BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
When a confederation of New Warriors and New Mutants descended on Muir Island, however, the Shadow King loosened his hold on Legion and the Islanders, apparently uncertain that he could claim so many new minds at once. Their guests informed Moira, Legion and the others about a plot to bring back Moira’s reality-altering son Proteus in a new body, using an energy-absorbing young mutant named Piecemeal to collect his scattered energy state. The united heroes tracked the unwitting Piecemeal and his tormenter, Harness, to Edinburgh, the site of Proteus’s death. Legion lent the use of Jack Wayne and his telekinetic powers to Moira’s plan for reabsorbing Proteus’s energy out of Piecemeal. Unfortunately, the depth of Piecemeal’s pain telepathically bled through Legion’s mind, causing him to drop his telekinetic fields and the plan fell apart. Proteus’ energies burned out Piecemeal from the inside, destroying his physical form and rebirthing MacTaggert’s son. Proteus then unleashed his powers on Edinburgh. [Uncanny X-Men Annual (1st series) #15]
Legion and the rest were banished to a dimension of nothingness by Proteus. They were joined hours later by Cyclops and X-Factor, who had made a failed attempt to stop Proteus and reclaim Edinburgh. Jean Grey had been exposed to Proteus’ thoughts during the fight, and she used Legion and Jemail’s telepathy to share the experience with everyone, showing them the peace Proteus had achieved in his discorporated state. His efforts to restructure Edinburgh were an attempt to recreate that peace in the real world. Tragically, the gathering of heroes were forced to convince Proteus he could never find the same happiness in life that he found in death, and so the all-powerful mutant chose to die again rather than continue trying to force his will on reality. [X-Factor Annual #6]
Legion and the others returned to Muir Island after that, and the Shadow King redoubled his efforts to manipulate them all for his amusement. Using Jack Wayne’s captive Polaris as a nexus for negative energy, 
Shadow King expanded his influence over the globe, pushing the darkness within humanity to the surface. The X-Men, freshly returned from space with Professor Xavier, attempted to infiltrate Muir Island but were quickly discovered. Legion personally confronted Storm and, while David Haller resisted the Shadow King’s demands, Jack Wayne was more than willing to carry out Farouk’s commands. The negative influence made Wayne strong enough to access all of Legion’s powers and he shot down Storm with a combination of telepathic, telekinetic and pyrotic power. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #278]
Professor Xavier and X-Factor soon led an international strike force to Muir Island to confront Shadow King and rescue the X-Men, unaware that his primary host was FBI agent Jacob Reisz, one of their own allies. On the island, X-Factor fought through a half-dozen of Farouk’s puppets with little resistance but were stopped short by the power of Legion unleashed. The confrontation took place on two fronts, as Reisz revealed himself and attempted to strangle Xavier to death back at their staging ground. Reisz was caught off-guard and executed, forcing the Shadow King to choose a new host form… Legion. With David’s immense power unchecked at his control, the Shadow King released a devastating blast that destroyed more than two-thirds of Muir Island. [X-Factor (1st series) #69]
Keeping his captives alive for further torment, Legion/Shadow King was eagerly awaiting Xavier when he ventured onto Muir Island to survey the scene. Legion murdered Xavier’s SHIELD escorts before advancing on his father-foe. Xavier attempted to reach out to his son’s consciousness beneath the Shadow King’s control, only to discover that David liked Farouk’s influence, as it was helping to integrate his schizoid mind. Only the sudden arrival of the recuperated Storm prevented Legion from finishing off Xavier then and there. He retreated into the bowels of Muir Island to guard his nexus, Lorna Dane, and dispatched his puppets to battle the newly-freed X-Men. Despite his efforts, the X-Men rescued Polaris and severed her connection to the Shadow King, casting the entity back into the forgotten depths of the astral plane. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #280]
Unfortunately for Legion, his mind was essentially destroyed when the Shadow King forcibly vacated his body, leaving him in a vegetative state. Professor Xavier spent time desperately searching for any trace of consciousness inside David’s mind, but was unable to locate any signs of activity. He reluctantly accepted that his son was gone. [X-Factor (1st series) #70]
David Haller was consigned to an intensive care ward at a hospital in Tel Aviv, his body receiving the best of care in the hopes that his mind might someday return. Many months later, Legion did awaken after visions of Destiny prodded him out of his coma and urged him on towards his true destiny. [X-Men (2nd series) #38] His awakening happened just in time to save him from an assassination attempt, as Mystique had come to Israel looking for revenge on Legion for Destiny’s murder. [X-Factor (1st series) #108]
NOTE: Destiny's interactions with Legion were never fully explained. It is possible that these visions were planted in his thoughts during his final fateful encounter with Irene Adler or were a product of his own damaged mind. It has also been theorized that David absorbed Irene's psyche as he did with Jemail Karami and others who died near him. Regardless of the true nature of her "presence," David believed he was truly communicating with Destiny and followed her advice.
David drove off Mystique using his mental powers and she fled before the arrival of the government-sponsored X-Factor team, which had been tracking her movements. David then reunited with Gabrielle Haller, who took note of the startling fact that David was actually calling her “mother” now. It soon became clear that Cyndi, Jack Wayne and Jemail Karami no longer occupied space in Legion’s psyche and that he was fully cognizant for the first time in over a decade. [X-Factor (1st series) #109]
Although he was now functionally sane, Legion was no less dangerous. His visions of Destiny led David to the conclusion that his 
father’s dream of mutant and human co-existencewould have been achieved long ago if Magneto hadn’t been around to oppose Xavier’s work. Legion telepathically appeared to his father in his dreams, posing as Magnus to see if Xavier would agree with his point of view. Charles refused to acknowledge the world would inevitably be a better place without Magneto in it, but David remained undeterred. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #319]
Back in Israel, Legion intervened on X-Factor’s hunt for Mystique and passed on to her a message that Destiny had made him promise to deliver. He then dismissed X-Factor with a wave of his hand, teleporting them thousands of miles away to Italy so they didn’t interfere with his plans. [X-Factor (1st series) #109]
Still following Destiny’s direction, Legion made his way out into the Negev Desert and began marshaling his ever-increasing powers to bend time itself. [X-Men (2nd series) #39] In the desert, Legion’s plan started to take shape. With his mind newly whole, David had the potential to access the full scope of his mutant abilities for the first time in his life and believed that time travel was possible for him. He devised a scheme to travel back in time roughly two decades to the time when his father and the man known as a Magnus first met in Israel. By killing Magnus before he arose to become Magneto, Legion hoped to ensure the future of mutantkind for his father (and, privately, to ensure his father could therefore devote his time to David).
Legion erected a dome of psionic energy in the Negev Desert, gathering all the necessary energies to engineer a time-jump that would actually influence the past, instead of merely generating an alternate timeline at the point of change. When the Israeli army and P.L.O. failed to penetrate Legion’s dome, the X-Men were called to the scene to lend aid. As powerful as he had become, Legion barely devoted a passing thought to Storm and her team, easily shrugging off their attacks as he finished his preparations. The time vortex was opened, sweeping up Legion and the X-Men into the past.
Despite his planning, Legion’s jump into the past was not without complications. He successfully arrived twenty years in the past in the period when his father and the man who would become Magneto were best friends working in a hospital in Israel. However, the stress of the time displacement left David Haller an amnesiac upon arrival. He was soon hospitalized and labeled a “John Doe.” Ironically, Legion received care from a volunteer worker calling himself Eric Magnus Lehnsherr, the very man he had come to kill. As he recovered his powers, Haller inadvertently reached out with his mind and telepathically touched Magnus’ thoughts. This eventually helped restore his memories and his mission, and Legion began an open war against Magnus in the skies over Haifa.
The X-Men did their best to defend Magnus but Legion’s power was too much for all of them to contend with. As he drew forth a psychic blade to murder the helpless man who was not yet Magneto, David failed to notice his father rushing to the aid of his friend. Charles Xavier leaped into the fray, pushing Magnus aside and taking the killing blow for himself. As his father died before he was even born, David Haller was swallowed up by the damaged timestream and ceased to exist. [LegionQuest]