Character Overview
During the House of M crossover, reality found itself warped by the whim of the Scarlet Witch. Due to her actions, the heroes of the Marvel Universe found themselves in a new world with new roles and positions based upon what Wanda felt would make her friends and family happy. However, no one in this reality, except for four people (denoted with an asterisk), retained any memory of the old world. The following is a character overview of the House of M, and the new lives that the X-Men and Avengers.
House of M Regime
In the House of M, Magneto ruled the world as leader of his monarchy, dubbed the House of M. With him were his children, who are now prince and princesses in the royal family. While Quicksilver* and Polaris spent much time out, the Scarlet Witch* spent most of her time in her room with her children, Thomas and William, while a doppelganger posed as her in public affairs. Among the Royal Guard were mutants the Blob, Phantazia and Sauron, who protected the royal family and palace on Genosha, which included a memorial guardian to the deceased Charles Xavier.
As ruler, Magneto gave leadership of the Australia to Exodus, who led with his minions Pyro, Vanisher and Unus the Untouchable. However, Exodus caused problems for those who chose not to live amongst society, such as Gateway and the Aborigines. Fortunately, the Aborigines were protected by their new tribesman Dr. Bruce Banner, who was run out of the United States by the House of M, because of his alter ego as the Hulk. After dethroning Exodus, the Hulk ran across the mysterious Dr. Rappaccini and her daughter, Scorpion, of A.I.M., which was turning people into cyborgs. However, Banner dismissed the claims by Scorpion and Machine Teen that Rappaccini was evil, and instead banished them and the rest of A.I.M. from Australia, while allowing Rappaccini to stay.
New Latveria was ruled by the sinister Dr. Doom and his Fearsome Four, composed of his wife, Valeria the Invincible Woman, and his son, Kristoff the Inhuman Torch. Their fourth member was the deformed Ben Grimm, also known as the It, the sole survivor of a fatal cosmic experiment that killed Doom’s arch-nemesis, Reed Richards, as well as Sue Storm and John Jameson. Together, the Fearsome Four act as a strike force for the House of M, much to the chagrin of Doom’s mother, Cynthia von Doom.
When Wanda's powers began to make other realities bleed together, Captain Britain and Meggan, given an ultimatum by Roma and Saturyne, traveled to the House of M's Great Britain to seal up a breach that was causing the problem or else. Together with Psylocke, Marvel Girl III, Peter Wisdom and Courtney Ross, they sealed up the breach, while protecting Juggernaut and the mysterious Nocturne, who apparently was a descendent of Magneto, from the bounty hunters called the Marauders, among them Callisto, Banshee, Mammomax, Blob, Black Tom, Sunder and Caliban, as well as fending off from the House of M's Omega Sentinel, Karima Shapandar.
Meanwhile, Egypt was controlled by the malevolent Apocalypse, given leadership by Magneto, and his Horsemen, which included Nightcrawler, Iceman and Archangel, though it seemed the roster changed with every mission. Under the orders of Magneto, they were sent along with Sabretooth to attack the Black Panther, ruler of Wakanda and lover of Queen Ororo, otherwise known as Storm, for what Magneto perceived as an insult he received from them. Luckily, the Panther had allies in Namor of Atlantis, Black Bolt of the Inhumans and Japan’s Emperor Sunfire to help him fend off Apocalypse.
To protect and police the world, the House of M employed the services of S.H.I.E.L.D., directed by Sebastian Shaw, who took over for the late Nick Fury. Among the elite Red Guard unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. was their leader Wolverine*, the Toad, Jessica Drew, Mystique, her son Nightcrawler and Rogue. Other members of S.H.I.E.L.D. include Scalphunter, Wither, Elixir, Garrison Kane and the human spy Black Widow. S.H.I.E.L.D. also had a junior training squad program, with teachers such as Moonstar, Northstar and Aurora. Their students included Julian Keller, also known as Scion, Magik I, Quill IV, Surge, Synch, Anole and Wind Dancer. These training students often came into conflict with the New Mutant Leadership Institute run by Karma, Cypher and Dr. Sean Garrison. Their students included Dust, Jubilee, Mercury, Prodigy, Quentin Quire, the five Stepford Cuckoos, Tag and Wallflower. The S.H.I.E.L.D. junior trainees fought such human terrorists as Cameron Hodge and Donald Pierce.
Citizens of the House of M
Not everyone was happy with Magneto as ruler of the world. Secretly leading a Human Resistance cell in the United States is Luke Cage, alongside Hawkeye, Misty Knight, Cloak, the Black Cat, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, the White Tiger III and the members of the Sons of Tiger: Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, Lotus Shincheko and Lin Sun. Accompanying them was the enigmatic Layla Miller*, who seemed to remember their world as a different place, and has the power to make people see what the world should be like. All the while, the group was investigated by Detective Sam Wilson, who was trying to solve the recent beating of the Kingpin.
Stark Enterprises was a leading weapons maker for the House of M, and was run by Tony Stark, who also spent time fighting in machine armor in a hit sport known as “Sapien Death Match” alongside Johnny Storm, a show hosted by Flash Thompson. Working for Stark was the mutant inventor Forge and scientists Hank McCoy and Hank Pym. Together, they worked on creating a futuristic android known as the Vision Project.
Peter Parker was a world famous wrester and actor, and was married to Gwen Stacy. The couple had a son named Ritchie and lived with Peter’s Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Parker had worked on movies with the beautiful Mary Jane Watson. Working for Peter were his publicist J. Jonah Jameson and his bodyguard, the Rhino. However, Peter’s life ran amok after the Green Goblin revealed his secret that he wasn’t a mutant.
Private Genis-Vell, a Kree warrior on Earth, worked alongside Major Erik Josten, General Dum Dum Dugan, Abe Jenkins, Wendell Vaughn and Zebediah Killgrave. However, Josten was actually planning on aiding the Human Resistance in exterminating the mutant threat, as well as the Kree. Genis-Vell, though, had his own problems when he came in contact with Flashback and saw visions of the old reality.
Ismael Ortega was a leading officer of the XSE and protected the citizens of Mutopia X. He was partnered with Lucas Bishop in protecting movie mogul Shaky Kaufman from the Sapien League’s leader, Popova. Ismael was married to Armena Ortega and they had a human daughter named Chamayra and a mutant son, Esteban. However, marital problems pushed Ismael into the arms of Lara the Illusionist.
Other citizens of the House of M include talk-show host, Dazzler. Among her many guests included the famous actor Wonder Man, who was romantically involved with Captain Marvel, also known as Carol Danvers, one of the world’s most famous non-mutant heroes. Scott Summers, now a pilot, was married to Emma Frost, a therapist, whose clientele include the recently orphaned Franklin Richards. Steve Rodgers was an old retired soldier who was also the first man on the moon. Jessica Jones was romantically involved with Scott Lang, and Kat Farrell worked for the newspaper publisher known as The Pulse. Rockslide was a professional wrestler, while Matt Murdock and She-Hulk were both still attorneys. Dr. Strange was a psychiatrist, who had a particularly disturbed patient named Robert Reynolds. Janet Van Dyne was a world famous fashion designer. Kitty Pryde was a school teacher in Ohio, while Piotr Rasputin contently works on his family’s farm in Russia.
Otherworldly Visitors
Long before the House of M, the student known as Beak was chosen to serve among the inter-dimensional hopping team known as the Exiles. Having completed his purpose, Beak and the Exiles came to return him to his home. Among the roster were Blink, Sabretooth, Mimic and Morph, with Heather Hudson at the Panoptichron headquarters. In the House of M, Beak’s girlfriend, Angel Salvatore, was now a super-model, though their children no longer existed. The team’s visit ran awry when they came across the murderous body-snatching Proteus, who was on the run from his mother, Moira MacTaggert.
Meanwhile, the heroes Deadpool, Cannonball and Siryn teleported out of reality before the House of M began in search of the missing Cable. They returned to their world, not realizing it was their own and found an infant Cable living with his new adopted father, Mr. Sinister.