TUSK

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Sub-species of humanity (Inhuman) mutate

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: Dark Riders (Barrage, Deadbolt, Gauntlet, Hurricane, Lifeforce, Psynapse, Spyne)

Affiliations: Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), Genesis (Tyler Dayspring), Stryfe (Nathan Summers);
formerly Foxbat

Enemies: Cable (Nathan Summers), Caliban, Marc Dale, Inhumans (Black Bolt/Blackagar Boltagon, Crystal/Crystalia Amaquelin, Gorgon/Gorgon Petragon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Medusa/Medusalith Amaquelin, Triton), Mesmero (Vincent), Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey of Earth-9575), Ship/Professor, Sister Salvation, X-Factor (Archangel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Havok/Alex Summers, Iceman/Robert Drake, Polaris/Lorna Dane), X-Force (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie), X-Men (Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Elixir/Josh Foley, Jean Grey, M/Monet St. Croix, Magneto/Max Eisenhardt, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Triage/Christopher Muse)

Known Relatives: Connections to the Inhuman Royal Family, but no specific relationships identified

Aliases: Tusk Prime

Base of Operations: Egypt

First Appearance: X-Factor I#65 (April, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: Tusk is an Inhuman and he likely underwent Terrigenesis, then his powers were altered and expanded by Apocalypse. It is unknown which parts of his powers are directly related to the Terrigenesis. Super-strong and durable, Tusk has a large rocky carapace on his back that is capable of producing smaller genetic copies of himself, often called Underlings, which then seemingly exist independent of him. It may be that Tusk controls these smaller creatures, however. He appears able to create several duplicates at a time. Tusk has undergone significant brainwashing by Apocalypse.

His true form appears to be a small skeletal creature who created the massive exoskeleton around himself, and spent nearly all of his time in this super-strong form.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Solid white, sometimes glowing red
Hair: Black

History:
(X-Factor I#67 (fb) - BTS) - Apocalypse attacked Attilan on the Blue Area of the Moon and captured several Inhumans, who were connected to the Royal Family (including Tusk), and began experimenting on them. He corrupted his captives, enhancing their powers, and christening them his Riders of the Storm, or Dark Riders, as he continued raiding Attilan.

(X-Factor I#65) - The Dark Riders each assessed the threat of the five members of X-Factor as Apocalypse praised them while counseling them to take the mutant threat seriously. Harddrive piloted a ship and crashed it into X-Factor's headquarters, where the Dark Riders savagely attacked the mutants. Beast, Archangel, and Iceman turned their attention to Tusk and his duplicates. Harddrive put an infection into the Celestial Ship, initiating a shut-down procedure.

(X-Factor I#66) - The Dark Riders teleported away as Ship exploded behind them.

(X-Factor I#67) - The Inhumans attacked Apocalypse's stronghold while the Dark Riders waited on the side.

(X-Factor I#68) - As X-Factor rushed in to attack Apocalypse and save baby Nathan, Tusk, Barrage, and Gauntlet fought back. During the fight, Tusk wrestled with the Beast. X-Factor was briefly overwhelmed when Apocalypse turned Medusa and Crystal against them, as well as his other corrupted Inhumans, but the mutants and Royal Family soon turned the tide against Apocalypse's forces. In the end, Apocalypse was defeated and baby Nathan, who was infected with a techno-organic virus, was taken into the future by the Askani to be raised.

(X-Men II#14) - The Dark Riders awakened Apocalypse from his tomb in Egypt. Though their leader stated it was too soon for him to be awakened, he listened with reason after hearing that Mr. Sinister had kidnapped Cyclops and Jean Grey.

(X-Men II#15) - Stryfe attacked the Dark Riders, easily disposing of them with little effort. Stryfe then forced Apocalypse to combat.

(X-Force I#17) - After Stryfe bested Apocalypse in combat, the Dark Riders agreed to follow him as their new leader.

(Uncanny X-Men I#296 (fb) - BTS) - Stryfe took the Dark Riders back to his base on the Moon.

(Uncanny X-Men I#296) - Cyclops and Jean Grey escaped from Stryfe's captivity, and the Dark Riders went after them. Tusk, creating six duplicates, gave pursuit, but Cyclops downed Tusk Prime with an optic blast. When the mutants saved baby Nathan, Stryfe sent the Dark Riders against them, but the mutants escaped into orbit.

(X-Factor I#86) - On the Moon, the Dark Riders prepared to fight the X-Men.

(X-Men II#16) - The Dark Riders and Apocalypse's soldiers stood against Wolverine, Cable, and Bishop. During the fight, Tusk's Underlings swarmed Bishop and grabbed him as Wolverine slashed at Tusk Prime with his claws. Barrage hit Wolverine with a heavy blast, severely wounding him, then Apocalypse, Storm, Havok, Polaris, Cannonball, Iceman, Archangel, and Psylocke joined the fight, turning their aggression toward Stryfe and his aide, Zero. As the battle wound down, the Dark Riders stood united against a weakened Apocalypse.

(X-Force I#18 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders left a dying Apocalypse on the Moon.

(X-Men II#21 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders chose to continue Apocalypse's mission of culling weak mutants.

(X-Men II#21) - The Dark Riders (Gauntlet, Tusk, Barrage, Foxbat, Psynapse) hunted down Mesmero in Seattle. Mesmero hypnotized Psynapse, who began hitting the others with psychic attacks, but Gauntlet was immune and he shot Mesmero. As Psynapse coughed, Gauntlet turned his gun on him, considering him weak, and Psynapse was killed.

(Alpha Flight II#4 (fb) ) - Mesmero took control of the minds of the Dark Riders to make them believe he was really dead.

(X-Men II#23) - The Dark Riders went to Alaska to hunt down Mr. Sinister and Cyclops. When Mr. Sinister was able to best Foxbat and Barrage in combat, the Riders recognized his superiority and acknowledged him as worthy. Sinister then departed, telling the Riders to challenge Cyclops, but warned them not to harm him too badly. The Riders battled Cyclops for fifteen minutes and the hero managed to hold his own, then Harddrive appeared, saying Cyclops had passed the fight and been deemed worthy. The Dark Riders were teleported away.

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

(Cable II#18 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders sent one of Tusk's Underlings into an Egyptian city as bait.

(Cable II#18) - In Egypt, Cable, Domino, Storm, and Caliban hunted down the Underling, who told them falsely that Tusk Prime had been killed, then he agreed to take them back to the Dark Riders. The mutants fell into the trap and began battling the Dark Riders, with Tusk Prime slamming into Caliban. Soon Harddrive teleported the Riders away. The mutants pursued them back to the destroyed city of Akkaba, where Genesis was revealed as the leader of the Dark Riders.

(Cable II#19) - The Dark Riders battled the mutants, with Tusk Prime slamming himself into Caliban during the fight. Genesis accepted Cable's surrender, and had Harddrive teleport them all away, leaving Storm, Domino, and Caliban behind. Cable's allies soon attacked, taking down the Riders one at a time, with Caliban punching Tusk and Gauntlet firing on Domino, his gunfire accidentally freeing Cable. As the base exploded around them, Genesis had Harddrive teleport them all away at the last moment.

(X-Man#46 (fb) - BTS) - Stryfe took control of the original Dark Riders including Gauntlet, Barrage, Harddrive, and Tusk, with Psynapse alive again (but not Foxbat). (X-Man#46) - Stryfe landed a pyramid spaceship in Latveria, and ordered the Dark Riders to attack the populace, wanting to establish himself a stronghold there. X-Man and Madelyne Pryor attacked, taking down the Riders. During the fight, Tusk burst through a brick wall but was knocked out with telekinesis by Nate, who then ripped open Tusk's exoskeleton to pull out the small host creature within. The creature went scurrying away, as X-Man tossed away Tusk's Underlings. Nate then took on Stryfe directly to stop him.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Uncanny X-Men IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Riders reformed (somehow resurrecting some of their own members) 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. The Dark Riders successfully assassinated Marc Dale, Sister Salvation and an unidentified mutant with a "healing voice".

(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#4) - The Dark Riders gathered at their base in Egypt. The X-Men (Archangel, Psylocke, M, Sabretooth) attacked, and Tusk and his Underlings, Gauntlet, Deadbolt, Hurricane, and Spyne fought back. During the fight, Tusk traded blows with M. The Dark Riders caved in their base and teleported away to go after Magneto.

(Uncanny X-Men IV#5) - After defeating the Dark Riders, Magneto and the X-Men blew up the Dark Riders on the remains of Genosha.

Comments: Created by Jim Lee, Chris Claremont, Whilce Portacio and Art Thibert.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Tusk has no known connections to:

• any other "Tusk" characters

Appearances:
X-Factor I#65-68 (April-July, 1991) - Jim Lee, Chris Claremont (writers), Whilce Portacio (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men II#14 (November, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (penciler), Mark Pennington (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Force I#17 (December, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Greg Capullo (penciler), Harry Candelario (inker), Bob Harras (Editor)
X-Men II#15 (December, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (penciler), Mark Pennington (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#296 (January, 1993) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Brandon Peterson (penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#86 (January, 1993) - Peter David (writer), Jae Lee (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Kelly Corvese (editor)
X-Men II#16 (January, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (penciler), Mark Pennington (inkers), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men II#21 (June, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Brandon Peterson (penciler), Dan Panosian (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Men II#23 (August, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (penciler), Mark Pennington (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Cable II#18 (December, 1994) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Mike Sellers, Matt Ryan, Hillary Barta, John Lowe (editor), Ken Branch , W.C. Carani (inkers), Bob Harras (editor)
Cable II#19 (January, 1995) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Mike Sellers, Kevin Conrad (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Alpha Flight II#4 (November, 1997) - Steve Seagle (writer), Scott Clark, Martin Egeland (pencilers), Chris Carlson, Howard Shum (inkers), Jaye Gardner (editor)
X-Man#46 (December, 1998) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), J.H. Williams III (penciler), Mick Gray (inker), Glenn Greenberg (editor)
Uncanny X-Men IV#1 (March, 2016) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Greg Land (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
Uncanny X-Men IV#4-5 (May, 2016) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Greg Land (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Daniel Ketchum (editor)

First Posted: 08/10/2020
Last updated: 08/10/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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