M-Twins
| The M-Twins | |
|---|---|
 Art by Larry Hama and Steve Harris | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #316 (September, 1994) |
| Created by |
Scott Lobdell Chris Bachalo |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego |
Nicole St. Croix Claudette St. Croix |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Generation X |
| Notable aliases | M-Plate, Penance, M |
| Abilities | Telepathy, Sibling-Merge, and the ability to open inter-dimensional gateways into alternate planes of existence. |
The M-Twins (Nicole and Claudette St. Croix) are fictional comic book superheroine, mutants who appear in the X-Men family of books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Chris Bachalo, she/they (as M) originally was a member of the teenage mutant group Generation X, and have not appeared in the series since Generation X #58. Lobdell, the creator of M and Penance, never intended for there to be a "real" M - only the twins.[citation needed]
Fictional character biography
Early Days
Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia to a rich and eccentric Afro-European father, Ambassador Cartier St. Croix from Monaco, and his Algerian wife, Nicole and Claudette St. Croix were the last children and their birth was wrought with complication. The twins, identical physically, were two very different entities; Nicole was the typical, talkative daughter, while her twin Claudette suffered from a severe case of autism. Cartier tried to get Claudette treatment, sending her to the best doctors money could buy, but there was nothing they could do.[1]
The twins were treated well by their parents and were their mother's favorites, but they could never be as perfect as their big sister Monet and never wanted to be as misunderstood as their big brother Marius. Life for them was typical until the day their mother died. They took the death of their mother badly. Nicole could not explain it, but she knew that her brother had something to do with their mother's death. Enraged by his son's professed lack of knowledge about the death of his wife, Cartier threw Marius out of the house. Afterward, life returned to relative normality until the day Marius returned.
The twins, always together, entered their sister's room only to find a red skinned creature and a transformed Marius, now dubbed Emplate. Angry that Marius returned home despite their father's protest, the autistic Claudette used her powers to banish him to another dimension along with his red "pet".
The twins were left confused as to who the red creature was with their brother. Later, they realized that Monet had mysteriously gone missing. Afraid their father would break down and the household would fall apart, the twin sisters merged bodies and replicated Monet. Everything about the twins' version of Monet was almost a perfect match, including her physical body, personality, and powers.[2] However, since the twins' personalities were combined, Claudette's autism would sometimes take effect, leaving "Monet" in catatonic stupors. When Cartier returned home, he found the twins gone and 'Monet' unconscious. Cartier grew concerned about his daughter's constant "black-outs". He first considered enrolling 'Monet' in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at the suggestion of her governess, retired colonel Gayle Cord-Becker. According to her, 'Monet' had gone three months without speaking.[3]
Generation X and posing as Monet
The twins, still posing as their sister, were soon set upon by the Phalanx. 'Monet' along with Husk, Blink, and Skin were rescued by Emma Frost, Jubilee, Banshee, Synch, and Sabretooth.[4] Afterwards they went on to join Xavier's school, which had been reopened in Massachusetts. Now operating under the codename M, they quickly established themselves just as egotistical and snide as the original Monet, creating an immediate rivalry with Jubilee.[5] While they quickly proved to be powerful members of the team, the catatonic episodes worried the staff and students, and Beast eventually diagnosed Monet with autism.[6] In order to protect their own secret, as well as those of their family, the twins refused repeated offers of seeking professional help.[7]
While the Marvel Universe is being threatened by Onslaught, Emma Frost is unknowingly influenced. Instinctively seeking to protect the team, she uses her power to make them to behave like children, and moves them to her home in Canada. Toad, who she had earlier given permission to live there, takes advantage of this and easily captures the kids. Nicole appears in Emma's mind (Emma mistakenly assumes Nicole is Monet) to warn her of the problem, prompting Emma to confront Toad and free the team.[8]
Later on, it was finally revealed that 'Monet' was truly Nicole and Claudette in disguise: while in a battle with the Prime Sentinels, 'Monet' was blasted and buried under a pile of debris. When teammate Synch cleared off the rocks, he did not find one M, but the twins. However, this left the twins in a coma,[9] and in an effort to find out more about them, Banshee presented the case to Dr. Moira MacTaggert, who, while admittedly stumped, theorized that the twins initiated their fusion (voluntarily or not), and that the coma was the result of some other problem. Soon after, Emplate came back to terrorize the young mutants, accompanied by Chimera and her minions. During the battle, the twins merged (at Claudette's suggestion, one of the few times she ever speaks) to become Monet, and then merged with Emplate, creating a new persona, called "M-Plate".[10] When the three of them separated, they had learned each other's secrets, including what really happened to the true Monet St. Croix. The twins kept the secret for a short time, though Synch eventually found out when he accidentally synched with the twins' telepathy and found out their secrets. He managed to convince Nicole to finally reveal the truth to the rest of the team.[11]
Immediately after, the twins merged back together to form "M". They then switched bodies with Penance, leaving the twins trapped in the Penance body, but returning Monet to her original body.[12] Emplate later returned during a school dance, and Jubilee caused a massive explosion which separated the twins from the Penance body. Though Penance was initially thought to be an empty vessel at that point, she quickly proved this inaccurate and became her own being.[13]
Cartier St. Croix, upon hearing of the return of the twins, decided to visit his three daughters. When he arrived, he came face to face for the first time in years with his son Marius, who was severely injured from the same explosion that freed the twins. Cartier tried to make amends with all his children for having neglected them for so long. When he apologized to Marius, his son finally revealed his darkest secret. Marius was the one who killed his mother, which infuriated Monet. Cartier‘s way of showing he cared was to transfer his daughters away from the academy. While the twins left permanently,[14] Monet returned shortly after.
Powers and abilities
Nicole and Claudette have various telepathic abilities, including reading minds, projecting their thoughts into the minds of others, and defensively masking their minds against telepathic intrusion. They have also used telepathy offensively to limited degrees, such as mind control and memory wipes. The twins (and all their siblings) are somehow able to merge into various combinations with each other (the false Monet, Penance, M-Plate, etc.), each resulting fusion generally having a distinct personality and unique set of powers. However, the fusions can be undone by considerable trauma, typically a large explosion. Claudette has shown the ability to open inter-dimensional gateways into alternate planes of existence, a power she shares with her brother Emplate, though not with (or as) her sister Monet. Nicole almost always initiates any use of the twins' combined powers, but Claudette has proved capable of acting independent of Nicole on rare occasions.
While posing as Monet, the twins displayed her myriad of mutant powers, including the ability to perceive mutant auras, superhuman strength, telepathy, superhuman intellect, a healing factor, nigh-invulnerability, enhanced senses, enhanced agility, superhuman speed and reflexes, and flight.
However, while the twins (or Monet) inhabit the Penance body, they have access to none of their original powers, and instead are limited to the body's abilities: diamond-hard skin, immunity to telepathy, and razor-sharp claws for fingers, toes, and hair. This is likely because the body's original purpose was to be a prison for Monet, effectively taking away her beauty, voice, and many mutant gifts.
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the harsh world known as the Age of Apocalypse, the St. Croix twins fell to their brother's control and alongside Emplate joined Apocalypse's Elite Mutant Force. The twins were called "The Monets" and worked under the supervision of Mister Sinister.
They were rendered useless after they witnessed their brother being killed by a Brood infested Corsair and what happened to them after that remains unclear. It can be speculated that Beast experimented on the girls which ended with them merging and creating a fake persona known as "Claudia" as was the intention of Scott Lobdell, Monet's creator.[citation needed] The appearances of Know-It-All and her sisters in the Monets were intended as clues towards Monet's true nature in the regular continuity.[citation needed]
It would appear that Know-It-All used her powers to merge with the mainframe inside of Generation Next's base of operations, also granting her the use of all the computer's resources and capabilities combined with her own and when Magneto found Bishop, the strange man claimed to be from another reality where Charles Xavier was not murdered by his son Legion. The X-Men leader required a means in which to travel back in time should the mad man's tales be true. To locate a chrono-variant mutant, Magneto had Know-It-All scan all the information in Apocalypse's data banks. The results listed Illyana Rasputin as the top match, erroneously reported as being dead and currently held captive in the Seattle Core. During Generation Next's raid on the Core, Know-It-All kept Colossus and Shadowcat constantly appraised of the situation. However, she would be caught and killed by the Shadow King.
See also
References
External links
- M-Twins at the Marvel Database Project
- M-Twins at the Uncannyxmen.net
- M-Twins at the Marvel Directory
- M-Twins at UncannyX-men.net Spotlight