Archer (comics)

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caption=Archer
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Archer
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="X-Factor" #140
creators= Howard Mackie (writer)
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
real_name=
alliances=Xavier Security Enforcers X-Factor
species=Human Mutant
aliases=Jude Black
powers=Energy form
Energy blasts
Superhuman agility

Archer, who later took the identity of deceased international criminal and wife abuser, Jude Black, is a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics Universe. He was a member of the second group of X-Factor. His first appearance was in "X-Factor" vol. 1 #140.

Fictional character biography

In his future, Archer was part of an elite group of mutants called the Xavier's Security Enforcers (X.S.E), where he was teamed up with Greystone, Fixx, Bishop, Shard and many others. Once a "perfect soldier", the turning point in Archer's life was when his wife Annie, and son Connor, were killed by rogue mutants in cold blood, after which he decided that X.S.E. was ineffective and was recruited into the Xavier's Underground Enforcers (X.U.E.).

A brilliant combatant with vast knowledge of his future, he used Fixx's psi-link with Shard to time travel to the present-day in the hope of preventing certain atrocities from happening in the Marvel Universe's timeline so that his timeline may never occur. The only way that he and his team could travel to the past was by being transformed into one of Fixx's psychic fairies via Shard and, fortunately for them, they were able to inhabit the bodies of three recently deceased victims of a bus hijacking which led to a crash. Archer took over the body of an international terrorist named Jude Black (the bus hijacker) and along with Fixx and Devlin Greystone set out to carry out their mission -- to destroy the future era in which they lived by stopping the events that put its horrors into motion.

To do this, the X.U.E. lured Mystique to them in order to gain her (and X-Factor's) participation to stop the Dark Beast who kept a strain of the Legacy Virus infecting humans in a subterranean lab. In the future, Havok of X-Factor unwittingly unleashes this strain onto humanity, an act which leads to anti-mutant hate and fear, mutant roundups and mutant branding-in essence, the Gene War of Bishop's era (first mentioned in X-Treme X-Men #4).

In the future, one of the most notorious mutant contentration camp officials who tortured mutants was named Micah Leash—but in the present he was only an innocent child. In the future, Micah-a human badly scarred about the face-personally killed Greystone's mother before the Summers Rebellion occurred, a joint uprising of humans and mutants who ended up freeing mutants from the camps. In this era, Greystone set out to kill the boy—seeing it as the only solution—but Fixx and Archer eventually came to realize that it is unethical to sentence someone to a crime they have not yet committed. It's also highly unlikely that due to his past, Archer would wish to see a child killed, anyway.

By saving the young Micah from a doomsday cult whose leader nearly scarred him, Fixx and Archer felt they helped prevent the possible cause of the boy's future evil. They convinced Greystone of this also, and later joined X-Factor but their tenure was short-lived.

Greystone slowly developed temporal insanity, believing that his mission was accomplished, and he could go home to a better world and be reunited with his mother, who might theoretically be alive. In an attempt to return to his own time, Greystone built a flying time machine, but due to shoddy craftmanship and unsound theories, the craft exploded, seemingly killing Greystone and Havok, who was attempting to stop him. Initially, Archer discovered that Jude Black was an international terrorist who had a family (a wife named Rachel and a son named Cal), and—wanting to have a second chance as a father.

In fact, before his death, Jude was tried in absentia by the Genoshan government for the murder of several hundreds of innocents. Upon meeting Jude Black (who was now Archer) in New Jersey a mysterious trio of Genoshan fighters attempted to exectue him until Archer bargained his life for that of his Jude's family. The Genoshans agreed, but were defeated by X-Factor who soon arrived in New Jersey and fought them. Archer quit X-Factor to go and live with them, hoping to replace the family he lost years before in the future.

It is unknown whether Archer retains his mutant abilities after the events of M-Day.

Powers and abilities

Archer can transmute his body into pure energy, and can shoot plasma bolts, control almost all forms of energy, and has superhuman agility.

He is an expert tracker, tactician and hand-to-hand combatant.

External links

* [http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/characters/showquestion.asp?fldAuto=184 Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Archer]