Cameron Hodge
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Cameron Hodge is a fictional comic book supervillain and opponent of the X-Men, as seen in Marvel Comics. Created by writer Bob Layton and artist Jackson Guice, Hodge first appeared as a supporting character in X-Factor #1 (February 1986) [1], and was later revealed to be secretly acting against that group as the leader of an anti-mutant organization known as The Right. After he was decapitated by Archangel, his head was later revealed to have been attached to a large cyborg, and yet later, he merged with the cybernetic extraterrestrial race known as the Phalanx.
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[edit] Character Biography
Cameron Hodge was the college roommate of Warren Worthington III, also known as the superhuman Angel. Hodge then took a public relations job with a New York advertising firm. After Angel's former superhero team the Defenders disbanded, Worthington and Hodge hatched a plan to reunite the original roster of the X-Men. Under Hodge's plan, the five mutants would pose as professional mutant hunters under the name X-Factor. They would use this cover to contact and teach young mutants.
However, the plan backfired, as X-Factor's advertising campaign increased anti-mutant hysteria. In addition, the team suffered a series of major setbacks. After suffering severe injuries during the Mutant Massacre, Angel had his wings amputated. Then, Angel seemingly died in a helicopter explosion. Tensions arose between X-Factor members Cyclops and Marvel Girl when Cyclops saw manifestations of the Phoenix around Jean Grey (Marvel Girl). X-Factor later discovered that Hodge had orchestrated the amputation and helicopter accident and had created holograms simulating the Phoenix Force. Hodge had secretly been Commander of the Right, an anti-mutant terrorist group. He had fully intended to exacerbated anti-mutant tensions through his advertising campaign.
During this time, Hodge and The Right made a pact with the extradimensional demonic entity N'astirh, who in exchange for collecting mutant babies N'astirh needed for a spell to open up a portal from Limbo to Earth, he granted Hodge immortality and the continued existence of The Right and its work - to create conflict between humans and mutants.
Hodge later kidnapped and murdered Warren Worthington's former girlfriend Candy Southern. Worthington had survived the helicopter explosion and been transformed into Archangel by Apocalypse. Archangel later invaded the Right's headquarters and decapitated Hodge in X-Factor #34 (November 1988)
Later in the crossover storyline "X-Tinction Agenda", Hodge was revealed to be alive, his decapitated head having been attached to a grotesque non-humanoid cyborg, a fate Hodge said he survived as a result of the pact he made with N'astirh. Hodge took the leading role of the anti-government efforts of the Genoshan government during the "X-Tinction Agenda" crossover storyline. Hodge was seemingly destroyed by the combined efforts of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants. Hodge later returned as a member of the cybernetic extraterrestrial race known as the Phalanx, and was yet again apparently slain by Archangel.
[edit] Alternate Versions
In the House of M, Cameron Hodge was a member of the Human Liberation Front, a human supremacist terrorist group that had targeted Emperor Sunfire's Project Genesis, a program intended to forcefully turn humans into mutants. He was arrested following the attack on the New Mutant Leadership Program at the United Nations, though the true target was Sean Garrison, secretly an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one of the masterminds behind Project Genesis. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Josh Foley and Kevin Ford were about to torture him when they were interrupted by Agent Noriko Ashida, daughter of Hodge's comrade Seiji Ashida, who learned from Hodge about her father's location. Fearing the torture at the hands of Foley and Ford, Hodge convinced Noriko to kill him.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Before his decapitation, Hodge was the commander of The Right, thus he had access to all the weaponry and resources of the organization, including a ruby quartz battle suit capable of deflecting Cyclops' Optic Blasts. The demonic being N'astirh granted Hodge immortality, that is, he is able to survive a decapitation and still function.
In his cyborg form, Hodge possessed a high degree of invulnerability, enough to protect him from the combined attacks of Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey. This effect was supposedly augmented by external generators linked to his mainframe computer. When these had been destroyed, Cyclops and Havok could defeat him, but not kill him. He also had the ability to phase (move through solid matter) and utilised various special weapons. His spider/scorpionlike robot body was equipped with tentacles, a powerful stinger, plasma and laser weapons, and a molecular adhesive gun, and could also fire bolas, knives and spears of varying sizes. In addition, through the magic of the demon N´'astirh, Hodge was supposedly immortal, allowing his head to survive without a body, and later being buried under the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper.
[edit] Appearance in other media
In the X-Men animated series, Hodge first appeared as a lawyer for Hank McCoy, aka Beast. Later, Hodge was an ambassador working for the mutant-oppressing Genoshan government. After the corrupt government was overthrown by the combined efforts of Cable and the X-Men, Hodge, who was now missing an arm and a leg courtesy of Cable, vowed to get his revenge on the mutants. He was fortunate enough to have met up with the technorganic alien race known as the Phalanx. Restoring his missing limbs and granting him a fraction of their power, the Phalanx promised to help him get his revenge and, in exchange, he would help them assimilate planet Earth and its inhabitants. Hodge was defeated when the X-Men, with the help of Amelia Voght, Magneto, Mister Sinister and Warlock, drove the Phalanx from Earth.
