Charles Grey (18th century Hellfire Club and descendents)

CHARLES GREY

Real Name: Charles Grey

Identity/Class: Human (mutant or magic-user?), 18th and 19th Century

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: Hellfire Club

Affiliations: Harold, John

Enemies: Eleanor Grey, Malkin Grey, "Matthew" (unnamed brother of Eleanor), "Mittens" (unnamed cat), "an ape dressed in a mask"

Known Relatives: Malkin Grey (descendent, deceased), Eleanor Grey (Malkin's wife), Joseph "Joey" Thomas Bailey, Gailyn Bailey, Brian Grey, Jean Grey, John Grey, Julia Grey, Sara Grey-Bailey, many others (descendant)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: London, @ 1757 and 1857

First Appearance: Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1 (January, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Charles Grey's spirit survived the death of his physical body, and he was able to possess and control others (or at least his descendent).

History:
(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/6 (fb) - BTS) <1757> - Charles was driven insane by a demonic figure he saw.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/6) - Charles was escorted home by he Hellfire Club allies Harold and John. John tried to assure Charles that what he say was just an ape in a mask, and John instructed Harold to give Charles an opiate to help him sleep. Overcome by the vision and thoughts of his own guilt and sins, Charles feared that the Devil would take him and decided to repent to escape this fate. Asking God for forgiveness, Charles then stabbed a knife into his own chest. Though his body fell to the ground, dead, his spirit remained, though he could not interact with others.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/6) <1857> - One hundred years later to the night, Charles spirit entered the room of his abusive descendent, Malkin Grey. As Malkin prepared to beat his wife, Eleanor, Charles used a knife to stab Malkin in the chest. As Malkin died, Charles took possession of his form, reanimating it. Malkin's displaced spirit remained on the Earthly plane, distraught by his fate.
The next afternoon, Malkin recognized that his ancestor Charles had possessed him. Charles told him that he had summoned Eleanor's brother, a priest, to exorcise the spirit that haunted their house (meaning that he would get rid of Malkin's spirit). Eleanor found a stillborn kitten, and Malkin's spirit possessed the kitten.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/6) <1858> - A year later, Charles (in Malkin's body) complained that Eleanor spent too much time with her cat. When she told him that the cat gave her affection (unlike her husband), he slapped her to the ground and prepared to beat her with a poker. As he bent down, the Malkin-possessed cat knocked a vase off of the mantle that struck Charles in the head, apparently killing him. Malkin then had the cat leap to its death on a sharp fence post, intending to return and re-take possession of his own dead body. However, the enraged Eleanor had beaten Malkin's head into a pulp with the poker, leaving nothing for either Charles or Malkin to possess.

Comments: Created by Nicholas Vince and D'Israeli.

This story was to be a prologue of a series called "The Fallen," which I don't believe was ever published. These stories were part of Marvel UK's Frontier Comics, kind of like the Marvel Knights or something...a little darker and edgier.

I'm not sure quite what the deal was with the circumstances under which the spirits could take a host. The host body apparently had to be dead, but it still had to be functionally intact. For instance, a stab wound to the heart was workable. A pulped head was not workable. It would seem that being impaled on a large enough object was not workable either.
Odd little nine page story.

According to Uncanny X-Men#350, the Hellfire Club was founded in the 1760s. I don't have anywhere near enough Hellfire Club information Appendicized to make a guess which is correct, but the dates in this issue may be a decade off, or it may be that some precursor of the Hellfire Club existed prior to Dashwood's forming it in the 1760s.

According to the Hellfire Club's handbook entry, Dashford formed his club in 1746. It was originally called the Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe and only formally adopted the Hellfire Club name around 1760. From what I can tell, this seems to be true of the real life Hellfire Club as well.
--David A. Zuckerman

Thanks to Zuckerman for pointing out that Jean's more recent handbook profiles confirmed Charles to be an ancestor.

Loki found the real world story behind the monkey incident in an article published in the Beyond magazine in 2008. In 1762 John Wilkes brought a baboon to the Hellfire Club's chapel. Wilkes released the baboon, which had been dressed like a devil, during the ceremony. The Earl of Sandwich (John Montagu) really believed it to be a "devil" and asked it to spare him. The details of this incident were first published in 1766 in a book called Chrysal.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Given that the Greys were part of the English Hellfire Club, it seems quite likely that they are distant relatives to Jean Grey and her family, but this is not 100% confirmed.

Eleanor Grey

@ 1857, she was the wife of wife of Malkin and the sister of "Matthew." She took in and raised a number of kittens and she endured regular physical and mental abuse from Malkin. She was apparently unaware that Charles had possessed Malkin (though Charles seemed no less abusive) or that her one cat was possessed by Malkin (who was much more friendly as a cat). After a year, the Charles-possessed Malkin had struck her and threatened to kill her, and when he was knocked out by a falling vase, she beat his head to a pulp with a poker.