| Shatterstar | |
|---|---|
 Shatterstar. Art by Marco Santucci. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The New Mutants #99 (March 1991) |
| Created by | Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Gaveedra-Seven |
| Species | Genetically-engineered humanoidmutant |
| Team affiliations |
|
| Notable aliases | Benjamin Russell |
| Abilities |
|
Shatterstar (Gaveedra-Seven;Earth name:Benjamin Russell) is amutantsuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writerFabian Nicieza and artistRob Liefeld, the character first appeared inThe New Mutants #99 (March 1991),[1] after which he became a member of the superhero teamX-Force. He later became an employee ofX-Factor Investigations, aprivate detective firm starring in the seriesX-Factor. In 2013,ComicsAlliance ranked Shatterstar as #29 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics".[2]
Shatterstar is an unusual character among Marvel's mutant superheroes inX-Men books in that, although a human mutant, he was raised in an alternate dimension known asMojoworld with no knowledge of his origins. When he arrives on Earth he has little understanding of Earth relationships, customs, and culture. At the time of his introduction, he largely conformed to1990s comics trends: an emotionally closed off, brutal, macho warrior. Subsequent writers, such asJeph Loeb, later attempted to show the character's adjustment to human norms and his development of close friendships on Earth, and in particular with his teammateRictor. An early mystery about the character concerned his similarities to the mutant heroLongshot, which was later resolved in a 2010s storyline that explained Shatterstar is the son of Longshot andDazzler, sent a century back in time by his future self.Paradoxically, his DNA was then used to create Longshot.
Since 2007, the character has been portrayed as an outgoingpansexual superhero in an on-off relationship with his superhero colleagueRictor. His creators Nicieza and Liefeld criticized the development, having previously depicted the character asasexual since he was created in 1991.[3][4][5]X-Factor writerPeter David introduced the romantic pairing with Rictor, building off offan desire to see the characters together in agayrelationship. The character has since been prominently featured by Marvel as an example ofLGBTQIA representation, portrayed by writers as a "swashbuckling, enthusiastic" figure, in contrast to his earlier stern and taciturn appearances.
Shatterstar, also known asRusty, appears inDeadpool 2 (2018) and theMarvel Cinematic Universe filmDeadpool & Wolverine (2024), portrayed byLewis Tan.
Liefeld spoke on the character's creation: "I went into my files and found the original source of my inspiration for SHATTERSTAR.Carl Pott's original sketch for Longshot had the white costume and the Eye Tattoo -Art Adams played with a version of this himself back in 1984. Knowing that Shatterstar was from Longshot’s reality, I fashioned this first look after the original un-used design, albeit with longer hair. This is why you listen to the experts, not wannabe revisionists."[6]
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Shatterstar first appeared inThe New Mutants #99 (March 1991), and was created byFabian Nicieza andRob Liefeld. He also appeared on a pin-up bonus cover inThe New Mutants Annual #6 (July 1990) as part of a 'Vision to Come', predating his appearance inThe New Mutants #99.
Since his debut Shatterstar has mainly appeared in the originalX-Force title, with some issues devoted solely to him. In 2005, the character was featured in his own limited series,X-Force: Shatterstar. Shatterstar became a member of X-Factor inX-Factor #45 (August 2009).
Shatterstar also starred in a self-titled five-issue miniseries in 2018.[citation needed]
Shatterstar is an artificial human fromMojo's planet Mojoworld a century in the future who wasgenetically engineered to serve as a gladiator. Eventually, he escaped and joined the Cadre Alliance, therebel group that sought to overthrow Mojo'sdictatorship. From there, he learned the Cadre's language and began taking part in missions.
On one of these missions, Arize sent him back in time to Earth to find theX-Men and get their assistance in defeating and overthrowing Mojo. He did not find the X-Men though. Shatterstar was eitherteleported or traveled back in time to Earth at the point just beforeCable reorganized theNew Mutants into X-Force. At first, he battled Cable,Domino, and the New Mutants, but after they talked with him the mutants aided him against the Imperial Protectorate. With Cable's assurance that they would help him defeat Mojo (though with the use of time travel it was not urgent that they leave anytime soon) Shatterstar became a founding member of the new team, X-Force.[7]
Later Shatterstar discovers, to his bewilderment, that he possesses the memories of the human Benjamin Russell.[8] Soon afterwards, Mojo imprisons Cable and Shatterstar and transforms them into digital images for one of his television programs. In the course of the show, Shatterstar is mortally wounded in combat.Spiral teleports Cable and Shatterstar back into reality, where they regain their true forms. Spiral brings Cable, Shatterstar,Longshot, andSiryn to the Weisman Institute for the Criminally Insane in Rutland,Vermont. There, Spiral directs them to the bedside of one of its patients, a mutant named Benjamin Russell who has been in acoma since his powers had emerged and appears identical to Shatterstar. Longshot transfers Shatterstar's soul into Russell's body, causing it to take on his appearance. Restored to peak health and full consciousness and feeling "whole" for the first time in his life, Shatterstar resumes his work as a member of X-Force.[9]
Dazzler revealed that she was pregnant with Longshot's child and Longshot suggested the name "Shatterstar" for the unborn child.[10] Longshot and Dazzler returned to Mojoworld to free Longshot's people and Dazzler later appeared without Longshot and without a child. It was speculated that Dazzlermiscarried,[11] though it was not established until a 2013 comic byPeter David what became of the infant; the child's future self, Shatterstar, wiped his parents' memories of his birth and arranged for him to be transported to the future.[12]
Shatterstar is later seen inMadripoor, earning his money by fighting in arenas. He was sought out by Spiral, who had one of her agents make Shatterstar believe she wanted to kill him.[13] However, Spiral had previously admitted in an emotional confession to Cable, when he demanded that she reveal all that she knew about the answers behind the mysteries of Shatterstar's origin immediately after Shatterstar and Benjamin Russell had been merged, that both young men "meant more than life itself to her" before teleporting away. With a fake quest, Spiral lured Shatterstar to an alternate universe she had conquered and ruled. On that Earth, Spiral had also killed most of that world's heroes and mutants. That Earth's Shatterstar had been killed as well. He was found by that Earth's rebel forces, including Cable and some other members he knew from X-Force. Together, they eventually defeated Spiral. Upon returning to the mainstream Earth, Shatterstar was contacted by Cable and requested to temporarily join him on a mission to defeat theSkornn.[14] Shatterstar agreed, but first Cable wanted him to train with the monks on Mount Xixabangma. After those monks were killed by Skornn's worshipers, Shatterstar was reunited with his old team and they eventually killed the Skornn.[volume & issue needed]
FollowingM-Day and the passing of theSuperhuman Registration Act, Shatterstar teamed up with Domino andCaliban to breakThe 198 out of the encampment set up for mutants on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. They took the escapees to a secret base provided to them byCaptain America viaNick Fury. While fighting forces of theOffice of National Emergency, Shatterstar nearly killsMicromax, claiming that while there is no such thing as murder during war, he had only meant to disable him.[15]
In a 2009X-Factor story, Shatterstar, whose mind is being controlled by the villain Cortex, attacksStrong Guy andRictor.[16] Shatterstar is broken out of his trance-like state when Cortex's control over him is interrupted. Upon recognizing Rictor, he kisses him passionately.[17] Journeying to Detroit, Cortex confronts Longshot and the two fight. As Cortex attempts to gain control over Longshot, he is startled that Longshot, like Shatterstar, is extradimensional (limiting his degree of control) and that the two men are somehow related.[18]
Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship experiences conflict because Shatterstar—who now feels romantic and sexual potential within him for the first time—wishes to explore this whole new aspect of his life, desiring anopen relationship. Rictor, more fully committed to maintaining theirs as a monogamous relationship, feels hurt by Shatterstar's need for sexual exploration. Things are complicated further whenWolfsbane walks in on them during an intimate moment, which leads to a brief fight between Shatterstar and Wolfsbane.[19] Rictor stays to take care of a pregnant Wolfsbane, who attempts to mislead him into thinking the baby is his, while Shatterstar goes off on a mission for X-Factor. On mission, he encounters the child's real father,Hrimhari, which he is able to report back to Rictor.[20]
During the "Hell on Earth War" storyline, Shatterstar and Rictor are blasted by the God of Hell,Mephisto, and appear to die, but are in fact sent into Mojoworld's relative past—to the era of Shatterstar's arrival in Mojoworld, as shown in the final X-Factor story arc, "The End of X-Factor". Rictor and the audience learn that Shatterstar is the only Mojoworld rebel who was not created by Arize the Creator, as he mysteriously appeared from the sky one day. Arize then used Shatterstar's genetic material to create Longshot, making Shatterstar Longshot's genetic father. Mojo later attacks Arize's sanctuary, leading Shatterstar to time-teleport him and Rictor. They arrive later in Mojoworld's history, when Dazzler and Longshot are married and fighting a war against Mojo. Dazzler goes into labor, and gives birth to a young Shatterstar, who Shatterstar explains to Rictor he will deliver to the future of Mojoworld to be raised by the people that raised him, but not before he erases Dazzler and Longshot's memories of their having a child.[12]
During "Secret Empire", it is revealed that Shatterstar and Rictor returned to the present. He is part of the New Tian residents, along with Rictor and many other mutants.[21] After New Tian is dismantled, Rictor tellsIceman that he and Shatterstar are now on a break.[22]
Feeling unsure about himself and his relationship with Rictor, Shatterstar ended things between them.[23] Newly single, Shatterstar bought a property using the earnings he had made and named it Manor Crossing. He offered the rooms to multi-dimensional refugees like himself and served as both landlord and protector to his tenants. When Shatterstar's tenants were kidnapped by the Mojoworld mercenary group the Death Sponsors and their leader, former ally Gringrave, Shatterstar vowed to bring them home.[24]
With help from Rictor, Shatterstar followed the group to the world of Horus IV, which was ruled by theGrandmaster. Grandmaster tasked Gringrave with the kidnapping, hoping to use a gladiatorial battle between the enemies to satisfy the Horuvians' lust for bloody conflict.[23]
After Shatterstar killed Gringrave in revenge for her actions,[25] Grandmaster himself entered the arena, seeking to gain control of Shatterstar for all eternity. But Shatterstar refused to concede and defeated Grandmaster by teleporting them to Earth-1218, a world where super-powered beings do not exist and Grandmaster's god powers could not work. Shatterstar was then rescued by Rictor, who reached out across the universe to find him and bring him home.[26]
Shatterstar was shocked when his former mentor Cable was slain while attempting to protect the time-displaced Iceman. When it was revealed that a younger version of Cable was responsible, Shatterstar partnered with his former X-Force teammates to hunt down Kid Cable and have him answer for his crime. During the search, Shatterstar was turned into one ofAhab's mutant-hunting hounds and attempted to kill the time-displaced Jean Grey. Shatterstar was subdued by Cannonball and freed of Ahab's influence.[27]
Shatterstar was of the many mutants who joined the mutant nation ofKrakoa upon its creation. He was seen alongside many other Krakoans grievingCharles Xavier's death at the hands of anti-mutant super-human criminals that had infiltrated Krakoa and killed many of its residents, including Xavier.[28]
At some point, Shatterstar returned to Mojoworld, becoming the dimension's most subscribed and top-ranked live-streamer. However, Shatterstar began to feel trapped by the celebrity status he had created for himself. When fellow live-streamerWind Dancer arranged for her own death to satisfy her fans, Shatterstar secretly informed the Krakoan X-Factor team of her death so they could claim Wind Dancer's body before Arize could produce a clone and force her to resume her stream. X-Factor was successful in their mission, but were forced to leave Shatterstar behind. They promised to return and rescue him.[29] The team eventually made good on this promise coming back alongside the New Mutants and arranging the freedom of all mutants there. After this they recruited Shatterstar to defeat The Morrigan, freeing Siryn from her control.[30]
Shatterstar is rewarded with memories of his past, which lead to him seeking Rictor out during theHellfire Gala, after which they sit on the coastline of the newly created Braddock Isle and catch up with one another.[31][32] The two seemingly get back together after this and investigate a brewing war betweenMerlyn andKing Arthur against mutantkind.[33]
After Merlyn overthrowsSaturnyne, takes control of Otherworld, and chases out most of its mutant population,[34] Excalibur decides to haveMordred resurrected on Krakoa using Otherworldly water in place of the standard genetic material because he was prophesied to defeat King Arthur. The Otherworldly magic involved creates an atypical resurrection, as Mordred immediately disappears and is transported to Otherworld. Rictor and Shatterstar are among the eight mutantsRoma brings back to Otherworld. Mordred presents himself to the team and asks for asylum. Roma Regina gives all those present a magical vision, declaring them the Knights of X and sending them to find theSiege Perilous.[35]
Shatterstar's first mission with this new team is to Blightspoke, a poisoned land where the remnants of collapsed realities are buried. The team discovers Blightspoke's only resident, Gia Whitechapel, and her crew imprisoned in a factory that produces Brightswill, a power-dampening substance. The team destroy the factory with Gia's help, then head toward Savalith, an ancient civilization founded by vampire-like beings.[36] After regrouping to saveMad Jim Jaspers,Gambit sacrifices himself to give the team access to Mercator, an Otherworld domain created byMister M using the Siege Perilous. There they sank into the quicksand and are psychologically tested by the land untilRachel Summers frees them.[37][38]
Shatterstar possesses an overall superhuman level of physical and mental attributes (senses, strength, speed, reflexes, agility, flexibility, stamina, and intelligence), as a result of the extra-dimensional genetic engineering that created him. Shatterstar's strength allows him to wield a heavy barbell as easy as abō (staff) and slam theThing of theFantastic Four through a window of theBaxter Building.[39] Shatterstar's speed and agility are enhanced to the point that members of theMutant Response Division expect him to be capable of dodging point-blank automatic weapons firing from at least three trained agents.[40]
He is an excellent military strategist and has had extensive training in many forms ofmartial arts and interpersonal combat of Mojoworld; in particular, he is a master swordsman. His bones are hollow, making him far lighter than he looks and further increasing his athletic and acrobatic skills. He also has enhanced learning capabilities, being able to quickly learn and master languages and technology. He customarily wields two single-edged swords with spiked hand-guards and on occasion carries other weaponry as well. Shatterstar is able to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue much faster than an ordinary human. Injuries such as slashes and stabbings heal completely within a matter of hours. Additionally, he possesses the ability to shift his internal organs within his body, lessening the chances of serious wounds that get through his body armor.
He also has the mutant ability to control frequencies of electricity, which he can use to generatebioelectric vibratory shockwaves,[41] and can even channel bioelectric charges through his metallic blade weaponry; he rarely uses this power as it tends to exhaust him, but once used it as a surprise attack/secret technique to apparently kill Reaper.[42]
After Shatterstar returned from theMojoverse, he demonstrated the ability to open an X-shaped portal capable ofteleporting individuals to their desired locations. This ability requires another individual to serve as the "focus", picturing the destination.[43] Creating such portals generates enough energy that it must be done outside, otherwise risking significant damage to any structure within which they are built. Shatterstar also requires a minimum of three to four hours to recharge between portal creation and since it requires his own energies. This ability is not actually artificial but merely another aspect of his ability to channel his energies through his swords.[44] Should his concentration be interrupted while an individual or object is partway through, those parts will be severed, ending up in the separate locations, the destination and the starting point of the portal.[45] TheShatterstar miniseries clarifies that his bioelectric powers are only the means to his teleportation capabilities and teleportation is actually his primary mutation. It was shown that he is able to use his hands to open portals, and does not need either his swords nor an actual other person as anchor if he wants to open a portal to where he already has been, and he is able to traverse dimensions as well as interstellar distances.
Although Shatterstar was revealed to have a designated "genetic bond mate", Windsong (whom he never met and is now deceased), in the Mojoverse,[48] he later claimed that even though he was fully capable physically, he had never felt any romantic love—indicating a form ofasexuality—and has long felt "lacking", even in his native dimension.[49]
This has since been retconned to be a lie on Shatterstar's part, as it is revealed in his revised origin in his 2018 mini-series that he already had a sexual/romantic relationship with his gladiatorial mentor/partner Gringrave,[23] which ended when she betrayed him by tricking him into becoming a murderer, causing him to rebel against Mojo V.[25]
Since then his emotional state has been fluctuating. While in X-Force, he displayed emotion, having developed a close—and somewhat ambiguous—friendship withRictor.[8][50][51][52][53]X-Force writerJeph Loeb hinted that Shatterstar had romantic feelings for Rictor and was planning on making the two a couple, but he left the title before he could make this happen.[54]
WriterPeter David reflects that being the subject of "prolonged exposure to Earth" and around Rictor changed things for the warrior, and he began to develop a real romantic capacity.[55] InX-Factor (vol. 3) #45 (August 2009), Shatterstar and Rictor kiss.[17] Shortly after the issue was published, David confirmed Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship on his blog and expressed his desire to explore it further.[56]
Shatterstar's co-creator,Rob Liefeld expressed disapproval with Shatterstar not beingasexual, saying that Shatterstar was meant to be "asexual, and struggling to understand human behavior."[3]Fabian Nicieza stated, "In my final issue, I pretty clearly stated that Shatterstar hadno real understanding of sexuality – homo or hetero – and needed to learn about general human nature before he could define his own sexual identity."[4] He added that "I had planned to make Shatterstar think he was in love with Rictor, but only because he simply didn't know any better about what lovewas. He would have figured, this is my best friend, I care about him, he cares about me, we spend time together, fight together, laugh together – I guess I must be in love with him."[4] Marvel editor-in-chiefJoe Quesada defended the development, and stated that if Liefeld wanted it changed, he would have to "take it up with the next editor-in-chief".[5] Peter David also defended the storyline, citing the work of other writers after Liefeld's tenure on the character, who hinted at the attraction between the two characters.[57] David explained in an interview that he took inspiration fromTorchwood characterJack Harkness, whom David describes as "swashbuckling, enthusiastic and sexually curious about anything with a pulse."[58] As such, David'sX-Factor sees Shatterstar want to have a sexuallyopen relationship on account of having been (as in Liefeld's stories) sexually and romantically closed off to the world all his life.[59] In theletter column to issue 232, a fan criticized David for conflating bisexuality withpolyamory, to which David responded that Shatterstar is both bisexual and polyamorous.[60]
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| Government Team | |
| X-Factor Investigations | |
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