Sage (comics)
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Sage, also known as Tessa is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She has most often been associated with the X-Men and the Hellfire Club, whom she spied upon for Professor Charles Xavier.
A mutant, Sage possesses a number of mental abilities and was originally presented as the personal assistant to the the Hellfire Club’s Sebastian Shaw, but an extended retcon revealed that she had been one of the first mutants Professor Xavier discovered (Sage says that this was about the same time as he located Beast, but in other accounts he found Sage first). Instead of being chosen for the first X-Men class she was sent to spy on the Hellfire Club, something that has haunted her in the years since.
She has been a member of the original X-Men teams, the X-Treme X-Men and more recently a member of the latest incarnation of Excalibur.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
As a youth, Sage came from a war-torn area. Living by herself in the Balkans, she tried to keep out of the conflicts between the rebels and the government, though she was willing to use her guns and other weapons on any threat. One day, she felt herself called to a cave which was considered haunted by the locals. She felt a voice in her head and it guided her deeper into the cavern where she found Charles Xavier, who was stuck underneath a pile of debris. His legs had been crushed during his battle with the alien Lucifer. Xavier sensed that Sage was a mutant, and told her that she was one and what being a mutant meant.
Sage helped Xavier and tried to get him to a hospital but during their journey down the mountains they happened across a United Nations relief convoy that was attacked by robbers, who raped and killed the UN workers. Sage exacted revenge on their behalf and killed the men in return, though she despised herself for being so brutal.
Years later, Sage met up again with Xavier, who at the time was recruiting the original X-Men. Instead of having her join them, he trained her in secret as a spy. He sent her to the Hellfire Club to keep watch on Sebastian Shaw. While working there, she encountered Psylocke and Jean Grey, as well as Emma Frost, who was then the White Queen. While she was able to successfully warn Psylocke away from the Hellfire Club, Sage has shown remorse that during this period she was unable to prevent the transformation of Phoenix into the Black Queen, which in turn led to the creation of Dark Phoenix.
Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost once dared the man known as Elias Bogan to wager in a game of poker. Though he held no rank in the Inner Circle, Bogan was a telepath and was one of the Club’s most important and powerful members, and having him as a patron guaranteed success. If Shaw lost, Emma would belong to Bogan, but if Bogan's agent lost, then his fortune would be turned over to Shaw. Although Bogan had never lost a game before, the impossible happened, mostly due to Sage’s advice and analytical skills. Bogan honored the wager, but he carried a grudge against Sage and waited for an opportunity to get his revenge.
Bogan bided his time, and years later kidnapped Sage. He permanently scarred her below the eyes, and offered her back to Shaw for everything he had. Shaw refused and cut his ties with Sage. However, the X-Men became aware of Sage's predicament, and Storm came to her rescue.
Out of gratitude, Sage stayed with the X-Men. Afraid of ever being possessed, she shut down all of her telepathic power, since using it would mean becoming more vulnerable because another telepath may intercept a psi-link, and reach across it to her. With the X-Men, Sage acted as a living computer, able to remember everything she sees and hears and provide analysis. However, her main mutant power is the ability to "jump-start" other mutants' abilities. She used this power to save Beast's life, give Rogue better control of her powers, and unlock Slipstream's latent teleportation powers. She was part of the team searching for Destiny's diaries, the Books of Truth. During this period she formed a close friendship with the X-Man Bishop. The team stayed together even after the diaries became invalid because they did not approve of the way Xavier was running the school. When the mansion was destroyed, the team returned to help in the rebuilding process and have since remained there.
She has also been a member of X-Treme X-Men (later the X-Treme Sanctions Executive), along with X-Men Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Cannonball and Bishop, and once again had to come face to face with the monster himself, Elias Bogan.
Sage, meanwhile, has rejoined the Hellfire Club to keep an eye on Roberto da Costa (who has become the new Lord Imperial) to make sure he is not corrupted by power as Sebastian was. Yet, for reasons unknown, Sage has recently left Sunspot's side and has instead traveled to England to join forces with the newly reformed Excalibur.
[edit] Power and abilities
Powers:
- Sage's main mutant power is the ability to sense the mutant potential in others, and bring it into being under the proper circumstances, and to advance existing mutants into the next level of their power.
- Her powers also include perfect memory, and the ability to process data faster than many computers -- whatever she sees, she remembers. Whatever she remembers, can be recalled in an instant, with perfect clarity, and analyzed with a speed and accuracy that puts the fastest computers to shame. She uses these "computer-like" abilities in order to analyze and catalogue a latent mutant's or mutant's DNA, necessary for concluding the proper modifications before she jumpstarts them.
- Sage has also been stating as being able to multitask on a superhuman level and it is implied she is constantly tackling many mental obstacles at once. According to the Official Marvel Handbook, Sage can battle an opponent, review previous battle footage from memory and play an internet game of chess simultaneously and with little or no effort at all.
- Sage's mental fortitude and perception, along with her will power and training, make her particularly resistant to illusions (like Lady Mastermind's) and mind control (like the Savage Land Mutate named Leash).
- Sage possesses telepathy which enables her to link with other minds: read and broadcast thoughts, mind-blast, etc. However these abilities are no longer in use. She "shut off" her telepathy in order to grant her immunity to mental attack.
Abilities:
- Due to her power, as well as her experiences growing up in a war, Sage is quite the formidable fighter (when she was young, those who could not fight did not survive). She observes all the elements of her adversary's fighting style -- physical cues, ability, etc -- she analyses his/her/their fighting style, probabilities of attack, angles of motion; at the same time she can control her own body completely, and kicks in with the appropriate response, at a speed which makes that response virtually instantaneous. She can fight in high heels; in fact, she uses them as weapons sometimes.
- She is a skilled interrogator. People talk without her even touching them, because on a primal level they sense she's capable of extreme violence.
- Sage was born with an indomitable will. She was trained by Professor Xavier, like the rest of his students, to resist mind-control and block telepaths. Due to her strength of will, she is very good at this. Psychic and cybernetic mental attacks are achieved via a mind-link between the attacker and the target. These mind-links are a double-edged sword, which Professor Xavier taught Sage to exploit. Therefore, she can reflect attacks based on mind-links, and even use the attacker's mental powers to attack more minds, until the mental link between them is broken. This can be done only if she's not caught by surprise, or unaware. This trick doesn't happen on its own, she needs to focus.
[edit] Paraphernalia
- Sage uses a pair of cybernetic sun-glasses that allow her to access and interface with computers and data networks.
- She frequently carries and uses firearms and edged weapons, and is highly skilled in their use. Her firearms are sometimes loaded with stun ammunition.
[edit] Alternate versions
In the What If special, "What if.. Magneto and Professor X had formed the X-Men together?" an alternate version of Sage was depicted.
In an alternative world where Professor Xavier and Magneto's roads did not separate, Sage was found by both men, and was never sent to spy on Sebastian Shaw in the Hellfire Club. As a result, Sage never helped that world's Shaw win his bet with Bogan, and Shaw lost Emma Frost to Bogan. And since Xavier had Sage around to find other mutants for him, he never developed his mutant tracking computer, Cerebro, which would have had a wider range.
When Xavier finally began developing a Cerebro, he used Sage to beta test it —comparing the readings of the device, to the readings achieved with Sage's own mutant power.
Not surprising given her high status with Xavier in this timeline, she served as Professor Xavier's Executive Assistant.
[edit] Notes
There is often a misconception that Sage is able to control computers with her mind (cyberpathy), or that she is a cyborg. Neither is the case.
Sage must interact with computers in the normal fashion, or through her virtual-reality glasses. Though she has been referred to as a cyberpath at times, this refers to her mental processing abilities and not control of computers.
Though she possesses computer or machine like attributes, these abilities are all functions of her mutant powers. Sage is fully human (or mutant) without any cybernetic enhancements.
[edit] External links
- UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Sage - detailed biography on Sage
- Sage the living computer - Sage fansite
- Cyberpaths - Sage forums
