Cerebro's X-Men are a team of
supervillains appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book 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 Comics'' in 19 ...
. They are a nanotechnology version of 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 ...
created by
Cerebro when the supercomputer briefly goes rogue.
This team was created and designed by the Spanish artist
Carlos Pacheco, who also drew them for the cover of ''Uncanny X-Men'' No. 360 (1998). The characters appeared in two issues of the ''
Uncanny X-Men
''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the ...
'' series and one issue of 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 ...
'' series.
The team's primary purpose is to help Cerebro catalog all
mutants on Earth, but Cerebro intends to cryogenically preserve the mutants it captures and its team kidnaps and fights other mutants.
Publication history
Cerebro's X-Men featured in three issues:
*
Uncanny X-Men
''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the ...
#360 (October 1998)
** This issue features the introduction of Cerebro Prime disguised as Professor X and follows the creation of the fake X-Men team. It also features their kidnapping of
Kitty Pryde
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (January 1980) and was co-created by wri ...
and the team's first fight with the real X-Men, who they almost defeat.
* X-Men II #80 (October 1998)
** This issue follows Shadowcat's escape from Cerebro's X-Men and another fight with the real X-Men. Cerebro's X-Men take over Cape Citadel base to try and stop a rocket with anti-mutant technology on board, so they can take it for Cerebro's use; meanwhile, the real X-Men are trying to stop both the rocket and this theft. When Cerebro's X-Men lost the fight, Cerebro turns them all into energy and teleports away. When the team admits they aren't sure of their purpose anymore, Cerebro assimilates them into himself.
*
Uncanny X-Men
''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the ...
#364 (January 1999)
** This issue follows Cerebro's destruction of his X-Men team and their Florida base after they have been detected by human agencies.
Fictional team history
Cerebro, a device created by X-Men founder
Charles Xavier to help locate mutants with the
X-Gene, is confiscated by the mysterious
Bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...
during
Operation: Zero Tolerance.
Bastion attempts to access secret files and operate Cerebro, but the supercomputer activates a
computer virus
A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a compu ...
to erase this information rather than letting it be stolen. However, the combination of Cerebro's power with Bastion's nanotechnology gives the supercomputer sentience. Cerebro creates a body for itself, escapes Bastion's headquarters, and tries to follow its original programming literally: find, catalog, and register mutants. However, a large part of its plan to catalog mutants is to capture and store them in
cryogenic chambers for further study. Cerebro begins its new mission by creating its own version of the X-Men, Professor X's team. It manages this by using Bastion's nano-technology to combine the profiles and powers of several mutants in Professor X's database to create new mutants. Then Cerebro takes on Xavier's appearance, posing as the renowned mutant leader ato invite each new mutant to join its team under the guide of "The Founder," and sets them a mission to kidnap
Peter Corbeau
Peter Corbeau is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Peter Corbeau first appeared in ''The Incredible Hulk'' vol. 2 #148 and was created by Archie Goodwin and Herb Trimpe.
Fi ...
, a scientist working on mutant defense technology for the US government. After Corbeau is captured, Cerebro's X-Men are then sent to find Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, who the disguised Cerebro asks to "cure" him. Shadowcat manages to phase out Bastion's virus, though she doesn't know exactly what she's done because she thinks Cerebro is the real Professor X. Cerebro then orders its X-Men team to place her in
cryogenic
In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.
The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...
storage, so her
DNA will be preserved for future study.
Shadowcat manages to escape and finds
Wolverine
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...
,
Rogue
A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior.
Rogue or rogues may also refer to:
Companies
* Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon
* Rogue Arts, a film production company
* Rogue Entertainment, a software com ...
,
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...
,
Colossus,
Nightcrawler, and
Marrow, who had been searching for her. Eventually they encounter Cerebro and his X-Men, who are attempting to destroy the government's mutant tracking satellite, regardless of the potential threat to human life once its radioactive core is breached. Wolverine's enhanced senses confirm Shadowcat's suspicions that this "Xavier" is an impostor, and the real X-Men realize that if Corbeau's satellite is launched, then Cerebro won't be collect mutants before humans find them. The real X-Men fight and defeat Cerebro's X-Men, preventing the satellite from exploding.
Cerebro escapes the lost battle and reveals their true origins to its X-Men team before deeming them failures and absorbing them into its own body. By doing this, it becomes an even more powerful cybernetic monster, and only the real Charles Xavier is able to subdue Cerebro, purging its systems and destroying the superpowered robotic body it had created.
Roster
*
Cerebro/The Founder – The X-Men's mutant detecting computer, given physical form when a nano-tech computer virus corrupted its systems.
* Crux – Cristal Lemieux is a French ice skater with a cocky attitude and the ability to fire blasts of flame or ice. When Crux uses her powers, the right half of her body turns into fire while left turns into ice. Crux was patterned after the powers of
Iceman and
Sunfire
Fire is a series of server computers introduced in 2001 by Sun Microsystems (since 2010, part of Oracle Corporation). The Sun Fire branding coincided with the introduction of the UltraSPARC III processor, superseding the UltraSPARC II-ba ...
, and the personality of
Jubilee. Carlos Pacheco wanted to call her Geisher, a pun between ''
geyser
A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only ...
'' and ''
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...
'', because at first she was a Japanese girl, not a French one. She was designed after Sunfire, Iceman,
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...
, and
Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and ear ...
. Geisher was supposed to have the ability to manipulate the four elements but her look referenced only fire and ice like
Equinox
A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears zenith, directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" ...
, a Marvel villain created by
Len Wein
Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men ...
and
Gil Kane
Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.
Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...
.
* Grey King – Addison Falk is a super-intelligent
telepath
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
with the ability to psionically neutralize mutant powers. He also possesses
telekinetic abilities and is able to move, lift, and manipulate matter with his thoughts. When he utilizes his telekinesis, he was surrounded by a corona of psychic fire in the shape of a bird (like the
Phoenix Force). Grey King also wore a Phoenix-like costume and had red hair. It was revealed Cerebro patterned the Grey King after the mutant power template of
Jean Grey / Phoenix, (formerly the Black Queen of the
Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high-society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe. Such clubs, ...
's inner circle), and the personality template of
Magneto
A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
(who had once forged an alliance with that same organization, becoming the White King).
Carlos Pacheco has said that Grey King was designed after
Jean Grey
Jean Elaine Grey is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack K ...
and
Sebastian Shaw, the Black King, and his name is a pun on theirs.
* Landslide – Lee Broder is a Southern redneck with ape-like strength and agility and also sporting big hands and big feet. Carlos Pacheco designed this character by combining
Blob and Beast.
Landslide acquired Sabretooth's powers because he looks very much alike.
* Mercury – Not to be confused with
Cessily Kincaid of the ''New X-Men'', Mercury is a hitman who can turn his skin into metal and has razor-sharp claws on his fingers. Mercury is patterned after the powers and personality of
Colossus and
Wolverine
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...
.
Carlos Pacheco initially combined Magneto and Colossus to create Silverface who could mold his own body. The character finally appeared as Mercury in the comics.
* Rapture – Sister Joy is a blue-skinned
nun with large
dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primaril ...
-like wings, flight, and sword-fighting skills. Rapture is shown to be in love with Grey King. Rapture had red hair and a skull charm on her costume, showing that she was created from the power template of
Archangel
Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other re ...
, the appearance of
Mystique, and the personality of
Nightcrawler. Carlos Pacheco created the character mixing Mystique, Archangel, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat; Carlos first called her Spook but finally she appeared as Rapture.
* Chaos/Kaos – Dan Dash is an
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
man believed to be the brother of a flight show pilot named Dwayne with the power to fire concentric waves of explosive plasma from his glowing red left eye. Chaos was patterned after the powers of both
Cyclops
In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...
and
Havok. Carlos Pacheco named him after ''Kaos'', the Spanish translation for Havok.
The correct spelling of ''Kaos'' is ''caos'', which means ''chaos'' in English.
References
External links
*
{{X-Men characters
Nanotechnology in fiction
Comics characters introduced in 1998