Hellions

There have been several groups of fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe who have been known as the Hellions. These groups were rivals of various teams of younger mutant heroes in the X-Men franchise.

The first and most notable incarnation of the Hellions were students of Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club's Massachusetts Academy, and were rivals of the New Mutants. Years later, another group of Frost's students, this time at the Xavier Institute, would name themselves "the Hellions"; they too would be rivals of a group calling themselves "the New Mutants".

Hellions (Massachusetts Academy)

Hellions
The Hellions battle their rivals, the New Mutants, in their first appearance. Cover to The New Mutants #16 (June 1984), art by Tom Mandrake.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The New Mutants (vol. 1) #16 (June 1984)
Created by	Chris Claremont Sal Buscema
In-story information
Base(s)	Massachusetts Academy
Member(s)	White Queen (teacher) Beef Bevatron Cannonball Catseye Cypher Empath Firestar (unofficial) Jetstream Karma Magik Magma Mirage Roulette Tarot Thunderbird Wolfsbane

The original group of Hellions were apprentices of the Hellfire Club and students of its White Queen Emma Frost. While attending classes at Frost's Massachusetts Academy, these young mutants secretly trained in the use of their powers in an underground complex beneath the school. They were longtime rivals of the Professor Charles Xavier's students, the New Mutants, and once held their own against the X-Men. The original Hellions were:

• Empath (Manuel de la Rocha); a handsome, yet cruel and arrogant young Spanish man with the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. After a brief attempt at reforming he is currently incarcerated in the X-Men's virtual reality prison on Utopia. He is also one of only two original members still alive.
• Catseye (Sharon Smith), an American girl who could transform her body into a purple feline or semi-feline state and shift her size between that of a house cat or a panther, with razor sharp claws, enhanced senses and physical attributes, and a prehensile tail. Catseye originally believed she was a cat with the ability to transform into a human.
• Jetstream (Haroun ibn Sallah al-Rashid), from Morroco, could generate bio-thermal energy that allowed him to propel himself through the air and move at superhuman speeds. Aided in flight by bionically-implanted jets that focus his energies and a cybernetic guidance system.
• Roulette (Jennifer Stavros), an American girl from Atlantic City who could psionically influence probabilities, usually through colored disks of energy she generated and threw towards her targets: white disks for good luck, black disks for bad.
• Tarot (Marie-Ange Colbert), from Lyon, France. She could psionically manifest the images on her tarot cards as physical constructs, and possessed a limited precognitive ability focused through her cards. She was resurrected by Christopher Aaronson, but returned to death after he was depowered by the events of M-Day.
• Thunderbird (James Proudstar), the younger brother of deceased X-Man John Proudstar (the original Thunderbird), who possessed similar superhuman physical attributes, senses, and healing ability. He and Empath are the only surviving members of the original team. He reformed and has served on the several X-Men teams and is currently a member of the latest incarnation of X-Force.

White Queen Emma Frost had another potential Hellion in Firestar (Angelica Jones), but kept the girl from joining the team on field missions while grooming her to be Frost's personal assassin. Firestar eventually learned of Frost's plans and left the Massachusetts Academy.^[1]

After suffering a severe trauma at the hands of the Beyonder,^[2][3] a number of the New Mutants were transferred to the Massachusetts Academy by Magneto (then headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters), due to their apparent need for psychic therapy from Emma Frost.^[4] While at the Academy, the transferred New Mutants - Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, Cypher, Magik, and Magma - were inducted into the Hellions.^[5] However, they soon returned to Xavier's School after their recovery and the revelation that the White Queen had employed Empath to coerce Magneto into allowing the transfer.^[6] After an alliance between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club^[7] and Magneto's ascension to the Inner Circle as its White King,^[8] relations between the Hellions and New Mutants improved.

Magma, realizing she held feelings for Empath, eventually returned to the Hellions and the Massachusetts Academy;^[9] the two would later leave the team to travel to her home in Nova Roma.^[10] James Proudstar also left the Hellions, reemerging with Cable and the remnants of the New Mutants in X-Force.^[11]

Superstrong and durable Beef (Buford Wilson) and bioelectricity-projecting Bevatron (Fabian Marechal-Julbin) were later additions to the group, and were present when the Hellions unsuccessfully challenged the New Warriors over the allegiance of their former member, Firestar.^[12]

The original Hellions however came to an end when Trevor Fitzroy and a squadron of Sentinels attacked a Hellfire Club function; Jetstream and Beef were killed immediately,^[13] while Tarot, the rest of the Hellions and many guests, erroneously believed to be unnamed Hellions were captured and drained of their life energies by Fitzroy.^[14] Emma Frost's guilt over her students' deaths led to her eventual reform. These Hellions were some of the many deceased mutants resurrected via the Transmode Virus by Selene and Eli Bard during the Necrosha storyline running through New Mutants, X-Force and X-Men: Legacy. They are apparently killed again at the end of their battle with the New Mutants.

Emplate's Hellions

The next group of Hellions was organized by the parasitic Emplate to attack Generation X, the new class of Emma Frost's students. This group appeared only once,^[15] and consisted of:

• Lady Gayle Edgerton (the former girlfriend of Generation X's Chamber),^[16]
• Vincente Cimetta (an alternate version of whom had previously appeared as a member of the Age of Apocalypse's Generation Next)
• Bulwark (Oswald Boeglin)
• D.O.A. (George Baker)
• Murmur (Allan Rennie)
• Nocturne (Bridget Warner)
• Wrap (Nick Bisley)

Bulwark would soon reappear alongside Emplate,^[17] but was later captured and killed by the revamped Weapon X program.^[18]

A second group led by Emplate also made a brief appearance.^[19] In addition to D.O.A. and Vincente, who now had the ability to change the chemical composition of his vaporous form, their ranks consisted of Wrap, another mummified mutant whose body was made of raw energy which increased his strength, and a female who could release psionic bolts of "ebon" energy which disrupts the central nervous system of her targets and destabilizes molecular bonds in inorganic materials.

Of note is the fact that Emplate never called his group the "Hellions"; this name was only attached in Marvel Comics' advertising.^{[citation needed]}

The New Hellions

A group of self-proclaimed "New Hellions" emerged to fight X-Force, whose members included some from the team's past:

• King Bedlam (Christopher Aaronson), their leader, and brother of X-Force member Jesse Bedlam.
• Tarot (Mari-Ange Colbert), an original Hellion inexplicably resurrected, Tarot's life was somehow joined to King Bedlam.
• Magma (Amara Juliana Olvians Aquilla), former New Mutant.
• Feral (Maria Callasantos), a former member of X-Force.
• Paradigm, a mutant infused with techno-organic material extracted from the alien Phalanx.
• Switch (Devon Alomar), who could switch minds with an individual to possess their body.
• Jesse Bedlam, who briefly defected from X-Force to join his brother and the New Hellions.

Hellions (Xavier Institute)

Hellions
Emma Frost with the new Hellions. Cover to New X-Men: Hellions #1, art by Clayton Henry.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New X-Men: Academy X #2
Created by	Christina Weir Nunzio DeFilippis
In-story information
Base(s)	Xavier Institute for Higher Learning
Member(s)	Emma Frost (advisor) Hellion Mercury Rockslide Tag Dust Icarus Wither

After the reopening of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and the formation of various training squads, one such group of students, under the tutelage of headmistress Emma Frost, was dubbed "the Hellions".^[20] They had an intense rivalry with another such group, the New Mutants, echoing the relationship between the two original groups of the same name. Membership consisted of:

• Hellion (Julian Keller) - Squad leader and telekinetic.
• Mercury (Cessily Kincaid) - Mercury form can transition from solid to liquid.
• Rockslide (Santo Vaccarro) - Durable granite outer layer; uses body parts as re-attachable projectiles.
• Tag (Brian Cruz) - Places a psionic broadcast on a person that repels or attracts those around him.
• Dust (Sooraya Qadir) - Changes her entire body into sand form which allows her to move around in blasts.
• Icarus (Jay Guthrie) - Feathered wings granting flight. healing factor
• Wither (Kevin Ford) - Rapidly deteriorates organic matter with his body upon direct contact. Formerly a member of the New Mutants Training Squad, Wither switched to the Hellions due to a dislike of teacher Dani Moonstar, a hatred for fellow teammate Elixir, and a betrayal by his fellow New Mutants.

Specter (Dallas Gibson) was part of the initial lineup (which didn't include Dust or Icarus), but was not in the finalised team. Anole (Victor Borkowski), like Specter, never formally joined the Hellions Training Squad, but was mentored by Emma Frost until he ultimately changed advisors to Northstar.

After M-Day, the cataclysmic event that decimated the world's mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute retained their powers, and the remaining students were folded into a single training squad, the New X-Men. The Hellions were however fortunate, with only one member - Tag - depowered. Wither ran away from the Institute after injuring a fellow student; he is currently homeless and has come under the influence of Selene.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

The original Hellions appear briefly in the Age of Apocalypse universe as former agents of Apocalypse. After his death, they became renegades and were hunted down and captured by the X-Men for the United States government. Their fates after being remanded into government custody is unknown.

House of M

During the Scarlet Witch's reality warp in the House of M storyline, Wind Dancer, Hellion, Synch, Surge, Quill, and Illyana Rasputin are members of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Hellion Squad, led by Danielle Moonstar.

See also

• Massachusetts Academy
• Hellfire Club
• New Mutants

References

1. ^ Firestar #1-4
2. ^ The New Mutants #37
3. ^ Secret Wars II #9
4. ^ The New Mutants #38
5. ^ The New Mutants #39
6. ^ The New Mutants #40
7. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #209
8. ^ The New Mutants #51
9. ^ The New Mutants #56-57
10. ^ The New Mutants #62
11. ^ The New Mutants #99
12. ^ New Warriors #9-10
13. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #281
14. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #282
15. ^ Generation X #11-12
16. ^ X-Men: Prime
17. ^ Generation X #14
18. ^ Weapon X vol. 2, #5 (March 2003)
19. ^ Generation X #57
20. ^ New X-Men: Academy X #2

External links

• Uncannyxmen.net article on the original Hellions
• Uncannyxmen.net article on the New Hellions
• Hellions Squad Page at UXN.net