Stepford Cuckoos (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

History

The five sisters were grown from ova cells harvested from the mutant telepath Emma Frost. They were properly known as Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, and Sophie Cuckoo. They are only five of many cloned daughters. The remaining hundreds (if not thousands) of clones reside within incubation chambers inside a hidden underground laboratory at The World, a complex housing the Weapon Plus program. They were created by Dr. John Sublime to be powerful weapons able to kill every mutant by combining their telepathic abilities. The Cuckoos were designated Weapon XIV (each girl being units 1 to 5, ordered alphabetically by their first names), the living weapon code between Weapon XIII (Fantomex) and Weapon XV (Ultimaton).^[1].

Contents 1 History 2 Characteristics 3 Powers 4 Paraphernalia 5 Notes 6 Trivia 7 See Also 8 Links and References 9 Appearances In other media

As the Stepford Cuckoos they became the proteges of Emma Frost and, along with Kid Omega, the strongest telepaths among the fourth-generation students at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. Although Kid Omega and the Stepford Cuckoos were rivals, Kid Omega had a crush on Sophie. Sophie and the other Cuckoos considered him to be disgusting and rejected him completely. Partly as an expressions of adolescent rebellion, partly under the influence of the drug Kick, and partly out of a desire to impress Sophie, Kid Omega incited a riot at the X-Mansion. Sophie died while using Kick and Cerebra to subdue Kid Omega.^[2]

The Stepford Cuckoos held Frost to be partially responsible for Sophie's death and disassociated themselves from Frost at that time. With the death of Sophie, the Five-in-One became the Four-in-One. Soon afterwards, Esme attempted to murder Frost, an attempt which failed. Esme fled the X-Mansion, and it was discovered that Esme had really been responsible for Sophie's death. Esme wanted to seize control of the Cuckoos, but had a hard time doing so because Sophie was the dominant personality and the strongest telepath. Therefore, Esme had concocted a plan to become dominant by using Kick to amplify her own powers and by manipulating Sophie into overextending her telepathic powers to the point of death. With the departure of Esme, the Four-in-One were now the Three-in-One.

Esme returned, revealing that Esme had been working for who she believed to be Magneto (who had masqueraded as Xorn) the entire time. When Esme turned him in, this apparent Magneto killed her. (It was later discovered that the person who was apparently Magneto was actually a Magneto impostor).^[3]

Kid Omega, still in love with Sophie, exhumed and resurrected her, but she promptly chose to die again once she realized why Kid Omega had wanted to resurrect her.^{[citation needed]}

Afterwards, the Institute was rebuilt with Emma Frost and Cyclops acting as headmasters and leaders of the X-Men. Frost and Summers divided the older students into several six-person training squads, each taught by a staff member. The remaining three Cuckoos, now calling themselves the Three-in-One, were assigned to the Corsairs Squad, led by Frost's boyfriend Cyclops. The three girls were the co-leaders of the squad.

In the wake of M-Day, in which the vast majority of the world's mutant population was depowered, the Cuckoos retained their powers. With few students left, the squad system was dissolved. Frost ordered the depowered students and staff to return to their homes; as several buses filled with depowered individuals left the Institute, anti-mutant religious zealot Reverend William Stryker bombed one bus, killing many depowered students.

Emma Frost placed the remaining students into an all-out brawl to determine who would be part of an in-training X-Men team. The Cuckoos, still resentful of Emma, refused to participate. Instead, they ran to Cyclops and informed him of Frost's plan, of which he was unaware. They continued to reside at the Xavier Institute.

The Stepford Cuckoos were identified as Weapon XIV

Manipulated by both the Phoenix and Sublime, the Cuckoos awoke their dead sisters and traveled to The World, a laboratory created by Weapon Plus with technology capable of manipulating time, where Fantomex, Huntsman and Ultimaton were created. During the sisters' visit to "The World," they were greeted by a computer image of John Sublime. It was discovered that the Phoenix fragment had manifested in order to destroy the Cuckoos and all of their clones to prevent them from being activated as a weapon and kill all mutants - Sophie and Esme being the first such casualties of its purge. Emma, Mindee, and Phoebe were successful in stunting Celeste's linkage with the Phoenix; only to be ambushed by Sublime's machinery, which absorbed the cosmic fragment and distributed it among each of the cloned telepaths. Now referring to themselves as the Thousand-in-One and under Sublime's control; the cosmically-empowered psychics proceeded to enact their programmed destiny of mutant destruction. Celeste however, who was still in partial control of both herself and her sisters' super-mind, alerted the X-Men that they could short-circuit the girls' linkage by destroying Sublime's machinery; which they did. Phoebe, distraught at having lost access to the cosmic power, sent a bolt of her last remaining energy through the facility's floor, prompting an explosion that would destroy everything within a half-mile radius. Celeste, at Emma's behest, accepted her role as a Phoenix host, and stopped the explosion by temporarily freezing localized time. She then went on to destroy the thousand-strong Cuckoo clones, by shattering their newly-manifested Diamond forms; before casting the entity out of her body. It however, refused to depart the area; to which Celeste reacted by reabsorbing force into her own and her two remaining sisters' diamond hearts. Unlike their mother's diamond composition, the Cuckoo's hearts didn't have a single flaw; and as such, nothing could destroy, enter, or escape them, even the splintered Phoenix itself. The price the sisters paid for this was that they could never again feel emotion; thus leaving them even more cold-hearted and detached from their fellow man than they were before.

The girls helped Elixir gain knowledge on Science via Beast's brain. They, were teleported to Limbo with the other students and captured. They had helmets placed on them to keep them asleep and to stop them using their powers. They were freed by a newly revived X-23. When the Hulk attacked Xavier, the X-Men and the New X-Men, the Stepford Cuckoos contacted several other X-teams such as Excalibur, and X-Factor for assistance. The Cuckoos joined the remaining X-Men in San Francisco. During the Skrull Invasion, they assisted in the evacuation of a San Francisco Hospital.

Characteristics

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 105 lbs (47.6 kg)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Unusual Features: No unusual features

Powers

Known Powers: The Cuckoos are high-order telepaths possessing the ability to transform into organic diamond. Sophie was the dominant and most powerful one before she died. The Cuckoos are usually in telepathic contact with each other, and they have the ability to fully combine their minds into one extremely powerful super-mind. However, as implied by Esme's actions, it was possible for another one of the Cuckoos to wrest control of the gestalt and perhaps even use the powers without the consent and knowledge of the others. With the loss of Sophie and Esme, it is unknown as to whether they are now weaker than they were as the Five-In-One, or if the sum of their powers was redivided amongst the three remaining Cuckoos.

Although it has not been clearly stated it is possible that all of the original and remaining Cuckoos are Omega-Level Mutant(s). This is supported by the fact that a fragment of the Phoenix Force effectively bonded with the Cuckoos during the Warsong series and now resides inside all of the Cuckoos, and the Phoenix is the highest form of evolution after Omega Level. Also, the power level of the Cuckoos, in all of their incarnations, have been reported by many of the staff at Xavier's School to be extremely impressive and strong; these staff members include: Professor X, Jean Grey (the Phoenix, itself), Emma Frost, and Henry McCoy (Beast).

Telepathy: mutants with various telepathic abilities. They can read minds and project their thoughts into the minds of others. Though they individually possess their own power they work in greater power when the girls join in a super-mind rapport.

• Telepathic Illusion: ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.
• Mind Link: ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual
• Mind Control: capable of controlling the minds of others but only one at a time and if the target is in her physical presence.
• Mind Possession: ability to possess the mind of another, and use that beings body as your own
• Mind Alteration: ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.
• Telepathic Camouflage: ability to mask herself, and other peoples' presence from those around her. Can telepathically disguise herself, making her appearance to those around her quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising).
• Cloak Mind: ability to rearrange the “mental engrams” of mutants so their distinctive mutant though patterns cannot be detected by Cerebro-type devises or by other telepaths
• Telepathic Tacking: enhanced psionic senses enable her to detect and track other sentient beings by their unique psionic emanations (thought patterns contained in the psionic portion of the spectrum) especially if they pose a threat to her well-being in her immediate vicinity.
• Astral Projection: ability to Astral Travel and communicate with others astrally through her own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others.
• Mental Paralysis: ability to induce temporary mental or physical paralysis
• Mental Amnesia: Can erase any awareness of particular memories or cause total amnesia.
• Psionic Blasts: can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness.

Gestalt Psychic Link: ability to merge their psychic engrams together to merge their telepathic power together allowing them to possess greater telepathic and intellectual power more then the sum of its parts. Sophie was the dominant consciousness and often commanded the Cuckoos. It seems that the remaining three Cuckoos operate the gestalt in a democratic fashion instead of one appointed lead Cuckoo.

Collective Super-mind: while melded they are capable of using their powers in unison with each other becoming a hive-mind capable of extensive telepathic and intellectual feats. Allowing the sisters to work together to manipulate vast amounts of telepathic power, in order to read the minds of others, project their thoughts psionically, manipulate perceptions of reality, and assume control of another person’s actions and thoughts.

Organic Diamond Form: ability to transform themselves into a flexible, translucent diamond-like substance while retaining mobility. In this form, their skin is as hard as real diamond. In this state, food and water are not needed for a undetermined amount of time. Their diamond form does not require a conscious hold and thus will remain until it is voluntarily triggered back.

• Telepathic Immunity: Enclosed in diamond skin, They cannot give or receive telepathic attacks.
• Superhuman Stamina: ability to sustain peak exertion for up to a day.
• Superhuman Strength
• Flawless Diamond: unlike Frost, their diamond forms are completely flawless. Nothing can enter or escape from their core. Skin, bone and muscle augmented to make it stronger and harder than human; impervious to injury to an extraordinary extent. They're completely impervious in their diamond form.
• Perpetual Diamond Heart: also, unlike Emma, the Cuckoos can transform selective parts of their bodies as their hearts are in a perpetual diamond-form state. Therefore, they can never feel emotion again, even when in their "normal" tissue form.

Known Abilities: capable leaders, able to use Cerebra.

Strength Level: Strength level unknown, but it is presumed to be at a superhuman level.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

• The first appearance of the Stepford Cuckoos was in New X-Men #118 (November 2001); however, they were not identified by name. They were first called the Stepford Cuckoos in New X-Men #123 (April 2002), which was also the first issue in which Esme was named. Sophie, Phoebe, Celeste, and Mindee were named in New X-Men #134 (January 2003), New X-Men #149 (January 2004), New X-Men #153 (April 2004), and New X-Men #156 (June 2004), respectively. In the New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook, their last name was confirmed as "Cuckoo" and their codename as the "Three-in-One".
• In New X-Men #154 (May 2004), Grant Morrison's last issue of New X-Men, the Stepford Cuckoos are identified as Weapon XIV. Their link to Weapon Plus is further explored in the Phoenix: Warsong miniseries.
  

Trivia

Writers have continued to use a running joke about boyfriends of the Stepford Cuckoos. Thus far, whenever one of the Stepford Cuckoos has become involved in a romantic relationship, the other Stepford Cuckoos have usually expressed strong disapproval, perhaps out of jealousy. On the other hand, perhaps the disapproval is justified, considering that the Cuckoos have had an extremely poor track record when it comes to boyfriends:

• Their name is actually a joining of 'the stepford wives' and 'the midwich cuckoos'.
• Esme's boyfriend Kato, seen in New X-Men #123 (April 2002), apparently a Japanese mutant, turned out to actually be the sponge-like Stuff, an "advance scout of the Shi'ar Super-guardian Team, assigned to life-form sterilization procedure".
• Kid Omega had a crush on Sophie (which she did not return) and engaged in such actions for her sake as inciting a riot at the X-Mansion (indirectly causing her death) and resurrecting her (an action she promptly rejected).
• Germaine, Mindee's boyfriend who first appeared in New X-Men #155 (June 2004), died the very next issue, #156 (June 2004), defending her from an anti-mutant mob.
• When Xavier's Institute held a dance to celebrate the end of the school year, all three Cuckoos attended the dance with Julian Keller (Hellion). It should be noted that Julian is extremely arrogant, sometimes cruel, and, as one of the Hellions, is one of the antagonists of New Mutants v2 and New X-Men: Academy X. Julian later left his dates to have a dance with Wind Dancer, whom he shared a mutual attraction.
• It has been stated that Mindee's real first name is Irma. This change is due to Grant Morrison's desire for the quintuplet's first letters of their first names to spell SPICE, hence Sophie, Phoebe, Irma (most commonly known as Mindee), Celeste and Esme.

See Also

• Appearances of Stepford Cuckoos (Earth-616)
• Team Gallery: Stepford Cuckoos (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Stepford Cuckoos (Earth-616)
• Images that include Stepford Cuckoos (Earth-616)

Links and References

Appearances In other media

• Three identical blond girls were shown in the background in an Institute Scene in X-Men: The Last Stand. Writer Zak Penn confirmed in a chat that these were indeed the Stepford Cuckoos. [1]