UNUS

BIOGRAPHY

Angelo Unuscione was born in Milan, Italy. Much of his early life is unknown, but he had a history of bullying and criminal behavior, even before moving to North America. At some point after arriving, he changed his name legally to Gunther Bain. According to one source, he was responsible for fathering Jared Corbo, who grew up to become Radius of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight. [Alpha Flight (2nd series) #10] He also has an unconfirmed relationship with Carmella Unuscione of the Acolytes, often presumed to be her father. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #298] Both of these mutants have force field powers that are variations on Angelo’s own power.

[Note: The connection between Unus and Unuscione has remained oddly undeveloped for decades. Even the Handbooks leave their relationship as “presumed.” However, the X-Men: Mutant Empire novels had the Blob associate with the Acolytes and tell Carmella how close he was with “her father.”]

Gunther established himself as a costumed wrestler under the name Unus the Untouchable. His powerful force field was nevertheless visibly discreet enough for him to enjoy a successful career in the ring without being identified as a mutant by the common Homo sapiens. His force field even proved to be a sufficient defense against a fellow mutant. The X-Man called the Beast fought him in the ring while on sabbatical from the team. Unus also came to the attention of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Mastermind of the Brotherhood acted as Magneto’s liaison and told Unus their leader was impressed with his ability. However, Unus still needed to do something to prove himself worthy of representing Homo superior in the Brotherhood, such as disposing of Magneto’s hated foes in the X-Men.

While considering his options, Unus happened upon a bank robbery while walking the streets of New York. On a whim, he decided to claim the money for himself, and the robbers could do nothing to stop him. The X-Men were already searching the city for the new mutant detected by Cerebro, and quickly found the commotion. Unus the Untouchable lived up to his name as the X-Men were unable to lay a finger on him. They only gained the upper hand when Unus made a mistake and instinctively went for a wrestler’s hold against the Angel. Instead of resisting, Angel used the opportunity to lift Unus up into the air and deposit him onto a rooftop spire. This ended the encounter in an absolute stalemate, with the X-Men believing the Untouchable Man was seemingly unstoppable as well.

Unus begged Mastermind for another chance to eliminate the X-Men, now that he had their measure. Still, he was surprised when the Beast ambushed him with a ray device that did him no harm. In fact, his force field was amplified by the beam, making it stronger and more repulsive than ever. Unus decided Beast had chosen the winning side, and increased Unus’ power to show his own worth to the Brotherhood. As he experimented with his new power, though, Unus started to realize the truth. His force field was now too powerful to shut off. His cigarettes, his food, even a chair was repelled away from him before he could use them. Unus slowly came to the understanding that he was condemned to die a slow and wasting death, unable to feed himself. After giving Unus a few hours to stew, Beast and the X-Men approached him with the offer of reversing the ray device’s effects. In exchange, Unus would cut all ties with the Brotherhood and give up life as an evil mutant. Unus accepted he was at their mercy, and agreed to return to making an honest living. [X-Men (1st series) #8]

Deciding to get out of New York for a while, Unus continued his career as a wrestler but turned it into a traveling stage show. He offered a cash prize to anybody who could stay in the ring with him for three minutes. His spectacle started taking money away from a passing carnival where the Blob worked. The rotund mutant decided to take the upstart’s challenge and put him in his place. Once in the ring, Unus and Blob soon realized they were each mutants, as Blob couldn’t get his hands on Unus and Unus’ force field couldn’t push Blob away. After the match, they traded stories about being defeated by the X-Men and hatched a scheme to get rich and get revenge.

Unus and Blob doctored up X-Men uniforms for themselves and became bank robbers, using their powers for real profit while framing their enemies for the act. Little did they realize the idea had been planted in their heads by Lucifer, Professor Xavier’s nemesis. The villains’ act made the local crowd in New York believe all X-Men were criminals, turning the public against the mutants. Lucifer also made Unus immune to the Beast’s ray device, and psychically planted a “hunch” in his mind that this was true. Sure enough, Unus and Blob confidently faced off against the X-Men when they arrived to stop the evil mutants’ crime spree, and Beast’s ray device failed to affect Unus at all. As Unus and Blob fought the X-Men, Cyclops blew open the street beneath their feet, dropping the duo onto a passing subway car. Their crime spree over for now, Blob and Unus exited from Manhattan. [X-Men (1st series) #20]

On the run for a time, Unus and Blob were eventually recruited by the Mutant-Master for his evil mutants known as Factor Three. Along with Mastermind, Vanisher and the Master’s lieutenant Changeling, they would serve as a third factor in the Cold War between the United States and the USSR, pitting the human nations against each other so that mutants would thrive in the aftermath. Unus eagerly oversaw the Mutant-Master’s forces as they attacked and undermined the X-Men’s efforts to uncover the secrets of Factor Three. In time, the X-Men were captured on the eve of Factor Three’s twin assaults on the east and the west, intent on starting a nuclear war. However, the Changeling became suspicious of Mutant-Master and tricked their leader into revealing he was actually an alien from Sidri, interested in making Earth completely uninhabitable for man or mutant so his people could claim the planet for themselves. Unus and Factor Three briefly joined forces with the X-Men on behalf of the planet, but the evil mutants chose their own path afterwards. [X-Men (1st series) #37-39]

The allies made during Factor Three remained in contact with one another. Unus and the evil mutants considered keeping Factor Three together for a time. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #33] He was captured alongside Blob and Mastermind by the Sentinels during their attempt to purge mutantkind. [X-Men (1st series) #59-60] With Magneto unaccounted for and seemingly dead, the trio felt ambitious enough to declare themselves the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. In practice, however, they remained petty and self-serving crooks. The trio took over a carnival at one point and bartered with a man named Krueger to seek revenge on the X-Men. [X-Men: The Hidden Years #11-14] Later, they attempted to convince the mutated Beast to join them in stealing a prize diamond, but Beast’s good nature won out and he turned against the evil mutants. [Amazing Adventures (2nd series) #12-13]

After being used as pawns by the Secret Empire, the Brotherhood were at loose ends. [Captain America (1st series) #174-175] They were perhaps relieved when Magneto returned to bring true leadership and vision to their group. Magneto plotted to create the Ultimate Mutant, using Deviant genetics technology he discovered in a lost cave. Professor X and the Defenders tried to stop the Brotherhood, but the mutant Alpha was nevertheless born. Alpha’s immense psychic powers made Magneto cocky enough to conquer the United Nations, raising the entire building into the skies. However, Alpha’s ongoing evolution led him to see the evil of Magneto and his Brotherhood. He weighed their spirits and found them wanting, using his power to reverse their development and turn Unus and the other evil mutants back into infants. [Defenders (1st series) #15-16]

Magneto, Unus and the rest of the Brotherhood were brought to the Muir Island Research Center by Professor Xavier, and placed in the care of his associate, Moira MacTaggert. Sometime later, the Shi’ar operative Eric the Red sought an alliance with Magneto against the X-Men, and used his equipment to restore Magneto to adulthood at the peak of his powers. [X-Men (1st series) #104] Unus and the other infants happened to be in the next room and were affected by the alien ray as well. Abandoned by Magneto, they chose to avoid any conflict with the X-Men and fled. Unus, Blob and Lorelei were joined by their former comrade from Factor Three, Vanisher, who had acquired some second-hand Sentinels. They attempted to take revenge on some of the older X-Men who now worked with the Champions of Los Angeles, but this plot fell through rather quickly. [Champions (1st series) #17]

[Note: The Marvel Holiday Special 1991 showed Blob and Unus’ Brotherhood fighting the All-New, All-Different X-Men at Christmas time. Unfortunately, that story led directly into X-Men (1st series) #98, while Unus and the others remained children on Muir Island until after #104, marking the story as a continuity error.]

Unus was placed in federal custody, but was trotted out as an example for a psychiatric lecture on the mutant phenomena. He used the reduced security as a chance to escape but was opposed by the visiting Dr. Leonard Samson. The arrogant Unus was cocky even against Doc Samson’s Hulk-like strength, rebuffing his opponent’s attacks over and over. Once they got outside, however, Samson changed tactics and ripped up the ground beneath Unus’ feet, throwing him high into the air. Samson maneuvered his chunk of pavement under the falling Unus repeatedly, causing Unus’ force field to repel him back into the sky over and over. The dizzy and daunted mutant eventually gave up and agreed to go back into custody to avoid any further turmoil. [Incredible Hulk Annual #11]

When he next got out of custody, Unus tried a different tactic. Instead of loud costumes and world takeover attempts, he decided to knock over small stores and diners for cash while in civilian clothes. By picking small targets and calling little attention to himself, Unus hoped to avoid the complications of super-hero and super-villain melodrama. He did well at first, but robbing stores in Harlem brought him to the attention of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. Unus stood up to Luke Cage and his partner, Iron Fist, even walking away from an iron fist blow. Still, Power Man finally got fed up and lifted Unus off the ground by gripping his force field. Unus tried to break free by dropping his force field for an instant, but Iron Fist was ready to strike in that instant, knocking him unconscious. [Power Man and Iron Fist (1st series) #90]

Unus eventually began to suffer unexpected consequences because of his powers. Whether it was a delayed reaction to Beast’s old ray device or something more, Unus started losing control of his force field once again. The repulsive force expanded uncontrollably to prevent anything from getting within a few dozen feet of Unus’ body. Completely isolated and unable to even feed himself, Unus began to fall into depression. The Blob proved to be a genuine friend to Unus and bought out a carnival to support the both of them. Only the Blob’s raw strength and immovability enabled him to force his way step by step close enough to Unus in order to force food into his buddy’s mouth.

Before they could make plans towards finding a cure, the Hulk wandered into the carnival. Blob tried to toss him out, but threats only made the Hulk mad. He threw Blob into Unus’ tent, sending Fred rocketing back out when he struck Unus’ force field. Unus stood up for Blob, but the incredible Hulk’s strength was still… incredible. Although he couldn’t break into Unus’ force field, the Hulk power was enough to push the entire force field away, with Unus inside it. Hulk turned his attention back on the Blob, and Fred grabbed the brute’s leg as he jumped away. As he ran after Hulk and Blob, Unus allowed his force field to expand like never before. He flattened a forest while charging towards the two fighters, challenging the Hulk to turn his attention on Unus instead of the fading Blob. The furious Hulk unleashed on Unus with a single blow that overloaded his force field, knocking Unus out. The Hulk leapt away once nobody was awake to frustrate him, and Unus came to with his force field completely dispersed. Thrilled that his power was back under control, Unus gathered up Blob and helped his friend back to the carnival. [Marvel Fanfare (1st series) #7]

Unfortunately for Unus, his force field was only temporarily depleted. In time his power resurfaced, and began growing in strength again. Blob got sent to prison and made ties with a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, making him unavailable as Unus struggled with his powers this time. Unus’ force field reached the point where it repelled him off the ground, leaving him constantly hovering and unable to move. Food was impossible and, in time, even air started to repel away from his throat and lungs. The Blob eventually learned of Unus’ predicament and sought him out just as an emaciated and weakened Unus began to expire. He collapsed into Fred’s arms as his force field gave out, seemingly the result of Unus dying due to being deprived of food and air. [Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1st series) #91]

Blob wandered off in his grief, but Unus apparently survived the effects of his uncontrollable force field. What state he was left in is unknown, but he wasn’t seen again for many years. After the death of Magneto during the Sentinel massacre of sixteen million mutants on Genosha, Unus found his way there with Shocker, Toad and Toad-in-Waiting. They worked to reconstruct the fallen Wild Sentinel into a monument to Magneto to commemorate the lives lost. Unus had an eerie encounter with the “ghosts” of Genosha that wandered the devastated cityscape. The voices of the dead were haunting enough, but these spectral entities passing through his force field gave Unus a visceral discomfort, touched by the untouchable. [New X-Men (1st series) #132]

Somehow, Unus rose to the top of this band of mutants living in the ashes of Genosha, adding more members under his command. His status as “top dog” became questionable, however, when Charles Xavier and a returning Magneto made plans to revitalize Genosha. Unus quickly faced an ignominious fate when Xavier’s new student, the massive transmorph called Freakshow, swallowed him whole. Untouchable, invulnerable, but utterly incapable of resisting, Unus was vomited up several hours later and limped back to his gang. Unus remained a minor threat on the periphery as Xavier began training new mutants and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. When Stripmine’s team of looters arrived, Unus made a deal with them to betray the interlopers, but still failed to gain any leverage or advantage over Xavier and Magneto. He was mostly reduced to the role of irritating neighbor who occasionally made a vain attempt at killing them. [Excalibur (3rd series) #1-9]

[Note: For some reason, Unus was incapable of recognizing Magneto when they were living in Genosha’s remains on opposite sides. Xavier and Magneto both commented on the curiosity, but as a plot thread it ultimately went nowhere.]

Unus was among the millions of mutants affected by the Decimation, losing his force field powers. [New Avengers (1st series) #18] Having nowhere to go, Unus remained wandering the ruins of Genosha with the other shellshocked and depowered mutants. They met a surprising savior when Magneto’s son Quicksilver arrived with tales of a cure for the Decimation. Pietro also lost his powers in the Decimation but gained new abilities from exposure to the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists. Quicksilver stole a supply of the mists from Attilan and wanted to use them to repower other mutants. However, the effects of the mists proved to be unstable and temporary. Mutants like Callisto received an uncontrollable boost when their powers returned, throwing them off-balance. When the Inhumans arrived on Genosha to reclaim the mists, Unus and the others still fought to retain possession of the Terrigen and their restored powers. Unus should have been more cautious, however, given his history. His force field once more increased beyond his control, shutting out light, sound and air. As the mutants and Inhumans watched on helplessly, Unus’ force field asphyxiated him in a matter of minutes, only shutting down once he died from lack of oxygen. [Son of M #5-6]

By dying on Genosha, however, Unus the Untouchable was inadvertently positioned so that he might return. Through her servant, Eli Bard, Selene the Black Queen gained access to a techno-organic virus which could resurrect dead mutants under her dominion. After returning key pawns for her plans, Selene traveled to Genosha and used the virus to resurrect all the dead mutants of that nation as an army. [X-Force (3rd series) #21] Unus appeared among the revived hordes Selene called upon just before X-Force attacked Genosha to stop Selene’s plans for world domination. [X-Force (3rd series) #24] Although the Black Queen was defeated, not all of the resurrected mutants were laid back to rest. A few unidentified mutants reportedly escaped the climax and continued on as free and living beings, a number which apparently included Unus.

Over time, Unus the Untouchable eventually resurfaced, back in his old habits and trying to take revenge on the X-Men. He showed up on the front steps of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning just as Spider-Man arrived to serve as a special class guidance counselor. Spider-Man quickly wrapped up the Untouchable man, as his sticky and elastic webbing expanded and contracted with Unus’ force field, leaving him immobile within his own field. [Spider-Man and the X-Men #1]

More time passed, and the mutants of the world united under a single banner on the island nation-state of Krakoa. Ruled by Xavier, Magneto, Apocalypse and a Quiet Council of friends and foes alike, Krakoa gave all mutants the opportunity for citizenship, putting aside old grudges. Apocalypse met with his grandson Summoner, and learned his wife and children from centuries ago may still be alive on the other side of the External Gate in Otherworld. Apocalypse asked Banshee and Unus to travel with Summoner as ambassadors, making first contact between the sister islands of Krakoa and Arakko after so long. [X-Men (5th series) #12]

But Summoner soon returned through the gate with a direly-wounded Banshee, telling tales of Unus’ capture at the hands of Arakko’s enemies, the demon hordes of Amenth. Apocalypse rallied the heroes of Krakoa to join him and Summoner on a rescue mission to Otherworld, only to discover the lies woven by his descendant. Arakko had fallen to Amenth centuries ago, and the first Four Horsemen served as generals to the demon hordes. Unus was rescued, but the Krakoans returned home, betrayed and ready for further conflict. A tournament of Swordbearers was arranged in Otherworld short of outright war, but in the final moments it degenerated into all-out brutality. Cyclops and Marvel Girl reformed the X-Men and led an ad hoc army of Krakoans into Otherworld for the final battle, including Unus looking for revenge. [X of Swords crossover]

Nothing has been seen of Unus the Untouchable since then, and his status given the current state of Krakoa is unknown.