Vulcan (Marvel Comics)
| Vulcan | |
|---|---|
| File:UNCANNY X-MEN 477.png Vulcan, from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #477 Art by John Watson | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1 (January, 2006) |
| Created by | Ed Brubaker Trevor Hairsine |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Gabriel Summers |
| Species | Omega-level Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Shi'ar Imperium X-Men |
| Notable aliases | Kid Vulcan |
| Abilities | - Immense psionic powers and Omega level energy manipulating and absorbing capabilities, Super adaptivity, (possibly earth manipulation and time manipulation) |
Vulcan (Gabriel Summers) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1, and was created by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine. He is the son of Corsair and younger brother of Cyclops and Havok.
Fictional character biography
Origins
Vulcan's history began on the Shi'ar throneworld, as the unborn child of Christopher and Katherine Summers (parents of Cyclops and Havok). Katherine was pregnant when the Summers were abducted by D'Ken, Majestor of the Shi'ar Imperium, and her child was seemingly killed when the mad emperor, in retaliation for an attempt by Corsair to escape, stabbed Katherine and killed her. The infant Vulcan was removed from Katherine's lifeless body and placed in an incubation-accelerator, used to breed new slaves, aging him to the prime adolescence. Sent to Earth to become a slave for Erik the Red, the Emperor's hand on Earth, he escaped to be found by Moira MacTaggart with little or no memories of who he was or where he came from. She took him as her ward, and instructed him in the use of his nascent powers.
He claimed his name was Gabriel, but he chose the code name of Vulcan from a book on Roman mythology, and Charles Xavier recognized his mental imprint as being related to Cyclops. He became part of a team of X-Men formed by Petra, Darwin, and Sway that attempted to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. Feeling Vulcan as a menace, Krakoa sent a human shaped volcano to deal with his team, killing the two girls and leaving Darwin and Vulcan for dead.
Return
With the help of his dying teammate, Vulcan was able to survive, and reawakening in modern days (due to the mutant energies released during the M-day), he returned from his space exile to reclaim his title as an X-Man, killing Banshee in the process, and attempting to kill Logan, even kidnapping Rachel Summers and Cyclops.
Vulcan was subconsciously using the absorbed powers of Petra and Sway to manipulate the X-Men, and figure out the truth of the mystery behind the missing team of X-Men that were lost on Krakoa. Vulcan was able to lure Professor Xavier out of hiding, and confronted him in front of the X-Men, wanting the Professor to reveal to them all what really happened to Vulcan and his team. However, Xavier was unable to do so, due to the fact that, in the wake of M-Day, he was no longer a Mutant. Enraged, Vulcan commanded Marvel Girl to link their minds so that everyone could see what transpired. Reluctantly, Rachel did so, and with Xavier as a guide, she was able to not only reveal the truth behind what really happened on Krakoa, but she also detected another consciousness within the mind of Vulcan.
It was revealed that Vulcan and his team rescued Scott from Krakoa (it was previously thought that Krakoa itself released Scott to bring it more victims) and Vulcan was able to hurt the living island, which greatly enraged the creature. Vulcan revealed to Cyclops that they were in fact brothers, and sent Cyclops away on their jet to safety. As the jet took off, Cyclops watched in horror as the living island struck down and seemingly killed Vulcan and his team. Sway was hit first, and severed in two at her torso. Her body released the last of her mutant power to slow time down around them. As Petra was incinerated, she also reacted reflexively and drew them all below the surface into a cave that her power created. There, Vulcan and Darwin lay dying, and Darwin transformed himself into energy and bonded with Vulcan, thus saving them both. They were launched into space along with the Krakoa land mass by Polaris and remained inert until the massive backlash of power resulting from M-Day awakened Vulcan.
After the apparent death of Vulcan and his team, Cyclops returned to Professor Xavier in a hysterical state, blaming himself for their deaths, and the Professor decided it was best for all involved if he altered their memories to forget about Vulcan and his team, and spare everyone the agony. With these revelations, Marvel Girl reached into Vulcan's mind and released the subconscious inert form of Darwin, which Vulcan expelled from his body. Using this opportunity, the X-Men attacked him as they deemed him too dangerous to be left alone. Vulcan easily repelled their attack and fled the planet, renouncing Cyclops as his brother, and headed for space with the vision of D'Ken killing his mother raging in his mind, bent on revenge.
Vendetta
While traveling through Shi'ar space, he recently learned from a crew member whose starship he had destroyed that D'Ken has been comatose for years after his experience in the M'Kraan Crystal and that Lilandra Neramani is the current ruler of the Shi'ar. Undaunted, Vulcan continues on his quest for vengeance by engaging a trio of Shi'ar warships, and destroying two of them, thereby showing his superiority to the crew of the surviving third ship, which Vulcan then commandeers for his own. After reaching the inner territory of the Shi'ar throneworld, Chandilar, the ship is confronted and ordered to surrender by the Imperial Guard. However, the captain of Vulcan's ship had deceived Vulcan as to the Guard's true strength, hoping to use him as a pawn in Vice-Chancellor K'Tor's plan to restore the old Empire; as a result, Vulcan was unprepared for the true power of the Guard, and especially their leader, Gladiator. Vulcan killed several powerful guardsmen in combat (Titan, Neutron, Cosmo, Smasher, and Impulse, among many others), but was defeated by Gladiator (who also managed to damage Vulcan's left eye), and taken to a prison moon. His eye was replaced by a synthetic and he remained a prisoner there until an agent of the Vice-Chancellor freed him from his shackles, and directed him to another cell to free Deathbird.
However soon afterwards, Deathbird manages to convince him to at least delay his plan for vengeance, after the two become romantically involved. Vulcan then uses his powers to heal D'Ken's injuries. Afterwards, a grateful D'Ken asks Vulcan to marry Deathbird.
Powers and abilities
Vulcan's energy manipulation powers allow him to produce light, heat, force, and electricity, warp or disable existing energy sources, tap into and suppress mutant energies, survive in the vacuum of space, and fly. He also has immense psionic powers. Emma Frost, Rachel Summers and Professor Xavier have confirmed him to be beyond an Omega-level mutant. However "Beyond Omega" is possibly a mistake by writer Ed Brubaker, since Omega-level already denotes unlimited potential, therefore Vulcan may also simply be considered an Omega-level mutant. This also explains why Mr. Sinister sought the Summers bloodline due its potential to produce an omega level mutant.
After being swallowed by the soil of Krakoa, he absorbed the powers of his teammate Darwin, giving him his ability of super adaptation. It can be argued that he lost these added powers since Darwin, who was the source of these abilities to begin with, was expelled from his body. However, in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #6, it was said that Marvel Girl then separated Vulcan and Darwin again, leaving him open to an attack by all the X-Men. Although Xavier tried to stop Vulcan, Vulcan gave the X-men a severe beating. He escaped into space, intent on vengeance against the Shi'ar. One week later, McCoy and Xavier discovered that with the power of Darwin still residing in Vulcan, his power-level would rival that of Galactus, the devourer of worlds. This may suggest that he still has Darwin's powers.
Remarkably enough, while his brothers Alex and Scott are known to be immune to each others powers (presumably because of their blood relation), they are apparently not immune to Vulcan's (he did manage to hurt Scott with no apparent trouble). This may be due to Vulcan's extremly high power level and would likely be something writers would have to address in the future.
Trivia
- Although he is presently established as the "third Summers brother" that Mr. Sinister mentioned in a 1993 issue, it is unclear if he is the only brother that they didn't know of. Several theories have surfaced regarding who is actually the brother Sinister is referring to (whether Sinister is even referring to a "Summers" brother is up for debate), since fans speculate that the villain had no knowledge of Vulcan. Additionally, because Vulcan was believed dead, it has not been explained why Sinister would worry about his getting the Legacy Virus (of course, only Xavier knew about what had happened on Krakoa until Vulcan returned, so its possible that Sinister had just assumed he was alive somewhere). Gambit has been well established as a likely candidate for the position, as he also has a dark and clouded past with Mr. Sinister. Again, Sinister might have been referring to Adam X the X-Treme as well, among other, less likely possibilities. See Third Summers brother for the full article.
- All three Summers brothers have similar powers, as they are each able to control a certain type of energy.
- His artificial left eye now glows when Vulcan is angered, or using his powers. This action is identical with that of his "nephews" Cable, X-Man, and in part with his "niece" Rachel Summers.
- All 3 Summers brothers have different colored hair