Lord Molyneux (head of San Francisco Hellfire Club circa 1906)

molyneux-lord-1906hellfiresf-full LORD MOLYNEUX

Real Name: Unrevealed;
presumably Molyneux is his real surname?

Identity/Class: Human (late 19th century and early 20th century);

Occupation: Unrevealed;
leader of the Hellfire Club-San Francisco chapter circa 1906

Group Membership: Hellfire Club-San Francisco chapter circa 1906 (Salome, Cornelius Shaw)

Affiliations: League of Sensitives (his seers)

Enemies: Catherine and Nicola Bradley, mutants/"overmen," X-Club (James Bradley/Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Dr. Kavita Rao, Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi), X-Men (Hank McCoy/Beast, Warren Worthington/Angel, Betsy Braddock/Psylocke)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly the Hellfire Club mansion, San Francisco, California

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men#512 (August, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: Lord Molyneux appeared to be a driven and powerful leader, willing to slay others to accomplish his goals. molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-sword

He was also experienced with a sword/sabre.

He was presumably extraordinarily wealthy, and he had access to all of the Hellfire Club's resources, including its warriors and their Sentinel.

Molyneux's rage was sufficient to cause his Seers to write in agony. Perhaps his hatred was powerful enough to cause the agony, but perhaps he was an "overman" (mutant or otherwise) himself, with some degree of psychic power?

Height: Unrevealed (he was not pictured next to anyone of confirmed height; but he seemed perhaps a bit smaller than Cornelius Shaw; perhaps 5'11")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 175 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue (the only time his eyes are seen it is a somewhat differently colored panel, so who knows?)
Hair: Blond (it may well have been a wig)

History:

(Uncanny X-Men#512 (fb) - BTS) - Lord Molyneux led a branch of the Hellfire Club based in San Francisco. Molyneux's group sought to protect humanity by eliminating the "overmen" (mutants) that they perceived to be poised to overrun and replace mankind.

Molyneux somehow accumulated a number of seers (presumably possessing some degree of ESP (Extrasensory Perception)); as they were useful to predict what would come next, Molyneux preserved them.

Molyneux's "league of sensitives" (the seers) detected possible "evolutionary outbreaks," and the Hellfire Club eliminated them on their own. However, as more and more "overmen" developed, the Hellfire Club constructed an immense robot known as a Sentinel, with which they intended to eliminate overmen.

The Sentinel required a power source, and the Hellfire Club targeted Dr. Nicola Bradley, who was in the process of developing a generator-battery that would provide "nearly infinite and wholly inexpensive wireless electricity," to produce that source. Molyneux had Salome and Cornelius meet with and bankroll Bradley, investing thousands of dollars and allowing untold hours in his efforts.

Frustrated with Nicola's lack of results, Cornelius -- presumably under Molyneux's directions -- sent a quartet of Hellfire Club agents to ambush Nicola and steal the device.

(Uncanny X-Men#512 - BTS) <1906> - As the Hellfire Club agents prepared to ambush Nicola, his wife, Catherine, entered the room and took out the four men with some sort of energy blaster.

(Uncanny X-Men#512 - BTS) - The following morning, Cornelius and Salome met with Nicola and Catherine Bradley in their home, telling their seeming benefactors of their encounter. Cornelius asked about the device's location, but Nicola assured him it was safe.

(Uncanny X-Men#512) - X-Men and X-Club members Hank McCoy/Beast, Warren Worthington/Angel, Betsy Braddock/Psylocke, James Bradley/Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, and Dr. Kavita Rao traveled from over 100 years in the future in hopes of gaining blood samples from Nicola and Catherine Bradley from 1906 as homo superior (mutantkind) had seemed to increase markedly in number around that point in time.

molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-seer-opium

(Uncanny X-Men#512) - Waiting within the Hellfire Club's Seers' room, Lord Molyneux greeted Cornelius Shaw and Salome with friendly enthusiasm before having one of the seers reveal her vague visions of overmen and humanity's extinction. molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-rage

Upon asking for the device and learning they had failed, Molyneux flew into a rage that set the Seers writhing and screaming in pain. Drawing his saber, he told Shaw that their failure could mean the death of man; with his blade at Shaw's neck, Molyneux warned him that no one failed him twice; "contrary to what your breeding might tell you, you are utterly replaceable."

(Uncanny X-Men#512 (fb) - BTS) - After Nicola completed his device, Cornelius and Salome had Nicola and the device taken to the Hellfire Club facility. Nicola was bound in a chair in the room holding the Sentinel, and Lord Molyneux was summoned.

(Uncanny X-Men#512 - BTS) - Six Hellfire Club agents invaded the Bradley's home and attempted to ambush Catherine, but she stunned one and escaped, while an arriving Angel took out the rest.

(Uncanny X-Men#512) - After Molyneux discussed the threat of the Overman, Nicola was confused with why they wanted him. Molyneux then revealed the Sentinel, and Salome told Nicola his wife was being snuffed. However, as a Hellfire Club employee noted how the Seers were bleeding from their eyes, Molyneux realized the Overmen were there; Beast, Jeffries, and Psylocke then arrived to rescue Nicola.

As far as I could tell, Molyneux was neither seen nor mentioned thereafter.

(Uncanny X-Men#512 - BTS) - The generator-battery was inserted into the Sentinel, activating it, and Cornelius and Salome, as well as at least a pair of Hellfire Club agents, rode it in a rampage until Jeffries designed a device -- at Nicola's instruction -- that overloaded the generator with a powerful burst of electricity. The Sentinel exploded, and Nicola was mortally wounded by debris.

Comments: Created by Matt Fraction, Yanick Paquette, and Karl Story.

So what happened to Molyneux?

Was he simply subdued by the arriving X-Men/X-Club members and left behind as the heroes rushed to stop the Sentinel?
Did he flee/escape somehow?
Did Shaw slay him?
Did Shaw move on without him?
Or maybe the psychic energy of the "League of Sensitives" destroyed or incapacitated him?
He seemed to have been developed fairly solidly up to this point, but he then vanished from the story...or perhaps I just missed something?

The story noted the X-Men/X-Club members were traveling from 103 years in the future, but that is topical, as the story came out in 2009. They traveled to 1906, and the length of time they traveled slowly increases with the passage of time due to the sliding timescale.

Great story, but 1906 (and specifically James Bradley's parents) as the whole point of the "igniting" of homo superior (mutant kind) doesn't make sense to me in the context of the Marvel Universe.

Cornelius described the Sentinel as "my little murder machine" (emphasis mine); it is unrevealed what, if any, role he had in its design/construction.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Lord Molyneux should be distinguished from:

MOLYB - see METAL MASTER--Incredible Hulk I#6
MOLYBDENUM - presumably one of the unseen and/or unidentified Elements of Doom--Thunderbolts I#7-8

molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-mansion-gate-symbol

Hellfire Club San Franscisco molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-mansion-gate

circa 1906 AD

A short drive from the Nicola and Catherine Bradley's Mission District base, the San Francisco Hellfire Club mansion was surrounded by large metal gates.

Lord Molyneux presided here.

Molyneux's League of Sensitives (his seers) was also based here. molyneux-lord-1906-sanfranhc-building

The Hellfire Club's Sentinel was constructed here, and Nicola Bradley was brought there to witness as they used his battery to empower their Sentinel.

When the time-traveling X-Men and X-Club members arrived there, Cornelius Shaw and Salome took a pair of Hellfire Club guards with them as they rode the Sentinel in a rampage on the streets until it was destroyed by Madison Jeffries.

--Uncanny X-Men#512

Note: Presumably it had a large section of wall torn out of it when the Sentinel was released...

Hellfire Club San Franscisco Seers
aka "League of Sensitives"
circa 1906 AD molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-seer-blackeyes

(Uncanny X-Men#512 (fb) - BTS) - Leading a branch of the Hellfire Club based in San Francisco, Lord Molyneux somehow accumulated a number of seers (presumably possessing some degree of ESP (Extrasensory Perception)); as they were useful to predict what would come next, Molyneux preserved them.

Molyneux's "League of Sensitives" (the seers) detected possible "evolutionary outbreaks," and the Hellfire Club eliminated them on their own.

However, as more and more "overmen" developed, the Hellfire Club constructed an immense robot known as a Sentinel, with which they intended to eliminate overmen.

(Uncanny X-Men#512) - Waiting within the Hellfire Club's Seers' room, Lord Molyneux met with Cornelius Shaw and Salome, and one of the seers revealed her vague visions of overmen and humanity's extinction.
Upon learning Shaw and Salome had failed to obtain a power battery for their Sentinel from Nicola Bradley, Molyneux flew into a rage that set the Seers writhing and screaming in pain.

molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-seers-eyebleed

molyneux-lord-1906hellfire-seers-eyebleed

(Uncanny X-Men#512) - After Molyneux revealed the Sentinel and his plans to the captive Nicola Bradly, a Hellfire Club employee noted how the Seers were bleeding from their eyes; Molyneux realized the Overmen were there; having time-traveled there, Beast, Jeffries, and Psylocke then arrived to rescue Nicola.

--Uncanny X-Men#512

Note: It is unclear whether Molyneux first learned of the Overmen from the Seers, or whether he sought out Seers to oppose the threat of the Overmen. Or something else.

I'm no expert on early 20th century narcotics, but it looks like the seers used a lot of opium. They were inhaling something...

Why did the seers react so violently to the arrival of the "overmen"...were they just trained by Molyneux that overmen were so bad...or was their something about the seers that was violently opposed to the nature of the "overmen"? Or something else?

See also the image of Molyneux with one of the Seers in the main profile.

images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Men#512, pg. 11, panel 4-5 (mansion and gate symbol);
        pg. 12, panel 1 (Seers room);
            panel 2 (black-haired and black-eyed seer, with opium device, and face close-up);
        pg. 13, panel 1-3 (rage, with seers affected);
            panel 5 (raising sword to Shaw);
        pg. 22, panel 1 (mansion, upper levels);
            panel 2 (full);
            panel 4 (face);
        pg. 24, panel 2 (seers bleeding from eyes)

Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men#512 (August, 2009) - Matt Fraction (writer), Yanick Paquette (penciler), Karl Story (inker), Daniel Ketchum (assistant editor), Nick Lowe (editor)

First Posted: 12/12/2017

Last updated: 12/12/2017

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters