PHOEBE HUNTSMANPHOEBE HUNTSMAN
Real Name: Phoebe Huntsman
Identity/Class: Human (British)
Occupation: Student
Group Membership: St. Searle's School for
Young Ladies student body (Amy Fink, Karen Fink, Ginjer, Shelby
Montrobe, Veronique, others)
Affiliations: Ashley, Excalibur (Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Meggan, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Rachel Summers of Earth-811, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde), Karen Fink, Shelby Montrobe, Miss Amelia Rutherford, Mister Reeve, Veronique
Enemies: Fenris (Andrea &
Andreas von Strucker), Mesmero (Vincent)
Known Relatives: Unidentified parents and
step-parents
Aliases: "Feebs"
Base of Operations: St. Searle's School for
Young Ladies, northern England, United Kingdom
First Appearance: Excalibur I#32 (December,
1990)
Powers/Abilities: Phoebe Huntsman had no
superhuman powers but she could hold her own in a fistfight and was a
skilled field hockey player.
Height: 5'9" (by approximation)
Weight: 141 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
History: (Excalibur I#33
(fb) - BTS) - Like all of the other students at St. Searle's School for
Young Ladies, Phoebe Huntsman had been thrown out of other prep schools
and became enrolled at St. Searle's because no other school would take
her.
(Excalibur I#32 (fb) - BTS) -
After learning of a new student at St. Searle's School for Young
Ladies, Phoebe Huntsman, Veronique and another girl broke into the new
girl's room and began rummaging through her belongings.
(Excalibur I#32) - The new girl, Kitty Pryde, went up
to her room at St. Searle's, only to find Phoebe, Veronique and the
other girl inside. When Kitty asked what they were doing in her room,
Phoebe claimed they were helping her unpack but when Kitty knocked
Veronique into a light switch for going through Kitty's diary, Phoebe
punched Kitty. After her friends commended her on the attack, Phoebe
admitted that she had hurt her hand in the connect and warned Kitty
that her nails better be intact. Kitty then fought back, suggesting
Phoebe worry about her face before the fight was broken up by Miss
Rutherford, the school's headmistress, who demanded an explanation.
Claiming that Kitty had started the fight, Phoebe told Miss Rutherford
that she and her friends were trying to help Kitty fit in when Kitty
attacked them. Kitty immediately argued, informing Rutherford that
Phoebe and her friends were going through her belongings but Phoebe
asked how else they were supposed to help, other than putting away
Kitty's things for her. Miss Rutherford then ordered Kitty to her
office and told Phoebe and her friends to return their own rooms. That
night, after Rutherford had assigned Kitty to write lines, Kitty
returned to her room thinking her hand probably hurt worse than
Phoebe's did. In the days that passed, Phoebe and her friends continued
to play pranks on Kitty, ranging from filling Kitty's locker with sand
to ostracizing her at lunch to altering the shower head during Kitty's
shower to pushing her down to tossing her papers out a window. A short
time later, Phoebe and her friends were in Mr. Reeve's physical
education class, where they were to begin field hockey lessons. When
Mr. Reeve asked where Kitty was, Phoebe revealed that Kitty's bed had
not been slept in the night before, smiling as she suggested Kitty
might have run away, only to be chagrined when Kitty appeared. Phoebe
warned that Kitty should have stayed gone and that she had made a
mistake showing herself. Kitty responded by suggesting Phoebe take her
best shot at her during the hockey game, Phoebe relented and allowed
Kitty to play for the other team as goalie. During the game, Kitty
managed to defend the goal from all scorers, with the match eventually
come down to a bout between Phoebe and Kitty one-on-one. Kitty managed
to hit the ball into Phoebe's face and while Phoebe was down, Kitty
retrieved her stolen leather jacket from Phoebe and warned that she
wanted the theft of her property to stop. Kitty then tossed the ball
into Phoebe's goal, winning the game for her team and remarking that
Phoebe had played a nice game.
(Excalibur I#33) - Walking up
at several students were watching Kitty shadow box, Phoebe Huntsman
reminded younger student Shelby Montrobe to get her sports terms right
as Montrobe was discussing American football but when Montrobe
proclaimed that Phoebe couldn't scare her, Phoebe further reminded
Montrobe that she was the head prefect of the senior form and was
responsible for Montrobe's welfare. Phoebe then warned for Montrobe and
her friends to leave but Montrobe again refused to be scared off and
when one of Montrobe's friends hit Phoebe in the eye with a jelly roll,
Phoebe and her friends chased Montrobe and her friends away. Phoebe's
friend Ashley then suggested they do something about the disrespect but
Phoebe asked what they should do, to which Ashley blamed the disrespect
on Kitty Pryde's presence at St. Searle's. Phoebe followed up,
reminding Ashley that Kitty had earlier hit her with the field hockey
ball in such a way as to prevent permanent damage and that Kitty
actually knew how to fight. When Ashley then asked what they should do,
Phoebe suggested not doing anything and that they should pass the word
that no one should interact or acknowledge Kitty's existence as a form
of revenge since they could not physically get even with Kitty. Later
that evening, Kitty thought about how Phoebe had succeeded in getting
the other students to ignore her and worried that the younger students
might someday grow up to be like Phoebe. Following a brief visit from
Miss Rutherford about Kitty's lack of friends in which Rutherford had
to leave quickly due to a visit from the financial advisor, Kitty spied
on Rutherford to see what made her leave so suddenly, only to spot
Phoebe sneaking out and into an attic across the way. Sneaking out
herself to see what Phoebe was up to, Kitty found Phoebe listening in
on the conversation Miss Rutherford was having with the financial
advisor and overheard that St. Searle's was bankrupt. Phoebe soon
spotted Kitty and the two argued about who was spying on who before
Phoebe admitted that her picking on Kitty was originally intended to be
first day fun that Kitty had turned into a full-blown war. Kitty argued
that she didn't like being picked on but Phoebe asked who did and that
they only pushed back hard because Kitty had fought back and that the
school was Phoebe's turf. Phoebe then suggested Kitty should have found
a way to meet her and her friends on their terms instead of trying to
dictate the terms herself before she halted the argument, admitting
that none of it mattered if the school was to be closed in a few weeks
anyway. When Kitty remarked that Phoebe could just go somewhere else,
Phoebe replied that her family wouldn't know what to do with her and
informed Kitty that she had several "parents" with her real father
about to trade in a wife for a "newer model." Kitty then revealed to
Phoebe that her parents were divorced as well and that her original
school got blown up with many of her friends supposedly dead. Realizing
they had some common ground, Kitty offered Phoebe her jacket to stay
warm before the two were interrupted by overhearing Miss Rutherford cry
from her office. Phoebe then remarked that Miss Rutherford had nowhere
to go if the school shut down, as it was her life. Kitty and Phoebe
then confronted the other students, who were unsure what to do to stop
the school from closing, and suggested St. Searle's try out as
cheerleaders for Britain's recently-created American football team.
When one of the students commented that they couldn't practice and win
the cheerleading contract for the school within two weeks, Phoebe asked
if anyone had a better idea, prompting the student to ask who would
train them. Phoebe then watched as Kitty volunteered herself.
(Excalibur I#34) - Phoebe
Huntsman accompanied Kitty Pryde, Miss Rutherford, Mister Reeve and the
other St. Searle's students to Greville-by-Ealing Station to see Miss
Rutherford off for a trip to meet with Courtney Ross regarding money
for the school's debts. After Mr. Reeve went on his way, Phoebe and
Kitty summoned the younger class of students and phoned St. Searle's to
ensure Mr. Reeve was out of sight for their plan to keep him occupied
while they tried out for cheerleading. When the station master
confronted the girls to determine if they still had business at the
train station, Phoebe claimed they were on a field trip and presented
the station master with their tickets and written permission from Miss
Rutherford. As their train arrived, Phoebe informed Kitty, who called
the train station Miss Rutherford was due to arrive at and had them
give Rutherford a false story to keep her busy while Phoebe and the
others went to the cheerleading tryouts. Boarding the train, Kitty
reminded the girls that they had to keep Rutherford busy so she
wouldn't stop them from trying out and when Kitty remarked that, as a
Cubs fan, she thrived on longshots, Phoebe chimed in that the Cubs
always lost. During the train ride, Phoebe and the girls practiced
their cheerleading routine until Kitty's phasing power kicked in,
revealing her identity as the mutant Shadowcat. Phoebe immediately
remarked that Kitty should have told her about her status as a mutant
and Kitty replied that it was a secret identity, prompting Phoebe to
respond that if she wished to keep their friendship, she would not keep
any other secrets. Once at Wembley Stadium for the tryouts, Phoebe
donned a curly brown wig and put Kitty in a blonde wig so that they
would not be recognized during the tryouts before Kitty gave all of the
girls a pep talk. The tryouts soon started and the girls performed
splendidly until Kitty noticed the Phoenix Effect in the sky and
realized Excalibur needed her help. Despite Phoebe's warnings to stay
put for the sake of the school, Kitty ducked out of the tryouts and
rushed off to help while Phoebe kept the other girls in line and going
on without Kitty. The young St. Searle's class soon ran onto the field
despite Phoebe's accusations that they were ruining the tryout but when
Karen Fink informed Phoebe that Kitty needed help, Phoebe decided to
assist, running back into the Stadium. Phoebe and some of the students
then helped Excalibur defeat both Mesmero and the Fenris Twins.
Following the battle, Phoebe learned that St. Searle's had lost the
tryouts to professional cheerleaders and Kitty remarked that they might
have won if they had not abandoned their tryout to aid Excalubur but
Phoebe admitted St. Searle's would not have made it that far without
Kitty. Miss Rutherford soon arrived and chewed out Kitty and Phoebe,
only to be surprised when Courtney Ross met her there and offered to
pay to use St. Searle's facilities for the Yeoman organization to train
on. Rutherford reluctantly accepted the offer and Phoebe hugged
Rutherford with the other students as Kitty secretly rejoined Excalibur.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and Ron
Wagner.
St. Searle's is an homage to St. Trinian's School, a British comic strip created by Ronald Searles and which was adapted into several films.
Based on descriptions, St. Trinian's is, well, a weird place, and St. Searle's may be presumed to be similarly weird. Kitty's inability to use her powers on campus may have been an aspect of that.
--Ronald Byrd
CLARIFICATIONS:
Phoebe Huntsman has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Excalibur I#34, p1, splash page (Phoebe Huntsman in school uniform,
main image)
Excalibur I#32, p9, pan4 (Phoebe Huntsman, headshot)
Excalibur I#32, p22, pan1 (Phoebe in hockey gear)
Excalibur I#33, p12, pan2 (Phoebe with a black eye, getting hit with a
jelly roll)
Excalibur I#34, p12, pan5 (Phoebe in cheerleading uniform with brown
wig)
Appearances:
Excalibur I#32 (December, 1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ron Wagner
(art), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#33 (January, 1991) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ron Wagner
(art), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur I#34 (February, 1991) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ron Wagner
(art), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
First Posted: 03/15/2019
Last updated: 04/05/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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