HECATOMB

Real Name: Inapplicable

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial technology user

Occupation: Weapon of mass destruction

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Heptarchy, Tiv, others

Enemies: Black Box, Domino, Irene Merriweather, Prester John, Sabretooth, Tiv, Mummudrai, X-Men (Cable, Cannonball, Iceman, Lady Mastermind, Mystique, Omega Sentinel, Rogue);
Formerly Heptarchy, Tiv

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: X-Men II#189 (September, 2006)

Powers/Abilities: A massive technological weapon based on the psychic absorbing entity known as the Mummudrai, the Hecatomb was designed to absorb any mind it came into contact with and wipe them out of existence without causing any physical destruction. However, after the Hecatomb absorbed billions of minds, it developed sentience and hungered for more minds. Now immortal and capable of propelling itself through space, the Hecatomb absorbed all life that it came across for hundreds of years, adding more psychic essence to its own bulk. With its technological heart, the Hecatomb manifested as an amorphous psychic monstrosity around the heart. The Hecatomb spoke with various voices of its absorbed psyches and constantly analyzed its situations and potential threats. It was capable of shedding some of its psychic mass and firing individual minds as missiles to attack others. The Hecatomb was vulnerable to Rogue's touch.

History:

(X-Men II#198 (fb) - BTS) - Many centuries ago, the Shi'ar were at war with the alien Heptarchy. Seeking to end the war with as little devastation as possible, and yet with maximum casualties, the Shi'ar designed the Hecatomb. Based on the Mummudrai, a psychic entity that is born with every living being (most of which die out, some of which remain dormant in the living being's mind), the Shi'ar designed the Hecatomb to absorb all living minds, thus killing all living beings, without destroying any structures or resources. They based the Hecatomb on the dormant Mummudrai extracted from the brain of Ul'var Urizen. The Mummudrai was studied and mapped, kept in stasis aboard a ship. The Hecatomb was finally unleashed, immediately absorbing 18 billion minds into it. A flaw was exposed and the Hecatomb couldn't safely absorb that much energy at once. The matrix that was meant to erase the minds instead absorbed them, creating a living entity that hungered for more minds. The Shi'ar scientists tried turning the Hecatomb off, but only managed to anger it. The Mummudrai broke free from the Shi'ar and ran for it, with the Hecatomb pursuing it at top speed, never to be sated and absorbing any minds it came across on the way.

(X-Men II#197 (fb) - BTS) - The Mummudrai sensed powerful minds on Earth and began rushing towards it for help against the Hecatomb. The Hecatomb pursued it through space over the following centuries, absorbing the minds of whoever it crossed.

(X-Men II#189) - As the Mummudrai fled past a Shi'ar ship, the Hecatomb absorbed the minds on board, including that of Tiv.

(X-Men II#197) - The Hecatomb finally arrived on Earth and appeared over the island of Providence, where the Mummudrai was inhabiting the body of Cable.

(X-Men II#198) - The Hecatomb descended on Providence and began absorbing minds immediately. Voices of its various minds randomly escaped, quoting things the victims had said. Cable instructed Iceman to hold off the Hecatomb, which kept advancing over the population, absorbing more minds, including a massive attack at a crowded soccer stadium. Iceman, Mystique, Cannonball, and Omega-Sentinel attacked, rescuing who they could, and they discovered the original machine at the core of the psychic energy that made up the Hecatomb. Lady Mastermind briefly confused the Hecatomb with an illusory Hecatomb. The X-Men tried escaping in their ship, the Conquistador, but they found themselves locked out due to Sabretooth, their enemy, being inside and jamming the controls.

(Cable/Deadpool#40) - Providence residents Prester John and Domino, Black Box and Irene Merriweather, scrambled to help evacuate the island's residents while the X-Men worked to hold the Hecatomb back. Using the enhanced powers of the Mummudrai, Cable released the magnetic holders on the island, allowing much of Providence to break apart had take its occupants to safety.

(X-Men II#199) - As the Hecatomb descended on the X-Men, the Mummudrai exploded their ship, hoping the fusion core explosion would destroy the Hecatomb. Cable ordered the X-Men to evacuate the survivors, frightened that the Hecatomb was only wounded. Mummudrai leapt at the Hecatomb, seeking to destroy it, and the Hecatomb diverted .03 per cent of its mass at Cable, discharging human minds as spears to down the foe. With no other options, the Mummudrai awakened Cable's ally, Rogue, who was deathly ill, and summoned her to help them. The Hecatomb absorbed the Mummudrai into its mass, but Cable was saved by Cannonball at the last second. Just as the X-Men were ready to die, Rogue rushed in and touched the Hecatomb, instantaneously absorbing all of the billions of remaining minds into her form. The Hecatomb was defeated, leaving only the core, which was ready to explode at any moment. Iceman buried the core in subzero temperatures, and contained the resulting explosion. Rogue began to suffer from insanity due to all of the minds in her psyche.

Comments: Created by Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo and various inkers.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Hecatomb has no known connections to

• any characters not mentioned in this profile.

images: (without ads)
X-Men II#198, p9, pan2 (main)