GLOOM
Real Name: Jordan Lewis
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Student
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Jeffrey Garrett, Overlay/Zach Halliwell, Rubbermaid/Andrea Margulies, Saurus/Jorge Lukas, Silicon/Stan Finch, Tantra/ Reuben O'Hara, other unidentified students), X-Men (Emma Frost), X-Treme X-Men (Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Sage/"Tessa", Storm/Ororo Munroe)
Enemies: Elias Bogan, X-Treme X-Men (Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Sage/"Tessa")
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men I#20 (March, 2003)
Powers/Abilities: Apart from his obvious physical mutation, Gloom was able to blind his victims by psionically generating strands of darkness he could manipulate, either placing them on flat surfaces like walls and doors like traps or actively moving them in tendril form. Either way, the darkness automatically blinded, causing people to believe they were completely shrouded in darkness, causing extreme disorientation and vertigo. Gloom's eyes flared a bright red when he was using his abilities (see comments).
Height: 4'9" (by approximation)
Weight: 95 lbs. (by approximation
Eyes: Red
Hair: Unrevealed, possibly bald.
History:
(X-Treme X-Men I#20) - When seven naked people were found frozen to death on Alaska's McKenn glacier, all evidence pointed to a mutant murderer. This got X-Treme
X-Men members Bishop & Sage involved in the investigation. The duo decided to pay a visit to the Xavier Institute, figuring it would be an ideal hiding place for a mutant on the run. However, headmistress Emma Frost wasn't thrilled at the notion of opening her school up for a crime scene investigation and motivated some of her students to play with the
X-Men a little. Gloom got the first crack at them, using his ebon tendrils to blind the investigators, making them momentarily believe they had lost all sight. Having
successfully rattled the supposedly battle hardened X-Men, Gloom happily allowed his fellow students like Tantra to have a laugh at Bishop and Sage's expense. However, they were mostly playing along as was revealed when Frost actually wanted the students to remove them from the grounds. Allowing the two mutant investigators access to the school, it didn't take long for Bishop & Sage to match the mutant energy signature they found at the Alaska crime scene with that of recent recruit, the teleporter Jeffrey Garrett. Freaked out for having been found out, Jeffrey teleported the two to Times Square where they appeared without any clothes on.
(X-Treme X-Men I#21) - Gloom was revealed to have befriended Jeffrey Garrett, along with his friends Rubbermaid, Silicone, Tantra and two unidentified X-students.
(X-Treme X-Men I#22) - Unbeknownst to anyone, the malevolent psychic entity known as Elias Bogan mind-controlled Emma Frost and took over her body in order to check in on the students' sleeping quarters where Gloom and the others were staying. Opposed by Storm, the fight that ensued woke up Gloom and the others. The panic among the student body increased even more when Bishop and Sage made their way in to apprehend Jeffrey Garrett. Acting on Bogan's orders, Garrett teleported all mutants present to the Danger Room where an interactive, unrestricted holographic program was running that replayed events that led up to the Alaska murders.
(X-Treme X-Men I#23) - Trapped in the Danger Room and forced to participate in the murder drama, Gloom and the other students were imprisoned by Bogan as the events began to unravel. Despite the students' protests to let them and the teachers go, Bogan tried to torture Jeffrey Garrett just before the boy used all his might to teleport himself, Frost and the captured students out of the Danger Room. After Bishop, Sage and Storm managed to defeat Bogan, it was revealed that Gloom and the others had no memory of the recent events, revealing Bogan was masterful at covering his tracks. Cleared of the murder charges when Bogan's mental influence became obvious, Jeffrey Garrett teleported all the students including Tantra to the snow-covered plains of Alaska to unwind during a friendly snowball fight.
(X-Men II#157) - Gloom was seen on the grounds along with Saurus and Tantra when Lucinda Guthrie dropped of her son Icarus (Jay Guthrie) for his first day as part of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
(House of M#8 - BTS) - Gloom was one of the many millions mutants who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 200 worldwide (closer to 300 on subsequent estimates--Snood).
(New X-Men II#23 - BTS) - Two weeks after the massive de-powering event that became known as M-Day, it was decided by headmasters Cyclops and Emma Frost that all de-powered students should return home for their own safety. A first busload of students had already left and a second with another 42 former mutant teens was about to leave when the vehicle was blown up by the Purifiers who launched a missile strike that killed everyone by order of reverend William Stryker. It was never revealed if Gloom was on the first or second bus.
(New Avengers I#17 - BTS) - Gloom's mutant energies joined with those of the other de-powered 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 Gloom's pattern, along with 50+ other victims of M-Day.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont & Salvador Larroca
It also seemed like Gloom was able to create more complex illusions, seeing as Bishop and Sage were tricked into believing they'd already entered the school while they were still outside. However, this might have been the handiwork of another, unrevealed, student.
As all students of the Xavier Institute were selected to join special training squads mentored by members of the X-Men, Gloom could have been a part of the Excelsiors (Iceman's squad), the Exemplars (Beast's squad) or the Paladins (Shadowcat's squad) whose rosters have never been revealed.
Also worth to note that Gloom looked exactly like a Jawa from the Star Wars epos, short natives of Tatooine who were scavengers, seeking out technology for sale or trade in the deep deserts.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Character name has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
X-Treme X-Men I#20, p19, pan2 (main image)
X-Treme X-Men I#20, p18, pan6&7 (Bishop & Sage affected by powers)
X-Treme X-Men I#21, p1, pan3 (with friends)
Appearances:
X-Treme X-Men I#20 (March, 2003) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Mike Raicht, Andrew Lis (editors)
X-Treme X-Men I#21 (April, 2003) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Mike Raicht, Andrew Lis (editors)
X-Treme X-Men I#22 (May, 2003) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Mike Raicht, Andrew Lis (editors)
X-Treme X-Men I#23 (May, 2003) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Mike Raicht, Andrew Lis (editors)
X-Men II#157 (July, 2004) - Chuck Austin (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Avengers I#18 (June, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils), Joe Pimentel (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 12/30/13
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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