BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Without the distraction of the Gamesmaster’s competition, Graydon could concentrate on his dealings with the Friends of Humanity and an aspiring political career. Capitalizing on the growing anti-mutant hysteria, he started to gather a larger following, using every act of mutant violence to his benefit. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #323-324]
With presidential election only a year away, Graydon decided he had enough support to make a bid for it. A number of other anti-mutant factions decided to back him, giving him large donations in hopes of finally having a president sympathetic to their cause in office. One such donor was Rory Cambell, aka Ahab, who used his hound program to try and silence Mystique permanently 
before she became a problem for Graydon. Another was the robot Bastion, who was using the likes of Graydon to further his own plans for the destruction of mutants. [X-Men (2nd series) #45, 51, X-Factor (1st series) #123]
As soon as he announced his candidacy, Graydon’s popularity grew with each passing day, helped by the constant anti-mutant speeches he was delivering. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though, as Senator Robert Kelly, once an anti-mutant campaigner like Graydon, changed his views and began support mutant rights. Kelly knew that Graydon had made deals with the likes of Bastion and was set to reveal the secrets. Once Graydon got wind of the situation, he set a hit squad after Kelly, but they failed due to the intervention of Cyclops. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #333-334, X-Men (2nd series) #51, 53]
When the Avengers and Fantastic Four were seemingly killed in the battle with Onslaught, Graydon jumped at the chance to blame mutants for the loss of the beloved heroes. His hatred and conviction galvanized a country that was in pain, but he soon gained opposition from a very unlikely source. Watching Graydon’s speeches on TV, J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily 
Bugle, could tell there was something else fueling the man’s hatred of mutants and he began looking into Graydon’s past. Jameson struck a nerve as Bastion threatened him to stop his investigation into Graydon. One of Jameson’s investigators found out the truth of Graydon’s parentage but Bastion killed the man before he could reveal the information. Unfortunately, Graydon’s enemies were starting to amass, as the X-Men had begun to get increasingly worried about his political bid. They planted Cannonball and Iceman amongst his campaign staff to keep tabs on Graydon, reporting any useful information back to their team. [X-Men (2nd series) #57-59, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #337-339]
During a TV interview with Trish Tilby, Graydon was interrupted by an elderly man who attacked his views on mutants. The man was escorted out of the building but Graydon couldn’t let the outburst go and he investigated into the man’s background. He discovered that he was the father of one of his new campaign assistants, who also happened to be Iceman of the X-Men. Still not knowing Iceman’s true identity, Graydon had his father beaten up and left for dead as a warning. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #340]
Ultimately, Graydon’s ties to the Friends of Humanity organization was to be his downfall, as they often acted independently of his wishes and made the news for all the wrong reasons. After a group of them hospitalized a young boy, Mystique realized she could no longer stand by and watch as her son ushered in a dark era for mutants. Working as part of the government sponsored X-Factor, Mystique was going through a heroic phase in her life but she had come to realize that Graydon needed to die for the greater good.
It was the eve of the election day and Graydon was preparing to make his last big speech before voting began. X-Factor’s liaison, Val Cooper, had become aware Mystique had gone rogue and 
tried to convince Graydon to accept the team’s help. Graydon was outraged at the thought of having mutants protect him, one of which was his father, Sabretooth. X-Factor’s presence was justified, as they helped locate Mystique in the crowd of supporters, seemingly catching her before she could enact her plan. With the threat over, Graydon took to the stage but, as he started speaking, a huge plasma burst hit him from behind, vaporizing his body until only a pile of ash remained. It was revealed later on that a future version of Mystique had travelled back in time to ensure Graydon died that day. [X-Factor (1st series) #127-130, X-Men Forever (1st series) #2]
With Graydon dead, the anti-mutant hysteria started to die down and he became nothing more than a footnote in anti-mutant history. He wasn’t forgotten by all, though, as Bastion had need for his power, even after death. The malicious robot was enacting another plan to rid the world of mutants and, using a modified version of the transmode virus, he resurrected Graydon, along with several other influential humans. The returned Graydon was now under Bastion’s control and he quickly restarted the Friends of Humanity organization. As the outside world saw him die, Graydon explained it away by saying he faked his death as he had become the constant target of mutants. Bastion used Graydon’s political power to reignite the anti-mutant movement, making him the public face of the robot’s plans. [X-Force (3rd series) #1,7]
Graydon was uneasy at being used as a pawn in Bastion’s plan, especially when a thousand humans were murdered at one of his rallies. Bastion orchestrated the whole scenario in a bid to stir up hatred for mutants, with Graydon powerless to stop him. [X-Force (3rd series) #12] Nevertheless, Graydon played his part perfectly and helped amassed thousands of supporters in the reformed Friends of Humanity.
During the time Graydon had been dead, the mutant population of the world had been reduced to hundreds, following an event known as M-Day. When the young girl known as Hope Summers, the so-called mutant messiah, returned from her trip to the future and threatened to undo the “Decimation,” Bastion decided it was time to strike. Graydon was tasked with targeting the X-Men’s science team, the X-Club. Luring them out to a disused oil rig, Graydon managed to trap the X-Club in a holographic scenario. The ultimate goal was to trick them into developing a cure to rid mutants of the X-gene, which was to be used as a back-up in case Bastion’s primary goal failed. X-Club outsmarted Graydon, though, and they managed to break free of the holographic 
prison and take down Graydon’s team. With his mission a failure, Graydon went back to Bastion, who was preparing to launch his endgame.
Trapping the X-Men in an impenetrable force field, Bastion opened a portal to the future that allowed Sentinels to come through. When the X-Men managed to destroy the portal, Bastion used his powers to turn Graydon into a Sentinel himself, so that he could take on the X-Men personally. Despite his new robotic form, Graydon was no match for the combined might of the X-Men and was completely destroyed alongside Bastion. [Second Coming crossover]
It wasn’t long before Graydon found himself resurrected once again, only to be a slave to another person’s will once again. The mysterious woman Persephone, who led the Soteira group, had the ability to resurrect mutants as mindless drones, compelled to fulfil her every command. Graydon was placed on Killteam Nine along with another resurrected man, Lord Darkwind, Lady Deathstrike’s father.
As part of Killteam Nine, Graydon oversaw the clean-up process of Soteira’s illegal and covert experiments - one of which saw a strange device activated in the town of Maybelle, Arizona. The device killed the entire town’s population instantly but brought them back as flesh-eating zombies. Graydon was sent in to assess the situation, only to discover that Daken, Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike were investigating the same thing. Upon orders from Soteira, Graydon attempted to capture Daken, only to come face to face with his father. Graydon fought against Sabretooth, who was caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of his son and his zombie-like mind. Graydon was only stopped when Lady Deathstrike stabbed him through the neck, allowing her and Sabretooth to escape. [Hunt for Wolverine: Claws of a Killer #1-4]
Graydon was dead once again and he returned to Hell, where he could be punished for the many sins he commited in life. His reprieve would come from a surprising place when his father Sabretooth, found him in his eternal torment. Victor had travelled to Hell in a bid to destroy William Stryker's soul, but when he found his son he took pity on the man. When he attempted to leave Hell with Graydon's soul, Victor came up against the devil, as well as against Stryker and his cult. Knowing that someone the devil wouldn't let a soul go without a price, Sabretooth sacrificed his own chance at freedom so that Graydon could be resurrected. [Weapon X (3rd series) #26-27]