| Graydon Creed | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Uncanny X-Men #299 (April 1993) |
| Created by | Scott Lobdell Brandon Peterson |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | Purifiers Upstarts Friends of Humanity |
| Notable aliases | Tribune Bad Seed |
| Abilities | Terrorist mastermind |
Graydon Creed is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character was created by writerScott Lobdell and artistBrandon Peterson and first appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men #299 (April 1993). He is the "baseline human" son ofSabretooth andMystique,[1] making him the half-brother ofNightcrawler.
Posing as German spy Leni Zauber,Mystique seduced freelance assassinVictor Creed (Sabretooth) while he was in Germany on a mission. Mystique later gave birth to a normal human child—Graydon—whom she gave up for adoption, although she kept an eye on him. When Graydon learns that he was the son of two mutants who had abandoned him as an inconvenience, he grows resentful of all mutants.[2]
As an adult, Graydon forms theFriends of Humanity, a terrorist group dedicated to opposing mutant civil rights by committing acts ofterrorism against peaceful mutants and mutant sympathizers.
Creed also joins theUpstarts, a group of wealthy and powerful individuals assembled bySelene and theGamesmaster with the sole purpose of killing mutants for points in a twisted game. After learning of his parents' identities, Creed seeks to kill them as part of the Upstarts' game. Disguised as the armored Tribune, Creed hires assassins to kill his mother and has his father implanted with a bomb. His father manages to remove the device and confronts his son. Creed callously stabsBirdy, a telepathic mutant who Sabretooth had employed to keep his homicidal rages in check.
During the Upstarts' self-professed "Younghunt", Creed is blackmailed into revealing the location of the Upstarts' prisoners by theNew Warriors, who threaten to expose Creed as a mutant collaborator and the son of mutants.[3]
Graydon Creed runs for president on an anti-mutant platform with the support ofOperation: Zero Tolerance.[4][5][6] When a reporter from theDaily Bugle investigates Creed and discovers his parentage,Bastion kills the journalist to prevent the news from leaking out. Unbeknownst to Creed, the X-Men have infiltrated his presidential campaign, havingBobby Drake andSam Guthrie operate undercover as his assistants.[7][8]
On the eve of the election, Creed is assassinated during a campaign speech.[9] TheminiseriesX-Men Forever reveals that a future version of Mystique had fired the shot, having sworn to kill Graydon for his part in the Friends of Humanity's attack on Trevor Chase, the grandson of her loverDestiny.[10]
InX-Force, thePurifiers recover Graydon Creed's corpse, which is resurrected by Bastion using thetechno-organic virus taken from an "offspring" ofMagus.[11] Creed later makes his resurrection public, claiming that he had faked his death.
During theSecond Coming storyline, Graydon Creed, alongsideSteven Lang, is killed byHope Summers.[12]During the "Hunt for Wolverine" storyline, Sabretooth,Lady Deathstrike, andDaken battle a horde of zombies to retrieve a box that is suspected to have caused the zombie outbreak. Sabretooth discovers that one of the soldiers is a resurrected Graydon Creed.[13] Creed attacks Sabretooth, only to be killed by Lady Deathstrike.[14]
Sabretooth manages to retrieve Graydon Creed's soul from Hell, bringing him back to life.[15][16] Creed goes on to join the anti-mutant organizationOrchis and begins traveling themultiverse, intending to kill every alternate universe version of Sabretooth.[17] Creed and Sabretooth battleWolverine, but are both killed in battle with him.[18]
An alternate universe version of Graydon Creed from Earth-295 appears inAge of Apocalypse. This version is a member of a human resistance againstApocalypse.[19] In the "X-Termination" storyline, Creed is killed by the Exterminators.[20]
An alternate universe version of Graydon Creed from Earth-11326 appears inAge of X. This version is the leader of a strike force that drove mutants to the verge of extinction.
An alternate universe version of Graydon Creed from Earth-58163 appears inHouse of M. This version is a friend of Vice PresidentBolivar Trask who is later killed bySabretooth.[21]
An alternate universe version of Graydon Creed from Earth-1298 appears inMutant X. This version became President of the United States afterReed Richards' disappearance.[22]
Graydon Creed appears inX-Men: The Animated Series, voiced byJohn Stocker.[citation needed]
But Stryker is in for a surprise. He is not freed as expected, instead he is decapitated by Sabretooth as they meet in the air. Sabretooth's sacrifice is instead for his son as Graydon floats towards the light, back to Earth.
From the moment a character with the initials GC was announced, it was clear, almost bluntly obvious, that Sabretooth's flatscan, mutants hating son would show up. And still, his presence, no matter how clearly telegraphed it was, still felt appropriate, earned, and not the least bit rote. Of course he would work with Orchis; their goals are aligned.
Wolverine has donned special adamantium armor and has just started to battle Graydon Creed when Sabretooth arrives seemingly out of nowhere and kills his own son, which shocks even Logan...What proceeds is a quick but bloody mess as Logan uses a spare Muramasa blade to hack Sabretooth to bits.