| Caliban | |
|---|---|
 Caliban inThe Uncanny X-Men #488 (Sept. 2007); art bySalvador Larroca. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #148 (August 1981) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Dave Cockrum |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human mutant |
| Team affiliations | X-Force X-Men The 198 Horsemen of Apocalypse X-Factor Morlocks |
| Notable aliases | Pestilence; Hellhound; Hound; Death |
| Abilities | Pre-alteration:
Apocalypse enhancements:
Formerly:
|
Caliban is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. He first appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men #148 (August 1981), by writerChris Claremont and artistDave Cockrum. Amutant with the ability to sense other mutants, he was originally a member of theMorlocks.[1] He was also a member of theX-Factor,X-Men,X-Force andThe 198. He was chosen twice byApocalypse as one of theHorsemen of Apocalypse, first as Death and the second time as Pestilence, and Apocalypse also enhanced his superpowers through genetic manipulation.
The character was portrayed in film byTómas Lemarquis inX-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and his alternate older version byStephen Merchant inLogan (2017).
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Caliban's first appearance was inThe Uncanny X-Men #148 (Aug. 1981), written byChris Claremont and illustrated byDave Cockrum.
He is born an albino mutant with a pale complexion and large yellow eyes. At some point in his life, he is banished from his home by his father, who called himCaliban, after a character from the playThe Tempest byWilliam Shakespeare.
Growing up, a still young Caliban, whospeaks in the third person, is discovered by the mutantCallisto and taken under her wing. Learning of his mutant tracking ability, Callisto uses Caliban to locate other disenfranchised mutants and organizes them into theMorlocks, a band of homeless, rejected mutants. The founding Morlocks consist of Caliban, Callisto,Masque,Plague, andSunder. The Morlocks live in the sewers and abandoned subway tunnels running underneathNew York City, and, like Caliban, most of them had grotesque appearances.
Caliban senses the presence of nearby mutants and enters a New York City nightclub seeking their friendship. He findsStorm,Dazzler,Kitty Pryde, andSpider-Woman in the club, and has a misunderstood confrontation with them. Though the battle ends peacefully, Caliban returns to his home underground.[2]
Shortly thereafter, Callisto desires a consort and has the Morlocks abductAngel to be her husband. The X-Men arrive in the sewers to rescue their ally, and Kitty is infected with a virus by Plague. Caliban takes her to his quarters to care for her. Kitty pleads with Caliban to allow her to assist her teammates. Caliban agrees, but only if she will return after the fight and stay with him. Though Kitty promises to stay with him forever, she leaves and returns home.[3] Weeks later, Callisto, vengeful after losing a one-on-one battle with Storm, orders the Morlocks to kidnap Kitty to force her to marry Caliban, knowing Storm would return. Caliban, however, realizes that Kitty does not truly love him and releases her.[4]
During theMorlock massacre,X-Factor rescues Caliban from theMarauders, who he swears vengeance upon. With nowhere else to stay, Caliban moved to X-Factor's headquarters with several other surviving Morlocks.[5] Shortly thereafter,Rictor went missing and Caliban volunteered to help X-Factor find him, officially joining the group. Alongside X-Factor, he battles theHorsemen of Apocalypse. Caliban voices his wish for increased power, soIceman begins training Caliban in unarmed combat.[6]
Not long after that,Apocalypse kidnaps the X-Factor team after changing Angel into Death. Caliban, intrigued by Apocalypse's transformation of the fallen Angel, betrays X-Factor and asks Apocalypse to do the same to him. Agreeing, Apocalypse promises to give Caliban enough power to gain revenge against the Marauders who killed his Morlock family. Caliban agrees to become Apocalypse's servant and locator of mutants. Apocalypse renames him Hellhound.[7] Through genetic manipulation, Caliban becomes the second Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death.[8]
When Apocalypse re-located to the moon in a confrontation with the original X-Factor and theInhumans, Caliban returns to the Morlock tunnels. There, he locatesSabretooth, a ferocious mutant and member of the Marauders, who is stalking the sewers to find and kill more Morlocks. In combat, Caliban breaks Sabretooth's back and leaves him for dead, not realizing that he has a healing factor. Caliban then attacks and defeats Archangel.[9] He later finds and defeats Sabretooth again.[10]
As Death, Caliban performs various tasks for his new master, serving as his warrior servant. During the "X-Cutioner's Song" event, Caliban attacks former X-Factor members (and current X-Men)Jean Grey andCyclops, under Apocalypse's (actuallyMister Sinister posing as Apocalypse) orders.[11] AlongsideWar andFamine, Caliban kidnaps Cyclops and Jean Grey so Apocalypse can give the pair toStryfe, who believes the couple to be his parents.[12] Famine, War, and Death then battle the X-Men and are defeated by them.[13]
Eventually, the loner Caliban defeats Apocalypse's control at the cost of his mental faculties. At one point, when Sabretooth is a reluctant X-Men member, Caliban kidnapsJubilee in exchange for Sabretooth, but he flees when Sabretooth mauls his face.[14]
Though mentally unwell, he retains enormous physical power and is befriended by the mutantCable. Oddly, Caliban's color shifts from white and monstrous to a purpleogre-like form. Cable invites Caliban to join his teamX-Force. Caliban has many adventures with the team, such as confrontingMojo and his forces, and when Apocalypse's enemyMister Sinister infiltrates the X-Mansion, Apocalypse's mental leash causes him to savagely maul Sinister. He also has several confrontations with Sabretooth during this time.
After some time, Apocalypse returns and takes Caliban away from X-Force. This time, Apocalypse makes him his new Horseman Pestilence (coincidentally, the former Pestilence was Caliban's Morlock ally Plague). This time, Apocalypse augments Caliban's physical power even more and gives him the ability to spread telepathic disease as well. This time, Apocalypse's horsemen includeAhab,Deathbird, andWolverine. After Apocalypse is merged with Cyclops, Caliban tracks down the merged being, and is freed from his service shortly before Cable destroys Apocalypse's spirit.[volume & issue needed]
Released from his servitude to Apocalypse, Caliban once more reverts to his childlike state although he retains the monstrous physique he attained through Apocalypse's machinations. Subsequently, Caliban is captured by an anti-mutant medical research facility called the Watchtower. The Watchtower wishes to use Caliban for their own purposes but he is freed by X-Force. Caliban has devolved into a feral mental state where he only grunts and snarls but he manages to help X-Force against a menace called theSkornn.[volume & issue needed]
AfterM-Day, Caliban turned up at the Xavier institute as a member ofthe 198. He is seen carrying the 198 banner, created byErg, during the confrontation with O*N*E* over the "tracking chips" and again duringMister M's exodus from the institute. He later helps the 198 escape withDomino andShatterstar to one ofNick Fury's secret bases in theNevada desert. Caliban was able to sense the stockpile of weapons in the base, but they were activated and locked down byJohnny Dee, a mutant who had puppet-like control over a fraction of the team. The originalX-Men team went to collect the 198 but Bishop's pro-registration team stopped them. After a short battle, the two sides teamed up and, thanks to a joint effort by Cyclops and Bishop, were able to free the 198.[volume & issue needed]
Caliban becomes part of a strike-force, who are in search ofHope Summers, the first mutant to be born since theDecimation. During a battle withLady Deathstrike and theReavers, Caliban sacrifices himself to save Warpath by jumping into the path of a line of bullets meant for him.[15]
During theNecrosha storyline, Caliban is temporarily resurrected via theTransmode Virus byEli Bard andSelene, who use him to locate and resurrect other dead mutants.[16]
During theKrakoan Age, Caliban is revived bythe Five onKrakoa.[17] Following the end of the Krakoan Age, Caliban returns to the Morlocks. He becomes a leading member of the group and inductsAnole into its ranks.[18]
Caliban is amutant with the ability to psionically sense other mutants out to several miles away and track their movement. He also has the uncontrolled ability to psionically sense, absorb, and turn the psionic energy of fear radiated by humans against them, inducing more intense fear within their minds.[1] He could also utilize fear from others to boost his strength to a level sufficient to easily overpowerSpider-Woman (Jessica Drew).[2]
He is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained byIceman and laterApocalypse.[volume & issue needed]
As Death, he attained superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, endurance, claws and fangs as well as imperviousness to physical injury through Apocalypse's genetic manipulation.[9] He also has great skill at climbing and possesses superhuman leaping ability. He was also mentally conditioned to attack Apocalypse's former allyMister Sinister on sight.[19] His fear siphoning abilities had also been augmented and he can now control them as well as cast his power over a much wider net; not only gaining in strength from siphoning the anxiety of others but could harness strengthen and redistribute it in much stronger quantities by force of will.[8]
As Pestilence, Apocalypse gave him the ability to generate a mental plague, a virus that attacks from within on the highest planes of the psyche and breaks down the mental functions of the target.[volume & issue needed]
Being reverted to his original form by Masque, Caliban still appears to retain some superhuman strength affected by his adrenaline, as he was shown lifting rubble off ofSkids that proved difficult for evenWarpath to hoist.[volume & issue needed]
After being reanimated through the Technarch transmode virus, his ability changed to psionically sense not living mutants but dead mutants.[volume & issue needed]
Once resurrected after the rise of the new mutant homeland, he resumed his muscular physical appearance he had when he was a Horseman of Apocalypse and before Masque warped his excess flesh away.[17]
In 2014,Entertainment Weekly ranked Caliban 89th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[20]
An alternate universe variant of Caliban from Earth-295 appears inAge of Apocalypse. This version is a well-learned yet egotistical coward and swordsman who works forDomino until he is killed byToad.[21]
An alternate universe variant of Caliban from Earth-58163 makes a cameo appearance inHouse of M as a member of theMarauders.[volume & issue needed]
An alternate universe variant of Caliban from Earth-1610 appears inUltimate X-Men #82. This version is a member of theMorlocks who possesses dark gray skin, a muscular physique compared to his Earth-616 counterpart, and the ability to transform into a hulking monster.[22]
An alternate universe variant of Caliban from Earth-16524 makes a minor appearance inX-Factor Forever #3 as aHorseman of Apocalypse.[23]
Caliban appears inX-Men: Destiny, voiced byBob Glouberman.[24]