Rictor
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Rictor is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by Marvel Comics who first appeared in X-Factor #17.
[edit] Character history
As a child, young Julio Esteban Richter was forced to watch his father, an arms merchant, being killed by the time-tossed villain known as Stryfe. Later, Rictor was captured by the anti-mutant organization called the Right, who connected him to a machine that amplified his already uncontrollable power of earthquake generation to wreak havoc. Rictor was freed by the original X-Factor team and was accepted by them as a trainee member.
Soon after, Rictor and most of the other charges of X-Factor joined the New Mutants. Rictor would later face former X-Factor ally Caliban, who had become the latest Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death, as well as Sabretooth battling in the Morlock tunnels under New York. Rictor was severely injured by Sabretooth, but was saved by Cable and the other New Mutants.
Rictor was later captured and briefly enslaved on the island nation of Genosha, becoming Unit 2347. The combined efforts of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants led to him being freed, as well as other mutants, and Rictor would be instrumental in toppling the Genoshan government.
After the business in Genosha, Rictor left the New Mutants. Rictor, was by then convinced that Cable - from whom Stryfe had been cloned - was the man who killed his father, and he agreed to join the Canadian government's Weapon P.R.I.M.E. team. The team's sole purpose was the apprehension of Cable, but thanks to both Cable and the New Mutants now known as X-Force, this was averted.
Rictor came to join X-Force, just in time to be captured by the X-Men and X-Factor who were seeking Cable for an entirely different murder, the attempted murder of Professor X, an act that had also been perpetrated by Stryfe. Rictor and the X-Force team were at first held captive in the X-Mansion, before being released, and the team used the Mansion for a time as their Headquarters before leaving.
Rictor would later leave X-Force when his cousin and uncle were shot during an arms deal, only to return when his close friend Shatterstar was undergoing an identity crisis. Shatterstar decided to accompany Rictor to the Richter home in Mexico to try and end Rictor's family's arms-dealing business. Both characters have since appeared separately so one assumes they succeeded.
Rictor would later be one of several mutants (amongst them other former members of X-Force) who joined Professor X's restructured X-Corporation. During the X-Corporation's confrontation with Weapon XII was a total catastrophe however, and led to the death one of their members, Darkstar. Rictor either left X-Corporation before or after the events of House of M.
Rictor was rendered powerless in the wake of House of M. He is now appearing in Peter David's revamped X-Factor, under the employ of Jamie Madrox. Rictor was last seen visiting Quicksilver, discussing the possibility of getting his powers back.
[edit] Powers and abilities
In his early appearances, Rictor is capable of generating and releasing seismic energy and tremendously powerful waves of vibrations in any object he comes into physical contact with, causing objects to shatter or crumble. When used against objects with a larger surface, the effects are much like an earthquake.[issue # needed] The extent of Rictor's power is never fully explored by writers, though his powers appear to affect organic objects in much the same way as inorganic ones; he is depicted using them to explode a cactus plant in X-Force #25.
In New X-Men #128 Jean Grey also states that Rictor has some kind of telepathic defence against Weapon XII's infestation.
In issue #1 of the 2005 relaunch of X-Factor #1, he is depicted as suicidal, lamenting the loss of his power due to the events of Marvel Comics' House of M limited series.
[edit] Other Appearances
The character of Avalanche as portrayed in the X-Men Evolution animated series appears to be an amalgam of the characters of Avalanche and Rictor in the mainstream comic. While bearing the codename "Avalanche" and a similar costume to the comic villain, the character, named "Lance Alvers" (Avalanche's real name being "Dominic Petros" in the comics), physically resembles Rictor from the comic books and channels his powers in the same way. Alvers is also a much less willing villain, at one point even joining the X-Men.
In the X-Men film, X Men The Last Stand, a mutant by the name Arclight has similar powers to those of Rictor's.
