Havok (character)
Havok is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. He first appears in The X-Men #54, and was created by writer Arnold Drake and penciller Don Heck. Havok generates powerful "plasma blasts", an ability he has had difficulty controlling.
One of the sons of Corsair, Alexander "Alex" Summers is the younger brother of the X-Men's Cyclops, and the older brother of Vulcan and the older half brother of Adam X. He often resents Cyclops's authoritarian attitude and reputation as a model member of the X-Men. In contrast, Havok and his longtime love interest Polaris have had a love-hate relationship with the team, often finding themselves roped into it. Both were also members of the 1990s-era Pentagon-sponsored mutant team X-Factor. After X-Factor disbanded, Havok starred in Mutant X, a series in which he explored a strange alternate reality. He has since returned to the X-Men, later taking over his father's role as leader of the Starjammers to bring Vulcan's reign over the Shi'ar to an end.
In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Havok as #44 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics". Lucas Till played Havok in the films X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse.
Publication history
Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Don Heck, Havok first appeared in X-Men #54. He is typically portrayed as struggling under the shadow of his more esteemed brother. During Roy Thomas and Neal Adams's run on The X-Men, Havok is revealed to be a mutant and given his codename. According to Thomas, Drake never told him whether he intended Alex to be a mutant or not. Adams designed Havok's original costume, which first appears in The X-Men #58, devising it as not simply a more striking visual for the character but a practical energy-siphoning suit. Thomas and Adams also introduced a romance between Havok and Polaris. Havok joins the X-Men in issue #65.Havok's initial stint in The X-Men was short-lived; after just one more issue, the series went into reprints. He appeared in the 1975 Giant-Size X-Men #1, which reintroduced the team with seven new members, but in the X-Men's next appearance, The X-Men #94, he quits the group. He and Polaris return in The X-Men #97 as villains under the mental control of Erik the Red. They are returned to normal by The X-Men #119, and became regular members of the X-Men's supporting cast.
Havok joins the relaunched X-Factor in X-Factor #71 and remains with the group until the end of the series, X-Factor #149. Upon the conclusion of X-Factor, Havok was given his own starring series, Mutant X, which ran for 32 issues.
In the 2012 relaunch of Marvel comic books, Havok leads a team called the Uncanny Avengers, a mix of the X-Men and the Avengers teams.
Fictional character biography
Origins
Alexander Summers was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the second of the three known sons of Christopher Summers, a United States Air Force Major and test pilot, and his wife Katherine Anne. When Alex was a boy growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, his father took the family for a flight in their airplane, which came under attack by a Shi'ar spaceship. As the plane caught fire and was crashing, his parents fastened Alex and his older brother Scott into a parachute and pushed them off the plane in hopes that they would survive. His brother hit his head and was in a coma for a short while.The Summers boys were recovered and put into an orphanage and Alex was soon adopted whereas Scott remained there for much of his childhood. Alex was raised by the Blandings whose son Todd had died in a car accident. They tried to make Alex fit into the image of their son, and he tried to do as best he could. When the boy responsible for Todd's death kidnapped Alex and his foster sister, Haley, Alex manifested his powers for the first time, incinerating the boy. Mister Sinister, an evil geneticist who was obsessed with the Summers bloodline, appeared eager yet surprised that Alex's potential exceeded Scott's – despite the fact that he seemed to lack control over his gift. Sinister placed psi-blocks on both Alex and Haley's minds, causing them to forget what had happened that night.
First encounter with X-Men
Alex went on to study and earn a degree in geophysics at college. There he first met the original X-Men and learned that Cyclops is his brother. His mutant powers became apparent when he was kidnapped by the Living Pharaoh who declared Alex the only being able to rival his power. The two shared the same cosmic energy-absorption abilities, in adverse proportion to each other. By locking Alex in a shielded cell, the Pharaoh was able to absorb enough cosmic energy to become the Living Monolith. The X-Men fought a losing battle against the virtually unstoppable Monolith until Alex managed to free himself, and the Monolith turned back into the Living Pharaoh.Alex's mutant power at first seemed to manifest itself only when he was near death. He was unable to control it and feared its immense power.
Alex was later captured by Larry Trask and his Sentinels who were bent on controlling or eradicating all mutants. Trask fashioned a costume that would help Alex control his powers and he was given the code name Havok. Trask turned out to be a mutant himself and the Sentinels were defeated by the X-Men. Havok lost control of his powers and his excess energy was absorbed by Sauron. Havok then gained control of his powers.
Havok actively joined the X-Men team and began a relationship with Lorna Dane/Polaris, much to the anger of Iceman who was romantically interested in her as well. While the senior X-Men were in the Savage Land, Havok and Polaris were approached by Professor X about the imminent invasion of the alien Z'Nox. During this time, the couple fell in love.
With the original X-Men, Havok and Polaris were captured by Krakoa the living island but eventually rescued by the new X-Men. Havok and Polaris quit the team's active membership along with most of the original members.
Havok was again captured by the Living Pharaoh, this time rescued by Spider-Man and Thor.
Havok and Polaris were occasional members and allies of the X-Men for years. They alternated between doing graduate work and earning a postgraduate degree in the American Southwest – where they occasionally encountered the Hulk – and helping out Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. It was during their stay on Muir Island that Havok helped the X-Men battle Proteus.
Eventually, Alex learned that Corsair of the Starjammers was really his father.
During one of their adventures, Polaris was possessed by the mutant Marauder Malice, ending the romantic relationship for a time. Havok then sought out and rejoined the X-Men.
Wolverine and the X-Men
During this period, Havok became involved with Madelyne Pryor. Both of them had been rejected by their previous lovers: Pryor's then-husband Cyclops had left her for Jean Grey. Madelyne was manipulated by N'astirh and became the Goblin Queen. She attempted to use Havok to help take over the world and transform it into a demonic realm. Havok eventually came to his senses and Madelyne killed herself after discovering she was a clone of Jean Grey.Havok befriended Wolverine and others, then they shared adventures. While they were vacationing in Mexico, they were targeted by a terrorist cell. They defeated the cell, but were fooled by a damsel in distress who was actually a member of the terrorist group. Havok woke up in a hospital, in the care of nurse Scarlett McKenzie, the assassin without disguise. She manipulated Havok and made him fall in love with her. Scarlett was working for the Russian terrorists, Dr. Neutron and Meltdown. Having previously failed to charge up Meltdown's superpowers with the energy released from Chernobyl nuclear disaster, they wanted to use Havok as a conduit to channel the energy of an atomic reactor into Meltdown. Scarlett fed Havok with false information that terrorists were trying to sabotage a nuclear power station. When he ventured into the heart of the reactor, he found it reaching critical limit. According to plan, Havok tried to absorb the dangerous radiation; however, when he witnessed Meltdown killing Scarlett, he unleashed the energy into Meltdown bringing him up to full power. Wolverine arrived and prevented a full disaster by battling with Meltdown, while Havok continued to absorb energy from the reactor, still on the verge of explosion. Wolverine killed Meltdown by penetrating his body with multiple control rods that slowed down the nuclear reactions raging within him, and Havok redirected the nuclear radiation into space.
Genosha
Havok ultimately went through the Siege Perilous with several other X-Men fleeing the Reavers, the cyborg hunters. Havok ended up an amnesiac in Genosha, a country that used mutants and genetically-engineered slaves called Mutates. He became a high-ranking Magistrate in the Genoshan army. His fellow X-Men had no idea what had happened to him until, during the X-Tinction Agenda, the Genoshan government kidnapped members of the mutant teams X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants. During a pitched battle with Cyclops, Havok's memory returned, but he kept it a secret hoping to catch the Genoshan leader, Cameron Hodge, off guard. He succeeded and delivered the killing blow to Hodge, yet he and Wolfsbane decided to remain in Genosha, as they wanted to help in rebuilding the once proud nation.X-Factor
Havok and Wolfsbane were soon brought back from Genosha by Professor X and Cyclops as they wanted him to become the leader of the new government-sponsored X-Factor. He reunited with Polaris and Havok led the team effectively for quite some time. He dealt with the unwilling, unwitting affections of Wolfsbane, the physical problems of Strong Guy and various public relations disasters, such as the destruction of the Washington Monument. Much of the team's bad image was orchestrated by Mister Sinister, his Nasty Boys and a mutant senator who could cause bad luck. He dealt physically with Random and personally, as they clashed for various reasons. He grew in new directions as a leader, once seemingly drinking poison in an effort to buck up the spirits of Strong Guy, who had been poisoned. However, he is revealed to have simply drank water.Havok and X-Factor were called on to subvert a civil war aggravated by the Pantheon. In this instance, Alex physically challenged the Hulk. He soaked up the various energies that fuel Hulk and used them to bolster his plasma blasts, thereby gaining an advantage. It was the second time Havok had beaten the Hulk.
During this time, Havok's team participated in the events of the Infinity War and the Infinity Crusade. Alex and Strong Guy participated the most in far reaching, reality altering cosmic battles.
Multiple Man had contracted the Legacy Virus in Genosha and later chose to undergo a seemingly mystical healing effort. Despite the procedure's previous success with Wolfsbane, curing her of her unnatural love for Alex, Multiple Man perished. This hit Havok hard, as he felt responsible since Madrox was under his command. He left the team for Hawaii, where he and Polaris enjoyed a romantic honeymoon until Malice, Mister Sinister, and the Nasty Boys showed up. Reinforcements helped Havok and Polaris survive the villains. Shortly afterward, Strong Guy suffered a heart attack and ended up in stasis, and Wolfsbane left to be with her foster mother.
After the Age of Apocalypse event, Havok accidentally destroyed a dam and was forced back into his old containment suit. After new members Wild Child, Shard and Mystique were introduced to the team, Havok fought Random and was captured by the Dark Beast. He was brainwashed into serving Dark Beast and Onslaught. He broke free of the brainwashing, but used it as an opportunity to infiltrate the enemy and recreated a version of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He succeeded in defeating Dark Beast and attempted to mend fences with his former X-Factor teammates, specifically Polaris and Multiple Man.
While Havok was attempting to reform X-Factor, one of his time-traveling team members, Greystone, created an experimental time travel device to return him to the future. It exploded in mid-air, seemingly killing Havok and Greystone in front of their teammates.