SKORNNSKORNN
Real Name: Skornn
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (possibly?-see comments) mutant creature
Occupation: Predator
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: The Helix of Earth-4935
Enemies: The Council of Nirinthia, D'narda, Deadpool ("Wade Wilson"), the Hellfire Club, Garbha Hsien, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Mutant Liberation Front (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Dragoness/Tamara Kurtz, Forearm/Michael McCain, Jon Spectre of Earth-4935, Stryfe/Neena Thurman of Earth-5014, Sumo, Sunsport, Thumbelina, Zero), En Sabah Nur, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard (Fang, Gladiator/Kallark, Oracle, Smasher/Vril-Rokk, Starbolt, others), Thing (Ben Grimm), Wolverine (James Howlett), X-Force (Cable/Nathan Summers, Meltdown/Tabitha Smith, Shatterstar/Gaveedra-7), Ya'lont
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Skornny" (insult from Cannonball)
Base of Operations: Beneath the former village of Karanada, 80 miles south of modern-day Plovdiv, Bulgaria
First Appearance: X-Force II#1 (October, 2004)
Powers/Abilities: The Skornn fed on the energy
signatures of human beings, especially mutants or those mutated by
other means such as radiation, growing in size as it fed. It could
sense certain energy signatures such as differentiating between human
and mutant energy signatures.
The Skornn also possessed superhuman strength
(allowing for lifting of at least 75 tons) and superhuman durability,
sufficient to withstand almost any physical or psionic attack.
Height: Variable (originally 9'4")
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Blue
Hair: None
History: (X-Force II#4 (fb) - BTS) - The Skornn hatched from an egg.
(Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - The Skornn was a member of an ancient race also called the Skornn.
(X-Force II#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the alien Shi'ar encountered the Skornn and ultimately did not destroy it, leaving sensors behind to detect when the Skornn next arose.
(X-Force II#6 (fb) - BTS/Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - The Skornn terrorized Macedonia, enduring its deceits, and other areas, where it battled Mycenaean hordes, between periods of hibernation, feeding on any new mutant energy signatures it could find.
(Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - During one
of the Skornn's hibernation periods, a group of powerful mutants
including En Sabah Nur (later Apocalypse) and Garbha Hsien (later the
External Saul) banded together and combined their power using their own
blood to create the Five Fingers of Annihilation blade to destroy the
Skornn.
(X-Force II#6 (fb) - BTS) - When the time-traveling Nathan Summers of Earth-616 traveled from the future of Earth-4935 to the distant past of Earth-616, he first encountered the Skornn.
(Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - The
local priests of the town Karanada threatened to awaken the Skornn,
prompting the town's Council of Nirinthia to summon Nathan Summers, who
by that point was called the Traveler, to assist the town against the
potential threat of the Skornn.
(X-Force II#1 (fb)) - The Traveler arrived in Karanada where he was met by D'narda. When Summers asked
where the Karanadan citizens were, D'narda replied that she could not
sense them and that she feared the worst since the local priests had
threatened to awaken Skornn and that the life force of the townspeople
would be required to awaken Skornn. Realizing there was only one way to
determine if Skornn had awakened and fed on the townspeople, the
Traveler accompanied D'narda into th Karanadan catacombs, where they
found the dead townspeople, including the local priests themselves.
Skornn soon showed himself, remarking that he sensed the Traveler's
origins in a time ripe with those like himself, but the Traveler swore
Skornn would never live to see such an era. Claiming he was not so
unlike the Traveler, feared and hated due to lack of understanding,
Skornn then suggested that both the Traveler and himself both knew
humanity was but an appetizer to the main course that was mutantkind.
The Traveler exclaimed "Never!" and rushed in to attack Skornn with the Five Fingers of Annihilation blade.
(X-Force II#6 (fb)) - Not having much effect, the
Traveler was told by D'narda that the Five Fingers needed more than
blood to kill the Skornn, suggesting that the blade needed a life to
take a life.
(X-Force II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Leaping in front of the Five Fingers blade as Cable went in to stab the Skornn, D'narda allowed the blade to pierce her heart, killing her as it transported the Skornn from Earth via activation of hidden Celestial technology within the blade.
(Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - The Skornn returned to its hibernative slumber.
(X-Force II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Earth-4935's future Order of
the Five Blades sent the anti-mutant Helix group back in time to
Earth-616's modern era to resuscitate the Skornn for use as a weapon
against the future of mutantkind.
(X-Force II#1 - BTS) - In Earth-616's modern era, centuries after Summers had battled the Skornn, Helix attacked Nathan Summers
(now calling himself Cable) and his ally Domino, claiming they were
hired by the Order of the Five Blades. Recognizing the Order's name,
Cable remarked to Domino following the fight that if the Order of the
Five Blades was involved, Skornn was also involved, to which Domino
replied by asking who Skornn was. Hours later, Cable and Domino arrived
on Mt. Xixabangma seeking the Five Fingers of Annihilation sword, which
Cable thought to be the only thing capable of killing the Skornn. After
reuniting with his old ally Shatterstar there, Cable informed Domino
that the Skornn was being that fed on mutants the way humans feed on
cattle and deduced that the Order of Five Blades would send agents
after the Five Fingers of Annihilation in an effort to protect it from
destroying the Skornn. The Helix soon returned, also seeking the Five
Fingers on behalf of the Order of Five Blades as Cable had predicted,
and during the fight against the Helix, Shatterstar asked if Helix even
understood what humanity was since they were fighting to awaken the
Skornn, who would cause mass genocide.
(X-Force
II#3) - While Cable attempted to recruit Cannonball to his new X-Force
against the Skornn, the Helix visited the remnants of Karanada, where
they found the long-deceased remains of the priests. Knowing that they
had to die to revive the Skornn with their life force, the Helix
sacrificed themselves and the Skornn reawakened, hungry for more and
remarking on how he would like to taste the roasting flesh of his
former enemy Cable.
(X-Force II#4 - BTS) - Cable rescued Caliban, who was being experimented on by the anti-mutant Watchtower, and while there, his X-Force encountered Wolverine, who was also attempting to rescue Caliban. When Wolverine asked what Cable's agenda was, Cable explained that he wished to recruit Caliban into X-Force for a preemptive strike against the threat of the Skornn. The Watchtower's Administrator soon appeared and revealed that he had also recently learned of the Skornn and had sought to use Caliban as a means to ferret the Skornn before more hatched. Further revealing that the Watchtower had learned of the one Skornn that had already hatched, the Administrator explained the Watchtower's plans to eradicate any other Skornn eggs that might exist. Wolverine responded by asking why the Watchtower wanted to eradicate the Skornn if they hated mutants and the Administrator remarked that while mutants were like caviar to the Skornn, humanity were the rabbits and that humanity needed mutants to act as a first line of defense against the Skornn while the Watchtower figured out a way to weaponize the Skornn against only mutants. The Administrator then attacked Wolverine, remarking that Wolverine would not kill him because he might be needed to help mutants ward off the Skornn.
(X-Force
II#5) - The Shi'ar Imperial Guard noticed from their past sensors the
energy signature of the Skornn's revival on Earth and Gladiator
remarked that the Shi'ar should have incinerated the creature long ago.
As Gladiator summoned the entire Imperial Guard for battle on Earth,
the last surviving Helix member teleported the Skornn outside the
offices of the Hellfire Club in Manhattan, New York, where the Skornn
immediately sensed nearby mutants. The Helix member (which Skornn
referred to as a "shepherd") then informed the Skornn that the
centuries-old Hellfire Club had been taken over by mutants and when the
Skornn sensed youngsters, the shepherd explained that the Hellfire Club
was currently throwing a celebratory rite of passage for the young
potential Hellfire recruits. Skornn immediately burst through the
office windows, announcing his plans to feed on the young mutants.
Skornn then began grabbing mutants and eating them as the Helix
shepherd promised to bring more mutants. Unaware of the Skornn's
revival, Cable was arguing with the new Stryfe, who had recruited
Cannonball, Sunspot and Jon Spectre to his cause and had offered an
alliance against the Skornn. Stryfe then revealed that she had been
able to recruit Cable's allies because Stryfe knew the troubles and how
the Skornn would eventually dominate the future. Stryfe then removed
"his" helmet to reveal the Earth-5014
counterpart of Domino, who had also come to the modern era of Earth-616
to stop the Skornn from dominating the future. Agreeing to work with
the alternate Stryfe against the Skornn, Cable revealed the Five
Fingers of Annihilation blade and explained that it was the only weapon
capable of killing the Skornn. Stryfe and Cable then shook hands to
seal their alliance against the Skornn and Cable telepathically pushed
the assembled X-Force and Mutant Liberation Front members to forget
this new Stryfe's identity. Locking his bodyslide technology on the
Helix's location, Cable teleported X-Force and the Mutant Liberation
Front to find the Skornn, unaware that the Skornn was still in
Manhattan, his appearance having now drawn the attention of Thing and
Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. The Thing quickly jumped into battle
against the Skornn but Skornn resisted the Thing's blows, prompting
Thing to suggest the Human Torch turn up the heat on the creature.
Easily withstanding the Human Torch's flames, Skornn sensed the cosmic
radiation within and proclaimed that while the two heroes might not
make a meal, they made for quite a sport. Skornn then hurled Thing into
the Human Torch, who then attempted to come up with a plan against the
Skornn. As Skornn taunted the two, X-Force, the Mutant Liberation
Front, Deadpool and Wolverine arrived on the scene and Cable announced
that it was time once again for Skornn to die.
(X-Force II#6) - Two hours later, half of the
assembled heroes had fallen and the Skornn only grew to a larger size,
having fed on both the mutant energies present and the cosmic radiation
in the blood of the Human Torch and Thing. The assembled heroes renewed
their attack as the unaffected Skornn laughed at their efforts, though
he was briefly knocked by Cannonball when he threatened X-Force member
Meltdown. Wolverine then attacked, followed by Cannonball, and while
the Skornn was being defending himself, Shatterstar and Meltdown took
down the Helix shepherd. Shortly after, Cable plunged his Psimitar
weapon into the Skornn's chest and soon realized that the Five Fingers
of Annihilation blade had to draw blood to destroy the Skornn. Despite
Cannonball's protests, Cable ran the blade over his palm and had
Cannonball fly him at the Skornn with his Five Fingers blade-empowered
Psimitar. Plunging his Psimitar into Skornn's skull, Cable then stabbed
Skornn through the gut with the Psimitar, again activating the hidden
Celestial technology within the Five Fingers of Annihilation blade and
seemingly killing himself in the process. As the Shi'ar Imperial Guard
arrived in Earth's atmosphere, they detected the energy signature of a
Celestial teleportation matrix and realized they had arrived on Earth
too late, as Earth had found a way to rid itself of the Skornn once
more.
(X-Men: Future History - The Messiah War Sourcebook
#1 (fb) - BTS) - Cable created a file on the Skornn for future
reference in which he noted that the Skornn was one of the most
disturbing creatures he had ever fought. In the file, Cable also noted
that while the Skornn wasn't so much evil as it was vile and hungry, he
had fought the creature three times in three different time periods and
each time, the Skornn's defeat had nearly killed him. Further noting
that the Skornn dominated two alternate futures (Earth-5013 and Earth-5014, respectively), Cable expressed worry that the Skornn might one day reappear.
(X-Men: Future History - The Messiah War Sourcebook #1 - BTS) - On the run from the deranged X-Man Bishop, Cable escaped into another reality with the mutant child Hope and, after Hope discovered a derelict space station for them to rest in, Cable reviewed his past files in hopes of getting a better handle on the future. One of the files he reviewed was his earlier file on the Skornn.
(Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul - BTS) - Despite the
defeat of the Skornn, there were presumed to be other members of the
Skornn race still in hibernation, waiting to be awakened.
Comments: Created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza.
The Skornn had a Handbook entry in Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul.
It was not clear whether the Skornn was an alien race or a demonic race.
While the Five Fingers of Annihilation blade's
origins were mentioned in X-Force II#6, it was not until Deadpool
Corps: Rank & Foul's Skornn entry that we learned that the blade
COULD not only destroy the Skornn, but that it was created SPECIFICALLY
to destroy the Skornn.
The future temporal counterpart of Nathan Summers/Cable mentioned Earth-4935's future Skornn (of which there were many since Cable referred to the Skornn as "they"). These would be the Earth-4935 counterpart/counterparts of the Earth-616 Skornn, which this profile is focused on. Therefore, I have left that flashback in X-Force II#2 out of this profile's main History section since it pertains to the Earth-4935 Skornn, who is covered in this profile as a subprofile. In addition, Jon Spectre managed to recruit Cannonball to his side in the 2004 X-Force mini-series by informing Cannonball about an alternate future (Earth-5013) where Cable failed to save X-Force. It was also later established that the alternate future Domino who was posing as Stryfe in the X-Force mini-series was from Earth-5014, in which Domino had survived the Skornn's assault, thereby creating another alternate counterpart of the Skornn.
Earth-5013 & Earth-5014 were never actually seen.
The future of Earth-5013 was mentioned in X-Force II#2 as a future
reality in which X-Force was killed by the Skornn but it was not
identified/numbered until Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul. We see
Earth-5014's Domino posing as Stryfe in X-Force II#3 but her home
reality was also not identified/numbered until Deadpool Corps: Rank
& Foul.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Skornn has no known connections to:
The alternate future of Earth-5013 was dominated by the Skornn and many members of Cable's X-Force were lost to the
Skornn, including Meltdown, who died attempting to protect Valeria
Richards in Madripoor. Ultimately, the Skornn also killed Earth-5013's James
Proudstar, Domino and Sunspot as well.
The alternate future of Earth-5014 was also dominated
by the Skornn, who had killed many of Cable's X-Force team.
Earth-5014's Domino managed to survive a Skornn attack and travel to
the modern era of Earth-616, where she posed as Stryfe to reunite the
Mutant Liberation Front against Earth-616's Skornn.
Earth-4935's Skornn was actually a group of creatures
similar to Earth-616's Skornn. In the far future, the time-traveling
Cable (Nathan Summers of Earth-616) warned the Askani against the
impending Skornn after learning that the Order of the Five Blades had
sent their Helix agents into the past to awaken the Skornn on Earth-616.
--X-Force II#2 - BTS
images: (without ads)
Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul, p48, Skornn entry (Skornn, main image)
X-Force II#6, p1-2, splash page (Skornn, headshot)
X-Force II#1, p5, pan2 (younger Skornn)
X-Force II#3, p22, splash page (reawakened Skornn feeding on Helix)
X-Force II#5, p6, pan4 (Skornn busting through a window)
Appearances:
X-Force II#1 (October, 2004) - Fabian Nicieza (script), Rob Liefeld
(plot, art), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Force II#3 (December, 2004) - Fabian Nicieza (script), Rob Liefeld (plot, art), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Force II#4 (January, 2005) - Fabian Nicieza (script), Rob Liefeld (plot, art), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Force II#5 (February, 2005) - Fabian Nicieza (script), Rob Liefeld (plot, art), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Force II#6 (March, 2005) - Fabian Nicieza (script), Rob Liefeld (plot, art), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Men:
Future History - Messiah War Sourcebook #1 (July, 2009) - Jess
Harold, Dugan Trodglen, Jeph York (writers), Rob Liefeld (Skornn entry
art), John Rhett Thomas (editor)
Deadpool Corps: Rank & Foul (May, 2010) - Jeff Christiansen (head
writer, coordinator), Mike O'Sullivan, Markus Raymond, Mike Fichera
(writers, coordination assists), Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Jacob
Rougemont, Madison Carter, Kevin Garcia, Stuart Vandal, Chris Biggs,
Rob London, Sean McQuaid, David Wiltfong, Eric J. Moreels, Mike Gagnon
(writers), Gus Vazquez (Skornn entry art), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
First Posted: 10/23/2018
Last updated: 10/23/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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