Forge (Earth-616)

Forge
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	Forge
Aliases	Maker, Skitch
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	X-Men (Xavier Institute member); foremrly X-Force, Cheyennes, X-Factor, Muir Island X-Men, DARPA, "New Mutants" (creator and leader), Stark Industries
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′ (1.83 m)
Weight	179 lbs (81.19 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Bionic right leg and hand.
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant; Cyborg; Tribal Shaman
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Unrevealed, presumably in the American West
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Inventor (for himself, the X-Men and the U.S. government), Cheyenne Shaman, magician, former soldier
Base of Operations	Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York; formerly Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, X-Haven, Limbo (formerly Salem Center, Westchester County, New York); New Tian, California; Eagle Plaza, Dallas, Texas; X-Factor HQ, Embassy Row, Washington D.C.
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr.
First	Uncanny X-Men #184 (May, 1984)
First	Uncanny X-Men #184 (May, 1984)

 My power is in my mind. Deep inside. That is where I live. That is where I get to be a super hero... They don't understand what they don't see... But I see. I see it all. I see things before they are real. It always starts with a problem. An impractical, unattainable, unworkable problem that needs to be solved. Then... I solve it. I work it. I attain it. I move and shift and reshape. Make something out of nothing. I prepare my unfeasible solutions for birth. And when they've incubated and grown and developed, I bring them into the world. I am a midwife of the impossible. I am Forge. I make the impossible real. 

—Forge

History

Early Years

The man known as Forge was a Cheyenne Indian, once the pupil of Naze, a shaman in his tribe. Forge developed considerable mystical powers as a result of the training Naze gave him and was also a mutant with an unusual talent for inventing mechanical devices. Forge has explained that he was an intuitive genius and it was as natural as breathing for him.

Forge served in the Vietnam War and lost his right hand and right leg in a B-52 attack. During the war, Forge, using the souls of nine dead comrades, had opened a portal that released the Adversary to win a battle. Forge sank into a suicidal depression and tried to kill himself. Forge designed an artificial hand and leg to replace those that he had lost and, for reasons connected with the war that has not yet been made clear, Forge decided to give up the use of his ability to wield magic. For the most part, Forge did not use his mystical abilities for at least ten years.

Forge

Forge concentrated instead on his career as an inventor, and when Tony Stark ceased making advanced weaponry for the federal government, the Defense Department began commissioning new weaponry from Forge. The government commissioned Forge to devise a means of detecting and combating the shape-changing alien Dire Wraiths.

Forge created a scanner device that could detect the presence of superhumanly powerful mutants and extraterrestrials in its wielder's vicinity and could even specifically differentiate between Dire Wraiths and other aliens. Forge also created a neutralizer device that could theoretically deprive any superhumanly powerful being the ability to use his or her superhuman abilities.

On presidential orders, Henry Gyrich, an agent of the National Security Council, took possession of the only existing model of Forge's neutralizer in order to use it against Rogue, a member of the mutant X-Men who was falsely suspected of killing an agent of the intelligence organization S.H.I.E.L.D..

Forge was outraged, as the neutralizer was still untested and he did not know if it would remove a target's superhuman powers temporarily, permanently, or possibly even kill him or her. Forge physically attempted to prevent Gyrich from using the device on Rogue, but Gyrich instead shot Rogue's fellow X-Man Storm with it, as she attempted to protect her colleague. With her superhuman powers apparently entirely removed, Storm fell into a river, from which Forge rescued her.

Relationship With Storm

Feeling guilt and responsibility for the loss of her powers, Forge brought Storm to his Eagle Plaza in Dallas, Texas. There Storm revived and she and Forge grew strongly attached to each other. However, when Storm learned that Forge had designed the neutralizer gun that had deprived her of her powers, she felt betrayed. Furious at Forge.

Dire Wraiths

Storm left his building but returned on learning he was in danger from the Dire Wraiths. The Wraiths were aware that Forge's neutralizer could not, in its present stage of development, harm them and intended to kill him before he could improve it.

Together, Naze, Magik, and Amanda Sefton joined with Forge, Storm, and the X-Men in defeating the Wraiths who came after Forge, but Storm's hatred of Forge persisted. Naze faked his demise at the barbed tongue of a Dire Wraith, letting it assume his identity and then fall under the mental control of the Adversary, sparing Naze from this fate. Forge longed for Storm going so far as to create holograms of her in his Eagle Plaza.

Forge further improved his neutralizer so that it would negate the Wraiths' mystical abilities, and created several of these improved devices, but he was still guilt-ridden over Storm's loss of her powers. Fearing that people would use his neutralizers against other superhuman Earth beings, Forge did not want to give them the devices even for use against the Dire Wraiths, but, after joining forces with the Wraiths' greatest foe, the space knight Rom, to battle Wraiths in Dallas, Forge decided to construct a gigantic "neo-neutralizer" in Earth's orbit. Powered by Rom's own neutralizer, Forge's orbiting device could cast all the Dire Wraiths on Earth into other-dimensional Limbo.

Gyrich intended to use the neo-neutralizer to eliminate the superhuman powers of every being on Earth. To thwart Gyrich's plan, Forge and ROM aimed the neo-neutralizer, not at Earth, but at the Wraith's homeworld, Wraithworld, which was approaching Earth through hyperspace. The device negated Wraithworld's magic, the source of the Wraiths' own mystical powers; therefore, causing Wraithworld to cease to exist and depriving Wraiths throughout the universe of their mystical abilities. Thus, Forge was responsible for saving Earth from the Dire Wraiths.

Forge ensured that the neo-neutralizer could not be used against Earth's superhuman beings and all known specimens of Forge's neutralizer have been destroyed. One neutralizer was used by Tony Stark to depower the superhuman criminal, known as the Termite, and was subsequently destroyed.

Fall of the Mutants

Forge was next seen atop a mountain, seemingly opening a dimensional portal filled with demons. Storm, who had been manipulated by the Adversary in Naze's guise, stabbed Forge in the chest and, only then, realized he had been attempting to close the portal, not open it. The Adversary then trapped Forge and Storm in the other dimension and seized control of Dallas, warping time and space in order to foment chaos on Earth. Forge and Ororo Munroe spent a year on an alternate Earth, during which time they made peace and admitted their love for one another.

After a fight, Ororo left and, upon returning, Forge used components from his cybernetic leg to fashion a new device that restored Storm's ability to use her powers, which she then used to energize a portal back to their own world. Forge and Storm rejoined the X-Men and were captured in the Omniversal Guardian, Roma's, Starlight Citadel, that the Adversary had taken over. Forge was forced to use his mystical abilities again to banish the Adversary, using the souls of eight X-Men and Madelyne Pryor-Summers. However, Roma restored the X-Men to life and freed the Adversary under the notion that there could be no order without chaos.

Magik's Revenge

Forge was later sought out by one of the X-Men's younger siblings, Magik, in her Darkchylde from seeking revenge for her slain brother. After a lengthy battle, Darkchylde teleported Forge to her dimension, Limbo, where she was more powerful and Forge eventually decided that he was no better than her as a youth and gave up. After being stabbed by Darkchylde's Soulsword and the influence of the New Mutants, Darkchylde understood how evil she was becoming and withdrew her attack, returning Forge to Dallas and restoring his health.

Mystique

Forge returned with the X-Men to completely restore their mansion to their previous level of technology. Forge proposed to Storm, but when she would not leave the X-Men for him, he retracted his offer. He returned to Dallas with Mystique, taking it upon himself (and fulfilling Destiny's dying prophecy) to rehabilitate her as she was suffering from psychological damage after having been possessed by the Shadow King. Forge and Mystique were attacked by the time-hopping mutant Trevor Fitzroy and were rescued by the X-Men. Mystique left Forge soon afterward, claiming her sufferings were a ruse to enable her to steal sensitive information from Forge's computers.

X-Factor

Forge was then contacted by Valerie Cooper to become the government liaison to a new version of the mutant team X-Factor, modeled after the defunct government-sanctioned Freedom Force. Forge soon became an active member of the team, participating on many missions and supplying the team with its technology. During this time, he was reunited with Mystique and also fixed a holographic module that contained the mutant law enforcer from the future, Shard.

When team leader Havok was MIA, Forge took his place. He later reclaimed his mystical heritage in another confrontation with the Adversary team, defeating him by using both his technological and his magical abilities.

Later still, Forge divorced X-Factor from government sanction in order to take the team underground. Soon after, however, the team was nearly destroyed by the rampaging of its member Sabretooth, and Forge quit the team, returning leadership to Havok.

Genosha

After a time, Forge was contacted by Professor X to infiltrate Genosha with Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, since Magneto had seized control over the country. In reality, Magneto's acolyte Exodus was posing as Magneto, and he captured Forge to force him to enhance his psionic powers. The X-Men rescued Forge, and he returned to his clandestine mission observing Genosha. With the apparent demise of Magneto and the freedom of Genosha, Forge returned to the X-Men where he acted as a member of the team's support crew.

Allying With Mystique

Retiring from the X-Men to create a new high-tech headquarters in Baltimore, Forge was contacted by Professor X once again. He needed Mystique’s help in order to track the murderer of one of his secret mutant operatives. They rescued Mystique from a state execution that was to be her sentence, setting her up as one of Professor X’s underground agents. Forge became her support technician, supplying her with technology and weapons, despite their rocky relationship and Forge’s continued feelings for her.

Nimrod

Forge also helped Cannonball and Siryn find Cable with the aid of Deadpool. Forge built a pair of special gauntlets for New X-Men team member Surge. Forge began working on a Nimrod unit with the primary objective of protecting mutants and secondary objective of protecting humans. It seemed that Nimrod was trying to stop the objectives from being downloaded.

Messiah Complex

After Forge sent Madrox and Layla to the future, he went on a mission at Cyclops' behest to rendezvous with the other X-Men, who were on their way to confront Sinister's forces. He was shot by Bishop during the latter's mad quest to murder the first mutant child following M-Day.

Trauma

Forge began to behave differently after Bishop attacked him. Forge suffered an array of injuries including serious head trauma. Bishop stole several time-travel devices that Forge was reverse engineering. Throughout his recovery, Forge became obsessed with recreating his notes and research on these devices. Fixated to an unhealthy degree on this project, Forge shut himself off in his home at Eagle Plaza to devote all his time to this work. But before he began, he enhanced his home’s defense systems to ensure that he could never fall victim to such an attack again.

Ghost Box

The X-Men confronted him at his complex on Wundagore Mountain over his apparent role in an inter-dimensional invasion of Earth. After following a trail of mysteriously genetically-created mutants and death, the X-Men finally track Forge down, who revealed his true madness. He endeavored to save the world from the Annexation, an invasion from a parallel world on the other side of the Ghost Box, the trans-dimensional teleporter. He planned to send his neo-mutants to the parallel universe that was home to the Ghost Boxes to destroy them before the Annexation could begin.

The X-Men then tried to talk Forge down but he rebuked them and furthered his madness by forcibly opening the Ghost Box, risking all life on Earth. Thanks to the assistance of Abigail Brand and Beast, a world-destroying laser was shot into the opening of the Ghost Box and before everything could be destroyed, Ororo offered Forge a chance to come back with them. Forge only screamed of his rejection by Ororo and she let him go. Forge remained in his complex as it was destroyed, and seemingly perished in the ensuing laser blast.

Cable's X-Force

Forge was approached by Cable who used his telepathy to create a scenario which portrayed Forge's mind as a machine. Forge used his abilities to repair the machine, thus curing himself of his insanity. As he awoke, he found an injured Cable asking Forge for his help. He then built Cable a bionic arm that he would place his deteriorating left arm into, turning it into a powerful weapon.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Forge is a mutant and Tribal Shaman.

He has been stated to be a High Threat by the O*N*E, while Nimrod inversely classified him at a Low Threat Level.

Mutant

Intuitive Genius: Superhuman intuitive talent for inventing mechanical devices. His mutant ability functions as perception, as he possesses the ability to visually perceive "mechanical energy" (the kinetic energy and potential energy present in the components of mechanical systems) in action. This power allows Forge to instinctively know and understand the potential and functional operations of any machine or technological device in his visual range, a skill that, combined with his natural intelligence, allows him to conceive, design and build mechanical devices; and operate, modify and disassemble existing technology or create countermeasures for it. Forge's superhuman talent does not mean that he is a greater inventor than geniuses such as Reed Richards, Victor von Doom, or Anthony Stark, none of whom owe their talent for invention to mutation. But even a genius at invention must, for the most part, consciously work out the theoretical principles behind the invention and then the design of the invention itself through a series of logical steps. In Forge's case, however, many of these logical steps would be worked out by his subconscious mind. Hence, Forge himself might not be entirely aware of exactly how he figured out how to create an invention of his, he often has to take apart his own inventions to see how they work. He has created fantastic futuristic devices including cybernetic systems, sophisticated holograms, and elaborate computer and fiber-optic systems.

Intuitive Intelligence: Forge's intelligence is dramatically enhanced, granting him a super genius intellect. He is capable of mentally performing highly complex geometric and trigonometric calculations instantly, and has a limitless capacity for learning and memorization. Forge's powers also extend to his muscle control, allowing him to perfectly perform very precise muscle movements such as complex billiards shots, handling small equipment, rapidly typing complex programs, etc with virtually no practice beforehand. Forge seems to see the equation being solved as if he were actually seeing it. This makes him understand mathematics at the most complex level including biological maths, chemical equations, probability, and permutation.

Intuitive Aptitude: Forge can rapidly and easily disassemble complex devices (separating every last component, such as screws, nuts, circuit boards, etc.) and, just as quickly, easily assemble complex devices. He possesses an eidetic memory, perfect pattern solving/recognition, extremely high perception/observational skills, read at superhuman speeds, and perfect deductive/reasoning skills. He can instantly learn and understand the complexity and exactness of organisms, objects, subjects, fields, powers, etc. without the need of long-term or special education.

Shaman

Sorcery: He also has a high mystical aptitude and has developed several magical spells, including a so-called "spirit sight," the ability to open portals to other dimensions, the ability to steal and use others' souls to enhance his mystical spells, and able to separate his mind from his body and travel in a spirit form (similar to Professor's X Astral Form). For the most part, he has not used these abilities in years, and hence is out of practice in wielding them.

Abilities

Forge is an accomplished athlete and trained soldier. Expertise in many areas of science and technology, extensive knowledge of Native American magic.

Weaknesses

Formerly: Forge was mentally insane. Wolverine stated during the Manifest Destiny that he was crazy for about at least twenty years, according to a CIA agent. He was then approached by Cable who used his telepathy to create a scenario which portrayed Forge's mind as a machine which was repaired by Forge, curing himself of his insanity.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Forge's right leg is cybernetic, a replacement he created for his original leg, which was lost during combat operations in Vietnam. It contains various devices which he has used in emergencies. He has also harvested it for parts.

Weapons

Forge sometimes employs devices of his own inventions. Most notable among these was his neutralizer gun that could suppress superhuman mutant abilities. The only known examples of this device have been destroyed.

Transportation

Forge has constructed and piloted several aerial vehicles. He once stole a Ghost Box from mutants invaders from an alternate reality, intending to use it as a channel to his own invading troops.

See Also

• 390 appearance(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 17 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 28 minor appearance(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 123 mention(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 234 image(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 26 quotation(s) by or about Forge (Earth-616)
• 7 item(s) used/owned by Forge (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Marvel Directory - Forge (profile)
• Forge at X-Peoples Central
• uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On... Forge