BEDLAMITEs BEDLAMITEs
Classification: Apparently a genetically-engineered (and/or mechanically constructed) terrestrial race or races
Location/Base of Operations: Bedlam's Arctic complex
Known Members: None identified
Affiliations: Formerly Bedlam (William Nowlan)
Enemies: Alpha Flight (Box/Madison Jeffries, Sasquatch/Walter "Wanda" Langkowski, Vindicator/Heather Hudson), Beta Flight (Goblyn, Manikin/Whitman Knapp)
First Appearance: (Completely behind-the-scenes) Alpha Flight I#52 (November, 1987)
(Seen, identified): Alpha Flight I#56 (March, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: There were at least three types of Bedlamites.
The first type observed were piscine (fish-like) to perhaps serpentine
(snake-like). They were red, with two solid blue eyes, and blue mouth.
They had a main body/head portion and then a longer tail. They seemed
to vary between one to two feet in length, and they had fin-like ridges
or their dorsum (their top/back). They did not appear to have any
limbs.
They could swim and survive in some form
of liquid medium, but they also could swim through and survive in air.
They could wrap their tails around targets, alter their
shape/proportions slightly, and they could presumably bite.
There
were large numbers of these creatures, and they appeared to be housed
in a series or tanks or tubes (the latter of which lined many of the
hallways of the Bedlam-base-incorporating Boxship).
Another type was larger (ranging from perhaps 4' to 6' tall), metallic
blue in color, and somewhat insectoid (or reptillian) in form. These
forms were bilaterally symmetric and had two large solid-yellow eyes
and sharp teeth, with two fingers and a thumb on each arm, and with
three digits on each foot, two forward facing (anterior, assuming
they are bipeds; vs. cranially (toward the head, if quadrupeds)) and
one backwards (posterior, if bipeds; caudally if quadrupeds). They had
long, thick tails with which they could support their body weight while
suspended from a height, and they could presumably wrap around other
objects/beings or be used as a striking weapon. They had a long process
extending from the back of their skulls.
While
the other Bedlamites were more organic, these were more mechanical.
When torn apart, they definitely looked robotic.
They were somewhat reminiscent to the Aliens from the Sigourney Weaver movies.
The final type were somewhat like giant unicellular creatures, with amorphous shapes and pseudopodia/tentacles that could wrap around others. Manikin likened them to cancer cells. They had red eyes and could either launch themselves long distances or perhaps fly through the air. They infected Box's robotic brain, driving him mad and trying to take over his mind. Within his robotic brain, they could form into a large tumor that grew into and invaded the rest of the brain.
It is unrevealed whether they had any sort of hive-mind, but that seems likely.
Traits: All of the Bedlamites attacked other forms of life. The piscine and insectoid forms attempted to destroy/kill other beings, while the "cancer cell" type attempted to infect and take over bodies and minds.
They apparently attempted to hide out, presumably replicating and invading, but once exposed, they attacked those confronting them.
History:
(Alpha Flight I#56 (fb) - BTS) - Bedlam apparently (as
theorized by Sasquatch) performed organic experimentations, creating a
number of lifeforms (which Sasquatch/Langkowski would later identify as
Bedlamites).
(Alpha Flight I#55) - When Sasquatch resisted the Great Beasts, they smashed her through a wall into the complex, after which Tundra, Kariooq, and Tolomaq tore through the complex's rooof to confront the heroes.
Ultimately, in order to defeat the immense Tundra, Box absorbed/incorporated the entire complex into his form.
(Alpha Flight I#55) - When Tundra drew on the surrounding land, ice, and snow to grow ever larger, Box took Sasquatch's advice and converted a portion of his mass into energy.
(Alpha Flight I#55) - The released energy annihilated Tundra and launched Box and the rest of the Alphans (who had entered his immense form; although Laura Dean and Purple Girl were in the Liveworld dimension) into deep space where he entered warp space.
(Alpha Flight I#56) - The "Bedlamite" lifeforms infiltrated Box's form, affecting his mechanical brain, causing him to soar through space, unable to focus his thoughts or stop his flight.
Exploring the Boxship, Goblyn found tanks full of the red, piscine Bedlamites. When she snarled at them, one of them snarled back, leading Goblyn to slash the tank, causing it to shatter and allowing the Bedlamites to attack her. As the Boxship screamed out, the piscine and larger insectoid Bedlamites ambushed Sasquatch and Vindicator as they searched for Goblyn.
When Knapp (Manikin's prime human self) tried to
figure out how to operate on Box to alieviate his pain and madness, he
was transported to Box's compu-organic processing center (the
mechanical equivalent of his brain), which he could see was being
invaded by a massive tumor as well as a number of Bedlamite forms.
Knapp instructed the arriving Goblyn to tear into the tumor, after
which a number of other Bedlamites -- which Knapp described as nasty
cancer cells -- leapt out from the brain after Goblyn and Knapp. Box
screamed from the collateral damage from Goblyn's attack, leading
Vindicator to the "brain" as well.
When Goblyn indiscriminately hacked at the healthy and "cancerous" tissue, Vindicator restrained her in a plasma cage and then -- with Knapp's guidance -- blasted away the "cancer cell" Bedlamites, destroyed the main tumor, and then entered the mechanical "brain" and destroyed the Bedlamites within.
When Knapp assessed the last remaining mass as appearing to be associated with "the part of the brain most associated with personality," Vindicator hesitated, fearing destroying the mind of the man with whom she had fallen in love.
Ultimately, Jeffries was able to manifest an image of himself and call out to her that the Bedlamites were destroying his mind, and that it she delayed there would be nothing left worth saving.
After Vindicator destroyed the last remaining mass, the Boxship screamed out yet again, after which Jeffries regained control and was able to use its own defenses to destroy the last of the Bedlamites, saving a virtually overwhelmed Sasquatch.
Box then again entered warp space with the goal of returning everyone to Earth.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Jim Lee, and Tony DeZuniga.
We really have only Sasqautch's theories that Bedlam created these beings. However, we don't know for sure that Bedlam created the Arctic base as opposed to discovering and co-opting an existing base. I discuss this further in the Bedlam profile, but perhaps Bedlam found a pre-existing base with the "Bedlamites" having been designed by someone else, like Phaeder, the Master, Sinister, or any number of other mad scientist types.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Bedlamites should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#56, pg. 8, panel 1 & 2 (tanks of piscine Bedlamites, distant and close);
panel 4 (piscine face);
pg. 9, panel 2 (insectoids and piscines attacking Sasquatch and Vindicator);
pg. 13, panel 1 (cancer cell-type infected Box robotic brain);
pg. 15, panel 1 (cancer cell-types exiting Box's brain)
Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#52 (November, 1987) - Bill Mantlo (writer), June Brigman (penciler), Whilce Portacio (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#53 (December, 1987) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (penciler), Whilce Portacio (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#54 (January, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Hugh Haynes (penciler), Whilce Portacio (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#55 (February, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (penciler), Tony DeZuniga (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#56 (March, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (penciler), Tony DeZuniga (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
First posted: 3/26/2018
Last updated: 3/26/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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