LARRY BODINE
Real Name: Larry Bodine
Identity/Class: human/mutant
Occupation: student
Group Membership: none
Affiliations: Ms. Hogarth, Magneto, The New Mutants (Cannonball, Cypher, Illyana, Kitty Pryde, Magma, Moonstar, Sunspot, Warlock, Wolfsbane)
Enemies: fellow students at Salem Center High
Known Relatives: unnamed mother and father
Aliases: none
Base of Operations: Salem Center, NY
First Appearance: New Mutants I#45 (November, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Larry Bodine was a mutant with the ability to manipulate light, and even build sculptures out of it. These light sculptures would remain intact indefinitely, unless they were disturbed, at which point they would dissolve to nothingness. Larry was terrified that someone would eventually discover that he was really a mutant.
History: (New Mutants I#45) - While a dance was held at his school, Salem Center High, Larry Bodine stood outside, too nervous to enter. Looking up, he saw Dani Moonstar, who had been at the dance with the rest of the New Mutants, fly into the air on her winged horse. Larry instantly created a light sculpture of her, but when he heard voices, immediately destroyed it. Ms. Hogarth, Larry's principle, introduced him to Michael Xavier (actually Magneto who was acting as the headmaster of Xavier's School at the time). Ms. Hogarth encouraged Larry to go inside and try to make some friends, and suggested he dance with Kitty Pryde, who just wanted to go home. Despite that, Kitty latched onto Larry, and he offered to get her some punch.
At the punch bowl, he overheard some of the other kids from his school making fun of mutants, and when they claimed he was ugly enough to be one, Larry firmly denied it. As he returned to Kitty, his schoolmates decided to play a prank, leaving a note claiming they had called X-Factor on him. Larry had no time to react to the note, as Kitty asked him to head to Harry's Hideaway with her and the rest of the New Mutants. Kitty and Larry continued to dance at the Hideaway, but Larry was a ball of nerves, worrying that maybe Kitty and her friends hated mutants, like the kids at his school... Trying to break the ice, Larry told some anti-mutant jokes, which just managed to anger Kitty and her friends, who ditched him.
Back at his house, Larry continued to freak out, worrying about X-Factor. He began to call his parents, who were on vacation, but hung up before the call was placed. Finding no solace in alcohol, Larry went up to his room, where he considered calling Kitty and apologizing... But before he could talk himself out of it, the phone rang, and the voice on the other line told him that X-Factor were coming for him. Too scared to face what they might do to him, Larry committed suicide, hanging himself.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice and Kyle Baker
At the time of this story, X-Factor were masquerading as mutant bounty hunters, who would investigate reports of new mutants, then proceed to track and imprison them. In actuality, they were using this to cover for their true purpose, locating and training mutants who were at risk of persecution. Larry had no way of knowing that this was the case, and was terrified of what X-Factor did to the mutants they "captured." It was partly incidents like this that made the original X-Men who formed X-Factor decide to drop the charade and reveal the truth about their organization, since they realised they were fanning the flames of anti-mutant prejudice and doing more harm than good. - Loki
When the New Mutants heard the reason Larry committed suicide, Wolfsbane was so angered that she planned to attack and/or kill the students behind the X-Factor prank. Luckily she was talked out of it by her teammates.
Profile by: Zerostar
CLARIFICATIONS:
Larry Bodine and his family have no known connection to...
Image: New Mutants I#45; page 6, panel 6
Last updated: 02/16/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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