Nate Grey
Nate Grey is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Nathan Grey was an artificially engineered male Mutant created by Mister Sinister using the genetic material of the Age of Apocalypse Jean Grey and Scott Summers on Earth-295 in the Multiverse. He was created to be a living weapon made by Essex for use against the mad-butcher Apocalypse and end his tyranny. (X-Man v1 #1)
When Forge and his Outcasts stopped a train leading humans to a culling, Nate disobeyed Forge's orders and helped out. He saved a young mutant girl, Sonique. Nate convinced Forge to allow her to join them. (X-Man v1 #1) Later, they came across the wandering traveler Essex, who was really Sinister following Nate's progress in disguise. Essex encouraged Nate rebel against Forge's teachings and to use his powers. Essex convinced the Outcasts to investigate one of Apocalypse's factories which Nate destroyed. (X-Man v1 #2) The use of his powers alerted Apocalypse of his presence and he sent his minion Domino to either recruit Nate or kill him. Domino and her team tracked Nate and his friends and killed most of them. Nate used his powers to wipe Domino's mind. However, he was too late to stop Essex from slaying Forge. (X-Man v1 #3) Sinister revealed himself to be Essex. After learning Sinister's true evil nature Nate seeming killed him. (X-Man v1 #4)
Nate made his move when the X-Men were waging their final desperate attempt to repair their unbalanced reality with the M'Kraan Crystal. In the final battle, Nate rescued Magneto, who recognized him as the boy Forge had once promised to send him one day. Nate battled Apocalypse's son Holocaust. Nate impaled Holocaust with a shard of the crystal. The resulting impact caused both of them to be shunted to the Earth-616 universe. (X-Men Omega v1 #1) Nate fell like a meteor in the Alps in Switzerland and his falling caused a powerful psi-wave, which affected telepaths like Charles Xavier, Jean Grey and Psylocke and also was noticed by Blaquesmith. (X-Men Prime v1 #1)
X-Man
Exhausted, Nate woke up, surrounded by snow, something he had never seen in his young life. Believing to be still in the AoA reality, he was very confused and was hit by a truck. The driver, feeling guilty, gave him a ride into town. As his memories caught up with him, Nate became convinced that something was very wrong. Seeing a mother with her children, he felt reminded of Jean Grey, without realizing why. He asked a passer-by, whom he briefly mixed up with Forge, for help and subconsciously influenced that man to help him. The man, Sven, brought Nate to his home, put him to bed and left to buy some food. Drowsily, Nate thought of Jean again, when suddenly he was being covered with a blanket. The person who did it - the spitting image of Jean - introduced herself as Madelyne Pryor. It became quickly clear that, while Maddie was offering help, she herself was in need of it. Amnesiac, though not admitting it, she had some very weird memories of the X-Men and of Mr. Sinister, something Nate realized they shared. In the meantime, Nate’s arrival had not gone unnoticed by other parties. One was fellow AoA refugee Sugarman, who had arrived twenty years ago and lived in the shadows of Genosha (a country that used to enslave mutants), as its secret mastermind. Sugarman ordered his bounty hunter named Rex to bring him young Nate. Rex tracked down Sven in a bar and questioned him about Nate, before killing him and then confronting Nate and Maddie. However, Nate took him out quickly, only to feel weak and drained afterwards, so he and Maddie decided to flee. (X-Man v1 #6) At Maddie’s suggestion, they went to Paris, where Nate suffered another bout of weakness. While Madelyne told him she dimly remembered being hurt by the X-Men, Nate grew more and more enchanted with her. At the same time, they were being stalked both by Rex and the immortal mutant sorceress, Selene, who was fascinated with Madelyne, whose power and potential for darkness she clearly recognized. Selene lured Madelyne away from Nate’s side, leaving the lad alone again. (X-Man v1 #7) Nate spent the next weeks trying to acclimatize himself to his new home. He took a job as a handyman on a boat. However, he still suffered from inexplicable sudden bouts of weakness, alternating with phases of ravenous hunger and thirst. As he woke up one night and saw a famished emaciated version of himself in the mirror, he realized that something was very wrong with him. The same night, Rex once more tried to get Nate for the Sugarman and, while defending himself, Nate was close to burning himself out. In the last instant, he was rescued by another refugee from the Age of Apocalypse with this being the Dark Beast. McCoy, like Sugarman, wanted Nate for himself and offered to become Nate’s mentor. He also hinted that Sinister deliberately built Nate not to last, but he - Beast- could fix that. Nate wanted nothing to do with the sadistic scientist from the AoA and psi-blasted him, before departing. (X-Man v1 #9)
Nate spent the next weeks trying to acclimatize himself to his new home. He took a job as a handyman on a boat. However, he still suffered from inexplicable sudden bouts of weakness, alternating with phases of ravenous hunger and thirst. As he woke up one night and saw a famished emaciated version of himself in the mirror, he realized that something was very wrong with him. The same night, Rex once more tried to get Nate for the Sugarman and, while defending himself, Nate was close to burning himself out. In the last instant, he was rescued by another Age of Apocalypse refugee, the Dark Beast. McCoy, like Sugarman, wanted Nate for himself and offered to become Nate’s mentor. He also hinted that Sinister deliberately built Nate not to last, but he - Beast- could fix that. Nate wanted nothing to do with the sadistic scientist from the AoA and psi-blasted him, before departing. (X-Man v1 #9) Worried by Beast’s hints, Nate decided to look for the X-Men and ask them for help. However, at the same time, Xavier was alerted to the presence of a telepath with a signature similar to Cable’s by Blaquesmith, who had been studying his readings about Nate ever since he dropped to Earth. Xavier was concerned that Nate was apparently able to shield to shield himself from Cerebro, which should not be possible, and entered the astral plane to search for the telepath himself. When he found him, Nate had just erased the memories of an entire crowd of mutant haters and, sensing that he was being watched, Nate dragged Xavier’s astral form into reality - something that the professor had believed impossible. When Xavier tried to introduce himself as the leader of the X-Men, Nate’s impulsiveness and suspicious nature once more got the better of him. As far as he knew, Magneto was leading the X-Men. He angrily lashed out at Xavier and vowed to kill the next person to come after him. Xavier fought him psychically but, noticing that Nate would not let up, although the strain on the his own health was considerable, Xavier decided the best way to end this was to pretend being killed and retreated back to the mansion. (X-Man v1 #10)
Nate returned to Paris, still hoping to find Madelyne. However, he heard someone else calling out to him psionically. In the sewers below the city, he found a girl named Threnody, who was on the run from the Marauders. As Sinister’s prisoner-turned-assistant, it was her task to scan for new mutant activity. However, when she registered Nate’s signature, she kept it secret, hoping that this powerful mutant could help her to escape from her master. Learning that the Marauders served Sinister, Nate immediately took Threnody’s side and finished them off with frightening ease before leaving with Threnody in search of Maddie. (X-Man v1 #13) At the same time, Xavier had invited Cable and Blaquesmith to the mansion to discuss the situation regarding this young Nate Grey with him, Moira, Jean Grey and the X-Men leaders, Storm and Cyclops. Suspicious because of Nate’s similarity to Cable’s evil clone, Stryfe, and in awe of the sheer scope of his powers, they noted that the major difference between Nate and Cable, who are genetically identical, was that Nate’s unbridled power threatened to consume him and those around him. Meanwhile, Cable’s immense potential was thankfully stifled thanks to the techno-organic virus in his system. Blaquesmith was adamant in his opinion: The boy should not exist in this timeline and needed to be destroyed. Knowing that the X-Men would not approve, Blaquesmith mindwiped the others and sent Cable to find Nate and properly deal with him. (Cable v1 #29)
Nate awoke in a ski-lodge Threnody brought him to, where all the other victims of the disasters Nate unleashed were being treated. Suspicious of Threnody and her link to Sinister, Nate entered her mind and understood the pain her power caused her. He realized they had much in common, both victims of their powers and Sinister. As he tried to take away one of the neurolocks Sinister placed on her to control her death-power, he and Threnody were thrown out of the cabin. (X-Man v1 #15)
In Nate’s absence, Threnody had been captured by Sinister’s Marauders, only to fall into the hands of Emil Blonsky aka the Abomination. Blonsky and his group of outsiders despised Threnody, they had taken her in (before she met Sinister), but Threnody, with her unpredictable death mutant power, killed some of them inadvertently. Searching for his friend, Nate tracked Threnody down and rescued her from this group of misfits. The Abomination warned Nate about her but he replied that he was aware of what she had done. (X-Man v1 #20)
After Jean too departed, Nate discovered that his telekinesis was gone. He thought that this might be the first signs of his powers consuming him. From Switzerland, he contacted his friend, Peter Parker, telepathically, but he could do nothing else than advise him to have himself properly examined. Nate decided that, of all people he had met, Moira MacTaggert was possibly the best choice and, since he no longer was able to fly, he had to use a sailboat to get to Muir Island. Once there, Moira ran another series of tests. Turned out that his readings were exactly the same as before - there was nothing wrong with Nate. Moira theorized that it was Nate suppressing his own powers out of fear. (X-Man v1 #26) While he was still wondering about how to deal with this, a teleportation portal opened in front of Nate. Havok and Fatale of the Brotherhood offered to help Nate. They explained the purpose of their organization and also promised to have the means to restore Nate’s telekinesis. Nate was interested in the idea to make a stand for mutant rights and accompanied the pair as they attacked a high-security train from Canada that was carrying the mentally imbalanced Aurora. Havok told Nate that she was about to be experimented on. However, the Brotherhood really wanted the train’s other cargo - tons of the toxic gas CS-9. Back in their base, Nate was placed in a special chamber that slowly gave him back his powers. However, he soon started to notice some oddities and, scanning the minds of Fatale and Havok, he finally found what they had been keeping from him. The Brotherhood had one more member: the Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse. Nate decided that he could not work with the evil scientist and blasted his way out of the base. However, he did not want to leave the lethal gas in McCoy’s possession. Nate went into the storage room and released all of the Coldsnap gas, even though it would cost him his own life. (X-Man v1 #28) In a state between life and death, Nate’s entire life flashed before him, and he was confronted by manifestations of the people close to him. Threnody, Forge and Madelyne and even Nate himself confronted him with his own shortcomings. Finally, Nate realized that if his powers were so strong that they would ultimately kill him, they would also be strong enough to save him from this gas. Nate pulled himself together with his telekinesis back in full force and smashed his way out of the tunnels. Back on the surface, Nate passed out from the strain and was discovered by three girls who had often seen him performing his miracles in Central Park. Bux, who was very much into tantric spiritual healing, the down-to-earth Marita and Jam, a musician, nursed Nate back to health. Together, they stayed in Nate’s loft. (X-Man v1 #29) When Zero Tolerance troops attacked Xavier’s mansion in Westchester and downloaded Cerebro’s files, Nate was telepathically alerted by Cable that he was the only one close enough to rescue the children of Jean’s sister, Sara Grey, from the Prime Sentinels. Nate did as requested and left Joey and Gailyn in the care of their grandparents, as the Sentinels were curious about the unidentified telepath and still searching for him. (X-Man v1 #30)
While watching a basketball game at Madison Square Garden, Nate foiled some terrorists’ plans to bomb the stadium. Before the group was turned over to the police, he did a mindscan to make sure that they no longer carried any explosives. However, one of the gangsters himself is unaware of having a subdermal bomb and, in the resulting explosion of the police station, many people died. All of a sudden, it was over and Nate fell from grace. Instead of being admired, he was now hunted. Turned out that Nate’s popularity had been caused by the Purple Man, Zebediah Killgrave, who was able to control other with his pheromones. As his control faded with distance, he slowly influenced Nate to get his telepathy under his control. With the combination of mental and pheromone based possession, Killgrave hoped to get his family back and ultimately to rule the world. Yet once Nate found out how the Purple Man’s power worked, he could release himself from his grip by filtering out the pheromones with a thin TK shield. Though victorious, Nate had no reason to feel that way: an entire block of New York City was destroyed during their battle and Jam had to live through the ordeal of losing her arm once more. The Purple Man had been responsible for Jam’s accident, predicting the effect Nate’s miracle would have - however, the arm was not really restored, but only a psychic projection that now faded. (X-Man v1 #36)
Ashamed, Nate went to the Brooklyn Bridge, from where he attempted to erase everyone’s memory of him. There was no way he could undo the damage, but at least he could make the people forget. Connecting with every single mind in New York, he subconsciously called for help. Spider-man picked up the message and came to the bridge, despite it being the site where his old lover, Gwen Stacy, had been killed - an event he blamed himself for. Spider-man wanted Nate to stop what he was intending to do, resulting in a battle between the two friends. With his energies out of control, Nate accidentally recreated a simulacrum of Gwen, only it was a version of her counterpart of the Age of Apocalypse. On top of it all, a group called Psi-Ops attacked. They had been formed with the single task: to arrest Nate. Spider-man and Nate managed to drive them off and Gwen vanished as well. In the aftermath, Spider-Man forgave Nate, but then they parted ways, each having to deal with their losses themselves. (X-Man v1 #38) However, another person had registered Nate’s distress call too - Madelyne Pryor. Having left the Hellfire Club a few weeks ago, she now returned to Nate’s side as he decided to leave New York. Out in the Canadian wilderness, Nate meditated, only to experience a precognitive vision in which he would fight some madman near a pyramid, only to take out half the planet in a fatal discharge of energy. Fully awake again, Nate started an argument with Madelyne, who claimed that he needed her. Nate, on the other hand, stated otherwise, so she teleported away, well aware that he had accidentally breached a wall to the dimension where the Great Beasts were held. After seeing Nate fail to defeat the mystical beings alone, Maddie returned and with her advice and tactics, Nate used his powers in new ways until the Beasts were detained. (X-Man v1 #40) The battle took a lot out of Nate and, when the Psi-Ops came looking for him, Madelyne teleporting him to the cabin in Switzerland where they had first met. Once recovered, Nate attempted to do a telepathic search for Threnody, but Madelyne tried to stop him. She even followed him to the astral plane, but Nate evaded her traps and started his search. Unfortunately, Nate was suddenly hit by the effects of the Psi-War between Psylocke and the Shadow King that resulted in a temporary world wide loss of telepathic powers. Nate was painfully drawn back to the real world and Madelyne’s form smashed into pieces. (X-Man v1 #41)
Shaman
As a protector of the Earth, Nate confronted the Harvester, an alien from the race of 'farmers' who was sent to Earth 30 years ago to prepare the planet for harvesting. His race insinuated their genetic code into all living cells on the planet at the dawn of life and patiently watched the evolution of life for millions of years. Thirty years ago they finally decided to harvest their 'ripe crop'. Since Nate was not suitable for them, he transformed his body into energy and merged himself with the Harvester. He then spread both of them over the cells of every living thing across the globe, 'poisoning' the 'crop' and making it unsuitable for harvesting. (X-Man v1 #75)
Return
A few months later, Grey manifested in a small town where his presence caused several of the inhabitants to dream-walk and continuously repeat "I'm an X-Man." Norman Osborn sent his team of X-Men, consisting of Mimic, Weapon Omega, Dark Beast, and Mystique, to investigate and to raise public opinion. Both Mimic and Omega were overwhelmed by Nathan's energies and went on a rampage. leaving Mystique and Dark Beast alone with a patient that they were examining. Shortly Nathan once more took physical form, much to Beast's shock and horror, believing Mystique to be his mother Jean Grey, since she had taken her form. Nate angrily attacked Beast, not realizing that Jean was actually Mystique, who managed to distract him long enough in order to save Dark Beast's life. Following the incident; Osborn tasked his X-Men to hunt down and possibly capture Nate for experimentation and to feed Weapon Omega. Osborn's X-Men contacted H.A.M.M.E.R.'s PSI-division; the PSI-Division managed to contact Nate only for him to absorb most of their psychic energies and learn what had happened to the world and to the mutant race in his absence. He angrily demanded to know what Osborn's X-Men, had done. (Dark X-Men v1 #2) Nate manifested a physical body for himself and attacked Avengers Tower. After defeating Venom and incapacitating Sentry with stories of their past friendship, he battled both Osborn's Dark Avengers and Dark X-Men. He seemingly died after his defeat, but it was just a ploy to possess Norman Osborn's mind. The only one aware of the ruse was Mystique, due to her psychic defenses. She wanted Nate to free her of Osborn's control or she would reveal him to the others. (Dark X-Men v1 #3)
After the fall of Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R., many prisoners were freed, including Sugar Man. Once Sugar Man was freed he found the unconscious X-Man connected to the Omega Machine. Sugar Man made some modifications to the Omega Machine to use X-Man's powers to open portals to other dimensions. Meanwhile, Cyclops sent a team to find him. Cypher discovered Sugar Man's secret base in New York, and the New Mutants defeated Sugar Man and his New Mutates, rescuing X-Man. (New Mutants v3 #26) However, X-Man's powers were burnt out by the Omega Machine. He was taken to Utopia for recovery, where Cyclops started to build a relationship with him. (New Mutants v3 #27)
Nate later returned with his powers restored by a Life Seed, then kidnapped Kitty Pryde and Senator Ashton Allen, having already kidnapped and chained Apocalypse. (Uncanny X-Men v5 #1) In response to Legion's involvement and attempts to stop him from gaining the assistance of the X-Men, Nate reluctantly dispatched his Horsemen of Salvation to destroy the X-Men to prevent them from interfering. He then projected a message to the entire world that he was the second coming they had been praying for and was going to fix the world by remaking it in his image. (Uncanny X-Men v5 #4)
Overview
Personality and attributes
On Earth-616, he came to be referred to as the Manhattan Marvel. (X-Man v1 #35)
Mister Sinister had created him to be a weapon for use against his reality's Apocalypse. (X-Man v1 #1)
He was noted for having a certain degree of unpredictability and a certain wildness of thought. (Dark X-Men v1 #2)
Biologically, his mother was his reality's Jean Grey whilst his father was his world's Scott Summers. Despite their genetic material being used, Mister Sinister claimed that for all intents and purposes that he was Nate Grey's father. (X-Man v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Nate Grey was an artificially created Mutant using the genetic material of Jean Grey whilst the Mutant pure Summers bloodline supplied the Y-Chromosome. Accelerated aging was used to artificially induce maturation at a far more rapid pace than normal. He was created to be a living weapon for use against Apocalypse as was intended by his creator. The psi-energies he possessed were greater than any single vessel to contain and threatened to burn out his body. (X-Man v1 #1) He was noted to possess energy manipulation powers on a vast scale. (Dark X-Men v1 #2)
It was noted that he had incredible psionic potential that was greater than his creator had envisioned. He was a telepath allowing him to speak directly into the mind of another person. Such was his strength that his telepathy could speak to the mind of a person despite active psi-disruptors being active. (X-Man v1 #1)
Norman Osborn believed that Grey could fight one-on-one with the likes of the Sentry with this being an indicator on how dangerous he considered X-Man to be as a foe. (Dark X-Men v1 #2)
At one point, Grey had become a messiah-like figure where he used his powers to brainwash Mutants to become his elite followers who he called the Horsemen of Salvation. Those transformed into this state became the horsemen of Bounty, Life, Peace and Wellness. (Uncanny X-Men v5 #3)
Notes
- Nate Grey was created by Jeph Loeb and Steve Skroce where he made his first appearance in X-Man v1 #1 (March, 1995).
In other media
Video games
- In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Nate Grey appeared as a hidden character in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Quinton Flynn.
Other
Appearances
- X-Man v1: (1995)
- Cable v1:
- Dark X-Men v1:
- New Mutants:
- Uncanny X-Men v5:
External Links
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