Banshee (Marvel)

Banshee is a male comic superhero that features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Sean Cassidy

When he was young, he met and fell in love with Maeve Rourke with the two eventually getting married with his cousin Tom Cassidy being his best many in the wedding. Afterwards, Sean went regularly away for months at a time from Ireland with no one knowing that he was secretly an Interpol agent. After the return from one assignment, he came back only to find that Maeve had died and went to her grave. Tom attempted to console him and inform him of something important but an angry Sean lashed out at his cousin with a sonic attack as he blamed him for not caring for his wife whilst he was away. The attack injured Tom who was left with a limp from the attack and leading to an enmity between the two cousins who had become estranged. The death of his wife led to Sean immersing himself in his work at Interpol and he began to spend longer periods away from Cassidy Keep in Ireland. (X-Force v1 #31)

Around 20 years ago, he was on the trial of a notorious and mysterious serial killer that had been killing innocent people. He was joined on the case with a French Inspector named Magrite Devereaux with the two pursing the target as Cassidy went rogue in order to bring the culprit to justice. He discovered the killer to be an escaped Russian man by the name of Arkady whose government had kept his existence a secret as they intended to shape him into being a Mutant assassin. Arkady had forced an encounter with Agent Cassidy in the hope of being killed but Sean refused to be his executioner. This led to the Russian using his Death Spore virus to killer Inspector Devereaux with Cassidy failing to save her. He then proceeded with arresting Arkady with the intention that the villain be sent to jail but unknown to him the man was taken in by a special interests group that sought to change him into a living weapon for the Soviets during the Cold War. (Generation X v1 #11)

Sean was later dispatched on assignment by Interpol to investigate an illegal black marketing ring operating in Ireland. On his mission, he came to find that the person in charge of the operation was his cousin Tom Cassidy who was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. (X-Force v1 #31)

X-Men

Through the special headband placed on him, Cassidy was forced to serve Factor Three with the Ogre serving as his handler and having the ability to detonate the device thus forcing Sean's compliance. In his Banshee guise, he was sent on a number of assignments as he was tasked with the Ogre in capturing Charles Xavier. This led to a confrontation with the X-Men who initially struggled to combat the Banshee's sonic attacks but the aid of Mimic allowed the headband to be removed once the Ogre was captured. It was then that Banshee revealed to the X-Men that he was forced to work for Factor Three and that the had machinations aimed at ruling the world. (X-Men v1 #28)

Death

During the Chaos War, Amatsu-Mikaboshi destroyed the dreaming causing the living to fall into a slumber whilst he shattered the underworld allowing the dead to rise. Among those to arise were many members of the X-Men including Banshee who awoke to see his old love Moira MacTaggert. These X-Men under the leadership of Thunderbird sought out answers when they came under attack from the demonic Apache trickster god named the Carrion Crow. (Chaos War: X-Men v1 #1)

Overview

Powers and abilities

The intensity of the constant sonic attack could leave individuals passing out and rendered unconscious. He could also unleash sonic blasts that could tear through metal. (X-Men v1 #28)

Such was his speed in flight that at times he could not be seen but he could be heard. (X-Men v1 #28)

Sean was able to vary the sonic vibrations that propelled him in the air in order leave people in a hypnotic state. (X-Men v1 #28)

Notes

• Banshee was created by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth where he made his first appearance in X-Men v1 #28 (January, 1967).

In other media

Films

• In X-Men: First Class, Sean Cassidy as Banshee appeared in the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Caleb Landry Jones.

Video games

• In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Banshee appeared as an non-playable character in the video game where he was voiced by actor Quinton Flynn.

Appearances

• X-Men v1:
• Generation X v1:
• Chaos War: X-Men v1:
• Uncanny Avengers v1:
• Astonishing X-Men:

External Links

• Wikipedia Entry

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