Phat (comics)

Phat (William Robert "Billy-Bob" Reilly) is an openly gay fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe. He was created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred in X-Force vol. 1 #117 (2001). Phat's mutant power is the ability to expand the fat deposits in his body, making his body larger and fatter.

Fictional character biography

Phat grew up poor and involved in the gangster life. At first his powers manifested as simple weight gain, which he put down to the stress of his life. Once it became clear he was a mutant, he trained well and used his abilities to fight crime, even before joining X-Force. Once rich, he tries to give his family what he never had growing up. He gave them a house, but they still lived in an RV, preferring the closeness.

Phat's first outing results in a fight with the old X-Force, who did not agree to the use of the name or the methodology of the team. His first mission sees the death of two his teammates, Saint Anna and Bloke. Bloke would not be the first gay member of the team.

Phat works with Vivisector to raise their profile amongst the team and in the public. They even 'pretend' a romantic relationship which is foiled by the fact both of them realize they really are gay. They have a real relationship, which ends when they realize they are simply not attracted to each other.

Phat's powers seem to be less effective in moments of stress. During a mission in space he finds it hard to recover from a biological spike that had wounded him.

Phat joins with the team when they go to fight the Taliban on a mission to rescue the cast and crew of a reality show they had captured. He comes into conflict with the team when he saves new member Henrietta Hunter. The entirety of the team had come to dislike her, because she was interfering, annoying, more famous and even as Phat claims, 'white', though he is white too. Phat claims he saved her on instinct.

Death

Soon after this, they confront the murderous cult led by Mister Code, who believes he can improve America's general attitude by random sniper killings. Spike Freeman, then team leader, is revealed to be in league with Mister Code; he had hired the man to kill Lacuna, an ally of the team. The Orphan kills Spike and via Dead Girl, they track down Code. The enemy kills Henrietta Hunter and is killed by the Orphan. This sets off a biological bomb. Phat enlarges himself and envelops it. The explosion kills him.

Phat is buried in a gigantic coffin. Hunter, who wished to gain revenge for her first death, would involve Phat from beyond the grave. An insane ghost, she causes the deaths of anyone who hums a newly released song she had performed. X-Statix believes they have solved the problem but El Guapo, another member of X-Statix, hums it and is impaled. Dead Girl, who can come back from bodily destruction, hums it on purpose. Phat's foot, blown off in the Code explosion, rockets out of the sky and into her brain. This is only a temporary inconvenience and Dead Girl learns enough to put Hunter to rest.^[1]

Other media

Film

• Phat makes an appearance in the film X-Men: The Last Stand. Phat is played by two actors, Via Saleaumua and Richard Yee, as Phat in "large mode" and "small mode" respectively. The end credits mention both Phats. He first appears at the community meeting. Although it's unclear if he is a member of The Omegas, he joins Magneto's cause and takes part in the Battle of Alcatraz. The DVD release features a deleted scene in which Phat is frozen solid by Iceman and then shattered by Colossus.

See also

• LGBT themes in comics

References

1. ↑ X-Statix #18