Rictor

Superherobox|

caption=Rictor.
Art by Ryan Sook.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Rictor
real_name=Julio Esteban "Ric" Richter
species=Human Mutant
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="X-Factor" Vol. 1 #17 (Jun 1987)
creators=Louise Simonson
Walter Simonson
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=X-Factor Investigations Purifiers X-Factor X-Terminators New Mutants Weapon P.R.I.M.E. X-Force X-Corporation
aliases=Unit 2347, Joaquin Murrieta
powers=Currently powerless. Formerly capable of releasing seismic energy through his fingertips, using it to create earthquakes, shockwaves or otherwise transport earth matter.|

Rictor is a fictional comic book superhero, who appears in the X-Men family of books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Walter Simonson, Rictor first appeared in "X-Factor" #17 (June 1987). He currently appears in the monthly series "X-Factor" (volume 3), as a member of the detective agency X-Factor Investigations.

Fictional character biography

Origin

As a child, young Julio Esteban Richter was forced to watch his father, an arms merchant, being killed by the time-tossed villain known as Stryfe. Later, Rictor was captured by the anti-mutant organization called The Right, who connected him to a machine that amplified his already uncontrollable power of earthquake generation to wreak havoc. Rictor was freed by the original X-Factor team and was accepted by them as a trainee member. During the chaos, he was assisted by Boom Boom, who talked him out of a severe emotional crisis.

X-Factor/X-Terminators

Rictor and his friends spent much time living on the sentient craft named 'Ship'. This was the base for X-Factor whom he helped a few times.

For a time, Rictor was part of the group known as the X-Terminators, though they folded into the New Mutants after the events of Inferno.

Rictor developed romantic feelings for Wolfsbane while on the team. Rictor and friends traveled to Asgard, where he assumed a protective role over her, even helping her pass by Garm. Rictor would later face former X-Factor ally Caliban, who had become the latest Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death, as well as Sabretooth battling in the Morlock tunnels under New York. Rictor was severely injured by Sabretooth, but was saved by Cable and the other New Mutants.

Rictor was later captured alongside Storm, Boom Boom, Wolfsbane, and Warlock by forces of the island nation Genosha. Only he and Boom Boom escaped unscathed. The combined efforts of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants led to him being freed and Rictor would be instrumental in toppling the Genoshan government. During the adventure, Rictor shared a heartfelt kiss with Wolfsbane and was later heart-broken when she chose (a bit against her will) to stay behind.

After the business in Genosha, Rictor left the New Mutants. Rictor was by then convinced that Cable - from whom Stryfe had been cloned - was the man who killed his father, and he agreed to join the Canadian government's Weapon P.R.I.M.E. team. The team's sole purpose was the apprehension of Cable, but thanks to both Cable and the New Mutants now known as X-Force, this was averted.

X-Force

Rictor came to join X-Force, just in time to be captured by the X-Men and X-Factor who were seeking Cable for an entirely different crime, the attempted murder of Professor X. This had also been perpetrated by Stryfe. Rictor would meet up with Wolfsbane, again sharing a kiss. This ended badly, with Wolfsbane accidentally biting him. Rictor and the X-Force team were at first held captive in the X-Mansion, before being officially released. The team used the Mansion for a time as their Headquarters before leaving.

Rictor would later leave X-Force when his cousin and uncle were shot during an arms deal, only to return when his close friend Shatterstar was undergoing an identity crisis. Shatterstar decided to accompany Rictor to the Richter home in Mexico to try and end Rictor's family's arms-dealing business. Both characters have since appeared separately so one assumes they succeeded.

X-Corporation

Rictor would later be one of several mutants (amongst them other former members of X-Force) who joined Professor X's restructured X-Corporation. X-Corporation's confrontation with Weapon XII was a total catastrophe however, and led to the death one of their members, Darkstar. Rictor left X-Corporation either before or after the events of House of M.

M-Day and X-Factor Investigations

Rictor is one of the unfortunate mutants to lose his powers on M-Day. He again attempts suicide but is overcome by confusion and doubt. A rogue duplicate of Jamie Madrox nearly kills him but his life is saved by Monet St Croix, a former member of Generation X. After some convincing from Monet and a gentle nudge from Layla Miller, he joins X-Factor Investigations under the employ of Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. He also finds Siryn after she has been attacked and kidnapped and becomes extremely mistrustful of Layla Miller.

When a Superhuman Registration Act is introduced. Rictor, along with Monet sign up willingly but side with the rest of X-Factor against the pro-registration heroes.

Rictor visits Quicksilver, who takes an interest in Rictor being depowered and discusses the possibility of getting his powers back. When Madrox brings Pietro up, Rictor jokes about having had a sexual relationship with him. Madrox then makes a joking comment about making Shatterstar jealous, causing Rictor to become flustered.

Quicksilver later manipulates Rictor, empowering him, in a plan to give other ex-mutants their powers. Unfortunately the process is unstable and several of these ex-mutants explode. Rictor confronts Quicksilver again, ending up with Rictor apparently de-powered one more time and the mutagenic Terrigen Crystals in Quicksilver's body destroyed. Afterwards, Wolfsbane and a distraught Rictor share a sexual encounter, but this new aspect of their relationship is marred by multiple arguments. During that time Rictor had several Terrigen Crystals embedded in his back (the remnants from the exploding crystals from Quicksilver), which helped him to defeat Josef Huber. [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11738]

Messiah Complex

Rictor is asked to infiltrate the Purifiers, as he is still depowered. In an effort to gain the trust of the Purifiers, he, as planned with X-Men, saves them from an attack from Wolfsbane. Rictor then informs the X-Men that the Purifiers' base extends beyond New York and all over America. He also catches the New X-Men sneaking around in the Purifier base and when they are ambushed by the Reavers, he helps Pixie to focus while using a teleportation spell.

Divided We Stand

While walking down the street, he sees a prostitute who looks just like Layla. When he tries to follow her thinking she is Layla. He gets into a fight with an ex-mutant with horns in his head. He kicks him in the crotch and eventually gets into a fight with the prostitutes pimps until Strong Guy steps in. He is later escorted to the hospital where he learns that a lot of fights have been breaking out all over Mutant Town. He is the last to learn that Rahne has left and ends up captured by Arcade when he tries to leave X-Factor. He eventually frees himself and finds that the person who hired Arcade is Taylor, the Purifier who he tricked into letting him into their organization. He later relocates with the rest of X-Factor to Detroit.

exual orientation

In "X-Factor" #14, Jamie Madrox and Rictor have a conversation in which Rictor jokes that he once slept with Quicksilver. When Jamie attempts to clarify that Rictor was joking, Rictor says:

As of yet, Rictor's bisexuality is neither confirmed nor denied. The ambiguity still remains as "X-Factor" writer Peter David points out in an interview from livewireworld.net:

cquote|I have much more fun tweaking the fans than actually spelling anything out. If I definitely ... I certainly don't think we could say at this point that Rictor is definitively gay. I think we could make the argument that he's bi, but I don't see the point at this juncture in spelling it out – not because of any sense of homophobia or anything like that but out of a sense that I think it's more entertaining and more thought-provoking if we keep it ambiguous.

Rictor made this passing comment in #14 where he talks about gayness and then he says ‘not that I have any problem with it myself' and there are some people who interpreted it as a Seinfield ‘not that there's anything wrong with that' kind of thing and there are some people, including Rich Johnson (who reported that this exchange definitely made clear that Rictor was gay) ... I think it's much more interesting to have Rictor's comments be a litmus test for the agenda of the readers than if you just show him involved in some sort of bisexual relationship.In "X-Factor" #21, Julio and Rahne Sinclair share a romantic interlude, and presumably have sex, which may indicate that Rictor is either heterosexual or bisexual. It remains to be seen if Rictor and Rahne will continue their sexual relationship now that Rahne is on the new X-Force team.

Powers and abilities

In his early appearances, Rictor is capable of generating and releasing seismic energy and tremendously powerful waves of vibrations in any nearby object, causing objects to shatter or crumble. When used against objects with a larger surface, the effects are much like an earthquake.issue Rictor's powers appear to affect organic objects in much the same way as inorganic ones; he is depicted using them to explode a cactus plant in "X-Force" #25. He has expressed reluctance to use his powers in tectonically unstable areas, for fear that he could not control the effects, as when he visited the fictional island of Madripoor, which is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, in "New Mutants" #93 (September 1990).

In "New X-Men" #128 Jean Grey also states that Rictor has some kind of telepathic defense against Weapon XII's infestation.

In issue #1 of the 2005 relaunch of "X-Factor" #1, he is depicted as suicidal, lamenting the loss of his power due to the events of Marvel Comics' "House of M" limited series. During the series he tells of how he had some sort of empathic connection with the earth itself and misses it.

Rictor's body briefly had Terrigen Crystals embedded in his back, small fragments left over from when Quicksilver's crystals had exploded. [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11738] In a confrontation with the Isolationist, Rictor's was shown to be immune to or resisting the various powers the Isolationist manifested because of these crystals. Physical contact with Rictor reversed the villain's Colossus-like transformation, a direct assault with Cyclops-like optic blasts had no effect, and an Iceman-style ice construct melted around Rictor. According to writer Peter David, these crystals have since burnt out. [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11738]

In other media

Television

* Rictor made a cameo in the "X-Men" episode "Slave Island."

* The character of Avalanche as portrayed in the "X-Men Evolution" animated series appears to be an amalgam of the characters of Avalanche and Rictor in the mainstream comic. While bearing the codename "Avalanche" and a similar costume to the comic villain, the character, named "Lance Alvers" (Avalanche's real name being "Dominic Petros" in the comics), physically resembles Rictor from the comic books and channels his powers in the same way. Alvers is also a much less willing villain, at one point even joining the X-Men. Alvers' ethnicity is never clearly defined in the series, although his skin color is slightly darker than much of the main cast. Much like Kurt Wagner's name was mispronounced on the show, some fans have speculated that his surname may be a corrupted form of Alveres or Alverez. Throughout the series Lance Alvers had only one girl on his mind: his sometimes-girlfriend Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat, who in one episode referred to Avalanche as "The Walking Richter Scale".

Footnotes