Purifiers (Marvel)
The Purifiers are a terrorist group that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Purifiers were an organization of humans that worked with William Stryker and sought to eliminate Mutants. (Marvel Graphic Novel v1 #5)
They were aiding Stryker in his plan to use Professor Charles Xavier to eradicate all Mutant life on Earth. This later brought them into conflict with the X-Men. After kidnapping Xavier, they strapped him into a machine that was made to model Cerebro. (Marvel Graphic Novel v1 #5)
The Purifiers arrived in Cooperstown, Alaska where they killed all the children in the town in their attempt at killing the Mutant Messiah. (X-Men: Messiah Complex v1 #1) In response, the powerless Rictor was then dispatched to infiltrate the Purifiers ranks where a staged attack from the X-Men was used to have the anti-Mutant group accept him in his guise as Joaquin Murrieta. He was taken to a Purifier church and scanned to determine if he was a Mutant whereupon he was accepted into their ranks with it revealed that they had a large stockpile of weapons across the country. (X-Factor v3 #25) The New X-Men later struck at this church as they sought to determine whether the Purifiers had the new born Mutant and were seeking revenge for the deaths of their class mates. During the attack, they were ambushed by the forces of Lady Deathstrike who wounded Hellion. (New X-Men v2 #44)
During Fear Itself, the global chaos caused by Skadi and the Worthy leads a splinter group of Purifiers to believe that the world is coming to an end and that an appearance by the Devil is imminent, spurring them to 'save' as many people as they can. Purifiers member Jonathan Standish also kidnaps a young superhero and uses his webcam stating that the superhumans are the reasons behind the current chaos in the world. X-Force ends up having to track down Jonathan Standish as he pulls the trigger on the superhero. (Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Men v1 #1) Wolverine and X-23 learn from Deadpool and Fantomex that the young superhero was identified to be Daniel Chilton. They also state that about 3,000 people have committed suicide following that global broadcast. Wolverine and Archangel then interrogate Benedict Ryan on what he knows about Jonathan Standish. (Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force v1 #2)
A group of Purifiers disguised themselves as a tour group in order to infiltrate the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach whereupon they attacked the Mutant students. (Generation X v2 #1)
Members of the New York City chapter targeted Glob when he was on a date with a Mutant girl who was in reality one of their members named Sasha in disguise. After kidnapping the pair, they forced him to wear a bomb vest and intended to send him into the Xavier Institute and detonate to kill the X-Men there. It was intended for him to blow himself up in the command centre whereupon the Purifiers were to storm the mansion to kill the students but they were thwarted by Old Man Logan along with the young Mutants studying there. (Old Man Logan v2 #40)
Overview
Much of the basis for their teachings were derived from Reverend Stryker's beliefs in the Bible that stated that Mutants were not supposed to exist. (Marvel Graphic Novel v1 #5)
It was said that they had hundreds of churches in the East and many more around the world. (New X-Men v2 #44)
After stealing Angel's wings, they came to extract the Apocalypse techno-organic strain from their blood which was grafted onto a group of Purifiers. These members grew similar techno-organic wings as Archangel from the grafts where this group were called the Choir who were created to 'strike down Satan's spawn with God's own might'. (X-Force v3 #4)
Members
- William Stryker :
- Matthew Risman :
- Jason Stryker :
- Jack Abrams :
- Paul McGuinness :
- Jonathan Standish :
- Benedict Ryan :
- Joaquin Murrieta :
Notes
- The Purifiers were created by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson where they made their first appearance in Marvel Graphic Novel #5: X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills v1 #1 (1982).
In other media
Television
- In The Gifted, the Purifiers appeared in the live-action television series starting in the episode "3 x 3". They were a group founded by Matthew Risman with the intention of targeting and killing Mutants. It was shown that two years ago a group of them approached Blink when she was with her boyfriend and forced her to leave their town.
Films
- In X-2: X-Men United, the Purifiers did not appear within the movie but Colonel William Stryker did lead a secret military unit with the purpose of eliminating Mutants.
Video games
- In X-Men: Destiny, the Purifiers made an appearance in the video game as antagonists and were described as cults that formed around the world in response to Mutants. They believed Mutants were abominations that needed to be eliminated and were present during a rally at San Francisco when hostilities emerged. A playable character named Adrian Luca was the teenage son of a Purifier who was indoctrinated to follow his father's wishes until his powers manifested during the rally. During the course of events, it was shown that the Purifiers were equipped with high-tech weapons and had formed an alliance with the U-Men in order to replicate Mutant powers. Their actions and those of the other antagonistic forces of Mutants were shown to had been secretly orchestrated by Bastion in order to promote hostilities and conflict. Among the Purifer antagonists included Cleansers that used flame throwers, Stalkers that were bipedal walker machines armed with machine guns and others.
- In Marvel Heroes, the Purifiers appeared as antagonists in the video game setting. They were responsible for creating anti-Mutant hysteria and attacked the increasing Mutant population of Mutant Town in New York City. The Purifiers were being led by Reverend Stryker who led them from their headquarters at Fort Stryker and had made arrangement with A.I.M. to create a superweapon called the Cleansing Wrath for use against Mutants in their Purification Crusade. One of their bases was a building known as the Church of Purification that served as a place where they gathered. Stryker was also secretly forged an alliance with Mister Sinister to receive aid for his efforts against Mutants.
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, Purifier Henchmen appeared as a playable card in the iOS video card game.
Appearances
- Marvel Graphic Novel #5: X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills: (1982)
- X-Force v3:
- All-New X-Men:
- Generation X:
- Old Man Logan v2:
External Link
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