ANDRE MEXER
Real Name: Andre Mexer
Identity/Class: Human mutant;
Brazilian citizen
Occupation: Janitor;
former mine worker, thief
Group Membership:
Xavier Institute for Mutant Research and Outreach staff;
formerly Xavier School staff
Affiliations: Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett), "Zeca," "Zico"
Enemies: Kuhrra Daïzonest, death squad (Jorge, others)
Known Relatives: Unidentified mother (deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Xavier Institute for Mutant Research and Outreach, Central
Park, New York City;
formerly Xavier's
School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, New York; Fortaleza,
Brazil
he's presumably living on Krakoa now, like most
other mutants, but that's unconfirmed.
First Appearance:
Wolverine: Saudade (2006)
Powers/Abilities: Mexer can cause others to
experience the illusion that gravity has switched off and the world
around them is bending and warping, causing the victim to become
extremely disoriented. Even after Mexer's whammy wears off, the victim
takes several minutes to recover their equilibrium and is left with a
headache worse than the one you'd get from "a bender and a barfight."
According to the psychometrist Hindsight, Mexer's powers were
telekinetic in nature; whether this means his gravity trick was not
fully illusory, or simply that Hindsight misunderstood the powers he saw
displayed in Mexer's memories, is unrevealed.
Still lacking full control of his power when he met Wolverine, Mexer needed to be able to concentrate to use it.
For unexplained reasons, mutant healer and telepath Kuhrra Daïzonest suffered intense psychic pain whenever Mexer used his powers, even when Mexer was several miles away (see comments).
Height: (When he met
Wolverine) 4' 10"; (as adult) 5'4" (both by approximation)
Weight: (When he met Wolverine) 80 lbs.; (as adult) 120 lbs.
(both by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History: (Wolverine: Saudade (fb) - BTS) - Mexer was born in a dumpster; his mother, perhaps 12, died in childbirth, and was taken away with the trash.
Just one more orphan growing up on the streets of Fortaleza, Brazil, Mexer befriended fellow street urchins "Zeca" and "Zico." When he was seven, he got hold of his first gun, determined not to be mistreated by others anymore.
Eventually, his mutant power to disorient others with world-spinning illusions emerged. He believed God had given him the power to protect his friends from the death squads that targeted street kids.
(Wolverine: Saudade (fb)) - A few months after his powers emerged, Mexer and his two friends were pursued along the beach and onto the docks by a death squad, shooting at the youths as they ran for their lives. Spotting a motorbike just finishing being unloaded from a ship, the trio tried to hotwire it, but were spotted by the bike's owner, Wolverine, who had just arrived in town for a vacation. He warned them to take their hands off his property, and was unphased when Zeca threatened him with a switchblade, even telling the youths he was happy to give them a ride if they needed one, but stating he would be the one driving, showing them the keys in his hand to emphasise the point.
Mexer immediately hit Wolverine with his
psychic attack, then told Zeca to grab the keys as Wolverine fell to the
ground.
Unknown to Mexer, several miles away this power usage was felt as a painful psychic shock, by mutant faith healer Kuhrra Daïzonest, who ordered his men to locate the boy for him.
The trio fled on the bike, mere seconds before the death squad arrived; with Mexer's departure, Wolverine's world gradually righted itself.
Mexer and his friends didn't get far on the bike before the death squad caught up to them in a pickup truck and forced them to stop. Held painfully by the hair, preventing him from concentrating to use his power, Mexer and his friends were forced into an alley out of public view.
As Mexer and Zico struggled unsuccessfully against their captors, Zeca's thug found the boy's knife and was about to kill him with it when Wolverine intervened. Having tracked the distinctive smell of his bike's high-end engine oil, the Canadian mutant launched a lightning strike that caught the squad off guard and swiftly took them down. Instructing the street urchins to hop on his bike, Wolverine drove them to safety, shielding them from the squad's gunfire with his own body.
After they reached the relative safety
of a busy beach full of people preparing for an evening party, and with
Logan having introduced himself, Mexer examined his new friend's jacket,
wondering at the fresh bullet holes in it. He asked Logan why he wasn't
hurt, and Logan responded that it was one of his special talents, then
returned the query, asking if Mexer was ready to talk about his own
abilities. The youth declined for the moment, and watched as Logan
caught the eyes of a local woman and was pulled up to dance for a
while. 
Returning to the youths, Logan asked if they had a place he could crash for the night. Mexer invited him back to the trio's "palace," and as they hitched a ride atop the roof of an overloaded bus, he told Logan his life story, and Wolverine in turn told Mexer of the X-Men, suggesting he might join Xavier's School, a discussion that continued into the night after they reached the small makeshift hut that the boys called home.
Mexer was interested, but wondered how he could leave his friends, believing it was his duty to protect them with his powers.
The next morning, while Logan went for a swim, the boys bought fruit for breakfast, and offered to share it with their guest when he returned to shore. Before they could do so, three trucks raced onto the beach, cornering them and disgorging multiple gunmen. Wolverine went for one vehicle, which was carrying the death squad from the day before, but was gunned to the ground.
Trying to defend his friend, Mexer turned his powers on that vehicle's occupants, giving an enraged Wolverine a chance to rally and attack them.
However, one of the thugs from another
vehicle kicked Mexer in the back, dropping him to the ground, then
continued to kick him while he was down, keeping Mexer from using his
powers again. The other gunmen concentrated fire on Wolverine until he
also went down. 
One of the gunmen took Mexer for Daïzonest, telling the others to finish off the rest. Zico was shot dead, and Zeca beaten and possibly slain; having been shot hundreds of times, the barely living Wolverine was dragged along the coast road behind a van, then dropped into the ocean to drown.
Gagged and with his hands bound, Mexer was taken to Kuhrra Daïzonest; he promptly headbutted the healer and tried to flee, but was caught by one of Daïzonest's men.
Mexer was handed back to Daïzonest, who informed Mexer that he was bathed in the blood of the lamb and now had a chance to serve God by helping Daïzonest bring comfort to his penitent patients.
And with that pronouncement, Daïzonest took hold of Mexer's head in his hands and began to burn out parts of the boy's brain, psychically lobotomizing him.
(Wolverine: Saudade (fb) - BTS) - Once Mexer's brain was burned out, Daïzonest's men sold him to the bosses of the Sierra Pelada gold mines.
(Wolverine: Saudade (fb)) - Mexer was soon located by Wolverine, who had healed, tracked down Daïzonest hoping to rescue Mexer, then slain the healer for what he had done. After forcibly convincing the mine overseers to let him take Mexer, Wolverine returned to Xavier's School with his friend, and, after some arguing, convinced Professor X to offer Mexer a place there for life. Capable only of simple, repetitive tasks, the youth became the school's janitor.
(Wolverine: Saudade) - Several years later, Mexer was washing the X-Plane in the Mansion's hanger, listening to Logan telling a group of new young students his story in the hope it would make them appreciate how lucky their own circumstances were and so stop messing around and make their powers count for something.
Logan finished the tale with an exaggerated
warning that they would answer to him if they misbehaved, and Mexer
watched as the kids scattered laughing. Smiling, Mexer haltingly told
his friend to "be nice." Smiling sadly back, Logan responded "Not all
the time, Mexer. Not all the time," and wandered away, his thoughts
melancholy about what might have been had things turned out differently.
(Generation X II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Mexer either survived or was absent when Xavier's School suffered many attacks and outright destruction, and it is unrevealed what he got up to during the period when the school closed and the X-Men temporarily disbanded and then relocated across the country, first to Alcatraz and then the short-lived mutant homeland Utopia. However, when the school was reopened as The Xavier Institute for Mutant Research and Outreach in New York City's Central Park, Mexer once again took up his janitorial role.
(Generation X II#2) - Soon after the school opened a group of mutant-hating Purifiers attacked the grounds, and school headmistress Kitty Pryde ordered some of the staff and students to round up humans caught in the crossfire and get them to the safety of the school library. However, one bigoted human became belligerent, calling the mutants freaks and demanding to be allowed out. Trying to calm the man, Mexer was violently shoved flying, but was saved from a nasty fall by Hindsight, a student on his first day in the school who had been considering quitting. The physical contact triggered Hindsight's psychometry, giving him glimpses of Mexer's past. Initially shocked by what he had seen Hindsight gathered himself enough to ask Mexer if he was okay; unruffled by the experience, Mexer confirmed he was. When a Purifier made it past the defenders outside the building and crashed into the library wildly shooting, Mexer stayed out of sight until he was subdued, then returned to his janitorial duties. Discovering that one of the classrooms had been turned literally upside down by delinquent student Kid Omega, leaving the furniture hanging from the ceiling, Mexer simply collected a ladder so he could dust the inverted desks like nothing had happened. Watching him clean, Hindsight informed his teacher Jubilee that he had decided to stay after all.
(
Generation
X II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Hindsight befriended Mexer, promising to teach the
Brazilian how to play his favorite card game, Enchantment: The
Conjuring.
(Generation X II#3) - A few days later Hindsight helped Mexer carry a cleaning bucket heavy with water up the school's stairs. While Mexer began mopping the floors, Hindsight's classmate Benjamin Deeds began chatting with him. Realizing Hindsight was still adjusting to the school's hectic lifestyle, Deeds promised him he would get used to, pointing out that even "humans" like Mexer adjusted to it. Hindsight corrected him, informing Deeds that Mexer was a fellow mutant, and explaining how Mexer's lack of training in and understanding of his powers had resulted in him being lobotomized. Hindsight also revealed that seeing Mexer's past and feeling his brain being scrambled had convinced Hindsight he needed to stay at the school so he could learn to protect himself.
Comments: Created by Jean-David Moran and Philippe Bouchet.
Mexer's first name was revealed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Hardcover #13 in the Xavier's Institute entry. It was subsequently used in-story for the first time in Generation X II#2.
No explanation is ever given why Mexer using his power caused pain to Kuhrra. The only other example I can think of where one mutant's power was linked to another like this was Havok and the Living Monolith, and that connection was created by the former's DNA grafted into the latter's. Other examples of linked powers, but not detrimental ones, tends to be related mutants who are either immune to one another's powers or who need physical contact for their powers to work. All of which suggests Mexer and Kuhrra might have similar DNA. Mexer was a street kid whose mother was clearly unmarried (given her young age) - maybe Kuhrra was his father? Kuhrra definitely knew who the kid was and that they shared a connection, seemingly before Mexer actually met him.
Mexer's tale is a sad one, and not improved by the realization that he was probably slain during one of the many instances that the school fell under attack or was destroyed during the 2000s. Update: However, Generation X II#2-3 confirms that Mexer survived all these incidents (or managed to be absent for them). Yay! It remains unrevealed whether or not he got depowered on M-Day though. Maybe they can figure out how to restore his mind now that mutantkind have claimed Krakoa as a homeland; after all, if they are bringing back the dead, you'd hope they could fix a somewhat lesser problem like severe brain damage, even if they had to kill and revive him to do so. He definitely seemed a little more clean-shaven and marginally more "with it" by his appearance in Generation X, so hopefully the school's various telepaths and/or healers had made at least some progress towards healing him.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mexer has no known connections to
After being rescued by Wolverine before Kuhrra Daïzonest could lobotomize him, Mexer joined the X-Men as Wolverine's protege.
He helped battle Magneto, bonded further with Wolverine as he grew to adulthood, saved a badly injured Wolverine from Sabretooth, fought alongside his mentor against Omega Red, sulked like any teen might do when Wolverine told him off, and was carried to safety by Wolverine when he was injured.
Comments: At the end of Saudade, there's a six panel "daydream" of Wolverine wondering how events might have turned out differently if Mexer had not been lobotomized.
Since the infinite multiverse theory says that any such daydreams are real somewhere, presumably there's a reality where Mexer joined the X-Men.
--Wolverine: Saudade
"Zico"
and "Zeca"
"Zico" (left) and "Zeca" (right) were Mexer's two friends and fellow street urchins.
They shared the same shanty town hut by the beach, and helped one another evade the death squads that targeted street kids.
Their luck ran out the day after they met Wolverine. Held down by a death squad thug, Zico was shot in the back and killed.
Another thug kicked Zeca in the stomach, but was distracted by a local who began to protest until the thug pointed his gun at the man.
Comments: It's not depicted whether the second thug finished off Zeca. The whole group starts to debate what to do with Wolverine and drives off soon thereafter, so there is a slim chance - a very,very slim chance - that the second thug never got back round to Zeca, and local's distraction saved the boy's life.
The aren't named in the comic, so, for placeholder purposes, I've named them Zico and Zeca, after the two nephews of Brazilian comic character (and Disney parrot) Jose Carioca.
--Wolverine: Saudade
images: (without ads)
Wolverine: Saudade, p1, pan3 (main image)
Wolverine: Saudade, p15, pan4 (headshot)
Wolverine: Saudade, p3, pan5&6 (Mexer turning his power on
Wolverine)
Wolverine: Saudade, p4, pan1&2 (perspective of the victim of Mexer's
power vs real world)
Wolverine: Saudade, p21, pan2&3 (clearer shot of Mexer deploying
powers, viewpoint of multiple victims)
Wolverine: Saudade, p30, pan5&6 (Kuhrra lobotomizes Mexer)
Wolverine: Saudade, p43, pan9 (lobotmized young Mexer)
Wolverine: Saudade, p44, pan10 (older Mexer, headshot)
Wolverine: Saudade, p45, pan1 (older Mexer, bodyshot)
Generation X II#2, p9, pan4 (more recent, less-disheveled Mexer)
Wolverine: Saudade, p46, pan4 (fighting Magneto)
Wolverine: Saudade, p46, pan8 (with newer costume and soul patch)
Wolverine: Saudade, p3, pan5 (Zico and Zeca)
Appearances:
Wolverine: Saudade (2006) - Jean-David Moran (writer), Philippe Bouchet
(art), Olivier Jalabert (editor)
Generation X II#2-3 (2017) - Christina Strain (writer), Amilcar Pinna
(art), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
First posted: 05/16/16
Last updated: 06/20/20
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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