| Irene Adler Destiny | |
|---|---|
 Textless variant cover ofA.X.E.: Judgment Day #5 (September 2022). Art by Lucas Werneck. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #141 (October 21, 1980) |
| Created by |
|
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Irene Adler |
| Species | Human mutant |
| Place of origin | Salzburg,Austria |
| Team affiliations |
|
| Abilities | Precognition |
Destiny is afictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writerChris Claremont and artist/co-writerJohn Byrne, the characterfirst appeared inUncanny X-Men #141, published on October 21, 1980.
Destiny's civilian identity isIrene Adler, ablindmutant withprecognitive abilities that allow her to accurately predict future events. Initially, Destiny was depicted as an adversary of theX-Men and member of theBrotherhood of Mutants, led by her wifeMystique, the two having raisedRogue together. Although originally portrayed as one of the X-Men's enemies, in other storylines Destiny has functioned as an ally.
Decades after her death, Destiny was resurrected by Mystique during the "Krakoan Age" in 2021. In this era, it was confirmed that Destiny was theIrene Adler featured inSherlock Holmes stories (created bySir Arthur Conan Doyle), her rivalry withMoira MacTaggert was established, and it was revealed she plays a pivotal role in the history and future of mutantkind. A 2023 storyline revealed it was Destiny who gave birth to the X-Men superheroNightcrawler, rather than Mystique; the two conceived him after Mystique used her abilities to take on a male form. In 2024, Destiny and Mystique renewed their vows, marking the first depiction of a female same-sex wedding in Marvel Comics.
Destiny has received attention for her relationship with Mystique, being one of Marvel's earliest queer characters; their relationship has often received praise. Destiny has also garnered attention for the revelation of her status as Nightcrawler's mother, which was praised for adhering to Claremont's original design for the characters.
Created by writerChris Claremont and artist/co-writerJohn Byrne, the character first appeared inTheUncanny X-Men #141 (Jan. 1981).[1]
As far back as 1981, Claremont had intended Destiny to be the lover ofBrotherhood of Mutants teammateMystique, and for them to beNightcrawler's biological parents, with Mystique taking the form of a man for the conception.[2][3] However, at that time, theComics Code Authority and Marvel policy prohibited the explicit portrayal of gay or bisexual characters.[4][5] Destiny was simply referred to as the only member of the new Brotherhood that Mystique saw as a friend; all the other members being male and prone to arguing amongst each other.
Destiny died at the hands ofLegion in a 1989 storyline inThe Uncanny X-Men #255. In the 2000s (decade) seriesX-Treme X-Men, years after Destiny died it was revealed that she filled several diaries with the future history of mutantkind, and the search for these diaries was a main storyline in the series. She was resurrected with atechno-organic virus during the 2009 "Necrosha" storyline.
In November 2021, Marvel announced a new storyline titled "Destiny of X", which began in 2022 and features Destiny as one of its central characters.[6] TheImmortal X-Men byKieron Gillen in November 2022 also explicitly established her asIrene Adler fromSherlock Holmes stories for the first time, with Holmes confirmed as having been Mystique.[7]
In November 2023, Claremont's intended storyline of Mystique and Destiny being Nightcrawler's parents, with Mystique having morphed into a male body for the act of conception, was madecanon.[8][9][10]
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Irene Adler was born into a wealthy household in late 19th-centurySalzburg,Austria. Although she was more accurate in predicting near-future events concerning her present environment, when her mutant powers of precognition initially emerged in adolescence, she worked tirelessly for thirteen months to record prophecies concerning the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Upon completing the thirteen and final volume, Irene was struck with physical blindness while her mind was haunted by disturbing images of uncertain meaning.
Traveling to London, she first metMystique, who at the time lived as a man and engaged in detective work using the name "Sherlock Holmes". Destiny sought her help in understanding the precognitive visions recorded in her diaries.[11] Revealing her knowledge that "Sherlock" was both a woman and a mutant, she enlisted her services in pursuit of two goals: the deciphering of her recorded prophecies and a mission to prevent the most terrifying of them from ever being fulfilled.[12][11][13]
The two women would soon become lifelong friends and lovers but discovered that their set goals were difficult to achieve. Their abilities would easily allow them to achieve personal success but to shape the future was stated to be "next to impossible" as it would require "social engineering." Although they remained romantically involved for years to come, there were periods where they were separated from one another, allowing them both to have other romantic relationships and even families.
Together, the two later raised adopted daughterRogue in their home in fictional Caldecott County,Mississippi. They remained together for many years, but while Mystique had a measure of immortality due to her abilities preventing cellular degeneration, Irene did not and eventually died from natural causes.
In 1946, a Dr. Nathan Milbury (Mister Sinister in disguise) was involved with Project: Black Womb, a secret government project headed by Amanda Mueller and aided by Alexander Ryking (father of Carter Ryking), Brian Xavier (Professor X's father), Kurt Marko (father ofJuggernaut), and Irene Adler.[14][15][16] In the 2008 seriesX-Men: Legacy, Xavier is searching to find out more about this project and its influence on his (and Juggernaut's) life. From recent issues[volume & issue needed], it seems at least Kurt Marko believed their research would result in immortality.[17]
Mystique and Destiny formed the secondBrotherhood of Mutants, a group of ideologically motivated terrorists. She attempted to assassinate SenatorRobert Kelly with a crossbow, but was thwarted by theX-Men and taken into custody.[18] She is rescued from Ryker's Island along with the rest of the Brotherhood, but ended up battling theAvengers andSpider-Woman, and was recaptured.[19] She predicted Rogue's disappearance from Mystique's custody.[20] She observed, but did not participate in, one of the Brotherhood's last skirmishes with the X-Men.[21] Eventually Mystique and Rogue engineered an escape for the Brotherhood.Rom the Space Knight defeated the escape attempt but Destiny was rescued by Rogue and Mystique. Thereafter, Rogue, Destiny and Mystique helped Rom defeat the mutantHybrid.[22]
Eventually, the members of Mystique's Brotherhood went to work for the United States government asFreedom Force in exchange for a pardon and protection from anti-mutant sentiment. She apprehendedMagneto alongside Freedom Force in that group's first mission for the United States government.[23] She assisted Freedom Force in taking the Avengers into custody at theVault.[24] She participated in Freedom Force's attempted arrest of the X-Men,[25] during which she "foresaw" the death of the X-Men duringFall of the Mutants.[26]
While on a mission with Freedom Force toMuir Island to stop theReavers, Destiny was killed byLegion, who was being influenced at the time by theShadow King.[27] Mystique scattered Destiny's ashes at sea.[28] Shortly before her death, Destiny predicted that Mystique would become romantically involved withForge,[27] and although the pair loathed each other at the time, they did develop a brief relationship while both were members ofX-Factor.[29]
After reality was repaired, Mystique protects a young mutant named Trevor Chase who addressed her as "Auntie Raven" strongly implying that Chase was Destiny's grandson.[30] It is not certain whether Chase's mother was born before Mystique and Destiny became lovers or whether, like Mystique, Destiny had a child during the course of their relationship.
Years after her death it was revealed that when Destiny's mutant power first manifested she filled several diaries called "The Books of Truth" with prophecies of the future that, when in the wrong hands, posed the greatest threat to humanity ever known.[31][32] Guarded by Mystique for years,[33] a volume was first discovered by heroineShadowcat just before theApocalypse: The Twelve crossover.[31][34][a] Eventually, other volumes came into the possession of Professor Charles Xavier by Mystique.[35][b] A team of X-Men, fearing that absolute knowledge of the future would lead their mentor to a temptation the world could not afford, exiled themselves from their home and teammates in order to hunt down the remaining Books of Truth, in the hope that they can locate the prophecies before Xavier or someone worse does.[36][37][c]
This team ofX-Treme X-Men found the rest of them,[d][e][f] yet these diaries became apparently useless when a prediction in one of them was prevented from taking place.[44] After the "House of M" event, the diaries were sought out again by Mister Sinister, who believed that a specific book contained information on the fate of mutant-kind in the wake ofDecimation. For that mission, he used theAcolytes to obtain Destiny's Diaries.Exodus and his Acolytes attacked the Xavier Institute only to find forgeries of the books.[45][g] The real diaries were actually hidden inFlint, Michigan byShadowcat andEmma Frost. All the books were burned to ashes byGambit before theMarauders or the X-Men could read them.[47]
After getting hold of theTransmode Virus during theNecrosha storyline,Selene resurrects Destiny to question her about the future.[48] After telling Selene what she wants to hear, Destiny is taken back to her cell, where she telepathically contactsBlindfold by accident while trying to reach her foster daughter Rogue. After showing Blindfold she means no harm and saving her life from falling rubble caused by Warpath, she gives Blindfold information about Selene. After breaking contact, she realizes she made a grave mistake.[49]
The mistake is revealed to beProteus who is now in possession of Blindfold.[50] Rogue, along with a group of X-Men go to Muir Island to battle Proteus, and it is through the combined efforts of Rogue, Magneto andPsylocke that he is defeated. Afterwards Destiny explains to Blindfold that she is not her mother, but rather a distant relative. Destiny then takes a moment to share a final good-bye with Rogue, before eventually leaving in order to supposedly die at the end of the storyline.[51]
During theChaos War,Moira MacTaggart,Thunderbird,Banshee, Esme and Sophie of theStepford Cuckoos, andMultiple Man's fallen clones are resurrected and appear on the former grounds of the X-Men school. There, Moira finds one of Destiny's diaries which contains a passage depicting the events of the war and apparently the key to defeatingAmatsu-Mikaboshi. It is also revealed that Destiny is the sameIrene Adler ofSherlock Holmes's stories.[52] After Thunderbird prayed to the Thunderbird God to teleport the group away from the attacking Carrion Crow, Thunderbird and the group learned that Moira has been possessed by Destiny's ghost.[53]
During the "Dawn of X" storyline, Destiny and the Brotherhood confront Moira on the latter's third life while she was developing a cure for mutation, destroying her lab and murdering her colleagues. Destiny threatens to permanently kill Moira on her next life should the former foresee that the latter was once again acting against mutant-kind. She also warns Moira that the latter cannot reincarnate indefinitely. She instructs Pyro to give Moira a slow and painful death so that the latter woman will remember the cost of her current transgression on her next life.[54] At some undetermined point before her death, Destiny foresees the rise of the Krakoan nation and that its leaders will promise Mystique resurrection for Destiny but ultimately deny it. Destiny tells Mystique that when that day comes that the latter must work to have the former resurrected, and should Mystique be unable to do so and the Krakoan leaders themselves refuse to do the deed, Destiny tells Mystique to burn Krakoa to the ground.[55] Moira is against Destiny's return or for that matter the presence of any precognitive on Krakoa as she seeks to prevent mutant-kind's doomed fate from being foreseen.[56]
During the "Reign of X" storyline, it is revealed that Moira was apparently able to copy the diaries burnt by Gambit, because at least 9 volumes were seen in her possession at No-Space Zone, a few visibly numbered (vol. 1, 4, 6, 7 and 9).[57]
Moira demands Professor X and Magneto to remove Mystique from the Quiet Council and erase Destiny's genetic and psychological data to prevent her resurrection. Despite the two men's efforts to make this possible Destiny appears to have been resurrected anyway and Mystique puts into a vote the former's inclusion into the Quiet Council.[58] Mystique disguises herself as Magneto to acquire Destiny's psychological data from the Cradle on Island M, then assumes Professor X's identity to acquire Destiny's genetic data from Mister Sinister and get the Five to resurrect Destiny, who is now voted into the Quiet Council. There is a hole in the future Destiny can not see through and she believes Professor X and Magneto hold the answer.[59] Destiny and Mystique meet with Emma Frost at the White Palace and run into the Cuckoos beforehand. Destiny gives the girls hints as to their respective futures but cannot specify to whom each future applies as Destiny cannot tell them apart. Emma informs Destiny and Mystique about the truth regarding Moira and while this has soured her relationship with Professor X and Magneto, Emma chooses not to side with either and instead will fight for herself and manipulate everyone else.[60]
Emma however offers the women several gifts: a means to locate Moira (captured by Orchis) and to retrieve her before Professor X and Magneto do, as well as Forge's mutant power neutralizer which can turn Moira human and therefore prevent the timeline from resetting upon death. They retrieve Moira and take her back to her No-Space, severing her arm to leave her tracker behind to mislead Professor X and Magneto, and directing Nimrod and Omega Sentinel towards the two men by faking an Orchis distress message. Mystique uses Forge's device to turn Moira human and before they kill her, she confesses to her true agenda which is to develop a cure that targets mutants when they're still children, preventing them from becoming mutants to begin with. Before either one could kill Moira they are interrupted by Cypher, whose connection to Krakoa made him aware of what transpires within Moira's No-Space. Because Moira is now human, Cypher cannot allow the women to murder Moira as it violates Krakoa's laws. Destiny realizes that Cypher is the reason for the hole in the future she cannot see through and that the only future favorable for her and Mystique is where Moira is allowed to live. Destiny can only foresee that Moira has hard choices ahead of her, otherwise the latter's future is unclear. Before Moira departs Krakoa she's warned by Destiny that she will be hunted not just by them, but others as well. Mystique and Destiny return to the Quiet Council (now aware of Moira) in order to consolidate their power.[61] At some later point she had a vision ofSabretooth leaving The Pit but told Mystique to let him go because she foresaw him doing something good once he left the island. They allowed him to steal a boat giving him the order to "cause chaos", which he happily accepted.[62]
During the "Judgment Day" storyline, Destiny informs Mystique andNightcrawler about her vision involving the war with theEternals.[63]
During the time Nightcrawler operates as "Spinnenmann" (German forSpider-Man), an alternate identity used with Spider-Man's permission,[64] he re-encounters Mystique, whose mind has been shattered by Professor X and who was left raving over her guilt of having lost Nightcrawler as a baby, and restores her using his Hopesword. Mystique then reveals that during her time as Christian Wagner's wife, she and Destiny, who was working as a household maid, decided to have a child together. When Wagner caught them in an intimate moment, Raven killed him and impersonated him until Kurt was born. When Mystique's real nature was revealed to the villagers, they went after the two women; Irene, having had a vision of Kurt's future role in thwartingAzazel, disappeared and enabledMargali Szardos to find and adopt Kurt. Years later, after having adoptedAnna Marie, she and Mystique reunited, and to become a family for the girl, they asked Professor X to remove most of their memories of what happened in Bavaria.[8]
Destiny is a mutant with the ability to see future probabilities and interpret them to best select or manipulate what was likely to happen. This allowed her to compensate for her blindness by seeing where objects in her path would be. The accuracy of Destiny's ability to foresee the future decreases in direct proportion to the distance ahead in time.[65]
She carried a small crossbow with her that she used offensively, and had good aim because she "saw" where it would land in her precognitive visions.
In Necrosha, Destiny was shown to utilize telepathic abilities as she mentally searched for Rogue (instead finding Blindfold) and then projecting her image into Blindfold's mind. This was explained later that she had fragments of the mutant Proteus inside her.[volume & issue needed] After making physical contact with Blindfold, Proteus appeared to take full possession of Blindfold and vacate Destiny's body. As such, she may or may not still have telepathy.[volume & issue needed]
Alex Schlesinger ofScreen Rant described Destiny and Mystique as "one ofX-Men's most iconic couples of all time," writing, "What makes Irene and Raven's relationship so perfect for Pride Month is because it is so representational of how media has treated queer relationships for decades, constantly pushing them into the shadows and making them subtextual - a fate which Mystique and Destiny's relationship has survived and overcome."[66] Samantha Puc ofNewsarama called Destiny and Mystique's relationship one of the "most iconic LGBTQIA+ comics romances," writing, "Though it remains to be seen whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, longtime villains-turned-Krakoan politicians Mystique and Destiny are mutantkind's current power couple, following Destiny's resurrection and their upending of the Quiet Council's status quo in the recent Inferno limited series. And they've certainly earned their place as mutant matriarchs."[67] Beat Staff ofComicsBeat wrote, "Mystique and Destiny have been written as lovers from the beginning. From their first appearances, the love and loyalty they felt for each other was so palpable that it has to date inspired fanfiction and critical commentary that takes their status as one of comics' most epic love stories as text. Wherever their story might go, Mystique and Destiny have always had the kind of love that transcends the thoughts, desires, and expectations of the outside world."[68] Peter Eckhardt ofCBR.com stated, "While the Marvel Universe has often changed around them, Destiny and Mystique's relationship has been a staple of comics. Together, the two have survived Sentinels, the X-Men, and alternate timelines. When she was killed, Mystique worked tirelessly to return her lover to life. Despite their apparent amorality, Destiny and Mystique's relationship is an inspiring part of Marvel Comics."[69]
The storyline involving the revelation of Destiny as Nightcrawler's mother was positively received. George Marston ofNewsarama was pleased that Marvel finally established Claremont's original backstory for the characters as canon.[70] James Whitbrook ofGizmodo also praised the storyline for making "one of the greatest, often unspoken queer loves of X-Men comics [...] to be woven back through history as it [was] always intended to be".[71]
Destiny appeared in theApocalypse ruled reality, theAge of Apocalypse. She had retired in the paradise ofAvalon and was convinced by the X-Men thatBishop's claims were true.[75] She was one of the three (along with Bishop andMagik) who entered theM'Kraan Crystal as they "no longer" had counterparts.[76]
Destiny appears as a member of the Brotherhood on Earth-1043.[77] In another snippet, Rogue (now aprivate detective) states that Destiny's diaries were a forgery by Mystique, who emulated Irene's handwriting.[78]
Destiny's diaries and its prophecies reappear as a minor plot point in the 2004–06 miniseries trilogyX-Men: The End.[79][80][h]
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