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Quote1 My name is Legion, for we are many! Quote2
Legion

Quick Answers

Who are the parents of David Haller in the Marvel Universe? toggle section
In the Marvel Universe, David Haller, also known as Legion, is the son of Gabrielle Haller and Charles Xavier. Charles Xavier is also famously known as Professor X, the founder of the X-Men.
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How is David Haller related to Professor Charles Xavier? toggle section
David Haller, also known as Legion in the Marvel comics, is the son of Professor Charles Xavier. This relationship makes him a key character in the X-Men universe, as his father is the founder of the X-Men.
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What is the significance of David Haller's mutant powers in the X-Men series? toggle section
David Haller, also known as Legion in the Marvel X-Men series, is a unique and powerful mutant. His mutant powers are tied to his multiple personalities, with each personality possessing a different power. This makes him incredibly versatile and unpredictable. For instance, one of his personalities, Lucas, has telepathic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic powers. His powers were first catalyzed in a moment of terror when his stepfather was murdered before his eyes, leading him to incinerate the brains of the assassins. David's birth was even engineered by Moira MacTaggert and Professor X, who identified the need for a mutant with the power to warp reality. Therefore, David Haller's mutant powers significantly contribute to the complexity and intrigue of the X-Men series.
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Why was David Haller's parentage concealed in the Marvel Comics? toggle section
In the Marvel Comics, David Haller's parentage was concealed primarily due to the complex circumstances surrounding his birth. His mother, Gabrielle Haller, had a relationship with Charles Xavier, but didn't reveal to Xavier that he had a son. This was because Gabrielle feared that David's mutant powers would be exploited if his lineage was known. As a result, David grew up without knowing his true parentage, which added to the complexity of his character and his struggles with his powerful mutant abilities.
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What is the relationship between David Haller and the New Mutants? toggle section
David Haller, also known as Legion in the Marvel universe, has a significant relationship with the New Mutants. His father, Professor Charles Xavier, founded the New Mutants, a group of young mutants trained to use their powers for the betterment of society. David's connection to the New Mutants is further deepened when his latent psionic powers are catalyzed, leading him to join the X-Men, a team closely associated with the New Mutants. His journey with these groups is marked by his struggle for control over his powers and his quest to fight for mutantkind.
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History

Early life[]

David Haller is the son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, who later became the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom. Charles and Gabrielle Haller had an affair in Israel nearly two decades ago, and Charles was unaware when he left Israel that Haller was pregnant with his son. Haller concealed the fact that Charles was the father of her son, David, and Charles himself only learned that he was David's father some time after founding the New Mutants. David was born a mutant with the potential for superhuman powers.[7]

It was later suggested by Moira MacTaggert's journals that David's birth had been engineered by Moira and Xavier. Xavier had identified the need for a mutant with the power to warp reality, and Moira had identified potential matches for herself and Xavier that might result in such a mutant.[8]

Power Development[]

When David was living in Paris with his mother, who was a member of the Israel diplomatic service, her home was invaded by a terrorist assassination team out to kill every Israeli they could find there. They murdered David's stepfather, Daniel Shomron, before his eyes. David's terror catalyzed his latent psionic powers, which he used to incinerate the brains of the assassins. However, as he did so, he found himself making telepathic contact with each of his victims, thus experiencing their thoughts and emotions as they died. The horror of all this deeply traumatized the gentle, loving David, forcing him into a catatonic state. The consciousness of the leader of the assassins, Jemail Karami, was absorbed into David's mind.[9]

Karami's consciousness merged with David's, and it took Karami years to separate his consciousness from his psychic captor's. Nevertheless, although Karami regained his sense of self, his consciousness remained trapped within David's mind. Karami discovered that he somehow gained control of David's mutant telepathic power and used it to read David's mind. Karami thus discovered that David was essentially a gentle, innocent person. Karami then read the minds of Gabrielle Haller and others, and with a better understanding of those around him, decided to restore David's mind to normalcy. The terrible trauma that David had suffered had splintered David's personality into multiple alters. Each of these alters controlled a different psionic power, many of which are as yet unknown. Karami began re-integrating these alters into David's core personality, which was that of a little boy desperately needing parental help.[9]

However, some of these alters resisted Karami's efforts, and two proved to be particularly formidable opponents: Jack Wayne, a swaggering adult roustabout adventurer who commanded David's telekinetic power, and Cyndi, a temperamental, rebellious girl who controlled David's pyrokinetic power. Wayne was especially hostile, and intended to destroy Karami's consciousness in order to preserve his own independent existence within David's mind. Karami found himself fighting a war against Wayne and the other resisting alters in a dreamscape world within David's mind resembling a mad blend of Paris (from David's childhood memories) and Beirut (from Karami's memories).[10]

On Muir Island[]

When David was in his late teens he had gone from being catatonic to being autistic and had been placed by his mother in the care of Dr. Moira MacTaggart, a renowned scientist engaged in the study of mutants, and a longtime colleague of Charles Xavier. David began to manifest his psionic abilities uncontrollably in the real world, and absorbed the psyches of two of MacTaggart's friends, Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander. MacTaggart summoned Xavier to her research center on Muir Island off the coast of Scotland, bringing with him several of the New Mutants, including Cypher, Mirage, and Wolfsbane. David absorbed MacTaggart and Wolfsbane's consciousnesses, or their astral selves, into his mind. Xavier's attempted to probe David's mind, bringing Mirage's astral self with him for assistance. David's mind then absorbed the astral selves of Cypher and Gabrielle Haller, and those of Xavier and Mirage followed them. It was just before Xavier actually entered David's mind that he learned that David was his son and that the multiple alters called themselves Legion (after the Biblical quotation Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion for we are many").[1]

All of the consciousnesses that Legion had just "captured" retained their independent existences within David's mind. The new arrivals found themselves teaming up with Wayne and Cyndi against Karami, having been deceived by Wayne as to Karami's true motives. However, Mirage prevented Wayne from destroying Karami, who told her and Gabrielle Haller how he had been trying to help David. Working with the reluctant Wayne, Mirage and Karami completed the task of restoring David's mind to near-normalcy, and Mirage and Karami returned the consciousnesses absorbed from outside (including Mirage's own) back to their own bodies. (Since Karami's body was long dead, his psyche remained within David's mind.)[9]

However, Karami was unable to integrate the Wayne and Cyndi alters into David's core persona, and so they remained separate alters within David's mind. Wayne and Cyndi sometimes spoke to people in the real world through David, as could Karami, whose consciousness also remained an independent entity within David's mind. However, David himself was no longer autistic, and his core alter was in control of his mind and body. David's core alter was still that of a ten-year-old boy, just as it was before he suffered the trauma. Apparently the conflict within David's mind among his splinter alters affected his physiognomy, accounting for his unusual appearance. (Perhaps one of his alters controlled shapeshifting powers.) It is not known whether or not David would have been more normal in appearance if his core personality had retained control of his body.[11]

David Haller (Earth-616) from X-Men Vol 2 40 (Cover)

Some time later, an accident happened that would have killed Wolfsbane and Moira if David hadn't used his telekinetic power to save them. However, by doing this David allowed Jack to take control over his body and escape to Scotland to indulge himself. The New Mutants tracked him down and fought him. Jack forced Cyndi to help him. Cyndi didn't like being "anyone's puppet," but she didn't want to be locked up for only wanting to live. Sunspot had Magik take him and Legion into Limbo, warning Jack that unless he relinquished control, Magik would remove him from Legion's mind and obliterate him; in response, Jack retreated into David's subconscious, allowing David to resume control.[12]

Months later, Muir Island was attacked by Donald Pierce and his Reavers during their ongoing campaign against Wolverine and his friends. David was in the nursery playing with Sunder and the Warpies, who were taken in when the island became a safe haven for the lost souls. Again, David reached out with his telekinetic powers, hoping to defend his friends from harm, but once more allowed Jack Wayne to reach the surface of his mind. Now in control, Wayne thought it would be cute to reshape the telekinetic shield to protect only him, leaving Sunder vulnerable to the gunfire.[2]

Jack and Cyndi ran wild during the attack, doing as they pleased without any thought of the consequences, even after Freedom Force arrived to help fend off the Reavers. By snuffing out Pyro’s flame at a key moment, Cyndi accidentally ensured the death of Stonewall. Legion, while under the control of the Shadow King, also assaulted the elderly precog, Destiny, who had sensed him in advance and sent her protector Forge away so that he would not suffer the same fate. Legion probed Destiny’s mind, only to see visions of his own uncertain future reflected in her precognitive sight. Panicking, Legion struck out with a telepathic blast and killed Destiny before she could show him anymore.[13][14]

Legion's part in the day's tragedies remained unknown; due to the fortifying of the island's defenses and the overall negative emotional influence of Lorna Dane’s new powers no one noticed his changes. Jack Wayne assumed control over David’s body and all of his powers and decided to have some fun with the island’s inhabitants. He began by imprisoning Polaris in the Mutant X detention cell, since she was the only one unaffected by her own “negativity” force and therefore could discover the truth about him.[15]

Jack acted like David Haller in the presence of others, and so he allowed himself to be used by Forge in an experiment to locate the missing X-Men with a Cerebro unit. Unfortunately, they made telepathic contact with something else, the Shadow King.[16] For unknown reason the Shadow King let go of his hold of the island when the New Warriors and New Mutants descended on Muir Island. Legion tried to use his power to reabsorb Proteus's energy from Piecemeal. Unfortunately, the depth of Piecemeal's pain telepathically bled through Legion's mind, causing him to drop his telekinetic fields. The plan fell apart when Proteus’s energy burned out Piecemeal and re-birthed MacTaggart himself, who banished the heroes to a dimension of nothingness.[17]

X-Factor, who had made a failed attempt to stop Proteus and reclaim Edinburgh, were also banished. Jean Grey had been exposed to Proteus’s thoughts during the fight. She used Legion and Jemail’s telepathy to share the experience with everyone, showing them the peace Proteus had achieved in his incorporeal state and that his efforts to restructure Edinburgh were an attempt to recreate the same peace in the real world. Tragically, the gathering of heroes were forced to convince Proteus he could never find the same happiness in life that he found in death so Proteus chose to die again.[18]

After returning to the Muir Island, the Shadow King, using Jack Wayne’s captive, Polaris, as a nexus for negative energy, expanded his influence over the globe, pushing the darkness within humanity to the surface. The X-Men, who had just returned from space with Professor X, attempted to infiltrate the island but were quickly discovered. Legion personally confronted Storm. David Haller resisted the Shadow King’s demands, but Jack Wayne was more than willing to carry out Farouk’s commands. The negative influence made Wayne strong enough to access all of Legion’s powers and he shot down Storm with a combination of telepathic, telekinetic and pyrokinetic power.[19] After the death of his primary host, the Shadow King took a new host, Legion himself and used his immense power to unleash a devastating blast that destroyed more than two-thirds of Muir Island.[20]

The Shadow King used David's body to torment Prof. X, mocking him while he thought that he was corrupting David. The Shadow King revealed that he'd merely given David self-control by healing his fractured mind, and that David enjoyed it. David's physical body was hurt by Storm and needed time to heal so the Shadow King retreated. When the Shadow King was finally defeated and pushed from David's mind, David was left in a vegetative state.[21] Prof. X didn't want to lose his son so he desperately searched for any trace of consciousness inside David's mind. Unable to locate any signs of activity, he reluctantly accepted that David was gone.[22]

Legion Quest[]

David Haller (Earth-616), X-Men (Earth-616), Max Eisenhardt (Earth-616), and Irene Adler (Earth-616) from X-Men Vol 2 38

David's vision and awakening from his coma

David was consigned to an intensive care ward at a hospital in Tel Aviv, his body receiving the best of care in the hopes that his mind might someday return. Many months later, David awakened with his mind completely healed after visions of Destiny urged him on towards his true destiny.[23] For a time David faked being in a coma while using his telepathic power to link his mind to his father's dreams. In them, he appeared as Magneto to try to convince his father that if Magneto was out of the way his dream of human/mutant unity would come true. However, David's attempts failed when Xavier refused to accept that Magneto's death would help realize his dream. Hearing this, David revealed himself and told his father he disagreed.[24] When Mystique came to murder David for killing Destiny, he stopped pretending to be in a coma, telekinetically blasted her away, and claimed he was expecting her.[25]

Mystique fled, promising to return, and was pursued by X-Factor. Shortly afterwards, Gabrielle Haller was shocked and overjoyed when David called her mother, thinking that her son was finally whole again. David fainted again and in his mind made a tombstone for his splinter alter while having another vision of Destiny. When he awakened he seemed incoherent, and when his mother brought Forge to help him, he was gone. When David found Mystique battling Forge and Wolfsbane he stopped them so he could deliver Destiny's message to Mystique. He then teleported X-Factor away, saying they needed to be somewhere else. When Mystique questioned David, he said he would fix everything and "make it all better" before flying away.[26]

David flew to Negev Desert where he had another vision of Destiny. In it she claimed it was his destiny to heal the rift between humans and mutants thus making the world as his father had always wanted. Believing the visions, he started to construct a "psychic bunker".[27] In an effort to learn his goals, the military sent vehicles into the dome David constructed only to have them destroyed. Gabrielle Haller contacted the X-Men for help. Failing to enter David's "bunker," the X-Men's Blackbird was caught in a telekinetic field. David claimed to be happy to see his "step-siblings," thinking they were there to support him. Legion told the heroes to say what they wanted, but to watch their tone as he was no longer insane. Jean Grey tried to convince him that he was still not fully healed, but David disagreed. The young mutant insisted that he was whole at last and that he would complete his father's work. When Storm questioned him again, David pulled her through a time portal, arriving at the moment her parents perished. David told her she could save them which she tried to do, only to be wrenched back to the future. Storm claimed that what she saw was an illusion, but David insisted it was real time travel and that she simply was not fast enough to save her family. Realizing what Legion was trying to do, Storm asked Psylocke to link her mind with Bishop (who had just tried to absorb Legion's energy) and a moment later the mutants were dragged to the past with David.[28]

An alternate future dubbed the "Age of Apocalypse" was created when Legion went back in time to kill Magneto before he could oppose Xavier's dream, but instead inadvertently killed Xavier himself.[29] Only Bishop remembered the proper timeline, so he traveled to the moment of Xavier's murder and used Legion's own power to create a psionic loop, forcing the young mutant to see the damage he had caused. The energy released by this event was so intense that David apparently died. Since Bishop had prevented Legion from killing Xavier, the normal timeline was restored.[30]

Return of Legion[]

After Bishop's attack, Legion disappeared into somewhere called the "no-time." Here David encountered and absorbed the psyches of many others, splintering many more times to create hundreds of new personae. He was found here by Magik. She made contact with his Legion-alter and brought him back to Earth in exchange for his promise to help her destroy the Elder Gods and reclaim her soul.[31] David emerged near Westcliffe, Colorado where he met Marci Sabol. She helped David, gave him water and played games with him. Unfortunately, one of Legion's murderous alters emerged, killed the girl and absorbed her psyche into Legion's mind.[32]

After embarking on a mission to investigate a report of mutant activity in Colorado, Danielle Moonstar and Karma went missing. Karma attempted to reach out psychically for Marci and ended up trapped in Legion's mind. Meanwhile, Moonstar was arrested.[33] Upon learning of his former teammates' disappearance, Cannonball formed a team to investigate, consisting of Sunspot, Magik, and Magma. Cannonball and Sunspot found Karma's unconscious body in a backroom at a bar. Meanwhile, Magik and Magma found Karma's mind inhabiting Legion's body inside a metal box kept in the cellar of a private residence.[34]

While the rest of the team was battling Legion's body and numerous evil personae, Magik entered Legion's mind and killed Jack Wayne with her Soulsword. After finding Karma, Marci brought the girls to the cell holding David. The four then gained possession of a Moira doll and thereby gained control of David's body. Before leaving David's body, however, Karma used Magik's Soulsword to kill the persona who murdered Marci. Emma Frost and Cyclops arrived soon afterward to help transport Legion and to "clean" the minds of the civilians.[35]

Once on Utopia, the X-Club along with Rogue and Danger, began repairing David's mind by cataloging and trapping the other alters one by one.[36] After General Ulysses of the U.S. Marines returned from Limbo, captured the soul gems, and unleashed the Elder Gods, Magik put her plan into action. She sent Karma, armed with the Soulsword, back into Legion's mind, and freed his reality-warping Legion-personality. Legion honored his part of their bargain, using his powers to remove the Elder Gods from reality once and for all.[31]

Legion joins the X-Men[]

During Bastion's attacks on the X-Men, Cyclops asked Professor X to recruit Legion for the battle. Professor X reluctantly agreed and Legion was able to use his various powers to fight Nimrod Sentinels alongside the other X-Men.[37]

Not long afterwards, Doctor Nemesis began killing off Legion's Alters, seemingly without any negative effects.[38] However, unbeknownst to Nemesis, Legion's mind created a powerful new persona to protect itself.[39] This new persona used it's reality-warping powers to create a world where David was a beloved hero.[39] David eventually became conscious of the fact that this reality was a fake created by him. He re-absorbed his rogue personality, and used its powers to restore reality to its original state.[40]

Lost Legion[]

As a consequence of his restoration of reality, several of David's personae escaped in corporeal bodies. With a small team of X-Men, Legion began to hunt down and reabsorb all of these rogue personae, but while capturing the last one he accidentally absorbed Rogue. Upon releasing her, he suffered a massive shock to his nervous system, leaving him in a coma.[41]

Quest for Control[]

David recovered from his catatonic state at some point and was seen on the shores of Ibiza, Spain together with his father. He suffered intense pain - just as many other psychics did - when the Phoenix arrived to claim its host.[42]

After waking up, Professor Xavier sent Legion away to a commune for spiritualists in the Himalayas. Studying under a guru, Merzah the Mystic, David gained a far greater level of control over his powers and alters. This would all come tumbling down however, when his father died. The psychic shockwaves caused by his father's death tore down the delicate system of control David had established inside his mind, and caused him to lose control over his powers, leading him to destroy the commune.[43]

His various alters began struggling for control over his body, while David himself hid within his own mind. He received aid from a mysterious stranger, who saved his life, buying David time to subdue one of his rogue personae and claiming its power, telepathy, for himself. Reading the stranger's mind, David detected a great hatred for mutants, and learned of two imprisoned mutant twins in Japan, before the stranger disappeared.[44]

David tracked the twins down in Japan, only to learn that they - Karasu-Tengu and Sojobo-Tengu - were not captives but the heirs of one of Wolverine's enemies, Ogun, a yakuza leader that was told Legion would come to destroy their clan. David was captured, but managed to convince the twins that he meant them no harm, and offered them freedom from the oppressive legacy of their father and the clan's demands of them. The twins accepted his offer to come with him, but the X-Men arrived, having been deceived by the stranger into believing David was going to hurt the twins. A fight broke out, and David realized he was endangering the children, prompting him to leave them in the X-Men's care.[45][46]

Fighting for Mutantkind[]

Seeking to follow the example of his father, but disagreeing with the reactive methods he and the X-Men espoused, David vowed to use his powers proactively, to snuff out threats to mutantkind before they had the chance to strike. David's growing confidence allowed him greater control over his powers, allowing him to subdue stronger personae within his mind. During his battle with the X-Men, David's mind had been invaded by Blindfold. She declared herself his nemesis, before kissing him, only to suddenly be ejected by one of his personae.[46] David became determined to learn more about her, prompting him to make his way into the Jean Grey School. In the process, he learned that the mysterious, mutant-hating stranger that had aided him was in fact Blindfold's brother Luca Aldine, who had stolen some of his sister's powers, and was using them to manipulate David, as his visions of the future had shown him that David would bring about the end of the mutant race. He had also killed Sojobo-Tengu, and used his body as a puppet to allow him the opportunity to kill his sister.[47]

David managed to foil the scheme, saving Blindfold's life. The X-Men offered to let him stay with them, but still disagreeing with their methods, he set off on his own. The rogue personality that had kicked Blindfold out of his mind, and had also briefly possessed him during his battle with Luca, made its presence known, assuming the form of David's father, Charles Xavier. David would henceforth refer to the personality as the Fiend.[48]

David Haller (Earth-616) from X-Men Legacy Vol 1 21

Legion merged with his alters

In an effort to aid mutantkind, David went in search for the journals of Luca Aldine, containing his visions of how David would bring about the end of the mutant race. He tracked down the group that turned Luca into a rabid mutant-hater and framed them for his summoning of a pack of Dire Wraiths to serve as a distraction when infiltrating the Jean Grey School. He hid the fact that he had retrieved Luca's journal from Blindfold, with whom he had a burgeoning romance.[49] Later he helped a new mutant whose power is to take credit for other people's work, setting him on the path towards happiness.[4]

David Haller (Earth-616), Karasu-Tengu (Earth-616), Sojobo-Tengu (Earth-616) from X-Men Legacy Vol 2 3 0001

While generally doing good things for the benefit of mutantkind and the world at large, David had issues trusting others. Luca's journals alerted him to the danger posed by Aarkus, a maddened protector of Earth who was planning to wipe mutantkind from the face of the planet. While on a date with Blindfold on the Moon, near Aarkus' base, David revealed to her that he had telepathically shut Aarkus' mind down, placing him in a coma, while the couple had been having an argument on whether or not David would be justified in doing so. He asked Ruth to take Aarkus to the X-Men, in the hopes that they would be able to heal his mind.[50]

After manipulating Pete Wisdom into helping him combat anti-mutant sentiment in the United Kingdom, Wisdom had him arrested and turned over to the custody of his mother, Gabrielle Haller. Finally reunited with his mother, David was initially angry with her for abandoning him, but the two reconciled, moments before Gabrielle was killed by a stray bullet aimed for David. David killed the assassins, an anti-mutant despot David had humiliated, and his bodyguard.[51]

In order draw out and stop Luca, David manipulated Cyclops and the X-Men by making them think he had come to kill Cyclops to avenge his father. The scheme worked, as David was able to fool Luca into thinking that the moment when David ended mutantkind had arrived, allowing David to incapacitate him. However, David's trust issues would come back to haunt him. By not informing Cyclops of his plans, he and the X-Men had believed that David had lost control again and was a threat to the world. Emma Frost and the Cuckoos implanted a telepathic virus in David's mind, set to destroy his mind in case the X-Men failed to stop him. Learning too late that David had meant them no harm, the virus ravaged his barely restrained psyche, allowing the Fiend to escape his mind and possess the disembodied form of Luca Aldine.[52] The Fiend began wreaking havoc on the Astral Plane, enhancing humanity's hatred in subtle ways that escaped the notice of most superheroes, but which would quickly result in the end of the world.[53]

David survived the virus, and was remanded into S.W.O.R.D.'s custody. S.W.O.R.D. commander Abigail Brand, together with a recovered Aarkus and Karasu Tengu, created a scenario in David's mind, allowing him to not only gain control of his alters' powers, but to re-absorb them into his core personality.[54] Realizing how his paranoia and lack of trust had been holding him back, David gradually began reaching out to and re-absorbing his alters peacefully, in order to gain enough power to destroy the Fiend.[55] Despite his massive power, David was unable to overcome the Fiend. He subconsciously called out to the X-Men and other heroes that had aided him during his quest to save mutantkind, and they arrived just in time to stop a nuclear attack orchestrated by the Fiend. Together, they were abled to defeat the Fiend, who merged with David.[56]

Merging with the Fiend caused David to lose control. Just as he had begun drawing in his different personae, he now began to draw in all mutants on Earth, merging them into a monstrosity that would soon bring about the end of the Earth, unless Ruth could kill him. Ruth's love however, inspired David, allowing him to come to terms with his life of struggles, and allowing him to merge with his final remaining persona The Weaver, possessing his powers to warp reality. Now complete, David used his godlike powers to undo the events that had caused him to end mutantkind. He rewrote reality, attempting to right as many of the wrongs he had brought about, while keeping as much of the good he had accomplished, as possible. Finally, he wrote himself out of reality, leaving Ruth the only person that remembered him.[57]

However, this would not prove to be permanent. Others' memories of him eventually returned, and finally,[58][59] so did David himself.[60]

Lord Trauma[]

After his resurrection, a personality of David's by the name Lord Trauma tried to take over his mind while David was taken into hospital after being found by an Amish couple. David manages to temporarily defeat Lord Trauma and heads to see Dr. Hannah Jones, a psychotherapist known for mainly working with celebrities.

As David is heading in her direction, Lord Trauma seeks her out and warns her not to treat David and trying to scare her through visual hallucinations. David pulls her out of one of the hallucinations and introduces himself, asking for her help.[60]

Hannah accepts David's ask for help, and quickly is transported into his mind. Hannah is attacked by creatures sent by Lord Trauma and meets with Tami Haar, another of David's alters. She leads Hannah away from the creatures and to the ancient cities, structures containing past memories.

Hannah witnesses a memory where David caused a psychiatric doctor to commit suicide after his temper snapped. Trying to help young David, Hannah and Tami are flung out of the memory by the young David and down to nightmare beach. The pair move past the bitter-sweet spores after Hannah unwittingly touches one and falls sick.

Back at the hospital, Lord Trauma keeps speaking to David and causes him to unknowingly shout at a patient, causing him to be taken away by security. This episode of paranoia causes his mindscape to become overwhelmed with voices in the form of extreme wind.[61]

X-Men Disassembled[]

Legion witnessed a vision of the future where X-Man and his Horsemen of Salvation attacked the world in order to bring about X-Men's vision for the world. So, Legion took Multiple Man prison so he could make and take control of hundreds of Multiple Man dupes and sent them throughout the world. The dupes wreaked havoc, forcing the X-Men to intervene. When confronted by Jean Grey, Legion told her of his vision. However, it was too late, and the Horsemen of Salvation attacked.[62]

X-Man fought the X-Men and Legion, who teleported X-Man to a copy of his home reality inside his subconsciousness.[63] X-Man saw past the ruse and took control of Legion so he could use his power to kill the X-Men. After deciding nothing would improve with the X-Men around, X-Man made all the X-Men present disappear including Legion, leaving himself alone and unconscious.[64]

Age of X-Man[]

Legion and the X-Men who vanished were transported to a different reality created by X-Man who attempted to create a utopia where all mutants lived in peace. The mutants sent there had their memories erased so they wouldn't resist.[65]

Legion was placed in the Danger Room Prison Complex and was its most dangerous prisoner. Because of his abilities, he was placed in solitary confinement and not allowed out. He had been the one who has been altering the other prisoners' memories, and he was largely in control of all aspects of the prison.

Legion was found by Bishop who was also put in solitary. Bishop said he was crazy, but this was way beyond even David. Legion laughed at Bishop as he said Bishop wouldn't even remember their encounter the following day.[66]

Legion was later freed by X-Man and allowed to return to the real world after deciding to release the mutants he had trapped there.[67]

Legion Reborn[]

Following the establishment of the mutant homeland of Krakoa, David was captured by the anti-mutant organization Orchis and had his brain harvested for the use of creating multiple probability scenarios in which to bring down the nation of Krakoa. Now stuck in an astral form, he reached out to Nightcrawler. In return for David's aid in ridding Kurt of a psionic implant causing him distress, Kurt recruited Pixie and Doctor Nemesis to destroy his disembodied brain.

After David died at Kurt's hands, he was reborn on Krakoa, causing waves of emotion and power that could be felt by the Krakoans all throughout the island. Afraid that David would be unable to control his powers and would endanger the island, his father chose not to restore his mind to his body. To the surprise of Xavier and all those present, David entered his new body on his own. He rejected both his father's excuses and Magneto's attempt to recruit him, declaring he trusted neither of them due to the secrets floating around on the island.

David instead turned to Kurt, offering to help him uncover the secrets and mysteries that had occurred since Krakoa became a nation, revealing that the Patchwork Man, a psychic entity plaguing Krakoa, was Onslaught.[6]

After the Hellfire Gala, he joined the Scarlet Witch and Proteus in a secret ritual to fold time onto itself in order to allow Cerebro to copy the minds of mutants who died before it went online as well as potential mutants who died before their X-Gene activated.[68]

The Hunt for Onslaught[]

With his personalities under control due to his rebirth, Legion nevertheless employed Zorn and Xorn to follow him around and disintegrate his mind if he ever lost control.[69] When Loa and Mercury sought him out to facilitate mental intimacy, like he used to do with Blindfold, he saw this as a good way to trap Onslaught. He allowed Onslaught to invade the mental fusion but he couldn't contain him and he escaped to Stacy X's orphanage where he caused a fight between Lost and Fabian Cortez.[70]

David took the twins with him when he met with his father at the Green Lagoon, the meeting was tense and aggressive with David admitting he loved his dad but refusing to tell him anything about his recent attempts to stop Onslaught. The meeting was cut short when Onslaught possessed everyone in the bar and tried to attack David and the twins, forcing them to disintigrate everyone present.[69] David left for Planet Arakko to harness his powers, communing with Nightcrawler to stop Onslaught from destroying the planet.[71]

Legion created a special pocket dimension inside his head called the Altar existing on the borders of the Astral Plane and accessible through a Krakoan Gate on Arakko. The Altar was a non-Euclidian psychic habitat, where Legion and Nightcrawler could discuss their plans to stop Onslaught. Having driven the Krakoans into a fever pitch, Onslaught influenced them to throw a massive party; the Cruciball. By the end of the Cruciball, everyone would kill everyone else just for the thrill of it, but they wouldn't be resurrected, as Onslaught planned to use Xavier to delete all the mind backups. Kurt brought in Cortez, Lost, Stacy X, Gorgon, Pixie, and Dust into the Altar, where they started by figuring out how Onslaught had infected the island.

Then they sent Pixie and Doctor Nemesis to free everyone from Onslaught's control using her Soulsword and his Krakoan drugs, while the others removed Onslaught from its source; Lost's mind by getting her to let go of her hatred for Cortez. Onslaught now no longer in control of the mutants of Krakoa, took over Magneto and Xavier to create a physical form, but Onslaught was defeated by Dust who attacked him with the consciousness of every mutant in the Altar infused into the individual grains in an Arakkii sandstorm. Legion remained on Arrako with the Xorn Twins operating the Altar within his mind, which became a major attraction on Krakoa. Nightcrawler used this area to preach his philosophy of "The Spark" and later made it the base of operations for a Krakoan peace-keeping agency he called "The Legionaries".[5]

David was eventually reunited with his beloved Blindfold when Krakoa abolished their rule against resurrecting precogs, and she immediately decided to abandon her physical form to live with him as an astral being in the Altar. Although he remained mostly in meditation on Arakko, when he and Ruth saw a vision of Magus being killed by Nimrod he interrupted a council meeting to tell his son Warlock about it. Later while back in the Altar he and Ruth were approached by a mysterious being called Mother Righteous,[72] she used her powers on Ruth and showed them many possible futures as well as something happening in the present involving Loki. She then offered David a deal for more power in exchange for his worship. He talked it through with Ruth but after she told him she'd love him either way, he remained undecided on whether to take the deal or not.[73]

Orchis[]

Following Orchis' attack on Krakoa, Legion was revealed to have survived . He even manifested himself as tiny Demon Bamfs to aid Nightcrawler in his battle against Orchis and helped free their captured allies Feral, Fatale and Cloak, Dagger and Warlock.[74]

Personality

As Legion is a person with DID with possibly thousands of personalities, this section will cover only the main personality, David Haller.

As a child, David Haller was known to be kind and gentle, however, this all changed after witnessing the death of his step-father Daniel Shomron. The trauma of witnessing his step-father's death, combined with the activation of his mutant powers that caused him to incinerate the brains of the terrorists while experiencing their agony, broke David psychically.[9]

Attributes

Power Grid[96]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Master: All Forms of Combat:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Poor:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Virtually Unlimited:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Multiple Types:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Weak:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Below Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Incalculable:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Weak:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Super-Genius:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Slow or Impaired

Powers

Quote1 I'll simplify: Legion is an omega level mutant who, when whole, can bend time to his will. Causing a spontaneous mutation is most likely well within his capabilities. Whether he's conscious of it or not. Quote2
Doctor Nemesis[src]
David Haller (Earth-616) from New Mutants Vol 3 14 0001

One of the various representation of Legion's mindspace

Power Manifestation: Legion is an Omega Level mutant[75][36][76][37][77] with the ability to create spontaneous mutations with varying attributes. Due to either his immense powers, mental instability or combination of the two, David creates a new persona (or alter) to govern each one of these new powers.

He stated that he had in his mind "200 Omega-level split personalities".[47]

Rogue stated that while she was inside Legion, she was connected to thousands of types of powers and there were more "being born" all the time.[78]

See here the list of Legion's personae.

Originally, all of Legion's powers were psychically based, but since his resurrection Legion has also manifested physical mutations. Also, since his return, Legion's mind is shown as being inhabited by thousands of alters.

Some of Legion's personae are in fact individual psyche absorbed by Legion upon their deaths (i.e. Marci Sabol and Jemail Karami), but many more are creations of Legion's own mind.

It is likely that after an alter is killed or reabsorbed that Legion retains their powers, though this has not been confirmed.

However, killed personae were seen alive after their apparent death, such as The Clown and Jack Wayne.[80]

Index

Additional Attributes

Dissociative Identity Disorder: He suffers from dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, which was triggered after the death of his step-father. His powers allowed him to hear and feel the thoughts of all the people killed around him. This led to the creation of first three alters with a distinct psychic power. One was telekinetic, one was telepathic, one was pyrokinetic. This has since expanded to an unknown number of alters, possibly thousands, all with a unique power.[92]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Notes

  • Legion gets his name from a Biblical tale. According to the Bible, Jesus met a man who was possessed by several demons. When Jesus asked the man his name, he replied, "My name is Legion, for we are many."
  • David himself has stated that he dislikes being called Legion and wish others would stop calling him that.[44]
  • David is the first X-Men character to receive a live-action TV series.
  • The X-Men files once previously classified Legion as an Alpha-Level mutant (though the list was including many Omega-Levels as well).[93]

Trivia

  • Legion was originally going to be a founding member of the government-sponsored X-Factor. However, then-incoming writer Peter David felt it was impossible to work him into the group in a way that didn't feel was contrived.[94]
  • Legion's other alters could each control other psionic powers. Perhaps these powers died when these alters were absorbed into David's core personality.
  • David appears to be a Star Wars fan.[45]
  • Legion is noted to sometimes change accents and adopt the behavior of others' cultures, such as behaving and speaking like a Scot.[95][6]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New Mutants #26
  2. 2.0 2.1 Uncanny X-Men #254
  3. New Mutants (Vol. 3) #21
  4. 4.0 4.1 X-Men: Legacy (Vol. 2) #8
  5. 5.0 5.1 X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Way of X #2
  7. New Mutants #1
  8. Powers of X #6
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 New Mutants #28
  10. New Mutants #2628
  11. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #7
  12. New Mutants #44
  13. Uncanny X-Men #255
  14. X-Men Forever #2
  15. Uncanny X-Men #257
  16. Uncanny X-Men #259
  17. X-Men Annual #15
  18. X-Factor Annual #6
  19. Uncanny X-Men #278
  20. X-Factor #69
  21. Uncanny X-Men #280
  22. X-Factor #70
  23. X-Men #38
  24. Uncanny X-Men #319
  25. X-Factor #108
  26. X-Factor #109
  27. X-Men (Vol. 2) #39
  28. Uncanny X-Men #320
  29. X-Men (Vol. 2) #41
  30. X-Men Omega #1
  31. 31.0 31.1 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #121
  32. 32.0 32.1 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #15
  33. 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #2
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  56. X-Men: Legacy (Vol. 2) #22
  57. 57.0 57.1 X-Men: Legacy (Vol. 2) #24
  58. Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #2
  59. Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 4) #7
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  61. Legion #2
  62. Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #13
  63. Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #8
  64. Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #10
  65. Age of X-Man Alpha #1
  66. Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #3
  67. Age of X-Man Omega #1
  68. X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #5
  69. 69.0 69.1 Way of X #4
  70. Way of X #3
  71. Way of X #5
  72. Legion of X #1
  73. Legion of X #2
  74. Uncanny Spider-Man #5
  75. 75.0 75.1 75.2 75.3 75.4 75.5 75.6 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #4
  76. Uncanny X-Men #525
  77. House of X #1
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  93. X-Men (Vol. 2) #94
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  95. Way of X #1
  96. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update Vol 1 2
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