LITTERBUG
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: None;
Former Engineer in the U.S. Army (AWOL), tunneler for the Chicago Morlocks
Group Membership: None;
formerly gang on Utopia (Bliss, Dragoness/Tamara Kurtz, Erg, Masque, Random/Marshall Evan Stone III, Toad/Mortimer Toynbee), Morlocks (Bliss, Erg, Masque, Skids/Sally Blevins), Chicago Morlocks (Angel Dust, Cell (deceased), Electric Eve, Postman, Shatter, Trader (deceased)), The U.S. Army, the Sentinel Program
Affiliations: Adam the X-Treme (Adam Neramani), Lorelei (Lorelei Travis), Magneto (Max Eisenhardt), Meld (Jeremiah Muldoon), Morlocks (Delphi, Qwerty), Sack, Scalphunter (John Greycrow)
Enemies: Caliban, Dr. Metellus, Evolutionaries, Humanity Now!, Leech, Lights (No-Girl/Martha Johansson, Pixie/Megan Gwynn, Primal/Teon Macik, Hope Summers, Transonic/Laurie Tromette, Velocidad/Gabriel Cohuelo, Zero/Kenji Uedo), New X-Men (Anole/Victor Borkowski, Match/Ben Hamill, Prodigy/David Alleyne, Rockslide/Santo Vacarro), Nimrods, Sentinels, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Skids and unrevealed others), Simon Trask, the U.S. Government, X-Club (Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Dr. Kavito Rao), X-Men (Hepzibah, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Warpath/James Proudstar)
Known Relatives: Unidentified father, unidentified grandfather (mentioned in Morlocks#4)
Aliases: "cockroach" called by Warpath
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
formerly Utopia (X-Men base), California;
formerly the Morlock Alley and surrounding tunnels beneath Manhattan, New York;
formerly the sewers and tunnels beneath Chicago, Illinois
First Appearance: Morlocks#1 (June, 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Litterbug possesses superhuman strenght (lifting 8 tons) and a bulletproof chitinous exoskeleton; he can scale walls by digging into them with his claws and jump vertically 100' with a single leap. His teeth can tear through metal, and his claws are strong enough to dig through stone. His mutated mouth structure makes it difficult for him to speak. He is a trained soldier, skilled mechanic and advanced knowledge of explosives.
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 326 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
History:
(Morlocks#1 - BTS) - The man who would become Litterbug was an Army Engineer involved in the U.S. Sentinel Program. At some point he himself mutated, and he was forced to go AWOL to avoid being killed by his former friends.
(Morlocks#1 - BTS) - Litterbug made his way over to Chicago, and became involved with Postman's Morlocks.
(Morlocks#1) - A pair of Chicago Police officers were called to investigate some suspicious noises, one of them came across Litterbug, Electric Eve and Postman stealing food from a convenience store. Postman used his mutant abilities to erase the officer's memory of what he had seen, and the group left through a massive hole Litterbug dug in the floor, however Litterbug hung back a moment to tear up a "Buy American" poster on the store wall with his claws. While the Morlocks made their escape through the sewers, a young gangbanger known as Cell suddenly manifested his mutant abilities; while fleeing from the police, he became a single-celled organism. During his escape from the cops he unexpectedly came across the Morlocks. As the police arrive to kill Cell, (as was part of their duty to kill mutants), Litterbug and the others rallied to his defense, and the officers were quickly defeated. Litterbug then dug a new escape tunnel through solid stone, as the others explained Cell he was now a mutant. Terrified, Cell wanted to go home, and asked "Who's gonna stop me?", "Sentinels." Litterbug replied grimly. When Postman introduced the Morlocks to the new mutant he advised him not to stare at Litterbug.
(Morlocks#2) - Litterbug and Postman sat alone, as Postman heated up a jagged strip of metal. Litterbug told him to burn off his Army tattoo, which Postman did, and the Morlock's clicking screams resounded throughout the tunnels. Later, Angel Dust asked Litterbug if he was alright, and Postman answered he'd be fine, while Litterbug rubbed the ugly, flaming welts that now covered his tattoo.
The Morlocks decided to risk going above ground, as each of them (except Cell), had a final wish to fulfill before they would flee into the tunnels forever. Litterbug filled Postman in on the fact that Sentinels would take seven and a half minutes to lock on to a mutant signature, giving each Morlock that amount of time to fulfill their wish. When Angel asked how he knew that, Litterbug replied that he'd been watching them, although Angel didn't believe Litterbug. Shatter's wish was up first, Litterbug dug a hole beneath the local Dog Pound, so that Shatter could rescue his dog, Hank. Next was Eve's wish, supposedly to get her Grandmother's ring back from her old "employer", a pimp and pusher named Ricky. Litterbug and Trader defeated the guards as Eve went to see Ricky. However, there was no ring to be found, and Eve killed Ricky for mistreating her. Eve and Postman argued and failed to realize the Sentinels had arrived and shot Shatter, blowing off his left arm.
(Morlocks#3) - The Postman carried the wounded Shatter as the others fled, when Trader suddenly realized that Litterbug wasn't there. The Morlocks ran back to find Litterbug had apparently been crushed beneath a giant Sentinel's foot. While the Morlocks feared the worst, scraping sounds could be heard from inside the Sentinel, and Litterbug tore his way out of the giant robot's left eye, jumped to the rooftop where the other Morlocks were standing, and dug them an escape tunnel.
Later, back in their abandoned subway station hideout, Litterbug glared at Eve while Postman chided her for endangering all of them, and making them accessories to murder. When Trader defended Eve, the police stormed in, killing Trader dead when he shielded Eve from a bullet. A cop then shot Litterbug, however, the bullet just bounced off of the mutant's armored shell, Litterbug turned and literally tore into the cops. Infuriated by the police's cruelty and the death of Trader, Postman completely wiped all of the surviving cops' minds. Postman was overcome with remorse, Litterbug tried to reason with him, "They were going to ..KILL us".
Later, Litterbug tore apart a metal hospital door so that Postman could say goodbye to his comatose wife and, supported Shatter as Angel went to see her parents one last time. The Morlocks wished that they could do something, to free themselves from the Sentinels, Litterbug explained they could actually do something and explained that the Sentinels had a Central Command Center. Without the command center, all the Sentinels would stop working, giving them a window of escape. When Eve asked how he knew so much about Sentinels, Litterbug tearfully revealed his darkest secret; being a mechanic in the army working on building the Sentinels.
(Morlocks#4) - Angel and Eve bitterly pummeled Litterbug, as he tried to explain that he was just a soldier, doing what he thought was his patriotic duty, revealing he was a different person now. Litterbug continued that he was determined to destroy what he had helped build. Cell countered that it was impossible, but Shatter said that nothing was impossible, while his arm regenerated in front of their eyes. He then stood up for Litterbug that he wasn't their enemy and should start acting as a group.
That night, Litterbug emerged from the sewers, and ran across the rooftops, hoping to gain the attention of a Sentinel. He didn't have to wait long, as a trio of Sentinels soon arrived, Litterbug led one away from the others, where Eve zapped it with her electrical powers, and Shatter crystallized its oil, freezing it in place. Litterbug and Angel climbed inside the Sentinel's head, Litterbug directed Angel how to re-wire the systems to manual, asking if she'd ever hear of the Trojan Horse. The Morlocks then sent a false message to Sentinel headquarters, reporting that the Morlocks had been killed. Responding to the message a Sentinel came in to land, Doctor Metellus, the project director, came to personally inspect his "prize", the Sentinel's visual record of the slaughter, which he would normally watch privately for his own twisted pleasure. His assistant, Slater, noticed a strange noise, and was horrified as the Morlocks (and Hank the dog) tore their way out of the Sentinel's chest. Metellus was perversely pleased witnessing the Morlocks. As the rows upon rows of Sentinels in the base activated, Litterbug began tearing them apart left and right, then aided Eve in destroying the Central Control, causing the Sentinels to crash into one another, explode, and otherwise meet destruction. As the Morlocks fled, Cell went back, sacrificing his life to stop Metellus. Angel Dust decided to return home, while the other surviving Morlocks (and Hank the dog) stole a van and headed South. The group then left, heading out of Chicago.
(House of M#8 - BTS) - The Scarlet Witch caused millions of mutants to lose their powers by casting a reality altering spell. The event, known as M-Day, reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 300 worldwide. Litterbug was one of the select who kept his mutant powers.
(X-Men: The 198 Files - BTS) - Litterbug was known to O.N.E. (Office of National Emergency) to be one of the few mutants that retained their powers after M-Day.
(Uncanny X-Men I#490 (fb) - BTS) - Many of the Morlocks that had returned to the tunnels, including a fair share of depowered ones, grew to believe in the prophecies of the deceased mutant Qwerty. These prophecies were collected and bound in a book. Most of the Morlocks followed the depowered Delphi, who functioned as head of a religious movement that believed a new age of mutants was coming. Litterbug, however, chose to Masque, along with Erg, Bliss and Skids in trying to help the prophecies come true. They put together a plot that would supposedly bring Magneto to their head.
(Uncanny X-Men I#487) - Their plans involved the capture of Leech, who was staying with Caliban. Litterbug and the others set explosive charges in the tunnels in preparation to overtake Caliban and Leech. While setting the explosive charges Bliss proved protective over Litterbug, who was hard to understand and continually teased by Masque. Not much later Caliban was wounded in the explosion, allowing the gang to captured Leech. Masque then needlessly reformed Caliban's flesh. Leech was outfitted with a collar that removed his powers.
(Uncanny X-Men I#488) - At Masque's instruction, Litterbug designed a bomb that they laced with Bliss's poison in preparation for a terrorist attack on the subway. Skids placed this explosive on a moving subway train. The bomb went off, disabling both the cart as the passengers. Erg then used his powers to absorb the electrical power from the metro's railway which he used to melt the car's wheels to the track. Now that their captives had no place to go, Masque climbed aboard the vehicle and hideously deformed the passengers.
(Uncanny X-Men I#489) - Litterbug listened as Skids questioned Masque's senseless cruelty and he angrily accused her of betrayal. Unbeknownst to the Morlocks, the agents of the Office of National Emergency had tracked down the rogue Morlocks and prepared an attack. They, however, were no match for Masque's team as most of the agents were killed in the subsequent battle. Masque left Skids behind in the wreckage, where she was later found by the X-Men, who were aided by Caliban. Skids then revealed she was an agent of SHIELD that had gone undercover in Masque's gang.
(Uncanny X-Men I#490) - When Masque's gang found out the X-Men were following them, they attacked Warpath and Hepzibah. Erg tried to shoot his electrical beam at Hepzibah, who was saved by Warpath and managed to escape. Although Masque's gang figured out how to track them down again, Warpath kicked Litterbug aside, but both heroes were soon captured by the Morlocks. The gang then moved on to set off an explosion that killed many of their fellow Morlocks, which allowed them to capture Skids, Storm and Caliban as well.
(Uncanny X-Men I#491) - Trapping the X-Men in wooden coffins, Litterbug watched as Masque taunted his captives. Masque revealed that he had placed a bomb in an old cathedral, precisely above their present location. Although trapped in the coffin, Storm managed to summon lightning through the metal pipes of the building which allowed herself and the other heroes to go free. During the fight, Warpath swiftly defeated Litterbug with a punch to the face just before the roof collapsed. Masque's plot was derailed with the Morlocks' defeat. Though, in a surprise twist, Skids later delivered Qwerty's book to Magneto.
(X-Men: Worlds Apart#2) - The Shadow King possessed a group of Morlocks including Erg, Bliss, Litterbug and Masque, using their hatred of beautiful people to goad them into attacking Cyclops when he arrived in the Morlock tunnels. Cyclops defeated the Morlocks but the distraction allowed the Shadow King to get in Cyclops's brain, exploiting his doubts and fears, leading him to plot his lover Emma Frost's death.
(Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia#1) - Rallying against the increasingly violent anti-mutant sentiments, particularly those fomented by Simon Trask, Litterbug joined Adam the X-Treme, Erg, Lorelei and Meld in a protest against Trask's Humanity Now! movement at the Embarcadero in San Francisco. They were stopped by armed police forces. When a fight broke out, it was stopped within seconds by Hawkeye (secretly the assassin Bullseye), who threatened the crowd.
(Nation X#1/3 - BTS) - With only a handful of gene active mutants left in the world following the Scarlet Witch's global depowering, Litterbug decided he was safest with his own kind. That's why he went to live on Utopia, the former Asteroid M now floating in San Francisco bay which functioned as the X-Men's home. Litterbug quickly gravitated towards fellow residents with a questionable reputation; Bliss, Dragoness and Toad forming a gang of sorts.
(Nation X#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - Toad had requested a meeting with Cyclops, but even after a week without receiving a response Toad decided he had to make a stand to get noticed. To get some respect he and his gang choose to take control of the water rationing on Utopia, figuring Cyclops now had to listen to his demands.
(Nation X#1/3) - Litterbug, Bliss, Dragoness and Toad were met by Iceman, Madison Jeffries, Surge and Prodigy who wondered what was going on. But while Toad explained his reasons Iceman refused to take the mutants serious and started to badmouth them. Unable to take any more comments Litterbug leaped towards Iceman in an effort to attack him but fell down before he could land a hit, Iceman had lowered the temperature Bliss and the others fell down due to hypothermia. Thinking them dealt with Iceman left the space while Prodigy and the others wondered if they just needed some reassurance.
(New Mutants III#14) - During the events that became known as the Second Coming, Cyclops motivated Litterbug and several others to stand up and protect the future of mutantkind against a wave of Nimrod Sentinels approaching Utopia. Litterbug, Random, Scalphunter and Sack decided to help fight the Nimrod Sentinels and were well on their way to locate them when Toad ran towards them, wondering why they would even bother to fight them. Just as Toad and Sack started a heated debate a Nimrod Sentinel beheaded Sack. Litterbug and the other's prepared to fight the Nimrod Sentinel.
(X-Men III#12) - Toad's gang (now with the addition of Masque) witnessed the arrival of the Evolutionaries on Utopia. Litterbug stood with the group as Bliss asked what was happening Toad decided they had to investigate. Toad whilst a member of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had met the Evolutionaries but was made to forget the event.
(X-Men III#13) - Part of their plan Litterbug joined Dragoness to attack the X-Club, hoping to pressure them intro revealing why the Evolutionaries had come to Utopia. Litterbug punched Madison Jeffries in the face rendering him unconscious while Dragoness revealed their reasons for being there. At the same time Toad had joined Bliss and Masque in breaking into Cerebro, attacking resident telepath Irma Cuckoos.
(X-Men III#14) - Help soon arrived as New X-Men members Prodigy, Match, Rockslide and Anole bursted in to rescue the X-Club. During the fight Litterbug fought Rockslide and Match while Dragoness fought Anole and Dr Nemesis. Meanwhile other New X-Men members Dust, Trance, Surge and Pixie defeated the other part of Toad's gang. But couldn't help Irma Cuckoo from finally succumbed to the pressure and unleashed a telepathic blast which caused all present on Utopia to see what had transpired when the Evolutionaries first contacted the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
(Generation Hope I#15 - BTS) - Litterbug formed a new gang with Bliss, Dragoness, Erg and Random.
(Generation Hope I#15) - Litterbug and his new gang approached the Lights (the first few mutants discovered following M-Day). Dragoness demanded to know why the Lights warranted such special treatment seeing as they were just a bunch of new mutants. Litterbug's group desired a place at the X-Men's table since they felt they had been fighting for mutantkind long before the Lights were even born. A fight between the two groups broke out when Transonic and Dragoness got into a fight after she said it was because they were terrorists and nothing more than schoolyard bullies. During the fight Litterbug fought Primal. The fight was eventually brought to an end when Hope took over Kenji's powers, capturing their foes within her malleable body. Hope then released all of the fighters, ordering them to walk away.
(Generation Hope I#16) - As Litterbug's gang debated what they should do next, they noticed Hope walking by. Random, still upset about the way their last encounter ended, wanted to fight Hope. However, Erg held him back, reminding his fellow mutant that they were still recovering from their previous fight with Hope and the Lights.
(Generation Hope I#16 - BTS) - Hope eventually left with Kenji, who then used his power over Martha Johansson to take control of all residents of Utopia, who he ordered to attack Hope.
(Generation Hope I#17) - Controlled by Kenji, Litterbug and the other Utopia residents attacked Hope but were stopped by the Lights. Hope eventually rescued the telepathic Martha Johansson, who then went on to kill Kenji, returning everyone afflicted by their mental tampering to normal.
Comments: Created by Geoff Johns (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (pencils, inks).
Rather ironic, a man who helped build the Sentinels becoming a mutant and being hunted down by them. Litterbug seemed to have a great deal of hatred towards the United States, ripping apart the "Buy American" poster with a flag on it, burning off his Army/Flag tattoo. I assume he naturally felt betrayed, having given his life to the Army, then being forced to go AWOL when he became a mutant, and hunted down like an animal by his own government. A giant cockroach man who with a grudge against the Government, yeah, I think he's a perfect candidate for the Cockroach Conspiracy
Litterbug received a profile in X-Men - Earth's Mutant Heroes (2011).
Uncanny X-Men I#487-491, X-Men: Worlds Apart, New Mutants update by Chadman, Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia, Nation X, X-Men III, Generation Hope update by Marvellousluke
Original profile by Darc_Light
Profile redone and updated by Marvellousluke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Litterbug has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Morlocks#4, p7, pan1 (main image)
Morlocks#1, p17, pan2 (attacking a police officers)
Morlocks#3, p4, pan1 (destroying a Sentinel)
Uncanny X-Men#487, p1, pan2,3 (bullied by Masque)
Uncanny X-Men I#491, p13, pan1 (hit by Warpath)
X-Men III#13, p21, p4 (attacking the X-Club)
Generation Hope I#15, p11, pan2 (against the Five Lights)
Appearances:
Morlocks#1 (June, 2002) - Geoff Johns (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (pencils, inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Morlocks#2 (July, 2002) - Geoff Johns (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (pencils, inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Morlocks#3 (August, 2002) - Geoff Johns (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (pencils, inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Morlocks#4 (September, 2002) - Geoff Johns (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (pencils, inks), Mark Powers (editor)
X-Men: The 198 Files (2006)
Uncanny X-Men I#487 (August, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#488 (September, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#489 (October, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#490 (November, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#491 (December, 2007) - Ed Brubaker (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
X-Men: Worlds Apart#2 (January, 2009) - Christopher Yost (writer), Diogenes Neves (penciler), Ed Tadeo (inker), Daniel Ketchum (editor), Axel Alonso (executive editor)
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia I#1 (August, 2009) - Matt Fraction (writer), Marc Silvestri, Michael Broussaro, Eric Basaldua, Tyler Kirkham, Sheldon Mitchell (pencillers), Joe Weems, Marco Galli, Eric Basaldua, Rick Basaldua, Jason Gorder, Jay Leisten, Sal Regla, Jon Sibal, Ryan Winn (inkers), Nick Lowe (editor)
Nation X I#1/3 (February, 2010) - Christopher Yost (writer), Michele Bertilorenzi (pencils, inks), Jody Leheup (editor)
New Mutants IV#14 (August, 2010) - Zeb Wells (writer), Ibraim Roberson (penciler), Lan Medina, Nathan Fox (inkers), Nick Lowe (editor)
X-Men III#12 (August, 2011) - Christopher Yost (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Dalibor Talajic (pencils, inks), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso, Nick Lowe (editors)
X-Men III#13 (August, 2011) - Christopher Yost (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Dalibor Talajic (pencils, inks), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso, Nick Lowe (editors)
X-Men III#14 (September, 2011) - Christopher Yost (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Dalibor Talajic (pencils, inks), Juan Vlasco (inks), Axel Alonso, Nick Lowe, Jordan White (editors)
Generation Hope I#15 (March, 2012) - James Asmus (writer), Tim Green (pencils), Cam Smith, Rick Ketcham (inkers), Nick Lowe (editor)
Generation Hope I#16 (April, 2012) - James Asmus (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (pencils, inks), Daniel Ketchum, Nick Lowe, Jordan White (editors)
Generation Hope I#17 (May, 2012) - James Asmus (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (pencils, inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
First Posted: 01/20/2004
Last updated: 12/03/2017
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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