WHITE GHOST(Reality-4011)
WHITE GHOST
(Reality-4011)
Real Name: John Howlett, Jr.
Identity/Class: Human mutant/mutate (Reality-4011)
Occupation: Terrorist
Group Membership: Former leader of an unidentified terrorist group
Affiliations: Ratpack
Enemies: Weapon X (the organization), Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett)
Known Relatives: Elizabeth Howlett (mother,
deceased), John Howlett Sr. (father, deceased), James Howlett (Wolverine/Logan),
unidentified grandfather (deceased);
see comments
Aliases: Kitsunebi, Old Man, X
Base of Operations: Formerly
the Medieval (next
to the old Bellagio), Las Vegas, Nevada;
formerly Hiragana-san mountain (just beyond the Tarikana village, some 50 miles north of Kyoto, to the
west of the Shuzuoka Prefecture), Japan
First Appearance:
(Behind-the-scenes) Wolverine: The End#1 (January, 2004);
(ghost image only) Wolverine: The End#2 (March, 2004) ;
(fully seen) Wolverine: The End#3 (June, 2004)
Powers/Abilities: The Wolverine, the White Ghost had enhanced strength, speed, senses, healing, etc., as well as a slowed aging process. He could extend three bone claws from each forearm out through his wrists. He could also assume a ghost-like, intangible form, avoiding all attacks while restoring his solid form at will to strike against others.
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Red (original color unrevealed)
Hair: White (originally light brown or blond?)
History:
(Wolverine:
The End#1 (fb) - BTS) <1885> - John Howlett Jr. was born.
(Wolverine: The End#4 (fb)) - John's father took a family picture (both parents and John).
(Wolverine: The End#4 (fb)) - John and his family toured their new estate under construction and learned that he was going to have a new sibling. His grandfather criticized the land.
(Wolverine: The End#4 (fb) - BTS) - John watched as his father took a picture of his mother and his newborn brother, James.
(Wolverine: The
End#4 (fb)) - John was drawn to the infant James, sensing a strong connection,
like they were two of a kind. He then glimpsed his mother, Elizabeth, kissing
the gardener, Tom Logan. John confronted his mother about this, but as he became
overly excited, he popped his claws for the first time, inadvertently slashing
his mother's side. Seeking to protect his son's family from the scandal
knowledge of such a deviant child would produce, old man Howlett took young
John, vowing to provide the very best that medicine had to offer.
As John began to calm down, he was taken away in a carriage,
taken to an asylum, and chained up to the wall.
(Wolverine: The End#1 (fb) - BTS) <1897> - John Howlett Jr. was believed to have died by everyone; even a gravestone and a burial site were placed.
(Wolverine: The End#4 (fb)) - John was sure his parents would come for him and find him when word got out of where he had been taken, but no one came, and he stayed there for years until he couldn't remember how or when or why he had come there.
(Wolverine: The End#1 (fb) - BTS) - After the deaths of the other Howletts when James' powers surfaced, the banks took over their estate. The place was abandoned, and all of the money went missing.
(Wolverine: The End#4 (fb)) - Eventually John was taken by researchers as their first subject, "X." They told John that there had been an injustice, that he had been betrayed, and that they were the only one he could trust.
(Wolverine: The
End#4 (fb)) - John was tested and questioned on the origin of his abilities, and
he accepted it all and began to evolve. Then one day, they "asked him one too
many questions and so he left the program."
in the pictures shown, it seemed that when he gained his
power to become immaterial, he broke free and took vengeance on his attackers.
John later said they would have killed his family for what
had been done to him, but they had already all died after James' powers
surfaced.
(Wolverine: The
End#4 (fb) - BTS) - According to John, Professor X knew about him, but kept the
knowledge from James, who by then had become Wolverine/Logan. John further
stated that Xavier played the two men against each other.
(Wolverine: The End#1 - BTS) <End of the 21st century> - At the funeral for Sabretooth (Victor Creed), Emily Rand, the attorney for Creed's estate, gave the now aged Logan an envelop that carried the scent of and led him to the old Howlett estate. There Logan found a book, the Ghosts of Japan: The Lost Rituals of Kanaguri. Logan suspected that Weapon X was behind this.
(Wolverine: The
End#2) - Logan made his way to Japan and tracked down the Kanaguri cult and
learned the name of their leader: Kitsunebi -- seconds before his Kanaguri
source was slain by a poison blow dart. Logan then traveled to the Hiragana-san
mountain, just beyond the Tarikana village, some 50 miles north of Kyoto, to the
west of the Shuzuoka Prefecture, following the legends of the Yurei demon,
Kitsunebi. Legends described Kitsunebi as a twilight beast of silent white that
hides in the snowfall, waiting to blind and freeze those who seek audience with
Hiragana-san's mountain god; it also described him as a treacherous mountain
god. Upon reaching the idol of the mountain god 2000' up the mountain, Logan
shouted that he knew someone had been following him, not just for the last 2000
feet, but for the last 200 years, and demanded that person show its face. The
White Ghost then appeared as a featureless figure, battering Logan repeatedly,
proving untouchable to Logan's assaults, and refusing to answer why he had
summoned him there or why he was attacking him now. As Logan lay defeated, the
White Ghost told him he wanted him to know that he could have defeated him
anytime in the last 200 years, then vanished...leaving Logan to wonder, "Why
didn't you?"
(Wolverine: The End#3) - Near death, Logan was located by the White Ghost's servants and brought to his fortress. After recovering, Logan was brought to the White Ghost himself, who called him James. Logan challenged the White Ghost, and the two sparred for a time, with the White Ghost noting he was Logan's predecessor and superior. When Logan slashed the White Ghost's abdomen with his claws, the White Ghost adopted his immaterial form. Again battering Logan with immunity, the White Ghost announced that he had just wanted to make sure that he understood the pecking order, then embraced Logan and revealed himself to be Logan's older brother.
(Wolverine: The
End#4) - John showed Logan a picture of his mother holding James as a baby, then
brought him to the old Weapon X tank in which they had both been mutated. John
revealed that Weapon X had long since closed down, and a frustrated Logan
shattered the equipment. John then shared his own history with Logan and
promised to fill in the missing pieces of Logan's memory if Logan joined with
him against the rest of the world.
Apparently unbeknownst to John, Logan had long harbored
Xavier's astral self within him, and Xavier warned Logan against throwing his
life away for a brother he never really knew. When John came out to check on
Logan's decision, Logan pushed him off of the mountaintop.
(Wolverine: The End#5 (fb) - BTS) - John survived the fall and escaped before he could be found.
(Wolverine: The
End#5) - Logan knew that John survived, denying police conclusions to the
contrary. The current X-Men incarnation joined the investigation, and John's
base was raided and his followers arrested. Logan then traveled to Las Vegas and
went to a bar associated with John's scent, then took down the Ratpack, a group
of men who attacked him when he started asking about John. Logan forced one of
the men to reveal that he could find John at the Medieval, next to the old
Bellagio.
The Ratpack's Pete Randle warned John's agents that Logan was
coming for him. John determined to slay Logan himself, as he would never die
until he ran into someone better.
(Wolverine: The End#6) - John observed Logan's progress in invading his Las Vegas facility and was frustrated when Logan duped them into thinking he was on a railcar while he sneaked in on foot. John finally caught up with Logan as Logan approached "Ecstacy," a nuclear bomb with which John intended to blow a whole in Nevada to cause the US economy to crumble, setting it up for a hostile takeover. John invited Logan to join him one last time, but Logan condemned him for claiming to seek freedom and liberation, but really being out for profit. John taunted Logan, mocking his life and threatening his offspring, but Logan destroyed the bomb's trigger device and then fled the base. John attacked Logan as he departed in the railcar, and the two battled savagely again, with John again taunting Logan with knowledge of his past, including a mutant son he didn't even know he had...a son that he would convince to accept him as his father after Logan's death. John planned to construct a new trigger and defeating Logan (or to have his men do it while they were both in police custody), but his next blow struck a power box with his claws, and both men were sent flying out of the railcar. As they landed, Logan's claws impaled John through the chest. Dying, John told Logan he was glad that it had happened this way but that he wished he had had more time to tell him about his past. With his last breath, John told Logan he had always been so proud of him.
Comments: Created by Paul Jenkins and Claudio Castellini.
The White Ghost's attitude and abilities seemed to vary b/t issues. The series was spread out over a year, but even reading them back to back, the focus seemed to be lost. Maybe he was just crazy...
It wasn't discussed here, but I believe
that James Howlett/Wolverine was actually supposed to be the son of Tom Logan,
which would mean that he's no real relation to John Sr. or old man Howlett, and
that Dog was his half-brother...I think.
Then, of course, the question remains of whether Dog was Sabretooth or not...
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
images: (without ads)
Wolverine:
The End#2, p19, panel 3 (ghost form)
#3, p17 (face close-up)
p18 (ghost form over Logan)
p21, panel 1 (full body)
#4, p10, panel 2 (young John)
p17, panel 4 (upper torso)
#6, p17, panel 2 (immaterial form)
p21 (death)
Appearances:
Wolverine:
The End#1 (January, 2004) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio
Castellini (artist); Marc Sumerak, Andy Schmidt, & Nicole Wiley (assistant
editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Wolverine:
The End#2 (March, 2004) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio
Castellini (artist); Marc Sumerak, Andy Schmidt, & Nicole Wiley (assistant
editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Wolverine:
The End#3 (June, 2004) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio
Castellini (artist); Marc Sumerak, Andy Schmidt, & Nicole Wiley (assistant
editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Wolverine:
The End#4 (August, 2004) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio
Castellini (artist); Marc Sumerak, Andy Schmidt, & Nicole Wiley (assistant
editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Wolverine:
The End#5-6 (November-December, 2004) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio
Castellini (artist); Marc Sumerak, Andy Schmidt, & Nicole Wiley (assistant
editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 10/13/08
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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