Spyke
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Spyke (Evan Daniels) is a character who was briefly a member of the X-Men in the animated series X-Men Evolution. Created by writer Bob Skir and artist Steve E. Gordon, he first appeared in "Speed And The Spyke", episode #5 (December 9, 2000), where he was voiced by Neil Denis.
Spyke is an African American, a high-school freshman, and has the mutant ability to project spikes out of his body.
The character was originally created as a way to diversify show's X-Men roster. It was important to the show's creators, the WB network (who ran the show) and Marvel Comics to have an African American in the show. [1] Turning characters like Bishop (the first black male X-Man and first Asian American, Filipino in particular, X-Man) into teenagers didn't work and presumably they were unaware of Maggott, an African mutant who joined the X-Men later on. Initially he may have been the team's muscle and look closer to how he looked in season four, but Marvel decided they didn't like the "monster" angle and was given a much more normal look. He then was originally intended to be called Armadillo and have cornrows.
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[edit] Character biography
Evan Daniels was born in New York, New York to Mr. (no name is given for him in the show) and Vivian Daniels. His mutant powers are first noticed at his high school basketball game by his Aunt Ororo (aka Storm a longtime member of the X-Men), and his teammate Pietro. The next night Storm, along with Cyclops and Jean Grey, approached Evan's parents about his mutant powers and attending Xavier's School. Evan angrily declines on his own behalf and leaves.
He goes to his school to catch the thief who keeps breaking into his locker. It is revealed that Pietro is not only the thief, but a mutant with super speed powers. Pietro, who renames himself Quicksilver, breaks into all the lockers in the school and lets Evan take the heat as he escapes prosecution. Only when Charles Xavier uses his pull to help Evan get out of prison does he join the X-Men and the school under the code name Spyke. Spyke settles the score with Quicksilver when he, Cyclops and Jean defeat the speedy mutant. Spyke is cleared of all charges when he caught Qucksilver's arrogant confession on tape.
During his tenure with the X-Men, Spyke didn't want any special treatment from anyone at the school because he was Storm's nephew. Though he liked being an X-Man and thought of them as his family, Spyke at times acts selfishly and inconsiderate of others. Spyke would goof around in class and on at least one occasion ditched school mid-class to go skatebaording with his then human friends. He also was late for several training exercises in the Danger Room resulting in him getting reprimanded by Storm and several X-Kids failing in their training exercise because Spyke was not there to back them up. If not for him saving Storm's life from the Hungan, Spyke would have been sent home to his parents due his lack of concern for school and DR training.
After he and the other X-Men were discovered to be mutants, Spyke grew angry at how they were being treated. After drinking Pow-R8, an energy drink that was toxic to mutants even by touching it, Spyke found out he could not retract or fully control his spikes. After seeing how cruelly he was treated because of his condition, Spyke joined the Morlocks (a mutant street gang) because he wanted to fight for mutants that look different from normal humans. Storm did not take this well and tried to convince Spyke to come back but he refused. When he returned later in the series we see he has mutated even further, and now most of his upper body is covered by armadillo-type bone-plates except for his face and below the waist. He later helped out in destroying the Pyramids surfaced by Apocalypse. Spyke is last seen in a group photo with the X-Men, the New Mutants and their unaffiliated allies. In this photo he is wearing the bottom half of his X-Men costume, hinting that he may have rejoined, if only temporally.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Spyke can extend or retract bone spikes that grow inside his body. He may shoot them out or bring them out to grab and hold. He also needs to drink milk to replace the calcium he looses when he uses his powers. [2] Spyke, an expert skateboarder, integrated his skateboarding prowess into battles.
In the later episodes as his mutation evolved, Spyke gained the ability to light the ends of the spikes on fire. He can now also make protective plates around his body. However, he becomes unable to fully retract his projections. In this form, Spyke no longer uses his skateboard.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Comics
- A student at the Xavier Institute named Spike appeared in New X-Men #126 near-simultaneously following the debut of Spyke on X-Men: Evolution.
- A member of X-Force (later X-Statix) named The Spike was introduced in X-Force #121 near-simultaneously following the debut of Spyke on X-Men: Evolution.
[edit] Films
- A member of the Brotherhood appears in X-Men: The Last Stand portrayed by Lance Gibson. While his name is spelled similar to the Spike of the comic, the character's powers are very similar to that of the Spyke from X-Men: Evolutuion.
[edit] Criticism
Spyke had a considerably negative fan reaction from older X-Men fans due to similarities he has to the comicbook character Marrow, a pre-existing character with similar powers, though the show's producer Boyd Kirkland says this wasn't intentional.[3] [4] [5]
[edit] See also
List of X-Men: Evolution characters
[edit] References
- ^ "http://news.toonzone.net/2000/oct/20/spyke.php Milk: It Does a Body Good]", http://www.toonzone.net/, posted October 20, 2000, accessed October 26, 2006.
- ^ "http://news.toonzone.net/2000/oct/20/spyke.php Milk: It Does a Body Good]", http://www.toonzone.net/, posted October 20, 2000, accessed October 26, 2006.
- ^ "X-MEN: EVOLUTION'S SPYKE VS. MARROW?", http://www.comicscontinuum.com/, posted December 2, 2000, accessed September 23, 2006.
- ^ "Forty Questions with Boyd Kirkland", http://x-men.toonzone.net/, accessed September 23, 2006.
- ^ "http://news.toonzone.net/2000/oct/20/spyke.php Milk: It Does a Body Good]", http://www.toonzone.net/, posted October 20, 2000, accessed October 26, 2006.
