Nostromo (comics)

Nostromo is a fictional mutant character created by Marvel Comics for their Marvel 2099 run X-Nation 2099. This short-lived series only lasted six issues before being terminated.

Fictional character biography

In the year 2099, President Doom contacted Cerebra of the X-Men 2099 to let her know about a recent prophecy about a Mutant Messiah. She undertook the task of locating and training possible candidates and bringing them to Halo City, one of which was Nostromo.

Little is known about this mysterious boy before he arrived at Halo City, but he soon became a part of the teen group X-Nation. It was some time later that Avian decided to mount a mission to recapture Willow in a bid to be the first to find the messiah for himself. He succeeded in capturing Willow again, and the rest of X-Nation decided to mount a rescue mission. Before they reached the Million Palms facility, Avian's henchmen attacked the children and placed inhibitor chips on them to prevent them from using their powers. However, Nostromo was able to override the circuitry, but the henchmen injured him badly by shooting him in the stomach. They were transported as prisoners to the facility, but escaped with the help of the shapeshifting Willow, but upon their return home they found that Halo City was devastated.

As if things couldn't get worse, Nostromo's powers started to go out of control. While the group was at a local milk bar, they were spotted by several members of a rival gang called the Wild Boys. They beat X-Nation, including Nostromo, but the boy soon woke up and escapes. Back at Halo City, Cerebra takes Nostromo to have a physical examination from Xi'an due to his malfunctioning metal arm. Xi'an senses that there is a malevolent presence in Nostromo's body and is proved right when it emerges and attacks the two former X-Men. However, Nostromo is able to fight for control and his body becomes sheathed in a metallic cocoon. Shortly thereafter Nostromo emerges apparently back to normal but confused. Cerebra tells the boy that whatever is happening to him he will not have to go through it alone. With the city destroyed and flooded, Mademoiselle Strange teleports the group away to an uncertain future.

They travel to the Savage Land—the last inhabitable place on earth—and begin to form a society there. Nostromo, along with Willow, La Lunatica and several other heroes form part of an expedition team into the jungles to make them inhabitable. Along the way they stumble upon an alien space craft and become trapped inside of it. Willow shapeshifts into one of the previous alien owners of the ship to allow them to escape, but she becomes trapped in that form. With the alien mind taking over, La Lunatica slams her into the water to protect the rest of the group. Nostromo dives in after her and succeeds in subdueing her feral persona and returning her to normal but he does not resurface. Luna dives after him, but only finds a strange cocoon at the bottom. Nostromo "hatches" as a fully Phalanx form and some of President Doom's operatives arrive to bring the boy to Doom. Some of the operatives turn out to be Phalanx themselves and begin attacking the group.

Back in Latveria, Doom reveals his master plan. Since he was originally from the 20th century and only found himself displaced in the year 2099, he had encountered the Phalanx before. He knew that the Phalanx would have a "scout program" so he added his own subroutine to the coding called subroutine Cynthia which would erase the scout program. When Doom jumped to the future he lost track of the scout program and therefore created the Mutant Messiah myth to track the carrier down again. Doom then activates the subroutine within Nostromo and, bidding Spider-Man to take him to safety, blows up his castle.

Making their way back to the mainland, Doom eventually meets up with Nostromo again. He apologizes for using the boy and to make it up to him, names him the new heir of Latveria.

Powers and abilities

Nostromo is gifted with a technological mutation that allows him to interface with and restructure technology via his arms, and use techno-organic material to heal any of his wounds. After he became possessed by the Phalanx, it is assumed that he acquired their abilities of shapeshifting, matter assimilation, and collective consciousness.

External links

• Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Nostromo
• Uncannyxmen.net issue summaries of X-Nation 2099