Mercury (Marvel Comics)
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| Mercury | |
 Art by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Clayton Henry. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Mutants vol. 2 #2 (August, 2003) |
| Created by | Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir Keron Grant |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Cessily Kincaid |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | New X-Men Xavier Institute The 198 Hellions |
| Abilities | Body is composed of a non-toxic form of mercury, which she can reshape and stretch at will |
Mercury (Cessily "Cess" Kincaid) is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe, a member of the student body at the Xavier Institute. She first appeared in New Mutants vol. 2 #2 (August, 2003). She is originally introduced as a 16 year-old from Portland, Oregon and her parents do not accept her mutation. She is one of only 27 (technically 30) students to keep her powers post-M-Day and is part of the New X-Men team.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Introduction
Cessily Kincaid, an Irish American, was raised in Portland, Oregon by her parents Mark and Jill, who, according to DeFilippis, used to dote over her[1]. When Cessily's powers manifested, her parents were disgusted and made her stay indoors so as to hide her mutation. In response, she was sent to the Xavier Institute where she befriended Julian Keller and was placed as Laurie Collins' roommate, which led to Cessily not liking Laurie. After the school was rebuilt, she was selected by Emma Frost to be on her Hellions squad.
She's extremely close to Santo Varroco and Julian Keller whom she spends most of her time with and looks upon like big brothers.
During that time, she developed a crush on her teammate Wither, but her feelings were not reciprocated.
[edit] Hellions Miniseries
The Hellions squad won the squad challenge, and during their summer vacation, they travelled with Julian to his home. There they encountered the Kingmaker, from whom they each received a trial wish. Cessily's wish was to have her parents accept and love her, a wish the Kingmaker granted by manipulating her parents with telepaths. However, when the Hellions eventually refused a permanent deal with the Kingmaker, Cessily's parents reverted back to normal and Cessily returned to the Institute, defeated.
[edit] Decimation
Soon thereafter, the events of M-Day left only 27 students with their powers, Cessily included, though she would have preferred to lose her powers and was devastated that she did not. The depowered students and staff were sent home. One bus was bombed by anti-mutant religious zealot Reverend William Stryker, and Cessily's former teammate and friend Tag was among those killed. The X-Men held a funeral for those students whose parents would not accept them, and Cessily's anguish was very visible.
All of the remaining students were placed by Emma Frost into an all-out brawl, and the ones deemed to be the best were to be assigned to become a group of in-training X-Men. Cessily made the team and began training to become an X-Man.
[edit] Childhood's End and Nimrod
In the Childhood's End arc, Cessily and the New X-Men defeated Stryker, Josh killing him. Shortly afterwards the team went to help Forge who had been sought out by Nimrod for repair. During the skirmish X-23 was forced to sever a piece of Mercury's hand to separate her from Nimrod. She later commented she'd "always wanted to lose a few pounds." The team successfully defeated the robot due to combining the powers of Surge, Mercury, and X-23 and Nimrod was sent back in time.
[edit] Mercury Falling
After learning of Emma Frost's plan to have X-23 leave the school, Cessily takes Laura to Salem Center for coffee to cool Laura down. Just as Cessily realizes that Laura has feelings for Hellion, the coffee shop explodes. Facility agents led by Laura's former handler, Kimura come for one of them. Laura believing it is her begs Cessily to leave, but not before Kimura shoots Cessily with an electric bullet, stopping Cessily from doing anything, and stating that they were actually there for Cessily. After capturing Cessily, Kimura leaves before Laura can recuperate from a grenade blast. At the lab, Cessily questions who they are and what they want but is given no answers. When she replies that her friends will come for her, Kimura informs that "The Elephant" (Mammomax) said the same thing while showing a picture of his corpse in a cell. Before dying, Stryker had requested a living weapon be made, a huge beast called Predator X. Mercury's metal skin was needed to give it added powers and durability. The Facility scientists strip some of Mercury's biometal, granting Predator X her powers. The experiments leave her physically and mentally traumatized, forcing her to recuperate for some time at the Institute. She eventually regains some of her lost mass.
[edit] Quest for Magik
Mercury is recovering in bed after what happened to her in the last arc when the students are teleported to Limbo. She is held captive by Belasco but breaks free after he 'kills' X-23. She and Dust go up against Belasco and keep getting beaten down but refuse to give up, as both their mutant bodies are resistant to his magic and fight an inconclusive battle until Darkchild and the other students arrive, teleported by Pixie. Mercury continues to fight alongside the other students, but can only watch as Belasco fends them off and proceeds to pull Earth into Limbo until he is defeated by Darkchild and Pixie.
[edit] World War Hulk
Mercury is one of the students that intercepts the Hulk in World War Hulk: X-Men. Mercury helps in keeping Hulk pinned down in the first attack but is knocked away. When X-23 blinds him she joins in taking him down alongside Surge, Beast and X-23 but they are all knocked away when Hulk's eyes grow back. Mercury gets back up and attacks him from behind but Hulk grabs her and squishes her against the ground. Later while the rest of the X-Men are still defeated from the Hulk's attack, Mercury tries one more time to defeat the rampaging green goliath. During the course of the battle, the Hulk was shown the recent graveyards of all of the deceased mutants that died during M-Day. Mercury then describes in detail the deaths of Laurie Collins and Brian Cruz, causing the Hulk to understand his self-righteous tantrum is wrongly directed towards Xavier’s affiliation with the Illuminati. Seeing these graveyards reminds the Hulk of his recent fallen companions on Sakaar, and with that understanding, he leaves Xavier unharmed.
[edit] Children of X-Men
Cessily still maintains her disapproval and distrust of Emma Frost after overhearing her conversation with X-23 during the "Mercury Falling" arc. She also feels that Emma has carelessly "lost" track of Wither and constantly reminds her of the fact that Kevin is no longer in the school or under her surveillance.
Mercury has also been deeply affected by the events of Decimation, as depicted in the "Endangered Species" miniseries. She is distraught by the death of a teenage civilian mutant and is one of the students at the institute trying to determine the youngest mutant, as she believes that the youngest mutant always tends to be killed.
[edit] Messiah Complex
Mercury is one of the New X-Men led by Surge that launch a strike against the Purifiers to incapacitate them and rescue the mutant baby. After Hellion is critically wounded by Lady Deathstrike, Pixie panics and blindly teleports the entire team out of the Purifiers' base, spreading them out between Washington and New York. It does not appear that Cessily suffered any lasting injuries as a result. She helps to stabalize Hellion in the X-Jet on the way back to the mansion. Later, she goes with Dust and Rockslide to visit the graveyard, and they discover that Predator X has entered the mansion grounds. Mercury battles the monster with the rest of the students and is transported by Pixie, along with the other New X-Men, to the battle between the X-Teams and Sinister's forces on Muir Isle.
[edit] Manifest Destiny
Following Messiah Complex and the disbanding of the X-Men, Mercury is one of the only reamaing, main cast members (other being Prodigy) of the New X-Men whoes current whereabouts is unknown. It has howeveer been revealed that she is set to appear in the recently announced series and storyline X-men: Manifest Destiny, due out Fall 2008.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Mercury's body is composed of non-toxic mercury, which she can reshape or solidify at will, although she is still inexperienced in shape-shifting. Molecular adhesion power gives her the ability to cling to solid surfaces and move her body at will even without overt locomotive features. She has also demonstrated superhuman strength by supporting huge slabs of concrete, though the extent of this strength is unknown.
It has also been said by her creators that she can potentially do anything the T-1000, from 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, can. However, she has yet to demonstrate one key facet of the T-1000's shapeshifting--the ability to change the color and texture of her liquid metal to completely mimic a human form. However, Mercury often maintains her original red hair, suggesting that she has the ability to change her mercury's color and texture to a degree.
Electricity is her main weakness and has often been used against her, because it causes her body to go haywire.
Due to her composition Mercury does not require food or drink. Only a few people know this however, and Mercury does eat and drink as it makes her feel more normal.
Since her body is not organic, she is one of the few people who can touch Wither, for whom she has unrequited feelings, without decaying.
She can also control pieces of her liquid mercury and has the potential to bring it back to her like she almost did in the last issue of Mercury Falling. Usually, if forcefully separated from her body, her liquid mercury turns into dead flesh, as demonstrated during the Facility's experiments. However, some of her mercury has been separated as living mercury tissue and was used for Predator X's skin. She is currently less than her original mass, as she states that when Laura cut off her hands to save her during the fight with Nimrod, she "lost a few pounds."
According to Belasco, Cessily's transient form is resistant to magic.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] House of M
- In the House of M reality, Cessily was a student at Karma's New Mutant Leadership Institute, and, unlike her 616 persona, was close with Laurie. When she learned of Prodigy's plan to help Surge find her terrorist father in Japan, she was against going, but then Laurie (a deep cover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) changed her mind. Once in Japan, the young team found the Project Genesis the terrorists were trying to stop, and Laurie revealed her loyalties, making the Hellions attack the New Mutants. Mercury, however, was immune to pheromones, and pleaded with her friend to stop. When Laurie refused, Cessily was forced to stab her in the abdomen. Afterwards, Mercury joined the survivors in a last-ditch assault on Emperor Sunfire's forces.
