History
Origin[]
After Hope Summers returned from the future, five mutant's X-Genes were activated across the globe.
These were the first new mutants since M-Day other than Hope.[2]
Hope and the X-Men raced around the world to save these young mutants.[3][4] With their powers stabilized, The Lights became the hope for the future of the mutant race. Under the direction of Hope and with the consent of Cyclops, the Lights began training as a rescue team for any other new mutant manifestations.[5]
First Mission[]
While still settling into life on Utopia, and experimenting with their powers, the Lights were called to their first mission: investigating a new mutant manifestation in Berlin.[6] Although they encountered some setbacks, the team was able to pull together, convinced the Sixth Light to be born, stabilized his powers, and saved Berlin from his mind control.[7]
Teon's Trial[]
When the team arrived back from Germany, they were greeted by the news that the Maciks wanted their son Teon back. While awaiting the trial and in an effort to distract her team from the looming legal proceedings, Hope insisted on adopting codenames. Later, despite his normally animalistic nature, Teon eloquently offered a sound case of why he needed to stay with Hope and the X-Men. Immediately after the trial, Laurie and Kenji speculated on the reason all of the Lights (themselves included) seemed to be so drawn to following Hope.[8]
Second Mission[]
After the events in Germany and Teon's trial, Hope and her team continued to train and prepare for more new mutant activations around the world. Thanks to the Stepford Cuckoos monitoring in Cerebra, Hope and the Lights were alerted almost immediately of the activation of the Seventh Light's powers. They left quickly, but arrived just after Zee had committed suicide. The whole team took the death very hard.[9]
Schism and Regenesis[]
After Kid Omega's attack on the United Nations, anti-mutant sentiment began to rise and world leaders began reactivating Sentinels.[10] Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Mayor Sinclair expedited the grand opening of the Museum of Mutant History. Unfortunately, Kade Kilgore and his Hellfire Club used this opportunity to attack the X-Men. Despite Wolverine's objections, Cyclops ordered Idie to stop the Hellfire Club by killing them. These event lead to a giant super-Sentinel nearly destroying Utopia, and Cyclops and Wolverine parting ways because of philosophical differences.[11][12]
The one thing Cyclops and Wolverine could agree on was Idie would be better off away from Utopia, so despite Hope's objections Idie left with Wolverine and others to resettle Westchester.[13][14]
Already emotionally drained, tempers flared after Hope interrupted a kiss between Pixie and Gabriel. Later, Hope convinced Pixie to join the team to help them solve their transportation problem to prevent another Zeeshan from occurring.[15] No-Girl also joined the team, invited by Kenji.[16]
Getting anxious to find a new mutant, Hope misinterpreted a light near the Chinese border of Pakistan as a new mutant manifestation. Hope assembled her team, but when they arrived they found an amnesiac Sebastian Shaw strapped to a suicide bomb.[16] During the explosion No-Girl's tank was damaged leaving her unsustained and exposed. However, Zero acted quickly and created a body for her. The team narrowly escaped with Shaw from Jin Billion and his Butchers.[17]
Shaw's return to Utopia caused high tensions. While Emma and Cyclops debated the fate of Shaw, several former Morlocks confronted the Lights. To end the feuding, Hope forcibly took control of and pushed Zero's powers to their limits without his permission and much to his disapproval.[18]
While Hope studied the information about Shaw's past given to her by Cyclops, Zero began to finalize his plans to betray and murder Hope.[19] For weeks Zero had been telepathically and subtly turning Utopians against Hope. Zero was even able to influence Emma into telepathically distracting Cyclops. As mind-controlled mutants converged on Hope, the remaining Lights came to her aid. The Lights fought off the other mutants as Hope and No-Girl combined their powers to kill Zero.[20]
During a debriefing session, Shaw was fully inducted and the group reconciled some of the problems they had been facing.[20]
When the Peak VII suffered a massive break-out of alien prisoners, Unit mimicked the signature of a new Light, forcing Hope to separate from her Extinction Team duty to assemble her Lights and go on rescue. Soon realizing the trap, Laurie and the other were teleported by Pixie while under Unit's control, and put to sleep by his powers.[21]
Avengers vs. X-Men[]
When the Avengers arrived enforce on Utopia to take Hope into custody before the arrival of the Phoenix, Cyclops and the X-Men forcibly tried to stop them. During the melee, Hope escaped, but the Lights and young X-Men were left as Cyclops and many of his X-Men fled. Not wanting the younger X-Men to join the war, the Avengers decided to quarantine them at the Avengers Compound with the Avengers Academy.[22] However, the teenage mutants didn't want to remain in custody, and were eventually allowed to leave.[23] The Lights returned to Utopia in search of Hope,[24] but when they couldn't find her they joined the other young mutants in Westchester at Jean Grey School For Higher Learning.[25]
The Lights were functionally disbanded with the departure of Hope and the enrollment of the remaining members into the Jean Grey School.[25]Paraphernalia
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- The locations of the Lights thus far:
- Hope Summers in Cooperstown, Alaska[28]
- Laurie Tromette in Vancouver, Canada[2][29]
- Gabriel Cohuelo in Mexico City, Mexico[2][30]
- Idie Okonkwo in Oyo, Delta State, Nigeria[2][31]
- Teon Macik in Kyiv, Ukraine[2][32]
- Kenji Uedo in Tokyo, Japan[2][27]
- Sixth Light in Berlin, Germany[6]
- Zeeshan in Sheffield, United Kingdom[9]
- Creators Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen loosely based the Five Lights mutant powers on the the archetypal power-sets on the original five X-Men (with the exception of Gabriel).[33]
- Although Kitty Pryde was acting liaison to the Lights for a time, Hope made it clear she was not part of the team and was to serve in a purely advisory capacity.[6]
Trivia
- The X-Men were first made aware of the Lights in X-Men: Second Coming #2, the first Light appeared on panel in Uncanny X-Men #526, worked as a team through much of Uncanny X-Men #526-529 and Generation Hope #1-4 , and they became an officially sanctioned X-Team with Cyclops' permission in Generation Hope #5.
- Many of The Lights come from the same geographic regions or nations as the All New, All Different X-Men team:
- Hope Summers and Cyclops were both born in Alaska.
- Laurie Tromette and Wolverine were both discovered in Canada.
- Idie Okonkwo and Storm both come from Africa though from Nigeria and Kenya respectively.
- Teon originally comes from Ukraine while Colossus comes from Russia.
- Both Kenji Uedo and Sunfire are Japan natives.
- Sixth Light was born in Berlin, Germany[34] and Nightcrawler hails from Germany.
- Gabriel Cohuelo born and raised in Mexico City and Thunderbird was from an Apache reservation in Arizona in the American southwest.
- Zeeshan was discovered in United Kingdom while Banshee was born in Ireland.
- Pixie, No-Girl, and Sebastian Shaw were the only members of the team to have their powers prior to M-Day.
See Also
- 40 appearance(s) of Lights (Earth-616)
- 4 mention(s) of Lights (Earth-616)
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Lights (Earth-616)
- 33 image(s) of Lights (Earth-616)
- 10 member(s) of Lights (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 X-Men: Second Coming #2
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #526–529
- ↑ Generation Hope #1–4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Generation Hope #5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Generation Hope #6
- ↑ Generation Hope #7
- ↑ Generation Hope #8
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Generation Hope #9
- ↑ X-Men: Schism #1
- ↑ X-Men: Schism #2–5
- ↑ Generation Hope #10–11
- ↑ X-Men: Regenesis #1
- ↑ Generation Hope #12
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Generation Hope #12
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Generation Hope #13
- ↑ Generation Hope #14
- ↑ Generation Hope #15–16
- ↑ Generation Hope #16
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Generation Hope #17
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Avengers Academy #29
- ↑ Avengers Academy #30–31
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Wolverine & the X-Men #15
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #529
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Generation Hope #1
- ↑ X-Men: Messiah Complex #1
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #526
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #527
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #528
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #529
- ↑ Tramountanas, George A. (16 November 2010) X-POSITION: Kieron Gillen CBR.com. Retrieved on 19 January 2024.
- ↑ Generation Hope #6