TOM CORSI & SHARON FRIEDLANDER

BIOGRAPHY

A Vietnam veteran, Sergeant Tom Corsi was working the late shift with the Westchester County Police on the night when a critically injured Danielle Moonstar was taken to Mid-County General Hospital. There, he met the distraught friends of Dani's who were waiting frantically in the hospital for any news. Corsi was surprised when he was told that Dani had been mauled by a bear, at least as far as they could tell. Corsi was doubtful of this theory, which angered Dani's friends, who wanted him to take action. The commotion they caused caught the attention of a nurse at the hospital, Sharon Friedlander, who informed Dani's friends that she was putting up a real good fight, but that they should not get their hopes up, as she was terribly hurt. Sharon offered to report back with an update later.

While still in the hospital, Corsi came upon a transformed Wolfsbane peering into the operating room to check on her friend. Startled, Corsi ordered her to freeze, but Wolfsbane ran through down the corridor and managed to switch back to her human form. Confused, Corsi was relieved he didn't shoot her and put the strange creature he saw down to fatigue. Tom went to speak with Sharon and was starting to ask her out on a date when suddenly they were attacked by the Demon Bear that had mauled Dani.

As a result, Tom and Sharon (along with the New Mutants) were transported to the Demon Bear's realm, which was represented as an unspoiled, pre-Columbian, Midwestern America. There, Tom and Sharon came under the Demon Bear's spell, as the creature transformed them into its servants, monstrous forms of Native Americans, and used them to fight the New Mutants.

The New Mutants were able to defeat the Demon Bear, at least temporarily, and were returned to the hospital along with Tom and Sharon. Though they survived the ordeal, both were unconscious and their appearances remained Native American. [New Mutants (1st series) #19-20]

Following their transformation, Tom and Sharon were sent to Muir Island to recover. It was there that they discovered that, not only had their physical appearances been altered, but their entire bodies. Tom could now lift nearly a thousand pounds and they both were now in the best of physical conditions. Despite this seeming benefit, though, Sharon was having difficulty adjusting to her new appearance.

Tom and Sharon soon found themselves in more unusual danger when they responded to the psychic distress call from David Haller, the son of Charles Xavier, who was also on Muir Island. Thanks to the boy's many personas, they became trapped in his room and eventually in his mind. Luckily for them, they were later rescued by Dani Moonstar. [New Mutants (1st series) #26, 28]

Unable to return to their previous lives due to their transformations, Tom and Sharon took up positions at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, around the same time that Magneto became headmaster. They assisted around the school with tasks like supervising the New Mutants and collecting them from trips to Salem Center. Sharon was even able to continue putting her nursing abilities to good use. Their position at the school even extended to consulting with Magneto on the development of the New Mutants and their powers. [New Mutants (1st series) #35-36]

Tom and Sharon were out for a walk on the snow-covered school grounds when they happened across Empath of the Hellions. They recognized him from the X-Men's files and suggested he come inside so Magneto could talk to him. Empath, however, had no intention of following the instructions of two humans and used his emotion-manipulating power on them, forcing them to act on their interest for each other, but with a bestial desire.

Cruelly, Empath continued his psychic attack beyond simply distracting them. Tom and Sharon’s love for each other became base desire, then love without limit. As time went on, they became addicted, demanding more and more stimulus to satisfy their cravings until they were hollow. Empath prompted the two to change their appearance as well as emotions, leading them to shave parts of their hair and dress in revealing, bondage costumes. Possibly left for dead by Empath, Tom nevertheless survived and was able to carry Sharon back to the Mansion, where they were discovered by Magneto and taken to the infirmary. Sharon recovered first and recounted the trauma that happened to them to the furious Magneto. [New Mutants (1st series) #38-39]

In the aftermath, Tom and Sharon grew depressed and withdrawn, a mixture of shame at what had transpired between them and the craving of what they had. Additionally, their peak physical forms had withered somewhat. They now looked old and barely spoke. [New Mutants (1st series) #43] Thankfully, by the time of the massacre of the Morlocks, Tom and Sharon had pulled themselves together somewhat, as their physical conditions improved, they were able to assist in the crisis. Sharon proved a valuable asset to Dr. Moira MacTaggert, looking after the many injured Morlocks, while Tom was able to carry weapons and patrol the tunnel space that linked the Morlock Tunnels with the Xavier Estate. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #212-213]

Following the destruction of the Xavier Mansion and the scattering of the X-Men, the New Mutants became wards of X-Factor. In the wake of these changes, Tom and Sharon would have been without a home, had they not been able to relocate to Moira MacTaggert's Muir Isle. By now their appearances had returned to that which they were before Empath's mental tampering and Sharon found herself useful as Moira's lab assistant. They were present on Muir Isle when the Reavers launched their assault and donned the standard X-Men uniform for protection. Tom even took part in the defense of the Isle alongside several other associates of the X-Men who were present at the time. He battled the Reaver called Bonebreaker, while Sharon remained inside the Research Center alongside Moira MacTaggert. It was Tom and Sharon who delivered the body of Destiny, who had been slain by Legion, to Mystique once the Reavers had been dealt with. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #254-255]

Tom and Sharon remained on Muir Isle and were present as the residents began to fall under the sway of the Shadow King, though Tom and Sharon's personalities didn't change much compared to the others. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #278] Fortunately, they and the other residents of Muir Isle were later freed from the Shadow King's grasp by the X-Men and X-Factor.

With the X-Men and X-Factor re-formed, Charles Xavier sent Tom and Sharon to work at Our Mother of the Sacred Heart School to watch over a child at the school. There, Sharon was the school's nurse and Tom drove the school bus. On what seemed like a regular day, Sharon contemplated how her life was different now than compared to life at the Xavier School. However, she didn't have long to reflect before the Acolytes attacked the school and Joanna Cargill snapped Sharon's neck with ease, killing her. Before her unfortunate death, Sharon was able to send a psychic cry for help to Charles Xavier.

Tom had just returned to the school with the school bus filled with the children when the Acolytes revealed themselves, boasting of their plan to carry out Magneto's will and cleanse the young humans from the gene pool and liberate the mutant within the school's population. Eric Kleinstock was the first to launch an attack on the bus, but Tom, determined to protect the children, retaliated with a weapon and shot Eric dead. The X-Men's Gold Team soon arrived to protect the children and Tom from the Acolytes. It was at this point that the Acolytes learned that the mutant in the school had Down syndrome, leading to their decision that was not worthy of being liberated and should be purged alongside the rest of the school. Fortunately, the X-Men put a stop to the Acolytes' cruel plans, even if they could not save Sharon. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #298]

Tom kept in touch with Banshee after striking up a friendship during their time together on Muir Isle. Sometime later, Banshee invited Tom to take up a faculty position at the Massachusetts Academy, where Generation X resided amongst a non-mutant school body. Tom accepted Banshee's invitation and was given the role of overseeing Generation X's mutant development. When Skin queried Tom as to what made him an expert on mutants, Tom revealed that had read a lot of Moira MacTaggert's research when he was on Muir Isle. Tom had no problems settling into the role working alongside the other faculty members Banshee, Emma Frost and Adrienne Frost. [Generation X #52]

Tom accompanied Emma Frost to supervise the students on a trip to New York and the two paired off together to go in search of two missing students. During their first time alone together since Tom arrived at the Massachusetts Academy, he admitted to Emma that he did not want to work for her and that Sean had to do a lot of convincing. He told Emma that she probably didn't remember what her former student Empath did to him and Sharon, and reminded her of what happened. Emma assured Tom that she had not forgotten and told him that it was not one of her finest moments and that she had been dreading this conversation since Tom came to the Academy. Tom surprised Emma by harboring no ill will towards her and pointed out that he knew she was a different person now. [Generation X #59]

A short time later, the human students at the Massachusetts Academy departed the school and, with only Generation X remaining at the Academy, Tom was no longer needed. He made a quiet departure for parts unknown. [off-panel around Generation X #70] To help with the ever-growing student population at the Xavier Institute, Tom returned to Westchester to teach phys. ed. [mentioned in New Mutants (2nd series) #7] However, when the Decimation struck and 90% of the world's mutant population, including most of the students at the Xavier Institute, were de-powered, Tom once again found himself out of a job as the school had no more use for him. [off-panel around New X-Men (2nd series) #23] Whatever he is doing now, it will no-doubt be with the dedication he has shown to the mutant cause during his time with the X-Men.