SUGAR MAN
Earth-295
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-295) human
mutant (see
comments)
Occupation: Geneticist; former director of the Seattle Core and the Pens of Earth-295
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Dark Beast (Hank McCoy) of Earth-295,
Genoshan government, Genegineer (Dr. David Moreau), Holocaust of Earth-295, Scarlett
McKenzie, Mutate One (Edgerton), New Mutates, Penance of Earth-295
(Monet St. Croix), Press Gang (Gunshot, Hawkshaw, Pipeline, Punchout), Rastus, Rex, Shadow King of Earth-295, Seattle
Core workers (Hag, Malthus, Quietus, Undercloaks and others), X-Terminated of Earth-295 (Deadeye/Zora Risman,
Fiend/Francesca Trask, Goodnight/Donald Pierce, Horror Show/Graydon
Creed, Prophet/William Stryker);
formerly Shi'ar (Commander Kai'tra and others), Weapon Omega of Earth-295
Enemies: Blink of Earth-295, Callisto,
Forge of Earth-295, Generation Next of Earth-295 (Chamber/Jonothon Starsmore,
Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Husk/Paige Guthrie, Mondo, Shadowcat/Kitty
Pryde, Skin/Angelo Espinosa, Vincente Cimetta), Jean Grey of Earth-295, HAMMER,
Magneto (Max Eisenhardt), Magneto (Max Eisenhardt) of Earth-295,
Mastermind of Earth-295 (Jason Wyngarde), Mimic of Earth-295 (Calvin
Rankin), Philip Moreau, Morph of Earth-295 (Kevin Sydney), New
Mutants (Cypher/Douglas Ramsey, Magma/Amara Aquila, Dani Moonstar,
Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, Warlock), Omega Sentinel (Karima Shapandar),
SHIELD, Briar Raleigh, Jennifer Ransome, Steve Rogers, Sabretooth (Victor Creed) of
Earth-295, SHIELD, Wicked, X-Man (Nate Grey) of Earth-295;
formerly Humanity's Last Stand of Earth-295, X-Terminated of Earth-295 (Deadeye/Zora Risman,
Fiend/Francesca Trask, Goodnight/Donald Pierce, Horror Show/Graydon
Creed, Prophet/William Stryker)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Obesity", "gene joke" (nicknames used by
Dark Beast), "loathsome little troll", "sniveling worm" (nicknames used
by Holocaust)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly a lab on
Earth-616;
formerly the church of
Penance, Earth-295;
formerly Alpha lab Power
Works on New Apocalypse, Earth-295;
formerly a SHIELD interment
facility;
formerly a HAMMER facility
in New Jersey;
formerly a hidden lair in
the Ridgeback mountains, Genosha;
formerly the Seattle Core,
Seattle (Earth-295)
First Appearance: Generation Next I#2 (March, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: Sugar Man is a mutant with
various superhuman powers. He can alter his own mass, shrinking to the
size of a pebble or even smaller. If he loses mass, the lost mass is
shunted to an unknown, possibly extradimensional space. He has an
extremely durable, sharp abnormally large, prehensile tongue that he can
charge with bio-energy. In combat, he mostly uses it to skewer his
enemies. As part of his physical mutations, most of his body is
comprised of an oversized head with two extra arms on his head that he
also has control over. In combat, Sugar Man usually relies on hammers,
axes and guns to strike and injure his opponents. He is also an
exceptional hand-to-hand combatant. His senses are enhanced, he can
sniff out people based on the food they had. Despite his gruff,
unsophisticated way of speaking, the ruthless and sadistic Sugar Man is
a genius level geneticist.
Height: 6'9" (variable)
Weight: 400 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: White
Hair: Black
History:
(Generation Next I#2 (fb) - BTS) - On Earth-295, the Sugar Man was a
feared and powerful mutant who rose up through the ranks of Apocalypse's
organization. He was put in charge of various work camps on the Eastern
seaboard, including the pens where humans and mutant dissidents were
being kept, as well as the Seattle Core, a giant power plant that served
as the empire's main source of energy. He ruled over these facilities
with an iron fist, feared by both his underlings as well as the prison
population.
(Blink I#3 (fb) ) - Sugar-Man would often visit the pens to satisfy his
disgusting appetites. Often, he would choose the young mutant Clarice
Ferguson who was kept there along with her best friend Illyana Rasputin.
(Generation Next I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Eventually, Illyana was transferred
to the Core where she used her earlier experiences with Sugar Man in the
pens to avoid him. Sugar Man would frequently scour the Core looking for
his next plaything, using his enhanced senses to sniff out targets by
the food they ate.
(Generation Next I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man hired most of the higher
ups at the Core himself, including head of security Quietus.
(Generation Next I#2) - On a routine visit to the Core, the Sugar Man
sniffed out one of the workers to have his way with.
(Generation Next I#2 - BTS) - Unbeknownst to the Sugar Man, Generation
Next, a group of Magneto's youngest recruits and their teachers Colossus
and Shadowcat were assigned to infiltrate the Core and retrieve Illyana
Rasputin. Thanks to the prophecies of the mutant madman Bishop, Magneto
had become convinced this world was not to be. He needed Illyana's
latent time travel powers to set matters right. Generation Next members
Husk and Vincente killed chief warden Quietus then entered his office to search
his files for any info on Illyana. Afterward they began posing as Quietus.
(Generation Next I#2 - BTS) - The Sugar Man received word from Shadow
King that an unknown party had been psi-surfing Apocalypse's data files
(the young mutant cyberpath Know-It-All). According to Apocalypse, this
was a prelude to a break-in, which Sugar Man was told to prevent at any
cost. In order to do so, he traveled to all the sites under his command.
(Generation Next I#3) - At the Core, Sugar Man went to see
Quietus, gruffly ignoring the man's secretary Hag. He found "him" in the
shower (the soap was masking his different scent). Sugar Man initially
fell for the distraction, telling about Shadow King's warning and
ordering "Quietus" to humor Apocalypse by sniffing around, even though
he found the idea of someone breaking into the Core preposterously
funny. Some time later, he ran into "Quietus" just as he was meeting
with fellow Generation Next members Skin and Chamber. Immediately
recognizing them as mutant traitors (only humans were allowed to work at
the Core), Sugar Man commended "Quietus" for his diligence and gave him
the honor to kill the intruders. Sugar Man got suspicious when "Quietus"
planned to shoot them, wondering why he didn't use his mutant powers.
"Quietus" claimed he didn't want to waste the energy on them, opting for
his gun instead. Sugar Man then ordered him to kill Chamber, which he
did.
(Generation Next I#4 - BTS) - Chamber
used his psi-plasma to simulate the effects of the gun shot.
(Generation Next I#4) - Sugar Man, already suspecting "Quietus" wasn't
himself, claimed he wasn't satisfied with just one dead mutant. To prove
his point, Sugar Man used his razor sharp tongue to stab "Quietus"
through the chest, only to be stunned when Vincente began leaking out of
the rapidly deflating form. Sugar Man waited around long enough for Husk
to reveal her true form before ordering his troops to attack and kill
the mutant teens. Before that could happen, the arrival of Shadowcat and
Colossus distracted his forces long enough for him to be blasted apart
by Chamber. Though he appeared dead, the Sugar Man actually shrunk down
and, upon hearing they had come to find Illyana, went out looking for
her. He eventually tracked her down inside Generation Next member Mondo
who was on his way out with Chamber and Skin by the time Sugar Man
caught up with them. Using his tiny form to get close to them, Sugar Man
enlarged himself, killing Mondo instantly by stabbing him through the
heart with his tongue. He grabbed Illyana and threatened to eat her
alive if that would mess up Magneto's plans. He was stopped by a furious
Colossus who stomped on the villain, bashing him into a fine pulp and
once again seemingly killing him. Instead, Sugar Man shrunk down to the
size of the tiniest of pebbles and hid inside the straps of one of
Colossus' oversized boots.
(X-Men: Omega#1) - The Sugar Man
remained inside Colossus' boot for most of the final battle between
Magneto's X-Men and the forces of Apocalypse. When he spotted the
M'Kraan Crystal, he immediately sniffed out the possibilities. Leaving
his cover undetected, the shrunken down sadist made his way to the
crystal and hopped in.
(X-Men II#48 (fb) - BTS) - Due to the enigmatic transtemporal
dimensional qualities of the M'Kraan Crystal, Sugar Man ended up on
Earth-616, albeit 20 years in the past. His unexpected trip through time
and space had left him severely disoriented for an unrevealed period of
time. His confusion slowly cleared up after a chance encounter with
Earth-295's Hank McCoy, another higher up in Apocalypse's organization.
Though there was no love lost between them, the two decided on a deal to
share any information that might be beneficial to the both of them,
especially any data on this world's Mister Sinister whose Earth-295
counterpart they deeply feared. Over the years, their work (based off of
Earth-295's Sinister) was noted by the 616-version, who was mystified by
it.
(Cable II#28 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man eventually made his way to Genosha.
Sensing the island nation had the right political climate to recreate a
way of life he was used to back in his native dimension, he sought out
the struggling, patriotic geneticist David Moreau. Tempting him with
secrets he himself stole from Earth-295's Mr. Sinister, the Sugar Man
helped the eager Moreau develop and perfect the genetic bonding process
that turned mutants into mindless mutate slaves ready to labor for their
country. Sugar Man was set up with a hidden lab in Genosha's Ridgeback
mountains. Equipped with a nuclear power core and a mutate processing
plant of itself, Sugar Man was the power behind the throne for years
while Moreau, now known as the Genegineer, became a celebrated figure.
Over the years, Sugar Man got to know Moreau's young son Philip and even
took a liking to him. Sugar Man amused himself by experimenting with
mutates, creating and maintaining a fighting force of mutates should he
ever be discovered.
(X-Men Prime#1 (fb) - BTS) - One of Sugar Man's first successfully
created mutates, branded with a 01 on his forehead, was originally a
middle-aged mutant called Edgerton.
(Excalibur I#87 (fb) - BTS) - A standard addition to each of the mutates
created by the Sugar Man's bonding process was a dissolution implant
that allowed him to terminate them via remote control.
(X-Man I#6 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man attempted to imitate Earth-295's
command structure, insisting his underlings called him prelate. One of
his most promising followers was a man called Rex who proved himself to
be a ruthless assassin (see comments).
(X-Men Prime#1 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man mostly kept to himself as the
decades passed, but he continued to monitor everything that went on in
and around Genosha.
(X-Men Prime#1) - Sugar Man watched from his lair how Excalibur, in
Genosha to assist the government, sought out the aid of Mutate 01. He
was about to show them the Genegineer's notes that proved David Moreau
wasn't solely responsible for coming up with the mutate bonding. Not
ready to have himself revealed, he activated "Oldie's" dissolution
implant, causing Edgerton to spontaneously self-combust, destroying
Moreau's research notes in the process.
(Excalibur I#87) - Sugar Man continued to monitor Excalibur's movements
on Genosha. He saw himself forced to intervene when Douglock
successfully accessed Philip Moreau's personal computer logs. Right
before the cybernetic Excalibur member could find out who Moreau was
working with, Sugar Man remote detonated the PC, thereby keeping his
secret for another day.
(X-Man I#6) - Learning about the
arrival of the vastly powerful Earth-295 native psionic Nate Grey, the
Sugar Man sent his personal assassin Rex out to capture him. Rex tracked
Nate down to Montreux, Switzerland. There he confronted and fought
against Nate and his new associate Madelyne Pryor who together managed
to beat him back. After retreating, Rex contacted Sugar Man and assured
him he had everything under control.
(X-Man I#7) - Sugar Man was furious when Rex remained incommunicado for
an extended period of time. Eager to get Nate Grey and Rex, he strangled
one of his terrified mutates with his tongue out of frustration. A
little while later, he was contacted by Rex who had followed Nate and
Madelyne to Paris. Before Rex could give Sugar Man a status update, he
was taken out by Selene who told Sugar Man she wished this to remain a
private matter before breaking the connection. Sugar Man was left to
simmer, stew and worry.
(X-Men
II#48) - Sugar Man decided to pay Dark Beast a personal visit when he
began to notice his reluctant ally was holding out on information
regarding the recent arrivals from their native reality. After quickly
dispensing with Beast's guards, he confronted the master geneticist
himself just as he was studying video footage of the X-Man Bishop.
Following a brief struggle, the two villains composed themselves and
Sugar Man listened to McCoy's explanations about Bishop's unique
transtemporal role and involvement in the apparent destruction of
Earth-295. They decided Bishop had to be eliminated before any of his
fellow X-Men could pick his brain and learn about their world and
their presence here. They were also worried this reality's version of
Mr. Sinister would find them. While they were discussing strategies,
Dark Beast showed Sugar Man his latest advances in genetic engineering,
among them a lifeform that was mostly brain tissue that filtered every
thought of his other creations and translated them into digital
resource data. Sugar Man called him a showoff and then agreed to have
Dark Beast's personal assassin Fatale deal with Bishop.
(X-Men II#49) - Sugar Man returned to his hidden lair where he
monitored Fatale's progress. Just as he was telling Dark Beast he was
most pleased their alliance had paid off, the evil geneticist made a
stunning discovery (he saw his 616
version) and hung up on his outraged ally.
(Cable II#28 (fb) - BTS) - Genosha's mutate bonding process caught the
attention of Mr. Sinister who couldn't help notice the similarities
between the Genegineer and his own work, though he remained unaware of
the Sugar Man's involvement.
(Cable II#26 (fb) - BTS) - Hoping to learn the true origins of the mutate
process, Mr. Sinister went to Genosha under the guise of Essex. Acting
as an informant to freedom fighter Jennifer Ransom and Philip Moreau, he
manipulated events that brought Cable and Domino to the island as well.
(Cable II#26) - Cable's presence on Genosha was picked up by the Sugar
Man who mistook him for his Earth-295 counterpart and incorrectly
figured X-Man had come after him following their recent altercation. He
made arrangements for the Press Gang to attack and kill "X-Man" and his
associates.
(Cable II#27) - Cable and his allies defeated the Press Gang. Then, using
his telepathy, Cable forced the teleporter Pipeline to transport them to
the coordinates Philip Moreau got from the mysterious Essex. He complied
and brought them to the edge of Sugar Man's Ridgeback Mountain
headquarters. Sensing their approach, the Sugar Man realized his secret
was about to be exposed. He was not going to let that happen, not even
if everyone on Genosha had to die. He girded himself for total war.
(Cable II#28) - Sugar Man sicked his
private battalion of mutates on Cable and the others, even getting
involved himself in the fight, pleasantly surprised to find "X-Man" was
actually an older version of the Nate Grey he knew. When Cable tried to
stop him telepathically, he was overwhelmed by the transtemporal jumble
that still existed within Sugar Man's mind. Aware he was fighting a
losing battle and eager to cover his tracks, the Sugar Man initiated
meltdown procedures for the nuclear core powering his base. Using the
confusion and fear, he tried to escape only to be opposed by Philip
Moreau. Stunning him with stories of how he and his father created the
mutate bonding process, Sugar Man decided to abduct Philip. They
teleported out of sight.
(Cable II#28 - BTS) - Cable successfully prevented the meltdown by
guessing the Sugar Man's override code, the simple and almost childlike
"78437 (S-U-G-A-R)".
(X-Man I#16 (fb) - BTS) - In his dreams, Nate Grey would often see the
shard of the M'Kraan Crystal that he inadvertently used to travel to
Earth-616 along with Holocaust. The gem's multifaceted exterior always
showed him scenes and people native to Earth-295, like the Sugar Man
jumping into M'Kraan.
(X-Man I#19 - BTS) - Sugar Man was among the memories Nate Grey gave
psionic form and substance during his confrontation with Mr. Sinister.
(X-Man Annual '96 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man returned to Genosha where he
rebuilt his lab facilities with help from the remaining Magistrates who
also began to guard him. Still, the villain tired of this Earth and
longed to return to Earth-295. To do so, he built a fargate, powered by
the residual M'Kraan energies still in his system to locate the proper
reality. However, he planned to return to the past, to the eve of the
third stage of Apocalypse's North American ascendance which was marked
by the Plague of Penitence. He figured that by returning with an even
deadlier version of that plague, one only he had the antidote to, he
could usurp Apocalypse and rule in his place. However, the mutates he
had produced to power the gate were incapable of opening a portal, only
generating brief flashes of that alternate Earth.
(X-Man Annual '96 - BTS) - X-Man was caught in one of those flashes
while flying over the Atlantic. Shocked to find himself briefly back on
his old world, he tracked the energy signature back to Sugar Man.
(X-Man Annual '96) - Fighting Genoshan
Magistrates as he entered Sugar Man's lab, Nate Grey was ill prepared
for the fact the fargate was programmed to automatically drain his power
when he was near. The gate activated and Sugar Man went through, with
Nate following moments later.
(X-Man Annual '96 - BTS) - Sugar Man arrived in
Earth-295's past and went to put his plan in motion. Moving to Niagara
Falls and quickly building a lab there, he made preparations to poison
the water supply with his new virus. Before he could unleash it, he
decided to do some more testing and captured both mutants and humans,
among them the Mimic (Calvin Rankin) and the illusion caster Jason
Wyngarde. Sugar Man's actions drew the attention of Wyngarde's friends
Forge, Magneto (Max Eisenhardt) and Morph (Kevin Sydney). When X-Man
appeared on Earth-295 weeks later, he allied himself with them.
(X-Man Annual '96) - Sugar Man was experimenting with the
virus on Wyngarde when X-Man and the others attacked his lab. Ordering
his men to defend him, Sugar Man managed to unleash the virus before
Forge knocked him out with an electric charge from his tech-chair.
X-Man telepathically learned what Sugar Man had done and, through a
massive telekinetic feat, filtered the toxins from the waters. Magneto
contained it in metal and dispensed with it in the upper atmosphere
where the cold kill the virus. It was then agreed by Forge and
Magneto that both X-Man and Sugar Man should return to Earth-616, since
they felt Earth-295 was a dead reality destined to die out. Though
reluctant, X-Man agreed and powered the gate again.
(X-Man Annual '97 (fb) - BTS) - The fact that Sugar Man, Nate Grey,
Holocaust and Dark Beast all came from Earth-295 to Earth-616 using the
M'Kraan Crystal's dimensional properties turned them into living,
breathing drains of the crystal's unique energies. Eventually, the
Shi'ar took notice of this effect. Warned by the crystal's guardian
Jahf, Lilandra sent troops to Earth to deal with the disturbance, led by
commander Kai'tra. As luck would have it, they first homed in on the
Sugar Man who used his charms to convince the Shi'ar to spare him. He
allowed them to drain his crystal energies, in return he'd lead them to
the other three who he held no particular love for, especially after
losing control of Genosha and being treated like a joke. Designing
weapons to help the Shi'ar easily capture Holocaust, X-Man and Dark
Beast, Sugar Man waited for them aboard the Shi'ar cruiser.
(X-Man Annual '97) - Gloating, Sugar Man revealed his
involvement in the capture of his Earth-295 compatriots. However, X-Man
telepathically connected them in thought and Sugar Man bought
Holocaust's promise to make him a horseman if he helped to free them.
Sugar Man complied and turned against the Shi'ar, freeing the other
mutants. Even though Dark Beast in no uncertain terms told him he was
aware of Sugar Man's role in the Shi'ar capturing them, he led them
towards the exit that was only accessible with Nate Grey's powers. When
X-Man's telekinesis powered the gateway, Sugar Man returned to Earth,
leaving the others to deal with the Shi'ar.
(Excalibur III#9 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man returned to Genosha and
remained in hiding, even surviving the Cassandra Nova orchestrated
Sentinel massacre of the island's mutant population. After the
destruction, he kept to himself content to wait in his bunker, stashed
with food and supplies.
(Excalibur III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Sugar Man also used his free time and
genetics knowledge to cook up several mutated guards reminiscent of the
ones he employed while he was running the Seattle Core on Earth-295. He
kept one of them, a two-headed mutate called Rastus, close by at all
times.
(Excalibur III#9) - When the Dark Beast and a group of Magistrates
discovered the entry hatch to Sugar Man's underground lair, they were
foolish enough to enter it. Within moments, the Sugar Man struck at them
from the shadows, massacring the Magistrates. Hearing his comrades die,
McCoy recognized the Sugar Man's laugh over their screams. He managed to
escape the lair, and though he was gravely injured Dark Beast reached
Xavier's allies before he fell unconscious.
(Excalibur III#10) -
Acting on Dark Beast's warnings there was a danger in the catacombs,
Callisto took Wicked to check it out. The veteran told the rookie to use
her ghost forms to search the grounds, even though whatever hurt her
ghosts would hurt her as well. Wicked sent one of her spirit forms in,
discovering the corpses of the Magistrates that had accompanied Dark
Beast. Unaware of the Sugar Man's presence, the spirit was torn apart by
his razor sharp claws, causing Wicked so much pain she passed out. This
convinced Callisto she needed to take an active hand and brought Omega
Sentinel (Karima Shapandar) with her to investigate matters. Sugar Man
managed to surprise them, using his tongue to stab and disable
Shapanadar while briefly explaining his origins to Callisto. He then had
Rastus deal with her. That fight ended with the guard chomping off half
her tendril arms, but Callisto also severed part of the Sugar Man's
tongue. By that time, Karima had recovered enough to take down Rastus,
even laughing as Sugar Man tried to stab her again with the stump that
was his tongue. With his defenses down, Callisto beat the villain with a
pipe until he passed out. She and Karima then raided his stash for all
the food and medical supplies they needed.
(Dark Reign Files#1) - Acting on orders from Norman
Osborn, the living computer Quasimodo analyzed a wide variety of
villains, compiling files on their possible uses in Osborn's new
organization HAMMER. After going over Sugar Man's file, the cybernetic
creature concluded that despite his genetic skills, he was an
untrustworthy ally and extremely expendable.
(Dark Reign Files#1 (fb) - BTS) - Most likely based on Quasimodo's
recommendations, HAMMER troops located and captured Sugar Man. They
imprisoned him in a HAMMER research facility where Osborn also had
Earth-295's Nate Grey strapped and fused to a device called the Omega
Machine which used his mutant powers to warp reality and generate
dimensional portals.
(New Mutants III#27 (fb) - BTS) - After Norman Osborn and HAMMER were
defeated, Sugar Man managed to escape from his cell. Finding himself
alone in the deserted facility, he discovered Nate Grey still stuck
inside the Omega Machine. The quick thinking geneticist came up with a
plan to use Grey and the machine to his benefit. To conceal his
presence, he adjusted the machine's settings so it projected a cloaking
field. Sugar Man, desperate to return home, then had the machine scan
for alternate realities, hoping to find Earth-295. Figuring he needed
help, he recruited a group of young bums and vagrants. By using a mix of
genetic science and technology, he gave them all superpowers. Calling
these loyal followers his New Mutates, he had them guard the facility
and discreetly others who he would entice to enter the portals to check
out the often lethal dimensions found by Grey.
(X-Men II#200) - Hoping to find a way
to undo the effects of the Scarlet Witch's reality altering spell that
caused most of Earth's mutants to lose their powers, Beast (Hank McCoy)
sought out the assistance of several villainous geniuses. Among them was
the Sugar Man who Beast managed to contact through a video-link.
(Uncanny X-Men I#488) - When he heard he wasn't going to be paid for his
help, the Sugar Man refused to aid McCoy any further.
(X-Factor III#23 - BTS) - Reporting his findings to Forge, Beast noted
that alternate reality mutants like Sugar Man and Rachel Grey had all
retained their powers on M-Day, speculating that their extradimensional
origins might have protected them from the effects of the Scarlet
Witch's realitywarp.
(Heroic Age: X-Men#1) - As the new head of SHIELD, Steve Rogers
analyzed the X-Men, their allies and enemies. Based on the available
intelligence and his recent refusal to aid Beast in saving mutantkind,
Rogers labeled the Sugar Man a greedy abomination and advised to be on
the lookout for him.
(New Mutants III#25) - Even though Nate Grey was already helpless and
drained powering the Omega Machine, Sugar Man still made it a point to
torture him with lifelike hallucinations that started out almost idyllic
but would invariable turn into nightmares.
(New Mutants III#25 - BTS) - Impressed by Dani Moonstar and her fellow
New Mutants, Cyclops decided the team would be ideally suited to
investigate and tie up any of the X-Men's various unsolved cases before
they could come back to haunt them. He first sent them to find Nate
Grey.
(New Mutants III#26 - BTS) - Their search took the New Mutants to the
HAMMER facility where the last reported sighting of Nate Grey was (he was still there, but undetectable
thanks to the Omega Machine's cloaking field).
(New Mutants III#26) - Around the same
time, Sugar Man was introduced to depowered mutant Ronny who had come to
him after hearing stories of the Sugar Man granting powers to others.
Sugar Man could smell Ronny was afraid of him, but that didn't bother
him in the slightest. He went on to explain what the powers he offered
entailed: they were artificial boosts, a combination of technology and a
radical reworking of the mutate bonding process. Ronny agreed to
cooperate and was granted the power of corrosive spit. Now, the Sugar
Man demanded he helped him by exploring a recently discovered dimension.
Ignoring Nate Grey's rambled words of warning, Ronny entered the portal
to a new dimension only to be quickly consumed by the local wildlife.
Sugar's only disappointment was the fact Ronny's death meant they had to
recruit yet another scout. Moments later, the New Mutants burst
into his section of the facility (they
had seen through the reality warp thanks to Cypher's powers).
Though they were surprised to see the Sugar Man, he didn't care who they
were and only wanted them dead.
(New Mutants III#27) - Recalling a recent briefing on Sugar Man's powers
and abilities, Danielle Moonstar engaged the villain on her own while
the New Mutants took care of the New Mutates. She managed to hold her
own against the imposing villain, using her arrows to stab, hurt and
enrage him. At the same time, Cypher and Warlock got through to Nate
Grey who for the first time in months was able to clear his head.
Sensing that all the Sugar Man really wanted was to return home, Grey
actively used his powers in concert with the Omega Machine to open the
portal to Earth-295. Immediately smelling the familiar air of his home
dimension, Sugar Man leapt towards the portal with Dani in hot pursuit.
She followed him through, determined to stop him. Ignoring his pleading
that he just wanted to go away, Dani managed to stab Sugar's tongue with
one of her arrows, which slowed him down long enough for Sunspot to get
a shot in back on Earth-616. She then dragged the unconscious Sugar Man
back through the portal before delivering him into SHIELD custody.
(New Mutants III#32 - BTS) - The goddess of death Hela used Nate Grey's
memories of Sugar Man and the horrors he experienced on Earth-295 to
stun, shock and horrify the seemingly omnipotent ancient Asgardian
entities known as the Draumar.
(New Mutants III#27 (fb - BTS) - Escaping SHIELD custody, the Sugar Man
somehow managed to find a way to return to his home dimension.
(Age of Apocalypse I#1 (fb) ) - On Earth-295, the Sugar Man helped to
free his old ally Dark Beast (who had also recently returned to his
native dimension). Together they set up a lab and began work on a new
project. Their hidden facility was discovered by reporter Harper
Simmons. Not eager to be discovered, they placed explosive charges in
the lab and escaped through a teleportation portal. Simmons managed to
escape as well and eventually contacted the X-Terminated, informing them
of what he'd found.
(Age of Apocalypse I#2 (fb) ) - Joining up with Weapon Omega, the
scientific duo began work on cloning a number of deceased alpha mutants,
giving them new life through the siphoned off power of the Celestial
lifeseed Omega had recently captured. Eager to begin the task, they
started the process of resurrecting prelate Scott Summers, while also
focusing on restoring several of their old enemies, the X-Men: Banshee
(Sean Cassidy), Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) and others.
(Age of Apocalypse I#1) - When the X-Terminated went to check out the
remains of the lab, they were stunned to find it was now a massive
laboratory where dozens of scientists were working. What's more, they
were greeted by prelate Scott Summers, an alpha mutant who was supposed
to be deceased.
(Age of Apocalypse I#2 - BTS) - After fighting their way
out of the lab, stunned to find Cyclops there, the X-Terminated fled.
One of them managed to infiltrate the facility and hacked the data
network. In doing so, the Human Resistance (led by Bolivar Trask) and
the X-Terminated learned of Beast and Sugar Man's cloning program. Trask
requested the help of the recently depowered Jean Grey and Sabretooth to
put a stop to it.
(Age of Apocalypse I#3) - Sugar Man and Dark Beast were bantering about
in their lab while putting the final touches on the resurrection process
of Alex Summers. Beast wanted to be doubly sure everything was in order
before proceeding because they didn't have too much Celestial life
energy left to make any mistakes. Sugar Man, in his own colorful
vernacular, assured his colleague everything would work fine because
"our mister Alex Summers here is a fluffy soufflé with a vanilla custard
sauce drizzled on top." Alex Summers was brought back to life, just as
his brother Scott arrived at the Alpha Lab to deliver more Celestial
energy. Summers was displeased to see his orders not to resurrect Alex
were ignored, but nevertheless promoted him on the spot as Weapon
Omega's new minister of war. Sugar Man helped Havok get acclimatised to
his new existence by telling him he owned a mansion and yacht before
returning to revive others like Emplate and Abyss. Hungry as ever,
Emplate began scouring for a food source, eventually locating
X-Terminated member Fiend (Francesca Trask) who had infiltrated the lab
and successfully disabled the pod containing Abyss. Meanwhile, the other
X-Terminated were attacking the facility head on.
(Age of Apocalypse I#4) - Emplate left Fiend alive, handing her over to
Dark Beast and Sugar Man, who were rather upset with the "human
cockroach" for costing them Abyss. Right before Fiend was killed and
tossed in the gene vats for recycling, Beast's guards told them they had
captured her teammates Horror Show and Prophet who claimed they had
Weapon Omega's wife Jean Grey in custody (Grey was still kept at
Humanity's Last Stand). Intrigued, Beast and Sugar Man went to meet with
them, dragging the unconscious Fiend along. Much to their dismay,
Prophet revealed there was a tiny nuke hidden in his chestplate that
would detonate the Celestial life energy and destroy the entire cloning
facility. To cause even more chaos, Goodnight (Donald Pierce) had
tricked the Incredible Thing (Bruce Banner) to attack the facility.
Amidst the chaos, Sugar Man attempted to escape with Fiend but he was
stopped by one of Horror Show's electrical charges. Taking Sugar Man
captive, they left the facility even as it was going up.
(Age of Apocalypse I#6) - The X-Terminated and Humanity's Last Stand
struck a deal with the vastly powerful mutant Penance (Monet St. Croix).
In return for her help in overthrowing Weapon Omega, they would give her
custody of the Sugar Man who she planned to make her head scientist.
Penance assured "this wayward son" he would be reformed and that his
science would be of great use in the coming reformation.
(Age of Apocalypse I#9) - The newly reformed, but no less demented,
Sugar Man was having difficulties devising a way to take down Weapon
Omega, much to Penance's frustration, even calling him a disgusting egg.
Taking umbrage, Sugar Man insisted he should at least be a chocolate
egg. Then, Prophet (William Stryker) showed up to break their impasse.
He brought them the brain of Victor von Doom, convinced that it
contained a way to separate Omega from the Celestial power he was fused
with. Intrigued, Sugar Man went to work while Prophet explained his
motives to Penance: if they gave him a weapon to take out Weapon Omega
that the X-Terminated would use, both parties would be rid of a mutual
enemy and if it failed, Penance would not be blamed for attempted
murder.
(Age of Apocalypse I#10) - Successfully accessing Victor von Doom's mind
and recovering residual traces of Celestial Death Seed energy lodged in
there, the Sugar Man came up with a way to kill Weapon Omega. Creating a
tiny pellet he called the "jellybean/death bean/cosmic legume and the
unholy pea", he explained to the stunned X-Terminated how upon ingestion
the pill-sized projectile would separate man from god. Penance and Sugar
Man planned to wait out how the X-Terminated would fare against Weapon
Omega from a safe, distant location.
(Age of Apocalypse I#13) - After the fall of Weapon Omega, Sugar Man
assisted the newly formed leadership in any way he could. They planned
against potential usurpers, but found no one was eager to challenge
Penance's rule.
(Magneto III#19 (fb) - BTS) - For unknown reasons, the Sugar Man decided
to return to Earth-616, setting up another underground lab and mostly
keeping to himself. He began puttering away at mobile power amplifiers
in his spare time (see comments).
(Magneto III#19 - BTS) - Hoping to find a way to quickly enhance and
boost his failing mutant powers, Magneto had his associate Briar Raleigh
set up a meeting with the Sugar Man. Surprised and intrigued by the
polite request, the evil geneticist agreed and sent them instructions to
reach his hidden, underground lair.
(Magneto III#19) - When Magneto and
Briar arrived, the Sugar Man listened to what the mutant master of
magnetism needed, somewhat pleased that Magnus had sought him out
considering there were more capable geneticists out there and the fact
he'd recently been killing mutantkind's enemies like him. Magneto
explained that the world would soon be coming to an end (because of the
incursions) and that he needed someone who could offer a quick and dirty
solution to his lack of power. Sugar Man thought it over, then offered
up the schematics for mobile power amplifiers he had been tinkering with
in his spare time. While Magneto was studying the plans, Sugar Man
casually noted he was glad that Magnus had given up "that nasty,
murderous vigilante business". Looking up from the plans, Magneto calmly
asked "who said I had abandoned my mission?" before skewering the
Earth-295 native with stray metal objects, seemingly killing him. He
explained to his ally Briar that Sugar Man was a blight against
mutantkind he no longer had use for. The world would be better off
without his ilk (see comments).
Comments: Created by Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris
Bachalo (pencils), Mark Buckingham (inks)
Sugar Man's death at the hands of Magneto might not be as
final as it seems. After all, he was pretty much ripped apart and left
for dead back in Generation Next I#4,
only to show up alive and well a little while later.
Sugar Man's appearances in the 2012/2013 Age
of Apocalyse series are a bit confusing, because it's never
established how he actually escaped SHIELD custody on Earth-616 to
return home. Considering most of his appearances from the late 90s on
revolve around him trying to find a way back to Earth-295, it's a
glaring omission. Same with how he found his way back to Earth-616 (and
why!) at the end of the AoA ongoing. No mention was made of the changes
Penance made to his mind as well, which would lead one to conclude this
Sugar Man was actually a clone cooked up by Dark Beast to assist him in
reviving the deceased mutants. When asked, AoA author David Lapham
dismissed the clone theory: "He's
already an alternate universe character it seems very complicated to
have him be a clone, too, no? I prefer to think he found his way
home somehow in an untold story, BUT I'm certainly no official word on
that subject." So noted.
Sugar Man had a follower called Rex during his tenure as Genosha's
puppet master. Earth-295's Apocalypse's right hand man was also called
Rex and bore a certain similarity to the 616 version. He might have been
a clone, created by Sugar Man to make himself feel more at home in this
world. That seems to fit if you consider the 616-Rex looked about 20
years older than his Earth-295 counterpart.
What Sugar Man wanted with Philip Moreau has not been revealed. Moreau
got abducted by Sugar Man at the end of 1996's Cable
II#28, only to show up alive and well as part of Magneto's
cabinet in the early 2000s Magneto miniseries.
Blink's memories of the Sugar Man in Blink
I#3 suggest that the villain would prey on and (sexually)
abuse young girls. This was already hinted at back in his first
appearance where he is seen sniffing out his next victim. Incidentally,
the Blink mini establishes
that Blink and Illyana Rasputin knew each other as children when they
were stuck in the pens together. Somehow, Blink is in her late teens
during Age of Apocalypse while
Illyana is still a child. Ah, continuity...
Sugar Man's co-creator Scott Lobdell was kind enough to answer a few
questions about the character and his origins: "The
idea behind Sugar Man was to create some Age of Apocalypse mutants who
did not have any corollaries in our world. As much fun as it was to
use variants of Sabretooth et al, I thought it would get boring if
every single person we met was just a new take on an old
character. Hence Sugar Man and Vincente and a few others. As for
his name, I knew I wanted something scary and disturbing that sounded
like Boogey Man -- because the story was told from the POV of the
kids, if I recall. If I recall this correctly, I am pretty sure I came
up with the title "The Sugar Man Cometh" and then Chris Bachalo turned
in these great sketches and I was like "Yep, that is exactly what a
Sugar Man who runs a concentration camp would look like!"
Sugar Man was only one of four Earth-295 natives to initially survive
into "regular" Earth-616 continuity. Lobdell explained his reasoning
behind bringing Sugar Man along for the ride: "In part because
there was no Sugar Man on our world (at the time). It is sort of
like when a serial killer disappears after a spate of murders and the
authorities are left to wonder if he was hit by a car or got arrested
on another crime or something. I thought it was really
interesting -- this guy who was like the evil of the evilest didn't
make his mark on our world. Did something happen to him when he
was younger here? Did he die? Is he a mutant who can
change shape and maybe his manifestation never happened on our world?
I still love the notion that we would meet our Sugar Man and he would
be the nicest guy in the world. How disturbing would it be
to know there was a version of you possibly living inside of you
capable of creating and running a concentration camp and experimenting
on people? So many interesting angles to explore."
Lobdell also added that turning him into an evil geneticist
responsible for the mutates on Genosha was never his idea: "
I'm not trying to shake off responsibility for a bad decision, but I'm
pretty sure I didn't write those appearances. I'm guessing that is the
case because there are some ideas I just never liked in the X-Verse:
Genosha being one of those. ("An island of mutant slaves!" Um,
like what? A mutant butler? A mutant chef?")
Also the notion that it seems unlikely these people who are by their
very creation super powered being enslaved en masse sounded crazy
silly to me. Like, the amount of technology needed to keep this
mutant population enslaved in order to get their shirts ironed never
seemed cost effective to me. So it is unlikely I would have put
him there." For the record, Sugar Man's Genoshan ties were
established by Warren Ellis and fully fleshed out by Jeph Loeb.
During their brief fight in the Lobdell penned X-Men
II#48, Dark Beast calls Sugar Man a "gene joke", which is a
racist slur for anyone non-mutant. When asked about it, Scott confirmed
that the Sugar Man was most definitely a mutant: "Back
in Uncanny X-Men I#298, the Acolytes tried to recruit a young mutant
called Teddy,
but all their philosophy about mutants being the superior race gets
held up as hypocritical when they abandon the young mutant because he
has Down Syndrome. He wasn't the "right kind of mutant" worth
enlisting in their cause. Similarly, I think I liked the idea
that Dark Beast looked at Sugar Man as less than a mutant because he
was so horrific and vile a creature. He was not the
Aryan-version of a mutant that Dark Beast was looking to create."
Sugar Man received profiles in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men Age of Apocalypse (2005), Dark Reign Files#1 (2009), Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe HC#11 (2010) and Heroic Age: X-Men#1 (2011).
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sugar Man should not be confused with
- Sugar, X-Babies counterpart of Rogue @ Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12
- Sugar Face of the Vulturions @ Web of Spider-Man I#1
- Sugar Kane, British pop singer, dated Chamber @ Uncanny X-Men I#395
- Any other "Sugar" or "Man" characters
images: (without ads)
Cable II#27, p22, pan1 (main image)
Blink I#3, p16, pan1 (visiting Blink and Illyana)
Generation Next I#4, p7, pans1,2,3,4 (sees through Generation Next's
deceit)
X-Men: Omega#1, p26, pans2&3 (using the M'kraan crystal to escape)
X-Man I#7, p18, pans3&4 (told off by Selene)
X-Men II#48, p11, pan4 (fighting with Dark Beast)
Cable II#28, p15, pan1 (kidnapping Philip Moreau)
X-Man Annual 1996 I#1, p30, pans1,2,3 (stunned by Forge's tech chair)
Excalibur III#10, p23, pans1&2 (stabbed through the head by
Callisto)
Uncanny X-Men I#488, p29, pan5 (turning down Beast)
New Mutants I#27, p19, pan1 (taken into SHIELD custody)
Age of Apocalypse I#2, p21, pan1 (working to revive Earth-295's dead
Alpha mutants)
Magneto III#19, p16, pan1 (killed by Magneto)
Appearances:
Generation Next I#2 (April, 1995) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Mark Buckingham (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Generation Next I#3 (May, 1995) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Mark Buckingham (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Generation Next I#4 (June, 1995) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Mark Buckingham (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men: Omega#1 (June, 1995) - Scott Lobdell & Mark Waid (writers), John Romita & Klaus Janson (pencils), Bud LaRosa, Tim Townsend, Karl Kesel, Harry Candelario, Scott Hanna & Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men Prime#1 (July, 1995) - Scott Lobdell & Fabian Nicieza (writers), Bryan Hitch et al (pencils), Mark Farmer et al (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Excalibur I#87 (July, 1995) - Warren Ellis (writer), Ken Lashley (pencils), Tom Wegazyn (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
X-Man I#6 (August, 1995) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Steve Skroce (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Lisa Patrick (editor)
X-Man I#7 (September, 1995) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Steve Skroce & Phil Hester (pencils), Bud LaRosa, Matt Ryan & Keith Williams (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Cable II#26 (December, 1995) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Rob Haynes & Randy Green (pencils), John Lowe & Bud LaRosa (inks), Lisa Patrick (editor)
Cable II#27 (January, 1996) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Ian Churchill (pencils), Scott Hanna, Ben Herrera & Al Milgrom (inks), Lisa Patrick (editor)
X-Men II#48 (January, 1996) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Cable II#28 (February, 1996) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Wilfred Santiago (pencils), Scott Hanna & Rachael Hawkey (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
X-Men II#49 (February, 1996) - Scott Lobdell & Mark Waid (writers), Jeff Matsuda (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Man I#16 (June, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Val Semeiks (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Jaye Gardner (editor)
X-Man I#19 (September, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Steve Skroce (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Jaye Gardner (editor)
X-Man Annual '96 (December, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer & Robin Riggs (inks), Jaye Gardner (editor)
X-Man Annual '97 (February, 1998) - Christopher Golden (writer), Ramon Bernardo (pencils & inks), Jaye Gardner (editor)
Blink I#3 (May, 2001) - Scott Lobdell & Judd Winick (writers), Trevor McCarthy (pencils), Norm Rapmund & Tyson McAddo (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Excalibur III#9 (March, 2005) - Chris Claremont (writer), Aaron Lopresti (pencils), Greg Adams & Sean Parsons (inks), Stephanie Moore (editor)
Excalibur III#10 (April, 2005) - Chris Claremont (writer), Aaron Lopresti (pencils), Greg Adams & Brad Vancata (inks), Stephanie Moore (editor)
X-Men II#200 (August, 2007) - Mike Carey (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Andy Schmidt (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#488 (September, 2007) - Mike Carey (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Andy Schmidt (editor)
X-Factor III#23 (November, 2007) - Christos Gage (writer), Scot Eaton (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
New Mutants III#25 (July, 2011) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leandro Fernandez (pencils & inks), Sebastian Girner (editor)
New Mutants III#26 (August, 2011) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leandro Fernandez (pencils & inks), Sebastian Girner (editor)
New Mutants III#27 (September, 2011) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Leandro Fernandez (pencils & inks), Sebastian Girner (editor)
New Mutants III#32 (December, 2011) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), David Lafuente & Robbi Rodriguez (pencils & inks), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#1 (May, 2012) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#2 (June, 2012) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#3 (July, 2012) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#4 (August, 2012) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils), Renato Arlem (inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#6 (October, 2012) - David Lapham (writer), Renato Arlem (pencils & inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#9 (January, 2013) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#10 (February, 2013) - David Lapham (writer), Roberto De La Torre (pencils & inks), Jody LeHup (editor)
Age of Apocalypse I#13 (May, 2013) - David Lapham (writer), Renato Arlem & Valentine de Landro (pencils & inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Magneto III#19 (August, 2015) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Paul Davidson (pencils & inks), Daniel Ketchum & Xander Jaroway (editors)
First Posted: 10/31/2015
Last Updated: 10/30/2015
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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