DEADBOLT

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: Dark Riders (Barrage, Dirt Nap, Gauntlet, Harddrive, Hurricane, Lifeforce, Psynapse, Spyne, Tusk)

Affiliations: Genesis (Tyler Dayspring), Jamil, Selene

Enemies: Caliban, Cyber (Silas Burr), Marc Dale, Foxbat, Faye Livingstone, Silver Salvation, X-Men (Archangel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Henry McCoy, Cable/Nathan Summers, Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Domino/Neena Thurman, Elixir/Josh Foley, Jean Grey, M/Monet St. Croix, Magneto/Max Eisenhardt, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Triage/Christopher Muse, Wolverine/James Howlett), Shen Xorn

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Akkaba, Egypt

First Appearance: Cable II#17 (November, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: As a mutant, Deadbolt appears to be a walking skeleton who glows blue with energy. Sometimes wielding a sword, and sometimes using his own bones in combat. Deadbolt savagely attacks his foes, though he appears to be easily killed when his skeleton is pulled apart (and his skeleton seems to heal itself), and he is also vulnerable to psychic attack. Deadbolt has been killed and resurrected with a combination of magic and the Transmode virus.

Height: 5'9" (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blank blue energy
Hair: None

History:
(Cable II#19 (fb) - BTS) - The time-traveling Genesis (Tyler Dayspring) took over the Dark Riders, adding mutants Lifeforce, Hurricane, Spyne, and Deadbolt to the team.

(Cable II#17) - In Egypt, Foxbat was hunted down and killed by the new Dark Riders, who determined he was unworthy. Later, with Barrage now, the Dark Riders hunted Caliban in the Morlock Tunnels, and they found a team of X-Men (Cable, Domino, Storm) there. During the fight, Hurricane tried to best Storm with his control over winds, but she overwhelmed him. Soon, Hard-Drive teleported the Dark Riders away, promising Gauntlet that he would be punished for engaging in battle with Cable against orders.

(Cable II#19) - Cable, Storm, Domino, and Caliban battled the Dark Riders in Egypt. As the base exploded around them, Genesis had Harddrive teleport them all away at the last moment.

(X-Men Annual '95) - Genesis assembled the Dark Riders (Gauntlet, Hurricane, Lifeforce, Spyne, Deadbolt) to apprehend Jean Grey, so he could use her to read the mind of Faye Livingstone, an elderly woman who held secrets about the past of Mr. Sinister. Harddrive teleported the team, who kidnapped Jean after a brief battle with the Beast, but Jean was soon rescued.

(Wolverine II#100 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders gathered hundreds of sarcophagi and placed them in piles in a psychic ring around the tomb of Apocalypse. Genesis planned to revive the villain. Genesis also added Dirt Nap to the team.

(Wolverine II#99) - At the citadel in Akkaba, Gauntlet, Hurricane, and Deadbolt oversaw the transport of human civilians inside at Genesis' orders, and Deadbolt harmed the humans for fun. Inside, Genesis apprehended Wolverine, and Lifeforce joined the others into putting Wolverine in a containment unit. Genesis planned to use the Adamantium that had been removed from Cyber to implant on Wolverine's skeleton, then to erase Wolverine's memories and make him the leader of his Riders.

(Wolverine II#100) - Cannonball attacked but was easily defeated by the Riders, then the machine exploded, sending scraps of Adamantium across the room, killing both Lifeforce and Hurricane instantly. Deadbolt heard Spyne screaming and went to investigate, but Wolverine had killed Spyne. He used Spyne's spinal column to ensnare Deadbolt, then severed Deadbolt's head, using it to lure Gauntlet into a trap.

(X-Force III#21 (fb) - BTS) - Hurricane, Spyne, and Deadbolt were revived by Selene on Genosha.

(X-Force III#21) - When the X-Men attacked, Hurricane, Spyne, and Deadbolt sparred with Dazzler and Psylocke.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Uncanny X-Men IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders reformed and sought to pursue their mission of culling the weak from the strong. Learning that M-Pox was killing mutants, they sought to kill mutant healers so that the mutants could truly be tested and only the strong would survive.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders hunted down mutant healers Sister Salvation and Marc Dale, among others.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#1) - Gauntlet, Tusk, Spyne, and Deadbolt hunted down a mutant healer, killing him.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#2) - Barrage, Spyne, Gauntlet, Psynapse, and Deadbolt hunted down Elixir in a hospital, but found Sabretooth and M of the X-Men there. During the fight, Deadbolt attacked M, but she punched him back. When Elixir healed the civilians, Gauntlet shot and killed the mutant, then Psynapse blocked them out telepathically from the X-Men and the Dark Riders escaped.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#4) - In Tibet, Harddrive, Barrage, and Deadbolt hunted down Xorn, but when Barrage shot him in the head, a huge energy discharge exploded, and Harddrive rushed to teleport the others out, but Barrage was killed. As Deadbolt panicked, Psynapse mentally calmed Deadbolt's fear and trauma. In Egypt, the X-Men (Archangel, Psylocke, M, Sabretooth) attacked, and Tusk and his Underlings, Gauntlet, Deadbolt, Hurricane, and Spyne fought back, and Psylocke bested Deadbolt when they battled with swords. The Dark Riders caved in their base and teleported away to go after Triage on Genosha, but Magneto was there to protect him.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#5) - Magneto hit Tusk and Deadbolt with a car while Spyne stabbed Triage and Psynapse locked down the healer's mind. After Magneto seemingly killed Psynapse and Spyne, the other X-Men (M, Sabretooth, Archangel) arrived, and savagely defeated the Dark Riders. Deadbolt was torn apart by Wolverine, then the X-Men blew up the Dark Riders on the remains of Genosha.

Comments: Created by Jeph Loeb, Steve Skroce, Mike Sellers, Matt Ryan, and Kevin Dvorak.

I remember reading about the Dark Riders when I was a teenager, and I always found Deadbolt and Spyne to be super frightening and imposing characters. Going back and reading these entries, I realize they are characters who had very little to do and were very easy to kill. Still, the visual of the glowing blue skeleton is striking.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Deadbolt has no known connections to:

• any "Dead" or "Bolt" characters.

images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Men IV#1, p22, pan1 (main)
Cable II#17, p20, pan5 (Deadbolt, face)
Uncanny X-Men IV#4, p8, pan1 (with sword)