other favored plot ideas of his (how many Marvel comics are taking place around a circus currently, for instance?). The Savage Land is a direct tribute/descendant/ripoff of all those classic "Lands that Time Forgot" sf/fantasy stories. It's located in that "peninsula" sticking out of Antarctica, and the full and horribly complicated history of it can be found in various editions of the OHOTMU. Basically, it was set up as a type of alien wildlife preserve, and it's been run by a variety of administrations since (currently, no one is in charge of the elemental machineries that keep the Savage Land warm and tropical in the midst of the vast ice field). The X-Men have had numerous adventures in the Savage Land, and are good friends with Ka-Zar, the main hero of the Savage Land, as well as with the tribe of the Fall People. In none of those cases have the X-Men ever lost their powers just from being in the Savage Land, although various villains they've fought therein have taken their powers away while in there. This question largely comes from X-Men: the Animated Series fans, since the Savage Land in XTAS does apparently drain the mutant powers from those mutants who visit it. (It may be that the XTAS Mr. Sinister had something to do with that as well.) This is most certainly not the case for the comic-book X-Men and Savage Land, though. Q: Where is Morph? While we are on XTAS questions, let's get Morph settled. He only appears in the cartoon and in Age of Apocalypse. Morph is based on an X-Men associate named the Changeling who appeared in very early issues of the comic; he is now deceased. Q: Why do so many people hate Scott? A: There tend to be two major schools of thought on this. People hate Scott Summers, aka Cyclops because: * What he did to Madelyne Pryor * Readers find him dull and/or unimaginative On the first count, dinos are harsh people with long memories and something like a decade or so are not going to soften their opinion of a character's bad behavior. To them it is simple: Scott Summers left his wife and child to run off after his first love in X-Factor #1. For the record, Madelyne did issue him an ultimatium and they had been having marital problems. The Goblyn Queen is beside the point, however. The real defense of Scott is that Claremont had deliberately written him out and editorial staff of the time declared Scott (and Jean) must come back. Madelyne at that point was an inconvenience and hence Inferno was born. On the second count, many dislike Scott as a one-dimensional follower of Xavier. Madelyne notwithstanding, they find his goody-two-shoes attitude just plain irritating. It's okay to like Scott, though. Usenet has lots of room for different opinions. Q: How old is Kitty Pryde? A: It's hard to believe, but in the pre-X-Force days, this is one of the questions that would keep X-fans arguing over drinks at all hours of the night. This is mainly because Kitty, who joined the X-Men when she was 13, back in the (real time) 1970s, was still apparently a teenager in the 1990s. Furthermore, she was extremely popular with the young crowd just getting into the Claremont/Byrne run of the X-Men, since she was roughly their age and was a witty, smart woman that you could either agree with, or like to date, as the tastes may be. Well, Claremont used to keep track of her birthdays rather closely, but, like a lot of things, those eventually fell by the wayside. So the question remained: how old is she? Events in Excalibur have more or less solved this old chestnut. She's shown having her sixteenth birthday in Excalibur #26. She makes a reference to being old enough to drink in #91, which most people read to say she's now eighteen, based on Scottish law. Warren Ellis, former writer for Excalibur, has been quoted as saying he thinks she is eighteen. For now, unless the current creative team decides otherwise, the question is closed. Q: What about Jubilee? Isn't she fifteen? A: Well, she was. She was originally about 15 when she leaped from the mall to Australia via Gateway's portal (UXM #244), but Scott Lobdell sees it otherwise. He has decreed that Jubilee is 13 1/2, and as her writer, his word is law on the subject. This information can be found in the Generation X collector's preview. Q: Well, then, how old are the rest of the X-Men? A: There is no real answer to that question. To be consistent, the writers have to be, and time needs to be fairly consistent. It isn't. There are a few fixed dates; Nightcrawler turned 21 in UXM Annual #4, Rogue was 17 when she joined, Kitty and Jubilee were given ages as in the question above, Hank angsted about turning 30, and Scott said he was twenty-fi-. More such dates exist. Just these few examples demonstrate the problem. Hank is not five years older than Scott. All of the original team was under 20 when they started, and Bobby was the youngest at 16. There is also the problem of real-world events; Forge fought in Vietnam, and Charles Xavier fought in Korea. Unless, as Paul O'Brien suggests, the wars were fought more recently in the Marvel Universe, the numbers simply don't add up. People periodically make lists; feel free to do so. Just expect inconsistencies and contradictions. Q: How do you pronounce Rahne Sinclair's first name? A: Like "Rain," as in the liquid from the sky. This is given in a number of canonical sources. In X-Factor #87, her dreams are Rahne's World, Rain Man and Rahne and Stimpy. The puns don't work otherwise. Q: Is the Malice who worked with the Marauders the same one that appears in the Fantastic Four now and then? A: No. The Malice who worked in the Marauders was some sort of pure psionic entity who could possess people and make them into "dark versions" of themselves. She eventually got stuck in the body of Lorna Dane by the machinations of Mr. Sinister (UXM #239), which led to the Malice persona eventually being zapped out of Lorna by Zaladane, the purported Queen of the Savage Land (in UXM #250). Mr. Sinister finally destroyed this Malice in X-Factor #105 because she had outlived her usefulness. The Fantastic Four's Malice, who occasionally possesses Susan Richards (the Invisible Woman), has nothing to do with Sinister's Malice. This Malice was a mental creation by the fourth Hate-Monger and the Psycho-Man, and it is merely the alternate personality of Sue Richards as an "evil" person. Same idea, different approach. However, the Vertigo that worked with the Marauders is the same Vertigo that started out with the Savage Land Mutates. Just while we're on the subject of Savage Land and Marauders. Q: Why did the X-Men lose their invisibility to electronic scanners? A: "When" is probably a better question, but that would give you the enlightening answer of "Who knows?", so we'll work with this version instead. After the X-Men died in Dallas during Fall of the Mutants (UXM #227), they were resurrected by Roma (See Siege Perilous). One of the gifts Roma gave the X-Men was that they were invisible to electronic scanners, television cameras, and so forth, to better help cement their reputation as "legends". This power served the X-Men well enough during their Australian days (although, for no explained reason, the computers at the Reavers base were capable of detecting them, and the X-Men themselves wondered why), but soon after they went tumbling through the Siege Perilous it became apparent that the X-Men had obviously lost their electronic invisibility. There being no other explanation for this power loss in the first place, it's generally been assumed by the xbooks crowd that Roma's spell just finally wore off. Q: Is Longshot Shatterstar's father? A: Maybe, maybe not. This idea generally comes from X-Men #11, where Dazzler says to Longshot: "'Shatterstar'? You've got to be kidding!" (They had just found out she was pregnant.) This and the fact that both are from Mojoworld are what most people base the relationship on. Fabian Nicieza, who was writing X-Force at the time, was rather upset about this. He intended no such thing, and soon made a point of giving Shatterstar a different origin. According to X-Force #39, his real name is Gaveedra 7 and he was born in a test tube. Also, in Dazzler's last appearance (X-Men #47), it was strongly hinted she had miscarried. So, as things stand now, there is probably no relation. However, one writer's original intentions don't always conicide with the conclusions of later writers. The following bits of in-continuity trivia complicate this question considerably: * According to Beast, Shatterstar has the exact same DNA as Longshot. This is an interesting dangler, especially in light of the fact that Longshot and Shatterstar don't even have the same number of fingers. * According to Spiral, Shatterstar is the son of an "Arize-spawn" and a human. Longshot and Dazzler are the obvious suspects here, but the story was deliberately vague on this point. (FAQ-keeper's note: I don't have any issue numbers handy for these events. If anyone out there does, please forward 'em to me at mblase@yahoo.com.) I'd love to say that X-Force #60-61 (The Origin of Shatterstar!) resolved this. Heck, I'd love to say these issues resolved anything at all. They don't. All it did was move Shatterstar into the body of Benjamin Russell and make Spiral somehow involved. That doesn't really get at any of the answers this FAQ-keeper was looking for, and doesn't say anything about Longshot particularly. However, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. The whole Benjamin Russell/Shatterstar question was brought up in X-Force #56, when the Gamesmaster told him that "Shatterstar" was nothing more than a sick fantasy of Gamesmaster's creation. X-Force #76, however, has Mojo telling Arcade that Shatterstar is still his own property, "no matter what the omnipathic Gamesmaster wishes to believe." While this doesn't yet answer the question of Shatterstar's parentage, it does place Shatterstar's origin squarely back in Mojoworld. Hopefully a comprehensive origin of the character will be forthcoming. Q: There's an External at my door. What does that mean? Should I be concerned? Is it contagious? A: First off, don't be alarmed. Many Externals are simply poor excuses for a supervillain, too innately lame to make a living any other way, and they're probably only looking for a handout. Treat them with kindness, patience, and respect, and they'll probably leave you alone, although they may mutter a bit about impossible designs and grand world-spanning plans before they leave. The Externals first showed up in the storylines of Rob Liefeld in X-Force #10. The idea was that they are a type of mutant whose "full potential" is not realized until they're killed. And then they're reborn, and they become, well, immortal, except they could only be killed by cutting off their heads, or something like that. In any case, any similarities between Externals and the immortals from the movie Highlander are obvious and often commented on. Currently the term is mainly used to refer to any mutant which enjoys immortality by virtue of their mutant powers. X-Force #37 is possibly the closest thing the Externals will ever have to an origin issue. It explains how En Sabah Nur (a.k.a. Apocalypse) found the Celestial ship, how old each of the Externals actually were, and why they acted the way they did. Apocalypse's origin is explained in more detail in his limited series, "The Dawn of Apocalypse". Anyway, so much for immortality. Selene killed most of them off in X-Force (52-53). The only ones left are Selene, Candra (who may or may not have died in X-Men #61), and Apocalypse. Apparently Cannonball wasn't one of them after all, according to Selene in X-Force #53. Q: Who are the Twelve? A: This is a point of great contention among Xbookers. First off, the original Twelve were a vision by a deranged Sentinel of the dozen most important mutants. The problem is, these twelve have shown up in other issues (Power Pack #36, X-Factor #14, X-Factor #68) as well, and they haven't been consistent. Uncanny X-Men #-1 cleared up the origin of The Twelve, albeit somewhat ambiguously. Sometime after Rachel Summers switched places with Captain Britain in the timestream (Excalibur #75) she rescued and befrended another time-lost refugee from the 20th century named Tanya Trask, the daugter of the original creator of the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask. Upon learning of her father's genocidal legacy, Tanya determined to alter the timeline by reaching back to the past and convince her father of his doomed path. Rachel followed her back and erased the memory of her contact with her father, seemingly setting the timeline right again. However, it turned out that Tanya's true plan was to store within the memory banks of Trask's first Master Mold - so deeply even Trask himself (and later his son and successor Larry) were unaware of it - was the identity of the infamous "XII", The Twelve, whose failure Tanya determined as the true cause of her dark future and without whom, somehow, mutant genocide and Sentinel conquest will be averted. Their identity, however, was never divulged. The members everyone generally agrees upon, who have shown up in every version of the Twelve, are: * Professor X * Cyclops * Jean Grey * Storm * Franklin Richards What of the other seven? In one version, all the original X-Men are implied. Cable, in both baby and adult forms, is shown in another. Cannonball is clearly shown in one version. That leaves three. Those who are generally agreed upon as on the list: * Iceman * Beast * Archangel * Cable * Cannonball Other possibilies include: * Dani Moonstar * Mystique * Psylocke * Wolverine * Dark Beast The biggest thing to remember is the stories involved have mostly been abandoned, and the lists of the Twelve were done at different times for different reasons. As time goes on, the lists may fluctuate. For example, Apocalypse was in some of the early versions. This was later explained away, but it does illustrate some of the problems involved in a definitive list. Q: Is Magneto Jewish or Gypsy? A: In X-Men Unlimited #2, Gabrielle Haller states definitively that Magneto is a Gypsy of Sinte descent. This should have closed the issue, except that in X-Men #72, we've now been told that the Gypsy "Erik Lensherr" was nothing more than a forged identity created by the now-late Georg Okekirk to help Magneto hide from the authorities, who at the time wanted him in connection with his wife Magda's death. So the entire question has now been thrown wide open again, with Kelly apparently putting himself on the non-Gypsy side of the issue. Until any further in-continuity evidence is made available by the current writers, then, this FAQ-keeper is going to forward interested parties to Alara's Magneto page at http://www.mindspring.com/~alara/ajer/magneto.html for all the information you could want on this subject. Hopefully, with Alara's permission, the most important facts will be edited into this FAQ in the next revision. Q: What is the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth supposed to be? A: Once upon a time, this was one of the big Unanswered Questions in the X-titles. Of course, once upon a time the Bernard the poet was a recurring character in X-Men as well. Dig those groovy rhymes! Wolverine and Sabretooth were originally designed, most likely by John Byrne once he got his hands on them, to be son and father, respectively. Nothing was ever made of this, besides the usual murky hints behind the scenes. As time went by the relative popularity of Wolverine versus the great obscurity of Sabretooth (up until recently, he was still a second-string villain found working for no-name crime bosses in Spider-Man titles) made such a revelation rather silly in the eyes of Marvel, so they just shifted the whole thing over to them both just having some sort of relationship in the past, but of an unspecified sort. Recently, Wolverine and Sabretooth have been revealed to not be anything other than ex-secret agents who worked on the same team with other mysterious mutants such as Maverick. A blood test performed by some considerate S.H.I.E.L.D. medical technicians in Wolverine #42 finally gave us a definite answer: they aren't related by blood at all. Sabretooth once believed himself to be Logan's father, but that was merely a vestige of the Weapon X's memory implant procedures. Q: Wolverine can regularly regenerate himself from a drop of blood, right? A: Only if you only reread one annual. In Uncanny X-Men Annual #11, the X-Men get involved in this very symbolic quest to determine the worthiness of the entire human race, and all that other light afternoon sort of entertainment. In the end, only Wolverine is left to strive for the goal, this immensely powerful alien god-gem gadget thingee. Unfortunately for Wolverine, the alien Horde is right behind him, and slaughters the poor mutant -- but not before a single drop of Wolverine's blood lands on the immensely powerful alien god-gem which super-cosmically charges the superpowers of that drop of blood to regrow an entire Wolverine, adamantium bones and all. In short, don't try this at home, kids, at least not without an immensely powerful alien god-gem of your own. The simplest evidence against Wolverine having this amount of regenerative ability, however, is that in the numerous issues with no alien god-gems in sight that Wolverine gets pounded in, none of the blood he's leaked so copiously over everything has ever grown into another Wolverine. Q: What happens when the Blob meets the Juggernaut? A: What happens when the unmovable object meets the irresistible force? In this case, it's easy. Magic, in the case of Juggernaut, wins. The Blob is merely very, very difficult to move, not impossible. The unstoppability, on the other hand, derives from the Crimson Gem of Cytorrak. As magic, it can't be defeated by mutant powers. Q: What are the names and ages of the Guthrie siblings? How many of them are mutants? A: Thomas Zebulun Guthrie (deceased) and Lucinda Guthrie are the parents of the following children: 1. Samuel [+0] (oldest) 2. Joelle [+2/3] (oldest girl) [possibly Jo... Elisabeth] 3. Joshua [+3/4] (2nd boy) 4. Paige [+5/6] (2nd girl) [may be younger than Jedediah] 5. Jedediah [+6/7] (3rd boy) [also called Jeb] 6. (girl) [+9/10] (3rd girl) [often not depicted] 7. Lewis [+12/13] (4th boy) [twin] 8. (girl) [+12/13] (4th girl) [twin] Some explanations are in order: * [+number] is the approximate number of years between each child and Sam. For example, the twins are approximately 12-13 years younger than Sam; when he was 20 years old they were around 7 years old. * The oldest girl has been identified as Elisabeth in some stories, (i.e. Factor X #1, X-Men #36) and Joelle in others (i.e. Uncanny X-Men '95, What If #92). The most likely explanation (without suddenly adding a ninth sibling) is that her full name is something like "Josephine Elisabeth Guthrie", and "Joelle" is simply a shortened form of her two first names, something not unheard of in the area the Guthries are from. (For example, someone whose name is James Robert Smith might be referred to as "Jim-Bob" or even "Jimbo".) * Sam's brother "Zak" is mentioned as writing a letter regarding their mother in X-Force #83, but in X-Men #79 the letter is signed "Josh". This is obviously an error, but a possible in-continuity answer is that Zak (or, more likely, Zachary or Zachariah) could be Josh's middle name--though it would seem that name is already taken, as Zachariah is Sam's middle name. * As of Generation X #1, Paige suddenly aged from only recently having reached puberty in her previous appearance to being in her mid-teens, without more than a week or two of "Marvel Time" passing in the meantime. This burp in continuity almost certainly places her ahead of Jedediah in the birth order (where before it was uncertain which of those two was older), but still definitely behind Josh. * Uncanny X-Men '95 states that Paige is older than Josh, which flatly contradicts Paige's first unnamed appearance in New Mutants #42 and first named appearance in X-Force #32, as well as the general impression given in all other issues in which Josh and/or Paige have appeared. UXM '95 seems rife with examples of the writer making up details rather than checking what previous writers had done with the characters, so it is not a very reliable source of Guthrie history. * Bibliography of the relevant issues: Marvel Graphic Novel #4 ("New Mutants"), Rom Annual #3, New Mutants #42, X-Force #32, X-Men #36, Factor X #1, UXM '95 Annual, What If #92 (non-canon, but still features the Guthrie clan), X-Force #83, X-Men #79. At any rate, it's obvious that the writers generally haven't been making up family members as they went along, which is reassuring; but it's also pretty clear that no one's ever bothered to write down names and ages officially, and that occasionally writers and editors make up details rather than research the answers, especially for something as "trivial" as a character's birth order. Such is life in the Marvel Bullpen. As for the question of mutancy in the family: Sam and Paige are the only confirmed mutants, but Joelle is also depicted with size-changing powers in Factor X #1, in the Age of Apocalypse timeline. She may simply have latent powers in our timeline, or -- since she was less than twenty years old at the time, the number of years in the past that AOA diverged -- she may have been born with a different set of genes. Since Paige was the same age and had the same powers in AOA as in the normal Marveul Universe, this second explanation seems unlikely. It is also possible, but unlikely, that the AOA version of her may have been a mutate of sorts, like Spider-man or the Fantastic Four, rather than a mutant. In any case, in the normal Marvel Universe, she was not detected as a mutant when a Phalanx broke into the Guthrie house, and at one point she successfully joined an anti-mutant cult that was well-equipped with mutant detection devices. An ongoing question is whether or not Josh, the second-oldest, has a "mutant singing voice", as could be inferred from New Mutants #42. Since he's never called a mutant anywhere else, though -- including in X-Men #36 when a Phalanx broke into the Guthrie house and detected only Paige as a mutant -- he's probably just a very talented singer and Claremont used his trademarked purple prose in New Mutants #42. Q: Who has Magik's Soulsword now? A: Possibly Magik does. At any rate, it's back in Limbo, and out of the X-Men's side of the universe. The Soulsword was created from a piece of Illyana's own soul in issue #4 of the Magik LS, and ever since then has been the symbol and source of its owner's mastery of the otherdimensional realm of Limbo. After the teenage Illyana reverted to her younger self in the wake of the Inferno crossover, the Soulsword appeared in a rock outside of Excalibur's lighthouse for Kitty Pryde to claim. She, however, was quite willing to leave it there, based on her previous experiences with it. (She became the owner of the sword previously during the Secret Wars II crossover, when Illyana was temporarily killed by the Beyonder.) In Excalibur #37, Dr. Doom showed up at Excalibur's door with a proposal to go to Limbo with Kitty and the Soulsword in order to mine the place for an energy-producing metal called promethium. Doom eventually tricked Kitty into letting him have the sword, which he stuck into the heart of Limbo to convert the entire planet/dimension/place into promethium. Doom got out before the place went critical, leaving the sword behind. It was claimed in issue #39 by the pseudo-demon Darkoth, who remained alone in Limbo with the sword. And the matter was thought to be done with. That is, until Scott Lobdell handed Warren Ellis the plot for the Soulsword Trilogy (Excalibur #83-85). Lobdell was apparently completely unaware of the aforementioned Promethium Exchange storyline, but we can reconcile this by simply noting that something bad must have happened to Darkoth between issues #39 and #83. In any event, the Soulsword starts manifesting itself in Kitty's possession again, and two other new characters named Gravemoss and Shrill are both trying to take it from her. Eventually the sword is passed off to Nightcrawler's sorceress girlfriend Amanda Sefton, who makes the mistake of giving it to her mother Margali Szardos. Sometime after that, Belasco abducts Margali and steals the Soulsword. In X-Men Unlimited #19 the fight to get it back takes place, and it's last shown plunging to the ground in Limbo. A silver-armored hand reaches up to grab it, but we never see who that is. Presumably that hand is Magik's, but how she got to be there in the first place is deliberately left to some future writer to try and explain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AGE OF APOCALYPSE This section refers specifically to the Age of Apocalypse, a mega-alternative-universe-crossover published in the X-titles (or, more accurately, instead of them) in early 1996. Answers here do not apply generally to the Marvel Universe unless specified. Because this crossover has generated a phenomenal number of questions which are no longer Frequently Asked, this section of the FAQ has been combined with Marty Blase's Age of Apocalypse FAQ and removed. It is now available online at http://x-page.com/texts/AOA_FAQ.txt. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQ Keeper: Marty Blase mblase@yahoo.com http://x-page.com/texts/racmxFAQ/