Cecilia Reyes
| Dr. Cecilia Reyes | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Men (volume 2) #65 |
| Created by | Scott Lobdell and Carlos Pacheco |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Cecilia Reyes |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | X-Men |
| Abilities | Force field generation |
Cecilia Reyes is a Marvel Comics character who was briefly a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Carlos Pacheco, she first appeared in X-Men #65 (June 1997).
A Puerto Rican medical doctor, she had the mutant ability to project a force field around her body. Unlike most X-Men, she wanted to live an ordinary life and was forced into the team by circumstances.
Fictional character biography
Cecilia Reyes decided to become a doctor when her father was gunned down in front of her as a child, and she was unable to do anything to help him. The X-Men tried recruiting her when it was discovered that she was a mutant, but Reyes had no interest in being a superhero. However, when Operation: Zero Tolerance, a government-backed anti-mutant task force, targeted her, she was forced to join forces with the X-Man Iceman and other mutants to escape New York City and track down Bastion, Operation Zero Tolerance's leader.
She refused to join the X-Men at first, making an attempt to return to her normal life. However after meeting with problems with racism and both encouragement from Daredevil and an encounter with the villain Pyro, Reyes reluctantly joined the X-Men. She had several adventures with the team, combating the Ru'tai and the Shadow King. She usually did not bother with a costume, wearing either the yellow and blue training uniform or, on one occasion as a joke by Beast, an old costume of Wasp's. It was while wearing Wasp's old uniform that Reyes became involved in a battle with the X-Men's frequent enemy, the N'Garai. Reyes mostly ran away but was saved (and mocked) by the X-Man rookie Marrow. She was eventually sucked into the N'Garai dimension, to be experimented upon, but her force field saved her from the cutting instruments. She escaped with the rest of the X-Men and the civilians they had saved.
Later, Reyes was tempted by the Shadow King by offers of a new life but managed to resist the villain's offer. Reyes did not find costumed adventuring suitable for her, and left to set up her own medical practice.
Later, she was caught up in the X-Men's battle with the Neo, a villainous group of mutants who claimed to have evolved beyond the level of other mutants. Reyes was trapped in the Neo's fortress below New York City and used a street drug called Rave to make her mutant powers more destructive, ensuring her survival. The X-Men rescued her, and the telepathic Professor X helped her kick her addiction to Rave during a detox period back at the X-Mansion.
Reyes last appearance with the X-Men was at the time when Beast discovered the cure to the Legacy Virus. She was the one to discover Colossus dead after injecting himself with the cure. Reyes attempted to revive him but was unsuccessful.
Later, she was briefly seen as a prisoner at a mutant concentration camp run by the Weapon X program, where she attempted to use her medical expertise to help out the other prisoners. She was apparently killed when a brainwashed Agent Zero destroyed the camp, and her death was later confirmed in the letter column of New Excalibur #1. However it seems this was a mistake, as Mike Marts clarified in an interview on uncannyxmen.net, stating that if Cecilia would be dead they would show it on panel, and therefore Cecilia was not yet considered deceased at that time.[1] In Endangered Species, it was shown that she was possibly killed when Neverland was closed and the prisoners purged as the sole prisoner seen in close-up looked like her in her first appearance.
In X-Men: The 198 Files, it has been revealed that Cecilia's older non-mutant brother, Colonel Miguel Reyes, has now been assigned to head O*N*E security on the Xavier School grounds, with the purpose of finding out the fate of his sister.
However it has been recently revealed that when Neverland closed, Cecilia was one of the last people killed therefore confirming her status as deceased.
Powers and abilities
Cecilia can generate a force field, described in her first appearance as a "psioplasmic bio-field" around her body which provides resistance to energy and physical attacks, and can shape or expand it to protect those nearby; however, impacts on the force field cause Cecilia pain. She also has shown the ability to wield her forcefield as a blunt force, pushing others out of her way. While under the effects of the mutant-enhancing drug Rave, Cecilia is also able to use her force field offensively, forming it into a blade that can be used to attack enemies. The field can be raised consciously, but in her initial appearances, it is triggered by any external force used against it.
Cecilia is also a capable medical doctor and surgeon, making her the only member of the X-Men who is a true doctor of medicine.
Other versions
Days of Future Now
In Days of Future Now, Cecilia survived the death camp Neverland and tried to help Wolverine to change the past to prevent "Days of Future Now" from ever happening. However, while watching over him, she was shot in the back by a Sublime-controlled Fantomex.
X-Men: The End
In X-Men: The End, she has married Beast and they have three children (two boys and one girl), Ciaran, Francesca & Miguel McCoy.
In other media
In the 2006 movie X-Men: The Last Stand, Kavita Rao was played by Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. This is despite claims made by Aghdashloo in an interview with Entertainment Weekly (August 26, 2005) that she would be playing Dr. Cecilia Reyes. Raph Winter, producer of all three movies, subsequently stated that Aghdashloo would be playing Rao.