| Xavin | |
|---|---|
 Xavin, displaying their abilities. Art byJo Chen. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Runaways (vol. 2) #7 (August 2005)[1] |
| Created by | Brian K. Vaughan Adrian Alphona |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Xavin |
| Species | Skrull |
| Place of origin | Tarnax VII |
| Team affiliations | Runaways |
| Notable aliases | Prince Xavin General Xavin |
| Abilities |
|
Xavin is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character is commonly depicted in association with theRunaways. Xavin isgender-fluid (made more prominent due to their shape-shifting abilities) with seemingly no preference in which pronouns are used for them ("they/them" pronouns are used throughout the article for clarity's sake). They were created by authorBrian K. Vaughan and artistAdrian Alphona, and debuted inRunaways (vol. 2) #7.[1] In the publications, Xavin is aSuper-Skrull in training. Although Alphona was the series' artist at the time, artistTakeshi Miyazawa first drew the character on print. When Xavin first appeared to the Runaways, they took on the form of a black male, but changed into a black female just for the sake ofKarolina Dean, a lesbian whom they were to marry.[2] Xavin is often seen as a male, simply to be "intimidating".[3] Xavin, often called "Xav" for short, is known for their obtuse and warlike personality.[4][5] They had originally found it hard to fit in with the Runaways due in part to Xavin's constant gender switching and unfamiliarity with Earth values and norms though through proving their loyalty to the group found acceptance.[6] Xavin is the child of the Skrull Prince De'zean.[2]
Xavin was portrayed by Clarissa Thibeaux in the second and third seasons of theHulu television seriesRunaways, which is set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe.
Xavin first appeared inRunaways (vol. 2) #7 (August 2005), and was created byBrian K. Vaughan andAdrian Alphona. They are introduced as aSkrull prince, the child of De'zean of the Skrull Royal Family on the planet Tarnax VI, and they are meant to marryKarolina to bring peace to their two warring alien species.[7]
As a member of the Runaways, they appeared in the comic bookSecret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers, which involves both the Runaways andYoung Avengers teams.[8]
In the short lived third volume of theRunaways, they were forced to leave the team and was last seen being taken from Earth in Majesdanian custody.[7]
When Xavin journeys to Earth to findKarolina Dean, they reveal to Karolina that their parents had one more large secret.The Deans had been exiled from their planet Majesdane for criminal activities. They traveled to Earth where they encountered Xavin's father, Prince De'zean of the Skrulls, who was going to rule the planet.[2] The Deans had stopped the destruction but gave the Skrulls the location of another, more valuable planet: Majesdane.[2] To prove they weren't lying, they gave Prince De'zean's child their child's hand in marriage.[2] The Deans had believed that Xavin would die in the new Skrull/Majesdanian war. Xavin later arrived on Earth to marry her and hopefully stop the fifteen-year war between their races.[2] Xavin encountered Karolina shortly after her romantic advances were rejected byNico Minoru.[1] Xavin tried to convince Karolina to be their bride. He fought and pursued her, in the form of a human male.[2] Karolina revealed that she is not attracted to men and doesn't want to live a lie. But Xavin altered their form to that of a human woman and persuaded her to leave Earth with the new female version of Xavin.[2]
During the wedding ceremony, a fight breaks out between the two races, and Xavin and Karolina barely escape before Majesdane is destroyed.[9] They return to Earth, where they help rescueMolly Hayes from the NewPride.[9] Xavin impersonates Nico and takes a bullet for her, distractingGeoffrey Wilder long enough for Nico to untie Molly and escape.[10] Xavin survives the attack by shape-shifting their organs out of the way.[10]
When the Runaways return from a trip to the past, Xavin learns they are in the most heated phase of the Skrull Invasion.[5] Instead of fighting, they knock out their teammates and attempt a peaceful settlement of the war, reasoning that the Skrulls are "religious extremists".[5] Their attempts at peace fail, and they're informed that the Runaways are targeted for execution.[5] They urge Nico to take the rest of the team and hide, and in a last-ditch effort to halt the invasion, they flee to search forHulkling, former Skrull King and enemy of the religious extremist Skrulls' Queen,Veranke.[11] They find Hulkling injured, targeted for assassination by Veranke herself.[11] By siding with Hulkling, they are branded as a traitor too.[11]
Weeks later, Xavin better adjusted, refraining from insulting Victor and becoming closer to Molly (the only teammate other than Karolina to always refer to Xavin as female). However, Xavin is still more-or-less an outcast to the other members. Like the other Runaways, Xavin is an orphan (they told the group when they first appeared that their parents were dead because of the aliens' war). They also call themselves runaway when they reveal their identity to Geoffrey Wilder.[10] Xavin joins the group but has trouble adjusting to their new surroundings and getting along with their new teammates, particularly Victor, whom they often offend with condescending remarks about robots. Although they are aggressive and headstrong, Xavin is motivated to protect their new home of their love for Karolina.[12] Xavin usually reverts to the male Skrull form when in battle, insisting that it adds to a more intimidating persona, despite Karolina thinking that it is sexist, yet still spends some time in the male human form as well.[3] However, during their trip to 1907, it was revealed that when they lose control or are under emotional pressure, the female form was the one to which they would revert, something that made Karolina very happy.[4]
InRunaways' "Dead Wrong" story arc, a group of surviving Majesdanians arrives to arrest Karolina.[13] After they repeatedly attack the Runaways, Xavin realizes that the aliens won't stop until they get Karolina. Karolina apparently leaves the group with the Majesdanians, but the Runaways, except Nico, are later shocked to findthe real Karolina knocked out. Xavin shapeshifted into Karolina's form and took her place to take all the punishment for their species' war. Kissing Karolina, Xavin whispers their love and departs the group.[14] Their fate is unknown.
Xavin, being aSkrull, has theSkrull's natural ability toshapeshift.[2] Xavin was aSuper-Skrull in training, meaning they can manifest the powers of theFantastic Four:Mr. Fantastic's ability to stretch and contort his body into any shape imaginable,Invisible Woman's power to render herself invisible, and the ability to create force fields,the Human Torch's fire-control and flight andthe Thing's superhuman strength and resistant rock-like hide.[5] The Super-Skrull Kl'rt is one of Xavin's idols.[15] As stated by Xavin, they are still a Super Skrull in training, so they can only use their Fantastic Four abilities one at a time; at one point, when Xavin was bombarded with high-frequency sounds, they lost control of their powers and burnt up theGriffith Observatory.[12] Finally, in (vol. 3) #2, they used all their powers at once in anger.[13]
Xavin is known for their warlike, rash attitude,[16] something that irritates the other Runaways,[5] particularly Victor, towards whom they had a strong animosity towards because being an android, Victor would have been hardwired to cook and clean on their planet.[2] Although Xavin often demonstrates strong, general-type behavior, there are periods when they accidentally show they barely have any more experience than the other Runaways; for example, they once stretched themselves from one building to another just to get to the other side instead of simply creating a force-field bridge, only realizing the alternative after it was pointed out to them by Molly.[3][17]
In 2008, Xavin was named the fourth (out of ten) bestSkrull characters in an article published on Marvel's official website.[18]
Due to Xavin often changing through their three main forms, (human female, human male, and true Skrull form) both characters within the series and fans[19] question the nature of their gender. As a Skrull, a race of shapeshifters, Xavin stated "for us, just changing our gender is no different than changing our hair color",[2] implying that Skrulls have fluid gender identities. When asked by Molly about why they don't stay in female form all the time, Xavin replied that it was simply their nature to do so and doesn't see a problem in it,[20] though it causes Xavin to start questioning their own nature. Although Karolina does truly love Xavin, even so much as to deny Xavin disguised as Nico due to loyalty,[21] she does become depressed when Nico questions Xavin's true gender. InCivil War: Young Avengers/Runaways, Xavin is mostly male, but female briefly.[15] In (vol. 3) #1, Xavin is only male, but in (vol. 3) #2, Xavin is only female.[13][22] Karolina is fixed on the idea that Xavin is female, and that Xavin isn't pretending to be a woman, just learning to be human.[3] During an argument with Karolina, Xavin loses control and changes form into their female form, and Karolina takes that to mean Xavin's true form is a female.[4] However, on his blog, the artistHumberto Ramos notes that he was instructed to draw Xavin taking different genders depending on the situation, even when not plot-necessary.[23]
Due to their war-like, yet rash attitude,[16] Xavin often irritates the other Runaways.[5] They often believed that Victor was supposed to be hardwired to know everything, due to Victor being acyborg. In their first appearance, they called Victor a "toy".[2] Xavin met Karolina after Karolina suffered rejection from Nico, her crush, for some time.[1] When Xavin expressed no concern about changing physical appearance from male to female to please her, Karolina began a relationship. Xavin once took the form of Nico to please Karolina, but Karolina rejected them as Nico because they had earned her loyalty and reassured Xavin that she loved them as they are.[21] At times, they still suspect Karolina has lingering feelings for Nico.[24] Later on, during an argument, Xavin subconsciously reverted to their female human form, which both surprised and pleased Karolina, who had earlier expressed some lingering doubts about Xavin's true gender.[24]
Besides Victor, Xavin strongly infuriates Nico and often questions Nico's leadership decisions.[16] Xavin grew to respect Nico's leadership, telling her how much they've learned from her.[25][14]
Xavin appears in the second season ofRunaways portrayed by Clarissa Thibeaux, with other actors and actresses occasionally portraying them.[26] This version is a Xartan, a being with the ability to shapeshift, presenting as numerous people before adopting a female body.[27][28] They are first named in "Last Rites" as one of the aliens on Jonah's ship, before it is blown up by Pride.[29] They begin telepathically conversing with Karolina before adopting the appearance of a charitable stranger and briefly interacting with her while shopping.[27] Xavin fully reveals themselves to Karolina at the end of "Earth Angel" as her betrothed.[30] They tell Karolina they stowed away on a ship that carried Karolina's biological father, "Jonah", and his family of exiled Gibborim royal magistrates for the purpose of fulfilling an uncertain prophecy that she believes they are a part of that will unite two worlds and bring peace to the universe. Xavin stays at the hostel where she speaks withLeslie Dean and reveals to her that she is pregnant with Jonah's heir and that he and his family have inhabited other bodies, later revealed to beStacey Yorkes,Tina Minoru,Victor Stein, and one unknown party (Alex Wilder). They try rescuing Karolina from Victor/Jonah, but they are overpowered. They regroup at the hostel with Leslie, Alex, Molly, and Nico to plan out how they will rescue their friends from Jonah.[28] She makes her last appearance in the third season, episode "Rite of Thunder", where Leslie gives birth to a baby named Elle Dean, and Xavin takes her in and raises her as her own and goes off into space.[31]