Icarus (Marvel)

Latest revision as of 06:58, 26 March 2025

Icarus in Uncanny X-Men v1 #438.

Icarus is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Joshua Guthrie was the son of Thomas Guthrie and Lucinda Guthrie. Thomas dies early in Jay's life due to black lung, developed from working in local Kentucky coal mines. Jay's older siblings Samuel Zachary Guthrie and Paige Guthrie were mutants as well, and both have been members of the X-Men. Another of their siblings, Jeb, has developed the mutant ability to project electricity from his eyes, as well as his sister Melody, were both de-powered during M-Day. He has several other brothers and sisters, and his whole family is generally hated by his home town because they all seem to be developing mutant powers. When Sam and Paige left home to become X-Men, Jay took over the role of the father in the house, feeling that he had to protect his younger brothers and sisters.

Joshua Guthrie is the third of ten children, after Sam and Paige, born to Thomas Zebulon and Lucinda Guthrie in Cumberland County, Kentucky. One summer, when Joshua was ten years old, he caught a local girl skinny-dipping in Jacobsen’s Pond, a swimming hole near his house. Josh tried to shoo her away so he could swim. The girl, Julia, resisted. The two soon became well acquainted. They grew fond of each other and spent their whole summer together in the countryside, often staring romantically at the sky. Their innocent summer romance ended without either of them ever learning each other’s last names. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #439)

Before Jay developed powers, he helped his brother Sam rescue the mutant musician Lila Cheney, the mutant Dazzler and a third band member from a plane crash. Lila had been knocked unconscious, rendering her unable to use her teleportation abilities. Dazzler had run out of the sound needed to fuel her light based powers. Josh, risking his own safety, played some music, giving Dazzler sufficient power to help blast an escape route.<ref>New Mutants #42 (August 1986)</ref>

He was personally threatened with death by another X-Force adversary, Gideon, the leader of a long-lived group of powered beings. He escaped unharmed.<ref>X-Force #36 (August 1994)</ref>

When he himself developed mutant powers, he hid them from his family. However, when performing in his band, playing guitar, he exposed his wings to the crowd as a 'stage gimmick'.

"She Lies with Angels"

Jay fell in love with Julia Cabot, but due to a long feud between the Guthries and the Cabots a fight broke out. Jay was struck down by Julia's father, who had acquired and modified super-powered armor. Believing Jay to be dead, Julia dragged Jay's body to the river. She wrapped his arms around her, heading for the deepest part of the river. The two sank to the river's bottom and Julia subsequently drowned. Neither Jay nor Julia were aware of Jay's mutant regenerative powers, but when Jay sank to the bottom of the river, these powers manifested. Jay awoke at the bottom of the river with Julia in his arms. He swam to the surface with her and brought her to the riverbank. When he discovered she was dead, he tried (unsuccessfully due to his healing factor) to stab himself in the heart with a sharp piece of wood. Warren Worthington arrived on the scene, found Jay, and helped him carry Julia's body back to the Guthrie house.<ref>Uncanny X-Men #437–441, written by Chuck Austen</ref>

"She Lies with Angels" was an intended homage to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.Template:Cn The feud between the Guthries and the Cabots was designed to parallel the feud between the Montagues and Capulets, respectively, though in Shakespeare's play none of the families are actually "good" or "evil", in fact both of them represent an oppressive, power-seeking system that the young lovers rebel against. Additionally, the climax of "She Lies with Angels" is remarkably similar to the climax of Romeo and Juliet (With the exception that, unlike Romeo, Jay survived his suicide attempt). Issue 439 has a scene with Jay and Julia that is similar to the famous "balcony scene." Many of the comic's lines are modern incarnations of their Shakespearian counterparts.

New Mutants

After Julia's death, Jay attempted to kill himself a few more times, hoping his healing factor would fail. Eventually his mother sent him to the Xavier Institute against his will. Jay speculated this was just so she wouldn't feel guilty if he tried to hurt himself again. Originally placed with the Hellions squad, he traded places with Wither and joined the New Mutants. In New X-Men: Academy X, he is portrayed as a sullen, withdrawn loner who keeps mostly to himself, but he always reminds his teammates how fortunate they are to be a "family" when they feud. His team seems to talk to him about their problems, as he isn't usually one to join the fights.

Decimation

After the events of Decimation, Icarus was one of the few of the New Mutants team who kept their powers. However, he appeared later with his wings amputated and bleeding at the doorsteps of the mansion. His healing factor did not cure these injuries, as it was later revealed by Dr. McCoy that his healing powers came from his wings. Jay rebuffed efforts by his friend Elixir to heal his wings.

Jay was seemingly tricked by William Stryker with the promise that if Jay gave his wings "back to God" his friends would be saved by Stryker. Jay called to inform him the children were leaving on a bus, which led to its bombing. Many of the de-powered students died in the blast. Further attacks led to the assassination of Wallflower, as she was the one in Nimrod's vision of the future that killed the Purifiers. As X-23 put it to Dust after he gave her a piece of paper containing the address of Stryker's church, he shouldn't be trusted because "he smells like death." Choosing to trust Jay, Sooraya seemingly proceeded to the church, only to be gunned down upon entering (though it was later revealed to be X-23 dressed in one of her niqab.) When Jay later confronted Stryker, he confessed to Jay that he was the one who gave the Cabots the armors and so the actual person responsible for the death of Julia Cabot. Stryker then proceeded to shoot Jay, leaving him for dead. Icarus was then shown dying with Nimrod deciding whether or not to finish him off. Nimrod left Jay alone, calculating that he was already mortally wounded. After that, Icarus was found dead by Ms. Marvel and Iron Man in Stryker's church with his hand in a position of writing, he was able to write "Nimr" plus half of the "o" with his own blood before he died.

It was eventually revealed that Icarus' wings were removed because Nimrod had provided Stryker with a "vision" of the future, to seek an "angel" and use his wings to create an army. Stryker had hoped to use Icarus' wings to graft onto Purifier soldiers to create The Choir. Upon amputation, Jay's healing factor was negated and the wings were just dead bone and feather. The Purifiers moved on to targeting Angel for his wings.

House of X

Following the establishment of the nation of Krakoa, Mutants from around the world flocked to the living island to be their homeland. During this time, they developed the Resurrection Protocols allowing them to restore any Mutant even those that had been killed. Among those restored was Icarus who stayed within the Akademos Habitat on Krakoa alongside his siblings. He was present when his sister Melody went through the Crucible where she battled Apocalypse in an arena match so that she would die and be reborn in a new body that restored her Mutant powers. (X-Men v5 #7)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Powers and abilities

Believed to be descended from the ancient race of Cheyarafim mutants. Icarus possesses red-colored, feathered angel-like wings which allow flight and produce extensive regenerative enzymes allowing him to recover from normally fatal injuries. However, this healing factor comes from his wings; when his wings were removed, he lost this ability. His powers are closely similar to the X-Man Angel. His voice is capable of producing sonic frequency beyond the range of human capability as well as creating multiple sounds or voices at once.

Icarus's entire anatomy was naturally adapted to flying. His bones were hollow, like a bird's, making him weigh far less than usual for a male of his build. His body was virtually devoid of fat and possessed greater proportionate muscle mass than an ordinary human did. His eyes were specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average eye. He possessed a special membrane in his respiratory system enabling him to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes. Icarus's physical adaptations gave him incredible protection against damage from falling.

Notes

• The Joshua Guthrie Icarus was created by Bill Mantlo and William Johnson where he made his first Appearance in Rom Annual v1 #3 (November, 1984).

Alternate Versions

• In What If...? v1 #92 (1996), an alternate version of Joshua Guthrie appeared in a What If reality that was designated as Earth-9612 in the Multiverse. A non-mutant Jay finds and fixes up a broken Sentinel, reprogramming it to serve and protect him, and using it to make himself a 'special' like his super-powered siblings. When Cannonball and Husk come home, the sentinel which had been reconstructing its memory banks identifying them as mutants and attacks them, but when it realizes it is a danger to Jay it has to 'protect' him by destroying itself.
• In X-Men: Age of Apocalypse v1 #3 (2005), an alternate version of Icarus appeared in the Age of Apocalypse reality that was designated as Earth-295 in the Multiverse. When Josh Guthrie's family home was attacked by the forces of Apocalypse, his father defended his family until his death. While he and his siblings Liz and Sam joined with Apocalypse, becoming members of the Elite Mutant Force, his sister, Paige, sided with Magneto's X-Men. Joshua's activities while Apocalypse was still in power remain a mystery. During this time, Paige and her teammates in the junior team, Generation Next, were abandoned and left for dead by their mentor Colossus. Following the fall of Apocalypse, all those who followed Apocalypse were declared war criminals and hunted down by the government sanctioned X-Men. Joshua reunited with Liz and Sam and upon searching the Portland Core where Paige was left to die, they found their sister alive and well. Paige wanted revenge against the X-Men and her siblings were more than happy to help her. While Paige posed as a new student named Xorn, Joshua, and the others attacked Washington, D.C. to distract the X-Men away from their headquarters. Retreating when Paige succeeded in taking Rogue and her son Charles hostage, Joshua, and the others battled the X-Men again; however, Magneto was uninterested in taking prisoners. After watching Sunfire incinerate Liz, the Guthrie brothers attempted to escape. They did not make it very far as Magneto trapped them in metal and crushed them to death.
• In New X-Men v2 #16 (2005), an alternate version of Icarus appeared in the House of M reality that was designated as Earth-58163 in the Multiverse. On this world where mutants rule the Earth, Jay became a popular singer, with sold out concerts.
• In Age of Apocalypse (v2 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Icarus based on the Age of Apocalypse reality appeared as a domain on Battleworld in a reality that was designated as Earth-51518 in the Multiverse. Icarus was a member of the Elite Mutant Force that attacked the X-Men in the Savage Land in the pursuit of Cypher.

In other media

Video games

• In Marvel: War of Heroes, Icarus appeared as a playable card in the video game.

Appearances

• Rom Annual v1: (1984)
• New Mutants v1:
• X-Force v1:
• X-Men v5:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry

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