Joanna Cargill

Superherobox|

caption=Frenzy, art by Humberto Ramos.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Frenzy
real_name=Joanna Cargill
species=Human Mutant
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="X-Factor" #4 (May 1986)
creators=Bob Layton
Keith Pollard
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
status=Active
alliances=Acolytes
X-Men
Alliance of Evil
Femizons
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Superhuman strength and durability|

Joanna Cargill, also known as Frenzy, is a fictional character, a mutant supervillainess in the Marvel Comics universe.

Fictional character biography

Alliance of Evil

Originally a freelance mercenary, Frenzy joins together with three other mutants — Tower, Stinger, and Timeshadow — under the employ of Apocalypse, calling themselves the Alliance of Evil. After Tower's failed attempt to kidnap the mutant Rusty Collins, Frenzy is sent and put under direct conflict with X-Factor. Frenzy is unable to convince Rusty to join the Alliance, and fled after suffering defeat from X-Factor. The Alliance later reveals they had a power-enhancing accomplice named Michael Nowlan. After he tries to escape from the Alliance, the group threatens to kill Nowlan's girlfriend, Suzy. X-Factor interferes in the Alliance's plans, eventually defeating them and putting them into custody. ["X-Factor" #4-5] Frenzy and the others inevitably break out, opposing the Mutant Registration Act, but were defeated by the Beast. ["X-Factor" #6]

After another mission battling the New Mutants alongside the Alliance, Frenzy is defeated by Warpath. Cable frees Frenzy and questions who had hired her. She admits to being hired by A.I.M. to bodyguard Harness and Piecemeal. Cable then drops Frenzy from the helicopter they were on.

She eventually receives an invitation to join Superia's Femizons and accepted, joining the superhuman women aboard Superia's cruise-ship. She joins in the en masse attack on Captain America and Paladin, and traveled to Superia's Island to be one of her new Femizons. ["Captain America" #389-390]

Under unknown circumstances, she was once again imprisoned, but was able to break free from the Vault and created problems for the Avengers.

Acolytes

Frenzy eventually found acceptance under Magneto's teachings, joining the ranks of the second incarnation of the Acolytes. As was common among the Acolytes, she relinquished her codename, preferring to be called by her last name, Cargill. Their first mission was to capture a child with latent mutant powers from Our Mother of the Sacred Heart, a school. During the mission, Cargill killed Sharon Friedlander, and with her teammates Unuscione and the Kleinstock Brothers, battled the gold X-Men team. Having history with Gambit (they met and clashed during a mission when they were mercenaries-for-hire), she immediately went after him and Bishop. However, Gambit was able to defeat her by hitting her with a kinetically charged tire. The Acolytes were able to retreat, but fought the X-Men once again later that week. Cargill then battled Iceman, commenting on how she has changed since her days with the Alliance of Evil, but Iceman was able to knock her unconscious using his newly-acquired ice powers. Later, Cargill attempted to murder Senator Kelly, but was electrocuted by Wolfsbane.

After Magneto was revealed to be alive, Cargill was among the Acolytes who quickly turned on Fabian Cortez and joined Magneto in his mutant sanctuary, . While on a mission to recruit mutants into their cause, Cargill, along with Milan and Unuscione, found the young, meek boy Neophyte. After his betrayal of the Acolytes, Cargill was quick to vote guilty at his trial. During the Fall of Avalon, Cargill allied herself with long-time enemy Cyclops in order to survive, and she and her fellow Acolytes were able to escape the destroyed space station in time. They crash landed in Australia but were given to the authorities.

The Acolytes escaped prison and found the remains of Avalon, worshipping it and the return of Magneto. Exodus eventually took over leadership of the Acolytes, and Cargill participated in the attack on Mount Wundagore, the High Evolutionary's base of operations.

Mind Controlled

After the Acolytes disbanded, Cargill became the ambassador of Genosha to the United Nations and served as Magneto's right-hand woman.cite book | last = Sanderson | first = Peter | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City | publisher = Pocket Books | date = 2007 | location = New York City | pages = 49-51 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-14653-141-6] When the Avengers infiltrated Genosha, Cargill attacked She-Hulk with a punch that sent She-Hulk flying. After confronting Quicksilver over his choices with his father, Cargill was defeated by Scarlet Witch. Later, Cargill appeared on television, ordering that every country pledge loyalty to Magneto in order to be given some autonomy. She was eventually captured by the government in an attempt to find out more of Magneto's plans, but she refused to speak. Jean Grey freed Cargill and mind-controlled her. Cargill's knowledge of Genosha helped the X-Men find Magneto's base. The inexperienced X-Men attacked but were quickly defeated. Cargill was used against her will to battle Magneto, but she was ultimately constrained with a metal pillar. After Magneto's defeat, Cargill was freed from her mind-control, where she immediately left the X-Mansion.

After M-Day

Frenzy is one of the few mutants left after M-Day. She resurfaces alongside Random and Tempo as part of a new team of Acolytes led by Exodus. During their first mission, she is sent to distract the X-Men with Tempo, and succeeds in defeating Rogue. She is defeated by the combined effort of Mystique, Northstar, and Aurora by being thrown out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

Allied with Sinister

She regrouped with Exodus as he pledged his allegiance to Mister Sinister, and attacked the X-Mansion with her teammates in search of the Destiny Diaries. After discovering the copies in the mansion were fake, Frenzy and the Acolytes battled Shadowcat, Colossus, and the New X-Men. Frenzy, disgusted with Hellion's disrespect, immediately defeated him, and later battled X-23, who was able to draw blood from Frenzy's steel-hard skin. The Acolytes defeated the X-Men and returned to Mr. Sinister, with their mission being a failure.

Messiah Complex

During , Frenzy joined in the battle against the X-Teams, most often battling Colossus.

Divided We Stand

After the events of Messiah Complex, she escaped with the other Acolytes and Professor X's body, taking him to an unknown part of the world. Frenzy in particular did not want anything to do with Professor Xavier, and instead wished to kill him. After arguing with her fellow Acolytes over the matter, Frenzy confronted Xavier, Omega Sentinel, and a depowered Magneto, and attacked, severely damaging Omega Sentinel. She was stopped by Magneto, who used a surgical laser on Frenzy's eye to fry her brain. While Xavier thought she was dead, Magneto revealed she is most likely alive. Exodus, upon learning of this, swore to destroy Magneto.

Powers and abilities

Frenzy is a mutant that possesses steel-hard skin that makes her resistant to most forms of conventional physical injury, as well as temperature extremes. She has been shown to merely shrug off being covered in flames and is also highly resistant to microwave radiation. Frenzy also possesses superhuman strength. In her original appearances this was given as at most Spider-Man level, ["The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition" #12] but in later years she has evidently turned strong enough to battle characters like Rogue, and she managed to briefly exchange blows with She-Hulk. ["Magneto: Dark Seduction" #3]

Other versions

Marvel Zombies

In 2006, Cargill appears in the "Marvel Zombies" miniseries, along with some of her fellow Acolytes (Fabian Cortez, Scanner, Lisa Hendricks, Reynolds, Burns) and Forge as the few survivors hiding in Asteroid M from the hordes of zombies on Earth. She and the others make a few trips down to Earth in order to gather intelligence.

Weapon X

In the "Days of Future Now" storyline, Cargill appears as a member of Gene Nation.

What If

Cargill appears in two issues of "What If". The first depicts her as a member of the X-Men, but she eventually splits off with other villains such as Toad, Unus the Untouchable, and Pyro. Another has her fleeing for her life after confronting Apocalypse's Horseman of Death, Archangel, who thinks she is unworthy of living.

X-Men: The End

Cargill also appears in as a member of the X-Men who battle the Skrulls that took the forms of Genesis, Stryfe, and the Goblin Queen. She was one of the few survivors after the X-Mansion had been destroyed.

In other media

*Cargill appeared in the "Sanctuary" two-parter of the "X-Men" animated series. Though she did not have any speaking lines, she was a prominent member of the Acolytes. She also had a cameo in the first part of "One Man's Worth," where she was a member of the Mutant Resistance, but retained her Acolyte outfit.
*In the X-Men novel, "Mutant Empire", Cargill is among the Acolytes. She notes how much she likes Pyro's books.

Trivia

* Though Joanna Cargill's first and last name have been butchered into variations such as Johanna or Cargil, her name was first mentioned in "Uncanny X-Men" #298 as Joanna Cargill and thus is the actual spelling of her name.
* The hinted relationship between Cargill and Gambit was supposedly going to be elaborated on in Fabian Nicieza's "Gambit" series, but it was canceled before he could get around to it.
* Frenzy should not be confused with another Joanna Cargill, a columnist introduced in "Marvel Comics Presents" #27.

References

External links

* [http://www.marvel.com/universe/Cargill,_Joanna Cargill on the Marvel Entertainment Character Bio Wiki]