| Robert Kelly | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | TheUncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont (writer) John Byrne (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Robert Edward Kelly |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | United States Senate Project Wideawake |
Robert Edward Kelly is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics, often in association with theX-Men. He is a prominentUnited States Senator who began his career on an anti-mutant platform and tended to be an antagonist to the X-Men team, but later began to change his views on mutants as a whole.
The character was created byChris Claremont andJohn Byrne and makes his first appearance inTheUncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980). Claremont named the character after hisBard College professor, poetRobert Kelly.[citation needed]
Senator Robert Kelly is first seen at a social gathering hosted by theHellfire Club, where an illusion projected by the mutant villainMastermind causes him to believe he had witnessed the X-ManCyclops firing randomly into a crowd. He is the primary backer of theMutant Control Act andProject Wideawake, a government program aimed at creating updatedSentinel robots that would help track down, detain, and, if necessary, kill violent mutants.[1]
Kelly played a central role in theDays of Future Past storyline. His assassination byMystique and theBrotherhood of Mutants leads to a dystopian future where mutants and other heroes are hunted down by the Sentinels and nearly totally eliminated, with the X-Men working to prevent it.[2]
Kelly is later married to Sharon, a former maid who worked in the Hellfire Club.[3] Sharon is killed byMaster Mold during the latter's battle withRogue, which further incites Kelly's stance against mutants.[4]
Kelly remains an active anti-mutant activist in the comics through the 1990s, but slowly becomes more open-minded and tolerant towards the mutant population, promising the X-Men he will work for the rights of mutants. AfterPyro saves him during an attack fromPost, Kelly vows to reconsider his standing on mutants and work towards improving human/mutant relations. Shortly afterward, Kelly is assassinated by anti-mutant activist Alan Lewis, who feels that Kelly has betrayed his anti-mutant cause.[5]
In theAge of Apocalypse, Robert Kelly was an activist for mutant-human peace who is eventually electedPresident of the United States. He namedMagneto as Director of Mutant Affairs and enlisted the X-Men's aid in the broken country's reconstruction.[6]
In theX-Men Noir reality, Robert Kelly was a Republican Senator of New York who strongly defended the controversial U.S. extraterritorial prison Genosha Bay. Kelly believed through eugenics that it is necessary for containing criminals who are more exceptionally dangerous and from "infecting" the public with their criminal ways. However, in reality, Kelly's true purpose of keeping Genosha Bay was because it was the proving grounds in recruiting the next generation of ideal soldiers and government operatives.[7]
During the "Secret Wars" storyline, an alternate universe version of Robert Kelly appears as the Baron of theBattleworld domain of Westchester and a member of theHorsemen of Apocalypse.[8]
