ELIXIR: Page 4 of 4

BIOGRAPHY - Page 4

Foley needed time away after Genosha. He found his body staying black after killing Kevin, almost unwilling to revert to gold. He planned to leave the X-Men and Utopia to do some soul-searching and find balance with his powers once more. Elixir spent one last attempt trying to understand Wolverine and how he felt killing was necessary to protect others. They had an adventure against the dangerous radioactive being called Meltdown, who manipulated the hopes of Decimated former mutants in order to empower himself. Josh flew into a rage and nearly killed again, but it was Wolverine who ironically pulled him back from committing murder. More confused than ever, Elixir moved on from the X-Men. [Wolverine (2nd series) #309]

Josh was unable to rediscover his sense of peace in the months that followed. He was trapped in his black state and could not return to being gold or access his healing powers. Josh was kidnapped by test subjects of the former Weapon X scientist Abraham Cornelius, along with several others who had a healing factor or healing abilities. These lab rats had a genetic expiration date they hoped to counteract with the aid of the healers. As Josh was explaining his current power problems, however, another test subject named Syphon attacked the group, looking to drain the healing factor from others in order to feed his own mutation. Elixir confronted Syphon, but was drained and seemingly killed by the entity's parasitic touch. [Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #1-7]

Despite his "death," Elixir resurfaced soon afterwards. His unstable Omega-level powers apparently kicked in, restoring his gold and healing abilities along with his life. Josh found companionship with a small group of X-Men affiliates and allies who came together for support after the fall of Utopia. Boom Boom, Karma, Madison Jeffries, Random and Masque retreated from the world to live in isolation in the ruins of the Utopia island. These Utopians were accosted first by scavengers and later by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents investigating the first incident. Maria Hill called in the X-Men after that, but the X-Men justifiably recognized the Utopians had been doing nothing wrong when they were antagonized. Still, the Utopians realized they couldn't remain on the island now that S.H.I.E.L.D. had noticed them, and so the X-Men allowed them to move to the New Xavier School, hidden in the woodlands of Canada at the old Weapon X facility. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #40-41] Elixir and the Utopians were among the first mutants to appear for Cyclops' "revolution," the peaceful presentation of all mutants on Earth at the Lincoln Memorial] in Washington D.C. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #600]

In time, Elixir retired from any active participation in the X-Men's lives. He moved to Cooper's Mountain, Vermont and began working with a church's relief organization. Josh's powers continued to grow, allowing him to engage his bio-kinesis remotely instead of just by touch. However, the urge to use his powers for both life and death was growing as well, so he tried to suppress them altogether.

Josh wasn't given the chance to remain in seclusion. The Terrigen Mists were spreading the globe, having an unexpected and potentially lethal side effect on mutants. To a varying degree, this M-Pox caused sickness, sterility and even death in the infected mutants. The Inhuman and mutant Darwinists known as the Dark Riders saw it as a sign of natural selection at work between the two sub-species, and made it their mission to kill any healers who might upset this new order. A team of X-Men led by Magneto became aware of the Dark Riders, and so Sabretooth and M rode out to make contact with Josh. The Dark Riders attacked the church, killing innocents caught out during a donation drive. Despite Sabretooth's warnings, Elixir was drawn outside to heal his friends and keep them from dying. This gave the sniper named Gauntlet a perfect shot to fire an explosive bullet through Josh's heart. Elixir was dead faster than he could think to use his powers on himself. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #2]

Well... "dead." A matter of months later, Elixir spontaneously resurrected himself inside his casket, six feet down. It was becoming clear that terms such as life and death simply didn't mean the same thing to Joshua Foley that they meant to others. Josh crawled his way out of his own casket in a state of shock. He made his way to the ruins of Genosha, where Magneto had ultimately killed the Dark Riders at the culmination of their last mission. Magneto's X-Men found Elixir there, using his powers to resurrect Gauntlet and then kill him again, over and over, as punishment for murdering him.

Josh's precarious mental state aside, Magneto coolly evaluated him as a potential asset for mutantkind. The M-Pox had only grown more prevalent and dangerous in the months since Elixir died and a healer could be of great use. Monet cautioned Magneto to think of Elixir as a person and not an instrument, but Josh asked to be taken to a place where he could do some good. Soon, at an M-Pox crisis medical center, Elixir assessed the situation and what his powers could do against M-Pox. He began curing the patients, removing their symptoms and killing the infection in their systems. However Elixir's powers demanded a balance, a yin and yang to his manipulation of life and death, and soon he began killing healthy doctors and nurses at the center. Josh's personality shifted with his powers, and he would have killed Magneto and the X-Men as well if he didn't stop himself at the last moment. He reined himself in, leaving no one dead and a few mutants still cured from M-Pox. It became clear Elixir could not use his powers on a large scale to heal or destroy without demanding an equal and opposite expression of his powers as well. Until he could use his powers in a more controlled manner, Elixir journeyed to the Tibetan retreat of Magneto's ally Xorn to learn focus and self-moderation. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) Annual #1]

Josh Foley remained a secret ally of Magneto's for some time after that, and became close with the Acolytes' former leader Exodus. When Magneto went too far in his protection of mutantkind, his former partner Psylocke sought him out and killed him. Exodus teleported Elixir to the scene shortly afterwards, allowing Josh to restore Magneto to life. In this way, Magneto was able to step behind the curtain and leave the world believing he was dead for a while. [Uncanny X-Men (4th series) #19] The Mothervine crisis came months later, creating new and artificial mutants around the world, and Magneto's new team of X-Men were unable to defeat it alone. Elixir and Exodus came out of hiding, teleporting around the globe to crisis spots where Josh used his powers to cure those afflicted with the Mothervine virus, so that the cabal who released Mothervine couldn't also use it to control those mutants. [X-Men: Blue #28] As Magneto put the X-Men's less aggressive ways behind him, Elixir and Exodus were among the members of a new Brotherhood he assembled in the aftermath. [X-Men: Blue #34]

Magneto was soon summoned away by Nate Grey, transformed into one of the Horsemen of Salvation in an event that would have disastrous consequences for the mutant race. A conflict including X-Man, Legion, Apocalypse, Magneto and nearly every X-Man ever seemingly cost them all their lives, leaving Josh and the scattered survivors in the wind. Elixir and Marrow of Magneto's final Brotherhood sought sanctuary with Emma Frost, who had recently seized full control over the Hellfire Club. She accepted them under her wing, christening them the Black Bishop and Black Rook of her Inner Circle.

The Hellfire Club was not allowed to operate freely, however. General Callahan of the Office of National Emergency came for them and  implanted a bomb in Emma's head to force her to work for the O*N*E. After Elixir and the others observed the Vanisher killed by Callahan using the same bomb, they realized they had no choice. Emma maintained some autonomy for her Club by manipulating the remaining X-Men to hunt down mutant threats and turn them over to "Captain America" for imprisonment, who was really the White King Mystique in disguise. Wolverine and Kwannon eventually discovered the ruse and tracked down the Hellfire Club and O*N*E. Callahan rescinded his deal with Emma after this debacle and Elixir was last seen being taken into custody by O*N*E. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #19-20]

The time would come when the X-Men returned and adopted a radically different approach to human-mutant relations. Xavier and Magneto together established the living island of Krakoa as a mutant homeland. Krakoa could grow mutant plants that served as the base for exotic pharmaceuticals that slowed aging and cured physical and mental diseases, powerful leverage which allowed the Krakoans to gain official recognition as a nation-state on the world stage, with its own borders, citizenship and legal standing. All mutants were citizens of Krakoa by birth and were welcome to relocate to the island paradise. But the true innovation was yet to come.

Xavier had secretly bargained with Mister Sinister to maintain a genetic record of the mutant race. He also used Cerebro not just to find mutants, but also record their minds in a vast database backing up the consciousness of every mutant on Earth. With this, the necessary ingredients were in place. Xavier had been planning for years for just the right crop of mutant to emerge. Elixir and four other mutants proved to be those mutants, and so mutantkind discovered how to conquer death itself.

Fabio Medina was known as Goldballs for his ability to summon spheres from his body. These spheres were, in fact, compressed mutant genetic material -- in essence, eggs. These eggs were not viable for producing new life on their own, but a reality-warping mutant named Proteus could "tweak" the rules just so, giving Fabio's eggs the capacity to grow another lifeform. Elixir's part in the process came when Sinister's genetic sample of a given mutant was introduced into the egg. Josh's bio-kinesis allowed him to attach the new mutant DNA to the base genetic material Fabio produced, causing the genetic replication of a mutant's cells and the formation of a new body inside the egg, based on the sample. Eva Bell, Tempus, was a time manipulator, and her abilities helped bring the nascent genetic husk to term in rapid time. Hope Summers oversaw the process as a whole, bringing the abilities of the five mutants together in new and synergized ways to accomplish their goal. In the end, the egg would break open and a fully-grown mutant would emerge, better than any existing form of cloning, a tabula rasa upon which Xavier could apply a preserved mind from Cerebro's archives. With a new body grown on demand and a back-up of their mind constantly preserved, the mutant race no longer needed to fear death. Elixir and the Resurrection Five became a cornerstone of the new mutant faith and society set up on Krakoa. [House of X #5]

With Resurrection Protocols established by Krakoa's ruling body, the Quiet Council, and a queue managed by X-Factor Investigations, Elixir and the Five devoted all their time and energy to the resurrection process itself. Operating from the Arbor Magna in Krakoa, the Five spent their days as an increasingly close unit, using their power to bring back the dead of the mutant race. This was a blessing for Josh, who was finally able to do some true good with his powers. He brought back his friends like Laurie and Jay, even Sofia and David who died under other circumstances and therefore were restored with their powers for the first time since the Decimation. [X-Factor (4th series) #5] Josh couldn't help everyone, though -- the queue and protocols were out of his control, and he had to turn away Wolfsbane's request to expedite the resurrection of her lost son, Tier. [New Mutants (4th series) #15] And, while Josh has seemingly found balance with the Five, time will tell whether the yin and yang of his powers will one day require an equal amount of death compared to the life he is now responsible for.