Wither (comics)
| Wither | |
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 Wither Art by Paco Medina |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Mutants, vol. 2 #3 (September 2003) |
| Created by | Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir Keron Grant |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Kevin Ford |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Hellions training squad New Mutants training squad Xavier Institute |
| Partnerships | Selene |
| Abilities | Disintegration |
Wither (Kevin Ford) is a fictional character, a mutant appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He has been a member of the student body at the Xavier Institute, a member of the Hellions training squad, and a supervillain as a part of Selene's Coven.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Early life
Kevin Ford developed his mutant powers at an unfortunate and unlucky time. Panicking as his clothes began to decay, his father tried to calm him down and Kevin's power reduced him to dust. He has always considered himself cursed. A talented artist, Kevin lived in a scrap yard for a while (killing the guard dog with his touch, naturally) and turned unwanted scrap into beautiful art.
[edit] Worst Fear
He was found and brought to the Xavier Institute, where he met and developed a crush on Laurie Collins. However, when the cyborg Donald Pierce attacked and impaled Laurie, Kevin lashed out and decayed the skin off of Pierce's face and skull. Dani Moonstar was forced to stop him by showing him his worst fear - killing Laurie. In the aftermath of this, and realizing that using his power "felt right", which frightened him, he left the Institute.[1]
[edit] Return
Some months later Dani, with the help of Emma Frost, set out to bring him back to the school to fill the sixth place on the formalized New Mutants squad. While Kevin was still angry at Dani, Emma managed to persuade him to return, and he joined the New Mutants squad under the codename Wither. Clashing with Elixir, the current object of Laurie's affections who he'd last seen as one of Pierce's Reavers, Mercury (the only person he could touch without killing) reached out to him, having developed a crush on him. Shortly after he returned to the school, he was arrested by the FBI for killing his father. While the Hellions tried to "rescue" him (Mercury coming in through a window to let him know), the New Mutants tried to stop them - fearing the consequences of involving the Institute in a fight with the FBI - until the X-Men arrived and ended the fight, taking them all back to the Institute before they were discovered. Kevin however saw this as the final straw (having first been turned over to the FBI by Dani), and he swapped squads with Icarus to become a Hellion.[2]
During Kevin's time at the Institute, he discovered the White Queen's diamond form is impervious to his powers.[volume & issue needed]
He discovered Elixir's former relationship with Wolfsbane and revealed it to the school, successfully ending Josh's relationship with Laurie.[3]
Kevin spends some time vacationing with the Hellion squad. They get caught up with the powerful 'Kingmaker' who grants people their wishes in return for favors later. Kevin spends some time withot his powers due to drugs supplied by their new ally. However, once the Hellions discover the favor is stealing a biological weapon, they rebel. Kevin loses access to the drugs. He uses his powers to destroy the weapon.[4]
[edit] Post M-Day
After M-Day, when most of the world's mutants lost their powers, Kevin mistakenly believed he had lost his powers like most of the mutant population. When he touched Laurie's hand, however, it withered, although it didn't kill her. Kevin spent several issues feeling guilty and depressed. After a session in David Alleyne's Danger Cave, Kevin overheard Julian Keller referring to him as "dangerous". Kevin, once again, ran away from the institute.[5]
[edit] Selene
Kevin went to Mutant Town, and lived in the company of an old lady, who was actually Selene, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, in disguise. Selene was responsible for the killings of nineteen people in District X and the police tracked her down. Just as Selene (in the guise of the old woman) sucks the life-force out of two of the policemen, she gets shot. Kevin enters the room and watches the old lady fall to the ground and he kills another two policemen in a rage. Wither and Selene are finally shown to be in a lip-locked embrace as Kevin accepts Selene's offer to be her "king" as they fade away, presumably to Selene's dimension.[6]
[edit] Necrosha
The Wither/Selene plot continued in Necrosha, which runs through X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy, beginning in October 2009. He plays a major role in the storyline.[7] Previews for the upcoming Necrosha event show Wither working with Selene along with other mutants with death related powers. Prior to the events of Necrosha, Wither is living a life of luxury with Selene but he still has feelings for Laurie and because of this is still reluctant to use his powers. Selene takes him into the city and she captures a young couple on a date. She tells Kevin to use his powers to feed off the couple but he remains hesitant. To provoke him Selene uses her sorcery to make the couple appear as Laurie and Elixir, with Elixir taunting him by saying that Kevin hurt Laurie but he was able to fix her and he will make her happy in ways that Kevin never could, before kissing Laurie. Driven to a rage Kevin kills "Elixir" saying that Elixir was finally getting what he deserved. After the man was killed Kevin saw the woman for who she really was but killed her anyway, finally accepting his powers and what he is.[8]
Wither is among Selene's Inner Circle, dispatched to retrieve Selene's mystical knife from the X-Men. During the resulting fight, he is distracted by Dust, her transient form proving difficult for him to affect. However, when Onyxx attacks, Wither uses his powers to disintegrate his rocky form, killing him instantly.
During a quarrel with Eli Bard, Wither transforms, revealing that Selene has used her powers to make him an immortal vampire, much like Bard. Bard is then killed immediately after their argument by Selene herself, to Wither's delight. Once Selene absorbs the souls of the resurrected mutants, Wither proudly exclaims "Welcome to the new order!". Elixir and Wither finally face against one another. Wither accuses Elixir of failing to save Wallflower. This causes him to switch from his Gold Healing form to his Black Death form, which overwhelms Wither's destructive power and Elixir kills him, completely disintegrating his body.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Wither decays, and eventually disintegrates, organic matter by touch — a power which is involuntary. With extended contact he would reduce almost anything — or anyone — organic to dust. As a result of his power he is only able to wear clothing made of synthetic textiles. This power is even more difficult to deal with due to Kevin's self-styled interpretation that his ability wants him to use it. It has a "hunger", which gives Kevin a desire to use it, though this could just be a psychological aspect of his power. He is also sometimes shown to see things in their decayed form, such as live pigeons appearing to be decayed through his eyes. He had the ability to put out fire with his bare hands in a few issues. During the Necrosha crossover Wither was somehow able to disintegrate and kill Onyxx, despite his granite skin.[9] During a later confrontation with Eli Bard, Wither shows also that he now can turn himself to a vampire-like being, due to Selene's manipulation.[10]
[edit] Other versions
[edit] House of M
Wither works alongside Elixir as an interrogator for S.H.I.E.L.D. Wither uses his power to decay a part of his victim nearly to death, at which point Elixir steps in and uses his power to heal the victim. The process is apparently extremely painful. Wither also wears a containment suit, although Elixir comments that he doesn't need it and only wears it for psychological effect.
[edit] X-Men: The End
Wither saves Joanna Cargill from a Warskrull posing as Genesis. After he kills the Warskrull he hopes Dani can forgive him for using his powers to kill.
