SHATTER

BIOGRAPHY

Much of the young Shatter's history is shrouded in mystery, including even his real name. He has said that, prior to development of his mutant powers, he was living at home with his father. He had a prejudice and fear of mutants, like many other humans. When he realized that his body was changing and he was turning into a mutant himself, he was overcome by self-hatred and fear. Deciding to take his own life, he stole his father's gun and shot himself point blank into the head. Whether due to luck or misfortune, he survived. His mutant powers activating, making him indestructible but transmogrifying his skin into a shiny, black substance. No longer human-passing, Shatter ran away from home and eventually found himself a new famliy with the Chicago chapter of the Morlocks. [Morlocks #2]

In many ways, the Chicago Morlocks were very much like their New York sister group, albeit much smaller in scale, with only six members. Similarly, they had no choice but to live underground and steal food and other supplies. Their exploits had turned them into somewhat of an urban legend in Chicago and, unbeknownst to them, the attention of anti-mutant forces. One night, following a heist on a local convenience store, they came across a new mutant later named Cell,who had been shot by Chicago PD while fleeing with a stolen car. Cell had inadvertently led the police to the Morlocks home, so they were forced to intervene. Shatter was easily the most peaceful of his group, though he did wield a baseball bat. He seemed to utilize his “non-human” appearance to intimidate and was the only member of the group not to resort to violence during the police's unintentional trespass. In the aftermath of their skirmish, Cell was offered a place among their roster by the group's leader, Postman. The Morlocks took their new recruit back to their inner sanctum and started to eat their “loot.” During the meal, the group's two female members, Angel Dust and Electric Eve, had a verbal altercation and nearly came to blows. Shatter and Cell tried to restrain the super-strong, Angel Dust but she simply flung them both behind her. The force of the knock dislodged Shatter's hood, exposing his headwound. Possibly due to personal shame, he had managed to conceal his injury from Angel Dust to this point. She believed she had hurt him and apologised, but he told her it was unnecessary, confiding in her that it was an old injury from his suicide attempt. When Angel Dust noted that she hated living in the tunnels, Shatter said he did too. Their heart to heart was interrupted by Postman and Litterbug. They had a mission.

The Chicago Morlocks had made a vow to each other when they formed that they would all help each other achieve one “last request.” In Shatter's case, he wanted to rescue his dog, Hank, a Pitbull mix from a kill shelter. Despite Shatter's new face/mutation, Hank remembered his scent and immediately started licking his face. The night was not over, however, as Electric Eve also had her “wish.” She told the group that she wanted to retrieve a family heirloom from her former pimp but, in reality, she planned to kill him. After the act, the rest of the group including Shatter and Hank found her and the corpse. Before Eve could be confronted about making the others accomplices to murder, they were found by Sentinels who had been tracking them. The robots immediately opened fire on Shatter and, despite his indestructible form, managed to blow off his right arm.

Shatter had survived the Sentinel blast and was carried away from the scene of the crime by Postman while Litterbug fought the Sentinels. Through teamwork and good fortune, the Morlocks managed to escape. Shatter was examined after the attack and fortunately the blast had cauterized the wound at the same time, so there was no blood loss but he had not regained consciousness. While he was unconscious, one of the other Morlocks, named Trader, was killed by US military. This death had caused a shift in the group and its members decided to expedite their “last requests.” Angel Dust was brought to visit with her family to say goodbye. She had reservations and was afraid she would be rejected. Shatter told her to stop worrying, that she and they needed some closure. While petting Hank and, despite just losing his arm, assured her “there are still good things left in the world.”

After Angel Dust met with her family, Litterbug confessed he had been a party to the Sentinel program as an engineer, prior to the advent of his mutation. He thought the group's only chance to escape Chicago now was to try and destroy the local Sentinel facility. The rest of the group were reluctant to trust Litterbug after his confession and considered what he was suggesting impossible. Shatter remained optimistic, telling the others nothing was impossible, just as he regrew his own arm. Shatter took a more philosophical stance to Litterbug's past crimes. He was aware of the constant infighting of different factions of his people and he disagreed. Regardless of their pasts, they were a people, a singular people and Litterbug was their “brother” despite his sins.

Shatter's words had an impact and the Morlocks teamed up to take down a Sentinel and managed to hide in its body to “Trojan horse” their way into the manufacturing facility. Their mission was a success and the facility was destroyed, though they lost Cell in the crossfire. After the explosion, Angel Dust decided to leave the group and return home. Shatter left with Postman, Litterbug and Electric Eve. The plan was to head as far south as they could. Shatter was worried about Angel Dust being on her own but accepted her decision. Fortunately, he still had Hank. [Morlocks #1-4] What happened to Shatter and Hank immediately after is unknown, however he was one of the many mutants reported as depowered during M-Day by the Scarlet Witch. [New Avengers (1st series) #18] Shatter was later repowered through undisclosed means. Given his earlier stance that mutants needed to unify, it should not be surprising that he joined the nation of Krakoa after its formation. He was seen on the island during Sabretooth's breakout from the pit, having been knocked unconscious. [Sabretooth (3rd series) #5]

Perhaps the Sabretooth incident contributed to Shatter's decision to leave Krakoa for Madripoor. During the events of the third Hellfire Gala, Shatter was taking part in former Morlock leader, Callisto's alternative celebration on a ship in the Madripoor sea. This initially proved good fortune for Shatter, as he avoided the massacre that occurred at the Gala. Unfortunately, the Morlocks found themselves targets of the genocidal human group, Orchis, soon after. Thanks to Madelyne Pryor's X-Men faction, Shatter and some of the Morlocks were saved, though several others were killed. What became of him after this is unknown, however Callisto intimated she would be assuming control over the surviving Morlocks again. [Dark X-Men (2nd series) #2-3]