House of M (characters)

"House of M" was an eight-part comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005, as a follow-up to the events of the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, in which the mutant superhero Scarlet Witch suffered a mental breakdown and altered the fabric of reality. Many Marvel Universe characters underwent drastic changes in the altered world.

Avengers

With Captain America a retired old man, the Avengers might as well never came to be or had a short life without his presence. None of the original Avengers seem to know each other.

Captain America

Steve Rogers is now an aged veteran who obviously did not live through a suspended animation period like the mainstream Captain America. He lives in an apartment building in a Bronx neighborhood where it seems he's the only human, probably a privilege won from his service in WWII. His long-dead sidekick Bucky survived the fatal accident at the end of World War II, only to die later under mysterious circumstances in the 1970s as a part of a covert S.H.I.E.L.D. strike upon Genosha. Steve Rogers publicly quit being Captain America in 1950 when being grilled by Joseph McCarthy on his public association with known mutants and fellow Invaders, Namor and Toro, but still had enough influence to be the first man to walk on the moon two years later. Rogers' outspoken campaigning first against anti-mutant prejudice and then the rising fascism of Magneto has marginalized him into near obscurity nowadays.

Iron Man

Tony Stark is the owner of Stark Enterprises, a company given to him by his father. He is a winning contestant on 'Sapien Death Match', a reality TV fighting show which involves humans in power-armor battling each other. He lives in the shadow of his father, and has been developing a superior armor to protect himself. Iron Man earned the admiration of human and mutant alike, including Magneto himself, when he and a team of Sapien Death Match fighters stopped a terrorist plot to kill hundreds of mutants with 'gene bombs.'

On a related note, his father Howard Stark is alive in this reality before he was killed by Magneto.

=Hulk=

Bruce Banner is living with a tribe of Aborigines in Australia, where he is gaining mastery of his dual nature, and has been roped into AIM's resistance movement.

Luke Cage

Luke Cage is an underworld boss, employing many sapien heroes, including:

* Hawkeye
* Cloak
* Iron Fist
* Moon Knight
* Black Cat
* White Tiger
* Misty Knight
* Tigra (deceased)
* Mockingbird (former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent)
* Lotus Shinchuko

The Dragons

Based in Sapien Town and led by Shang-Chi, the group clash with Luke Cage and also have many sapien heroes including:

* Colleen Wing
* Swordsman
* Mantis
* Zaran
* Machete

Others

* Hank Pym is a disenfranchised worker in Stark Industries.
* Janet van Dyne is a fashion designer.
* Carol Danvers, a known sapien, is America's favorite superheroine and goes by the name of Captain Marvel.
* Wonder Man is a famous actor, and rumored to be having an affair with Carol Danvers.
* The Sentry is a disturbed father seeing Dr. Strange helping him with a nightmare he's been having.
* Falcon is a police detective, investigating Wilson Fisk's recent beating.
* The Vision is an experiment by Stark Enterprises.
* Jessica Drew is a member of the S.H.I.E.L.D Red Guard.
* Natasha Romanov is also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
* Black Panther controls a number of African nations apparently in a union with Storm.

Thunderbolts

* Abner Jenkins is a scientist secretly working for the Human Resistance, along with Erik Josten, who is part of an elite sapien military unit, the Howling Commandos, and Jim Sanders. The three, along with General "Dum Dum" Dugan, are attempting to create a chemical weapon to wipe out all the Kree on Earth, so the humans can strike an alliance with the Shi'Ar to overthrow the House of M.
* Dr. Chen Lu fights alongside Baron Strucker against both mutants and Kree.
* Genis-Vell is a private in the Kree Army, son of the celebrated Kree Hero Mar-Vell, living in his father's shadow. His Cosmic Awareness allows him to partially see through Scarlet Witch's alterations. Without the ability to fully control his power, he presents a threat to existence itself.

Spider-Man

Peter Parker is having the time of his life as a famous pro wrestler. He lives in a spacious condo with his wife Gwen and son Richie, and has Rhino as a bodyguard. He also owns a corporate empire that recently acquired Oscorp. Despite this luxurious life, Peter is living with the burden of a lie because the public doesn't know that his powers were not a mutation. He uses his wealth to protect his family from the racist world. Uncle Ben is still alive and he and Aunt May are in good health, Flash Thompson is a commentator on Sapien Death Match, J. Jonah Jameson is a maltreated publicist, and Mary Jane Watson has become a famous actress and appears to be dating Tony Stark and could be pregnant according to the Pulse.

Doctor Octopus

Otto Octavius is working on stem-cell research for the government.

X-Men

Heroes

It is not known whether the original roster of X-Men are either retired or were never X-Men.

Cyclops and Emma Frost

Scott Summers and Emma Frost are married and living in Connecticut. Emma is a social worker who is seeing the now-orphaned Franklin Richards. Cyclops is a pilot.

Beast

Hank McCoy is a scientist working with Hank Pym for Stark Industries. McCoy tends to mollify the increasingly isolated Pym, who suffers from anti-human racism, in order to protect him from harm. Here, Hank isn't in his beastly mutation.

Iceman

Bobby Drake is a Horseman of Apocalypse after being rescued by Apocalypse when Bobby's parents abandoned him.

Gambit

Remy LeBeau is a petty thief who is quickly apprehended by Carol Danvers.

torm

Storm is a Kenyan princess, In an alliance with the Black Panther.

hadowcat

Shadowcat is a history teacher at a Junior High School.

Colossus

Piotr Rasputin lives happily on a Russian farm.

Dazzler

Alison Blaire has a popular daytime talk show, although she is possibly suffering from a disease which is causing her light-show powers to fade.

Professor Xavier

Professor X "died so Genosha could live". No more is known about his death other than that which is written as an epitaph on his gravestone. Cloak discovered that there was no remains under the memorial during the raid on Magneto's Palace.

Wolverine

So far, Wolverine, who is part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s elite Red Guard, seems to be the only one who knows something is wrong in this world. In being granted his "one true desire", he now remembers his entire life, and wakes up knowing the world has been radically changed.

Psylocke

Psylocke is a member of the British Royal Family and must seal a breach in their universe, along with her twin brother, Captain Britain, Rachel Summers and Nocturne.

Time Travelers

Time-displaced characters are also accounted for in the House of M world:

* Bishop is a police detective in New York City.
* Cable is an infant raised by Mister Sinister.
* Marvel Girl is Psylocke's lady-in-waiting. Both Psylocke and Marvel Girl discover a quantum tear in a lighthouse shaped like an X. Along with Captain Britain and Nocturne, they must seal this breach to save their universe.

Villains

* Apocalypse still exists in this reality and rules Egypt with his Horsemen after siding with Magnus.
* Mastermind has been mentioned as a business rival of Tony Stark.
* Sabretooth is an assassin working for Magneto.
* The Weapon Plus Program serves the House of M and has created operatives up to Weapon XXXC.
* The Sentinels are controlled by the House of M and serve the government.

.H.I.E.L.D.

Sebastian Shaw is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Other X-Men characters working for SHIELD include:

* Mystique
* Rogue
* Nightcrawler
* Toad
* Captain John Greycrow
* Commander Garrison Kane

Australia

Four mutants govern Australia for Magneto, although they have recently fallen at the hands of an enraged Hulk:

* Exodus
* Pyro
* Unus the Untouchable
* Vanisher

=The Marauders=

A Genoshan black-ops team serving Magneto's government:

* Callisto serves as the team's leader
* Blob
* Phantazia
* Sunder
* T-Rex
* Banshee
* Mammomax
* Black Tom
* Caliban

Deadpool

During the "Enema of the State" story arc, Cable fought an evil entity and ended up missing in action. Although everyone presumed Cable to be dead, Deadpool ironically believes him still alive and asks Forge to create a device in order to track Cable down. With Siryn and Cannonball, Deadpool begins jumping from alternate earth to alternate earth finding many versions of Cable (in which he jokes, "what if Cable chose door number 2?"), from a Horseman of Apocalypse to a utopian ruler. He finally reaches the "real" Cable, except that he is a baby and under the care of Mister Sinister. When Deadpool finally grabs Cable, he unsuccessfully attempts to teleport out of the dimension, only to be impaled by Sinister. Deadpool, Cannonball, and Siryn are unaware that they are back in the regular 616 universe, but that the world around them has been transformed thanks to the interference of the Scarlet Witch.

Proteus

Moira MacTaggert is the most wanted sapien on the planet - for trying to undo her son's mutation - and is framed for the deaths caused by her son, Kevin MacTaggert. Kevin is also the most wanted mutant, known as 'Mutant X'. He has taken the body of Angel Salvadore, who is a rich model known widely.

NYPD/The Brotherhood

Since the rise of Mutants, most human officers were phased out (similar to what happened to S.H.I.E.L.D.), with the exception of Sam Wilson. A mutant strikeforce known as the Brotherhood is also implemented to take down organised crime.

* Commissioner Leland (mentioned only)
* John Proudstar (also the leader of the Brotherhood)

The Brotherhood

* Feral
* Taskmaster
* Blob
* Avalanche
* Boom Boom
* Frank Castle (only human in the team - defects to the "Avengers")

The Fearsome Four

The Fantastic Four never came to be as Reed Richards and Sue Storm mutated and died in a rocket explosion along with John James.

Johnny Storm become a contestant on "Sapien Death Match", where his power-armor has a "Flame On" ability.

Instead, there was a team known as the Fearsome Four,leaded by Victor Von Doom, monarch of Latveria, who hopes one day to overthrow Magneto. Other than Grimm, all members of the group received their powers from Doom's experiments on the corpses of Reed and Sue.

* Doctor Doom has a liquid-metal body, similar to the T-1000.
* Invincible Woman - Valeria Doom, Victor's wife, can create force bubbles and has minor molecular control.
* Inhuman Torch - Kristoff Vernard, Doom's adopted son, has flame powers and a demonic visage.
* The It - Ben Grimm was the pilot in Reed Richards' voyage to space, alongside Susan Storm and John Jameson. Like the others, Grimm was mutated, though he was the only survivor of the rocket's explosion. Ben was transformed into a rock-skinned creature with superhuman strength and a diminished intellect. He was taken by Doctor Doom, who named him the It. Serves as Von Doom's personal bodyguard, but is only as intelligent as a talking dog which it was why Doom treated him like an animal and was often the victim of Doom's frustrations. He is controlled by Valeria via a telekinetic "leash." Tired of being mistreated, the It betrayed Doom and sided with Polaris after Doom tried to kill Magneto and Quicksilver. After Doom was defeated, the It ended up meeting Alicia Masters, who took him to the Human Resistance.

Others

Daredevil

Matt Murdock does not appear as Daredevil, although Layla Miller makes a reference to him. It is suggested that Murdock is having a love affair with fellow lawyer Jennifer Walters.

The Pulse

Betty Brant and Kat Farrell are working as journalists. Jessica Jones is living in Queens and is apparently dating Scott Lang.

Ka-Zar

Kevin Plunder has been granted political asylum in the United States for his human rights activism in 'Pangea', possibly the Savage Land.

Purple Man

Zebediah Killgrave has no powers, and is a lobbyist for the government, with secret affiliations with the Human Resistance.

Layla Miller

Only Layla Miller appears to be aware of the changes wrought by Wanda. Layla restored the memories of several members of the Avengers and the most of the X-Men. Though an aged Captain America is "apparently" exempted from this - Wolverine commands Layla to leave him be, and he is not seen in any of the later action sequences - it is worth pointing out that HoM clearly shows Layla's eyes flashing green (the outward expression of her memory-returning trick) as she stares at him, implying she did restore his memory.

Wolfpack

A gang of superpowered sapien youths living in the Bronx, in which Luke Cage arranges a treaty between his team and them. The members are:

* Rapheal Vega (leader)
* Darkhawk
* Lightspeed
* Rage
* Speedball
* Turbo
* Zero-G