| Havok | |
Havok from the cover of X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1. |
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| Publication information | |
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| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #54 (March, 1969) |
| Created by | Arnold Drake Don Heck Neal Adams |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Alexander "Alex" Summers |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Starjammers X-Men The Six X-Factor Brotherhood Genoshan Magistrates |
| Notable aliases | Mutant X, Magistrate Summers, Goblin Prince |
| Abilities | Ability to absorb cosmic energy Energy blasts Immunity to Cyclops' optic blasts |
Havok (Alexander "Alex" Summers) is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the X-Men. He is the son of Corsair and brother of Cyclops and Vulcan.
A mutant, Havok generates powerful “plasma blasts”, an ability he has had difficulty controlling. He is the younger brother of the X-Men’s Cyclops and older brother of Vulcan. He often resents Cyclops’ authoritative attitude and reputation as a model X-Man.
In contrast, Havok and his longtime love interest Polaris have had a love/hate relationship with the team, often finding themselves roped into it. Both were also members of the 1990s-era Pentagon-sponsored mutant team X-Factor. After X-Factor disbanded, Havok starred in Mutant X, a series in which he explored a strange alternate reality. He has since returned to the X-Men.
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Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Don Heck, Havok first appeared in X-Men #54 (March 1969).
Alexander Summers was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the second of the three sons of Christopher Summers, a United States Air Force Major and test pilot and his wife Katherine Anne. When Alex was a boy growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, his father took the family for a flight in their airplane, which came under attack by a Shi'ar spaceship. As the plane caught fire and was crashing, his parents fastened Alex and his older brother, Scott, into a parachute and pushed them off the plane in hopes that they would survive.
The Summers boys were recovered and put into an orphanage and Alex was soon adopted though his brother Scott remained there for much of his childhood. Alex was raised by the Blandings; a family whose son, Todd, had died in a car accident[1]. They tried to make Alex fit into the image of their son, and he tried to do as best he could. When the boy responsible for Todd's death kidnapped Alex and his foster sister, Haley, Alex manifested his powers for the first time, incinerating the boy. Mister Sinister, an evil geneticist who was obsessed with the Summers bloodline, appeared eager yet surprised that Alex's potential exceeded Scott's — despite the fact that he seemed to lack control over his gift. Sinister placed psi-blocks on both Alex and Haley's minds, causing them to forget what had happened that night.
Alex went on to study and earn a degree in geophysics at college. There he first met the original X-Men, and learned that Cyclops is his brother. His mutant powers became apparent when he was kidnapped by the Living Pharaoh, who declared Alex the only being able to rival his power. The two shared the same cosmic energy-absorption abilities, in reverse proportion to each other. By locking Alex in a shielded cell, the Pharaoh was able to absorb enough cosmic energy to become the Living Monolith. The X-Men fought a losing battle against the virtually unstoppable Monolith, until Alex managed to free himself, and the Monolith turned back into the Living Pharaoh.[2]
Alex's mutant power at first seemed to manifest itself only when he was near death. He was unable to control it, and feared its immense power.
Alex was later captured by Larry Trask and his Sentinels, who were bent on controlling or eradicating all mutants. Trask fashioned a costume for Alex that would help him control his powers and Alex was given the code name Havok. Trask turned out to be a mutant himself and the Sentinels were defeated by the X-Men. Havok lost control of his powers, however, and his excess energy was absorbed by Sauron. Havok then gained control of his powers.[3]
Havok actively joined the X-Men and began a relationship with Lorna Dane, Polaris, much to the anger of Iceman who was romantically interested in her as well. While the senior X-Men were in the Savage Land, Havok and Polaris were approached by Professor X about the imminent invasion of the alien Z’Nox. During this time, the couple fell in love.
With the original X-Men, Havok and Polaris were captured by Krakoa the living island, but were rescued by the new X-Men.[4] Havok and Polaris then quit the team's active membership along with most of the original members.[5]
Havok was again captured by the Living Pharaoh/Living Monolith, but was this time rescued by Spider-Man and Thor.[6]
Havok and Polaris were occasional members and allies of the X-Men for years. They alternated between doing graduate work and earning a postgraduate degree in the American Southwest — where they occasionally encountered the Hulk — and helping out Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. It was during their stay on Muir Island that Havok helped the X-Men battle Proteus.[7]
Eventually, Alex learned that Corsair of the Starjammers was really his father.[8]
During one of their adventures, Polaris was possessed by the mutant Marauder Malice, ending the romantic relationship for a time. Havok then sought out and rejoined the X-Men.[9]
Havok befriended Wolverine in the late 1980s and they shared some adventures together. While they were vacationing in Mexico, they were targeted by a terrorist cell. They managed to deal with their hunters, but were fooled by a damsel in distress who was actually a member of the terrorist group. Havok woke up in a hospital, in the care of nurse Scarlett McKenzie, the assassin without disguise. She manipulated Havok and made him fall in love with her. Scarlett was working for the Russian scientist, Dr. Neutron, a.k.a. Meltdown, who wanted to use Havok as a means to absorb the entire energy of an atom reactor, breaking it down and transmuting it into himself. Scarlett fed Alex with false information that terrorists were trying to sabotage the plant. When he ventured into the heart of the reactor, he found it shortly before reaching critical limit. According to plan, Havok tried to absorb the dangerous radiation; however, when he witnessed Meltdown killing Scarlett, he blasted him, making himself stronger. The arrival of Wolverine prevented a full disaster after Logan killed Meltdown, and Havok redirected the nuclear radiation into space. [10]
During this period, Havok became involved with Madelyne Pryor. Both of them had been rejected by their previous lovers, her then-husband Cyclops had left her for Jean Grey. Madelyne was manipulated by N'astirh and became the Goblin Queen. She attempted to use Havok to help take over the world and transform it into a demonic realm. Havok eventually came to his senses and Madelyne killed herself after discovering she was a clone of Jean Grey.
Around this time, Havok rescued Leila O'Toole from the Trackers. With Wolverine, he discovered that Leila was actually Plasma, the Living Pharaoh's niece. Havok defeated Plasma and the Trackers. [11]
After going through the Siege Perilous with several other X-Men fleeing the cyborg hunters the Reavers, Havok ended up amnesiac in Genosha; a country that used mutants and genetically-engineered slaves called Mutates. He became a high-ranking Magistrate in the Genoshan army. His fellow X-Men had no idea of what had happened to him until, during the X-Tinction Agenda, the Genoshan government kidnapped members of the mutant teams X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants. During a pitched battle with his brother, Cyclops, Havok's memory returned, but he kept it a secret hoping to catch the Genoshan leader, Cameron Hodge, off guard. He succeeded and was the one to deliver the killing blow to Hodge.
With Wolfsbane, Havok was brought back from Genosha by Professor X and Cyclops to lead a new incarnation of X-Factor.[12]
Havok and Polaris eventually reunited and he became the leader of the government-sponsored X-Factor. Havok led the team effectively for quite some time. He dealt with the unwilling, unwitting affections of Wolfsbane, the physical problems of Strong Guy and various public relations disasters, such as the destruction of the Washington Monument. Much of the team's bad image was orchestrated by Mister Sinister, his Nasty Boys and a mutant senator who could cause bad luck. He dealt physically with Random and personally, as they clashed for various reasons. He grew in new directions as a leader, once seemingly drinking poison in an effort to buck up the spirits of Strong Guy, who had been poisoned. (What Alex drank had been water).
Havok and X-Factor were called upon to subvert a civil war aggravated by the Pantheon. In this instance, Alex physically challenged the Hulk and by soaking up the various energies that fuel Banner, using them to bolster his plasma blasts, Havok had the advantage. It was the second time Havok had beaten the Hulk[13].
During this time, Havok's team participated in the events of the Infinity War and the Infinity Crusade. Alex and Strong Guy participated the most in far reaching, reality altering cosmic battles.
Multiple Man had gained the Legacy Virus in Genosha and thus, later chose to undergo a seemingly mystical healing effort[14]. Despite the previous success with Wolfsbane, which cured her of her unnatural love for Alex, Multiple Man perished. This hit Havok hard, as he felt he was ultimately responsible since Madrox was under his command. He left the team for a while and went to Hawaii, where he and Polaris enjoyed a romantic honeymoon until Malice and Mr. Sinister and The Nasty Boys showed up. Reinforcements helped Havok and Polaris survive the villains. Shortly afterwards Strong Guy suffered a heart attack and ended up in stasis. Wolfsbane left to be with her foster mother.
After the Age of Apocalypse event was over Havok accidentally destroyed a dam and was forced back into his old containment suit. After new members Wild Child, Shard and Mystique were introduced to the team, Havok fought Random and was captured by the Dark Beast. He was brainwashed into serving Dark Beast and Onslaught. He broke free of the brainwashing, but used it as an opportunity to infiltrate the enemy and recreated a version of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He succeeded in defeating the Dark Beast and attempted to mend fences with his former X-Factor teammates, specifically Polaris and the resurrected Multiple Man (the man who had died had been a duplicate).
While Havok was attempting to reform X-Factor, one of his time-traveling team members, Greystone created an experimental time travel device to return him to the future. It exploded in mid-air, seemingly killing Havok and Greystone in front of their teammates.
In actuality, Havok was cast into a parallel world where he was the leader of a drastically altered version of X-Factor, known as The Six. In this world, he was the leader of the original X-Men, since his brother Cyclops was abducted by the Shi'ar along with his parents. He found he was married to Madelyne Pryor, with whom he had a son named Scotty, and all his friends were twisted versions of the ones he knew. Despite being unfamiliar with this realm, Havok willingly took over the role of father for Scotty, though the boy knew he was not really his dad. Havok leads a group known as the Six and his adventures in this reality lead to a disastrous adventure which left most superhumans on that world dead. Havok was able to save the world itself before being cast into black nothingness.
However, Havok's body was found back in the original reality in a comatose state. The X-Men were able to restore his psyche with the help of the son of Havok's nurse, Annie Ghazikhanian. When he was reunited with Polaris, she asked him to marry her, which he never actually answered. Beast immediately congratulated them and Havok didn't say anything about it. More than likely it was because he felt he should want to marry Lorna, but didn't realize that he no longer loved her as he had before. Unknown to Havok, Polaris, and Annie, Carter had used his telepathy to link Annie and Alex's dreams while he was in his Coma. In their dreams Havok and Annie fell in love, a fact that was initially lost on Alex but Annie knew but did not voice. Before his wedding Scott tested Alex's resolve by hiring a shapeshifter to morph into Annie, something that disturbed Alex very deeply. The night prior to the wedding Alex had a final dream showing him that he now loved Annie, and not Lorna. During the wedding Alex stopped the proceedings and called off the marriage. Lorna, already affected by the incident at Genosha, tried to kill Annie and Carter, only to be stopped by Juggernaut and Havok.
Alex revealed to Annie that is was Carter that linked the two due to their loneliness and that he had come to realize that it was she he was in love with, not Lorna. Despite the fact that Iceman had started a relationship with Annie, he expressed his feelings for Lorna.
Havok and Annie's relationship continued for some time until an impending attack on the X-Mansion at the hands of a new Brotherhood of Mutants led by Exodus caused Annie to leave Havok and take her son away from the X-Men on the basis that it was no longer safe for the two to live at the mansion if constantly under attack. She wanted Alex to come with them but his duty was to his team so mother and son left for parts unknown.
With Annie and Carter now gone, Havok's mind seems to be mending since he expressed feelings to resume his relationship with Polaris, who moved on after being rejected and was dating her former boyfriend Iceman. During the post "House of M" storyline, many mutants lost their powers. When Polaris revealed that she had lost her powers, she left the X-Men, and Havok decided to leave with her. However, after Polaris' and his encounter with the creature called "Daap," in which Lorna was abducted, Havok returned to the X-Mansion to see a Sphinx bearing the face of Apocalypse.
He then returned to active duty to assist the remainder of his squad, Rogue and Iceman, along with new member Mystique, in bringing down Apocalypse. Havok single-handedly destroyed the antidote to Apocalypse's meta-plague and a key element in his plan to decimate the human population. Gambit was turned into a horseman and he clashed with Havok and the other X-Men. During the last battle, Iceman struck down Pestilence, who was revealed to be Polaris. As her esophagus closed down, Havok administered CPR to save her life, but was infected with the meta-plague. Luckily, Emma Frost saved some of the antidote Havok destroyed earlier and cured him with it.
Havok was recruited by Professor X[15], along with Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers), Nightcrawler, Warpath, Darwin and Polaris to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from unleashing his powers on the Shi'ar empire. Havok has recently been reunited with Corsair, his father, and brought him news about Vulcan. His current relationship with Polaris is still developing. Polaris seems to finally show concrete signs of forgiving Havok, telling him to "just shut up and kiss" her after the team won their first battle against the entire regiment of Shi'ar soldiers in their beginning struggle against D'Ken and in support of Lilandra[16]. Although Havok initially rebuffs her advances, hesitant to "start up again after" everything that happened between them, Lorna says that he needs to "blow off some steam" and the scene ends with them kissing. During the final battle[17], Corsair tries to reason with his son Vulcan but he kills him where he stands. Havok, enraged by this, launches an attack at his brother with intention of killing him, but is easily defeated. In the end, Nightcrawler, Warpath, and Hebizbah get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to the ship, but Lilandra sends the ship back to Earth, leaving Havok and his teammates stranded.
Havok along with Polaris, Rachel, Korvus, Ch'od, and Raza form a new team of Starjammers after the death of Corsair, dedicated to defeating Vulcan and restoring Lilandra to the throne[18].
The civil war between Vulcan's forces and those loyal to the dethroned Lilandra rages on. Led by Havok and the Starjammers, Lilandra's forces gradually whittle away at Vulcan's forces, which are plagued by defections. The Shi`ar, contrary to Vulcan's expectations, are not happy to have an outsider as their ruler. Vulcan is discouraged by this, but Deathbird convinces him that they will come to accept him.
Warned in advance of a rebel raid on Feather's Edge, Vulcan and his fleet ambush the Starjammers. However, in the middle of the battle, his ship, the Hammer, is destroyed by the Scy`ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Vulcan and Gladiator attack the leader of the Scy'ar Tal and are easily defeated, whereupon they retreat deeper into Shi'ar space.
Marvel Girl makes contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called the M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi`ar attacked them, killed a great number of their people, making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M`Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra & K`ythri. The M'Kraan then changed their named to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to the destruction of the Shi`ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan makes contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire.
Under the ceasefire, the Shi'ar and the Starjammers decide to take out the Finality, thus crippling the Scy'ar's biggest threat. Once Havok and Vulcan are in position to destroy Finality, the Eldest Scy'ar tries to stop them. Once Vulcan figures out how the Eldest is powered, he severs the connection Eldest has with his brothers, making him powerless. Once the connection is severed, the Scy'ar become unorganized, and the tide of the battle shifts to the Shi`ar. The Shi'ar then proceed to attack both the Scy'ar and the Starjammers. Meanwhile, Vulcan blasts Havok into a sun.
Vulcan decides to use Finality to destroy the Scy'ar by using the weapon to place a star in the middle of their fleet. Alex returns and, having absorbed enough power to burn Vulcan, decides to end things with him. While they battle, Rachel and Korvus try, and fail, to stop the beacon that will initiate the attack by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Imperial Guard end Alex's battle with Vulcan by appearing with the Starjammers in captivity, threatening to kill them. Before surrendering, Alex destroys Finality. Alex and the Starjammers are then taken into Vulcan's custody and placed in a prison, while Rachel Summers remains free.
Alex and Lorna along with the other captured Starjammers are kept in a deep underwater prison 20 miles below a planet's surface. Alex and Lorna are tortured daily and forced to hear each other's screams, and Alex is powerless as he's nowhere near a star to draw his powers from. Vulcan informs Havok of the events of Messiah Complex and that the baby is gone, Charles Xavier is dead and the X-Men are no more (not knowing the full truth of the result). Alex laughs off Vulcan, seeing the baby as a beacon of hope.
Marvel has announced that Havok will play a large role in the upcoming sequel to Emperor Vulcan called X-Men: Kingbreaker.[19] He will also be seen prominently in the War of Kings storyline, which also features Vulcan, the Inhumans, Nova, the Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.[20][21]
Havok is a mutant possessing the power to absorb ambient cosmic energy, process it and emanate it from his body as waves of energy that heat the air in the path, turning it into plasma in the form of a blast or discharge, with a tell-tale concentric circle pattern. These waves will emanate from his body in all directions unless he purposefully tries to channel them in a single direction, usually along the length of his arms. This results in control over an extremely powerful sort of destructive force. He is immune to the adverse effects of most forms of radiation and heat. In the past, he was not entirely able to control this ability, which made him a danger to those around him unless he wore a special containment suit equipped with special sensors for measuring and controlling his power output. Havok is immune to his own powers and to those of his brother Scott. He is resistant but not immune to Vulcan's powers.
Despite past accounts, the energy that Havok releases is not truly a concussive force. When Havok strikes an object with the waves of intensity of hot plasma, the sudden vast jump in temperature will often cause objects to shatter, explode or disintegrate and an observer might therefore wrongly think that the object had been struck by a concussive force. Should Havok direct his energy at the lowest level, he can project it towards a human being and his target will suffer a severe headache, but will not burn up. He can absorb cosmic energies from his environment (such as starlight, x-rays, and gamma radiation) and store them within his body cells, metabolizing the energy in order to generate plasma wave discharges that super-heat and disintegrate objects or create concussion bursts by violently displacing air molecules in his path. His absorption is normally passive, but he has shown that he can actively drain and absorb energy as well. He also seems to have gained the ability to fly and survive unaided in vacuum, when Vulcan throws him towards a sun he is wearing breathing equipment, on his return the helmet is off. Although one could argue, that since he is usually depicted with plasma spheres surrounding his body when using his powers he never actually needed anything resembling "normal" air.
Havok's body is constantly in the process of absorbing cosmic radiation. When each of his body's power-storage cell enclaves reaches its capacity, excess energy is thereafter absorbed and immediately re-emitted in negligible quantities. The circle on his chest is an indicator as how much energy he has left. Upon the total expenditure of all his available energy, it takes Havok's body about 16.5 hours to recharge to its peak level. The act of concentration involved in releasing his energy in anything other than an omnidirectional wave is physically exhausting for Havok if he continues it over an extended period of time.
Havok possesses the normal human strength of a man his age, height and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. Havok is also well-educated in the field of geophysical science where he has earned a masters degree and completed some doctoral work, and he has been trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts by Wolverine. He is an instinctive tactician and strategist.
It was also revealed, in the Mutant X and Exiles books that his body and mind were a nexus for all other Alex Summers in every other reality, and therefore his very existence was a sort of 'back door' to the others. This revelation caused the problem in the Uncanny X-Men and Exiles crossover. Not much more is known about his multidimensional status and has yet to be explored further.
In the Age of Apocalypse continuity, Alex and his brother Scott are not separated after the plane crash, but adopted together by Sinister. Raised together as the cream of the new mutant aristocracy in Apocalypse's America, the brothers, under the rank of Prelate, work to oversee their foster father's interests. Alex, being the more emotional, and thus unstable, of the two, loses ground in Sinister's eyes and watches with envy as his brother gains favor.
The two brothers reunite briefly with their real father, Christopher Summers, who has been kept in Sinister's medical labs. They discover that Christopher been infected by the Brood and was transforming into the new Brood Queen, forcing Scott to kill him. Alex refuses to believe that there were no other options and blames his brother for their father's death.
Alex meets Lorna once, but they have no relationship other than that of jail warden and prisoner. The power-hungry Alex is arrogant of his powers both as a mutant and as a Prelate. He frequents the club which Angel owns, Heaven, and has an affair with the club's diva, a flatscan (or human) woman named Scarlett (presumably that reality's version of the woman who appeared in the Meltdown miniseries). Because of the antagonism between humans and mutants, they both must keep this affair a secret. Scarlett, it turns out, is a spy working for the Human High Council. Scarlett is arrested right after she discovers that she is pregnant with Alex's child.
At almost that moment, Alex has just recaptured Jean Grey to use against his brother, Scott. Indeed, when Jean was originally a prisoner, she had captivated Scott and inspired him to release other prisoners. Alex exposes his brother as a traitor by asking Scott to execute Jean Grey, which of course Scott refuses to do. Following this, Alex has Scott arrested and gives him over to the Dark Beast for experiments, however, Jean Grey and Scott escape. Alex tracks them down and knocks his brother and kills Jean, but this action proves fatal for Alex when Weapon X takes vengeance on Jean's behalf.
In the four issue series Mys-Tech Wars an alternate universe version of Havok, along with the rest of X-Factor, appear in order to assist the mainstream heroes in their battles. An enemy's energy bolt pierces Havok through the neck, killing him instantly.
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity of Ultimate X-Men, Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok, is the headstrong, brash field leader of the Academy of Tomorrow, the mutant peacekeeping squad of Emma Frost. In this incarnation, he is the boyfriend and teammate of Polaris.
In this incarnation, he also is the brother of Cyclops. As in the mainstream comics, their powers are useless on each other. However, there are several key differences: first, Alex is the older brother; second, in this world, Alex and Scott are frequently at odds with each other, both ideologically and physically; and third, neither seems interested in mending this rift. Ideologically, their rift was evidenced by Alex's affiliation with Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow. There is also more than one reference to their physical competition over Polaris. In one case, Alex even knocked out Scott with a wrench, though he states that this was because Scott let him. The two have shown to help each other in great danger, but in general, they have a lot of sibling issues separating them.
In the alternate future X-Men: The End, Carter creates an illusion that he is still a child and Havok and Annie are together. Both Havok and Annie are killed prior the series began.
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