DRAGON
DRAGON
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Reality-597) dragon, possible extra-terrestrial
Occupation: Mother, former power source, slave
Group Membership: None (see Comments)
Affiliations: Bert (Earth-1193 resident), Excalibur (Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Lockheed, Meggan, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Rachel Summers, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde), Numbers, the Special Executive, Alistaire Stuart, the Technet
Enemies: Anjulie, Anjulie's demonic master, Reichminister Moira MacTaggert,
Known Relatives: Numbers (mate), multiple unidentified hybrid offspring
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Excalibur's
lighthouse, West coast of England
First Appearance: (Hidden within train) Excalibur I#4 (January, 1989); (shown) Excalibur I#11 (August, 1989)
Powers/Abilities: The dragon possesses superhuman strength to an unspecified degree, is superhumanly durable, and has sharp teeth and claws. Presumably she can breathe fire, as she helped power a steam train, though she never actually demonstrated this power during any of her appearances.
History: (Excalibur I#11 (fb) - BTS) -
A dragon was enslaved by the Nazis of Earth-597 and placed within a steam-driven
train to serve as a power source. The train was used by Reichminister Moira
MacTaggert.
(Excalibur I#4 - BTS) - The train passed through a portal created by the robotic Widget, swapping places with Earth-616's Highland Flyer.
(Excalibur I#6 - BTS) - The train ended its journey at Earth-616's Euston Station, where the Weird Happenings Organisation (W.H.O.) was swiftly called in. They arrested the passengers and crew, and impounded the train. Checking on the train's mechanisms, scientific advisor Alistaire Stuart discovered to his fascination the dragon contained within the train. When Chief Inspector Dai Thomas was called in to be WHO's civilian liaison in the case, Alistaire looked forward to surprising the dour cop with this revelation: "Wait'll you see what produces that steam."
(Excalibur I#11) - A prisoner exchange was arranged between Earth-616 and 597, but when Excalibur arrived at the swapping location, their dragon Lockheed sensed the other dragon trapped within the train and became distressed. Alistaire activated a switch that rendered the engine transparent, revealing the trapped dragon within, and Excalibur demanded it be freed. Reichminister MacTaggert objected, insisting that it was a beast's purpose to serve and pointing out that it was her train, but Alistaire reminded her that the transportation spell being used to bridge dimensions became more unstable the more mass it had to deal with, so leaving the train behind reduced the risks. Begrudgingly, the Reichminister agreed. However, as soon as she was safely back in her own world, the treacherous Nazi threw a grenade micro-nuke back through to Earth-616. Excalibur's Phoenix tried to contain the explosion with her powers, but her energies interacted with Widget, who activated a portal that transported Excalibur, Alistaire Stuart, the train and dragon, and Widget herself, extradimensionally.
(Excalibur
I#13) - Having arrived on Earth-1193, a world full of magical creatures,
Excalibur befriended the locals. Local craftsmen, including dwarves and giants,
repaired and repainted the train. One of the workers, Bert (a gnome or dwarf),
offered to let the dragon out of the engine for some fresh air, but she told
him that she liked where she was. As the repairs continued she chatted to
Lockheed, discussing her former owner Moira and consoling the broken-hearted
smaller dragon because his friend Kitty Pryde was intending to stay behind
on 1193 to marry a local prince, William. (Ultimately though, she
didn't).
(Excalibur I#16) - After the train crashed on Earth-1289, a barbarian world inhabited by many alien races, the dragon was extracted from the engine by the evil princess Anjulie, who fed both dragon and many Excalibur members to a tentacled entity she served. It held them inside its transparent gut, feeding off their lifeforce, but Nightcrawler overloaded the creature by feeding his teammate Phoenix to it, and it exploded.
(Excalibur I#17) - The explosion freed all the captives unharmed, the dragon included.
(Excalibur I#17 - BTS) - The dragon returned to its home inside the train's engine.
(Excalibur I#19) - After the train crashed on Earth-9019, Nightcrawler and Alistaire Stuart worked to repair it while the dragon slept, visible through a crack in the engine housing.
(Excalibur I#21 - BTS) - The train landed on Earth-2122. While Excalibur were away from the train, that reality's WHO discovered it and found the dragon.
(Excalibur
I#24) - To end the train's interdimensional jaunts, Omniversal Majestrix
transported it to the Omniversal Hub (Earth-522). Excalibur identified themselves
to the immigration officials who turned up to inspect the train, making the
engine transparent so the dragon could be seen. Nightcrawler identified her
as their vehicle's primary power source. Soon after Saturnyne returned the
train to Earth-616. The dragon exited the engine and took up residence in
the basement of Excalibur's lighthouse.
(Excalibur I#30) - When Meggan was temporarily turned vampiric by residual energies released by the Darkhold elsewhere on Earth, she went on a rampage. Captain Britain, Lockheed and Widget tracked her down, and Widget opened a portal that transported all of them back to the lighthouse's basement, where the dragon joined in helping trying to subdue the maddened Meggan. Dr. Stephen Strange, who had arrived at the lighthouse to help, froze them all in place and cured Meggan.
(Excalibur I#43) - After the Technet
moved into the lighthouse, Numbers chanced upon the dragon when he went into
the basement seeking some peace and quiet. Romance swiftly blossomed, despite
an unintended interruption when Captain Britain walked in on
them.
(Excalibur I#47 (fb) - BTS) - The dragon became pregnant, though the other lighthouse residents, perhaps excepting Numbers, were unaware of this.
(Excalibur I#45) - Numbers and the dragon watched as the other former Technet members trained in the lighthouse basement. The dragon was feeling unwell and experiencing audio sensitivity, so Numbers requested a reduction in the volume level. However, when Numbers declined to take part in the training exercise, insisting he was a lover rather than a combatant, Nightcrawler told him to go away, and restarted the exercise, leaving Numbers trying to comfort his distressed lover.
(Excalibur I#47 (fb) - BTS) - The dragon gave birth to (or hatched - it's unclear which) dozens of hybrid offspring. Lockheed served as the midwife.
(Excalibur I#47) - Numbers and the dragon introduced the other lighthouse residents to
their offspring. A few hours later the dragon and her flock of children departed
Reality-616 with Numbers, the former Technet, and their new team, the Special
Executive.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Marshall Rogers (pencils) and Terry Austin (inks).
The dragon can be considered BTS in all the issues of the Cross-Time Caper where we see Excalibur's train, but since all she does is sit inside the engine in the issues she isn't seen, I didn't bother listing those. For anyone who is interested, we see the train in Excalibur I#6, 11-19, 21-24. The dragon might also count as BTS any time we see the lighthouse between the end of the Cross-Time Caper and her departure with the Special Executive, as she was staying in the basement, but again, I didn't feel those needed to be listed.
A few sites online have ASSumed that the dragon is Reality-597's counterpart to Lockheed, even naming her as such as if it were a confirmed fact. While that is certainly a possibility, there's nothing to confirm this and Excalibur only ever call her "the dragon" or "dragon." Tellingly, Earth-1193's Bert was apparently capable of holding complex conversations with the dragon, as he discussed with her whether or not to let her out the train, and was capable of understanding her conversations with Lockheed; Bert discussed both dragons with his fellow workers, but only called Kitty Pryde's dragon Lockheed, so even if they are counterparts, the female dragon apparently didn't share Lockheed's name. In favor of the dragon being a Lockheed counterpart is that she is purple and a dragon, and she has a loose association with 597's Excalibur counterparts, Lightning Squad, in as much as she was a component of the train used by 597's Moira MacTaggert. Against the counterpart possibility is that this dragon is a she and is much larger than 616 Lockheed (though, of course, counterparts do differ), plus her usage as a train's power source - since none of the 597ers seemed to think the train was anything abnormal for their world, and they were perfectly willing to see it left behind or destroyed when they departed 616, this suggests that dragon-powered trains are unremarkable in their world, which reduces the level of this dragon's "association" to Moira, and in turn reduces the odds of her being a Lockheed counterpart. Additionally, when 616 Lockheed met 1289 Lockheed, the two swiftly acknowledged one another as counterparts, yet 1289 Lockheed did not similar acknowledge the 597 dragon. Regardless, we don't know for sure. If she is a counterpart of Lockheed, or even one of his species, then she is an extraterrestrial as well as extradimensional.
Hmm.
A dragon living inside a locomotive engine, providing the fire that creates
the steam. Where might Chris Claremont have gotten that idea from, I wonder?
Ivor the Engine was a popular British kids show in the late 1950s, and it
featured a small Welsh dragon, Idris, living inside a sentient steam engine.
Though it aired after Chris Claremont had emigrated to the United States,
it was repeated in the 1970s, and it is feasible that Chris Claremont knew
of it, or that Alan Davis had seen it. Regardless of whether this was in
any way the inspiration, if I were to suggest a name for the dragon, it wouldn't
be Lockheed, but Idris.
The dragon is purple most of the time, but is pale blue in her final appearance. Presumably this is a result of pregnancy, rather than a coloring error, though it should be noted that Lockheed is less purple and more blue than normal too (sympathetic pregnancy? Dragon pregnancy pheromones affecting him too?)
It is possible that the dragon also joined the Special Executive
when Numbers did, though I suspect that, given she'd just spawned a flock
of children, she merely went along as Numbers' mate. What is the maternity
leave policy for interdimensional parahuman mercenaries?
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dragon has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Excalibur I#11, exterior back page (main, with Reichminister MacTaggert)
Excalibur I#43, p11, pan3 , p7, pan1 (Reichrail Englande train)
Excalibur I#13, p14, pan2 (the dragon inside the train)
Excalibur I#24, p21, pan4 (the dragon exits the train)
Excalibur I#43, p11, pan3 (The dragon and Numbers, in flagranti)
Excalibur I#47, p2, pan3 (Numbers and dragon, proud parents)
Ivor the Engine Annual 1978, cover (Ivor the Engine with Idris the
dragon)
Appearances:
Excalibur I#4 (January, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis (pencils),
Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#6 (March, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis (pencils),
Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#11 (August, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Marshall Rogers
(pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#13 (October, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis (pencils),
Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#16 (December, 1989) - Chris Claremont (plot, script), Alan Davis
(plot, pencils), Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#17 (Mid-December, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis
(pencils), Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#19 (February, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Rick Leonardi
(pencils), Terry Austin & Al Milgrom (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#21 (April, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Chris Wozniak (pencils),
Al Milgrom (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#24 (Late July, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis
(pencils), Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#30 (October, 1990) - Dana Moreshead (writer), David Ross (pencils),
Al Milgrom (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#43 (November, 1991) - Alan Davis (writer, pencils), Mark Farmer
(inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#45 (December, 1991) - Alan Davis (writer, pencils), Mark Farmer
(inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#47 (February, 1992) - Alan Davis (writer, pencils), Mark Farmer
(inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
First Posted: 09/02/2013
Last updated: 05/18/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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