BOXERS
BOXERS
Membership: None named
Purpose: To serve the Triads, predominately assassinating targets but also carrying out other missions assigned to them.
Aliases: None
Affiliations: Gow Yang Ju, Red Lotus;
formerly Examiner
Enemies: Terri Baltimore,
Black King (Sebastian Shaw), Examiner, Lady
Mastermind (Regan Wyngarde), Australian law-enforcement in general;
formerly Davis Cameron, Lifeguard (Heather Cameron), X-Men
(Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Gambit/Remy Lebeau, Rogue/Anna-Marie, Storm/Ororo
Munroe, Thunderbird/Neal Shaara)
Base of Operations: Sydney, Australia
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men I#6 (December 2001)
History:
(X-Treme X-Men I#7 (fb) - BTS) - The Boxers were armored assassins
working for Chinese Triads operating in Australia.
(X-Treme X-Men I#6) - They wore battle suits with heavily
armored midriffs, crotches and helmets, the latter apparently fitted
with goggles likely providing some enhanced vision options (perhaps IR
or UV/Night vision), and less heavily armored but more flexible arms and
legs, permitting them to move freely. This armor also absorbed energy
attacks up to a point. Clawed gloves and shoes allowed them to grip
walls and other sheer surfaces, and were armed with smoke bombs, guns
and a variety of melee weapons including swords and glaives.
Additionally they were trained martial artists and gymnasts.
(X-Treme X-Men I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The head of organized crime in Australia was dubbed the Viceroy. For some time this had been Miles Warbeck, until he was assassinated.
(X-Treme X-Men I#9 (fb) - BTS) - This was the first step
in a plot by mutant Sebastian Shaw with the ultimate intention of
seizing control of all of Australia's major crime syndicates. Shaw also
colluded with the Examiner, head advisor to Gow Yang Ju, leader of
Sydney's Chinese Triads, convincing him to assassinate his boss and fan
the flames of a mob war.
(X-Treme X-Men I#5
(fb) - BTS) - The X-Man Gambit was used as a scapegoat for
Warbeck's murder, drawing the X-Men to Australia.
In his office located within the front business of the Golden Harbor restaurant, the Examiner informed Gow Yang that Warbeck's death provided the Triads with an unparalleled chance to take over as the dominant criminal force on the continent. Having been friends with Warbeck, Gow Yang expressed reservations at doing so, but the Examiner pressed his point, advising consolidating power by eliminating Warbeck's two children, Heather and Davis Cameron, who despite having been raised away from Miles and his illegal empire for their own safety, were nevertheless potential heirs to his position. The arrival of Gambit and fellow X-Man Rogue at the restaurant seeking answers provided a distraction, and while Gow Yang's men battled them the Examiner seized the opportunity and murdered Gow Yang, framing Gambit for this crime too.
(X-Treme X-Men I#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Triad's ruling council, presumably acting on the Examiner's advice, sent a squad of Boxers to assassinate the Cameron siblings, who were living in Surfer's Paradise, a coastal town in Queensland, north of Brisbane.
(X-Treme
X-Men I#6) - Narrowing in on their targets, the Boxers took
down some local police officers quickly and quietly, then launched a
blitz attack on the mall where the had tracked the Camerons to.
(X-Treme X-Men I#7) - Having anticipated
that the Camerons might be targeted, the X-Men Storm and Thunderbird had
befriended them and were present incognito as the attack began. Further
complicating the Boxers' mission, when they opened fire on their
targets, Heather Cameron revealed herself to be a mutant, transforming
into a golden-armored, quite bulletproof form, and acting as a shield
for the others. However when Storm tried to buffet the Boxers with
strong winds, they anchored themselves with their claws, and their armor
absorbed Thunderbird's initial solar plasma blasts with ease. Unable to
raise their power levels inside the mall without risking injuring
civilians, the heroes switched to fighting hand to hand against the
Boxers. Several Boxers piled on to Storm, but taking flight she carried
them outside and dumped them in the sea. Seeing her crash momentarily
onto the beach, one of the Boxers started running through the waves
towards her, shouting to his fellows to finish her, but she called down
a lightning strike and electrocuted them all unconscious. Back inside
the Boxers threatened to overwhelm the others simply through their
superior numbers, until Thunderbird realized that while his foes suits
might protect them from the heat of the plasma he generated, he could
detonate balls of charged plasma like concussion grenades, stunning the
Boxers despite their protective suits. As Storm outside whipped up sand
with winds she generated and blew it into the Boxers' battle suits,
gumming them up the works while the freezing winds slowed the assassins
down to the point where they couldn't use their martial arts, inside the
mall the armored Heather and Thunderbird's explosive plasma bombs
finished off the remaining Boxers between them. The police arrived soon
afterwards and took the defeated Boxers into custody.
(X-Treme X-Men I#8)
- A Boxer squad were sent to eliminate some rival mobsters but found
them in the process of being arrested by the X-Man Bishop and his police
ally Teri Baltimore. As they prepared to ambush their targets by
attacking from rafters above their prey, the Boxers' element of surprise
was ruined when Gambit returned the favor, launching a surprise raid
from overhead. Alerted by the noise, the mobsters and Boxers engaged in
a firefight that ended when Rogue arrived on the scene. Fooled by
illusions generated by Lady Mastermind, a mutant working for Shaw, into
thinking all the combatants were versions of her hated foe Vargas, Rogue
attacked both the mobsters and Boxers with brutal frenzy, swiftly taking
them all down. In the aftermath the police arrived and took away both
mobsters and Boxers.
(X-Treme X-Men I#9) - Having teamed-up with Gambit to stop Shaw, and learned of Shaw's plot and the Examiner's treachery, Red Lotus and Gambit approached the Triad's ruling council, who were being guarded by a large force of Boxers. The guards watched as the pair produced proof of the Examiner's betrayal. Realizing the jig was up, the Examiner tried to kill Lotus and the council members, but while Lotus blocked the Examiner's attack with a briefcase one of the Boxers, possessing swifter reactions than his fellows, pulled the council members out of the line of fire, and before the Boxers could deal with the Examiner Gambit overpowered the villain. Red Lotus then handed the defeated traitor over to a Boxer, leaving him to the Triad's tender mercies.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca.
At the start of X-Treme X-Men#6 we are
informed of an off-panel assassination attempt on the Russian mafia head
in Sydney's "Little Odessa" neighborhood, as part of the growing gang
war. Since we don't see it and there are presumably many gangs vying for
control, we can't say for sure who carries out this attack, but it's
possible that Boxers were the assassins at this attack too.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Boxers have no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
X-Treme X-Men I#7,
p3, pan1 (main image)
X-Treme
X-Men I#8, p19, pan5 (helmets)
X-Treme X-Men I#7, p5,
pan1&2 (anchoring and protected from energy bolts)
Appearances:
X-Treme X-Men I#6-7 (December
2001-January 2002) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca
(art), Matt Hicks and Mark Powers (editors)
X-Treme X-Men I#8
(February 2002) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca
(art), Matt Hicks and Andrew Lis (editors)
X-Treme
X-Men I#9 (March 2002) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador
Larroca (art), Andrew Lis (editor)
First Posted: 12/26/2022
Last updated: 12/26/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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