New X-Men (2004 series)

New X-Men
File:NWXM0043 cov.jpg Cover art for New X-Men #43. Art by Skottie Young.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
No. of issues	New X-Men: 42 (ongoing)
Main character(s)	Surge Dust Hellion Elixir Mercury Rockslide X-23
Creative team as of June 2007
Created by	Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir various artists
Written by	Craig Kyle Chris Yost
Artist(s)	Skottie Young
Penciller(s)	Skottie Young
Inker(s)	Skottie Young
Colorist(s)	Jean Francois Beaulieu

New X-Men refers to two superhero comic books published by Marvel Comics within the hugely popular X-Men franchise. The first was New X-Men, a title that was in use during Grant Morrison's tenure on X-Men. This article concentrates on the second series New X-Men, originally titled New X-Men: Academy X and a continuation of New Mutants.

New X-Men (also New X-Men: Academy X), relaunched from New Mutants volume 2, was launched during the X-Men ReLoad event. It resumes directly where the most recent New Mutants series ended, with the same writers, artists and cast of characters. The Academy X subtitle was dropped from the title when the new creative team of Craig Kyle and Chris Yost took over the series with Issue #20.

Whereas the other X-Men comics mostly deal with established adult mutants, this comic concentrates on the lives of young students residing at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as they learn to control their powers and, as of late, to survive the backlash against mutants that befell them as part of House of M.

Founding

New Mutants/New X-Men began where Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men ended. The school was rebuilt and Emma Frost and Cyclops were named the headmasters of the school. They organized the students fifteen-years-old and older into several squads who trained together.

Featured are two teams, the New Mutants, whose members tend to be more clean-cut, and the Hellions, whose members are generally more belligerent. The rivalry—not only academically, but certainly also in private matters—plays a significant role in the series.

The cast of this series are described in the following paragraphs.

Squads

New Mutants squad

The New Mutants squad's tutor is Dani Moonstar. It is co-led by Wind Dancer and Prodigy.

• Wind Dancer, a.k.a. Sofia Mantega. A girl from Venezuela who controls winds. (Depowered)
• Prodigy, a.k.a. David Alleyne, could absorb any non-superhuman talents from nearby people. (Depowered)
• Icarus, a.k.a. Jay Guthrie, can fly, sing mesmerizingly and heal himself rapidly. (Deceased)
• Wallflower, a.k.a. Laurie Collins, exudes pheromones which alter the feelings of other people. (Deceased)
• Elixir, a.k.a. Josh Foley, is an Omega-class biological manipulator who ironically was a rabid mutant-hater before he found out he was one himself.
• Surge, a.k.a. Noriko Ashida, is a Japanese-American girl who constantly absorbs static electricity and can discharge it as electric blasts or bursts of superhuman speed .

Hellions squad

The Hellions squad's tutor is Emma Frost. It is led by Hellion.

• Hellion, a.k.a. Julian Keller, is telekinetic.
• Dust, a.k.a. Sooraya Qadir, is a shy girl from Afghanistan who can turn herself into a living whirlwind of dust. She regularly dresses in a niqab.
• Mercury, a.k.a. Cessily Kincaid, a shapeshifter whose body is composed of non-toxic liquid mercury.
• Rockslide, a.k.a. Santo Vaccaro, consists of solid rock and can shoot his appendages at targets.
• Tag, a.k.a. Brian Cruz, could psionically "tag" a person so that bystanders are compelled to run away from the person. (Deceased)
• Wither, a.k.a. Kevin Ford, can destroy organic matter on touch. He accidentally killed his father when his powers manifested. (Ran away)

Other squads

There are also other teams advised by different X-Men. For a complete list of students prior to Decimation see Xavier Institute student body.

• Alpha Squadron, tutored by Karma (formerly by Northstar). Consists of:
  • Anole (leader),
  • Rubbermaid(Depowered/Deceased),
  • Indra,
  • Kidogo(Depowered),
  • Loa,
  • Network(Depowered/Deceased).

• The Corsairs advised by Cyclops consists of:
  • Stepford Cuckoos (co-leaders),
  • Specter (Depowered),
  • Dryad (Depowered/Deceased)
  • Quill.(Deceased)

• The Paragons, tutored by Magma (formerly tutored by Wolfsbane), consists of :
  • Match (leader)
  • Trance
  • Wolf Cub
  • Pixie
  • D.J.(Depowered/Deceased)
  • Preview(Depowered).

• Gambit's squad, introduced in X-Men, consists of:
  • Bling!
  • Flubber(Depowered)
  • Onyxx
  • Rain Boy(Depowered)

• Rogue's squad, shown in Uncanny X-Men was never named.

• Storm's squad that was mentioned in New X-Men has one survivor, the student called Gentle.

• The Excelsiors, Iceman's squad,the Exemplars, whose mentor is Beast,and the Acolytes whose mentor is Colossus have only been mentioned, never having appeared.

Unknown

It is possible that Armor and Blindfold are part of the same squad due to their uniforms have matching colors in issue # 23.

Depowered

The status of many depowered students has not yet been made clear. At least 42 depowered students died in Stryker's attack). Specter, Wind Dancer, Beak, Angel Salvadore, Aero, and Preview are currently the only identified depowered students, who no longer reside at the Institute that are defintively still alive.

New X-Men

Decimation

File:Newx-men20.jpg

Cover of New X-Men #20, pencils by Mark Brooks. This issue marks not only a new direction for the title, but the dropping of Academy X from its title.

As a result of the Decimation event, in which the Scarlet Witch's magicks de-powered most of the mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning still retain their powers, and the comic changed its name to simply New X-Men. In response to the increasingly desperate situation that mutants now faced, Emma Frost has disbanded all the former training squads (most of which had lost much of their membership to the Decimation) and integrated those students she deemed capable of combat, including new addition X-23, to a new team that is essentially a junior team of X-Men, while relegated the others to the sidelines and an unknown future, since Emma seems to have abandoned the general education program formerly in place at the school.

Crusades

Issues #24-27
Of the former New Mutants, Prodigy lost his powers; Wind Dancer left the school almost immediately, but Prodigy has been forced to stay to avoid wide-spread attacks worldwide against former mutants who are now seen as easy targets by mutant-haters. 42 of the other de-powered students were killed in an attack by the anti-mutant fanatic, Reverend William Stryker. Furthermore, Icarus was misled by Stryker into allowing his wings to be amputated, and was later killed by Stryker after serving his purpose in leading the former Hellion Dust to her apparent death (although the "vision" showed Dust disappearing as a threat, it was later revealed that the girl who had arrived in the burqa was actually X-23, Dust's roommate with a nearly undefeatable healing factor). A sniper working for Stryker was responsible for the shooting death of Wallflower. Elixir, who had a former romantic relationship with Wallflower and witnessed her death, was reduced to a near-catatonic state over this event compounded with his inability to save any of his former classmates after Stryker's prior attack.

Nimrod

Issues #28-32
The New X-Men were able to defeat the Purifiers and Elixir killed Stryker, which caused his gold skin to turn black. Soon after they received a visit from Ms. Marvel who informed them that Jay was dead and that he had written the letters NIMR on the ground next to him. David deduced that it was Nimrod and was proven right when they received a distress call from Forge, who was forced to repair Nimrod for fear that Storm may be hurt. They then went off, with David in tow, to help Forge, only to be shot down by Nimrod and attacked by a horde of robots. Forge tricked Nimrod into downloading into a new prototype body he had built that has a firewall to keep Nimrod from harming mutants. Nimrod was sent to help the New X-Men defeat the robots, but was mistaken for a threat. When he was attacked, his prime directive took over and he imploded part of the building.

Hellion protected the team from harm, and they attempted to defend themselves from Nimrod, but the robot proved to be unbeatable. Rockslide was incinerated, but was later reassembled with a new look, and the others were unable to defeat Nimrod until David and Forge figured out away to stop him by overflowing his power core. X-23, Mercury, and Surge managed to send Nimrod back in time. X-23 was severely injured, forcing Hellion to ask Emma Frost to push his powers to their fullest so he could make it back to the mansion for help. This caused him to increase his flight speed to above Mach-5 and even allowed him to destroy a Sentinel. Hellion forced Elixir to snap out of his catatonia to heal X-23 and then collapsed to the floor.

Mercury Falling

Issues #33-36
Later it was revealed that Wither has been living in Mutant Town with a strange woman who was revealed to be Selene, the Black Queen, who seduced him into using his powers to kill. This was aided by his discovery of Wallflower's death. Back at the mansion, a memorial was held to honor all the X-Men and students who perished. David decided to stay at the mansion after Cyclops praised him and Surge on the defeat of Nimrod. Hellion was unable to control his powers after they were "unlocked" and even the smallest use caused major force. Elixir told Beast about his desire to study up on the human body to gain greater control over his abilities. Mercury discovered that Emma has been harassing X-23, which causes her to become angry and take Laura off the grounds to talk with her. X-23 reveals that she knows about Mercury's obsolete need for food, and Mercury figures out about Laura's interest in Hellion. They are stopped when an assassin named Kimura blows up the coffee house and attacks them. Mercury is taken hostage and experimented on and tortured by scientists who are trying to find away to use the living mercury of which she is made as skin for Predator X. Mammomax is killed by the creature. X-23 returns to the mansion where Hellion decides to help her track Mercury down. They attack several places trying to get information. Hellion disapproves of X's lethal tactics and orders her not to kill again. Finally they go to the Owl who, after some persuasion, gives them the location. Surge and Prodigy attempt to recruit Bling onto the team, but she turns them down saying it is too dangerous and that she and Onyxx are leaving the mansion because it is unsafe. Surge and the rest of the New X-Men, along with Emma Frost, use Cerebra to locate them, but as soon as they come within range of the facility, Emma loses contact. The experiments on Mercury are successful and a skin is made for Predator X just as X-23 and Hellion arrive.

X-23 and Hellion are attacked by three beasts sporting Mercury's skin, and cannot seem to beat them back. When all hope seems lost, Emma, the New X-Men, and some members of the Astonishing X-men appear and help to rescue the team. Mercury regains most of her lost essence, but reveals that she can "feel" one more creature still alive.

Meanwhile, Kimura attacks X-23, but Emma catches her in the act and mentally tortures her, removing her memories of her loving grandmother, before commanding her to take out the remaining members of the institute that tortured X-23. Kimura reluctantly agrees.

Quest for Magik

Issues #37(prelude),#38-41
While Blindfold was telling the story of Limbo Belasco and Illyana Rasputin, the floor opened and they were transported into Limbo. Hellion and Surge were not taken because they were not inside with the others. Upon arrival Mercury, Dust, David, X-23, Elixir and other students are captured by Belasco and questioned on the whereabouts of Illyana Rasputin. Meanwhile another group of students including, Rockslide, Anole, Match, pixie, Blindfold, Gentle, Wolf Cub and Trance are trying to figure out what has happened but they are attacked by a group of Belasco's monsters. One of them slices of Anole's arm and Rockslide seemingly explodes when we tries to defend Blindfold. Meanwhile, Belasco questions David who continuously says he doesn't know where she is and when he says that she's dead Belasco rips his heart out and he falls to the floor, while Illyana reveals her self to the other group of students.

After Belasco kills David, X-23 breaks free and attacks Belasco. Elixir also breaks free and runs towards David lifeless body and trys to heal him. Suddenly, David's heart begins to grow back and he come back to life but, exhausted, Elixir collapses. X-23 continues to attack Belasco but he defeats her and then apparently kills her. This encourages Mercury and Dust to break free and attack Belasco. Meanwhile, Illyana explains to the students that she can defeat Belasco but she's needs a Soulsword because she's lost hers. Back on Earth, Surge and Hellion are with the O*N*E who are trying to figure what's going on. An agent tell them that Amanda Sefton was admitted to a hospital in Germany and she's in a coma. Valerie Cooper explains that as far as the X-Men know she was the current ruler of Limbo. Hellion and Surge demand that they be the one to go get her and find out information. Back in limbo, Illyana tells her pet to get Pixie for her. The other students try to defend her but fail, she then gets to Pixie and asks her for her soul. Pixie tells her no but then Illyana tells her that Belasco is killing her friends and that she can feel them dying. Pixie accepts her deal then and Illyana begins to take her soul.

World War Hulk

Surge, Hellion, Rockslide, Mercury, Dust and X-23 are training with Beast in the mansion when the Sentinels, which guard them, suddenly fly off. Beast tells the students that something must be happening if they are to fly off like that. Then The Hulk arrives. Beast warns the students that they might have to fight as he's never seen the Hulk like how he is. Really Mad. Beast goes to see Hulk and he demands to see Xavier but Beast tells him that he can't so Hulk attacks him. The students attack Hulk and pin him down. Beast instructs them to hit him hard. Beast gets back up and carries Elixir on his back, and charges towards The Hulk. Elixir touches the Hulk which stops his healing factor. The New X-Men Beast go in for an attack but Hulk isn't affected by Elixir's powers. He takes down Hellion first. Then Dust attacks him but Hulk gets her away by pulling a water pipe up from the ground and spraying it at her. Beast then attacks but Hulk punches him away. Rockslide goes in for an attack but Hulk rips of his arms, pins him down and rips of his legs and throws them very far away. X-23 goes in for an attack an Hulk thinks he has defeated her but is unaware that she was claw in her foot. She slashes his eyes which blind him. Surge now moves in and attacks him. Then Beast, Mercury and X-23 join in but Hulk's eyes grow back and punches them away. He grabs X-23 and throws her into the mansion. Mercury then tries to attack him from behind but he grabs her and squashes her against the ground. Hulk has defeated them all and is about the crush Beast and Elixir but Wolverine attacks him from behind. Hulk turns to find the Astonishing team ready to fight him. Hulk says he expected this fight but Professor X arrives and looks into Hulks mind and see's what happened to him to make him so angry. Xavier is deeply in shock after seeing what happened as is Beast, who apologizes. Hulk then asks Professor X what he would have said if he had been at the meeting which determined his fate.

M-Day "survivors"

It has been stated that the mutant student body in the academy dropped from 182 to 27 (though that number is technically inaccurate; 34 remain). The following are the students that have been confirmed to have retained their powers.

New Mutants (4)

• Joshua "Jay" Guthrie (Icarus) [deceased]
• Laurie Collins (Wallflower) [deceased]
• Joshua "Josh" Foley (Elixir)
• Noriko "Nori" Ashida (Surge)

Hellions (5)

• Julian Keller (Hellion)
• Sooraya Qadir (Dust)
• Cessily Kincaid (Mercury)
• Santo Vaccarro (Rockslide)
• Kevin Ford (Wither) [with Selene]

Corsairs (4)

• Celeste Cuckoo (The Three-In-One)
• Mindee Cuckoo (The Three-In-One)
• Phoebe Cuckoo (The Three-In-One)
• Maxwell Jordan (Quill) [deceased]

Alpha Squadron (3)

• Victor Borkowski (Anole)
• Paras Gavaskar (Indra)
• Alani Ryan (Loa)

Paragons (4)

• Ben Hammil (Match)
• Nicholas Gleason (Wolf Cub)
• Megan Gwynn (Pixie)
• Hope Abbott (Trance)

Gambit's Squad (2)

• Roxanne "Roxy" Washington (Bling!)
• Sidney Green (Onyxx)

Storm's Squad (1)

• Nezhno Abidemi (Gentle)

Other Students (5)

• Hisako Ichiki (Armor)
• Blindfold
• Ernst
• Martha Johansson (No-Girl)
• Laura Kinney (X-23)

Note: Although Quentin Quire is no longer a student at the Xavier Institute (as he has evolved to a higher state of being), he retained his powers and is being held in a containment unit at the school.

Most of the students listed above were confirmed in New X-Men #21 and in X-Men: The 198 Files. Indra and Quill were confirmed in Decimation - The Day After, while Bling was confirmed in X-Men vol 02 #177.[1]. Wallflower was killed by Reverend Stryker in New X-Men #26. Quill was killed by one of Stryker's henchmen in New X-Men #27. Icarus was shot by Stryker and died a few issues later.

X-Men trainees

In the aftermath of Decimation, these were the students who were left and what has happened to them.

• Anole [last seen being defeated after trying to protect Pixie, arm lost, grown a new one.]
• Armor [currently a member of the Astonishing team, also seen in Limbo]
• Blindfold [last seen defeated after trying to protect Pixie]
• Bling! [last seen captured by Belasco]
• Dust [last seen fighting Belasco]
• Elixir [last seen healing David after his heart was ripped out]
• Ernst [last seen captured by Belasco]
• Gentle [last seen protecting Pixie]
• Hellion [last seen demanding to go see Amanda Sefton]
• Indra [last seen captured by Belasco]
• Loa [last seen defeated after trying to protect Pixie]
• Match [last seen defeated after trying to defend Pixie]
• Mercury [last seen fighting Belasco]
• No-Girl [brought into Limbo with other New X-Men, She can be seen along with the Stepford Cuckoos wearing a special telepathy blocking helmet]
• Onyxx [last seen captured by Belasco]
• Pixie [last seen losing her soul for the Soulsword]
• Prodigy [depowered] [last seen trying to wake the exhausted Elixir]
• Rockslide [last seen exploding. Status uncertain]
• Stepford Cuckoos [last seen captured and incapacitated by Belasco]
• Surge [leader] [last seen demanding to see Amanda Sefton]
• Trance [last seen using her astral projection to warn the students who weren't captured of Belasco's return]
• Wolf Cub [last seen defeated after trying to protect Pixie]
• X-23 [brought into limbo, killed by Belasco, brought back to life by Belasco and killed again.]

External links

• New X-Men on Marvel.com

• New X-Men: Academy X