| Gosamyr | |
|---|---|
New Mutants vol. 1 #68, by Bret Blevins |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Mutants #66 (August, 1988) |
| Created by | Louise Simonson Bret Blevins |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Gosamyr |
| Team affiliations | New Mutants |
| Abilities | Invisibility, Flight, Empathy |
Gosamyr is a fictional character, a superhero from Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Gosamyr first appeared in New Mutants #66 (August 1988), and was created by Louise Simonson and Bret Blevins.
She subsequently featured in The New Mutants #67-74 (September 1988-April 1989); Power Pack #42 (December 1988); X-Terminators #4 (January 1989); and The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #4 (April 1989).
Gosamyr received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3.
Gosamyr is a member of an ancient, but rare, race of alien beings. In line with her heritage, Gosamyr is a very beautiful and delicate humanoid creature, but this is her early stage. Once they reach adulthood her race cocoon themselves for several thousand years before finally emerging as large powerful monstrosities. If released too early they can be powerful enough to destroy planets, even solar systems.[1]
The female of the species also has empathic powers which, even without intent, can cause conflict between even the closest of friends to the point of destruction. It is in their nature to provoke such conflict, thinking that it is "how everyone always behaves" anyway.[2]
As part of this, Gosamyr used her beauty to seduce male humans, though in the case of Sunspot of the New Mutants the attraction appears to have been genuine. She even once tried to chat up Jack Power of Power Pack who was only about eight-years-old and resented her approaches.[3]
Through some bad business dealings by her brother, Gosamyr and her family were forfeited to the evil alien businessbeing Spyder. Spyder kept most of Gosamyr's family imprisoned while she herself was kept at the end of a leash like a pet and was contemptuously referred to as "it" rather than "she" since Spyder saw her as nothing more than property.
Through similar arrangements, Spyder had also acquired "property rights" over Lila Cheney, an Earth super-hero who could teleport over long distances, including galaxies. Lila was kidnapped by Spyder's men in spite of the efforts of her friends from the New Mutants.
While in Earth's orbit, Gosamyr gave Spyder the slip, stole a space yacht and also went to Earth to find the New Mutants and ask for their help to save both her family and Lila. Monitoring her from a distance, Spyder decided to let her go and await developments.[4]
As they travelled through space, Gosamyr set about manipulating the New Mutants and causing conflict between them — as was her nature (see above). The boys in the team, Cannonball and Sunspot, were putty in her hands, while the girl members, Wolfsbane, Mirage and Magik, were suspicious and resentful, as was Warlock, the cybernetic alien.
Gosamyr and the New Mutants followed Spyder to a planet where greed and the search for profit was the norm. Her hold on them caused so much passion and resentment that Cannonball and Sunspot even came to blows (albeit not for the first time). Magik broke the spell by striking Gosamyr with her Soulsword: she didn't kill her but did make her darker side appear for a split-second.
Now back to normal, the New Mutants broke into Spyder's palace in order to rescue Lila, but were captured by Spyder who had been monitoring their progress all this time and had used Gosamyr's nature to lead them into a trap.[2]
The New Mutants were imprisoned, but Gosamyr was able to free them by using another trick which made her invisible. They then discovered that Gosamyr's family was made up of huge monstrous creatures encased in cocoons. Spyder intended to force them out and kill them because their bodies could be used to make valuable textiles. Exiting their cocoons long before their time, the creatures grew with every passing minute and threatened to destroy the planet and its solar system. To prevent this, Lila apparently teleported them and herself into the sun.[1]
She appeared to have sacrificed herself, but Lila eventually returned alive and well.
Magik then used her own teleportation powers to get the New Mutants and Gosamyr away from the planet and into Limbo where the Inferno cycle began. Gosamyr remained on the fringes for most of this event, using her emphatic power to keep the demons away from her. She appears to have tempered her ability to cause conflict at this time and even Mirage, who had been so critical of her previously, acknowledged her more friendly side.[5]
Once the Inferno over New York had passed, Gosamyr helped out clearing the damage. She used her powers to help relieve the pain of male patients in a local hospital.
More controversially, she also helped the kids from Power Pack reconcile with their parents who, in the course of fighting an enemy, had discovered that their children had super-powers which they had kept secret from them. The parents had suffered a nervous breakdown as a result, but Gosamyr convinced them that their children were still normal.[3] (This "cover-up" was highly criticized in the readers' letters column.)
Meeting other young mutants (see X-Terminators), Gosamyr and her companions went to the spacecraft Ship, the ally and mobile headquarters of X-Factor. Ship knew all about Gosamyr's kind and tried to destroy her, though it was fought to a standstill by the mutants.
Although she appeared to feel a genuine attraction to Sunspot, she decided that her nature made her too much of a danger to the New Mutants and their friends and resolved to leave Earth before causing more, albeit unintentional, conflict: "With me around, the minute you stop fighting villainy, you'll start fighting each other". Ship informed her of a planet of mystics who might be able to teach her to curb her nature and provided her with a spacecraft with which to go there.
The boys in the groups each offered to accompany her, but she insisted on going alone. She kissed Cannonball and Sunspot good-bye — Rictor and Rusty Collins were kept away by the jealous Boom-Boom and Skids (another example of how Gosamyr would affect different sexes) — and left Earth.[6]
While in the pre-cocoon stage, Gosamyr possesses wings that allow her to glide over short distances. She can also become invisible once she wraps herself in them. She also possesses some empathic control over the male species, which she mostly uses to seduce or bring about conflict.
Once out of her hibernation Gosamyr will gain in great size and strength. If used too early her power could destroy a whole planet, even a solar system.