| Vanisher | |
|---|---|
 Cover toX-Force #69 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The X-Men #2 (November 1963) |
| Created by | |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Telford Porter |
| Species | Human mutant |
| Team affiliations |
|
| Notable aliases | El Hombre que Desaparece |
| Abilities |
|
Vanisher (Telford Porter) is a fictional character andmutantsupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Vanisher's primary ability is teleportation. He is usually depicted as an opponent of theX-Men. The character was created byStan Lee andJack Kirby, and first appeared inThe X-Men #2 (November 1963).[1]
Brad Pitt portrays him in a cameo in the live-action filmDeadpool 2.
![[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.(April 2017) |
The Vanisher first appeared inThe X-Men #2 (November 1963), created by writerStan Lee and artistJack Kirby.
Born inMilton, Massachusetts, Vanisher is amutant and a professional criminal with the ability to teleport to any place imaginable. He commits a series of spectacular crimes including: building a large criminal organization, stealing confidential defense plans and attempting to extort millions of dollars from the U.S. government.[2] With support from a large group of non-mutant followers, he goes to the front lawn of theWhite House to await his payment.Professor Xavier and theX-Men are able to intervene when Xavier inducesamnesia upon Vanisher. Forgetting his powers, Vanisher is taken into police custody and the X-Men defeat his mob.[3]
Vanisher regains his memory and joinsFactor Three, a subversive organization of mutants who seek world domination. Factor Three attempts to startWorld War III between the United States and theSoviet Union. TheMutant Master, leader of Factor Three, is revealed to be an alien of the Siris race with a plan to conquer Earth. The rest of Factor Three, including Vanisher, team up with the X-Men to defeat him.[4] Vanisher is later held prisoner by theSentinels, but is saved by the X-Men.[5]
Vanisher disappears for a period, but comes out of hiding to fight theChampions by joining theBrotherhood of Mutants and using reprogrammed Sentinels. He is defeated by the Champions and is trapped in mid-teleportation byDarkstar.[6] TheDarkforce strands half of him in another dimension, with the other half inPoughkeepsie, New York where he is found by the X-Men. WhenNightcrawler touches him, they become stranded in another dimension. After returning to Earth,[7] Vanisher organizes a group of young mutant thieves, known as theFallen Angels. Eventually the Fallen Angels disband, and Vanisher is left to his own devices.[8] Later, he joins a group of villains to challenge the Fantastic Four but is defeated.[9]
Vanisher withdraws again until he is mentally controlled by Asylum to attack theNew Warriors and other superheroes. Darkling, asuperhuman who uses energies from theDarkforce Dimension, is defeated and Vanisher regains his free will.[10] He later joins a second incarnation of theEnforcers, called theNew Enforcers. Along withEel and a woman named Blitz, Vanisher is part of the Outer Circle of the Enforcers that becomes involved in a clash between the criminal organizationsA.I.M. andHydra. The New Enforcers are confronted and eventually defeated bySpider-Man.[11]
Vanisher seeks to understand his powers in greater detail. He visits theDarkforce Dimension, resulting in his capture by its inhabitants. He is forced to read them stories until he is rescued byX-Force'sWarpath, who had been manipulated into performing the mission.[12]
Vanisher resurfaces as a leader of aSouth Americandrug cartel, which is producing and distributing drugs such as mutant growth hormone throughout theAmericas.Stacy X,Iceman, andArchangel are instrumental in stopping hisNorth American operations.[13]
Vanisher is one of the few mutants who retained their superhuman powers afterM-Day. Hired to steal a vial of the long-thought-destroyedLegacy Virus from one ofMister Sinister's labs, he resurfaces in Japan.Cyclops orderedX-Force to recover it at all costs. In a confrontation with X-Force, Vanisher is injured and given a terminal brain tumor byElixir, in order to secure his co-operation in retrieving the virus.[14] He transports the team to one of the bases, only to be attacked by clones of the Marauders and soldiers ofThe Right, under command of the resurrectedCameron Hodge. During the battle, he teleports away, and is later forcibly inducted into the ranks of X-Force for use as transport and extraction.[15]
When the Sapien League starts abducting mutants and infecting them with a modified version of the Legacy Virus, Vanisher teams with Warpath. While at an anti-mutant rally, he tries to get Warpath to leave with him, offering to take him to a brothel in Portugal only to be told to be ready in case anything bad happened.[16] He teleports X-Force to the Leper Queen and manages to disarm her before being sent into the future by Cyclops.[17]
Upon arriving in the future, Vanisher tries to teleport but his powers are blocked. He is then shot in the neck byDeadpool. After being healed by Elixir, Wolverine makes him stay in front of the group in case there are more snipers.[18] When ambushed by Stryfe's forces, Vanisher is ordered by Wolverine to protect Elixir and Hope Summers.[19] After defeating Stryfe's forces, Vanisher,Domino,X-23 and Deadpool investigate what has been blocking his powers and their time-travel devices.[20] During this time he begins showing signs of serious illness.[21] Together withLaura they find the problem isKiden Nixon. Vanisher tries to convince Domino to commit a mercy killing but Laura has difficulty with the situation.[22] When the timers run out, Domino kills Kiden but they're left wondering why they didn't automatically return to their present. When Vanisher removes his timer he instantly appears in the present at the ruins of the Xavier Institute.[23]
Returning from the future, Vanisher's condition worsens. He teleports to Utopia for help and finds himself in the middle of the battle between Selene's forces and the X-Men. Cyclops rescues him from an attack byTarot and is ordered to takeEmma Frost to safety. Before Vanisher can react, they are attacked by Banshee. He then teleports to the medical lab to search for Elixir.[24] Finding Elixir in a coma, Vanisher watches over him until he awakens. He asks for the tumor to be removed but was told to teleport X-Force toGenosha.[25] There, Elixir reveals he removed the tumor in the future and that Vanisher is actually suffering from stage-4syphilis. Elixir tells him to leave because that's what he's good at and Vanisher teleports into Selene's fortress to rescue Warpath. He engages in a battle withBlink, who teleports his arm off. Rescuing the other members of X-Force and getting them to safety, Vanisher tells Elixir that Warpath was always nice to him and demands to be healed.[26]
During the final confrontation with Selene and her Inner Circle, he works alongside Archangel and Domino in taking out Blink. Once the mission is over, Vanisher and Domino go to Brazil for some rest and relaxation.[27]
UponCable andHope Summers return to the present, Cyclops orders Domino and Vanisher to wait in San Francisco.[28] Learning that Bastion was targeting teleporters to prevent the reunion of the so-called "Mutant Messiah" with the X-Men, Cyclops gives Domino instructions to bring Vanisher back to Utopia. Hearing this, Vanisher teleports to his hideout inPortugal only to find his girls dead and Steven Lang and his men awaiting him. Vanisher is then shot multiple times before teleporting away, being left for dead in the middle of nowhere.[29] After this, the X-Men consider him missing in action.[30]
Vanisher appears in New York as a member of a group ofMarauders that are brainwashed to attack the X-Men.[31]
Vanisher is later found by Juggernaut and is coerced into taking him to where the Gem ofCyttorak is located.[32]
As part of the 2016 "Marvel NOW!" branding, Vanisher begins smuggling stolenvibranium out ofWakanda in order to sell it to criminals. He is defeated byKasper Cole and taken into custody.[33]
Vanisher later joins the Hellfire club with Emma Frost as its Black King, but is killed by Robert Callahan.[34] He resurfaces during theKrakoan Age, having been resurrected through unknown means.[35] After the end of the Krakoan Age, Vanisher begins working for theOffice of National Emergency.[36]
Vanisher is amutant with the ability toteleport himself, his clothes, and an undetermined amount of additional mass. Apparently, Vanisher traverses theDarkforce Dimension when teleporting from one place on Earth to another. His power appears to bepsionic in nature. The limits on Vanisher's teleportation range and the maximum amount of mass he can teleport with himself are unknown, but he was able to teleport himself and several others from southern California to New York without any visible strain. Vanisher has a subconsciousextrasensory ability that prevents him from materializing part or all of his body within a solid object, even if he has never before been to the area he is teleporting to. This allows Vanisher to teleport with greater ease than Nightcrawler. His powers once interacted with those of Nightcrawler, sending them both into alternate dimensions.[37]
Vanisher has used guns which shoot gas or energy beams. He also once reprogrammedSentinel robots to do his bidding and can fluently speak Portuguese.
In the dark reality known asAge of Apocalypse, Vanisher was part of Apocalypse's supremacist rulership. He was ordered to retrieve Magneto's child while Apocalypse kept the X-Men's leader busy. Vanisher was able to locate Charles Lensherr in the Morlock Tunnels, but he was in the possession of the robotic French maid Nanny who killed Vanisher to protect the baby Charles.[38]
In the "House of M" reality, Vanisher works withPyro under the authority ofExodus as part of the mutant supremacist rulership of Australia. They are opposed by theHulk, who is mad that his native friends have been harassed.[39]
An alternate reality Vanisher appeared inExiles and demonstrated the ability to teleport from the Earth to a station in space.[40]
In theUltimate Marvel universe, Vanisher is a member of the Brotherhood terrorist cell raided byCaptain America and the Ultimates inUltimate War.[41] He later reappears as a member of the Brotherhood.[42]
