Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vulcan
Vulcan, from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #477 Art by John Watson
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1 Created by Ed Brubaker Trevor Hairsine
Characteristics Alter ego Gabriel Summers Species Omega-level Human Mutant Affiliations X-Men Notable aliases Kid Vulcan Abilities Immense psionic powers and Omega level energy manipulating capabilities

Vulcan (Gabriel Summers) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1, and was created by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine. He is also the younger brother of X-Men Cyclops and Havok.

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 1.1 Origins 1.2 Return 1.3 Vendetta 2 Powers and abilities 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Origins

Vulcan's history began on the Shi'ar throneworld, as the unborn child of Christopher and Katherine Summers (parents of Cyclops and Havok). In fact, Katherine was pregnant when the Summers were abducted by D'Ken, Majestor of the Shi'ar Imperium, and her child was seemingly killed when the mad emperor, in retaliation for an attempt by Corsair to escape, stabbed Katherine and killed her. The infant Vulcan was removed from Katherine's lifeless body and placed in an incubation-accelerator, used to breed new slaves, aging him to the prime adolescence. Sent to Earth to become a slave for Davan Shakari, the Emperor's hand on Earth, he escaped to be found by Moira MacTaggart with little or no memories of who he was or where he came from. She took him as her ward, and instructed him in the use of his nascent powers.

He claimed his name was Gabriel, but he chose the code name of Vulcan from a book on Roman mythology, and Charles Xavier recognized his mental imprint as being related to Cyclops. He became part of a team of X-Men formed by Petra, Darwin, and Sway that attempted to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. Feeling Vulcan as a menace, Krakoa sent a human shaped volcano to deal with his team, killing the two girls and leaving Darwin and Vulcan for dead.

[edit] Return

With the help of his dying teammate, Vulcan was able to survive, and reawakening in modern days (due to the mutant energies released during the M-day), he returned from his space exile to reclaim his title as an X-Man, killing Banshee in the process, and attempting to kill Logan, even kidnapping Rachel Summers and Cyclops.

Vulcan was subconsciously using the absorbed powers of Petra and Sway to manipulate the X-Men, and figure out the truth of the mystery behind the missing team of X-Men that were lost on Krakoa. Vulcan was able to lure Professor Xavier out of hiding, and confronted him in front of the X-Men, wanting the Professor to reveal to them all what really happened to Vulcan and his team. However, Xavier was unable to do so, due to the fact that, in the wake of M-Day, he was no longer a Mutant. Enraged, Vulcan commanded Marvel Girl to link their minds so that everyone could see what transpired. Reluctantly, Rachel did so, and with Xavier as a guide, she was able to not only reveal the truth behind what really happened on Krakoa, but she also detected another consciousness within the mind of Vulcan.

It was revealed that Vulcan and his team rescued Scott from Krakoa (it was previously thought that Krakoa itself released Scott to bring it more victims) and Vulcan was able to hurt the living island, which greatly enraged the creature. Vulcan revealed to Cyclops that they were in fact brothers, and sent Cyclops away on their jet to safety. As the jet took off, Cyclops watched in horror as the living island struck down and seemingly killed Vulcan and his team. Sway was hit first, and severed in two at her torso. Her body released the last of her mutant power to slow time down around them. As Petra was incinerated, she also reacted reflexively and drew them all below the surface into a cave that her power created. There, Vulcan and Darwin lay dying, and Darwin transformed himself into energy and bonded with Vulcan, thus saving them both. They were launched into space along with the Krakoa land mass by Jean Grey (Deadly Genesis #6 made a mistake, in Giant-Size X-Men #1 it is actually Polaris who launches Krakoa into space) and remained inert until the massive backlash of power resulting from M-Day awakened Vulcan.

After the apparent death of Vulcan and his team, Cyclops returned to Professor Xavier in a hysterical state, blaming himself for their deaths, and the Professor decided it was best for all involved if he altered their memories to forget about Vulcan and his team, and spare everyone the agony. With these revelations, Marvel Girl reached into Vulcan's mind and released the subconscious inert form of Darwin, which Vulcan expelled from his body. Using this opportunity, the X-Men attacked him as they deemed him too dangerous to be left alone. Vulcan easily repelled their attack and fled the planet, renouncing Cyclops as his brother, and headed for space with the vision of D'Ken killing his mother raging in his mind, bent on revenge.

[edit] Vendetta

While traveling through Shi'ar space, he recently learned from a crew member whose starship he had destroyed that D'Ken has been comatose for years after his experience in the M'Kraan Crystal and that Lilandra Neramani is the current ruler of the Shi'ar. Undaunted, Vulcan continues on his quest for vengeance by engaging a trio of Shi'ar warships, and destroying two of them, thereby showing his superiority to the crew of the surviving third ship, which Vulcan then commandeers for his own. After reaching the inner territory of the Shi'ar throneworld, Chandilar, the ship is confronted and ordered to surrender by the Imperial Guard. However, the captain of Vulcan's ship had deceived Vulcan as to the Guard's true strength, hoping to use him as a pawn in Vice-Chancellor K'Tor's plan to restore the old Empire; as a result, Vulcan was unprepared for the true power of the Guard, and especially their leader, Gladiator. Vulcan killed several powerful guardsmen in combat (Titan, Neutron, Cosmo, Smasher, and Impulse, among many others), but was defeated by Gladiator (who also managed to damage Vulcan's left eye), and taken to a prison moon. His eye was replaced by a synthetic and he remained a prisoner there until an agent of the Vice-Chancellor freed him from his shackles, and directed him to another cell to free Deathbird.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Vulcan's energy manipulation powers allow him to produce light, heat, force, and electricity, warp or disable existing energy sources, tap into and suppress mutant energies, survive in the vacuum of space, and fly. He also has immense psionic powers. Emma Frost, Rachel Summers and Professor Xavier have confirmed him to be beyond an Omega-level mutant. However "Beyond Omega" is possibly a mistake by writer Ed Brubaker, since Omega-level already denotes unlimited potential, therefore Vulcan may also simply be considered an Omega-level mutant. After being swallowed by the soil of Krakoa, he absorbed the powers of his teammates Darwin, Petra and Sway, giving him their abilities of advanced adaptation, terrakinesis, and time manipulation, respectively, though it has yet to be confirmed that he kept them when Darwin was expelled from his body.

The storyline X-Men: Deadly Genesis implies that Vulcan was beyond Omega-level at birth. This can be disputed, however, as it was implied that his power levels were amplified to Omega-level when he absorbed the energy released by Scarlet Witch (Uncanny X-men # 477). His inborn power is the ability to manipulate energy. This, along with his symbiotic existence with the mutant Darwin, is what enabled Vulcan to absorb some of the energy that was released when Scarlet Witch depowered millions of mutants in the House of M storyline. Although Darwin has since been exorcised from Vulcan, Vulcan still wields enormous amounts of power and can survive in space unaided.

[edit] Trivia

• Although he is presently established as the "third Summers brother" that Mr. Sinister mentioned in a 1993 issue, it is unclear if he is the only brother that they didn't know of. Several theories have surfaced regarding who is actually the brother Sinister is referring to (whether Sinister is even referring to a "Summers" brother is up for debate), since fans speculate that the villain had no knowledge of Vulcan. Additionally, because Vulcan was believed dead, it has not been explained why Sinister would worry about his getting the Legacy Virus (of course, only Xavier knew about what had happened on Krakoa until Vulcan returned, so its possible that Sinister had just assumed he was alive somewhere). Gambit has been well established as a likely candidate for the position, as he also has a dark and clouded past with Mr. Sinister. Again, Sinister might have been referring to Adam X the X-Treme as well, among other, less likely possibilities. See Summers brothers for the full article on the third Summers brother.
• All three Summers brothers have similar powers, as they are each able to control a certain type of energy.
• His artificial left eye now glows whether Vulcan is angered, or his using his powers, like happens with his "nephews" Cable, X-Man, and in part with Rachel Summers.

[edit] External links

• Marvel.com - official Vulcan (Gabriel Summers) character bio
• Uncannyxmen.net Third Summers Brother Article Pre-Vulcan