Forge (comics)

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Forge is a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Romita Jr., he first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #184 (August 1984).

A mutant with an unsurpassed brilliance in technology, Forge has had a lengthy career as a government weapons contractor. He shared a strenuous relationship with Storm which led him to associate with the X-Men, beefing-up the technology at the X-Mansion. He was also a member of the Pentagon-funded mutant group X-Factor.

Contents

Character biography

Origin

Forge is a mutant with an innate superhuman talent for invention - an intuitive genius, it is as natural as breathing for him. He is a Native American of the Cheyenne nation. Although he was trained as a shaman, he has primarily relied upon technology rather than mysticism to accomplish his tasks. This rift between Forge and his shaman teacher, Naze, made Forge leave his past behind and join the military.

Vietnam

While in the army, Forge became a good soldier and served in the Vietnam War. After rising in the ranks to become a sergeant, he was asked by S.H.I.E.L.D. to join. Forge declined, because he saw his need was in Vietnam. During his second tour of duty in the war, his command was killed by enemy troops; in anger, he used their spirits to summon a band of demons to destroy the opposition. Forge, concerned about his former comrades, decided to order a B-52 bombing on his position to close the portal from the world of the unliving. The bombs came down destroying the spirits. This action wasn't without a heavy price, Forge lost his right leg and right hand. This action allowed the demon called the Adversary to come to Earth and Forge has since been hesitant to employ his mystical abilities.

Government contractor

Years later, Forge had created cybernetic replacements for his lost limbs. Forge has solely relied upon technology, instead of magic. When Tony Stark stopped making advanced weaponry for the Federal government, Forge was hired as an employee of the Defense Department.

One of his earliest commissions were to design a weapon to detect the shape-shifting aliens, known as the Dire Wraiths. Subsequently, Forge constructed a device capable of neutralizing mutant powers. Following orders from the President, Henry Peter Gyrich, an agent of the National Security Council, took the device. Forge protested because the device was untested and it was extremely dangerous to use. The device was to be used against a member of the X-Men, named Rogue, who was wanted for allegedly killing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. However, the device instead removed the powers of her teammate, Storm.

Romance

Forge rescued Storm, after she fell into a river. Forge brought her back to his home, in Dallas, Texas. During her stay, Storm began to have a romantic connection with Forge. Yet, Storm began to hold Forge in contempt, when she found out he was the reason she lost her abilities. Storm left and rejoined the X-Men. Storm later returned to Forge, to help him fight the Dire Wraiths. The Dire Wraiths resurfaced to prevent Forge from perfecting his neutralizer and they were defeated by the combined forces of the X-Men, Magik and Amanda Sefton.

Forge later improved his Neutralizer, against the Wraiths. Yet, he became hesitant to design more devices like it because of what happened with Storm. With the help of the Wraiths' enemy, Rom the Spaceknight, Forge was able to create a large scale version of the neutralizer in Earth's orbit. Rom and Forge used the device on the Wraith's homeworld, casting the entire race into the otherdimensional Limbo.

After saving the world, Forge destroyed all remaining Neutralizers and focused on banning the Adversary once and for all from Earth. The Adversary had other plans though and in the shape of Naze convinced Storm that Forge had gone insane with grief after she left and was planning to open a gate to hell. Storm tried to kill Forge, but the moment she stabbed him she saw that he was sane and that she had been tricked. The Adversary banished Storm and Forge to another dimension, devoid of human life. Storm and Forge spent an unknown amount of time there, rekindling their romance. Finally they decided to return to Earth to stop the Adversary. Forge restored Storm's abilities and used her abilities to power a gate back home.

X-Men

Forge and Storm arrived on Earth and joined the X-Men in their battle with the Adversary. In the X-Men's final battle with the Adversary, Forge was required to sacrifice nine willing lives to banish the Adversary forever; eight X-Men and Madelyne Pryor volunteered and died in the casting of Forge's spell. However, the goddess Roma intervened and secretly restored the X-Men to life.

Storm and Forge on the cover to Uncanny X-Men #289, with art by Whilce Portacio.

Destiny

Forge unaware of their resurrection, found himself fighting alongside Mystique's Freedom Force and an interim team of "X-Men" against the Reavers at Muir Island. During this battle, Destiny was killed, but not before foreseeing that Forge and Mystique would one day love one another, a fact that both parties found implausible. Afterwards, Mystique blamed him for Destiny's death.

Banshee approached Forge, hunting for leads about the whereabouts of the X-Men. Forge had had visions of Storm being alive and also believed that they were still alive. The two of them traveled all over the world looking for their missing friends. Forge and Banshee eventually found the X-Men and became full time members. They fought against several threats, such as Genoshan soldiers, Skrulls and the Shadow King. Forge later became a member of the X-Mansion's "support team". He was responsible for redesigning the Danger Room and the Blackbird jet.

End of romance

With the arrival of Bishop and Storm's constant involvement with the team, Forge and Storm's relationship became rocky. Forge came to eventually leave the X-Men, when he believed that Storm would've rejected his proposal of marriage. Ironically, she would have said yes. The pair continued to have an on-again-off-again relationship, until it ended for good. Forge went back home to Dallas to become a government contractor again and to help with the mental care of Mystique. During her stay, Forge and Mystique grew closer.

X-Factor

Forge went on to become the new government liaison, replacing Valerie Cooper, with the mutant superhero team X-Factor. When the team began to experience personal problems, Forge took a more active involvement in the team. In this context, he saw the mutant criminals Mystique and Sabretooth forced unwillingly onto the team.

Forge also came to terms with his heritage when the Adversary returned. Forge and Naze were able to defeat him. Forge and Mystique became more attracted to one another and fell in love. This did not prevent Mystique from escaping. X-Factor was later disbanded and Forge was no longer active in any mutant groups.

Xavier's Underground

Forge later took part in Xavier's Underground movement. He worked with a former X-Factor member, Multiple Man, in Genosha. Afterwards, Forge returned to the X-Men and became a mentor to Danielle Moonstar, for a brief stint.

Recently, Charles Xavier asked him for help in locating Mystique whom he needed for a clandestine mission and for a short time Forge played Q to Xavier's M and Mystique's James Bond. Forge also helped Cannonball and Siryn find Cable with the aid of Deadpool. Forge also built a pair of special gauntlets for New X-Men team member Surge, and is currently appearing in the series, working on what looks like a Nimrod unit with the primary objective of protecting mutants and secondary objective of protecting humans. It seems that Nimrod is trying to stop the objectives from being downloaded.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Forge was a member of Magneto's X-Men. He left them to go his own way and became the founder and leader of the Outcasts, an anti-Apocalypse resistance cell of mutants in the disguise of a traveling theatre group. He became a father figure to Nate Grey. Forge was eventually killed by Sinister.

Mutant X universe

In the Mutant X comic, Forge was a traitor to mutantkind. For punishment, Bloodstorm used him as a source of blood to feed upon.

Ultimate Forge, taken from Ultimate X-Men #27, art by David Finch.

Ultimate Marvel universe

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Forge has been dramatically reimagined. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants and follows Magneto without hesitation. His loyalty and skills have led Magneto to promise him Canada when he takes over the world. He built Magneto's doomsday machine and constructed a device which disrupted Polaris' powers, causing the deaths of dozens of innocent bystanders.

House of M

Forge is seen in House of M as an scientist working under Tony Stark, Iron Man. He is one of Stark's most trusted employees and is on the first to learn that he is truely Iron Man. He utilizes his skills in technology and computers by aiding Jarvis and Stark in tracking down the mutant gene bombs that Johnny Storm and Stark are hunting down all of the city. It is unknown if he has his mutant powers, but is speculated that he is a homo sapien as apposed to homo superior since he works under Tony Stark, who is homo sapien. However he is a colleague of Hank McCoy, who retains his first mutation powers after the Scarlet Witch alters reality, so it is possible he has is mutant powers, but they are not revealed.

Powers and abilities

Forge is a mutant whose intuitive mechanical instinct automatically interprets the functions and operations of any machine or technological device, a skill that combined with his natural intelligence gives him a superhuman talent to conceive, design and build highly-advanced mechanical devices; and operate, modify and disassemble existing technology or create countermeasures for it. Forge's superhuman talent for invention does not mean that he is of a superhuman intellect, even a genius at invention must for the most part consciously work out the theoretical principles behind the invention and then the design of the invention itself through a series of logical steps. In Forge's case, however, many of these logical steps are worked out by his subconscious mind. Hence, Forge himself might not be entirely aware of exactly how he figured out how to create an invention of his.

He also possesses various mystical abilities such as spell casting.

His bionic hand and leg often contain concealed weapons and devices that he can use in combat. His skill in hand-to-hand combatant and as a marksman were so impressive that Nick Fury offered him a job with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Appearances in other media

Warlock and Forge, from an episode of the X-Men animated series.

Forge guest starred in a few episodes of the X-Men animated series. He is unique in that he has two separate roles in the show: In the present, he is the leader of the government-run X-Factor, and in the future, he leads the mutant team that resists the Sentinels in the Days of Future Past timeline.
He also guest starred in two episodes of the X-Men Evolution animated series: Middleverse and Shadow Dance. This version of Forge was a teenager who talked and dressed like he had been stuck in time since the 1970's, because that's exactly what happened- one of Forge's inventions had backfired and kept him stuck in a pocket dimension for over twenty years. In this series, Forge had the ability to turn one of his hands into a robotic device- possibly a substitute for the comic versions' prosthetic hand.
He was a playable character in the ' and the ' video games. He also has an appearance as a Non-playable character in the videogames X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends II.
He is mentioned in the novelisation of the movie as the creator of Mystique's mobile prison.

Bibliography

List of titles

Alpha Flight Vol. 1 #88-90
Bishop Vol. 1 #1-2
''Excalibur Vol. 1 #76, 79-80 & 82
Fantastic Four Annual #23
Generation X #47
Mystique #1-3, 7, 10-12, 21-24
Storm Vol 1 #1 & 3
Uncanny X-Men #185-188, 224-227, 253-255, 257-264, 270, 272-280, 282-284, 286-290, 299-302, 306, 308, 310, 339, 384, 388 & 425-426
Uncanny X-Men Annual #15 & 1999
Wolverine Vol. 2 #51
X-Factor Vol. 1 #57-58, 60-62, 69-70, 92-99, 101-102, 106-130, 132-141 & 145
X-Factor Annual #5 & 9
X-Force Vol. 1 #27, 35 & 38
X-Men (Second Series) #1-5, 8, 25, 30 & 102-103
X-Men Annual 2000
X-Men: Prime
X-Men: Unlimited Vol. 1 #4, 5 & 29

Significant stories

Uncanny X-Men #186 (October 1984); "Lifedeath" - Forge helps Storm with her bout of depression, after losing her powers.
Uncanny X-Men #263 (Early July 1990); "The Lower Depths" - Forge faces what he did in Vietnam.
Uncanny X-Men #289 - #290 (June 1992 - July 1992); "Knots" - "Frayed" - Forge asks Storm to marry him, but leaves the X-Men.

External links

[Forge at X-Peoples Central]
[UncannyXMen.net Spotlight on Forge] - Detailed Biography on [UXM].

X-Men members

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