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Severalfictional groups of mutants have used the name theHellions inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The Hellions have always been portrayed as rivals of various teams of youngermutant heroes in theX-Menfranchise, initially as actual villains and later on a team that was more of a school rival than actual enemies of the X-Men.
The first and most notable incarnation of the Hellions were students ofEmma Frost and theHellfire Club'sMassachusetts Academy, and were rivals of theNew Mutants. The original Hellions first appeared inNew Mutants #16 (June 1984), created by writerChris Claremont and artistSal Buscema.[1] This version of the Hellions ended after an attack byTrevor Fitzroy and a squadron ofSentinels that killed several Hellions.[2]
Two later groups known as the Hellions or New Hellions both fought against various X groups such asGeneration X andX-Force. InNew X-Men: Academy X (2004), a new group of Hellions were introduced. This time they were a part of theXavier Institute for Higher Learning – the Hellions were one of several factions that the students were divided into including the New Mutants, with whom they had a rivalry. The Hellions were also the focus of aminiseries titledNew X-Men: Hellions (2005). After the majority of mutants lost their powers in theDecimation storyline, the students were combined into one squad as the number of mutants was greatly reduced.
During theKrakoan Age, as part of theDawn of X publishing initiative, a newongoing series titledHellions launched in March 2020 which focused on the most dangerous mutant outcasts. It ended with issue #18 in December 2021 during theReign of X publishing initiative.
| Hellions | |
|---|---|
 The Hellions battle their rivals, the New Mutants, in their first appearance. Cover toThe New Mutants #16 (June 1984), art byTom Mandrake. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The New Mutants #16 (June 1984) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont (writer) Sal Buscema (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Massachusetts Academy |
| Member(s) | Beef Bevatron Cannonball Catseye Cypher Empath Firestar (unofficial) Jetstream Karma Magik Magma Mirage Roulette Tarot Thunderbird White Queen (teacher) Wolfsbane |
The original group of Hellions were apprentices of theHellfire Club and students of its White Queen (Emma Frost). While attending classes at Frost'sMassachusetts Academy, these youngmutants secretly trained in the use of their powers in an underground complex beneath the school. They were longtime rivals ofProfessor Charles Xavier's students, theNew Mutants, and once held their own against theX-Men. The original Hellions were:[3]
White Emma Frost had another potential Hellion inFirestar (Angelica Jones), but kept the girl from joining the team on field missions while grooming her to be Frost's personal assassin. Firestar eventually learned of Frost's plans and left the Massachusetts Academy.[4]
After suffering a severe trauma at the hands of theBeyonder,[5][6] a number of the New Mutants were transferred to the Massachusetts Academy byMagneto (then headmaster ofXavier's School for Gifted Youngsters), due to their apparent need for psychic therapy from Emma Frost.[7] While at the academy, the transferred New Mutants —Cannonball,Wolfsbane,Karma,Cypher,Magik, andMagma — were inducted into the Hellions.[8] They soon returned to Xavier's School after their recovery and the revelation that the White Queen had employed Empath to coerce Magneto into allowing the transfer.[9] After an alliance between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club and Magneto's ascension to the Inner Circle as its White King, relations between the Hellions and the New Mutants improved.[10][11]
Magma, realizing that she held feelings for Empath, eventually returned to the Hellions and the Massachusetts Academy;[12] the two would later leave the team to travel to her home in Nova Roma.[13] James Proudstar also left the Hellions, re-emerging withCable and the remnants of the New Mutants inX-Force.[14]
Superstrong and durable Beef (Buford Wilson) and bioelectricity-projecting Bevatron (Fabian Marechal-Julbin) were later additions to the group. They were present when the Hellions unsuccessfully challenged theNew Warriors over the allegiance of their former member, Firestar.[15]
The original Hellions, however, came to an end whenTrevor Fitzroy and a squadron ofSentinels attacked a Hellfire Club function; Jetstream and Beef were killed immediately,[2] while Tarot, the rest of the Hellions and many guests that were erroneously believed to be unnamed Hellions were captured and drained of their life energies by Fitzroy.[16] Emma Frost's guilt over her students' deaths led to her eventual reform.These Hellions were among the deceased mutants resurrected via theTransmode Virus bySelene andEli Bard during the "Necrosha" storyline.
With the establishing of the new sovereign mutant nation of Krakoa, the original Hellions and Bevatron, now free of the Transmode Virus, have all taken up residence there.
The next group of Hellions was organized by the parasiticEmplate to attackGeneration X, the new class of Emma Frost's students.[17] This group appeared twice, inGeneration X (1994) #11–12 and 57, with slightly different members:[17][18][19]
A group of self-proclaimed "New Hellions" emerged to fightX-Force, inX-Force #87–90, whose members included some from the team's past:[17][23]
| Hellions | |
|---|---|
 New X-Men: Hellions #1, cover art byClayton Henry, which features Emma Frost with the new Hellions[24] | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New X-Men: Academy X #2 |
| Created by | Christina Weir Nunzio DeFilippis |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Xavier Institute for Higher Learning |
| Member(s) | Emma Frost (advisor) Dust Hellion Icarus Mercury Rockslide Specter Tag Wither |
After the reopening of theXavier Institute for Higher Learning various training squads are formed. One such group of students, under the tutelage of headmistressEmma Frost, is dubbed "the Hellions".[25] They have an intense rivalry with another such group, theNew Mutants, echoing the relationship between the two original groups of the same names. Membership consists of:
The four issueminiseriesNew X-Men: Hellions (2005), by writersNunzio DeFilippis andChristina Weir with art byClayton Henry, focused on the Hellions spending the summer in California.[27][28][29][24]
Rich Shivener, in his 2014 essay "No Mutant Left Behind: Lessons fromNew X-Men Academy X", wrote that "what's interesting is that both New Mutants and Hellions have qualities of heroism and villainy, not to mention diverse thinking and being. More importantly,New X-Men: Academy X's depictions of squad-based learning and formations, with respect to New Mutants and Hellions, further reflects practices among private schools, as well as military schools", of sorting students into groups orhouses.[30] In a review of theNew X-Men Academy X – The Complete Collectiontrade paperback, Eric Alex Cline ofAIPT thought the Hellions were the only characters to "show promise" and that the Hellions limited series in the collection was "easily the best part of the book".[31] On the limited series, Cline commented that "while the actual villain of the series is rather bland, he helps set the stage for the Hellions to get some solid character development. Some of the most interesting conflicts take place between the mutant teens and their human parents who sometimes fail to protect their children, and who even show prejudice toward them. It's a cool situation to see handled on the page, especially since the mutant metaphor doesn't always stretch that far".[31]
After M-Day, the cataclysmic event that decimated the world's mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute retain their powers, and the remaining students are folded into a single training squad, theNew X-Men. For the Hellions, only Tag and Specter were depowered.
After the events ofAvengers vs. X-Men, the new Black King of the Hellfire Club, Kade Kilgore, creates the Hellfire Academy, a school for training mutants to be villains. Kilgore recruits for his school some former students of the X-Men and creates a new team of Hellions.[32][17]
| Hellions | |
|---|---|
 Cover toHellions #1, art by Stephen Segovia | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| No. of issues | 18 |
| Main character(s) | Empath Havok Mister Sinister Nanny and Orphan-Maker Psylocke Greycrow Wild Child |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Zeb Wells (writer) Stephen Segovia (artist) |
| Written by | Zeb Wells |
| Artist(s) | Stephen Segovia Carmen Carnero Main covers Stephen Segovia and Rain Beredo |
| Letterer | Cory Petit |
| Colorist | David Curiel |
| Editor(s) | Editor Jordan D. White Assistant Editor Annalise Bissa Head of X Jonathan Hickman |
AHellions title was launched March 2020 as part of theDawn of X publishing initiative during the Krakoan Age.[33][34] Written byZeb Wells, and drawn by Stephen Segovia, the initial cast comprisedEmpath,Havok,Mister Sinister,Nanny,Orphan-Maker,Psylocke,Greycrow, andWild Child.[35][36][37] For the majority of the series, Segovia was the lead artist, "but key chapters were also illustrated by Carmen Carnero, Ze Carlos, and Roge Antonio, among others".[38] On the setup of the series, Wells commented:
I wanted to pick at some of the complicated issues that were caused by the mutant society coming together. I really like what [Jonathan Hickman] had done, where as long as you're a mutant you can come live on this island because it was going to be a utopia. But there are some very weird characters who have done some very terrible things. I didn't want it to seem like that would be brushed under the carpet, I wanted to dig into that. We could play with the larger issues of what a society does with the people who can't fit in, or don't want to fit in.[38]
The series was cancelled in 2021 with issue #18 (December 2021) as its last.[39]Hellions established some of the groundwork for Hickman'sInferno (September 2021 – January 2022) event.[40][41]CBR noted that the series retired John Greycrow's "racist" Scalphunter codename, which debuted during the 1986 "Mutant Massacre" storyline, in the second issue of the series and that Greycrow had major "character development" with a shift towards redemption and heroics during this series.[42] In January 2021, Wells highlighted that Greycrow "carries the themes of the book most explicitly".[43] The character jumped out to Wells during the series "earliest brainstorming stages" – Wells stated, "I see a character who came from pain and violence and then repeated the cycle again and again and never stopped to ask if that is who he really wants to be. And now he's seeing the world change around him, but not sure ifhe can change".[43]
Hellions was #6 onEntertainment Weekly's "The 10 best comics of 2021" list — Christian Holub opined that since the Krakoan Age relaunch, "the most compelling" X-Men series "was definitelyHellions, which assembled the weirdest, most misfit mutants [...] and tried to find a place for them in paradise. From team leader Mr. Sinister's constant backstabbing to Psylocke's psychic swordplay,Hellions delivered one entertaining story after another until this month's 18th and final issue, which managed to wrap up all of its plot threads and put a cathartic capper on its various characters' quests for redemption".[44] Following issue #18, Lia Williamson ofAIPT noted that "Hellions ends the series just as it began: it's emotional, it's weird, and it's delightful" with the final scene focused on a "touching moment betweenKwannon and Greycrow, the emotional backbone of this series", which "ends the series on a hopeful note and quite frankly, a happy one".[45] Williamson viewed the series as "both the underdog and sleeper hit of the X-Men relaunch" – "now that the series has reached its conclusion, it's safe to say that it's the closest to perfect an X-Men series has been in the Krakoa era".[45]
Brandon Zachary forCBR commented that "each of the Hellions is arguably in a better place emotionally and mentally than where they were at the beginning of the series, even if some of their personal situations have become worse. [...] The Hellions represented the possibility that mutants could grow from their darker impulses and tendencies, and become better people. And while the team as it was constructed might be done, the concept was clearly a success".[46] In a retrospective at the end of the Krakoan Age, Scott Redmond forComicsXF highlighted theHellions as a stand out title. Redmond commented that the series "looked at how those that are broken, outcast, wrapped in darkness, fit into a so-called paradise. It was one of the first titles to really start to poke holes in the Krakoan system, that still was employing methods of punishment and control similar to the world they left behind. This series took characters that we should not want to even glance at and made them empathetic, funny, relatable, and came with heartbreak".[47]
| Issues | Cast |
|---|---|
| #1-18 |
Following the fall of Krakoa, King Bedlam reorganized the Hellions. The team now consists of King Bedlam, Jesse Bedlam, Boom-Boom, Locus andFantomex.[48]
The original Hellions appear briefly in an alternate universe depicted in theAge of Apocalypse storyline as former agents ofApocalypse. After Apocalypse's death, the Hellions become renegades and are hunted down and captured by the X-Men on the United States government's behalf.[49]
In an alternate universe depicted in theHouse of M storyline, the Hellions exist asS.H.I.E.L.D.'s "Hellion Squad", led byDanielle Moonstar and consisting ofHellion,Magik,Quill,Surge,Synch, andWind Dancer.[50]
| Issue | Publication date | Writer | Artist | Colorist | Comic Book Roundup rating[51] | Estimated sales to North American retailers (first month) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | March 25, 2020 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia | David Curiel | 8.3 by 21 professional critics | 55,772[52] | None |
| #2 | July 22, 2020 | 8.2 by 14 professional critics | Data not available | ||||
| #3 | August 26, 2020 | 8.1 by 10 professional critics | |||||
| #4 | September 16, 2020 | 8.4 by 9 professional critics | 33,000–39,000[53] | ||||
| #5 | October 14, 2020 | Carmen Carnero | 8.2 by 10 professional critics | 41,500–46,000[54] | X of Swords tie-in | ||
| #6 | November 18, 2020 | 7.7 by 9 professional critics | Data not yet available | ||||
| #7 | December 2, 2020 | Stephen Segovia | 7.6 by 8 professional critics | None | |||
| #8 | January 6, 2021 | 8.3 by 6 professional critics | |||||
| #9 | February 3, 2021 | 8.1 by 9 professional critics | |||||
| #10 | March 3, 2021 | 8.2 by 9 professional critics | |||||
| #11 | May 5, 2021 | 8.3 by 6 professional critics |
| Title | Material collected | Format | Publication date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New X-Men (2004 series) | ||||
| New X-Men: Hellions | New X-Men: Hellions #1-4 | Trade paperback | November 2005 | 0-7851-1746-6 |
| New X-Men: Academy X – The Complete Collection | New X-Men: Academy X #1–15,New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook #1,New X-Men: Hellions #1–4 | Trade paperback | December 2018 | 978-1302910327 |
| Hellions (vol. 1) | ||||
| Hellions by Zeb Wells – Volume 1 | Hellions #1–4 | Trade paperback | December 1, 2020[55] | ISBN 978-1302925581 |
| Hellions by Zeb Wells – Volume 2 | Hellions #7–11 | August 17, 2021[56] | ISBN 978-1302925598 | |
| Hellions by Zeb Wells – Volume 3 | Hellions #12–18 | February 1, 2022 | ISBN 978-1302930189 | |
| Hellions by Zeb Wells | Hellions #1–18 | Hardcover | August, 2022 | ISBN 978-1302933722 |
