Staff of One
From Marvel Database
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History
The Staff of One is a magical object, presently controlled by Nico Minoru. She took it from her mother when they fought and has kept it ever since. However, in Runaways (2nd series) #30, it appears that Nico now controls a new staff, once held by her ancestor, the Witchbreaker. She seemed to know innately how to use the staff, despite receiving no training in its use. It is approximately four feet in length, gold in color and looks like a scepter. It has a gold circle at one end which glows when a spell is in operation. Nico uses the Staff of One, which is essentially a glorified magic wand, to cast spells which she normally names, such as 'Fumigation' to create a smokescreen or 'Pixies Find the leak' to locate a spy camera in Victor Mancha's head. On occasions, however, she has cast a spell without doing so, such as creating an image of Alex Wilder in the palm of her hand.
Nico utters an incantation whenever she wishes the staff to appear - "When Blood is Shed, Let the Staff of One Emerge." The staff emerges from Nico's chest and through her clothes as if phasing, but appears to become solid as soon as it leaves her body. When she summoned the staff while the vampire Topher was attacking her, it was thrust right through him whilst phasing out of Nico. Once the staff is no longer required, it reabsorbs itself back inside her body. It has been shown that Nico produces the staff when she bleeds, but it not only works when her skin is cut. When her menstruation cycle starts, the staff can be summoned without the need to cut herself.
Although Nico controls the staff, it appears to be able to be used by anyone. Nico's ancestors, Chase Stein and Alex Wilder have all been shown to cast spells using the staff. One of the staff's limitations is that Nico cannot use the same spell twice. When she attempts to do so, a seemingly random spell is cast instead. Alex Wilder, however, seemed to use the same spell twice, though his exact incantation wasn't shown on-panel. Another limitation is that the spells are only temporary. This has proven particularly useful, such as when Nico changed Old Lace into a dog and, apparently, turned Chase into a fish.
The Staff of One is a powerful object, which, according to Nico's mother, once made the Dread Dormammu tremble. So far, it appears to have no limits on the number of spells that can be cast at any one time.
This is part one of a series highlighting the ways in which the Staff of One has been used. The off-panel uses are not included. It has been mentioned, for example, that Nico used it to try and resurrect Alex after he was killed by the Gibborim, but as the spell was not seen in an issue of Runaways, it won't be included here. Neither will spells where Nico isn't actually seen casting the spell verbally.
The first time we see the Staff of One, it is being wielded by Tina Minoru. She transforms not only herself, but also Robert Minoru and the Steins into costume. She does this without actually using a spoken incantation.
List of Spells
- Caffeine Injection - Temporarily supercharged Molly's powers and counteracted the fatigue that Molly usually experiences after using her powers
- Chill Out - Intended to make the Runaways and Young Avengers stop fighting; instead froze the Hostel
- Detox - Used by Chase to disable the Cloak imposter
- Forget - Wiped Geoffrey Wilder's memories and returned him to the past
- Fumigation - Generated a smoke cloud
- Ocean View - Repaired the Malibu house
- Oily - Flooded the streets of Los Angeles with oil
- Old Lace Into Old Yeller - Temporarily transformed Old Lace into a small, adorable dog
- Open Up - Was intended to force Chase to reveal a deep, dark secret (as revenge for his forcing her to admit that Karolina was the best kisser on the team), but instead it caused a hidden serpent egg to hatch
- Pixies Find the Leak - Created a swarm of pixies to find out who was spying on the Runaways
- Rockstars - fired a burst of rocks
- Scatter - Teleported the members of the Light Brigade to different parts of the globe, but temporarily prevented the Runaways from working together.
- Settle Down - Used (reluctantly) to make Klara sleep during her rampage, as Chase was threatening to hurt her otherwise
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Temporarily encased Ultron in a diamond
- The Show Must Go On - Cursed the Yorkes to go through their lives knowing that they and their daughter would die, with no ability to change this fate
- Tinkerbell - Created a swarm of fairies to light up the Malibu house when Klara buried it in vines; Nico had also hoped that the sight of these creatures would pacify Klara, but this was marred when Chase crushed one of them in his hands
- You Suck - Reversed Turbo's turbines, causing them to suck in air instead of blowing it out, which led to them exploding
- Your Name Is Mud - Fired a blast of mud at Karolina when she and Nico were fighting under Topher's control
- Zombie Not - Intended to reverse the effects of Val Rhymin's zombie-creating spell; instead caused all the zombies in the vicinity to form one big zombie - a zombie knot.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- Appearances of Staff of One
- Item Gallery: Staff of One
- Images that feature Staff of One
- Fan-Art Gallery: Staff of One
Links and References
- None.
