HELL's BELLES
HELL's BELLES
Membership: Briquette, Flambé, Tremolo, Vague
formerly Shrew
Purpose: Mercenaries
Affiliations: Cyber (Silas Burr), unidentified drug cartel
Enemies: Shrew (Marilyn Maycroft), X-Factor (Havok/Alex Summers, Multiple Man/Jamie Madrox, Polaris/Lorna Dane, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Strong Guy/Guido Carosella, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: (mentioned) X-Factor
I#79 (June, 1992);
(seen) X-Factor I#80 (July, 1992)
History:
(X-Factor I#79 (fb) - BTS) - The Belles worked alongside Cyber for an unnamed major drug cartel. When teammate Shrew quit and made a deal to testify against the cartel in exchange for immunity against prosecution, the other Belles were sent to kill her. The US government assigned X-Factor to protect Shrew.
Cyber ambushed Polaris, beating her, breaking her jaw, and sending her to the hospital.
(X-Factor I#80) - Flambé forced a government agent to tell her where Shrew was being hidden, after which she killed him. The Belles them ambushed Shrew, Havok, Strong Guy, and Wolfsbane in the Barclay Hotel in Virginia. Wolfsbane caught Vague's sent and exposed her, but Flambé stopped Wolfsbane and Havok from chasing her. Briquette confronted Strong Guy, and their fight carried them through the floor, all the way to the basement, leaving Shrew to face Tremolo. Though Strong Guy recovered more quickly than Briquette, Cyber then exposed him to a lethal poison.
(X-Factor I#81) - The basement boiler exploded due to contact with Briquette, and both groups fled. Cyber instructed them to surrender Shrew or else he would not give the antidote to the poison, but a US toxicologist managed to cure him. X-Factor (joined by Multiple Man and Quicksilver) met Cyber and the Belles at his instructed meeting place. X-Factor overpowered the Belles, and Shrew knocked Cyber into the path of an oncoming train.
(House of M#8 - BTS) - Flambé, Tremolo and Vague were amongst the many millions of mutants who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants worldwide.
(New Avengers I#17 - BTS) - Flambé, Tremolo and Vague's mutant energies joined with those of the other depowered mutants, creating The Collective, a massive force presence that ended up killing, among others, most of the members of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.
(New Avengers I#18 - BTS) - SHIELD analyzed The Collective's multiple energy signatures and managed to identify Flambé, Tremolo and Vague's, along with 50+ other victims of M-Day.
(Children of the Atom#1 - BTS) - Although being depowered, Flambé, Tremolo and Vague continued their criminal activities without the one remaining mutant of their former group, Briquette. The women continued their life of crime to get enough money to restore at least a semblance of their lost powers.
(Children of the Atom#1) - Looking to make some quick money, the Hells Belles attacked a money-transport. But while making their get-away they were stopped by the Children of the Atom, a group of teenage heroes pretending to be mutants. Unfamiliar with the teenagers and their abilities the Belles opposed the teens. The Children of the Atom, however, easily gained the upper hand and defeated the criminals who they left behind for the local authorities to find.
(Children of the Atom#1 - BTS) - After helping to take down the depowered members of the Hell's Belles, Cyclops-Lass posted an entry about the team on the website Mutants Unmuted. It listed their former powersets and mentioned their depowerment.
(Children of the Atom#2 - BTS) - Vague, Tremolo and Flambé were incarcerated in the Manhattan Detention Complex the Tombs
(Children of the Atom#2) - Learning her former teammates were incarcerated in prison, the one remaining mutant of the Hells Belles, Briquette, decided to break them out. Staging a successful jailbreak for the Hell's Belles, it didn't take long for the women to be opposed by the Children of the Atom again. Cyclops-Lass urged the Hells Belles to stand down and seek amnesty on Krakoa, something which the women laughed off. During the fight Flambé explained they'd felt violated, losing their mutant abilities and abandoned when Professor Charles Xavier founded the sovereign mutant-nation of Krakoa leaving the depowered mutants behind. Even without their mutant powers, the Hell's Belles were about to beat the Children of the Atom but the arrival of Storm, Outlaw, Toad and Mercury ended the fight. Storm got into a heated debate with Briquette over the fate of the depowered Hell's Belles who Ororo felt should return to prison. Storm assured the women that they would receive amnesty and could join them. Tremolo, Flambé and Vague accepted and joined Briquette and the others when they returned to Krakoa.
(Children of the Atom#6) - When the nation of Krakoa threw it's first extravagant Hellfire Gala, Vague, Tremolo and Flambé were also present. During the festivities, the women noticed the arrival of the Children of the Atom's sole mutant member, Gimmick (Carmen Maria Cruz). Decided they wanted payback, the women harassed the young girl only to be told off by Danielle Moonstar.
Comments: Created by Peter David, Larry Stroman, and Al Milgrom.
Main image cleaned up by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Snood and MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Hell's Belles have no known connections to
images: (without ads)
X-Factor I#80, cover (main image)
X-Factor I#81, p11, pan3 (with Cyber)
Children of the Atom#2, p13, pan2 (together again)
Appearances:
X-Factor I#80 (July, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#81 (August, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
New Avengers Most Wanted Files (December, 2005)
New Avengers#16 (April, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Steve McNiven (pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
New Avengers#17 (May, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils), Joe Pimentel (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
New Avengers#18 (June, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils), Joe Pimentel (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
New Avengers#19 (July, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Children of the Atom#1 (March, 2021) - Vita Ayala (writer), Bernard Chang (pencils, inks), Chris Robinson, Jordan D. White (editors)
Children of the Atom#2 (April, 2021) - Vita Ayala (writer), Bernard Chang (pencils, inks), Shannon Andrews Ballesteros, Chris Robinson, Jordan D. White (editors)
Children of the Atom#6 (August, 2021) - Vita Ayala (writer), Paco Medina (pencils, inks), Walden Wong (inks), Shannon Andrews Ballesteros, Jordan D. White (editors)
First Posted: 05/03/2004
Last updated: 09/17/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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