Monet St. Croix was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, during a family ski trip and is the second child of Afro-Monégasque ambassador Cartier St. Croix and his Algerian wife.[4] Monet was raised Muslim and grew up pompous and spoiled as a result of being the favored child of her father.[5] Monet's brother Marius, also known as Emplate, is banished from the St. Croix home shortly after his mother's death, but returns after learning dark magic and requests that Monet join him in conquering another dimension. Monet rejects Marius' offer, leading him to transform her into a creature dubbed Penance. Monet's younger twin sisters, Nicole and Claudette, banish Emplate to another dimension. Monet follows Emplate in an attempt to return herself to normal, but is enslaved, becoming a regular source of bone marrow for him.[6]
Afraid their father will break down after the loss of his favorite child, the twin sisters fuse with one another and impersonate Monet. Claudette's autism occasionally causes Monet to enter a catatonic stupor.[7]
Generation X
While impersonating Monet, the twins battle the Phalanx until she and the other teenage mutants are rescued by Banshee (Sean Cassidy) and Emma Frost.[8] The teens join the Generation X team, with Banshee and Emma acting as their teachers. After Gateway rescues her, Penance escapes onto the school grounds before Chamber calms her down.[9][10]
Emplate resurfaces and recruits a team of Hellions to do his dirty work. Gayle Edgerton, Chamber's former lover, helps Emplate because she wants revenge on Chamber, but once Generation X is captured, he betrays her.[11] Monet manages to escape and contact the X-Men for help before the Hellions find her.[12]
While visiting the school, Beast deduces that Monet is autistic and attempts to get her treatment.[13] However, she abruptly destroys the school's cars and refuses to go. Sean chases her into the sky, where she tearfully describes having been poked and prodded by numerous doctors as a child and begs him not to make her go through that again. Sean agrees, though Emma insists that Monet simply manipulated him to avoid her problems.[14]
M/Penance/M-Twins
Monet St.Croix, Art by Joe Madureira
Skin leads the team through East Los Angeles in search of his cousin Gil. Skin's ex-girlfriend Tores, tipped off by Operation: Zero Tolerance, corners the team in hopes of killing Skin. Prime Sentinels soon destroy the house, with Generation X, Gil, and Tores barely escaping. Meanwhile, Sean, Emma, and Penance intercept a distress call from the X-Men, who have been shot down by Operation: Zero Tolerance, and head to Emma's home. They are met by Emplate's henchman D.O.A., who arranges a deal: Emplate will reveal Monet's location in exchange for Penance.[15] After being attacked by Prime Sentinels, Synch syncs with Monet and learns her nature as a gestalt being. Gil sets off a huge explosion to destroy the hideout and the Sentinels, which separates Nicole and Claudette and leaves them comatose.[16]
Soon after, Emplate returns and fuses with the M-twins, creating a new persona called "M-Plate". When the three of them separate, the twins finally learn what their brother did to Monet. Synch convinces Nicole to reveal the truth to the rest of the team. Immediately after Nicole's story, the twins merge with Monet, restoring her human form.[6]
Returning to normal, the traumatized M became self-reliant and outwardly harsh and defensive to make up for her fear and insecurity, causing her to clash with many of her Generation X teammates. The only person she allowed to see her vulnerabilities was Synch, with whom she started a brief romantic relationship. When Emplate returns, Jubilee causes an explosion which separates the twins and transforms the Penance body into a separate entity.[17]
Final days of Generation X
Synch dies in Monet's arms
When Monet returns, she and Synch continue to grow close and began to intensify their relationship. Monet is devastated when Synch sacrifices himself to stop a bomb placed in the academy by Emma Frost's sister Adrienne Frost.[18] After the incident, the team questions Emma's leadership abilities after learning that she killed Adrienne in retribution for Synch's death. The school closes when the students decide that their instructors are no longer fit to teach them.[volume&issueneeded]
X-Corps/X-Corporation
After Generation X disbands, M temporarily joins Banshee's militant X-Corps with Husk and Jubilee to keep an eye on him. However, the X-Corps are soon destroyed by Mystique, leaving M to join the X-Corporation's European branch in Paris.[volume&issueneeded]
X-Factor Investigations
M and Madrox
Following the events of "House of M" and the shutdown of X-Corporation, M joins X-Factor Investigations, a private detective agency run by Jamie Madrox, who she has a romantic fling with.[19] During a trip to Paris with Siryn, Monet encounters an anti-mutant mob marching on Paris' Mutant Town and is arrested by the gendarmerie for breaking the riot up. However, Monet crucifies the mob leader and escapes prison with Siryn.[20][21]
Divided We Stand
M buys all the women of X-Factor Investigations an iPhone, but destroys Rahne Sinclair's phone when she finds out she is leaving. She tells Rahne about how she is always telling her to feel and claims that since Layla is not coming back, she will keep her iPhone in mint condition until Rahne returns. She leaves, telling Rahne to not be a stranger, or stranger than she already is. She then goes to a bar with Siryn where Theresa reveals she is pregnant. Monet offers to be with her if she chooses to get it aborted, only to be told she is not taking that option. M also states that Theresa has embryos more mature than Jamie Madrox, and that "he would make a crap father." Later Siryn tries to tell Madrox of her pregnancy, but Monet realizes Siryn still loves Madrox.[volume&issueneeded]
Operating out of Detroit and return to New York City
Shortly after the events of "Secret Invasion", Darwin's father sells him out to a group of people called the Karma Project. While he is in a coma, Monet is called in to read his father's mind, but finds nothing. Later, Longshot shows up to help and Monet shows an attraction to him.[22] She then teams up with Madrox, Strong Guy, and Longshot in finding Darwin and is present at the birth of Siryn's child, Sean.[23]
Valerie Cooper sends Monet, Strong Guy, and Darwin to acquire a shipment of weapons designed to take out mutants, though instead they sink it to the bottom of the ocean.[24] In the aftermath of the battle with Cortex (an evil duplicate of Jamie Madrox), X-Factor unofficially splits due to tensions between Madrox and Siryn. Strong Guy and Madrox move back to New York while Monet, Darwin, and the others stay in Detroit to work under Siryn.[volume&issueneeded]
Monet is shown to be dying from a serious brain injury when she battles Pluto, who almost beats her to death until Wolfsbane's son Tier arrives and kills Pluto. M dies from her injuries,[25] but is resurrected by Strong Guy shortly afterward when he becomes Lord of Hell.[26]
All-New, All-Different Marvel
In the wake of the M-Pox crisis, Monet joins Magneto's team of X-Men, with the goal of protecting mutantkind at any cost. During this time, she developed a love-hate relationship with the reformed Sabretooth, whom she frequently teases.[27] While investigating a mysterious illness and series of abductions that befell the Morlocks,[28] M and Sabretooth encounter Emplate.[29] She tries to distract him long enough so he would fade away, but as he did, he manages to possess M, cursing her with the hunger he suffered. Sabretooth tells M that her secret is safe with him and that she can feed on him whenever she needs.[30] M eventually breaks free from Emplate's control, curing herself of her condition.[31]
House of X
M is later seen living in the sovereign nation of Krakoa, constructed by Professor X as a mutant homeland. She is among the X-Men selected to battle Orchis before they can bring Mother Mold online. M is killed in battle with Orchis, but is resurrected by the Five along with many other mutants.[32]
Powers and abilities
Monet exhibits superhuman prowess in virtually all aspects. She boasts superhuman strength, enabling her to lift heavy objects such as automobiles and boulders. Her other physical attributes include invulnerability, agility, dexterity, speed, swift reflexes, and impeccable balance. X-Men's Bishop highlighted that Monet holds a "superior rating" across all human physical categories. She is almost invulnerable, capable of enduring direct hits from firearms at a distance and even powerful strikes from characters like Hulk. Much like Hulk, Monet has enhanced healing abilities, allowing her to rapidly recover from injuries. She also displays a heightened resistance to toxins, diseases, and aging. Additionally, Monet has telescopic and night vision, complemented by heightened auditory senses.
Monet possesses an eidetic memory and demonstrates intuitive skills. An instance showcasing this ability is when she rerouted one of Arcade's robots to trace the signal back to its origin, even without knowing the robot's exact specifications. Psionically, she can levitate and propel herself through the air, achieving supersonic flight speeds close to Mach 3. She has occasionally displayed telekinetic abilities, such as deflecting bullets[33] and emitting thought waves as concussive blasts.[34]
As a telepath, Monet can read minds, project her thoughts into others, and shield her mind against telepathic intrusions.[35] Offensively, she possesses limited capabilities such as mind control and memory manipulation. However, the range of her telepathy spans only a few feet around her. She can also perceive mutant auras.
Monet and her siblings have the unique ability to merge, forming different combinations with varied powers. The twins, Nicole and Claudette, find this merging process particularly seamless.
In addition to her powers, Monet is adept in hand-to-hand combat and possesses a genius-level intellect.
Razor-sharp and diamond-hard skin, nails, and hair Has super-long claws for hands and feet animalistic agility and dexterity
Hollow (formerly called Penance) is a character associated with the St. Croix family who first appeared in Generation X #1 (November, 1994), and was created by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo.[36] It is a mindless body in which three members of the St. Croix family, all members of the superhero team Generation X, have been trapped in for some time. Hollow has red skin and rarely speaks.
The powers of the different hosts/prisoners of the Penance form vary, but the hollow Penance form's powers are diamond-hard skin and large claws. Hollow also possesses superhuman agility, as she usually moves around by crouching and padding and leaping on all fours; she has been shown on occasion to use her feet to grab and grip objects and people.
Hollow appeared as a supporting character in Avengers Academy, beginning with issue #21 (Jan 2012), making occasional appearances throughout the series.
The original creative team behind Generation X, Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo, intended Penance to be a girl called Yvette from Yugoslavia.[37] This was never directly revealed in the comic, with the character's connection to Monet St. Croix being made by the subsequent creative team.
Reception
In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked M/Penance 72nd in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[38]
In 2018, CBR.com ranked Lady Penance 18th in their "Age Of Apocalypse: The 30 Strongest Characters In Marvel's Coolest Alternate World" list.[39]
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
Monet never made a proper appearance in the harsh world known as the Age of Apocalypse. A girl referred to in the book as "Claudia" (which may be one or the two merged St. Croix twins) was known as Know-It-All and was part of Generation Next, having merged herself with the team's computer system. She risked her life to search the databases of Apocalypse, a task which ended in her destruction at the hands of the Shadow King.[volume&issueneeded]
Claudette along with Nicole also appeared working alongside their brother in Apocalypse's Elite Mutant Force, going by the name "The Monets".[volume&issueneeded]
Age of Apocalypse took place before Scott Lobdell, Monet's creator, left the X-books. His intention for the character of Monet was for her to only be a fake persona used by the M-Twins when they were joined. The appearances of Know-It-All and her sister in the Monets were intended as clues towards Monet's true nature in the regular continuity.[volume&issueneeded]
After the fall of Apocalypse and the ascension of Weapon Omega to power as the new Apocalypse, he began resurrecting deceased Alpha mutants. The operation was interrupted by Prophet, who stopped most of the resurrections with the exception of Monet's.[volume&issueneeded]
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