Archer (comics)
Encyclopedia
Archer, who later took the identity of deceased international criminal and wife abuser, Jude Black, is a fictional mutant
character in the Marvel Comics
Universe. He was a member of the second group of X-Factor
. His first appearance was in X-Factor vol. 1 #140.
(X.S.E), where he was teamed up with Greystone, Fixx
, Bishop
, Shard
and many others. Once a "perfect soldier", the turning point in Archer's life was when his wife Annie, and son Connor, were killed by rogue mutants in cold blood, after which he decided that X.S.E. was ineffective and was recruited into the Xavier's Underground Enforcers (X.U.E.).
A brilliant combatant with vast knowledge of his future, he used Fixx's psi-link with Shard
to time travel
to the present-day in the hope of preventing certain atrocities from happening in the Marvel Universe's
timeline so that his timeline may never occur. The only way that he and his team could travel to the past was by being transformed into one of Fixx's psychic fairies
via Shard and, fortunately for them, they were able to inhabit the bodies of three recently deceased victims of a bus
hijacking which led to a crash. Archer took over the body of an international terrorist named Jude Black (the bus hijacker) and along with Fixx and Devlin Greystone set out to carry out their mission -- to destroy the future era in which they lived by stopping the events that put its horrors into motion.
To do this, the X.U.E. lured Mystique
to them in order to gain her (and X-Factor's) participation to stop the Dark Beast who kept a strain of the Legacy Virus infecting humans in a subterranean lab. In the future, Havok of X-Factor unwittingly unleashes this strain onto humanity, an act which leads to anti-mutant hate and fear, mutant roundups and mutant branding-in essence, the Gene War of Bishop's era (first mentioned in X-Treme X-Men
#4).
In the future, one of the most notorious mutant contentration camp officials who tortured mutants was named Micah Leash—but in the present he was only an innocent child. In the future, Micah-a human badly scarred about the face-personally killed Greystone's mother before the Summers Rebellion occurred, a joint uprising of humans and mutants who ended up freeing mutants from the camps. In this era, Greystone set out to kill the boy—seeing it as the only solution—but Fixx and Archer eventually came to realize that it is unethical to sentence someone to a crime they have not yet committed. It's also highly unlikely that due to his past, Archer would wish to see a child killed, anyway.
By saving the young Micah from a doomsday cult
whose leader nearly scarred him, Fixx and Archer felt they helped prevent the possible cause of the boy's future evil. They convinced Greystone of this also, and later joined X-Factor
but their tenure was short-lived.
Greystone slowly developed temporal insanity, believing that his mission was accomplished, and he could go home to a better world and be reunited with his mother, who might theoretically be alive. In an attempt to return to his own time, Greystone built a flying time machine, but due to shoddy craftmanship and unsound theories, the craft exploded, seemingly killing Greystone and Havok, who was attempting to stop him. Initially, Archer discovered that Jude Black was an international terrorist who had a family (a wife named Rachel and a son named Cal), and—wanting to have a second chance as a father.
In fact, before his death, Jude was tried in absentia
by the Genoshan government for the murder of several hundreds of innocents. Upon meeting Jude Black (who was now Archer) in New Jersey a mysterious trio of Genoshan fighters attempted to execute him until Archer bargained his life for that of his Jude's family. The Genoshans agreed, but were defeated by X-Factor who soon arrived in New Jersey and fought them. Archer quit X-Factor to go and live with them, hoping to replace the family he lost years before in the future.
It is unknown whether Archer retains his mutant abilities after the events of M-Day
.
He is an expert tracker, tactician
and hand-to-hand combatant.
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
character in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
Universe. He was a member of the second group of X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
. His first appearance was in X-Factor vol. 1 #140.
Fictional character biography
In his future, Archer was part of an elite group of mutants called the Xavier's Security EnforcersXavier's Security Enforcers
Xavier's Security Enforcers are a Marvel Comics superhero team/police force from the fictional 2070s, a time ruled by mutant hunting/killing robots called Sentinels, who at this point in time had run amok, essentially ruling Earth in order to carry out their objective to protect humanity...
(X.S.E), where he was teamed up with Greystone, Fixx
Fixx
Fixx is a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics Universe from an alternate future. She is a member of X-Factor, X.S.E., and X.U.E. She first appeared in X-Factor #140. Fixx was created by Howard Mackie....
, Bishop
Bishop (comics)
Bishop is a fictional comic book superhero, appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular the X-Men family of books...
, Shard
Shard (comics)
Shard is a mutant character in the Marvel Comics universe.-Fictional character biography:Shard was a Lieutenant in Xavier's Security Enforcers, with her older brother Bishop in their native timeline in the 2080s. Shard was born in a mutant concentraton camp, in which mutants were branded over...
and many others. Once a "perfect soldier", the turning point in Archer's life was when his wife Annie, and son Connor, were killed by rogue mutants in cold blood, after which he decided that X.S.E. was ineffective and was recruited into the Xavier's Underground Enforcers (X.U.E.).
A brilliant combatant with vast knowledge of his future, he used Fixx's psi-link with Shard
Shard (comics)
Shard is a mutant character in the Marvel Comics universe.-Fictional character biography:Shard was a Lieutenant in Xavier's Security Enforcers, with her older brother Bishop in their native timeline in the 2080s. Shard was born in a mutant concentraton camp, in which mutants were branded over...
to time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
to the present-day in the hope of preventing certain atrocities from happening in the Marvel Universe's
Earth-616
In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.-Origin of Earth-616:...
timeline so that his timeline may never occur. The only way that he and his team could travel to the past was by being transformed into one of Fixx's psychic fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
via Shard and, fortunately for them, they were able to inhabit the bodies of three recently deceased victims of a bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
hijacking which led to a crash. Archer took over the body of an international terrorist named Jude Black (the bus hijacker) and along with Fixx and Devlin Greystone set out to carry out their mission -- to destroy the future era in which they lived by stopping the events that put its horrors into motion.
To do this, the X.U.E. lured Mystique
Mystique (comics)
Mystique is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics' franchise X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms...
to them in order to gain her (and X-Factor's) participation to stop the Dark Beast who kept a strain of the Legacy Virus infecting humans in a subterranean lab. In the future, Havok of X-Factor unwittingly unleashes this strain onto humanity, an act which leads to anti-mutant hate and fear, mutant roundups and mutant branding-in essence, the Gene War of Bishop's era (first mentioned in X-Treme X-Men
X-Treme X-Men
X-Treme X-Men was a comic book published by Marvel Comics from 2001 through 2004. All 46 issues of the series were written by Chris Claremont. The first 24 issues were drawn by Salvador Larroca, and the final 22 issues were drawn by Igor Kordey....
#4).
In the future, one of the most notorious mutant contentration camp officials who tortured mutants was named Micah Leash—but in the present he was only an innocent child. In the future, Micah-a human badly scarred about the face-personally killed Greystone's mother before the Summers Rebellion occurred, a joint uprising of humans and mutants who ended up freeing mutants from the camps. In this era, Greystone set out to kill the boy—seeing it as the only solution—but Fixx and Archer eventually came to realize that it is unethical to sentence someone to a crime they have not yet committed. It's also highly unlikely that due to his past, Archer would wish to see a child killed, anyway.
By saving the young Micah from a doomsday cult
Doomsday cult
Doomsday cult is an expression used to describe groups who believe in Apocalypticism and Millenarianism, and can refer both to groups that prophesy catastrophe and destruction, and to those that attempt to bring it about...
whose leader nearly scarred him, Fixx and Archer felt they helped prevent the possible cause of the boy's future evil. They convinced Greystone of this also, and later joined X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
but their tenure was short-lived.
Greystone slowly developed temporal insanity, believing that his mission was accomplished, and he could go home to a better world and be reunited with his mother, who might theoretically be alive. In an attempt to return to his own time, Greystone built a flying time machine, but due to shoddy craftmanship and unsound theories, the craft exploded, seemingly killing Greystone and Havok, who was attempting to stop him. Initially, Archer discovered that Jude Black was an international terrorist who had a family (a wife named Rachel and a son named Cal), and—wanting to have a second chance as a father.
In fact, before his death, Jude was tried in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
by the Genoshan government for the murder of several hundreds of innocents. Upon meeting Jude Black (who was now Archer) in New Jersey a mysterious trio of Genoshan fighters attempted to execute him until Archer bargained his life for that of his Jude's family. The Genoshans agreed, but were defeated by X-Factor who soon arrived in New Jersey and fought them. Archer quit X-Factor to go and live with them, hoping to replace the family he lost years before in the future.
It is unknown whether Archer retains his mutant abilities after the events of M-Day
Decimation (comics)
Decimation is the late 2005 Marvel Comics storyline spinning off from the House of M limited series. It focuses on the ramifications of the Scarlet Witch stripping nearly all of the mutant population of their powers, thereby reducing a society of millions to one of scant hundreds.This event, which...
.
Powers and abilities
Archer can transmute his body into pure electrokinetic energy, shoot electrically-charged plasma bolts, control most forms of electromagnetic energy, and has superhuman agility.He is an expert tracker, tactician
Military tactics
Military tactics, the science and art of organizing an army or an air force, are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics. In...
and hand-to-hand combatant.