Robert Kelly (character)

Last updated
Robert Kelly
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance The Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980)
Created by Chris Claremont (writer)
John Byrne (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoRobert Edward Kelly
Species Human
Team affiliations United States Senate
Project Wideawake

Robert Edward Kelly is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, often in association with the X-Men. He is a prominent United States Senator who began his career on an anti-mutant platform and tended to be an antagonist to the X-Men team, but later began to change his views on mutants as a whole.

Contents

Publication history

The character was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and makes his first appearance in The Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980). Claremont named the character after his Bard College professor, poet Robert Kelly.[ citation needed ]

Fictional character biography

Senator Robert Kelly is first seen at a social gathering hosted by the Hellfire Club, where an illusion projected by the mutant villain Mastermind causes him to believe he had witnessed the X-Man Cyclops firing randomly into a crowd. He is the primary backer of the Mutant Control Act and Project Wideawake, a government program aimed at creating updated Sentinel robots that would help track down, detain, and, if necessary, kill violent mutants. [1]

Kelly played a central role in the Days of Future Past storyline. His assassination by Mystique and the Brotherhood of Mutants leads to a dystopian future where mutants and other heroes are hunted down by the Sentinels and nearly totally eliminated, with the X-Men working to prevent it. [2]

Kelly is later married to Sharon, a former maid who worked in the Hellfire Club. [3] Sharon is killed by Master Mold during the latter's battle with Rogue, which further incites Kelly's stance against mutants. [4]

Kelly remains an active anti-mutant activist in the comics through the 1990s, but slowly becomes more open-minded and tolerant towards the mutant population, promising the X-Men he will work for the rights of mutants. After Pyro saves him during an attack from Post, Kelly vows to reconsider his standing on mutants and work towards improving human/mutant relations. Shortly afterward, Kelly is assassinated by anti-mutant activist Alan Lewis, who feels that Kelly has betrayed his anti-mutant cause. [5]

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse , Robert Kelly was an activist for mutant-human peace who is eventually elected President of the United States. He named Magneto as Director of Mutant Affairs and enlisted the X-Men's aid in the broken country's reconstruction. [6]

X-Men: Noir

In the X-Men Noir reality, Robert Kelly was a Republican Senator of New York who strongly defended the controversial U.S. extraterritorial prison Genosha Bay. Kelly believed through eugenics that it is necessary for containing criminals who are more exceptionally dangerous and from "infecting" the public with their criminal ways. However, in reality, Kelly's true purpose of keeping Genosha Bay was because it was the proving grounds in recruiting the next generation of ideal soldiers and government operatives. [7]

Secret Wars

During the "Secret Wars" storyline, an alternate universe version of Robert Kelly appears as the Baron of the Battleworld domain of Westchester and a member of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. [8]

In other media

Television

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Kellyevo.jpg
Kellywatx.jpg
Robert Kelly as he appears in X-Men: The Animated Series (left), X-Men: Evolution (center) and Wolverine and the X-Men (right)

Film

Video games

References

  1. The Uncanny X-Men #135. Marvel Comics.
  2. The Uncanny X-Men #141-142. Marvel Comics.
  3. Uncanny X-Men #246. Marvel Comics.
  4. The Uncanny X-Men #247 (August 1989). Marvel Comics.
  5. X-Men #108 (2001). Marvel Comics.
  6. Tales from the Age of Apocalypse #1. Marvel Comics.
  7. X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain #1. Marvel Comics.
  8. X-Men '92 #1-4. Marvel Comics.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Senator Robert Kelly Voices (X-Men)". Behind the Voice Actors (Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources). Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  10. Romano, Nick (February 15, 2024). "'X-Men '97' exclusive look reveals legacy costumes, Theo James casting". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved February 15, 2024.