AUNTIE MAIM  

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extratemporal (Earth-928; circa 2099 AD) technology user; possible human mutant, mutate, and/or technology or magic user

Occupation: Unrevealed;
    former adventurer

Group Membership: Presumably the Thorites;
    formerly the Lawless (Broken Haiku, Junkpile, Mongrel, Reverend, Victor Ten Eagles, Xi'an Chi Xan)

Affiliations: Krystalin (Krys Porter Ogada), la Lunatica, Skullfire (Timothy Fitzgerald), Thor Odinson (presumably this Thor; object of worship)

Enemies: Elders of New Hope (including Beaumont), Foolkiller (Gideon), Foolkillers

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Maime;
    "mace-wielding mama" (nickname from Mongrel)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    last seen in the Unicelco facility in the industrial zone of Halo City, in what was left of California

First Appearance: (Lawless mentioned) X-Men 2099#6 (March, 1994);
    (Auntie Maim seen and identified) X-Men 2099#32 (May, 1996)

Powers/Abilities: Maim was tall and powerfully built, but it is not clear whether she was superhumanly strong. If she was,she might have been enhanced human (lifting between 800 lbs. to 2 tons).

    She formerly wielded the large hammer Josephine, with which she could strike with great force. It is unclear whether Josephine had properties beyond being a large stone hammer.

    She was experienced with using a hand-blaster and riding a skycycle of some sort.

Height: Unrevealed; approximately 7' (she looks a solid foot taller than Xi'an Chi Xan, who is at least average height)
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 325 lbs. (or more; she is very muscular and very tall)
Eyes: Possibly blue
Hair: Red

History: 
(X-Men 2099#6 (fb) - BTS / X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS) - Auntie Maim was a member of the Lawless, a group of desert outlaws in the American mid-west.

(X-Men 2099#33 (fb) - BTS) <2094 - five years before the main story> - The Lawless (Auntie Maim, Broken Haiku, Junkpile, Mongrel, Reverend, Victor Ten Eagles, Xi'an Chi Xan) came to New Hope, Texas, unaware that it was run by a group of fundamentalist zealot elders. 

(X-Men 2099#33 (fb)) - The Lawless ran over street mines set by the elders of New Hope to prevent unwanted intruders, after which they ambushed by the town's inquisition, whose executioners were super-soliders known as Foolkillers.

(X-Men 2099#33 (fb)) - For two days, the Lawless were subjected to a variety of subtle and unsubtle tortures designed to convert them. 

    Broken Haiku eventually hacked into the Foolkillers' computers and shut off the tranquilizer feed that was keeping the Lawless sedated.

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS / X-Men 2099#33 (fb)) - The Lawless fought their way through the Foolkillers but found the rest of New Hope was willing to fight to the last man to stop them.

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS) - After "one very long, very bloody afternoon," New Hope was burned to the ground.

    The Lawless slew every man, woman, and child in town. 

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb)) - Maim stood silently as Xi'an brutally beat and apparently killed the town elder Beaumont, possibly the last survivor up to that point, when he warned that the Lawless could not escape their judgment. Xi'an then led the Lawless out of New Hope.

X-Men 2099#33 (fb) - BTS) - Unbeknownst to the Deep in the long sleep of the Revival Chamber, Gideon survived.

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS) - The Lawless broke up.

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS) - Victor and Xi'an contacted Auntie Maim and Mongrel and arranged to meet them at a Halo City polyclinic based out of an old church in which Xi'an used his healing powers to try to atone for his past misdeeds.

    Maim arrived at the church before Mongrel.

    Maim apparently learned about Foolkiller and how the dead body of a young mutant (Remo) had been found in Halo City with "Fool" written in blood on his body.

(X-Men 2099#32) - When Mongrel arriving at the church, Auntie Maim, Victor, and Xi'an greeted him.

    After Mongrel taunted Xi'an's newfound benevolence, Maim told him he was still the same "overbearing, flea-bitten redneck" he had always been. Mongrel told her it was reassuring to know she still cared.

    Victor then shared what he knew about Foolkiller's apparent murder on the Reverend, and the attack on himself, which had cost him his right arm. Mongrel subsequently asked how they knew Foolkiller would find them there, and Maim told him about the Foolkiller's local murder of Remo. Xi'an shared how Junkpile had gone missing and the possible murder/destruction of Broken Haiku at Foolkiller's hands, meaning that the four of them were the only ones left.

    When Xi'an lamented how they had answered atrocity with atrocity against the Foolkillers previously, Mongrel considered him a whiny pacifist. Agreeing, Maim wondered if they could trust each other in battle and if they weren't better off on their own.

    Victor countered that they owed it to the Reverend and possibly Broken Haiku to nail this Foolkiller. Figuring the Foolkiller was smart enough not to take on all of them at once, Xi'an agreed to act as bait to draw him out.

    As Xi'an stood outside the church, Auntie Maim watched from atop the Darkholme building, Mongrel from across the street, and Victor from a ledge on another building. 

(X-Men 2099#32 - BTS) - Xi'an, Victor and Auntie Maim were distracted by Horace Pogue, a man with a weak heart wishing Xi'an's healing touch; mistaking Pogue in the shadows for the Foolkiller, Maim and Victor leapt down to confront him.

(X-Men 2099#32 (fb) - BTS) - Foolkiller ambushed Mongrel, bound him in chains, and dragged him behind the Aeroglide.

(X-Men 2099#32) - With Mongrel in tow as he drove his Aeroglide on the streets, Foolkiller confronted the others, noting that he was there to see that the judgment of the elders was upheld. Xi'an leapt and grabbed the chains holding Mongrel, but was unable to get his destructive hand on the chains. The pair whipping around blocked Auntie Maim's shot at Foolkiller before he took to the air. At Mongrel's urging, Xi'an let go just in time, but Mongrel was caught in the fiery exhaust as Foolkiller flew away, promising to return for the others.

(X-Men 2099#32 - BTS) - Knowing Foolkiller wouldn't leave Halo City as long as the other Lawless members were there, Xi'an told the Maim and Victor they would find Foolkiller, after which, "...it's judgment day, Lawless style." 

    While Xi'an decayed the chain holding Mongrel, Foolkiller blasted Victor's bike, leaving him vulnerably suspended from the ceiling. As Foolkiller prepared to pick off Victor, Maim smashed Foolkiller in the head with her hammer, shouting "Back off, troll!"

    Foolkiller was knocked to the ground, and Maim advised him, "Josephine's no Mjolnir, but she always makes an impression. Don't bother getting up, you'll only go down again. See, Auntie Maim knows a thousand ways to hurt you before she kills you." However, Foolkiller was only briefly stunned, and he instead raised his weapon, telling her he would teach her about pain; as she was shocked that he was not incapacitated, Foolkiller blasted her hammer, Josephine, shattering "her."

    Stunned by the force of the explosion and her upper body (at least) imbedded with dozens, if not hundreds, of Josephine shards, Maim was helpless as Foolkiller -- who recognized her garb as marking her as a Thorite -- grabbed her hair and taunted that she was not going to Valhalla, but to the eternals fires of--<presumably Hell>"; Foolkiller was interrupted as Xi'an kicked him down.

    Xi'an and Victor's ally Krystalin joined the fight, temporarily immobilizing Foolkiller, while Victor helped Maim to her feet as she muttered, "...gonna kill him..."

(X-Men 2099#33 - BTS) - Xi'an tried to convince Foolkiller to turn away from the violent life the elders of New Hope had given him, but Foolkiller detonated the bomb anyway.

(X-Men 2099#34) - <Days later> - Combing the ruins of Unicelco to see if Foolkiller might have survived, Xi'an and Victor found Foolkiller's skull, his flesh having been consumed by the facility's industrial solvents.

Comments: Created by John Francis Moore, Jan Duursema, and Scott Koblish.

    I don't know why the ending to #33 was glossed over. We just see the survivors later, but it is never shown how Xi'an or anyone else got away.

    Victor, Krystalin, Lunatica, Skullfire, Mongrel, and Auntie Maim all departed before Xi'an's final confrontation with the Foolkiller, and Victor, Krystalin, Lunatica, and Xi'an survived (without significant effect), so I don't know why Mongrel and Auntie Maim wouldn't have survived as well.  
    But, as far as I can tell, she was never seen nor mentioned again.

    If we ever see Maim again (unlikely), I'd like to see her with the shards of Josephine still imbedded in face and upper body. Perhaps the experience might even have granted her powers.

    It would amuse me if she turned out to be descended from Tillie the Hun.

    Tales of the X-Men 2099: The Lawless. It could happen. I'd buy it...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Auntie Maim is almost certainly named for:

• Auntie Mame, a 1955 novel (made into a number of movies and a broadway production), about Mame Dennis, a flamboyant, exhuberant woman who cared for Patrick, the son of her conservative brother, Edwin, after Edwin's death in 1928

She has no known connection to:

• other Maim or "Aunt" characters, Reality-928, 2099 AD, or otherwise

Josephine

    A Thorite, Maim wielded a hammer, Josephine, modeled after Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.

    Maim noted, "Josephine's no Mjolnir, but she always makes an impression."
    This referred, of course, to Josephine leaving a physical mark on those she struck.

    There is not evidence to support whether Josephine was a convention stone bound via leather straps to a large staff/stick, as opposed to whether "she" had any magical or special properties. 

    Maim's great size and strength allowed her to use Josephine to strike with great force, and she sometimes held Josephine by its throng (handle) to increase her striking distance.

(X-Men 2099#33) - Using Josephine, Maim knocked down Foolkiller as he prepared to strike down Victor Ten Eagles. 

    However, as Maim boasted/taunted Foolkiller, he recovered and blasted Josephine, shattering the stone and imbedding her fragments in Maim's upper body.

images: (without ads)
X-Men 2099#32, pg. 6 (full (minus feet/boots);
        pg. 16, panel 3 (face);
        pg. 19, panel 2 (jumping down);
    #33, pg. (arriving next to Victor on skycycle)
        pg. 6, panel 1 & 3 (confronting Foolkiller, and Josephine shattered);
        pg. 7, panel 2 (imbedded with Josephine shards);
        pg. 11, panel 1 (hitting landmines in New Hope, shows Maim's boots)

Appearances:
X-Men 2099#6 (March, 1994) - John Francis Moore (writer), Ron Lim (penciler), James Sanders III (inker), Joey Cavalieri (editor)
X-Men 2099#31 (April, 1996) - John Francis Moore (writer), Ron Lim (penciler), Harry Candelario (inker), Joey Cavalieri (editor)
X-Men 2099#32-33 (May-June, 1996) - John Francis Moore (writer), Jan Duursema (penciler), Scott Koblish (inker), Jaye Gardner (editor)
X-Men 2099#34 (July, 1996) - John Francis Moore (writer), Jan Duursema (penciler), Rob Hunter & Paul Neary (inkers), Jaye Gardner (editor)

First Posted: 02/08/2018

Last updated: 02/08/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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