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| Stryfe | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofUncanny X-Men #296. Art byBrandon Peterson. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The New Mutants #86 (February 1990) |
| Created by | Louise Simonson (writer) Rob Liefeld (artist/co-writer) |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human mutantclone |
| Team affiliations | Mutant Liberation Front Dark Riders |
| Notable aliases | Chaos Bringer, Scion of the Dark Lord,Cable |
| Abilities | Telekinesis Telepathy Superhuman strength and durability |
Stryfe is asupervillain appearing in Americancomic books published byMarvel Comics, most commonly in conflict with thesuperhero teamX-Force. He is aclone ofCable from Cable's alternate future timeline.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(February 2014) |
The character was created byLouise Simonson andRob Liefeld,[1] and first appears inThe New Mutants #86 (February 1990), a cameo appearance in which his head cannot be seen. His first full appearance was in the following issue,The New Mutants #87 (March 1990).[2][3] A clone of Cable, Stryfe is the mainantagonist in the 1990scrossoverX-Cutioner's Song,[1] the 2009X-Force/Cable crossoverMessiah War, and the 2014Cable & X-Force/Uncanny X-Force crossover "Vendetta".[4]
Stryfe appears as the main villain of the 2018–2019 run ofX-Force.[5][6]
Askani appears toCyclops andJean Grey from the distant future after their son Nathan Summers is infected with atechno-organic virus byApocalypse and tells the two that the child can be saved in the future. Nathan then arrives in the future to which Mother Askani clones the baby as a back up plan. The clone's growth is greatly accelerated until he is the same age as Nathan himself while the Askani succeed in halting the spread of the virus, saving Nathan's life. However, Apocalypse's forces attack the Askani's hiding place and steal the cloned infant. Apocalypse takes the child as his own, raising him himself and naming him "Stryfe", intending to use him as a host body. Years later, as Apocalypse is about to transfer his essence into Stryfe, he discovers that Stryfe is a clone and cannot act as a vessel. The teenage Nathan and the time-traveling Scott Summers and Jean confront Apocalypse. After Apocalypse's essence is dispersed, Stryfe is raised by Apocalypse's second-in-command Ch'vayre.[7]
Stryfe grows up to be an embittered madman, wanting vengeance on both what he believes to be his real parents (Cyclops and Jean) and his spiritual parent Apocalypse.[8] He becomes an anarchist and terrorist rebel in the Nor-Am Pact region 3783–3806 in his alternate future. He raises an army and for years became a fierce opponent of bothCable and the New Canaanites, a regime that replaced Apocalypse's.[volume & issue needed]
In 3806, the New Canaanites take full control of the planet, but Stryfe manages to travel back in time two thousand years.[9] He forms amutantterrorist group, theMutant Liberation Front (MLF).[10] Stryfe battles Cable, who learns that Stryfe is his clone.[11] As a final insurance, Stryfe givesMister Sinister a canister that he claims holds genetic material from the Summers family; in truth, it holds the deadlyLegacy Virus.[citation needed] During a battle with Stryfe, Cable opens a temporal rift by detonating a self-destruct system, destroying Stryfe's body.[12] Stryfe's consciousness enters Cable's mind, in which he stays until he voluntarily leaves.[13]
By unknown means, Stryfe revives and attempts to subjugateLatveria.[14] Stryfe is opposed by Cable andNate Grey, and at first beats them easily, even going as far as to siphon Nate's power.Madelyne Pryor appears to join forces with Stryfe, but secretly steals the psionic energy from Stryfe and gives it back to Nate. Madelyne, Nate and Cable join forces to defeat Stryfe.[15]
Stryfe experiences a personal existential crisis and becomes depressed at the futility of his efforts over the years after the X-Men manage to cure the Legacy Virus. He hunts downBishop, who has possessed by the entity Le Bete Noir. Its power rivals thePhoenix Force and threatens to consume Bishop's body and unleash evil upon the universe.[16] However, Stryfe ultimately regrets the path he took and the choices he has made in his life. He frees Bishop from the entity and sacrifices himself to save Earth by absorbing Le Bete Noir into himself.Gambit is suspicious and believes that Cable may have telepathically forced Stryfe to sacrifice himself.[17]
In the storylineMessiah War, it is revealed that Stryfe was able to transport himself into the future instead of dying, where he was discovered by Bishop.[18][19] Cable, Deadpool, the time-displaced X-Force and Apocalypse join forces to defeat Stryfe and Bishop. Cable andHope Summers travel further into the future, the X-Force return to the present, and Apocalypse drags Stryfe away, intending to use him as a new host body.[20]
Stryfe is able to prevent Apocalypse from using his body as a new host and travels back in time to the present in theCable and X-Force andUncanny X-Force crossover "Vendetta". Upon discovering that Bishop has returned to the present, Hope tries to kill him in an act of vengeance. Stryfe appears and kidnaps both and brings the two to an old, abandoned Mutant Liberation Front base. There, he attempts to manipulate Hope into killing Bishop, who has come to realize the error of various past mistakes. Stryfe explains to Bishop how he wants him to suffer after he betrayed him and claims that he was imprisoned and tortured by Apocalypse for years until he planned a successful escape and killed him. Stryfe tries to corrupt Hope by making her give in to her feelings of hatred towards Bishop, convincing her to take revenge and murder Bishop, although he is shackled and refuses to fight back out of remorse. Cable and both teams of X-Force soon intervene and combat Stryfe. Hope sees that Stryfe is trying to undo the lessons which Cable taught and refuses to kill Bishop, but Hope severely injures him. Stryfe is defeated by Cable and both X-Force teams, but before escaping, he telepathically forces Hope to mimic his power with the intention that Hope will destroy her own friends. Bishop helps Hope to disperse Stryfe's energy and the two come to an uneasy truce.[21]
Stryfe is a clone of the mutant Cable and shares his abilities of telepathy and telekinesis. However, these abilities are far more powerful than the ones Cable has generally displayed, sufficient to block the use ofCyclops andJean Grey's superhuman powers. This is because Stryfe was never infected with Apocalypse's techno-organic virus like Cable was. Therefore, he does not have to constantly expend his abilities to keep the virus from consuming his body, which drained Cable's capabilities. Stryfe can use his psionic abilities in a variety of ways such as moving large objects with his mind, reading minds, mind control, telepathically negating and activating the use of other's powers, telepathic camouflage, telekinetic flight, telekinetic force fields, mind transference and telekinetic blasts. Stryfe also has far more control over his massive psionic abilities than Cable or Nate Grey, apparently from having a whole lifetime of experience of learning how to use his powers which his alternate counterparts never had. Stryfe also possessed other abilities through genetic manipulation similar to those that Cable achieved through cybernetic augmentation, including superhuman strength and durability.
Stryfe wears battle armor that is highly impervious to damage. He has used various advanced weaponry and technology from the 39th century of his alternate future.
An alternate universe version of Stryfe from Earth-1610 appears inUltimate X-Men. This version is a mutant supremacist who is convinced thatProfessor X was killed by the United States government and that mutants should fight against the government.[volume & issue needed] He possesses the mutant ability to cause "strife" within people's minds, causing them to voice whatever is bothering them. It is later revealed that Stryfe is working withFenris to promote mutant unrest so they can sellSentinels to the government.[23]
General Stryfe, a character based on Stryfe, appears inDeadpool Pulp. He is a general who, alongsideCable andJ. Edgar Hoover, hiresWade Wilson to retrieve a stolennuclear briefcase.[24] Stryfe is later killed by Deadpool.[25]
Stryfe makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in theX-Men: The Animated Series episode "Beyond Good and Evil" (Part 4).[26]
