NEW X-MEN

'''New X-Men''' refers to two superhero comic books published by Marvel Comics within the hugely popular X-Men franchise. The first was New X-Men, a title that was in use during Grant Morrison's tenure on X-Men, a series which transitioned into the Joss Whedon / John Cassaday launch of Astonishing X-Men. This article concentrates on the second series ''New X-Men'', originally titled ''New X-Men: Academy X'' and a continuation of New Mutants.
''New X-Men'' (also ''New X-Men: Academy X''), relaunched from ''New Mutants'' volume 2, was launched during the X-Men ReLoad event. It resumes directly where the most recent ''New Mutants'' series ended, with the same writers, artists and cast of characters. The ''Academy X'' subtitle was dropped from the title when the new creative team of Craig Kyle and Chris Yost took over the series with Issue #20.
Whereas the other X-Men comics mostly deal with established adult mutants, this comic concentrates on the lives of young students residing at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as they learn to control their powers and, as of late, to survive the backlash against mutants that befell them as part of House of M.
=Founding=
''New Mutants/New X-Men'' began where Grant Morrison's run on ''New X-Men'' ended. The school was rebuilt and Emma Frost and Cyclops were named the headmasters of the school. They organized the students fifteen-years-old and older into several squads who trained together.
Featured are two teams, the 'New Mutants', whose members tend to be more clean-cut, and the 'Hellions', whose members are generally more belligerent. The rivalry—not only academically, but certainly also in private matters—plays a significant role in the series.
The cast of this series are described in the following paragraphs.

Contents

Squads

New Mutants squad

Hellions squad

Other squads

Unknown

Depowered

New X-Men

Childhood's End

Crusades

Nimrod

Mercury Falling

Quest for Magik

World War Hulk

M-Day "survivors"

X-Men trainees

Squads

New Mutants squad

The New Mutants squad's tutor is 'Dani Moonstar'. It is co-led by Wind Dancer and Prodigy.

★ Wind Dancer, a.k.a. Sofia Mantega. A girl from Venezuela who controls winds and could hear others voices carried by the wind from far away. (Depowered)

★ Prodigy, a.k.a. David Alleyne, could absorb any non-superhuman talents from nearby people. (Depowered)

★ Icarus, a.k.a. Jay Guthrie, can fly, sing mesmerizingly and heal himself rapidly. (Deceased)

★ Wallflower, a.k.a. Laurie Collins, exudes pheromones which alter the feelings of other people. (Deceased)

★ Elixir, a.k.a. Josh Foley, is an Omega-class biological manipulator who ironically was a rabid mutant-hater before he found out he was one himself.

★ Surge, a.k.a. Noriko Ashida, is a Japanese-American girl who constantly absorbs static electricity and can discharge it as electric blasts or bursts of superhuman speed .

Hellions squad

The Hellions squad's tutor is 'Emma Frost'. It is led by Hellion.

★ Hellion, a.k.a. Julian Keller, is telekinetic.

★ Dust, a.k.a. Sooraya Qadir, is a shy girl from Afghanistan who can turn herself into a living whirlwind of dust. She regularly dresses in a niqab.

★ Mercury, a.k.a. Cessily Kincaid, a shapeshifter whose body is composed of non-toxic liquid mercury.

★ Rockslide, a.k.a. Santo Vaccaro, consists of solid rock and can shoot his appendages at targets.

★ Tag, a.k.a. Brian Cruz, could psionically "tag" a person so that bystanders are compelled to run away from the person. (Deceased)

★ Wither, a.k.a. Kevin Ford, can destroy organic matter on touch. He accidentally killed his father when his powers manifested. (Ran away)

Other squads

There are also other teams advised by different X-Men. For a complete list of students prior to Decimation see Xavier Institute student body.

★ 'Alpha Squadron', tutored by Karma (formerly by Northstar). Consists of:

★
★ Anole (leader),

★
★ Rubbermaid(Depowered/Deceased),

★
★ Indra,

★
★ Kidogo(Depowered),

★
★ Loa,

★
★ Network(Depowered/Deceased).

★ The 'Corsairs' advised by Cyclops consists of:

★
★ Stepford Cuckoos (co-leaders),

★
★ Specter (Depowered),

★
★ Dryad (Depowered/Deceased)

★
★ Quill.(Deceased)

★ The 'Paragons', tutored by Magma (formerly tutored by Wolfsbane), consists of :

★
★ Match (leader)

★
★ Trance

★
★ Wolf Cub

★
★ Pixie

★
★ D.J.(Depowered/Deceased)

★
★ Preview(Depowered).

★ Gambit's squad, introduced in ''X-Men'', consists of:

★
★ Bling!

★
★ Flubber(Depowered)

★
★ Onyxx

★
★ Rain Boy(Depowered)

★ Rogue's squad, shown in ''Uncanny X-Men'' was never named.

★ Storm's squad that was mentioned in ''New X-Men'' has one survivor, the student called Gentle.

★ The 'Excelsiors', Iceman's squad,the 'Exemplars', whose mentor is Beast,and the 'Acolytes' whose mentor is Colossus have only been mentioned, never having appeared.

Unknown

It is possible that Armor and Blindfold are part of the same squad due to their uniforms have matching colors in issue # 23.

Depowered

The status of many depowered students has not yet been made clear. At least 42 depowered students died in Stryker's attack). Specter, Wind Dancer, Beak, Angel Salvadore, Aero, and Preview are currently the only identified depowered students, who no longer reside at the Institute that are defintively still alive.

New X-Men

Childhood's End

Issues #20-23


As a result of the Decimation event, in which the Scarlet Witch's magicks de-powered most of the mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning still retain their powers, and the comic changed its name to simply New X-Men. In response to the increasingly desperate situation that mutants now faced, Emma Frost has disbanded all the former training squads (most of which had lost much of their membership to the Decimation) and integrated those students she deemed capable of combat, including new addition X-23, to a new team that is essentially a junior team of X-Men, while relegated the others to the sidelines and an unknown future, since Emma seems to have abandoned the general education program formerly in place at the school.

Crusades

Issues #24-27


Of the former New Mutants, Prodigy lost his powers; Wind Dancer left the school almost immediately, but Prodigy has been forced to stay to avoid wide-spread attacks worldwide against former mutants who are now seen as easy targets by mutant-haters. 42 of the other de-powered students were killed in an attack by the anti-mutant fanatic, Reverend William Stryker. Furthermore, Icarus was misled by Stryker into allowing his wings to be amputated, and was later killed by Stryker after serving his purpose in leading the former Hellion Dust to her apparent death (although the "vision" showed Dust disappearing as a threat, it was later revealed that the girl who had arrived in the burqa was actually X-23, Dust's roommate with a nearly undefeatable healing factor). A sniper working for Stryker was responsible for the shooting death of Wallflower. Elixir, who had a former romantic relationship with Wallflower and witnessed her death, and after killing Stryker using a more volatile and dangerous side to his powers was reduced to a near-catatonic state due to stress and overstrain over this event compounded with his inability to save any of his former classmates after Stryker's prior attack.

Nimrod

Issues #28-32


The New X-Men were able to defeat the Purifiers and Elixir killed Stryker, which caused his gold skin to turn black. Soon after they received a visit from Ms. Marvel who informed them that Jay was dead and that he had written the letters NIMR on the ground next to him. David deduced that it was Nimrod and was proven right when they received a distress call from Forge, who was forced to repair Nimrod for fear that Storm may be hurt. They then went off, with David in tow, to help Forge, only to be shot down by Nimrod and attacked by a horde of robots. Forge tricked Nimrod into downloading into a new prototype body he had built that has a firewall to keep Nimrod from harming mutants. Nimrod was sent to help the New X-Men defeat the robots, but was mistaken for a threat. When he was attacked, his prime directive took over and he imploded part of the building.
Hellion protected the team from harm, and they attempted to defend themselves from Nimrod, but the robot proved to be unbeatable. Rockslide was incinerated, but was later reassembled with a new look, and the others were unable to defeat Nimrod until David and Forge figured out away to stop him by overflowing his power core. X-23, Mercury, and Surge managed to send Nimrod back in time. X-23 was severely injured, forcing Hellion to ask Emma Frost to push his powers to their fullest so he could make it back to the mansion for help. This caused him to increase his flight speed to above Mach-5 and even allowed him to destroy a Sentinel. Hellion forced Elixir to snap out of his catatonia to heal X-23 and then collapsed to the floor.

Mercury Falling

Issues #33-36


Later it was revealed that Wither has been living in Mutant Town with a strange woman who was revealed to be Selene, the Black Queen, who seduced him into using his powers to kill. This was aided by his discovery of Wallflower's death. Back at the mansion, a memorial was held to honor all the X-Men and students who perished. David decided to stay at the mansion after Cyclops praised him and Surge on the defeat of Nimrod. Hellion was unable to control his powers after they were "unlocked" and even the smallest use caused major force. Elixir told Beast about his desire to study up on the human body to gain greater control over his abilities. Mercury discovered that Emma has been harassing X-23, which causes her to become angry and take Laura off the grounds to talk with her. X-23 reveals that she knows about Mercury's obsolete need for food, and Mercury figures out about Laura's interest in Hellion. They are stopped when an assassin named Kimura blows up the coffee house and attacks them. Mercury is taken hostage and experimented on and tortured by scientists who are trying to find away to use the living mercury of which she is made as skin for Predator X. Mammomax is killed by the creature. X-23 returns to the mansion where Hellion decides to help her track Mercury down. They attack several places trying to get information. Hellion disapproves of X's lethal tactics and orders her not to kill again. Finally they go to the Owl who, after some persuasion, gives them the location. Surge and Prodigy attempt to recruit Bling onto the team, but she turns them down saying it is too dangerous and that she and Onyxx are leaving the mansion because it is unsafe. Surge and the rest of the New X-Men, along with Emma Frost, use Cerebra to locate them, but as soon as they come within range of the facility, Emma loses contact. The experiments on Mercury are successful and a skin is made for Predator X just as X-23 and Hellion arrive.
X-23 and Hellion are attacked by three beasts sporting Mercury's skin, and cannot seem to beat them back. When all hope seems lost, Emma, the New X-Men, and some members of the Astonishing X-men appear and help to rescue the team. Mercury regains most of her lost essence, but reveals that she can "feel" one more creature still alive.
Meanwhile, Kimura attacks X-23, but Emma catches her in the act and mentally tortures her, removing her memories of her loving grandmother, before commanding her to take out the remaining members of the institute that tortured X-23. Kimura reluctantly agrees.

Quest for Magik

Issues #37(prelude),#38-41


While Blindfold was telling the story of Limbo, Belasco and Illyana Rasputin, the floor opened and they were transported into Limbo. Hellion and Surge were not taken because they were not inside with the others. Upon arrival Mercury, Dust, David, X-23, Elixir and other students are captured by Belasco and questioned on the whereabouts of Illyana Rasputin. Meanwhile another group of students including, Rockslide, Loa, Anole, Match, Pixie, Blindfold, Gentle, Wolf Cub and Trance are trying to figure out what has happened but they are attacked by a group of Belasco's monsters. One of them slices of Anole's arm and Rockslide seemingly explodes when he tries to defend Blindfold. Meanwhile, Belasco questions David who continuously says he doesn't know where she is and when he says that she's dead Belasco rips his heart out and he falls to the floor, while Illyana reveals her self to the other group of students.
After Belasco kills David, X-23 breaks free and attacks Belasco. Elixir also breaks free and runs towards David lifeless body and trys to heal him. Suddenly, David's heart begins to grow back and he come back to life but, exhausted, Elixir collapses. X-23 continues to attack Belasco but he defeats her and then apparently kills her. This encourages Mercury and Dust to break free and attack Belasco. Meanwhile, Illyana explains to the students that she can defeat Belasco but she's needs a Soulsword because she's lost hers. Back on Earth, Surge and Hellion are with the O
★ N
★ E who are trying to figure what's going on. An agent tells them that Amanda Sefton was admitted to a hospital in Germany and she's in a coma. Valerie Cooper explains that as far as the X-Men know she was the current ruler of Limbo. Hellion and Surge demand that they be the one to go get her and find out information. Back in limbo, Illyana tells her pet to get Pixie for her. The other students try to defend her but fail, she then gets to Pixie and asks her for her soul. Pixie tells her no but then Illyana tells her that Belasco is killing her friends and that she can feel them dying. Pixie accepts her deal then and Illyana begins to take her soul.
Issue 40 begins with Hellion and Surge reviving Sefton and demanding she take them to Limbo. Back in Limbo, Pixie is still getting her soul sucked out until Anole suddenly stops Illyana by regrowing a new gargantuan hand. A lava fueled Rockslide suddenly breaks through the ground and, proving invulnerable to her magic, commences a gigantic beatdown on the evil Magik. He is pulled out of his rage by Anole and remarks on how gross his new hand is. It also seems that Rockslide was able to (at least temporarily) beat the evil out of Magik who decides to help them beat Belasco. At the throne of Belasco, Mercury and Dust keep up their attack until a recovered Elixir uses his death touch on the demon. Belasco stays down for only a moment before reviving. Cut to Surge, Hellion, and Magik II preparing to break into Limbo. Hellion asks Surge if she's okay and still thinking David is dead she responds with, "ask me again once I've turned Belasco into a smoking black pile of ash." We then go back to Illyana and the New X-Men B-squad where she tells the group that Pixie, who now has a "soul dagger" because only part of her soul was taken, is the key to reaching Belasco and that she will teach her a teleportation spell to reach him. Belasco decides to demonstrate his power by bringing X-23 back to life then immediately killing her again. He says the same fate awaits the rest unless they tell him where Illyana is. Surge and her group, escorted by former mutant Lexington of the Sentinel Squad, finally break into Limbo and are greeted by thousands of little demons. The team battle Belasco and learn that he wants Illyana not for power, or revenge, but through love. He attempted to resurrect her from the House of M version he sensed, but she came back soulless and was banished, this is the Ilyana who greeted Rockslide, Anole and the others. Upon Belasco's defeat, Illyana attempts to steal the rest of Pixie's soul, but memories of her past self come back when Colossus speaks to her. She sends all of the amassed X-Men and students home, and takes the throne of Limbo as her own, with an agenda to get her soul back. Upon returning to the Institute, Anole and Pixie are made members of the New X-Men squad on recommendation of Rockslide.

World War Hulk

Surge, Hellion, Rockslide, Mercury, Dust, Elixir and X-23 are training with Beast when Hulk arrivies at the X-Mansion. They fight him and are all defeated.^[1] In #2 The Stepford Cuckoos, Prodigy, Pixie and other students are seen looking down on the X-Mansion watching the fight. When The Astonishing team are defeated, The Stepford Cuckoos send a telepathic call for help to the Uncanny team, X-Factor and Excalibur.

M-Day "survivors"

It has been stated that the mutant student body in the academy dropped from 182 to 27 (though that number has changed with the return of X-23, the departure of Whither, and the deaths of Icarus, Quill, and Wallflower; 24 students now remain at the school). The following are the students that have been confirmed to have retained their powers:

'New Mutants' (4) ★ Joshua "Jay" Guthrie (Icarus) [deceased] ★ Laurie Collins (Wallflower) [deceased] ★ Joshua "Josh" Foley (Elixir) ★ Noriko "Nori" Ashida (Surge) 'Hellions' (5) ★ Julian Keller (Hellion) ★ Sooraya Qadir (Dust) ★ Cessily Kincaid (Mercury) ★ Santo Vaccarro (Rockslide) ★ Kevin Ford (Wither) [with Selene] 'Corsairs' (4) ★ Celeste Cuckoo (The Three-In-One) ★ Mindee Cuckoo (The Three-In-One) ★ Phoebe Cuckoo (The Three-In-One) ★ Maxwell Jordan (Quill) [deceased] 'Alpha Squadron' (3) ★ Victor Borkowski (Anole) ★ Paras Gavaskar (Indra) ★ Alani Ryan (Loa)

'Paragons' (4) ★ Ben Hammil (Match) ★ Nicholas Gleason (Wolf Cub) ★ Megan Gwynn (Pixie) ★ Hope Abbott (Trance) 'Gambit's Squad' (2) ★ Roxanne "Roxy" Washington (Bling!) ★ Sidney Green (Onyxx) 'Storm's Squad' (1) ★ Nezhno Abidemi (Gentle) 'Other Students' (5) ★ Hisako Ichiki (Armor) ★ Ruth Aldine (Blindfold) ★ Ernst ★ Martha Johansson (No-Girl) ★ Laura Kinney (X-23)

'Note:' Although Quentin Quire is no longer a student at the Xavier Institute (as he has evolved to a higher state of being), he retained his powers and is being held in a containment unit at the school.
Most of the students listed above were confirmed in ''New X-Men'' #21 and in ''X-Men: The 198 Files''. Indra and Quill were confirmed in ''Decimation - The Day After'', while Bling was confirmed in ''X-Men vol 02'' #177.[1]. Wallflower was killed by Reverend Stryker in ''New X-Men'' #26. Quill was killed by one of Stryker's henchmen in ''New X-Men'' #27. Icarus was shot by Stryker and died a few issues later. Tito Bohusk, one of the children of former Xavier students Beak and Angel has also been stated to have retained his mutant powers. The Morlock and former Generation X member Leech also resided on the mansion property for a short time, and though a child, is not considered a student, but a member of the refugee 198 (who have since departed from the grounds).

X-Men trainees

In the aftermath of Decimation, Emma Frost picked a select group to train as "New X-men". These students are:

★ Hellion [last seen powered up, fighting Belasco and his demon army]

★ Surge '[leader]' [last seen being fighting Belasco]

★ Mercury [last seen fighting Belasco and using her body as an metallic armor for Darkchild]

★ Dust [last seen fighting Belasco]

★ X-23 [brought into limbo, fighting against Belasco only to die and be ressurected]

★ Elixir [last seen using his 'death' powers to kill Belasco, but fails and then heals X-23]

★ Rockslide [last seen in new form, extending official membership to Anole and Pixie]

★ Prodigy [depowered, but apparently retains membership with the team]

★ Anole [last seen with his new arm, new member]

★ Pixie [last seen with the Soulknife, altered appearance, new member]
The rest of the students still reside in the mansion but is not officially included in the main team of trainees. These students are

★ Stepford Cuckoos [last seen entering and sifting through Belasco's mind]

★ Bling! [last seen captured by Belasco]

★ Onyxx [last seen captured by Belasco]

★ Gentle [last seen fighting Belasco's demon army]

★ Indra [last seen captured by Belasco]

★ Loa [last seen fighting Belasco's demon army]

★ Match [last seen fighting Belasco's demon army]

★ Trance [last seen fighting Belasco's demon army]

★ Wolf Cub [last seen fighting Belasco's demon army]
These are the remainder of students that were not officially part of the previous squad training, but still reside in school:

★ Armor [currently in space as a member of the Astonishing team]

★ Blindfold [last seen forcing Elixir's powers to incapacitate herself]

★ Ernst [last seen captured by Belasco]

★ No-Girl [last seen captured by Belasco]
=External links=

★ New X-Men on Marvel.com

★ New X-Men: Academy X