Caliban, in his original form, with Kitty Pryde. From Uncanny X-Men #169 (May 1983); art by Paul Smith and Bob Wiacek.
He is born an albino mutant with a pale complexion and large yellow eyes. At some point in his life, he is banished from his home by his father, who called him Caliban, after a character from the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
Growing up, a still young Caliban, who speaks in the third person, is discovered by the mutant Callisto and taken under her wing. Learning of his mutant tracking ability, Callisto uses Caliban to locate other disenfranchised mutants and organizes them into the Morlocks, a band of homeless, rejected mutants. The founding Morlocks consist of Caliban, Callisto, Masque, Plague, and Sunder. The Morlocks live in the sewers and abandoned subway tunnels running underneath New York City, and, like Caliban, most of them had grotesque appearances.
Caliban senses the presence of nearby mutants and enters a New York City nightclub seeking their friendship. He finds Storm, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde, and the original Spider-Woman in the club, and has a misunderstood confrontation with them. Though the battle ends peacefully, Caliban returns to his home underground.[1]
Shortly thereafter, Morlock leader Callisto desires a consort and has the Morlocks abduct Warren Worthington, the Angel and a member of the X-Men, to be her husband. The X-Men arrive in the sewers to rescue their ally, and Kitty is infected with a virus by Plague. Caliban takes her to his quarters to care for her. Kitty pleads with Caliban to allow her to assist her teammates. Caliban agrees, but only if she will return after the fight and stay with him. Though Kitty promised to stay with him forever, she left and returned home.[2] Weeks later, Callisto, vengeful after losing a one-on-one battle with X-Men leader Storm, orders the Morlocks to kidnap Kitty to force her to marry Caliban, knowing Storm would return. Caliban, however, realized Kitty did not truly love him and released her from her promise. Kitty then became Caliban's friend.[3]
Caliban was later temporarily magically merged with Professor X by Kulan Gath during a confrontation with the sorcerer.[4]
X-Factor
During the Morlock massacre, X-Factor rescued Caliban from the Marauders, and Caliban swore vengeance upon the Marauders.[5] With nowhere else to stay, he took up residence at X-Factor headquarters with several other surviving Morlocks.[6] Soon, he forced Masque to undo damage to the Beast's face, and then returned to the Alley.[7] However, shortly thereafter, Rictor went missing and Caliban volunteered to help X-Factor find him, officially joining the group at that point.[8] Alongside X-Factor, he next battled the Horsemen of Apocalypse.[9] Caliban voiced his wish for increased power, so Iceman began teaching Caliban unarmed combat.[10] He next fought the Right's soldiers and was nearly killed by them;[11] then he aided X-Factor in rescuing the Right's mutant captives.[12]
Horseman of Apocalypse
Not long after that, X-Factor's immortal enemy Apocalypse kidnaps the entire team after changing Angel into Death. Caliban, intrigued by Apocalypse's transformation of the fallen Angel, betrays X-Factor and asks Apocalypse to do the same to him. Agreeing, Apocalypse promises to give Caliban enough power to gain revenge against the Marauders who killed his Morlock family.[13] Caliban agrees to become Apocalypse's servant and locator of mutants. Apocalypse renames him Hellhound.[14] Caliban senses the telepathic cry of Val-Or.[15] Through genetic manipulation, Caliban becomes the second Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death.[16]
When Apocalypse had re-located to the moon in a confrontation with the original X-Factor and the Inhumans, Caliban returns to the Morlock tunnels. There, he locates Sabretooth, a ferocious mutant and member of the Marauders, who is stalking the sewers to find and kill more Morlocks. In combat, Caliban breaks Sabretooth's back and leaves him for dead, not realizing that he has a healing factor.[17] Caliban then attacks and defeats Archangel.[18] He later finds and defeats Sabretooth again.[19]
As Death, Caliban performs various tasks for his new master, serving as his warrior servant. During the X-Cutioner's Song, Caliban attacks former X-Factor members (and current X-Men) Jean Grey and Cyclops, under Apocalypse's (actually Mister Sinister posing as Apocalypse) orders.[20] Alongside War and Famine, Caliban kidnaps Cyclops and Jean Grey so Apocalypse can give the pair to the mad telepath Stryfe, who believes the couple to be his parents.[21] Famine, War, and Death then battle the X-Men and are defeated by them.[22]
X-Force
Eventually, the loner Caliban defeats Apocalypse's control at the cost of his mental faculties. At one point, when Sabretooth is a reluctant X-Men member, the mutant detector kidnaps X-Man Jubilee in exchange for the savage mutant, but he flees when Sabretooth mauls his face.[23]
Though mentally unwell, he retains enormous physical power and is befriended by the mutant Cable. Oddly, Caliban's color shifts from white and monstrous to a semi-friendly Ogre-like form that is purple in coloration. Cable invites Caliban to join his team X-Force. Caliban has many adventures with the team, such as confronting Mojo and his forces, and when Apocalypse's enemy Mister Sinister infiltrates the X-Mansion, Apocalypse's mental leash causes him to savagely maul Sinister. He also has several confrontations with Sabretooth during this time.
Return to Apocalypse
After some time, Apocalypse returns and takes Caliban away from X-Force. This time, Apocalypse makes him his new Horseman Pestilence (coincidentally, the former Pestilence was Caliban's Morlock ally Plague). This time, Apocalypse augments Caliban's physical power even more and gives him the ability to spread telepathic disease as well. This time, Apocalypse's horsemen include Ahab, Deathbird, and Wolverine. After Apocalypse is merged with Cyclops, Caliban tracks down the merged being, and is freed from his service shortly before Cable destroys Apocalypse's spirit.[volume&issueneeded]
Released from his servitude to Apocalypse, Caliban once more reverts to his childlike state although he retains the monstrous physique he attained through Apocalypse's machinations. Subsequently, Caliban is captured by an anti-mutant medical research facility called the Watchtower. The Watchtower wishes to use Caliban for their own purposes but he is freed by X-Force. Caliban has devolved into a feral mental state where he only grunts and snarls but he manages to help X-Force against a menace called the Skornn.[volume&issueneeded]
Post M-Day
After M-Day, Caliban turned up at the Xavier institute as a member of the 198. He is seen carrying the 198 banner, created by Erg, during the confrontation with O*N*E* over the "tracking chips" and again during Mr. M's exodus from the institute. He later helps the 198 escape with Domino and Shatterstar to one of Nick Fury's secret bases in the Nevada desert. Caliban was able to sense the stockpile of weapons in the base, but they were activated and locked down by Johnny Dee, a mutant who had puppet-like control over a fraction of the team. The original X-Men team went to collect the 198 but Bishop's pro-registration team stopped them. After a short battle, the two sides teamed up and, thanks to a joint effort by Cyclops and Bishop, were able to free the 198.[volume&issueneeded]
Seeking The X-Men
Caliban later aids the Uncanny X-Men team after he is seriously injured by Masque,[24] and crawls his way back to the Xavier Institute. Caliban enters the Morlock Tunnels with Warpath, Storm, and Hepzibah and find what Masque was talking about.[25]
Messiah Complex and Death
Caliban becomes part of a strike-force, who are in search of the first newborn mutant since Decimation, along with Wolverine, Wolfsbane, X-23, Warpath, and Hepzibah (all of whom, except Hepzibah, form the new incarnation of X-Force). During a battle with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers, Caliban sacrifices himself to save Warpath by jumping into the path of a line of bullets meant for him. His death distracts Warpath making Wolverine the only X-Force member to chase down Cable.[26]
Necrosha
During the Necrosha storyline, Caliban is revived through the Technarchtransmode virus by Eli Bard and presented to Selene for the purpose of finding other dead mutants and resurrecting them by the same means, so Bard can sacrifice them and their powers to her.[27] Caliban is later seen next to the grave of long time deceased New Mutants member Cypher and began reviving him.[28] Through him Selene resurrected many deceased mutants,[volume&issueneeded] and as she faced X-Force, she digested their powerful life-force energies that would help extend her life.[volume&issueneeded]
Dawn of X
Caliban was one amongst many of the fallen mutants revived by The Five on the homeland of Homo Superior called Krakoa, he was shortly gunned down by assailants who invaded Krakoa.[29]
Powers and abilities
Caliban is a mutant with the ability to psionically sense other mutants out to several miles away and track their movements. He also has the uncontrolled ability to psionically sense, absorb, and turn the psionic energy of fear radiated by humans against them, inducing more intense fear within their minds. He could also utilize fear from others to boost his strength to a level sufficient to easily overpower the original Spider Woman (Jessica Drew).[1]
As Death, he attained superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, endurance, claws and fangs as well as imperviousness to physical injury through Apocalypse's genetic manipulation.[30] He also has great skill at climbing and possesses superhuman leaping ability. He was also mentally conditioned to attack Apocalypse's former ally Mister Sinister on sight.[31] His fear siphoning abilities had also been augmented and he can now control them as well as cast his power over a much wider net; not only gaining in strength from siphoning the anxiety of others but could harness strengthen and redistribute it in much stronger quantities by force of will.[32] This facet of his bolstered power was dubbed the Shadow of Fear by Caliban himself.[33]
As Pestilence, Apocalypse gave him the ability to generate a mental plague, a virus that attacks from within on the highest planes of the psyche and breaks down the mental functions of the target.[volume&issueneeded]
Being reverted to his original form by Masque, Caliban still appears to retain some superhuman strength affected by his adrenaline, as he was shown lifting rubble off of Skids that proved difficult for even Warpath to hoist.[volume&issueneeded]
After being reanimated through the Technarch transmode virus, his ability changed to psionically sense not living mutants but dead mutants.[volume&issueneeded]
Once resurrected after the rise of the new mutant homeland, he resumed his muscular physical appearance he had when he was a Horseman of Apocalypse and before Masque warped his excess flesh away.[29]
Reception
In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Caliban 89th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[34]
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Caliban was a henchman of the bounty hunter Domino, using his powers to track down Nate Grey. In this incarnation he is an egotistical coward who is nonetheless well-learned in literature and a skilled swordsman. He is killed by Toad, a member of the Outcasts.[35]
In the Ultimate Marvel reality, Caliban appears in the pages of Ultimate X-Men #82 as a member of the Ultimate Morlocks. His look is somewhat different, as he is now portrayed with a darker grey color instead of chalk white. He is also a stronger physical combatant and has the ability to change into a hulking monster.[36]
X-Factor Forever
In X-Factor Forever, Caliban appeared as a henchman and Horseman of Apocalypse.[37]
Caliban appears in Logan, portrayed by Stephen Merchant.[40] Years prior, he worked with the Transigen Project to locate mutants until he realized the error of his ways and went into hiding with other mutants. He was later recruited by Logan to help care for Charles Xavier. After being kidnapped by the Reavers, their leader Donald Pierce tortures Caliban into helping Transigen find Logan, Xavier, and Laura. Caliban complies, but gives the Reavers minimal information to impede their progress until Dr. Zander Rice manipulates him into helping them properly by promising him that the trio will not be harmed. Upon seeing Transigen's clone operative X-24 kill Xavier, Caliban rebels against his captors and sacrifices himself to give Logan and Laura time to escape. Rice later recovers Caliban's body and orders his scientists to extract his tissue in the hopes of using his powers in future experiments.
Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #1. Angel is a founding member of the X-Men.
Sabretooth is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men, in particular as an enemy of the mutant Wolverine. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, the character made his first appearance in Iron Fist #14. The original portrayal of Sabretooth was that of a non-powered serial killer, but was later written as a mutant possessing bestial superhuman abilities, most notably a rapid healing factor, razor-sharp fangs and claws, and superhuman senses. He is a vicious assassin, who was responsible for numerous deaths throughout history, both as a paid mercenary and for his personal pleasure. Accounts on how his enmity with Wolverine originated differs depending on different writers. One of the most common accounts is that Wolverine and Sabretooth were both participants of the Cold War supersoldier program Weapon X, and that Sabretooth saw Wolverine as competition and therefore antagonized him. While Wolverine is depicted as suppressing his more savage qualities, Sabretooth does the opposite and embraces them, until the events of the 2014 storyline "AXIS".
Morlocks are a group of mutant characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters are usually depicted as being associated with the X-Men in the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Paul Smith, they were named after the subterranean race of the same name in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine, but unlike in the Wells book, they are not a faceless, threatening mass of villains. They first appeared as a group in The Uncanny X-Men #169. Caliban appeared prior to that, but he was not yet a member of the Morlocks.
Marrow (Sarah) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is commonly depicted in association with the X-Men. She is depicted as a mutant whose bones grow out of her skin. These can be removed from her body, providing her with potential knives, clubs, and body armor.
James Proudstar, known first as Thunderbird and then as Warpath, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Proudstar first appears as the second Thunderbird in New Mutants #16.
Skids is a fictional mutant character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Leech is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Mikhail Nikolaievitch Rasputin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is the older brother of Colossus of the X-Men and Magik of the New Mutants. He first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #285.
Arclight is a mutant supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Romita Jr., she is a former military officer who later becomes an assassin. She is primarily known as a member the original Marauders team, a group of mutants who often work for the mad scientist villain Mister Sinister. As a Marauder, she has often fought the X-Men as well as related teams and heroes such as X-Factor and X-Force. Like many of the Marauders, Arclight has been killed in battle more than once, only to be revived each time by Sinister through advanced cloning techniques.
The Marauders refers to one of two teams of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original Marauders team included mutant warriors and assassins employed by the X-Men's enemy Mister Sinister, a mad scientist villain often intent on creating a perfect race of superhumans. At different times, the Marauders have been tasked with Sinister to perform kidnappings, assassinations, mass murder, or to simply fight Sinister's enemies. At different times, Marauders have been killed in combat, but often Mr. Sinister later uses his cloning technology to re-create them. This team of Marauders has appeared in many different stories of the X-Men franchise, as well as stories featuring other Marvel Comics heroes.
"Mutant Massacre" was a 1986 Marvel Comics crossover storyline. It primarily involved the superhero teams the X-Men and X-Factor. The solo hero Thor, the New Mutants, Power Pack and Daredevil crossed over for an issue each in their own comic books.
Callisto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and is associated with the X-Men. She is the leader of New York City's subterranean mutant settlement the Morlocks, until losing that post in a duel against Storm. Storm subsequently leaves the group in Callisto's care as her representative, and the two eventually form an uneasy alliance.
Exodus is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Quesada, he first appeared in X-Factor #92. His real name was initially given as Paris Bennett, but this was uncovered as an alias when he was revealed to have been born in 12th-century France under the name of Bennet Du Paris.
Masque is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Masque was originally a prominent member of the sewer-dwelling community of mutant outcasts called the Morlocks, led by Callisto.
The Horsemen of Apocalypse are a team of supervillain characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Led by Apocalypse, they are loosely based on the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation, though its members vary throughout the canon.
War is the name of three fictional characters, who are supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Two are discussed here: both members of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. The first War and Abraham Kieros. The title was also held by the mutant Gazer and, briefly, by Bruce Banner, the Hulk.
Harpoon is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a member of the mutant assassin team known as Marauders, who are employed by Mister Sinister. Little is known about Harpoon other than that he is Inuit.
Hepzibah is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont, the character first appeared in The X-Men #107. Hepzibah belongs to the alien species called Mephitisoid. The character has also been a member of the X-Men and the Starjammers at various points in her history.
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Below is a complete list of detailed appearances by the Marvel Comics character Apocalypse.
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