Meanstreak (comics)
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Meanstreak is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics for their futuristic comic book line Marvel 2099 in X-Men 2099. His creators were John Francis Moore and Ron Lim.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Henri "Meanstreak" Huang was one of the mutants picked by Xi'an Chi Xan to be a part of his incarnation of the X-Men. Henri was invaluable to the team due to his technological genius. He was one of the characters to participate in almost every mission that the team undertook but was not often in a combat situation.
Almost before the team had a chance to begin, several of the members were captured by the sadistic organization known as the Theatre of Pain—a group who recorded physical and psychological torture sessions to resell to perverse clientele. The group escaped thanks to the uncontrollable powers of Skullfire.
Later, the team going in search of one of Henri's friends from the corporation Alchemax who had turned up missing. The X-Men, along with Spider-Man 2099, Doom 2099, and the hero Ravage discovered a large floating city with what appeared to be Asgardian deities, the Aesir, who were attempting to gather a following. Among them was the shapeshifting so-called god Loki. After battling the foe, it was discovered that Loki was actually Henri's friend Jordan who had undergone experimentation at the hands of the company. He later became the villain Halloween Jack.
Henri was also instrumental during the battle with Master Zhao and his group of Chosen X-Men. Zhao had used unstable technology to further mutate his chosen group in order for them to more closely resemble the group of original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, and Beast) but this process had left the unwilling guinea pigs in a condition where their cellular structure was deteriorating. After the battle when this fact was discovered, Meanstreak went about trying to find a way to cure their condition by placing them in cryogenic suspension although he was unsuccessful.
Later, Henri's temper got the best of him and he ran away from the X-Men when La Lunatica tried to befriend him. He recognized his rash behavior and returned, only to find Luna knocked out by none other than Halloween Jack. His old friend proposed a partnership between them so that they could conquer the city of Las Vegas. For some reason, Meanstreak agreed and followed Jack to Las Vegas where they encountered their old rivals—the owners of the Synge Casino. First, Jack, with the technological help of Henri, transferred most of their fortune into his own bank account and then ousted the siblings in order to gain control of the casino. In the weeks to follow, Jack unveiled his plans to unleash a Virtual Unreality Projector upon the city, warping it with energies from another dimension. Meanstreak helped him construct this machine and they actually started it but, now President, Doom arrived and shut it down because of its unstability. Jack had meant to allow the device to warp the whole planet into a state of chaos, but President Doom surrounded the city with EMP devices which quarantined the city. Meansteak left his now former friend, fully convinced that there was no piece of his old friend left in the body of Halloween Jack.
When the X-Men became the protectors of Halo City, Meanstreak met his downfall. He noticed that there were ghostly beings called Zoomers—products of Halloween Jack's Virtual Unreality Projector—which were rushing around the city. Trying to catch up to them, he fell off of a cliff. Due to the untimely cancellation of the series it was never fully explained if he was dead or not.
[edit] Powers
Meanstreak is endowed with superhuman speed, stamina, reflexes, and thought processes.
[edit] Notes
- Meanstreak supposedly died in X-Men 2099 #34 after running off of a cliff, but he made an unexpected cameo in 2099: Manifest Destiny, however this last piece of the 2099 epic was highly criticized by fans for its casual treatment of the continuity of the past series.
- It was strongly hinted that Meanstreak and Krystalin had feelings for one another, but neither versed them. When Krystalin came to Las Vegas to see Meanstreak when it was in the midst of being altered by the Virtual Unreality Projector, Halloween Jack even tried to unsuccessfully goad them into admitting their obvious affections.
- Henri's ethnicity was a subject of mystery during the series. His last name is of Chinese origin, however he did not always appear Asian. This of course could be attributed to artist discrepancy.