Masque (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Masque | |
 Masque. Art by Salvador Larroca. |
|
| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #169 (May 1983) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Paul Smith |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Jack MacNaughton[citation needed] |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Morlocks Brotherhood of Evil Mutants The Arena |
| Abilities | Ability to alter the flesh and organs of living creatures |
Masque is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Masque first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #169. Masque was originally a prominent member of the sewer-dwelling community of mutant outcasts called the Morlocks, led by Callisto.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Masque was one of the few Morlocks to escape the Marauders in the Mutant Massacre in X-Factor #11. Masque teams with The Tunnelers, a small group of Morlocks. They are initially rescued by X-Factor after a fight with Iceman and Beast. Masque's powers are neutralized by Leech, whom the Morlocks believed to be in danger from X-Factor. Ultimately the Morlock Scaleface convinces everyone to make peace. Both groups barely escape the incinerating flames of Thor's funeral pyre for the rest of the slain Morlocks.
Not wanting to live life above with X-Factor, the group sneaks out, using Masque's disguise capabilities. They soon encounter a mutant hating street gang. In the resulting fight, Blow-Hard is slain and Masque is injured. He vanishes from the book at this point; later, his ally Berzerker seemingly declares he is dead. The cops surround the survivors and multiple misunderstandings end with the deaths of Scaleface and Berzerker.
After the slaughter of most of her brethren, Callisto travels to Moira MacTaggert's hospital on Muir Island, to be with the few surviving Morlocks. When Callisto returns to New York to seal off the tunnels of the X-Mansion connecting to the Morlock tunnels, she is kidnapped by new Morlocks, now under Masque's leadership. Masque gives Callisto a pretty new face of a top supermodel. She soon encounters Colossus (who had just resurfaced with amnesia, after having traveled through the Siege Perilous). He falls in love with her.
Masque teams the Morlocks with Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but in one of their first battles against X-Force, led by Nathan Summers, Masque is apparently killed by Shatterstar.
Masque returns, wearing a full-body outfit costume resembling Marilyn Monroe [1] Masque rules an underground cadre of mutant gladiators that fought for fame and the right to control defeated fellow warriors in combat. Here, he uses his powers to manipulate Callisto, giving her octopus like arms, and Storm into becoming the greatest gladiator. Callisto and Storm eventually rebelled and defeat Masque yet again.
Masque has reappeared, leading a band of Morlocks (including Erg, Litterbug, Skids, and Bliss) in search of Magneto, hoping to inform him of a prophecy that says mutants may yet come to rule the world.[2] To this end, they have assaulted and maimed Caliban, using his newly developed secondary mutation that also now allows him to shape-shift himself, and abducted Leech. The group then set off a bomb in a packed subway train and Masque used his powers to disfigure the humans on the train. Masque also made a video of why they did it and what is to come and posted it on the internet. After being defeated once again by the X-Men, Masque was forced by Professor X to undo the changes he had made to the people's faces.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Masque possesses the ability to change the physical appearance of any other person by touch, but originally could not use it to alter his own hideous appearance. This caused him to often manipulate others' bodies to make them as disfigured as his own. When the Morlocks formed, Masque was used to make several members ugly, thus making them outcasts from the human world, ensuring their loyalty. However, in a later Uncanny X-Men storyline, Masque has been revealed to have developed a secondary mutation which now allows him to actually manipulate his own flesh and change his physical appearance, but he apparently still chooses to maintain his original form as his default state.
It should be noted in the X-Treme X-Men arc "Storm: The Arena", Masque used a bodysuit to make himself appear female and beautiful (see below).
[edit] References
- ^ Post at x-mencomics.com. Claremont said on Masque's storyline, "The staff vetting the book when it went to press was better than two years and a half-dozen editors removed from those who commissioned it. Writing styles changed in the interim -- so what started out as (Igor & I thought) a cool idea, namely why shouldn't Masque decide to hide his true appearance (or, why can't he be a cross-dresser?), Masque wearing a full-body Mask, sort of lost its explanation along the way. The hints we dropped, i.e. -- Masque debating between Elvis and Betty Page for his next incarnation, didn't do the trick. The pronoun confusion came about because the current editors assumed text followed appearance and matched accordingly. The book was moved up a full month on the production schedule (from January '04) to December, '03) for budgetary reasons, which meant that final production (including the inks) had to be crashed out willy-nilly. This was one of the elements that fell through the cracks."
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #487
