Kenji Uedo
Kenji Uedo is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Kenji Uedo (Japanese: 上藤 健之) was a male human Mutant born in the modern age in Japan. Whilst growing up, he came to catch his father having an affair with another man. This resulted in his father killing himself out of shame. The tragic suicide had a notable impact on Kenji who developed a nihilistic attitude and channelled his anger into his art. (Generation Hope v1 #9)
He worked as a successful and noted artist in Tokyo, Japan until his unstable mutant powers manifested. (X-Men: Second Coming v1 #2) Kenji came to be the fifth new Mutant whose powers activated after the events of M-Day. (Generation Hope v1 #1)
After his power manifestation Rogue, Cyclops, Wolverine, Hope, and the other Lights traveled to Tokyo to help him. Cyclops and Wolverine tried to contain Kenji, but with his powers out of control, they were unable to do much. When Hope and the others arrived, Kenji was already beginning to destroy buildings in downtown Tokyo. (Generation Hope v1 #1) Hope was unable to get close enough to touch Kenji at first, but she was able to control her powers enough to mimic Kenji, although the strain of mimicking his powers made her faint from exhaustion. (Generation Hope v1 #2) Cyclops then ordered the Lights and Hope to stand back while the X-Men handled Kenji. Rogue tried to absorb Kenji's powers, but was unable to handle the strain. Cyclops decided that there was no other alternative: Kenji needed to be stopped. However, before Wolverine could deliver the fatal blow, Hope was able to convince the light to save Kenji. Hope was able to mimic Kenji's powers again and use them to successfully subdue Kenji so she could physically touch him, which resulted in the stabilization of both his powers and personality. (Generation Hope v1 #3)
Though originally Kenji just seems to be a messy introvert with hygiene issues, his powers quickly manifest into uncontrollable organic tendrils, which killed his assistant and start to wreak havoc in Tokyo. Soon afterward, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Hope, and the other Lights arrive in Japan to find Kenji's organic tendrils destroying the city. After Cyclops, Wolverine, and Rogue fail to contain Kenji, Hope heads into his lair to attempt to stabilize his powers, but Kenji attacks Hope by latching tendrils onto her head, which appears to cause an explosion that destroys most of Tokyo. However, this was an illusion, created on a telepathic plane by Kenji so he can live his fantasies. Hope mimics Kenji's power, and sees that Kenji has her pinned to a wall. Hope escapes, but was rendered unconscious by her powers; she was rescued by Velocidad before she falls to the ground.
Using his powers, Kenji becomes a large creature, and he begins to rampage through the city, à la an old monster movie. Hope soon awakens, and she and the other Lights demonstrate their teamwork by getting Hope close enough to Kenji to once again mimic his powers, all while keeping each other safe. Hope becomes a similar creature, and begins to battle Kenji while the two talk telepathically. Kenji scoffs at Hope, and sarcastically asks if she thinks she can save him. When she doesn't reply, Kenji realizes that she does think she can save him, but he tells her that he thinks it's too late. Despite this, Hope defeats Kenji and is able to get his powers under control via a touch, which knocks them both unconscious. Kenji was taken to Utopia, where he was shown footage of the destruction he caused in Tokyo. Kenji appeared remorseful, admitting that he has fantasies of killing people, and he wants the X-Men's help to ensure that he never goes on a rampage again. After Emma Frost probes his mind, she convinces Cyclops that Kenji truly is remorseful, and Cyclops agrees to help Kenji. Later, after Hope says she's staying on Utopia, Kenji and the other Lights agree to do the same, but Kenji decides to remain more isolated than his teammates. When a Sixth Light is discovered in Germany, Hope and the Lights (including Kenji) head there to retrieve it. However, they find that the Light is actually a powerfully telepathic unborn infant, who has taken control of every person within the hospital its mother is staying at. Kenji hooks his tendrils into each of his teammates' necks, granting them immunity from the telepath's influence, and the group heads into the hospital, and convince the baby to be born. Hope touches the child, and its X-gene is suppressed until it hits puberty.
Zero
After Hope decides that each of the Lights needs their own codename, Kenji begins to consider his several options. At first, he suggests Derivative or Rei before settling on simply Zero. Later, after Primal wins the right to stay on Utopia, Zero wonders if Primal truly is happy on Utopia or if he is faking it to remain close to Hope. He and Transonic acknowledge that Hope has changed them all, and Zero doesn't think it's quite right. He reveals that he had considered another codename to spit back at their "messiah": Judas. Later, a Seventh Light appears in the United Kingdom. The Light is a boy named Zeeshan, whose skin appears to be melting from his body. One of Zeeshan's friends begin to tease him and begins to take photos and post them onto the internet. Though Hope and the Lights (including Zero) rush to the UK, the group is too late, as Zeeshan has already killed himself after his friend "ruined" his life. Four weeks later, Zero is seen outside that friend's apartment, sending a drone in to kill the boy. However, he is stopped by Wolverine, who tells him "It gets better, kid."
As he returns from an obviously tiring mission, Wolverine encounters Hope and the Lights, including Zero, awaiting his return so they can start Combat Training class. Wolverine cancels the class he had no knowledge of, and instead asks them if they shouldn't be doing something more age appropriate. Zero is one of the X-Men to attend the opening of a Mutant History Museum, a group that includes several adult and younger mutants. He got there early, as he wanted to view the "classic design" of the Sentinel. He then criticizes the leaders of the world for restarting the Sentinel Program after Quentin Quire made them tell their darkest truths on television. He mentions that he believes that he would be a lot like Magneto and his Brotherhood or Quire if he weren't tied to Hope. When the Museum is attacked by the new Hellfire Club, most of the X-Men are quickly defeated and Zero is nowhere to be seen. He reappears outside with Hope and the other Lights after Oya's "murder" of the Hellfire grunts. He asks Oya if she is okay, but she mortifies Zero, Hope, and the other Lights by only asking if there is anyone else she needs to kill
The Schism event concludes with the separation of the X-Men into two different teams. Velocidad, Transonic, Primal, and Zero choose to stay on Utopia with Hope while Idie leaves with Wolverine for the rebuilt X-Mansion now named the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. The team later gets two new members, Pixie and No-Girl. During a training exercise Hope and the remaining lights on Utopia spar against the likes of Colossus, Storm, Magik, Namor, Psylocke, and Magneto. Zero goes too far and infuriates Magneto during the fight when he digs his techno-organic tendrils into the mutant's eyes. In retaliation Magneto tears Kenji apart by manipulating the metals in his body. To everyone's surprise, Kenji survives the vicious attack and literally pulls himself back together. Shortly after the sparring exercise Hope learns that the Stepford Cuckoos have discovered a new light in Pakistan and chose to keep it from her. Hope has Pixie transport the team to meet the mystery mutant who is later revealed to be Sebastian Shaw. During the mission, the front lobe of No-Girl is destroyed when Sebastian Shaw detonates himself. Zero then uses his techno-organic powers to make her a new body from parts of his own. When The Lights are attacked by a group of Utopia residents jealous of the young team's status with the X-Men, Hope usurps Zero's control over his powers in order to force an end to the conflict. This incident galvanizes Zero's distrust of the young leader, who he believes means to subjugate all mutants with her immense power. Using implants he had placed into the brains of a number of Utopia inhabitants, he manipulates a large group of mutants into clamoring for Hope's death. During the ensuing battle, Martha Johansson disrupts Zero's powers, killing him and freeing the affected mutants from his influence.
While traveling the globe, Storm discovered Kenji alive and well, but without the memory of his time among the X-Men. After several exams, it is discovered that Kenji had not died as everyone had thought. His power had restored him after the battle with Martha Johansson. Storm believed him and allowed him to stay, keeping him under close watch, but it didn't take long for Kenji to shatter his innocent facade. As it turned out Kenji was found by Davis Harmon, a cyborg and CEO of Eaglestar Industries, when the latter searched the ruins of Utopia to salvage its technology. Being held captive and tortured shattered Kenji's already fragile psyche and he began to blame the X-Men for his demise. Storm eventually took Harmon down and, unbeknownst to her, allowed Kenji to escape his underwater lab. Consumed with revenge, Kenji was disgusted that Storm was spreading hope and fellowship everywhere but had rejected him and let him die when he showed his true colors during his attack on Hope. He began to attack the school and simultaneously unleashed armies of his techno-organic "meat puppets" on the places around the world that Storm had recently helped. He connected himself to Storm so that she could watch her friends die but this only allowed Storm to use her powers on a global scale and she destroyed his armies. Defeated, Kenji tried to goad Storm into killing him, which would prove that her inclusive dream was a lie, because it could never include him. Storm refused and, still connected to his mind, showed Kenji that many of her friends, like Callisto and Forge, were once monsters, but still decided to fight for a better world. She also knew that, deep down, Kenji hoped the same could eventually be true of him. Kenji vanished, telling Storm that he'd see her around. Rachel Grey confirmed that his psionic presence was still in the area and was, surprisingly, at peace.
Overview
Personality and attributes
When his powers activated, he was referred to as the Fifth Light though he resented the term and called himself the Final Light. (Generation Hope v1 #1)
At first, his powers make his mind more unstable than it already was making him prone towards erratic behavior. He claimed that he had fantasies of killing people and maybe that was the reason for his chaotic behavior. (Generation Hope v1 #4) By this point, he claimed that he had become art. (Generation Hope v1 #1) According to Storm, he was a sociopath and a murderer. (Storm v3 #10)
Powers and abilities
Kenji has the power of techno-organic creation and manipulation. His abilities are as unique and abstract as his art, and allow him to do numerous different things. He has demonstrated the ability to produce and control organic matter in a variety of shapes and sizes, from multiple tendrils to a small, spider-like drone to a large "monster movie"-esque creature. However, Zero created the "movie monster" after losing control of his powers, and it is unclear if he would be able to create a construct as large and complex while remaining in control. Zero is able to hook his tendrils or other constructs into other people to communicate telepathic messages or images. He also has some limited resistance to telepathy, and is able to share this resistance with others by attaching one of his tendrils to them.
With his powers, he could suddenly manifested large tendrils that could spear a grown man and kill them. Alternatively, he could grow enough biological mass that it burst out of a building and manifest multiple tentacles to cause large scale destruction in a built-up area. (Generation Hope v1 #1)
Though Zero's hands were lost to his powers when they manifested, he believes that he doesn't truly need them to create art or do everyday things. Instead, he can use his powers to create organic art, and his tendrils have been able to do things as precise as holding a gun. Theoretically, he could potentially create "hands" using his power if he wanted to. He can also produce a black, ink-like liquid, with which he can write messages or draw.
Notes
- Kenji Uedo was created by Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen where he made his first appearance in Generation Hope v1 #1 (January, 2011).
Alternate Versions
Appearances
- Generation Hope v1: (2011)
External Links
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