The Hellions were a group of young mutants under the care of the Hellfire Club, trained by Emma Frost, the Club's White Queen.
Membership: Thunderbird II, Catseye, Jetstream, Empath, Tarot, Roulette, Firestar (unofficial), Magma, Beef, Bevatron
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281-282 [most of them killed by Sentinels and Fitzroy]
Before
- The X-Men had a few run-ins with the Hellfire Club. In X-Men (1st series) #129-131 both groups tried to recruit Kitty Pryde and Dazzler. Kitty, at least, was apparently intended for the White Queen’s Hellions.
- In X-Men (1st series) #95 Thunderbird, one of the all-new, all-different X-Men died. His younger brother, James, gifted with similar powers, took on his codename and joined the Hellions out of hate and revenge, blaming Xavier for his brother's death. This hatred was at least partially stoked by the White Queen’s psychic powers.
- Firestar debuted as a TV character in the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon. Her limited series was scheduled to appear at the same time she appeared in Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193, but was delayed. As a result, Firestar #1 and #2 need to be placed before her debut in regular continuity.
Flashback
A flashback in X-Force (1st series) #87 shows Emma Frost trying to recruit Christopher Aaronson (later known as King Bedlam). Due to her powers, Tarot knew he would turn down the offer, and that she herself would become bound to the man one day. [see Hellions II]
Chronology
| Firestar #1: | Emma Frost beats Xavier in a race to contact the newly discovered mutant Angelica Jones, who then enlists in the Massachusetts Academy. |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #180: | While the other X-Men are busy in the Secret Wars, Emma Frost attempts to recruit Doug Ramsey, a closet mutant and friend of Kitty Pryde’s. While Doug is touring the Academy, Kitty tags along to watch over him and is kidnapped by Frost. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #15-16: | Magik discovers that Kitty and Doug Ramsey are captives of Emma Frost. The New Mutants travel to the Massachusetts Academy. However, most of the team get caught as they are surprised by the White Queen and her Hellions (Thunderbird II, Roulette, Catseye, Tarot, Empath and Jetstream). |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #182: | Emma Frost tells Shaw and Tessa about their potential students - the New Mutants. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #17: | While Frost is busy, the Hellions and the Mutants settle for a duel between Jetstream and Cannonball. Even though Sam wins, Frost and Shaw don't want to let the mutants go. Luckily Kitty is able to cause a confusion that allows Magik to teleport them all to safety. |
| Firestar #2: | Because of her great potential, Emma and Shaw chose to isolate Firestar from the other students and trained her secretly alone. She is briefly introduced to the Hellions. |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193: | Banshee is ambushed on Muir Island. Before he gets knocked out he recognizes his attacker to be John Proudstar, the late Thunderbird, whom he himself saw die. Actually it is his younger brother James. With the help of Roulette, Empath and Firestar (under Empath's control) he wants to get his revenge by killing the X-Men. He threatens to kill Banshee if they don't accept his challenge. In the battle he has the chance to kill several X-Men but chooses not to, sensing his error. Both he and Firestar make amends to the X-Men, but still decide to return to the Massachusetts Academy. |
| Firestar #3: | Shaw and Emma plan to make Firestar assassinate the new Black Queen Selene, as she is extremely powerful and a potential threat to their own positions. |
| Firestar #4: | Firestar sees through the deception and leaves the Academy. Threatening to reveal the academy's secrets she makes Emma Frost promise to never interfere with her again. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #26: | The White Queen is angry about losing Firestar. She blames Empath's manipulations for destroying her plans for the young mutant. To teach Empath a lesson, she places psychic power inhibitors in his mind, till he learns to behave himself. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #28: | Empath hands over the dossiers of Sunspot and Magma to an unknown person at the Hellfire Club; this person will have them kidnapped for the Theatre of Pain. [New Mutants (1st series) #29] |
| New Mutants (1st series) #38: | Being killed and resurrected by the Beyonder left the New Mutants in a state of shock; the perfect opportunity for Emma Frost. She approaches their new mentor, Magneto, and offers to treat the students telepathically, if he allows them to join the Hellions. Giving in to feelings of guilt, fear and helplessness, Magneto accepts; unknown to him he was manipulated by the re-powered Empath. Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander, two of Xavier's staff, stumble upon Empath by accident and have to face his power. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #39: | The Massachusetts Academy welcomes its new students: Wolfsbane, Cypher, Magik, Karma, Cannonball and Magma. While Emma Frost tries to cure them of their deep sadness, Magneto finds out that he was tricked by Empath. The Mutants and the Hellions start to bond. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #40: | Learning of Magneto's rescue attempt, Emma Frost calls the local authorities, who in turn summon the Avengers to detain Magneto. Luckily the New Mutants hear about the battle and rush to help Magneto. They all go back to Xavier's school, but Emma leaves her invitation open to the Mutants if they ever want to return. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #43: | The New Mutants kidnap and torture Empath for the things he did to Tom and Sharon. Just before the rest of the Hellions arrive, they start to have doubts about their actions. The teams agree that the Hellions, who are angry at Empath as well, will deal with their teammate properly. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #53-54: | Both Hellions and New Mutants attend a formal dance at the Hellfire Club. At first they start to bond, splitting in smaller groups and enjoying the party. However, before long, the old rivalries resurface. The teams opt to settle their feud through a competition; the team that is able to capture a gang of fake sculptures dealers wins. Ultimately, the Hellions are the winners. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #56-57: | Both teams hear in the news about a Bird Boy. They race to contact him and the New Mutants are able to take him to their school. Yet before and during the battle Magma realizes that she has feelings for Empath, so she decides to transfer to the Massachusetts Academy to be near him. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #62: | Right after moving in, Magma receives a letter from her father to come home to Nova Roma. Empath joins her. Because of a plane crash they have to survive in the jungle. Their relationship develops. |
| New Mutants Annual #4: | While in Nova Roma, Amara gets kidnapped by scientists working for the High Evolutionary. Both the Hellfire Club and the New Mutants come to the rescue and Amara is reunited with Empath and her father. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #81: | Magma and Empath are still in Nova Roma, discussing their different religious beliefs. |
In between
- Angry about Firestar's departure, the White Queen tipped her off to Freedom Force, who tried to make her sign the Mutant Registration Act in Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #82-87. [see Brotherhood of Evil Mutants III] A short while after Angelica avoided registration, she joined the New Warriors. [New Warriors (1st series) #1]
- As he narrates in New Mutants (1st series) #99, Thunderbird left the Massachusetts Academy sometime after they last fought the New Mutants.According to James, there were attempts to pressure him into rejoining the Hellions, but instead he became part of the New Mutants under Cable's leadership, adopting the codename Warpath.
Chronology continued
| New Warriors (1st series) #5, 8: | The White Queen discovers that someone hacked into her data files, accessing Firestar’s personal file. Emma traces the infiltration back to Night Thrasher. [He did it in New Warriors (1st series) #1, to find out how to contact Angelica for his new team.] |
| New Warriors (1st series) #9-10: | The Hellions, including two new members by the names of Beef and Bevatron, break into the headquarters of the New Warriors. Emma announces a duel between the two teams over the fate of Firestar. If the Hellions win, she has to rejoin them. Since the Warriors win 3: 2, Firestar is free to go and chooses to remain with the New Warriors. |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281: | Emma Frost is giving another Hellfire Club party, among the party guests are seven Hellions (Catseye, Jetstream, Tarot, Roulette, Empath, Beef and Bevatron) and the X-Men's Gold team. Suddenly Trevor Fitzroy teleports in and immediately kills Jetstream and Beef. He belongs to the Upstarts, a group of young, powerful and wealthy people (most of them mutants) winning points by killing special targets; right now this would be Hellfire Club members. Trevor Fitzroy wants to get into the lead by killing Donald Pierce and Emma Frost in one swoop. To do that, he sent his Sentinels to the Reavers’ base in Australia, where they slaughtered Pierce's men. Pierce escaped by telling Gateway to take him to the person responsible. Through Gateway’s portal, Pierce and a few Sentinels materialize inside the Hellfire Club, shortly after Fitzroy began his attack. One of the first Sentinel blasts hits Emma Frost. Not sensing any emotions, Empath thinks her dead. Tarot is shown to be hit by a Sentinel blast. [Note: Empath’s presence is apparently an error, as he had left the Hellions for Nova Roma some time earlier. Additionally, Firestar and X-Force later travel to Nova Roma to tell Manuel about what happened.] |
| Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #282: | Fitzroy captured all the Hellions that did not die in the Sentinel attack and drains their life energies to create his time portals to summon villains from the future. The only recognizable character is Tarot. At least fifteen unnamed Hellions do appear for their first (and only) time. |
In between
- In New Warriors (1st series) #31, Cannonball and Warpath called Firestar to inform her about the Hellions' fate. Together they traveled to Nova Roma to tell Magma and Empath as well. Once there, they discover that the whole city of Nova Roma was a ruse created by Selene and filled with brainwashed people. Apparently, Magma's real name was Allison Crestmere and she was of British origin.
- Emma Frost eventually woke from her coma in Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #313, and was confronted with the knowledge of her students’ deaths. She became allied with Xavier and the X-Men in training a new group of mutant children, Generation X.
- “Child's Play”, a crossover between New Warriors (1st series) #45-46 and X-Force (1st series) #33-34, featured the Upstarts choosing the remaining members of the Hellions and the New Mutants as their targets. The former Hellions on their hitlist are Warpath, Firestar, Magma and Empath. In the wake of that crisis, Magma and Empath broke up.
- Generation X were plagued by visions of the dead Hellions when the demon D’Spayre attempted to destroy the young mutants in Generation X ‘97.
- Both Magma and Tarot (her being alive is still a mystery) were next seen in a new group of Hellions II, that surfaced in X-Force (1st series) #87-90.
- The memories of the dead Hellions were once again used to manipulate Generation X, when the young mutants found themselves mentally reliving the last moments of the Hellions before they died - a diabolical ruse by the White Queen’s mad sister, Adrienne, in Generation X #55-56.
- When “M-Day” struck, decimating 95% of the world’s mutant population, Tarot was identified as one of the many mutants who lost their powers, as was her lover, King Bedlam. Assuming that her resurrection was somehow linked to King Bedlam’s power, this could explain why Tarot mysteriously died again. [New Avengers (1st series) #18]
Chronology continued
| Necrosha Crossover |
Plotting to ascend to godhood, Selene obtains a mystically enhanced version of the Techno-Organic Virus, which she uses to resurrect many deceased mutants, creating an army of the dead to invade the X-Men’s home, the island nation of Utopia. Among the army of the dead aere the six dead Hellions (Tarot, Catseye, Bevatron, Beef, Jetstream and Roulette), who arrive on Utopia under the control of Selene. They confront Emma Frost, blaming her for their deaths. So distraught by their accusations, Emma begs Cyclops and X-Force not to harm her former students when the counter-attack begins. As the invasion progresses, the Hellions are forced to work alongside the resurrected Cypher, who has started to fight the Techno-Organic Virus programming. The Hellions are pitted against their old enemies, the recently re-formed New Mutants. When Cypher continues to fight Selene’s programming, the Hellions plan to destroy him - until his old friend Warlock appears and intervenes. |
|
New Mutants (3rd series) #48-49: |
Rather than return to the dead, as did others temporarily resurrected by Selene, the Hellions are recruited by a despotic, future version of Cypher, calling himself "True Friend." To ensure that his timeline comes to pass, True Friend sends the Hellions back in time to the present to prevent Cypher from committing suicide to prevent himself from becoming the True Friend. When the New Mutants intervene, True Friend is killed in the future, allowing the present Cypher to have the evil entity causing his corruption to be exorcised by Doctor Strange. |
Afterward
- The true fate of the Hellions remains unknown
Members
White Queen (Emma Grace Frost)
The appearances of her and all other Hellfire Club members are listed in the Hellfire Club I section
Thunderbird II / Warpath (James Proudstar)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
All Hellions appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193, Firestar #3, New Mutants (1st series) #39, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, 99 [mentions having left the Hellions]
Powers: Superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes, heightened sensory perceptions, and is invulnerable to most forms of physical injury.
Roulette (Jennifer Stavros)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281 [killed off-panel by Sentinels]
All Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193, Firestar #3-4, New Mutants (1st series) #39, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Warps probability fields to increase the likelihood of different events, either through physical contact with the object she wishes to manipulate or by projecting her power into red energy disks that cause “good luck” and black energy disks that cause “bad luck”.
Catseye (Sharon Smith)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281 [killed off-panel by Sentinels]
All Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2-3, New Mutants (1st series) #39, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Transmorph with lavender hair, cat-like eyes, a prehensile tail and the ability to assume feline forms, changing into a common housecat or a panther creature with heightened animal strength, speed, agility, reflexes, senses, and razor sharp claws.
Tarot (Marie-Ange Colbert)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
Apparently died: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281-282 [Tarot is shot by a Sentinel and later
drained by Fitzroy]
Revealed alive: X-Force (1st series) #87 [Tarot gives only a few hints about her resurrection - check Hellions II]
All Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2-3, New Mutants (1st series) #39, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281-282, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Uses the two-dimensional images found on her tarot cards as templates to shape astral energy into giant-sized, solid representations of those pictures. She can also utilize her cards as a medium to predict future events.
Empath (Manuel Alfonzo Rodrigo de la Rocha)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
All Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193, Firestar #3, New Mutants (1st series) #26, 28, 38-40, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, New Mutants Annual #4, New Mutants (1st series) #81, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281
Powers: Psychic sensitivity allows him to feel the emotional states of others, and then manipulate them to experience any emotions he wishes to project into their minds.
Jetstream (Haroun-ibn Sallah al-Rashid)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281 [killed by Fitzroy]
All Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #16-17, Firestar #2-3, New Mutants (1st series) #39-40, 43, 53-54, 56-57, 62, New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Discharges thermo-chemical plasma beneath his body in the form of propulsive thrust. He is equipped with cybernetic components that have replaced his legs, fold out of his body as a rocket pack, and aid him in navigation and maneuvering.
Firestar (Angelica Jones) - not an official member
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193
All Hellions appearances: Firestar #1-2, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #193, Firestar #3-4
Powers: Transforms ambient electromagnetic wavelengths into microwaves, which she can manipulate to generate blinding flashes of light, release scorching heat waves, fire pyroplasmic energy blasts, scramble radio signals, and direct beneath herself as thrust allowing her to fly.
Fact: Firestar was not an official member of the team. She was kept and trained isolated from the Hellions and Emma Frost used a future membership as incentive for Angelica to make fast progress.
Magma (Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla / Allison Crestmere)
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #8
First Hellions appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #56
All Hellions appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #56-57, 62, New Mutants Annual #4, New Mutants (1st series) #81
Powers: Geothermal power allows her to create small earth tremors and assume an energized state that gives off intense heat and light while enabling her to manipulate the planet’s tectonic plates, causing seismic upheavals, summoning volcanoes to the surface, and telekinetically propelling bedrock, either in its normal state or superheated by her power into a molten stage.
Bevatron (Fabian Marechal-Julbin)
First appearance: New Warriors (1st series) #9
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281 [killed off-panel by Sentinels]
All Hellions appearances: New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Increases the personal storage of bioelectricity within his cells and then channels it into radiant discharges of high-voltage energy from his fists.
Beef (Buford Wilson)
First appearance: New Warriors (1st series) #9
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281 [killed by Trevor Fitzroy]
All Hellions appearances: New Warriors (1st series) #9-10, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281, X-Necrosha #1, X-Force (3rd series) #21, X-Force Annual (3rd series) #1, New Mutants (3rd series) #7-8, 48-49
Powers: Augmented muscle mass gives him superhuman size, strength, endurance and resistance to physical injury.