Hybrid (James "Jimmy" Marks) is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...
, a
supervillain appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
. He first appeared in ''
Rom
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
'' #17 (April 1981) by writer
Bill Mantlo
William Timothy Mantlo (born November 9, 1951) is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: ''Micronauts'' and ''Ro ...
and artist
Sal Buscema
Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of '' The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as artist of ''The Spectacular Spider-M ...
.
Publication history
Hybrid was featured in the comic book series ''Rom'' #17-18 (1981), and was created by writer
Bill Mantlo
William Timothy Mantlo (born November 9, 1951) is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: ''Micronauts'' and ''Ro ...
and artist
Sal Buscema
Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of '' The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as artist of ''The Spectacular Spider-M ...
.
The character subsequently appears in ''Rom'' #30-32 (1982), ''Rom'' Annual #3 (1984), and ''
X-Man
Nathaniel Grey (X-Man) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Steve Skroce, the character first appeared in ''X-Man'' ...
'' #31 (1997). He was seen (on a TV screen) in ''
The New Avengers'' #18 (2006).
Hybrid received an entry in the ''All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z'' #5 (2006).
He reappeared in ''
Avengers Academy
''Avengers Academy'' is a Marvel Comics comic book series that debuted in June 2010 as part of the " Heroic Age", and concluded after thirty-nine issues in November 2012. The series was written by Christos Gage, with artwork by Mike McKone and t ...
'' #23-25 (Feb.-April 2012).
Hybrid appeared in ''
New Warriors
The New Warriors is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They traditionally consisted of teenage and young adult heroes, and were often seen to serve as a junior counterpart to Avengers (comics), ...
'' vol. 5 #1 (April 2014).
Fictional character biography
Hybrid was conceived when a male
Dire Wraith
The Dire Wraiths are a fictional extraterrestrial species appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing. The Dire Wraiths are the main opponents of Rom the Spaceknight.
Publication history
The Dire Wraiths first ...
who lived in the fictional town of Clairton,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
under the identity of "Jacob Marks" married a human woman named Marjorie with whom he had fallen in love, and allowed himself to be convinced by her to sire a son. The baby instinctively used his powers to assume a human form at birth, and so was believed by everyone to be a normal child. Jimmy himself was not aware of his true nature. He is said to be the first hybrid offspring of a human and a Dire Wraith.
Sometime before Jimmy turned 15, however, he was visited by strange men. Jacob allowed this, despite his wife’s protests. The men revealed themselves to Jimmy to be Dire Wraiths as well, and they told him the truth about his origin. They then began to teach Jimmy to use his latent powers, as well as the ways of evil. Eventually Marjorie tried to run away with Jimmy, but he refused, and frightened her with a display of his mental powers.
One day, however, Jimmy's teachers stopped coming. Unknown to him, this was because they had been banished to
Limbo
In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...
by Rom. This infuriated him, and in his anger he caused his mother to be scalded. Outraged at his son's cruelty, Jacob tried to kill him with a pitchfork, but was easily stopped and then, as punishment, Jimmy used his powers to turn his mother into an extremely old woman.
That same night, Rom arrived at the Marks' farmhouse to investigate Jimmy. The boy revealed his true, monstrous form as Hybrid to the cyborg hero, and then fought against him. Jacob begged his son to not disavow his human heritage, but Hybrid used the pitchfork to kill him. Rom tried to banish Hybrid to Limbo with his Neutralizer, but it failed, and Jimmy knocked the weapon out of his hands.
Just then, the
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...
arrived at the farm, seeking a powerful mutant that they had detected with
Cerebro
Cerebro (; Spanish for "brain", from Latin ) is a fictional device appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The device is used by the X-Men (in particular, their leader, Professor Charles Xavier) to detect humans, specificall ...
. Jimmy reverted to his human form, giving the appearance that he was a normal child attacked by a robot. This led to a battle between Rom and the X-Men. Eventually, Jimmy revealed his true form to the X-Men as well and fought them, until
Sprite used Rom's Neutralizer at full power to dematerialize him. Jimmy's mother died of old age during these events.
Months later, Hybrid was able to reform himself. This time he temporarily allied himself with the mutant villainesses
Mystique,
Rogue and
Destiny
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
against Rom. However, both Rogue and Destiny came to realize that Hybrid's ultimate goal was to use super-powered females as breeding stock, and they joined with Rom to defeat him.
Hybrid reformed again in the fictional town of Cumberland, Kentucky, where he passed himself off as a miracle worker. This brought him into conflict with the
New Mutants
The New Mutants are a group of fictional mutant superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, generally in association with the X-Men. Originally depicted as the teenaged junior class at the Xavier Institute, subs ...
since the town was the home of one of its members,
Cannonball
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...
. Rom found him again but could not prevent him from transforming his ally
Starshine
The STARSHINE (Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite Heuristic International Networking Experiment) series of three (later, a fourth one was also launched) artificial satellites were student participatory missions sponsored by the United S ...
back into a human. Once again, Hybrid was disintegrated in the end.
Hybrid reconstituted himself a fourth time, but this time his memories were affected; he could not remember being anything else than Jimmy Marks. The mutant hero X-Man found him and helped him to recover his memory, accidentally recreating the evil Hybrid again. However, a part of his mind was still the innocent Jimmy, and with his help X-Man seemingly destroyed him.
Hybrid was listed by
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in ''Strange Tales'' #135 (August 1965), it often dea ...
as one of the mutants who lost their powers as a result of the events of
House of M
"House of M" is a 2005 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics, consisting of a core eight-issue comic book Limited series (comics), limited series written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel and a number of fictiona ...
.
Quasimodo
Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel '' The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but ...
compiled 189 threat analyses for
Norman Osborn
Norman Osborn is a fictional character, fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #14 (July ...
, then head of
H.A.M.M.E.R.
H.A.M.M.E.R. is a fictional espionage and law enforcement agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The organisation is led by Norman Osborn and was formed in ''Secret Invasion'' #8 to replace S.H.I.E.L.D. The organisat ...
during the "Dark Reign" storyline. His dossier on the Dire Wraiths mentioned that the hostile crossbreed human/Wraith Hybrid remained hidden amongst mankind.
Jimmy Marks reappears as an apparently homeless telekinetic boy under attack by the anti-mutant
Purifiers; rescued by faculty members of the
Avengers Academy
''Avengers Academy'' is a Marvel Comics comic book series that debuted in June 2010 as part of the " Heroic Age", and concluded after thirty-nine issues in November 2012. The series was written by Christos Gage, with artwork by Mike McKone and t ...
, Marks is recruited into the Academy's recently expanded student body. However, Marks has secretly become Hybrid once more, possibly due to the return of Wraithworld to Earth's dimension; Hybrid states that his intended goal is to establish himself as Wraithworld's king. Hybrid finds an ally in a future version of
Reptil
Reptil is a superhero figure and character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is best known as a supporting member on ''The Super Hero Squad Show'' and a member of the Avengers Academy in the comics.
Publication hist ...
, who has taken over his past self's body in order to ensure that certain events occur to maintain his future's history. One of these events is Hybrid "murdering half the Academy"; to facilitate this, Reptil begins to lead students and faculty to Marks' room one by one so that Hybrid may either feed off of their powers or, in the case of the women, enthrall them as breeding stock. Together students and faculty of the Academy managed to win against Hybrid and banish him from this dimension.
Once again back on Earth, Hybrid was one of a number of unnatural beings captured by the forces of the
High Evolutionary
High Evolutionary (Herbert Edgar Wyndham) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Chukwudi Iwuji will portray the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film '' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3''.
...
who had come to believe that their existence would cause humanity to be destroyed by an imminent
Celestial
Celestial may refer to:
Science
* Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms:
** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe
** Celes ...
judgment.
[''New Warriors'' vol. 5 #1]
Powers and abilities
Hybrid possesses the ability to switch between human and alien form at will. In his alien form he possesses incredible strength; in both forms he can use telekinesis and telepathy, including the ability to take control of other mutants' powers. He can reform himself after being destroyed, although it takes time. He knows Dire Wraith
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
. He also suffers from a split personality (he has a child's persona and an evil one).
References
External links
Hybrid profile
{{Rom (toy)
Comics characters introduced in 1981
Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder
Fictional extraterrestrial–human hybrids in comics
Marvel Comics aliens
Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters
Marvel Comics characters who use magic
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics extraterrestrial supervillains
Marvel Comics hybrids
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telekinetics
Marvel Comics telepaths
Rom the Space Knight