TIMESHADOW
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Professional criminal, former member of the U.S. military
Group Membership: None;
formerly Alliance of Evil (Frenzy/Joanna Cargill, Stinger/Wendy Sherman, Tower/Edward Pasternak)
Affiliations: Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), Michael Nowlan
Enemies: Rusty Collins, Susan Nowlan, Skids (Sally Blevins), X-Factor (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Iceman/Bobby Drake)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Fool" (nickname used by Frenzy)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Apocalypse's
chateau, Southern California;
formerly a U.S. military
detox center
First Appearance: (BTS) X-Factor I#4 (May, 1988); (seen) X-Factor I#5 (June, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: Timeshadow possesses the mutant
ability to manifest future versions of himself yanked from milliseconds
ahead in his own timeline. These "phase forms" are capable of independent
thought. Timeshadow is able to control their actions, for instance
to guide them into attacking others or defending him. It's not been
revealed how many copies he can call up at a single time, though he can
summon at least half a dozen phase forms with ease. With sufficient concentration,
he could briefly phase out of sync with time which allowed him to dodge
incoming attacks by simply stepping aside. Timeshadow has a history of
substance abuse.
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 170 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(X-Factor I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The man known only as Timeshadow
served in the United States army. Eventually, he was discharged from the
service and admitted to a military detox center to kick the habit.
(X-Factor I#5 (fb) ) - At the center, he first discovered he was a
mutant when he met fellow patient Michael Nowlan who inadvertently
jumpstarted his powers with his own mutant amplification abilities.
(X-Factor I#5 (fb) - BTS) - After mastering his temporal powers and
settling on the codename Timeshadow, he was contacted by Apocalypse
under unrevealed circumstances. Sensing his potential use to his cause,
he recruited Timeshadow into the Alliance of Evil, along with Frenzy,
Stinger and Tower. He was also reunited with Nowlan who Apocalypse kept
imprisoned to power up the Alliance so they could fulfill their task
even better: promote En Sabah Nur's agenda of the survival of the
fittest by having mutants fight each other. Nowlan's powers had an
addictive side affect to them, leaving those he'd enhanced to crave the
effects.
(X-Factor I#4 - BTS) - Timeshadow contacted Frenzy (on
a solo mission in Manhattan) on her wrist communicator. He
reminded her that she needed to return to base immediately because she was
about to experience withdrawal symptoms from lack of exposure to Nowlan's
powers.
(X-Factor I#5) - Timeshadow and his fellow Alliance members tried to stop
Michael Nowlan from escaping Apocalypse's chateau. Stinger was so afraid
of going into withdrawal again, she tried to destroy the car Nowlan had
commandeered to get away. Timeshadow restrained her, promising his
teammate they'd find him again. They eventually tracked down Nowlan's
ex-wife Susan (who had been contacted
by Michael only for her to call the alleged mutant hunters X-Factor on
him instead). The Alliance forced Susan to take them to Nowlan's
hideout where they arrived just as he was explaining his origins to
X-Factor. Because the Alliance threatened to kill Susan, Nowlan agreed to
power up Timeshadow and the others which gave them the upper hand in their
fight against X-Factor. Timeshadow called up five phase forms and attacked
Jean Grey who used a telekinetic force field to shield herself from the
barrage of blows. She then tried to knock all six versions of the villain
out with a blast of debris but found Timeshadow had vanished. In reality,
he'd phased out of time-sync for a second to get behind her so he could
land a knockout punch. Timeshadow's attack infuriated Cyclops who
blasted him, but missed because of his opponent's temporal abilities. That
left X-Factor's leader open to an attack from Frenzy, who cold cocked him.
With X-Factor defeated, the Alliance took Nowlan and his wife to see
Apocalypse in his chateau.
(X-Factor I#6) - Apocalypse was curious to find out why there were unknown
mutants with Nowlan when reports stated the mutant hunting X-Factor agents
were actually seen going into Nowlan's hideout. He tasked the Alliance to
find out the truth. After Tower threatened to kill his ex-wife, Nowlan
revealed what he'd learned: X-Factor was little more than a front for a
group of mutants to find and rescue members of their own kind. Nowlan then
begged to have some drugs, which the Alliance refused because heroin
blocked his power amplifying abilities. Figuring Nowlan might still be
holding back information, Stinger suggested they should beat up Susan to
get him to talk. Watching Tower and Stinger threaten the woman he loved
kicked Nowlan's mutant powers into overdrive, augmenting the Alliance's
abilities to levels far beyond their control. Timeshadow became stuck
outside of time, constantly moving ahead and back seconds into his own
past and future without being able to do anything to stop the process.
Stinger shot out massive bolts of electricity, culminating in an explosion
that destroyed a huge part of the chateau.
(X-Factor I#6 - BTS) - Stinger's explosion caught the attention of
X-Factor still in the area looking for Nowlan.
(X-Factor I#6) - With Timeshadow, Stinger and Tower unable to stop Nowlan,
it was up to Frenzy to knock him out. Before the fighting mad mutant could
do so, Apocalypse arrived from his underground labs to stop the fighting.
He had Nowlan placed in the monitor machine he'd been using to control his
powers. With the situation once again under control, Apocalypse retreated
to his lab with Nowlan. Though he wasn't pleased with the Alliance, he did
commend them for furthering his goals through their continued reign of
destruction. Later that night, Timeshadow and the others caught Jean Grey
and Angel sneaking up on the chateau. While Beast snuck inside to free
Nowlan, the other X-Factor members engaged the Alliance. Timeshadow
figured he could surprise Cyclops by popping up behind him to quickly
subdue him. Cyclops easily shifted his bodyweight, lauching Timeshadow at
Stinger instead. The fight was interrupted by Apocalypse who emerged from
his labs with Nowlan hooked up to the machine, Susan by his side.
Apocalypse forced Nowlan to juice up the Alliance, but when Susan got
injured during the fight he got so riled up he broke free from the
device's control and started amplifying everyone's powers before dying in
the process. Without Nowlan, Apocalypse no longer had an interest in both
the Alliance and X-Factor. He departed, telling his former lackeys they
should not try to find him anymore. Feeling they couldn't turn in fellow
mutants, X-Factor allowed the Alliance to go free. Timeshadow and the
others tried to escape, only to run into the police who immediately
arrested them.
(X-Factor I#33 (fb) - BTS) - Following their arrest in California, Timeshadow
and his fellow Alliance members were imprisoned. They were eventually
transferred to a facility in the state of New York.
(X-Factor I#33) - Infuriated by the news of the passing of the Mutant
Registration Act, the Alliance of Evil broke out of prison and went to New
York City to violently protest the act. They ran across TV reporter Trish
Tilby and her crew who were reporting on the many unexplained freak
incidents plaguing Manhattan (a result
of the limbo demons' growing influence). Timeshadow quickly
captured Trish, handing the microphone to Frenzy who live on the air
explained the Alliance's goal and challenged their old enemies X-Factor to
come and fight them. The Alliance learned from a passersby that some members
of X-Factor were shopping for clothes nearby, leading Tower to throw a car
through the store window to announce their presence. Stinger briefly
fought Iceman until she was confronted by Rictor who held her at bay with
his vibro powers. The Alliance nevertheless held their own against
X-Factor, even tempting the team's youthful ward Rusty Collins to consider
joining them since he was already on the run from the law. The tides
turned when Cyclops and a newly mutated Beast arrived on the scene.
Watching his fellow Alliance members get overpowered and defeated with
staggering ease, Timeshadow decided to bolt. However, thanks to Leech's
presence he was unable to use his powers, which left him open to a blow
from Iceman who knocked him out with a single punch. As soon as X-Factor
had dealt with the other Alliance members, they were surprised by the
arrival of Freedom Force, who had come to take the villains into custody.
(New Mutants Annual I#7 (fb) - BTS) - The Alliance's exploits were noticed
by both Cerebro and the time traveling mutant mercenary Cable, who didn't know and didn't care why Timeshadow wasn't with the Alliance anymore.
(Heroic Age: X-MenI#1 - BTS) - When he took over as head of SHIELD, Steve Rogers reviewed and analyzed the X-Men along with their various associates and enemies. When he got to Stinger's case, he noted that her teammate Timeshadow had fallen completely off the grid.
Comments: Created by Bob Layton, Jackson Guice, and Joe Rubinstein
The Alliance of Evil was addicted to the effects of Michael Nowlan's
power amplification. When he died, they were carted off to jail where,
presumably, they went through one heck of a withdrawal.
Fabian Nicieza wrote New Mutants
Annual I#7, which was both the last official outing of the
Alliance of Evil as well as the final mention of Timeshadow in regular
comics. He was kind enough to share his thoughts on why Timeshadow
wasn't included in the actual story:
"I honestly have ZERO recollection of
that at all. I could only presume he was omitted because:
1) We maybe wanted to pare down on total number of characters in a
story
2) I didn't like the character or thought his powers would be too
complicated to use during the course of the story
3) Someone else was planning to use the character
4) Bob Harras didn't like the character
It could have been any one of those or none of those."
Timeshadow, as part of the Alliance of Evil, received a profile in the
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update 89#1.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Timeshadow should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update 89#1,p3, pan4 (main image)
X-Factor I#5, p20, pan1 (fighting Jean Grey)
X-Factor I#33, p19, pans5&6 (knocked out by Leech and Iceman)
Appearances:
X-Factor I#4 (May, 1986) - Bob Layton (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#5 (June, 1986) - Bob Layton (writer), Jackson Guice (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#6 (July, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), Jackson Guice (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#33 (October, 1988) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson Guice (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
New Mutants Annual I#7 (August, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Guang Yap (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Heroic Age: X-Men#1 (February 2011) - Michael Hoskin (headwriter/coordinator), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
First Posted: 03/10/2016
Last Updated: 04/25/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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