| Brood | |
|---|---|
 Cover art forMs. Marvel vol. 2 #2. Art byFrank Cho. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | TheUncanny X-Men #155[1] (March1982) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont (writer) Dave Cockrum (artist) |
| Characteristics | |
| Place of origin | Sleazeworld |
| Inherent abilities | The Brood possesswings,fangedteeth and a stinging tail. They have ahive mentality and mindlessly follow aqueen. Toreproduce, they must infect other races with theireggs. |
TheBrood are a fictional race ofinsectoid,parasitic,extraterrestrial beings appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics, especiallyUncanny X-Men. Created by writerChris Claremont and artistDave Cockrum, they first appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men #155 (March 1982).[2]
According toDave Cockrum, the Brood were originally conceived to serve as generic subordinates for the main villain ofThe Uncanny X-Men #155: "We hadDeathbird in this particular story and Chris [Claremont] had written into the plot 'miscellaneous alien henchmen.' So I had drawn Deathbird standing in this building under construction and I just drew the most horrible looking thing I could think of next to her."[3]
The Brood are an alien race ofinsectoid beings. They are a specialized race, one that has evolved to reproduce and consume any available resource.[4][self-published source?]
Despite their resemblance to insects, the Brood haveendoskeletons as well asexoskeletons. Also unlike insects, they have fanged jaws instead of mandibles. Their skulls are triangular and flat, with a birthmark between their eyes. Their two front legs are tentacles they can use to manipulate objects.
Due to their natural body armor and fangs, the Brood are very dangerous in combat. In addition, they have stingers that can deliver either paralyzing or killing venom.
The Brood reproduce asexually and have no clear gender. They reproduce by forcibly implanting their eggs into other sentient organism. Each host can only support one egg. Upon hatching, the host dies as the Brood egg releases mutagenic enzymes into the bloodstream. At the same time, the Broodling mentally attacks and assimilates its host.[5]
They use ahive mind to pass memory to their hosts, which also passes an individual's knowledge, given to a broodling, to the hive and back to the queen, meaning newborn brood know what any member of the race knows. Until the embryo gains the host's body the embryo can only gain temporary control of the host, often without the host noticing as the host is unaware when it loses control.
If the host possesses any powers, the resultant Brood will inherit them. The persona of the host once the Brood is "born" appears to be extinguished, but in some cases, the host's will may be strong enough to survive and coexist with the Brood's.[6] However it is implied that hosts with advanced healing ability are unable to turn, for example when an egg was implanted inDeadpool, instead of turning into a Brood, a small Brood burst out of Deadpool's body.[7]
Some roles in the civilization are flexible.
The Brood, like most alien species, possess advanced technology. These include:
The Brood originate from a dark galaxy prior to the emergence of Galactus from his incubator. Their planet of origin is unknown, but it is rumored that the Brood originated from another dimension. They were eventually found and captured by theKree empire, along with other hive species, so they can be weaponized and used against rival empires. TheSupreme Intelligence approves of the idea, though he states that it will take millions of years to amass a large enough Brood army.[11]
In the next eight million years of experimentation, the Black Judges deem the Brood a major success and unleashed them on theShi'ar galaxy, where the Brood found certain large space-dwelling creatures that they decided to prey on to use as livingstarships. These creatures included the whale-likeAcanti and the shark-like Starsharks.[15]
Mar-Vell, a captain in the Kree army, is ordered to make contact with the stranded Grand Admiral Devros on a planet in the Absolom Sector, a region known to be infested with Brood. Mar-Vell's team, which includes the medic Una and ColonelYon-Rogg, is ambushed by Brood after landing on the planet and are taken prisoner by the Brood-infected Devros. The colony's Brood Queen impregnates each captive with Brood embryos, but Mar-Vell and Una manage to escape, destroy both leaders of the Brood colony, and rid themselves of their infections using Una's modified omni-wave projector. After rescuing Yon-Rogg, the trio escape the planet and are rescued by the Shi'ar royalDeathbird.[16]
Deathbird later allies with the Brood to gain their help deposing her sisterLilandra Neramani as ruler of their empire.[13] As a reward for their help, Deathbird gives the Brood Lilandra, the X-Men, andCarol Danvers, along withFang of theImperial Guard, to use as hosts. The Brood infect the entire party except for Danvers, who is subjected to experiments due to her status as a human-Kree hybrid. Wolverine's healing factor purges him of the Brood embryo, and he helps the others escape. He is unable to save Fang, who becomes a Brood warrior before they leave.[6]
After returning to Earth with theStarjammers, the X-Men defeat and detain the Brood Queen infectingCharles Xavier. The advanced medical facilities at the Starjammers' disposal are able to transfer the consciousness of Xavier from the Brood Queen's body to a new cloned body, enabling Xavier to walk again.[13][6]
Civilian Hannah Connover, previously infected with a Queen, soon begins to demonstrate attributes of Brood.[17] She uses her new-found "healing" powers to become afaith healer and cure many people with her reverend husband. However, she secretly infects many people with embryos. Across the Galaxy, on the "true" Brood Homeworld, the Brood Empress sends her "firstborn" Imperial Assassins to kill Connover for going against the Empress' wishes. Unable to stop future waves of Assassins from coming, the X-Man,Iceman, freezes Connover, putting her insuspended animation and causing the current firstborn to kill themselves.
InContest of Champions II, the Brood and theBadoon abduct several heroes and pose as a benevolent species willing to give the heroes access to advanced technology after competing against each other in a series of contests. However, in reality, the Brood intend to useRogue, infested with a Brood Queen, to absorb the powers of the contest winners and become unstoppable. Fortunately,Iron Man realizes that the Brood are drugging food to amplify aggression- relying on his armor's own life-support systems to prevent him succumbing to the 'infection'- and is able to uncover the plot.[13] The Brood Queen is extracted from Rogue with the aid of Carol Danvers, who forces the Brood Queen to flee by threatening to kill Rogue.[14]
At some point in the dawn of civilization during the year 2610 BC, a spaceship filled with Brood crash landed in Egypt, marking the end of the second great dynasty.Imhotep and a group of soldiers, among themEn Sabah Nur, fended off the invasion, with Imhotep killing the Queen.[18]
The Brood return to Earth in theMs. Marvel series and battleCarol Danvers, who as Binary played a key role in their earlier defeat. Strangely enough, none of the Brood present recognize who she is, possibly because of her inability to fully access her cosmic powers, which also changed her physical appearance. The Brood are also stalked and summarily exterminated by the alien hunter called Cru, with whom Ms. Marvel also came into violent contact.[19]
During the invasion ofAnnihilus and hisAnnihilation Wave, the Brood were decimated, and the species is now on the brink of extinction.[20]
Some Brood appear in the arena ofSakaar in thePlanet Hulk storyline ofThe Incredible Hulk, one of them even becoming a main character. A Brood referred to as "No-Name", who becomes a genetic queen because their race is becoming rarer, becomes the lover of insect kingMiek and also appears inWorld War Hulk.[21] When it is discovered that Miek was the one who let the Hulk's shuttle explode, No-Name and Hulk attack Miek.[22] Near the end of the War the "Earth Hive", the shared consciousness of every insect on Earth, useHumbug as aTrojan Horse to deal a crippling blow to No-Name, rendering her infertile and poisoning the last generation of hivelings, growing in Humbug's body. No-Name is a rarity among the Brood, as she learned to feel compassion for other living beings.[23]
The decimation of the Brood causes the interstellar ecosystem to destabilize, since the Brood, dangerous as they are, served as predators for even worse species. These remaining species are now breeding out of control and present a greater threat than the Brood ever did. With no other choice, the X-Men act to prevent the Brood's extinction. According toBishop, there would be a race of benevolent Brood in the future, prompting the X-Men to willingly serve as Brood hosts, so that they could instill them with the same compassion felt by No-Name. After being connected with the hive-mind, the X-Men learned of a nearby Brood who was born with the ability to feel compassion, making him the Brood equivalent of a mutant. While such Brood are typically destroyed upon hatching by their kind, this one is permitted to live due to the Brood's dwindling numbers.[24] After rescuing the Brood mutant, the X-Men have their Brood embryos removed to be raised aboard the Peak, with the Brood mutant acting as their mentor.[25]
The 2012 X-Men subseriesWolverine and the X-Men featured a Broodling as a student at Wolverine's Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Nicknamed "Broo" byOya, the Broodling is a mutant who possesses heightened intelligence and is non-violent. In a possible future timeline seen byDeathlok, Broo joins the X-Men.[26]
During theInfinity storyline, a Brood Queen appears as a member of the Galactic Council, representing the Brood race.[9] The Queen makes a deal withJ'son, the former emperor of the Spartoi empire, to have J'son surrender his home planet of Spartax to the Brood in exchange for acquiring one planet for every ten worlds they conquered.[4]
Dario Agger and theRoxxon Energy Corporation send a group of Brood-infected wolves to track downWeapon H. When Weapon H kills the attackers, Agger sends a group of Brood-infected drones, Space Sharks, and a Brood-infected human riding an Acanti to attack him. After the Brood Drones and Brood-Space Sharks are killed and the Acanti is knocked out, Weapon H tells the Brood-infected human to carry a message to Roxxon to leave him alone.[27]
The following characters are either Brood or were turned into Brood:
In theAge of Apocalypse timeline, without the X-Men to aid them, part of the Shi'ar Imperium was consumed by the Brood, who infected its populace with Brood implants, including the still-captiveChristopher Summers. Escaping to Earth, Summers fought to control his Brood implant, but was captured byMister Sinister. Sinister turned him over to theDark Beast, who then proceeded to experiment on him for years. Summers eventually escaped, and began infecting other humans (Including the AoA version ofJoseph "Robbie" Robertson, as well as friends ofMisty Knight andColleen Wing). Ultimately, Corsair transformed into a Brood Queen and attempted to kill Alex but was killed by his son Cyclops. The Summers brothers cremated their father and indirectly deprived Sinister of the chance to carry out further tests on Brood DNA.[48]
InAmalgam Comics, the Brood is combined withBrother Blood to form Brother Brood, and with the Cult of Blood to form the Cult of Brood. The Brood appear alongside Brother Brood, but are presented as supernatural rather than extraterrestrial.[49]
According to the time-traveling X-ManBishop there are benign factions of Brood in the future. It is speculated that these "good" Brood are originated from Hannah Connover.[17]
InJLA/Avengers, the Brood have a brief cameo scene, where they are seen attackingMongul and apparently invadingWarworld as the two universes begin to come together.[50]
InWildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Silver Age, alien hybrids of the Brood and Daemonites are created byMister Sinister.[51]
In theUltimate Marvel universe, the Brood appeared as aDanger Room training exercise during theTempest arc ofUltimate X-Men. The Brood are later revealed to be creatures native to the mindscape, where theShadow King dwells.[52]
InX-Men: The End, taking place in a possible future, the Brood hatch a plan withLilandra (possessed byCassandra Nova). Nova plans to solidify her rule overShi'ar space by smuggling an other-dimensional pure-Brood queen from an alternate universe. This realm is one where the X-Men failed to ever fight the Brood, they are described as 'pure'. This Brood Queen is implanted in Lilandra's sister, Deathbird.[53][54][55]
During the attack of insanity brought by Psiclone, the androgynous harlot Cash imagined the Brood between the races of extraterrestrials who swarmed the streets of Transverse City.[56]
In the comic book series ofX-Men '92, which is set in the X-Men animated series' universe, a cadre of Mutant Brood called X-Brood (composed of Hardside, Fastskin, Phader, Sharpwing and Openmind) were tracked down by the Shi'ar, until they were saved by the X-Men.[57]
InEarth X, while telling to Isaac Christians of theDire Wraiths exiled by theSpaceknights inLimbo,Kyle Richmond mentions the Brood, when wondering why the invasion attempts were always done by shapeshifting races as the Skrulls, theImpossible Men or the Brood.[58]
InMarvel Zombies: Resurrection, the infection that has transformed most of Earth's heroes into zombie-like beings is revealed to be the result of a Brood infestingGalactus, which allowed the Brood to achieve a new state of being and expand their resources even further.[59]
In the 2021 "Heroes Reborn" comic, the Brood were responsible for infecting the Imperial Guard who were allied withHyperion.[60]