Mother Righteous

Mother Righteous in Legion of X v1 #8.

Mother Righteous is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Rebecca Essex was originally a female human born in the 19th century where by 1852 she met Dr. Nathaniel Essex a young scientist on his return to London from Oxford University. He fell head over heels in love with where during a stroll down the River Thames she surprised him with her knowledge of Pagan mythology. It was on that day he proposed to her and within a year the two were married. (X-Men: Before The Fall - Sinister Four v1 #1) In 1853, the couple moved Milbury House, where Rebecca gave birth to their son named Adam. However, their child passed away when he was 4 years old due to numerous birth defects causing Dr. Essex to fall deeper into his work. For two years, she observed her husband had become more and more estranged from her. Instead, he had become obsessed with science, especially human biology. By this point, Rebecca had been pregnant again but she was disturbed by Nathaniel's declaration that science was beyond morality, resulting in her losing her sleep. Eventually, she decided to enter Nathaniel's lab to see that he was doing there. To her horror, Rebecca discovered a body of their son Adam whose body had been excavated by Nathaniel who had begun to conduct experiments on it. Rebecca tried to convince Nathaniel to abandon his evil researches, but to no avail. As he left the house, Rebecca returned to his lab. She freed people who were locked there and reburied Adam. Unfortunately, the stress and grief led to the premature birth and the baby was born dead. Nathaniel asked her for forgiveness, but Rebecca refused to give it and died shortly after. (Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix v1 #3)

Afterwards, Essex came to be transformed into a superhuman following enhancements made to him by Apocalypse. He would rebel against his creator and afterwards learn of the threat posed by machines in the future. Looking to combat this threat, he decided to enact a long-term contingency plan that stemmed from his death. After committing suicide, his equipment created four clones of himself each of whom were let loose on the world. (Immortal X-Men v1 #8) In the case of the female clone, she was actually not based on Nathaniel Essex himself but rather on his late wife Rebecca Essex. Each were made as an insurance policy to ensure that Nathaniel's long-term goals were fulfilled. (X-Men v6 #23) Mother Righteous became aware of her true nature from the beginning and eventually discovered that the memories of her creation were false. (X-Men: Before The Fall - Sinister Four v1 #4)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Mother Righteous was a beautiful female humanoid being with red skin and long white hair. Her face had numerous white sigil markings on the side with a heart being located at the centre of her forehead. Typically, she wore a domino mask that hid the heart symbol from others. It was shown that she tended to dress in all-white clothing. (Legion of X v1 #10) In reality, she was based on the long dead wife of Nathaniel Essex namely Rebecca. (X-Men v6 #23)

In her life, Rebecca was a self-proclaimed good Christian girl. Despite that, she was surprisingly knowledgeable about the pagan arts. According to her, it was simply a passion that she indulged in. Despite that, she claimed she was not a believer in pagan gods but that their tales was simply stories and that she loved a good story. (X-Men: Before The Fall - Sinister Four v1 #4)

As a young lady, Rebecca was courted by a notable scientist named Nathaniel Essex. At first, she was perplexed why a self-styled great scientist of the age would be interested in a simple Essex girl as herself. She came to find their courtship as something from a novel where she was charmed by Nathaniel and accepted his proposal. Rebecca had stated that her heart belonged to Nathaniel as always. (X-Men: Before The Fall - Sinister Four v1 #4)

As Mother Righteous, she considered herself a separate being and had not been Rebecca Essex the devoted wife of Nathaniel Essex for many life times. As such, she did not consider herself the wife of any of the clones of the original Nathaniel Essex. In the case of Doctor Stasis, she even warned him against of making any attempt at having a future with her. (X-Men v6 #23)

Powers and abilities

Mother Righteous can project her consciousness onto the astral plane, allowing her to manifest and communicate with others without being physically present. (Legion of X v1 #5)

Notes

• Mother Righteous was created by Simon Spurrier and Jamie McKelvie where she made her first appearance in Legion of X v1 #1 (May, 2022).
• The character was based on Rebecca Essex who was created by Peter Milligan and John Paul Leon who made her first appearance in Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix v1 #1 (April, 1996).
• In an interview, writer Spi Spurrier said that he modelled Mother Righteous off a type of narcissist that he found especially toxic namely those who pretend to care about the lives of others whilst making everything about themselves. As such, Mother Righteous pretended to be kind while waiting for a moment to exploit those she has helped.

Appearances

• Legion of X v1: (2022)
• Immortal X-Men v1:
• X-Men: Before The Fall - Sinister Four v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.