SIEGE PERILOUS: Page 2 of 3

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14th October 2014
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In and Out

When the Siege Perilous took a form of a gem, the people that went through it all came out on the other side naked and amnesic. It also seemed as if everyone emerged at a place where he/she had been before. Later on, when the Siege was in the form of a mirror, the exact transformation process was not shown. The two people who have so far emerged from it seemed to remember their lives before but their minds were twisted to create a devotion to the Siege.

Ca. 20 unnamed Reavers
Whatever became of them is unknown.

Psylocke
Betsy Braddock She was found washed up on the shore of a small island in the South China Sea that belonged to the Hand. The amnesiac woman was evidently a telepath, as she managed to answer in each interrogator’s native tongue. The Hand operatives contacted one of their leaders, Matsuo Tsurayaba, who recognized the X-Man and knew exactly what to do with her. Soon afterwards, Betsy had an Asian body and was brainwashed into believing herself to be Lady Mandarin, the Hand's prime assassin. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #255-256]

For a long time, it was believed that Psylocke's body had been magically transformed, but years later it was revealed what really had transpired in the labs of the Hand. Matsuo’s lover Kwannon, the prime assassin of a rival organization, had been comatose ever since she and Matsuo had been forced to battle each other, and Betsy provided the perfect chance to restore her. Spiral at the Bodyshoppe was contacted and switched the minds of the two women. In truth, both women actually gained parts of each other’s mind, soul and personality, though a bigger part of Betsy’s core ended up in the Asian body and more of Kwannon was given to the British one. [X-Men (2nd series) #31]

One of Lady Mandarin's first assignments was the assassination of Wolverine. However, when she used her psychic knife on her opponent, Betsy gained access to Logan's memories. Facing the images of her former self caused Psylocke to snap out of the brainwashing. Together, Logan, Betsy and Jubilee defeated the Hand and left. Considering her own fate, Psylocke felt very guilty for having sent the X-Men into the Siege Perilous and wondered what had happened to them. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #257-258]

Colossus
Jenny Ransome and Phillip Moreau had just been attacked in their loft in Soho, New York, as Piotr appeared in a dark corner. He helped them to battle the Magistrates and the thankful couple invited him to stay with them. Neither one recognized him as Colossus, since they only knew him in armored form. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #259]

Under the name Peter Nicholas, Colossus became a famous artist. Before long, he was discovered by X-Factor, Banshee and Forge who were searching for the missing X-Men. However, since Piotr seemed happy and did not remember his time as an X-Man, they left him alone. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #264]

Month later, however, Piotr was possessed by the Shadow King, who used him to attack Xavier and Stevie Hunter. The Professor was forced to telepathically erase the Peter Nicholas identity in order to free Colossus from the Shadow King's influence. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #279]

 

 

Dazzler
Dazzler was found on Malibu beach by Lila Cheney's bodyguard, Guido. He took her into Lila's villa, although Ms. Cheney was not present. Alison had once played in Lila's band and, through the various computer files, Dazzler learned about her former life as songstress and reluctant superhero, even though she could not remember it. Alison went clubbing and was recognized by a guy who recently found the only remaining copy of the yet unreleased movie that Dazzler had filmed. With Dazzler's miraculous return, the movie could be promoted very easily and Alison Blaire again became a media celebrity, though it also drew some unwanted attention. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #259]

Back when the movie had originally been produced, Eric Beale, who also was responsible for publicly outing Ms. Blaire as a mutant, blackmailed Alison; he wanted to own her in exchange for the movie's release. Of course, Alison turned him down and burned the movie, costing Beale a fortune. [Dazzler: The Movie]

In the meantime, Beale developed a fixation on Dazzler and blamed her for everything that went wrong in his life. Hearing of her return, he unsuccessfully tried to kill her a few times and finally kidnapped her on the evening of her movie premiere. She awoke, tied up in Beale's place, which was basically a shrine full of Dazzler pictures, and Beale tried to kill her once more. Luckily, Alison used her light powers to soothe the man and make him see the beauty of life. The incident showed Dazzler that there are more important things than being a star. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #260-261]

Weeks later, Longshot contacted Lila and Dazzler for help in his rebellion on Mojoworld. Even though she could not remember their time together among the X-Men, Alison felt she could trust and love this man. Fighting side by side in the rebellion, most of her memories returned over time. [X-Men (2nd series) #6, 10]

Rogue
The unique situation of having two personalities and sets of memories (Rogue and the absorbed Carol Danvers / Ms. Marvel identity) in one body confused the Siege Perilous. After quite a while, Rogue emerged in her room in the Australian Outback with her memory completely intact. At first, she thought that the whole explanation of cosmic balance and second chances was a hoax, but then she discovered that she no longer had Carol's abilities and memories. As a result, she was very ground-bound and vulnerable when she was suddenly attacked by Ms. Marvel. The Siege Perilous had attempted to separate the two and provided each woman with a body. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough lifeforce to sustain both of them. Rogue tried to escape through Gateway's portals to the Savage land, but Ms. Marvel followed and continued to fight.

During their battle, whoever had the upper hand was healthy, while the other’s appearance became drained and aging. Rogue was about to give up, since she didn't want to "kill" Ms. Marvel for a second time, when Magneto stepped in. He rendered both unconscious and, when Rogue woke up, Magneto had used machinery to drain / kill Carol's body and restore Rogue to full power. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #269]

The brief alliance, or actually a beginning relationship, between Magneto and Rogue ended after she witnessed him murdering Zaladane in cold blood. Rogue traveled to Muir Island, where she rejoined the X-Men during the Muir Island Saga. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #275, 278]

Havok
The X-Men finally learned of Havok's fate during the X-Tinction Agenda. Alex had been placed on Genosha, where the amnesiac mutant was easily manipulated into joining the Magistrates. When the Genoshan forces attacked Xavier's school, Storm was the first to recognize his familiar power signature. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #270]

Later, when the X-teams attempted to rescue some of their own, Havok had to battle his brother Scott, who was able to unlock Alex's memories by reminding him of certain incidents from their childhood. Havok then remembered his past as a member of the X-Men, but nevertheless played the Magistrate role for a while longer, waiting for the right opportunity to help his friends against Cameron Hodge. After the villain was defeated, Alex opted to remain on Genosha to oversee that the country would be restructured with equal rights for both humans and mutates. [X-Factor (1st series) #61-62]

Months later, after the five original X-Men disbanded X-Factor and rejoined Xavier's school, the US government sought to replace their mutant team Freedom Force with a new team. The name X-Factor was chosen, since this time the group should not be made up of convicted criminals. Professor Xavier and Valerie Cooper traveled to Genosha and asked Havok to lead this new team and he accepted the offer. [X-Factor (1st series) #71]

Bastion
After being judged by the higher forces, the merged robot Nimrod / Mastermold was reborn as a man of flesh and blood. With no memories of his former existence as a mutant hunting Sentinel, he was taken in by a caring woman named Rose Gilberti. Over time, news reports about the "mutant menace" activated some buried memories in his mind, and Bastion left Rose to join anti-mutant people like Graydon Creed and Senator Brickman. Without really knowing how he was able to do it, Bastion provided the blueprints for a new breed of Sentinels, the so called Prime Sentinels, and continued to build his Operation: Zero Tolerance organization. [Cable & Machine-Man Annual '98, Machine-Man & Bastion Annual '98]

Philistine
An archaeology university lecturer and his student found the Siege after apparently searching for it a while. The lecturer had heard stories about the mystical artifact and became obsessed with it. After murdering his student, he walked through the Siege to be reborn as the Philistine. With a demonic appearance, it would be hard to tell that he had ever been human. His obsession with the Siege became magnified and he acted as if it were sentient and he was its servant, going wherever the Siege apparently instructed him. Joining the Hellfire Academy, he used the Siege to punish the students by making them walk through it to be reborn as better versions of themselves. When the Academy was destroyed, he walked through it again but has yet to reappear. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #31-35]

Snot
One of the new mutants created after the Phoenix Force restarted the mutant gene, Snot was drafted in to the Hellfire Academy. His power was to create copious amounts of fluid from his nose, a power which he had trouble controlling. During a Danger Room session at the Academy, he was paired up with Quentin Quire and told to duel. Quire easily defeated him and as punishment Snot was sent to the principal’s office. He didn’t return from there and three days later Quire was also sent to the office. There he saw a now-older and bulkier Snot, who had been forced through the Siege Perilous. As well as his physical changes, Snot also seemed to be devoted to the Siege and proclaimed to love it. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #31]

Wilhelmina Kensington
The psychotic White Queen of Kade Kilgore’s Hellfire Club betrayed him when the Hellfire Academy looked certain to fail. Siding with the Philistine she happily walked through the Siege Perilous and has not been seen since. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #35]

 

Dog Logan
Wolverine’s brother joined the Hellfire Academy when he was offered a teaching job by Kade Kilgore. He had an antagonistic relationship with his brother and joined the Academy to spite him. However, he soon saw through the Academy’s façade and assisted the students when they rebelled. With a sense of regret over the many of the things he had done in his life, he chose to jump through the Siege rather than leave with Wolverine. He has yet to appear from it. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #35]

 

Kade Kilgore
As the leader of the new Hellfire Club and the Hellfire Academy, the sociopathic youngster used Philistine and the Siege to punish those that got in his way. He took an interest in Idie from the Jean Grey School and tricked her into joining his academy. Once there, she was manipulated by him until she agreed to become his new Black Queen. However, Idie was just playing along and she helped lead a rebellion of students against Kade. With the X-Men closing in, Kilgore’s allies turned on him, including the current White Queen, who took offense at being effectively replaced. During the final confrontation, Kilgore was beaten and the Siege was charging up, ready to explode. He seemed to have accepted his fate of death but was dragged through the Siege in the dying seconds by Dog Logan. When the Siege released an energy discharge, the academy was destroyed and the Siege was seemingly lost. As it sunk to the bottom of the river, it had turned back into a giant mirror that clearly showed Kilgore trapped on the other side. Whether he is truly trapped or just waiting to reborn remains to be seen. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #31-35]