Kestrel (comics)

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John Wraith, a.k.a. Kestrel, is a character in the Marvel comics fictional universe. Kestrel was a member of Team X and later a test subject of the Weapon X Program.

[edit] Fictional character history

He was part of Team X along with Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maverick, Mastodon, and Silver Fox. Wraith was a powerful teleporter, capable of getting the team out of sticky situations after their job was finished. He had a penchant for explosives, arming himself with shaped charges, explosives that are built to direct the force of their blast in specific directions based on how they are deployed. Like the other members of Team X, he was given an artificial age suppressant so he was likely much older than he looked. His time as a secret agent and a member of the Weapon X program has left John somewhat paranoid. His house is a veritable death trap, as is the yard around it - John trusts no one. This is well illustrated by his memorable introductory (?) scene: as an apparently harmless older gentleman sitting on a New York subway, he is accosted by several members of a teen gang, who threaten him. Apparently without moving, he thows something which bounces off of the chest of the gang leader. When the leader asks "What was that?" Wraith replies, deadpan, "That was a copper-jacketed .45 ACP hot-load with a depleted uranium core swimming in mercury. It leaves an exit wound the size of a deep-dish chicken pot pie, and the next one will be considerably faster." He was thereafter undisturbed.

He made a habit of keeping his skill a secret from his compatriots as well as his foes, using it only sparingly and if no one was looking directly at him -- unless it was absolutely vital. The only time when his fellow Team-X members found out about his powers was when they went up against Omega Red. John was backup on that mission that Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth ran in Germany to collect a carbonadium synthesizer, and when that trio burst out of the target compound with Red in pursuit, John stalled him with his gun until the others got away. Unfazed, Omega went to wrap John up and tear him to pieces, but John teleported to safety at the last second, with only Wolverine and Omega Red seeing this. There is also a certain animosity between him and Sabretooth. He's about as violent as his fellows from the Weapon X program, but a lot more merciful and doesn't enjoy killing innocents while on a mission, which puts him at odds with people like Sabretooth. Sabretooth, once languished for quite a time in John's basement with several shaped charges strapped to his chest. Unless he had a really good reason to, Sabretooth wouldn't lift a finger to help John.

Years later, John had tracked Wolverine and the rest of his old teammates down because it seemed that there was a problem with the age suppression factors given to them by Weapon X, as one of their number, Mastodon, had suddenly aged quite rapidly and been reduced into a pile of ooze. With their help, John discovered a list of termination candidates from the Weapon X project. They recognize themselves on the list plus a man named Aldo Ferro, who they know is a big time mafia chief, Il Topo Siciliano. They track Ferro to his secluded island where they discover Maverick guarding him. Maverick soon changes sides when Ferro, a.ka. Psi-Borg, reveals that he was the one who used his psi-powers to speed the false memory implantation of the Weapon X subjects. After this fiasco, John hung out with Wolverine for a month or two, but then vanished.

Wraith was later re-recruited into Weapon X by the "Director" and his mission was to recruit Maverick as well. However, Maverick fought back and Wraith was shot and then gutted by his partner Sabretooth, for his failure.

[edit] Ultimate John Wraith

Unlike his mainstream African American mutant counterpart, the Ultimate Marvel version is a Caucasian human. Colonel John Wraith was a mutant hating commando that was sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. to head the barbaric Weapon X Program. The program was assigned with capturing mutants and forcing them to carry out covert missions for the US Government. The program was co-headed by a Dr. Abraham Cornelius. He and his men (all who have anti-mutant sentiments as well) managed to capture and subject a Canadian para-trooper named James "Lucky Jim" Howlett to experiements which wiped his memories clean and bonded his skeleton with adamantium. They christened him Weapon X gave him the fake name "Logan". He and his men enjoyed tormenting Logan by teasing him with bits and pieces of his lost memories and also caging him and shooting him day and night since he could not die due to his mutant healing factor. This conditioned Logan to become the perfect killing machine, or so they thought.

During the Gulf War they were transporting him in the desert preparing him for deployment, but his transport team was ambushed and Wolverine was accidentally set loose. Stumbling across a young Nick Fury, who was also taken by surprise by the same ambush, Logan rescued him and brought him back to base camp. Colonel Wraith, who was surprised that Wolverine did not kill Nick and retained his humanity, ordered his men to shoot and cage Logan once again. He told Nick not worry about Wolverine since he was nothing more than living weapon. A couple of years later, it was Nick Fury, not forgetting the man who saved his life, returned the favor to Logan by helping him escape from the Weapon X facility. Wraith sent Sabretooth, another one of his mutant agents, after Logan but he came back empty handed.

Wraith then began capturing other mutants to take Wolverine's place, mutants including Kurt Wagner, Rogue and Cain Marko. When he received news that Logan was headed back to America (unknown to them as an assassin for Magneto), he and his men again attempted to recapture Logan, only to have their plans foiled by the X-Men. Wraith's face was scarred by Logan's claws.

In retribution Wraith ordered the capture of the X-Men, but failed to catch Logan once again. He had Xavier hooked up to machines to harness the Professor's telepathy inorder to help him find other potential candidates for the program. The mutants imprisoned at the Weapon X facility were tortured on a daily basis, with Rogue having her arm broken regularly and having molten metal poured on Colossus to test his durability. It was also during this time that Beast was mutated even further by Dr Cornelius. To keep them inline, Wraith had implanted micro explosives into them and if anyone got out of line or tried to escape, it was their friends who would pay the price. The X-Men's first major mission forced them to split up. One team was assigned to free Nick Fury from when he was captured by a foreign country and the other team was assigned with destroying a new bio weapon that was being developed by terrorists. Jean Grey was given the order to execute one of the scientists they had captured, but she refused. Wraith threatened to detonate Cyclops implants for her insubordination, this was when she was forced to kill someone for the very first time.

When General Ross threatened to phase out Weapon X, Wraith used Xavier to dispose of the general with a mental explosion. Wolverine was eventually captured, but unknown to them, he had secretly led the Brotherhood to the facility in an attempt of freeing the imprisoned mutants. When the mutants began to break free, Wraith shot Xavier and attempted to flee in a helicopter. Blob held onto Wraith's helicopter, but eventually he lost his grip. Storm tried to fry Wraith with lightning, but Nightcrawler saved the Colonel. As a reward, Wraith tried to kill the teleporter. Ironically, Nick Fury ended up gunning down the corrupt Colonel and declared that all the mutants at the facility were free to go.