Ultimate X-Men

Publishing history

Commercial success

Characters

X-Men

• Professor Charles Xavier, telepath and telekinetic, is the founder and patron of the X-Men. He is an idealist and a pacifist, but less saintly than his mainstream counterpart. The Professor possesses vast knowledge and acquires advanced surgical skills he gleans from reading surgeons' minds. He is the ex-husband of Dr. Moira MacTaggert with whom he worked to help mutants, devising new therapies and surgical techniques for their unique patients, and had a son named David. Xavier has also been in relationships with Emma Frost and Mystique. He suffered a spinal injury at the hands of his old friend, Magneto during an escape from his increasingly militaristic island society, the Savage Land, an injury that left him a paraplegic and ultimately a wheelchair user. He has a business relationship with the mysterious Lilandra, the majestrix of the pagan Shi'ar cult. After Jean Grey is kidnapped by the time-traveling Cable, Professor Xavier reveals to Cyclops that he is in love with her. Professor X is seemingly killed when he dives to protect Cyclops from a bomb that Cable detonates. It is subsequently revealed that he did not die, but was transported to Cable's future. He is, however, murdered by Magneto in the Ultimatum miniseries.
• Angel, Warren Worthington III, is a handsome, shy, and winged mutant. He is Dazzler's boyfriend before she is put into a coma. He has been "expelled" from the X-Men; in reality, he is spying on Emma Frost for Xavier. Without Bishop's consent, Dazzler has recruited him to be a part of the new X-Men. Angel is later killed by Sinister as part of Apocalypse's resurrection, but is restored to life by the Phoenix. He is later killed again, by Sabretooth in Ultimatum.
• Beast, simian mutant and genius Henry "Hank" McCoy, is turned into a blue, furry beast by the insidious Weapon X project. He serves as the team's elite engineer, upgrading the Blackbird and Danger Room sequences. When chatting online to the Blob, he accidentally reveals Magneto survived Xavier's earlier attack. He has a troubled romance with Storm, until he is killed in a Sentinel attack. It is revealed that Hank has been alive all this time, secretly working for S.H.I.E.L.D. on the Legacy Virus, until he escapes to return to the X-Men and Storm. Beast eventually dies in the Ultimatum wave.
• Bishop, time traveler Lucas Bishop traveled from the future to the present in an attempt to save Charles Xavier from Cable, but failed and became stuck in the past. Bishop then formed an alternate team of X-Men consisting of Storm, Pyro, Dazzler, Angel, Wolverine and Psylocke. Wolverine stabbed and killed Bishop after he stopped the X-Men from preventing Angel's death.
• Colossus, Piotr "Peter" Rasputin, can turn into organic steel and reluctantly works as an arms smuggler before joining the X-Men. Recently, Colossus has made peace with his former friend Nightcrawler. Colossus in Ultimate X-Men can transmute his entire body into organic steel, a form which gives him seeming invulnerability and superhuman strength.
• Cyclops, Scott Summers, whose eyes emit concussive blasts, is the boy scout-like X-Men field leader. Initially shy and aloof, he learns to be an unrivaled leader and pursue his interests, notably the love of Jean Grey, an interest that has often puts him at odds with his teammate Wolverine. He revisits his dead parents in a dream world he calls "Corsair". After the "death" of Xavier, Cyclops disbands the X-Men to utilize the school as a safe haven and educational center for mutants. He is assassinated by Quicksilver at the end of the Ultimatum event.
• Dazzler, Allison "Ali" Blaire, is a tough-as-nails rock singer with photovoltaic powers who is heavily pierced and tattooed and wears slashed clothing. She becomes Angel's girlfriend after he takes the blame for something she does. She is stabbed and put into a coma by Storm's old mentor, Lady Deathstrike. During her recovery, Nightcrawler develops an obsessive crush on her, eventually culminating in him kidnapping her when she awakes. She leaves the team in disgust when Xavier tries to rehabilitate him. Bishop later recruits Dazzler as a member of his new X-Men team. She dies in the Ultimatum wave.
• Iceman, Robert "Bobby" Drake, is a hot-headed youth with cold-based powers, who is in the throes of puberty but loyal to the X-Men's cause. He is very fickle, pursuing girls then losing interest and back to being interested again. He has a fear of Magneto and is often seen eating or playing video games. Recently, he rekindled his relationship with Rogue when her absorbing powers were halted after she absorbed Gambit's powers for an extended period of time.
• Marvel Girl, or Jean Grey has telepathic and telekinetic powers. She is outgoing, witty and scathingly sarcastic, but can also be a very responsible young woman and is the unofficial second-in-command behind Cyclops. After an affair with Wolverine, she begins a steady relationship with Cyclops. The Shi'ar religion believes Jean to be the host of the Phoenix Force, their supposed god. Jean becomes the headmistress of the school, alongside Scott, after Xavier supposedly dies. When the X-Men battle Apocalypse, she merges with the Phoenix and destroys him with her god-like abilities and restarts time so this event will not happen. She leaves the team but returns promptly, to the surprise of the others.
• Nightcrawler, the Bavarian mutant teleporter Kurt Wagner, is a former Weapon X prisoner. He has a crush on Dazzler and is resentful that she chose Angel instead of him. Despite his own struggles with being rejected for being different, he is uncomfortable with Colossus' homosexuality and shuns him as a friend. He was being kept sedated after a failed attempt to kidnap Dazzler, but eventually escaped after Xavier's "death". Nightcrawler would go on to not only join the Morlocks but become their chosen leader. He is later killed in the Ultimatum wave.
• Northstar, Jean-Paul Beaubier, was once offered to join the X-Men but declined, saying that separating themselves from humans is segregation. He was later recruited by Emma Frost to join the Academy of Tomorrow, a magnet school for gifted children both mutant and human with a more pacifistic and integrationist philosophy than the X-Men. After a battle with Alpha Flight, Northstar's apparent former comrades, Colossus finds Northstar overdosing on the mutant drug, Banshee. The drug cripples Northstar from the waist down.
• Psylocke, Betsy Braddock, first appeared in the "World Tour" arc, during which she was assigned to search for Xavier's son, David. During the investigation, however, Betsy was possessed by David and he almost succeeded in killing Xavier and the X-Men. Betsy managed to overcome the possession for a brief moment and Colossus dropped a car on her, killing both Betsy and Proteus. Betsy's consciousness survived, however, somehow moving into the comatose body of an Asian girl named Kwannon. She is a powerful telepath who can create "psychic blades". Bishop recruits her into his new X-Men.
• Pyro, a pyrokinetic mutant whose name in this continuity remains unknown. First encountered by Nightcrawler after the supposed death of the Professor, Pyro had been a member of the Morlocks but decided to join the X-Men. This goal was achieved after Bishop and Storm recruited him onto the team. Psylocke decided to send him undercover into the Mutant Liberation Front as a spy, a post he was forced to abandon when the Front was attacked by Sentinels. Pyro then rejoined his teammates.
• Rogue, or Marian, originally drains life-force and memories on skin contact. She is abducted into the Weapon X program under unknown circumstances. Like her mainstream counterpart, she can absorb mutant powers. When she is liberated, she first joins the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, then defects to the X-Men, then leaves the team in the company of Gambit after her boyfriend Bobby Drake cheats on her with Kitty Pryde. After absorbing his powers, which last for an extended period of time, during a battle with Juggernaut, she inherits his energy-charging powers. This negates her absorbing power and she becomes able to touch people without draining their abilities or memories as shown when she and her ex-boyfriend, Iceman, have sex in the "Date Night" arc. These powers have since faded, leaving her with her previous absorbing powers.
• Shadowcat, Kitty Pryde, can walk through walls. She is a young, but dedicated girl. Like her mainstream counterpart, her devotion to her Jewish faith is evidenced by her ever-present Star of David. In Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1 she begins dating Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. She left the team to live with her mother in Queens, where she is now enrolled in Peter Parker's high school. Her relationship with Peter has ended, however, and she has shown an interest in dating Peter's classmate Kenny "Kong" McFarlane.
• Storm, Ororo Munroe, like the phenomena from which she takes her name, has a unique mutant ability which allows her to harness and manipulate forces of nature. Calling upon the elements she can manifest violent storms, summon lightning from a benign sky, create blizzards instantly and even whip up winds to bear herself aloft. A streetwise car thief who hails from Morocco, Ororo's sharp wit and cynicism can make her come off as arrogant, but, with that arrogance comes a near-unparalleled sense of level-headedness that allows her to temper as the voice of reason among the X-Men. Between the purported death of her boyfriend Beast, her fleeting relationships with Wolverine, and her role as second-in-command of Bishop's X-Men, Ororo's confidence has continued to grow, as has her skill with her mutant abilities.
• Syndicate: Conjoined twins, Luke and Matthew, working as private agents for Professor X. They are never seen with the rest of the X-Men until Ultimate X-Men #93, when they become X-Men. Their heart gives off an EMP, and can create a charge. Is eventually murdered by Striker.
• Toad is a deformed mutant who has bulging yellow eyes, green skin, and webbed hands and feet. Toad can jump great distances and height, is super-strong and agile, can spit a heavy mucous that can harden into a shell, and has a long prehensile tongue that he can use in addition to his four limbs. In the beginning, Toad was a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. When Cyclops joined the Brotherhood for a time, he and Toad became friends. When Xavier disappeared, Toad came to the X-Men's school to be a gym teacher. Though Jean Grey disapproved, Cyclops defended Toad. Toad has helped the X-Men in several occasions since then and officially became an X-Man when Xavier returned from the future and Phoenix defeated Apocalypse. Toad now wears an X-Men bandanna much like the one Iceman used to wear.
• Wolverine, James "Logan" Howlett, has animal instincts and extreme regeneration powers. He is turned into an amnesiac, emotionless killer by Weapon X. He resurfaces as the cold-blooded elite assassin of Magneto and infiltrates the X-Men to kill Professor X. He betrays Magneto, however, and joins the X-Men after coming to understand and believe in Xavier's cause. Over the course of the series in between attacks by former members of Weapon X, Wolverine has searched for answers regarding his long-forgotten past. He is killed by Magneto near the end of the Ultimatum series.
• Firestar: Firestar is seen with the X-Men beginning with issue #94. During a baseball game, they are attacked by the Ultimate version of Alpha Flight and Firestar is attacked and subdued by Sunfire. The character however is previously introduced as a classmate to Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man.

  Villains and supporting cast

Settings

• The X-Men live in the X-Mansion in Westchester, New York. Its location was a secret at first, but is now known to the world. It contains the Danger Room, a virtual reality dome in which the X-Men can fight against hard-light holographic enemies. It has been used several times for in-jokes and popular culture references. Once, the junior X-Men fought the Brood, and for recreation, Nightcrawler simulated scenes similar to Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings.
• Genosha is an apartheid state in which mutants are discriminated against. Krakoa is an island not far off Genosha, where Mojo Adams' Hunt for Justice reality show is held.
• Muir Island is an island in the north of Scotland and the location of Dr. Moira MacTaggert's lab.

  In other media

• In the video games X-Men Legends and ', the characteristic tight black-and-golden costumes of Ultimate X-Men are the default outfits of the X-Men. The traditional costumes can be unlocked as throwbacks after the player has unlocked them by completing acts within the game. Additionally, many of the other characters have their Ultimate costumes as their default outfit. Characters in these games who had not yet appeared in Ultimate X-Men at the time that the games were released either appear wearing their Earth-616 costumes or appear in a new costume that is in the same black-and-gold style as the Ultimate X-Men suits.
• In the ' animated series, Wolverine wears his Ultimate X-Men look from season 3 onwards. In the final episode Ascension, future adult versions of the teenage X-Men can be seen. Their normally bright, colorful costumes have changed into the dark Ultimate X-Men outfits.
• In the final arc of Wolverine and the X-Men, a fleet of Sentinels are sent to Genosha to attack Magneto and the mutants living there. However, like in The Tomorrow People, Magneto disassembles all of the Sentinels, reprogramming them to attack humans. He then launches an attack upon New York.
• Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1: The Tomorrow People appears in nine parts as an unlockable in '. Each part is unlocked after completing a specific bonus level.
• Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Iceman appear in the video game '. In the game, Colossus and Iceman have their Ultimate costumes as the default costumes worn during all cut scenes that they appear in, although it is possible to unlock their Earth-616 costumes as alternates later in the game. Wolverine and Storm appear in what would be their then current Earth-616 costumes as defaults with their Ultimate costumes as alternates. Nightcrawler also appears in his Ultimate costume during the "Escape from Castle Doom" cut-scene, in which he features prominently. The Xbox 360 Hero expansion pack added Cyclops and Nightcrawler as playable characters; both have their Ultimate costumes as an alternate outfit.

  Collected editions

Interviews

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