The Punisher

First appearance

The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and his first appearance was illustrated by Ross Andru, at that time the regular writer and artist, respectively, for The Amazing Spider-Man. Conway states he also helped design the character's distinctive costume:

“

In the '70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters — heroes and villains — which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing the image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel.[3]

”

Conway had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Then-Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design, blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest, and added a cartridge bandolier that formed the skull's teeth.

Appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb. 1974), the Punisher was initially an antagonist of Spidey. He was a bloodthirsty vigilante who had no qualms about killing gangsters, something that most superheroes of the time refrained from doing. J. Jonah Jameson described him as "the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed". Tricked by the Jackal into attempting to kill Spider-Man,^[4] this version of the Punisher was shown as an athletic fighter and a master marksman. All that he would reveal about himself was that he was a former Marine. He had a fierce temper and was engaged in considerable soul-searching as to what was the right thing to do. Spider-Man, who was no stranger to such torment, concluded that the Punisher's problems made his own seem like a "birthday party".

The character was a hit with readers and started to appear on a regular basis, teaming up with both Spider-Man and other heroes such as Captain America and Nightcrawler throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} During his acclaimed run on Daredevil, Writer and artist Frank Miller made use of the character, contrasting his attitudes and version of vigilante action to that of the liberal Daredevil

Raven

Real Name: Raven
Alias: Rachel Roth
Occupation: Adventurer
Known Relatives: Angela Roth/Arella (mother, deceased), Trigon the Terrible (father, deceased?)
Group Affiliation: Titans
Past Group Affiliations: The Children of Trigon, the Church of Blood
Hair: Black
Eyes: Originally blue, now violet
First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980)

A character with a morbid past and origins, Raven is the half-breed daughter of a human mother named Arella and the interdimensional demon Trigon. She grew up in an alternate dimension called Azarath, with pacifistic inhabitants whose spiritual leader was the mystic Azar. In her homeland, she was taught to "control her emotions" by Azar, in order to suppress her inherited demonic powers. Essentially, if Raven was allowed to feel any emotion, her father would recreate her in his vision.

During this time, Raven rarely saw her mother and grew detached from her. Upon Azar's death, Arella began the task of raising and teaching Raven. Around this same time, Raven's demonic heritage was revealed, as she met her father face to face for the first time. Soon after her 16th birthday, Raven learned that Trigon planned to come to her dimension, and she vowed to stop him.

Raven initially approached the Justice League, but they refused her on the advice of Zatanna, who sensed her demonic parentage. In desperation, she reformed the Titans as the New Teen Titans to fight her father. The team consisted of Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.

Kid Flash only agreed to be a member after Raven used her powers to coerce him into loving her. On another meeting with the Justice League, Zatanna revealed this information, which caused the other Titans to turn away and mistrust Raven. Only much later is it revealed that she manipulated Kid Flash's emotions in order to save his life and removed his knowledge of the encounter ^[2].

This separation didn't last long when Trigon kidnapped Raven to his home dimension. The team defeated Trigon and sealed him in an interdimensional prison with the help of Arella, who stayed at the interdimensional door as Trigon's Guardian. However, Raven continued to fight her father's influence as he wasn't completely destroyed. For a period of time, Raven lost control several times in high-stress situations, but managed to regain control before Trigon could assert himself.

Popular storylines such as "The Judas Contract" took place during this period. Eventually, however, Trigon escaped his prison, came to Earth, and took control of Raven, destroying Azarath in the process. The Titans came together and were forced to kill Raven, thereby allowing the souls of Azarath to possess her and guided by the spirit of Azar, who was acting through the body of the Titans' ally Lilith, used her as a channel to kill Trigon. After this battle, Raven rose again from the ashes, purged of Trigon's evil, and vanished.

Starfire

Biography: Starfire was a “prize” that the Gordanians were to deliver to the Citadel, to live out her days as their servant. Starfire broke free from the Gordanian vessel and brought her fight to Earth. After encountering some new heroes on Earth, they eventually teamed up to repel the Gordanian threat. Starfire stayed on with this new team who later dubbed themselves the "Teen Titans."

Starfire is a powerful extraterrestrial being from the planet Tamaran and is the innocent newcomer to the group. Although she is still learning about the strange habits and foreign customs on the planet Earth, she remains a fierce fighter capable of firing extremely powerful energy blasts from her hands and flight. She is a warm-hearted, kind, and gentle friend that gets along well with all the other Teen Titans. In particular, she spends a lot of time with Robin and considers him to be her best friend. A dedicated optimist, Starfire may have powers and abilities that she's not even aware of yet.

Like her sister, Blackfire, Starfire can now shoot bolts out of her eyes--something she gained when she went through a process called "transformation", in which a Tamaranian evolves. She was one of the few who went about it by a process called "Chrysalis", where a horn sprouts from the forehead, two additional horns from the neck, longer ears become visible, and the feet swell to a larger size as well; this all leads up to forming a cocoon around herself, which lasts only a few minutes. Unfortunately, during this stage of Chrysalis, she is defenseless--and, had it not been for the other Titans, she would've been eaten by a Chrysalis Hunter, a white and red monster that goes through life waiting for a Tamaranian to go into this phase.

Starfire received a summons from Tamaran to come and wed her betrothed--a man she had never met, but was forced to marry. Though it turned out to be a giant ploy by Blackfire, Starfire almost spent her life with the snot-monster Glgrdsklechhh. After she found out about the plan, Starfire overthrew Blackfire and gave the throne to Galfore, so she could return with her friends to earth.

Invisible Girl

Real Name
Susan Storm Richards

Identity
Publicly known

Occupation
Adventurer, substitute teacher; former actor, model, student

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Glenville, Long Island, New York

Known Relatives
Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic, husband), Franklin Richards (son), Valeria Richards (daughter), Johnny Storm (Human Torch, brother), Franklin Storm (father, deceased), Mary Storm (mother, deceased), Marygay Jewel Dinkins (aunt), "Bones" (cousin), Evelyn Richards (mother-in-law, deceased), Nathaniel Richards (father-in-law), Cassandra Richards (Warlord, mother-in-law, deceased), unnamed child of Nathaniel Richards (brother-in-law), Tara Richards (Huntara, sister-in-law), Kristoff Vernard (alleged brother-in-law), Lyja (sister-in-law)

Group Affiliation
Fantastic Four; formerly Secret Avengers, Avengers, Brides of Set, pawns of Death

Education
High school education, incomplete college studies

Height
5'6"

Weight
120 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Blonde

Powers
Sue can render herself wholly or partially invisible at will. She can also render other people or objects invisible, affecting up to forty thousand cubic feet of volume. She achieves these feats by mentally bending all wavelengths of light in the vicinity around herself or the target in question, and she somehow does this without causing any visible distortion effects; she also somehow directs enough undistorted light to her eyes to retain her full range of vision while invisible. Sue can also mentally generate a psionic field of invisible force apparently drawn from hyperspace, which she manipulates for a variety of effects. Most commonly, Sue generates near-indestructible invisible force fields around herself or other targets. She can vary the texture and tensile strength of her field to some extent, rendering it highly rigid or as soft and yielding as foam; softer variations on the field enable her to cushion impacts more gently, and are less likely to result in a psionic backlash against Sue herself (in rare cases, sufficiently powerful attacks on her psionic fields can cause her mental or physical pain).

Sue can shape her psionic force fields into invisible constructs, usually simple shapes such as barriers, columns, cones, cylinders, darts, discs, domes, platforms, rams, ramps, slides and spheres. By generating additional force behind her psionic constructs, Sue can turn them into offensive weapons, ranging from massive invisible battering rams to small projectiles such as spheres and darts. She can generate solid force constructs as small as a marble or as large as 100 feet in diameter, and her hollow projections such as domes can extend up to several miles in area. By forming one of her force fields within an object and expanding the field, Sue can cause her target to explode. She can also travel atop animated constructs such as ramps, stairs, slides, columns and stepping discs, enabling her to simulate a limited approximation of levitation or flight. She is capable of generating and manipulating multiple psionic force fields simultaneously. Sue once swapped powers with her brother Johnny for a brief period, and during that time had the ability to generate and manipulate flames for various effects.

Abilities
Sue has some modest experience and ability in the field of acting, and has recently taken up teaching. She is a capable unarmed combatant. She is renowned for her changing hairstyles (once said to match the Wasp's changing costumes).

Paraphernalia
Like the rest of the FF, Sue wears a highly durable costume composed of unstable molecules that shift to accommodate the wearer's form. Short-lived variations on her standard costuming have included a mini-skirt, "4"-shaped cleavage and an exposed midriff.

First Appearance
Fantastic Four #1 (1961)

X-Factor

Previous history and formation of the team

Each member of the original X-Factor debuted in X-Men #1 (1963) as the original X-Men, teenaged students of the telepathic Professor X. They included:

• Angel, a millionaire heir, who flew by means of two feathery wings extending from his back.
• Beast, who possessed ape-like strength and agility. Beast’s brutish appearance disguised a brilliant scientific mind.
• Cyclops, who emitted powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes and who was the leader of both the X-Men and X-Factor
• Jean Grey, a.k.a. Marvel Girl, Cyclops’ long-time love who possessed telepathic and telekinetic powers.
• Iceman, who could generate ice and cover his body in a layer of ice for protection.

The founding of X-Factor hinged upon the reunion of the original X-Men, an event complicated by the extensive histories of the characters following the initiation of a new team of X-Men in 1975.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Angel, Beast, and Iceman wandered through various superhero teams. By 1985, all three were members of the Defenders, whose monthly series was shortly cancelled which freed the trio.

The returns of Cyclops and Jean Grey were more difficult. In the late 1970s, Grey had bonded with a cosmic entity called The Phoenix and Jean Grey/Phoenix died in the seminal Dark Phoenix Saga. A 2008 online reply by Bob Layton revealed that early X-Factor concepts actually accommodated Jean's death by leaving the female member of X-Factor undefined, with Dazzler as a strong candidate for the role ([1]). However, future Marvel writer Kurt Busiek suggested a solution to this problem, which became one of the most notorious examples of retconning in comic book history: Jean Grey had never actually been the Phoenix. Instead, the Phoenix entity copied Grey's identity and form, keeping her safe in a cocoon-like structure beneath Jamaica Bay. Busiek related the idea to Roger Stern, who related it to John Byrne. Byrne wrote and illustrated Fantastic Four #286 (1985), in which Jean was discovered and the truth revealed.

In order to reunite the rest of the original X-Men, Cyclops walked out on his new wife Madelyne Pryor, an Alaskan pilot who bore a strange resemblance to Grey, and their son Nathan. Cyclops' uncharacteristic behavior and the resurrection of Grey were highly controversial with fans. Since being so 'out of character', it was later retconned in the 'Inferno' cross-over that Mr. Sinister was manipulating Cyclops to walk out on his wife so she could become the Goblyn Queen. Even though Jean Grey learned this secret, Cyclops did not, and his actions still haunt him to this day.

The original X-Factor

The original X-Men disassociated with the current team because Professor X had placed their old nemesis Magneto as its leader. The five set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire, headquartered in the TriBeCa neighborhood of downtown New York City,^[1] posing as "normal" (non-superpowered) humans to their clients. The mutants X-Factor captured were secretly trained to control their powers and reintegrated into society. Through their "mutant-hunting" they recruited a group of young wards:

• Artie, a pink-skinned, mute child who could project hologram-like images of his thoughts
• Boom Boom, who created "plasma bombs"
• Rusty Collins, who could create and control fire
• Leech, a green-skinned young boy, who dampened the mutant powers of those around him
• Rictor, who produced powerful shockwaves
• Skids, who projected a protective force field around her body

The team would also go into action in costume, posing as mutant outlaws known as the "X-Terminators." Eventually, the team decided that the "mutant-hunter" ruse did more harm than good by inflaming hatred. Not only was the concept rejected, but it was blamed on X-Factor's original business manager, Cameron Hodge, who was revealed as a mutant-hating mastermind.

Bob Layton and Jackson Guice wrote and illustrated, respectively, the first few issues of X-Factor. They soon turned over creative duties to married collaborators Louise Simonson (writer) and Walt Simonson (artist). Louise Simonson introduced in X-Factor #6 (1986) Apocalypse, who would go on and become X-Factor's arch-nemesis. The Simonsons placed the series in line with the darker tone of most X-Books. In X-Factor #10, The Marauders, a group of savage mutant mercenaries, severely injured Angel's wings and they were later amputated. Despondent, Angel attempted suicide by detonating his airliner mid-flight, but Apocalypse rescued him from the wreckage and transformed him into Death, one of his Four Horsemen. Death was a fearsome creature that possessed metal wings and blue skin. Angel escaped Apocalypse's control, but the physical changes to his body remained. He became known as Archangel and became a much darker character. Angel's replacement on X-Factor, Caliban, also later turned to Apocalypse for more power.

In the 1989 crossover Inferno, Madelyne Pryor was revealed to be a clone of Jean Grey created by the nefarious mutant geneticist Mister Sinister. Demons had used Madelyne's pain at Scott's rejection of her to manipulate her into becoming the Goblyn Queen. Madelyne planned to sacrifice Nathan to open an interdimensional portal and to hurt Cyclops and Sinister as much as possible. X-Factor teamed up with the X-Men to rescue Nathan, bridging the gap between the two teams. Madelyne suffered a mental breakdown upon discovering she was a clone and killed herself.

During Inferno, X-Factor's teenage wards, along with a young paraplegic mutant named Taki Matsuya, starred in the X-Terminators miniseries and shortly after folded into the X-Men's junior team, the New Mutants.

In the last major storyline of the first X-Factor, published in early 1991, Apocalypse kidnapped Nathan Summers, sensing that he would grow up to be a powerful mutant and possible threat. X-Factor rescued Nathan from Apocalypse's lunar base, but found him infected with a "techno-organic" virus that could not be treated in the present time. A clan of rebels from the future, known as the Askani, sent a representative to the present time to bring Nathan 2,000 years into the future to be treated. Fully grown, he would return to the 20th Century as the anti-hero Cable.

Shortly after this, X-Factor, X-Men and several minor characters teamed-up to fight the telepathic Shadow King in another crossover event, The Muir Island Saga. Afterwards, the original members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men and several minor characters from various X-Men-related series became founding members of the all-new X-Factor.

The era of the original X-Factor had lasting effects on the X-Men mythos. It introduced Apocalypse and the Archangel version of Angel and explained the connection between Apocalypse, Cable, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Pryor, and Sinister. All of these elements continued in future X-Men series.

X-Factor (1991-1998)

X-Factor (Government Team)
The 1990s X-Factor. Art by Joe Quesada
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Factor #71 (October, 1991)
Created by	Peter David Larry Stroman
In story information
Base(s)	The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
Roster
See:List

Rather than end the series, Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Stroman to recreate X-Factor with new members, all of whom were already allies of the X-Men. The new X-Factor worked for the Pentagon making them the only salaried mutant team. Their relationship with their benefactors was often strained and complicated. The new X-Factor, debuting in issue #71, included:

• Valerie Cooper, a United States government agent with history as both ally and adversary of the X-Men, who became X-Factor's government liaison, carrying over from her duties as liaison to a prior government-sponsored team of mutants, Freedom Force.
• Havok, a former X-Man and brother of Cyclops who could generate powerful "plasma blasts." Havok served as X-Factor's leader.
• Multiple Man, who could create duplicates of himself on physical impact.
• Polaris, Havok's longtime lover and also a former X-Man who could control magnetism.
• Quicksilver, a long-running Avengers character and former foe of the X-Men, who possessed super speed and a difficult temperament.
• Strong Guy, a wise-cracking character who could rechannel kinetic energy aimed at him, transforming it into muscular mass.
• Wolfsbane, a Scottish former New Mutant who could transform into a wolf-like creature. She also loved Havok, but this was artificial and against her will.

Although X-Factor was not as flashy or wildly popular as other X-Books, David was applauded for his use of humor and cultural references and his ability to flesh out characters that had previously only been background characters.

David left in 1993. The series continued under writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Jan Duursema, but struggled to distinguish itself among other of X-books. Shortly before David's tenure on the book ended, Forge, a former government weapons contractor whose mutant powers were his brilliant engineering skills, was added to the group, first replacing Cooper as their liaison after she had been compromised by one of Magneto's Acolytes, and later as an active member. Cooper later became an active member as well, her marksmanship and athletic skills compensating for her lack of superhuman powers.

By 1995, Multiple Man had apparently died of the Legacy Virus, a deadly illness that attacked mutant genes, which was later revealed to have killed only one of his duplicates. Strong Guy was put into suspended animation after suffering a heart attack caused by the stress his extra mass put on his body. Wolfsbane, who had been cured of her fake love for Alex, transferred to the European mutant team Excalibur. Havok left to infiltrate a mutant terrorist ring.

Writer John Francis Moore and illustrator Jeff Matsuda introduced a new X-Factor line up, consisting of Forge as the team's new leader, Polaris, Cooper and several new recruits:

• Mystique, a shapeshifting mutant criminal and master of espionage. Mystique was forced to join X-Factor following her capture by federal agents.
• Sabretooth, a homicidal mutant criminal who possessed talons, heightened senses and the ability to heal rapidly. Like Mystique, Sabretooth was a captive member that Forge used special technology to control.
• Shard, a holographic computer program that took on the personality of the X-Man Bishop's deceased sister of the same name. Bishop was a time-traveler from a distant future, where he and Shard were members the X-Men descendants the XSE. The holographic Shard was brought to the 20th century with Bishop.
• Wild Child, former member of Alpha Flight, who possessed heightened senses, fangs and claws.

Afterwards, writer Howard Mackie injected more political and espionage elements into the series, a trend that culminated in the team's secession from government sponsorship. Multiple Man and Strong Guy appeared again at the same time. Despite Forge managing to fix Strong Guy's problems, he did not rejoin the team. The popularity of X-Factor continued to dwindle and Mystique and Sabretooth, two popular X-Men villains, failed to draw in more readers. Wild Child mutated out of control, Mystique hunted down Sabretooth (who had kidnapped young Tyler Trevor Chase) and Forge wanted nothing to do with X-Factor.

In 1997, Marvel attempted yet another revival. After various stories focusing on individual characters, a new team was gathered consisting of Havok, Multiple Man, Polaris, Shard and several other members of the X.S.E.; Archer, Fixx and Greystone; brought to the 20th Century. But this version of the team was disbanded the issue they debuted. In that issue, #149 (1998), Greystone built a time machine meant to take him and his compatriots back to the future. However, the device exploded, killing Greystone and apparently Havok. Afterwards, X-Factor disbanded.

In fact, the time machine transported Havok to a parallel world, populated by twisted versions of Marvel characters. He explored this strange world in the series Mutant X, which lasted from 1998 until 2001. Although Marvel planned to revive X-Factor after Mutant X ended, this never happened.

As of stories published in 2007, Multiple Man, Strong Guy, and Wolfsbane have formed a new X-Factor (see below), Havok and Polaris are members of the Starjammers, Mystique has joined the Marauders, Sabretooth and Shard have died, and Archer and Fixx were never seen again.

X-Factor (2005 - Present)

Main article: X-Factor Investigations

X-Factor Investigations is a detective agency run by Jamie Madrox, formerly known as the costumed superhero Multiple Man. The agency was originally named XXX Investigations, but team members thought that it sounded too much like Madrox was investigating pornography. The new name is taken from the government-sponsored mutant supergroup former team the three founders had previously served on.

The initial staff consisted of Madrox's best friend and special enforcer, Guido Carosella (Strong Guy) and former teammate Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane). Following the House of M, Madrox newfound wealth from winning a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?-style game show allowed him to recruit several of his former colleagues of the Paris branch of the now defunct X-Corporation. New members include M, a powerless Rictor, Siryn, and Layla Miller, who has inserted herself into the group to keep them from discovering the truth behind the mutant Decimation.

The members of the team, as constituted in early 2007: Guido, Jamie, Layla, Monet, Rahne, Rictor, and Siryn. An eighth member was acquired temporarily a little later in 2007, when Monet rescued (or abducted, depending on your viewpoint) a French orphan girl named Nicole (with the reluctant help of Siryn and the clandestine help of a mysterious hooded personage of great power) and took her back to America. Nicole was supposedly the orphaned daughter of ex-mutants lynched by a mob. Monet felt personally responsible for Nicole because she had tried, but failed, to prevent the pogrom. Nicole, in an attempt to kill Layla, is later revealed as a robot and hit by a train. Nicole's cover story was a total fabrication. She had been manufactured as a tool to destroy X-Factor.

Peter David has put a noir spin on the mutant series and has dealt with the former Multiple Man, Jamie Madrox as the central character. The new series spins directly out of House of M and opens with a suicide attempt by Rictor, who has lost his powers in the Decimation that has caused 90 percent of all mutants to lose their powers. The series deals with the attempt by the group to unravel the truth behind the decimation and its aftermath, getting involved with the events of Marvel's crossover Civil War, fighting with Singularity Investigations, and dealing with Madrox's powers and the consequences of it.

The team also attempted to protect Professor Xavier when the Hulk attacked him and the New X-Men.

In the first half of 2008, Jamie and Layla travel to a hideous future in which mutants are persecuted and imprisoned. Jamie manages to escape, and to return to the early 21st century, but Layla is still trapped in that undesirable future. Rahne believes she knows that Layla will return and will marry Jamie when she grows up. However, she fears (because of a glimpse she has had of the future) that she (Rahne), while in her wolf shape, will murder both Jamie and Layla. To prevent this, she quits the team. Rictor also quits. The team is down to only four members: Jamie, Guido, Monet, and Siryn. They are attacked by a villain with a plan to kill all Mutants.

Polaris

Origin

Lorna Dane, the girl who eventually becomes Polaris first appears in issue #49 of Uncanny X-Men, when the villain Mesmero uses his "psyche-generator" to summon mutants in North America with latent powers^[2]. Lorna finds herself compelled to travel to San Francisco, where Mesmero is. There she randomly encounters Bobby Drake (the X-Man Iceman), who trips her with a piece of ice and convinces her to come to his apartment. Soon after she discovers the X-Men, and they in turn learn she is a latent mutant. Mesmero and his androids capture her and take her to their desert headquarters, with the X-Men in pursuit. They place her inside a "genetic stimulator," which alters her genetic structure so as to allow her to exercise her previously latent powers.

When the X-Men attempt to rescue her, Magneto seemingly reveals himself as the leader of the group behind her abduction--and, more importantly, claims to be Lorna's father. Despite the X-Men's assertions that Magneto is evil, Lorna cannot bring herself to fight her own father. Magneto's ruse does not succeed for long. Iceman provides evidence that convinces Lorna that her birth parents had died in a plane crash years earlier. She then turns against Magneto and joins the X-Men^[3]. Unbeknownst to Lorna, the Magneto who claimed to be her father is revealed to be an android, and when Lorna first encounters the real Magneto in the Savage Land, she is surprised that he does not know who she is.

Lorna Dane's first "code name" is Magnetrix^[4], but she quickly decides that that is a bad idea. This does not keep Havok from continuing to use that name as a way to annoy her and flirt with her.

When the old and new X-Men fight the island Krakoa together, Lorna displays her major power potential for the first time when she disrupts the Earth's magnetic field, flinging Krakoa into deep space.

For a while, Iceman has a crush on her but Lorna doesn't truly reciprocate the feelings. She does however, fall in love with her teammate Havok^[5] (Alex Summers, the brother of the X-Man Cyclops). The two leave the X-Men to pursue their mutual interest in geophysics. They move to the Diablo mountain range in California, then eventually join Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island.

Mind controlled

Polaris in her Shi'ar-designed outfit, while under the control of Erik the Red. Art by Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger.

Lorna receives a new costume, which is of Shi'ar design, when her mind comes under the domination of the Shi'ar Intelligence agent Davan Shakari, also known as Erik the Red. It is he who gives Lorna the codename Polaris, in The X-Men #97 (1976). At the time, Shakari serves D'Ken, the now-deposed emperor of the Shi'ar Galaxy. This is previous to the reign of D'Ken's sister Lilandra. Shakari kidnaps Alex Summers and Lorna, and subjects them to a powerful form of mind control: they are turned against the X-Men and attempt to assassinate Professor Charles Xavier. A massive battle ensues at Kennedy International Airport with the duo battling the X-Men. Polaris is defeated by Storm, but Shakari manages to escape with both her and Alex. Charles Xavier eventually frees her from Shakari's control.

Lorna and Alex return from time to time to assist the X-Men. For the most part, they remain in civilian life for a number of years, and lead a happy life. They settle down in New Mexico and complete their degrees. This life is interrupted when the Marauders ambush them around the time of the Mutant Massacre. Lorna's mind is overtaken by an evil being known as Malice^[6]. Malice's energy matrix is very compatible with Lorna's powers, and the two become inseparably grafted together.

As Malice, Lorna leads the Marauders for several years. After Mister Sinister is seemingly killed, Malice's hold over Polaris weakens. Temporarily regaining control of her own mind, Lorna is able to place a phone call to the X-Men in Australia for help, but they arrive too late. Lorna had been taken to be with her alleged half-sister Zaladane, a priestess for the Savage Land's Sun People. The X-Men arrive in time to witness Zaladane's getaway, but Havok manages to infiltrate her army in disguise while the X-Men follow. There, in the Savage Land, the X-Men find that Zaladane has amassed an army of Savage Land natives who are being mentally controlled for her by Worm, one of the Savage Land Mutates. Zaladane reveals that she is in fact Lorna's sister, and, using the High Evolutionary's machinery, strips Polaris of her magnetic powers, taking them as her own^[7]. In addition, the process manages to finally separate Lorna and Malice. Zaladane and her forces clash with Ka-Zar and the X-Men, who are trying to free Lorna. During the encounter, Polaris' secondary mutation kicks in. She grows in height (towering over Alex Summers), becomes invulnerable, and gains superhuman strength. Zaladane's army is released from Worm's control, and Lorna regains her freedom.

Having nowhere else to go, Lorna heads for Moira MacTaggert's mutant research station on Muir Island. On her way there, her secondary mutation kicks in again (as is evidenced by her increased size). At this time, she discovers that her new mutation also affects those around her, amplifying negative emotions such as anger and hate.

Upon examination, Dr. MacTaggert is at a loss to explain Lorna's new mutation, although she does confirm that the only way Zaladane could have taken her powers away was if she had been a biological sibling. Shortly after her arrival, Lorna was on hand to help Moira and Banshee defend Muir Island from the attacking Reavers, who are there looking for Wolverine.

Prior to this time, it had not been clear that Polaris draws her strength from being a nexus for negative emotional energies. Lorna's status as a nexus, however, is perceived by the villainous Shadow King. The Shadow King uses Polaris as a gateway to allow him access to the physical world from the astral plane, causing a world-wide increase in anger, hatred, and violence in the process. Lorna is freed of his influence with the help of X-Factor and the X-Men during the Muir Island Saga. Upon the defeat of the Shadow King, Lorna's powers return^[8] due to a combination of Zaladane's death a short time before and the neural-disruptive psionic blade of the X-Man Psylocke, leaving no trace of her increased size, strength, or emotion-control powers.

X-Factor

During her time with X-Factor, Polaris changed costume frequently, and unlike the primarily green or purple costumes from the rest of her career, her X-Factor suits tended to be blue and yellow (as with this one, her third costume from her time with the group) or red and yellow. Art by Greg Luzniak.

She was then asked to join the newly formed X-Factor by Valerie Cooper, and tired of hiding out on Muir Island, she accepted^[9]. Lorna and Alex were set as its leaders. Her joining X-Factor offered her the chance to reunite with Alex, but their relationship remained largely unresolved. Since this time X-Factor has changed dramatically, and so has Polaris, growing stronger and more sure of herself, and more independent from Alex. They tried to maintain the relationship but they broke up and reconciled multiple times. Polaris became a mainstay of X-Factor and became the government's secret weapon against a possible attack from Magneto. Malice returned to bother her once more but Havok and Polaris, out of their love for each other, each tried to absorb her, preventing the other from being possessed. In the end, Malice perished at the hands of Mister Sinister.

X-Factor's atmosphere changed as criminals Mystique and Sabretooth were forced by the government to join the group. Lorna began to question her place on the team and finally found her suspicions to be justified after Sabretooth ran amok almost killing the whole team.

When Havok finally revealed that his "terrorist" activities had been a front for his true undercover work, Lorna forgave him although she rejected him romantically. She also rejoined X-Factor only to watch as Havok was seemingly killed in the explosion of a faulty time machine constructed by the mutant from the future, Greystone.

Weeks later, Nightcrawler encountered Lorna in a church and she confided in him that she felt she was being followed and that she was sure Alex was still alive.

A group of Skrulls working with Apocalypse were indeed shadowing her and broke into her apartment to retrieve the headgear from Havok's original costume. Lorna then learned that she was one of "The Twelve"^[10]; a team of mutants supposedly destined to usher in a new golden age for mutantkind.

Polaris journeyed with the X-Men to Egypt to battle Apocalypse. During the encounter, Magneto, another member of The Twelve, discovered that he could use Lorna to tap into the Earth's magnetic field with incredible force, effectively hiding his current reduced-power state.

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians are active in the 31st century in an alternate time-line of the Marvel Universe. The original members of the team include Major Vance Astro, an astronaut from the 20th century Earth who spends a thousand years travelling to Alpha Centauri in suspended animation. He is also the future-counterpart of the hero Vance Astrovik, now called Justice. Martinex T'Naga, a crystalline being from Pluto; Captain Charlie-27; a soldier from Jupiter, and Yondu Udonta, a blue-skinned "noble savage" from Beta Centauri IV comprise the original team.

Each is apparently the last of their kind and is forced to unite as a team against the actions of the Badoon, an alien race which attempts to conquer Earth's solar system. During the course of the war against the Badoon, the team recruit two more members - Starhawk and Nikki - and travel back in time and encounter several of the heroes of 20th century Earth, including Captain America, the Thing, ^[2]

The Guardians eventually defeat the Badoon, but soon find themselves facing a new foe called Korvac, who was in fact a creation of the Badoon. After teaming with the Thunder God Thor to defeat Korvac in the 31st century, ^[3] the Guardians then follow Korvac to 20th century Earth, where together with the Avengers they fight a final battle. ^[4]

The Guardians reappear years later and have a series of adventures in their future, ^[5] with several others eventually joining the Guardians, such as the Inhuman Talon; Replica the Skrull and the second version of Yellowjacket, Rita DeMara.

Wanting to expand the Guardians to a multiple team organization, Martinex eventually leaves the team to look for additional members for a second unit, nicknamed the Galactic Guardians. ^[6]

And the modern version

Formed in the aftermath of Annihilation: Conquest, and consists of Adam Warlock,^[5] Drax the Destroyer,^[6] Gamora,^[6] Phyla-Vell (the new Quasar),^[7] Rocket Raccoon,^[8] Groot,^[8] Star-Lord,^[9] Mantis and the sentient talking dog Cosmo. Original Guardian member Vance Astro later names the new team "The Guardians of the Galaxy."^[10][11]

The team become embroiled in a war with the revitalised Universal Church of Truth.[

Spider Woman

A secretive government group called The Commission decided to create their own superhero. Val Cooper met college friend Julia Carpenter in Denver, and convinced her to be part of an "athletic study". She was unknowingly a test subject in their experiments. During the experiment, they "accidentally" injected Julia with a mix of spider venom and exotic plant extracts, which gave Julia powers very similar to those of Spider-Man. Not long after she was given the identity of Spider-Woman, she was drawn into the first Secret Wars. After returning to Earth, Julia joined Freedom Force but, much like her predecessor, found herself on the wrong side of the law. She teamed up with Spider-Man occasionally, but eventually found herself as a freelance hero. When one of her assignments led her to California looking for a team of Asian supervillains, she met and assisted the West Coast Avengers several times.

She then found her place with the West Coast Avengers and once they disbanded, joined their spin-off team Force Works. Julia's main enemies were the arachnid-based team called Death Web, which consisted of three supervillains who were created by The Commission, using a variation of the same serum which transformed Julia. When Mike Clemson, founder of Death Web, captured Spider-Woman's daughter Rachel, he blackmailed her into fighting Spider-Man. Even though she nearly killed Spider-Man, she would not commit an act of murder, and Spider-Man helped her rescue Rachel. Eventually, Julia walked away from the superhero business to concentrate on raising her daughter. Like Jessica Drew (the original Spider-Woman), Julia was also attacked by Charlotte Witter and had her powers stolen. After the loss of her superpowers, Julia returned to the life of a normal mother.

Civil War

Julia has recently reappeared in a story arc of the current Ms. Marvel series, using the codename "Arachne" (which she originally intended to use). Her powers have clearly been restored. During Civil War, Julia registers under the Superhuman Registration Act, and she and Wonder Man aid Ms. Marvel in the training of novice superheroes.

However, Julia is shown to be a double agent; when she first responded to Iron Man's request, she thought it would be an opportunity to help people escape registration; she is shown to have tipped off Hobie Brown, the Prowler, moments before a SHIELD capekiller squadron arrived at his home to arrest him, and is thought to have warned many more heroes of impending arrests.^[1] It is also revealed that she is romantically involved with the Shroud, an opponent of the Superhuman Registration Act.

Julia is found out when a captured Prowler reveals under interrogation that she tipped him off. The Shroud, who had been captured by Ms. Marvel,^[2] reveals that Julia was paralyzed for several months after she lost her powers, even though all of her other injuries had healed. The Shroud's company had synthesized a duplicate of the serum that originally provided Julia with her powers, and these returned several days after it was administered to her. With the Shroud's help, Julia underwent intense physical therapy and was soon able to walk again. It was during this time that she and the Shroud fell in love.

A government strike team led by Ms. Marvel, including Wonder Man and Araña, attacks Julia at her home just as she was about to flee the country with her daughter. Julia is captured and summarily incarcerated. However, it is revealed in Ms. Marvel #13 that Julia escaped captivity during the Negative Zone prison break, and returned to Colorado in search of Rachel. A S.H.I.E.L.D. Psy Ops team telepathically traces her to Brooklyn, where she furiously confronts Araña, demanding to know where her daughter has been taken.

Powers and abilities

Arachne possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes, and the ability to cling to vertical surfaces. Her abilities are psionically based.

Arachne has the ability to utilize psionic-based webbing (psi-webs), although this originally required considerable concentration for her to manifest it. By using psychokinetic energy, Arachne can bind ambient free-floating molecules into strands of solid force. Her psi-webs can be used to wrap enemies, or focused into narrow web-lines that she can swing from. Due to their psychic nature, her psi-webs can form from a distance, and she can mentally control the movement of her webbing.

She has heightened senses, and feels vibrations as does a spider in its web. Her senses allow her to detect a hollow area under a solid steel floor by walking over it.

In addition to her natural superhuman advantages, she has been extensively trained by the Commission on Superhuman Activities in espionage and hand-to-hand combat.

Although she lost her powers at one time, she regained them through a duplicate serum.

Defenders

History

The origin of the Defenders can be traced back to two crossover story arcs by Roy Thomas prior to the official founding of the team. The first, in Doctor Strange #183 (November 1969), Sub-Mariner #22 (February 1970), and The Incredible Hulk #126 (April 1970) occurred when the Dr. Strange series was cancelled and the storyline was completed in the other series. Dr. Strange teams with Sub-Mariner, then the Hulk to protect the Earth from invasion by Lovecraftian inter-planar beings known as the Undying Ones and their leader, the Nameless One. Barbara Norriss, later the host of the Valkyrie, first appears in this story. In the second arc (featured in Sub-Mariner #34 and #35, February and March 1971), Namor enlists the aid of the Silver Surfer and the Hulk to stop a potentially devastating weather control experiment (and to inadvertently free a small island nation from a dictator) and face the Avengers. These two story arcs were reprinted in the first Essential Defenders volume.

The Defenders first appeared as a feature in Marvel Feature #1 (December, 1971), where the founding members gathered to battle the alien techno-wizard Yandroth and remained as a team afterwards. Due to the popularity of their tryout in Marvel Feature, Marvel soon began publishing The Defenders. The best-known and most prominent Defenders are Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat. Many other heroes worked with the team in its original incarnation, and several became "official" members. Other notable members include Hawkeye, Devil-Slayer, Son of Satan, Clea, Moondragon, the Gargoyle, the Beast, Iceman, and The Angel.

Secret Defenders

In 1993, Doctor Strange organized a new "team" called the Secret Defenders, whose membership varied for each mission. A number of then-popular heroes appeared in this series; the first group organized consisted of the membership of "New Fantastic Four" (Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk and Ghost Rider), who battled the Human Torch in Fantastic Four #374-375. The supervillain Thanos also organized a team of "Secret Defenders" during this period, though that team had nothing to do with Strange's group. Eventually, leadership of the Secret Defenders passed to Doctor Druid, who faked his own death in Secret Defenders #25, the series' last issue.

Original Reunite & The Order

In 2001-2002, The Defenders reunited in Defenders (volume 2) #1-12 created by Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen, immediately followed by The Order #1-6, in which Yandroth manipulated Gaea into "cursing" the primary four Defenders (Doctor Strange, the Sub-Mariner, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer) so that they would be summoned to major crisis situations. These members were then mind controlled by Yandroth into forming the world-dominating "Order"; once the Order were freed from this control by their fellow heroes (including their teammates Hellcat, Nighthawk and Valkyrie), the Defenders apparently disbanded.

A Defenders five-issue miniseries debuted in July 2005, by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire (as a team, best known for their work on DC's Justice League), featuring Doctor Strange attempting to reunite the original four Defenders to battle Dormammu and Umar. This series focuses mostly on humor as the characters spend most of their time arguing with and criticizing one another.

The Last Defenders

Joe Casey wrote a new mini-series with a new line-up of Defenders as a result of the Super-Human Registration Act and the events of the Civil War. The line-up is being led by Nighthawk, with Blazing Skull, Colossus and She-Hulk also as members. The Defenders are assigned to New Jersey under the Fifty State Initiative, because the proximity to New York City demands more experienced warriors than can just be recruited from the ranks of Camp Hammond. The team is disbanded for incompetence but Richmond eventually founds a team with the Son of Satan, She-Hulk, Krang and SHIELD agent Joaquin Pennyworth.

Heroes For Hire

Heroes for Hire (1996)

In 1996, as a consequence of the Onslaught and Heroes Reborn storylines, the Marvel Universe suffered a power vacuum after the Fantastic Four and Avengers were presumed killed. Following up on the status of the Oracle Corporation that Namor had set up in the pages of Namor, Jim Hammond (the Golden Age Human Torch) and Danny Rand decided to set up a new Heroes For Hire organization. Iron Fist recruited Luke Cage for this. Heroes for Hire debuted in 1997, with a core team consisting of Fist, Cage, and an assortment of hangers-on: Black Knight (Dane Whitman), a new White Tiger, Hercules, She-Hulk, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), the original Human Torch, and even Deadpool were included in the cast of the book, though much of the cast rotated in a Defenders-like manner, hired for missions as necessary. Heroes For Hire was written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Pasqual Ferry. It lasted for 19 issues before it was cancelled.

Heroes for Hire (2006)

A new Heroes for Hire series was developed as a spin-off of 2006's Civil War storyline. The book is written by Zeb Wells, with art by Terry Pallot. The team roster for the book is Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, the new Tarantula, Shang-Chi, Humbug, Orka, Black Cat and Paladin, the latter two joining for money. They serve as enforcers for the SHRA. After the murder of Goliath in battle, they made plans to take on Captain America.

After learning Captain America's location from a Pixiu, the team (minus Orka and Tarantula) tracks him down. While Misty and the team just want to talk and find a peaceful solution, they are betrayed by Paladin. Paladin disables the team with knock-out gas and attempts to capture Captain America. Shang-Chi's martial arts training had allowed him to hold his breath long enough to avoid the effects of the gas. Shang-Chi defeats Paladin and switches his uniform with Captain America. When S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives, Paladin is unintentionally taken into custody.

Shortly thereafter, Captain America and the Heroes For Hire part ways, and the "anti-regs" abandon their now compromised base. Meanwhile, the Heroes For Hire discover a black-market operation that surgically implanted superhumans with Skrull organs that would endow those who had the operation with Skrull shapeshifting abilities. Several of these hybrid Skrull-villains bust Misty Knight's old foe Ricadonna from prison. Ricadonna destroys the Heroes' headquarters by sending an explosive package, and puts hits out on the entire team. Most notable of these were Insecticide (the hit man sent to kill Humbug — Humbug neutralized him with help from his pet killer bees), Shadow Stalker (an old foe of Shang-Chi sent to kill him--Shang-Chi quickly humiliated him), and the gang of ninjas that attacked Tarantula when she was with her father. After they murder her father, Tarantula kills the entire gang herself. The team splits up in search of Ricadonna — while Misty Knight and Colleen Wing try to shake up the Toddler for information, Humbug uses his flies to discover Ricadonna's base--and also that she has somehow gained superpowers.

The team would also come into conflict with the Headmen, as well as travel to the Savage Land and encounter Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy. Following these adventures, the Heroes For Hire became involved in World War Hulk, being captured aboard Hulk's stoneship. Humbug turns on the group, but in turn is betrayed by Earth's hive, which had been using him from the start. Colleen and Tarantula are heavily tortured, but are rescued by the rest of the team. Shang-Chi kills Humbug to avenge Tarantula's torture, and possibly out of mercy, as Humbug had mutated into a grotesque monster and was in great pain. Afterword the team splits up, with Paladin taking Moon-boy in for the reward offered for his capture. Black Cat tries to appeal to Paladin's good nature, but Paladin kicks her away and informs her she does not know him at all. Shang-Chi departs the group carrying the still injured Tarantula in his arms. Misty attempts to console a still heavily distraught Colleen, trying to encourage her that the team could still keep going, but Colleen will hear none of it. Colleen states that the moment the team sold their service as heroes they sold the best part of themselves. Colleen walks away leaving Misty alone, signalling the complete end of team.