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Surge was created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Keron Grant and first appeared in New Mutants, vol. 2 #8 (January 2004).[1][2][3] She would become a main character in the monthly series New X-Men Volume 2, appearing in the series from 2004 to 2008.
Surge became a member of X-Force for the From the Ashes relaunch of X-Men, joining in the first issue until her death in the fifth issue.[4] In issue #10, she is resurrected as an energy being.[5]
Fictional character biography
Noriko Ashida was born in Japan. She was close to her brother, Keitaro, but she ran away from home after her powers manifested; she claimed that her father "doesn't believe in mutants". How she came to the United States is unknown, but she ended up homeless on the streets of Salem Center, reduced to buying illegal drugs to calm her powers, using stolen money. With no training or practice in the use of her powers, Noriko's body automatically absorbs all nearby electricity and, once fully charged, releases it in a storm of electrical bolts.
Noriko eventually comes to the Xavier Institute and is designed specialty gauntlets by Beast to control her powers. She is assigned to the New Mutants training squad.[6]
After being freed from the other plane, Surge joins mutantkind on Krakoa.[15] After the fall of Krakoa, Surge joins Forge's X-Force in the X-Men: From the Ashes line of books.[16] She dies from an overload of her powers when sealing a dimensional rift caused by Nuklo. Surge is later resurrected in a form of pure electricity.[17]
Powers and abilities
Surge absorbs electricity continuously, from sources like static in the air, electrical appliances, and outlets, often causing lights to flicker. She can't control the absorption, requiring her to wear specially designed gauntlets to regulate it. Surge can discharge the energy through powerful lightning-like blasts or channel it into bursts of superhuman speed. If she absorbs too much energy, it causes mental overloads, making her speak too fast, scatter her thinking, and worsen her control over the blasts.[3]
Personality
Very forthright and strong-minded, Nori often clashes with her peers and superiors, from nearly getting into a brawl with Hellion after he insulted Prodigy's baseline status post-M-Day,[18] and challenging Cyclops' assertion that the students are safe at the institute (this taking place immediately after a series of devastating attacks by the Purifiers).[19]
Regardless, Nori is a loyal figure, dedicated to her friends and increasingly feeling the responsibilities placed upon her as the leader of the New X-Men. Surge was particularly incensed by Hellion's decision to rescue Mercury from the Faculty without backup, taking it upon herself to mold the team into an effective unit capable of defending the rest of the students.
Marvel writer Christopher Yost has stated that, "Surge is the right candidate, because she wants it the least. And you'll see, it's taking a big toll on her. Being a leader when you're doing team sports and field day exercises is one thing, but leading when the stakes are life and death is another thing."[20]
Other versions
House of M
An alternate universe version of Noriko Ashida from Earth-58163 appears in the House of M tie-in New X-Men: Academy X. This version is a member of the Hellions, a group of junior S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the daughter of a human terrorist father, who she was separated from at a young age. Due to his involvement during one of the group's missions, Nori is ousted from the Hellions and replaced with Magic. Nonetheless, she recruits help from students of the New Mutant Leadership Institute in traveling to Japan, where they encounter Project Genesis.[21]
Surge appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Kokoro Kikuchi in the Japanese version and Stephanie Sheh in the English dub.[27] This version's hair is naturally blue and is initially a student of Techno Isle's International Academy. After briefly becoming romantically attracted to Hikaru Akatsuki, she leaves for the Xavier Institute with Wolverine to receive protection from Magneto.
1 2 "Surge Voices (X-Men)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved March 19, 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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