Neo (comics)
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The Neo were a fictional offshoot of the mutant genome in the Marvel Universe, that lived in peaceful seclusion from the rest of the world. They were created as part of a storyline of the aftermath of the High Evolutionary's genetic tampering on the world's mutant population. They first appeared in the pages of X-Men and disappeared shortly after their initial appearance.
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[edit] History
Sometime in the course of human evolution a side-branch emerged who called themselves the Neo. They were happy with their solitary life in their community which initially prospered, until tragedy struck. Due to the actions of the High Evolutionary (in Uncanny X-Men #379-380) temporarily "turning off" the mutant gene to transform all mutants into "baseline" humans, many of the Neo perished. Among the deceased was the daughter of their leader Domina, who could breathe underwater and drowned when her powers were removed. Domina and other Neo who survived swore vengeance (misguidedly) on the X-Men and Mister Sinister (who Domina has "killed" on several occasions), with those leaving their home to exact their revenge now calling themselves the Warclan.
They first tracked down Nightcrawler, who was on leave from the team to pursue religious matters. They found him studying to be a priest and Rax hastily tried to kill him. Nightcrawler was able to save his life, but was seriously wounded and teleported off to find help in the form of Doctor Cecilia Reyes who had a clinic nearby. Jaeger, as the leader of the Warclan, demanded that it was his right to make the kill and traveled off alone to find his prey. He hunts down Nightcrawler but is surprisingly defeated by Cecilia who, in a panic, turned her force field into a spiky barrier which impaled the ruthless man. The rest of the clan sensed Jaeger's death and this only infuriated Domina more. Rax takes over as the new Jaeger.
Meanwhile in space, the X-Men attempt to help repair a space station as an act of good will. Among the X-Men present is Shadowcat, who finds herself attracted to a worker named Seth. He actually turns out to be a spy planted by the Neo, and he sabotages the space station and kidnaps Shadowcat, believing her to be of Neo heritage. The X-Men barely survive the encounter.
Running from the Warclan, Nightcrawler and Cecilia happen upon Detective Charlotte Jones —a longtime ally of the X-Men. She is hunting down a sociopath named Delgado and accompanies the two X-Men on their journey. Cecilia sees several vials of a mutant performance enhancing drug called Rave and —being a good doctor— she picks them up so that no one else will be hurt by it. They get separated and all become trapped. Charlotte Jones, Delgado, and Archangel (who decided to help out his friend) become caught in the illusionary thralls of the two younger Neo, Elysia and Tartarus, while Cecila and Nightcrawler have to face off against the warriors of the clan in the basement of an abandoned apartment complex. Nightcrawler passes out from his injuries, leaving Cecilia to defend herself and her friend. While facing off against the immense mutant Anteus she decides to take the Rave to better her chances of survival. The drug works and she defeats the giant, but then has to fend off the barrage from Salvo's attack. The X-Men finally arrive to help but are quickly defeated by Domina who adeptly uses the collective powers of her Warclan to best them. She then orders Barbican to seal off the building and the X-Men leave so as not to be trapped inside. However, Cecilia volunteers to stay behind since Charlotte Jones is still trapped as well.
Trapped inside of the illusions of Tartarus, Charlotte Jones and Delgado have in reality been merged into a gestalt being with Delgado being the dominant form, and they go about the building hunting the Neo. However, Rax approaches the being with the proposition of an alliance to side with him against Domina for the leadership of the group. Cecilia manages to evade capture by the Neo forweek and stumbles upon the Charlotte-Delgado being. Wolverine and Nightcrawler teleport inside of the sealed complex just in time to save Elysia from being attacked by the creature. They are able to convince the girl that the X-Men had nothing to do with the worldwide power loss and try to get her to talk to Domina.
Rax has his fellow Neo Junction teleport him outside of the complex so he can fight Rogue. He defeats her (or so he thinks) and offers her the same alliance against Domina. Rogue accepts but confides in her teammates that she doesn't trust Rax. Under his orders, Barbican opens the complex for the X-Men who have to fight the combined might of the Neo. However, their battle is interrupted by the Delgado creature and the X-Men help to stop it. After the threat is dealt with, Elysia convinces Domina to let the X-Men go, which she complies to. As the X-Men leave, the building is sealed off again.
Trying to prove himself to the clan, Rax once again ventures out on his own to try and kill Gambit. Rax had to revert to unethical conduct (endangering the lives of civilians) in order to win the fight. But just as the Neo arrived and ordered him to kill his target, the New Orleans Thieves Guild (Gambit's family) also showed up. Domina decided to allow Gambit to live and they went back to their base.
Shortly after, Magneto arrived at the Neo's fortress and commands them to serve him in his Genoshan army. The Neo resist and for their efforts Magneto dismembers Rax and Salvo. Having proven himself to the clan, Domina bows before her new leader.
Given that the Neo were never seen from again, it can be inferred that they perished along with millions of other mutants when Cassandra Nova sent her wild Sentinels to attack the island.
[edit] Members and their abilities
All members of the Neo have peak physical forms, strength, agility, and resistance to injury. Listed below are their unique attributes.
- Jaeger- able to sense the emotions of prey and track them genetically from any piece of fiber; borrow the powers of his Warclan
- Domina- able to borrow the powers of her Warclan
- Rax- endowed with Jaeger's tracking abilities upon his death
- Seth- unknown but had access to a highly advanced suit of armor
- Anteus- massive size, strength, and resistance to injury which was increased by his contact to the earth (much like his Greek namesake)
- Salvo- transform parts of his body into bio-weapons, turning his body into liquid metal to act as ammunition
- Static- project a field which disrupts the powers of nearby mutants or turns their powers on themselves
- Elysia- makes manifest the greatest desires of a target in multi-sensory illusions
- Tartarus- makes manifest the worst fears of a target in multi-sensory illusions which become reality after an extended amount of time
- Junction- teleportation
- Kilmer- unknown
[edit] Notes
- There were several other groups which attested connections to the Neo, but this article focuses on the Neo proper.
- All members of the clan (except Seth) boasted facial markings. Most likely these were placed on by clan members themselves and were not the result of mutation. Given that they refer to themselves as the "Warclan" it is not hard to imagine that they would wear war paint.
- The name Jaeger (German for "hunter") is more of a title than a name, as it was passed down to Rax upon Jaeger's death.
