--LISTEN UP! You've all been talking. Gossiping. About one of our classmates is going to go to jail. You should be ashamed of yourselves. He's a mutant. Just like you and me. Some flatscan from the FBI shows up and says he's dangerous. And you all believe it? So Kevin Ford is dangerous? We all are. We're the next next step in evolution and they want to shut us down. And all you can do about it is gossip. Take a good look at Kevin 'cuz he could be you. 
- —Hellion[src]
History
Early Years
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Hellion
Born to a wealthy family, Julian Keller had always been the black sheep in his family. When his mutant abilities surfaced, his parents did not reject him, but advised that he keep them hidden.When he insisted on using them in public, they shipped him off to Xavier's.
That's one way to use your powers.
He was originally an advisee of Northstar, were he became good friends with Anole, but his constant punishments caused him to switch advisors to Emma Frost, who saw in him great potential for heroism as well as a frightening disposition for personal gain and villainy. Julian named himself 'Hellion' in tribute to the former White Queen's first class of students. Julian Keller was leader of the Hellions, the Xavier Institute training squad instructed by Miss Frost.
His young age notwithstanding, Keller had already learned to employ his genetic mutation in a variety of inventive ways, including flight and concussive force blasts as well as the creation of telekinetic shields and transport platforms. Always looking for trouble, he was involved (along with Elixir) in reviving Magma and nearly incinerating the medical wing, as well as turning away Noriko (Surge) because she was homeless. Hellion demonstrated quite a significant interest in Sofia Mantega (Wind Dancer), the half-Venezuelan co-leader of the rival New Mutants squad. He was particularly hard on Prodigy, the New Mutants' other leader, whom he viewed as possessing a particularly useless mutant power and as a genuine competitor as a leader and strategist. However, for the school dance, he dated all three Stepford Cuckoos.
True to his namesakes, Hellion was hard-pressed to stay out of trouble. He led his squad to try and rescue Wither from FBI custody, but they were stopped by the New Mutants squad before they could interact with the government agents. Julian had a major crush on Sofia though they led rival squads. Hellion was arrogant and vocal about it, but he did possess a talent for leadership, as evidenced by his squad's winning of the first school Field Day prize.
Following the end of school, Julian invited his squad to his parents' house in California. Getting a boy made of rock and a girl made of metal onto a plane proved difficult, and Hellion started a minor brawl with airport security. After standing down, he called his family lawyer and got the Department of Homeland Security to let them on the plane. On arrival at his house, however, his parents were disappointed in the public embarrassment he caused and effectively disowned him. Julian was livid, and recalled that his parents' wealth happened very suddenly, so he broke into their safe and found documents about a "Kingmaker," and the Hellions summoned him.
The Kingmaker arrived and agreed to grant the Hellions one wish. Julian wished for fame and glory, and soon was in a position to save the Governor of California from a sniper. In return, the Hellions were asked to bring the Kingmaker a bio-weapon from Genetassist, Inc., which he planned to give to Dr. Octopus. Hellion led the raid, taking out Diamondback and Paladin in the process, and retrieve the canister. However, Hellion only agreed to give it to the Kingmaker in return for voiding their contracts. When the Kingmaker agreed, Hellion attacked, and with his full squad managed to defeat the villain, in the process also destroying the bioweapon before turning it over to S.H.I.E.L.D..
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Hellion
Post M-Day
In the aftermath of M-Day, the previous squad system was abandoned due to the diminished number of powered students. Those left were placed to join the only squad that would train under the X-Men, called the New X-Men team. Just prior to the competition, Emma asked Julian to make sure that X-23 was eliminated early. However, when given the chance to knock her out, he saved her instead, because he owed her for doing the same during a session in the "Danger Cave". As a result, Emma placed Surge as team leader to punish Julian. Surge and Hellion had a well documented mutual dislike for each other, which only intensified after M-Day. Hellion was also assigned by Cyclops and Emma to help them take down Wolverine.
During the fight with Nimrod, X-23 was severely injured and was unable to heal herself. Hellion took it upon himself to rescue her by flying to the Institute and, realizing he wasn't fast enough, begged Emma Frost to help him. She did so by removing the blocks that kept him from using his powers to his full potential. As a result he was able to save Laura by reaching the Institute in time and having Josh Foley (who was up until that point catatonic) heal her. The removal of the mental blocks caused severe physical injuries however. As the rest of his squad, Hellion was red-flagged by the O*N*E, and his threat level readjusted.[3]
While asleep he was watched over by X-23, who left seemingly hurt when a still dreaming Julian spoke Sofia's name. Julian later woke up and was in perfect physical condition, however his powers had increased to dangerous levels and he lost some of his fine control. This resulted in a few incidents, including Julian throwing Rockslide out a window, along with Julian's bed and accidentally blowing up the floor of the Danger room while picking up a paper clip.
Alongside Nori, Hellion was one of the students who wasn't transported to Limbo. While he and Surge argued about his reckless disregard for her leadership by leaving with X-23 to save Mercury and not telling her, the other students inside the X-Mansion got transported to Limbo while they were still outside. Trance used her powers to get a message to the two. She told them that they were taken to hell and then she said "Belasco" and disappeared. Surge and Hellion went to the O*N*E. They found out that Amanda Sefton was in a coma in Germany. The two demanded that they be the ones to go see her. Later Hellion, Surge, and a Sentinel were transported to Limbo by Sefton. They were greeted by thousands if not millions of demons. After Illyana came to her senses, she teleported everyone back to the X-Mansion.
Hellion was one of the students who went up against the Hulk when he showed up at the Institute. He used his powers to pin down the Hulk in the first attack but Hulk knocked him away. When Hellion went in for a second attack he was the first to be defeated. Hulk realized he is a telekinetic so he got him out of the way. Hulk smashed his hands together which created a boom which knocked out Hellion, rupturing his eardrums.
Later, the students all gathered to find out who the youngest student was. During the meeting, Nori kissed Julian in front of Prodigy. Julian pushed her off and noticed an upset X-23 leave. He told Dust his best friend was dead, the girl he thought he loved was gone, his mentor had flipped out, he couldn't stop thinking about a girl who literally scared him, and he had to deal with Nori. He then walked in on Nori and David in the middle of a fight. He threw David against the ceiling and when he asked Nori if she was OK, David hit him from behind and injured him. He then told David that he 'didn't kiss her.' to which David replied, 'I know.' He was then told he should go see Elixir about his injuries.
Messiah Complex
While recovering from her injuries, Blindfold predicted that Hellion would be injured. Some of the New X-Men decided to launch a preemptive strike against the Purifiers. After spying on the Purifiers, they were ambushed by the Reavers and Lady Deathstrike, who critically wounded Hellion. Pixie managed to teleport the team out, but they were spread between Washington and the Institute. He was treated aboard the X-Jet by Mercury. After getting him to what was left of the infirmary after a Sentinel attack, Beast and Prodigy managed to stabilize him. Later, when Predator X attacked the mansion, Hellion was teleported by Pixie along with all the other wounded mutants and New X-Men to Muir Island.
Post Messiah Complex
Julian woke up in a hotel room, still hooked up to medical equipment. He found Emma Frost watching over him, who soon informed Julian that the X-Men were no more and that the school was gone. Julian immediately paniced, claiming Cessily and Sooraya would never have left him and Emma put him back to sleep. When Julian awakened again, Emma was gone and he tried to go back home, only to find his parents had put their house up for sale and moved without telling him. Julian began to search for Magneto, soon finding him and claiming that Magneto needed him.
Magneto refused, telling him that he knew Julian was extremely hurt by the people he loved, so much so that he wanted to hurt them back by joining their "greatest enemy". Magneto left Julian, telling him to enjoy his time off because a new war for mutant-kind would come soon enough.
Julian was later kidnapped along with Boom Boom and Surge by the Leper Queen and her Sapien League. The Leper Queen injected him with a modified version of the Legacy Virus. After X-Force came to save the mutants, they found out Surge and Hellion had been sent to the United Nations building. Before Wolverine could kill the Leper Queen, X-Force was teleported out by Cyclops, leaving Tabitha at the hands of the Leper Queen, who shoots and nearly kills her. Arriving back in the present, X-Force made their way to the UN building in time to rescue Hellion from the Sapien League.
Utopia
An outraged Julian practically started the riots in San Francisco, calling the campaigning humans "cave men" and stating that "these streets belong to the future!" When the riot started, Julian pounded on Simon Trask, but was then taken down by some near-by humans, while the scene was broadcasted live on Television. Later, Julian, Sunspot, Avalanche, Meld, Adam X, Match and Lorelei decided to go out to break the newly imposed curfew. Osborn's X-Men quickly intervened and subdued the rioters, sending them prisoners to Alcatraz. Emma Frost personally took out Julian, previously Hellions part of her squad and who used to be her favorite. He was later freed by X-Force, helped by Emma and Namor who had betrayed Norman Osborn. He then took residence on the island of Utopia.[4]
Hellion was seen with Surge and Prodigy, fighting the resurrected Rusty Collins.[5]
Second Coming
Hellion was seen fighting Nimrods alongside other X-Men. During the battle he was shot by a Nimrod tearing off his hands and most of one forearm, leaving him alive but seriously injured.[6] He was later moved to the sick bay on Utopia.[7]
Loss of Hands
After this, Hellion turned down an offer to join Rogue along with Magneto, Loa, Anole, and Indra on their trip to India. Filled with anger and resentment, he acknowledges that he does not want to be in public due to his fear of public reaction to his current handicap.[8]
X-23
Julian is seen along with some of the other New X-Men having a party. At the beginning he was apathetic and resented on the of the Cuckoo's attempt to help him eat a slice of pizza. He is shown being able to feed himself telekinetically although now the telekinetic energy emanates from his head rather than his hands. When X-23 shows up he is the first to talk but is interrupted by Surge's criticisms of X-23's tenure on X-Force, even though X-Force saved her from the Legacy Virus.[9]
Hearing of X-23's involvement in the Half-Way House explosions; Julian goes to see Laura in Utopia's Med Wing. There he witness Laura stab Wolverine, who unknowingly to Hellion was not Wolverine but the demon who was possessing Wolverine's body. Using his TK to restrain X-23, whom he thought had gone crazy. He tried talking to her telling her that she was his best friend, but got stabbed in the back by the demon who was possessing Wolverine's body. X-23 than agrees to go with the demon in the exchange for reviving Hellion.[10]
After Laura defeated the demon, she and Julian woke up in the Medical Wing. Julian has no memory of the demon stabbing him. Laura then visits his room to say goodbye, but when she saw that he was sleeping she didn't say a thing and walked away after watching him a bit. Unbeknownst to Laura, Julian was awake.[10]
Fables of the Reconstruction
Wanting to help Hellion after the loss of his hands during Second Coming, Dr. Kavita Rao modified the mechanical hands that Madison Jeffries made and grafted them on to Hellion. Eventually growing displeased with the prosthesis, in a fit of rage he wrecks the lab and removes them. Complaining, Hellion draws out that the X-Men have brought back the dead but cannot give him back what he lost. Rogue once again appears and drafts him into Cyclops's team to help out the rebuilding efforts in SF.
While at the site Hellion and Hope have a chat about the nature of her powers and status as the Mutant Messiah. Hellion was still embittered over his belief that someone who is supposedly all powerful is unable to help him. Hope argues that if she could help him she would, but Hellion only berates her and storms off. Feeling the urge to blow off some steam Hellion then proceeds to violently blow up debris, which lands dangerously near Hope and a small girl she met while doing the volunteer work. The two girls then decide to "chew out" Hellion, but before they do, the three are attacked by Omega Sentinel.[11]
Cyclops then interrogates Hellion while he recounted what happened next. Hellion explains that during the attack he felt his powers amplify and now had telekenetic control at the molecular level. Steering his attack through Hope and the girl, not harming them and delivering a major blow to Omega Sentinel. The rest of the team show up and demand Hellion to stand down but the attack from Omega Sentinel continues. Karima is successful in attacking and subduing most of the team coming close to killing Hope until Hellion intervenes. Hellion then delivers a massive attack violently striking blows at Omega Sentinel as she begs for him to kill her while she can still consider herself human. Hellion pauses for a moment only to happily deliver the finishing blow.
As the interrogation from Cyclops continues his confrontation asking Hellion if he has any regrets about what he did, Hellion argues that Cyclops is a hypocrite and he feels no remorse for his actions. Claiming to have no choice, but to put Hellion on probation; he then notes that most of the X-Men have come close to going down the road Hellion may be traveling but they never took it. Hellion retorts that they didn't have the stones to do it. As he leaves he is encountered by an angry Rogue who threatens to "shut him down at the source" if he ever becomes a threat to the X-Men. Hellion passes by unacknowledged by Rockslide, Anole, and Loa - the people he considered friends. Staring off he reflects on how he may no longer need either.[12]
Monster?
When Blindfold was investigating for a hidden monster that would threaten the X-Men, she came across Hellion. The two exchanged words about that fact that Hellion hadn't decided yet which path to follow. Blindfold then left him... but not without telling him he wasn't the kind of monster she was looking for.[13]
Due the extreme testing and experience he gathered during the Age of X, Julian gained significantly greater fine motor control over his hands and telekinesis.[14]
Jean Grey School
When Wolverine chose to leave Utopia behind and start the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Hellion went with him along with most of the students.[15][16]
At one point labeled a problem student, Julian was placed in Mr. Spider-Man's special class. He grew into his role as a leader with this squad, and started a relationship with Shark-Girl.[17]
M-Pox
Julian was one of the mutants poisoned by the Terrigen Cloud roaming the Earth's atmosphere. Suffering from the M-Pox, he tried to get help from the X-Men, but failed to find them. Julian then went to the New Attilan, as he decided that his death should be witnessed by the Inhumans.
Keller's powers went out of control, and started to destroy the city. Synapse disabled his powers, while Queen Medusa ordered her subordinates to take Hellion to the physicians and treat him with care.[2]Attributes
 |
Powers
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Hellion using his telekinesis
Advanced Telekinesis: Hellion is classified as a first-class telekinetic of extreme strength and magnitude. Before the psionic blocks on his mind were unlocked, he was able to telekinetically move, levitate, control, and manipulate people, and multiple inanimate objects with mere thought via his hands or eyes alone. He can use this to various effects. He is able to fly, create small bright green-colored telekinetic shields and barriers, unleash incredibly powerful blasts of bright green telekinetic force and, freely control and manipulate several objects from a huge distance. Since his abilities are mind-based, it means that if he's unable to concentrate or form a thought, he's unable to use his powers. This also means that most of his powers are controlled by his emotions and feelings and can often get out of hand if he gets angry enough, causing nearby objects to telekinetically combust (similar to the ability of molecular combustion) or random destructive telekinetic bursts to happen, even sending things flying depending on how passionate he's feeling. Even when Julian's just annoyed, his eyes will turn green by instinct. He also lacks fine motor control and has trouble focusing on tiny objects without them exploding and taking out everything. When Emma Frost had telepathically unlocked subconscious blocks on his ability, Hellion was able to reach a flight speed of at least twice the speed of sound, but was severely injured from the physical strain afterward. Recovering, it appears that while his power levels have come down from Frost's telepathy, they have stabilized at a much higher power-level than ever before, and he is having trouble fully focusing his abilities e.g. blowing holes in the floor while picking up a paper clip, knocking Rockslide through a wall. He can now control matter at a molecular level. This was proven when he sent a light green-colored telekinetic blast through Hope and into Omega Sentinel without harming Hope, but completely destroying Omega Sentinel in the process. His telekinetic force-fields and barriers can withstand the friction and wind pressure of moving at speeds beyond the speed of sound and survive fighting Nimrod. He also jettisoned Kimura through a building and 27.3 miles away when rescuing his teammate Mercury.
When using his exceptionally strong telekinetic abilities, Julian's hands, outer edges of his body, and the objects or people he telekinetically manipulates and controls glow in a light green telekinetic aura. When Hellion uses his psionic ability, the telekinetic energy he creates glows a bright green and makes a 'Vrrrrm' sound effect. (The color only became apparent halfway through the New X-men: Academy X series, while the sound effect was introduced in New X-men: Childhood's End). While Julian rarely ever uses hand-to-hand combat, when he does, it's often pumped with his telekinesis behind it, making it a formidable attack. The telekinesis generally forms a shield around his fist and body and that allows him to pretty much punch through everything if necessary, simply because of the amount of thought he puts behind it.
According to the O*N*E, Hellion was a Significant Threat at the time of the M-Day.[18] Nimrod classified him as a Threat Level: High,[19] and after defeating him and having his powers unlocked by Emma Frost, he was red-flagged and reclassified as a Severe Threat by the O*N*E.[3]Abilities
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Trivia
See Also
- 194 appearance(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 10 minor appearance(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 7 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 143 image(s) of Julian Keller (Earth-616)
- 9 quotation(s) by or about Julian Keller (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Spider-Man and the X-Men #6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 New X-Men (Vol. 2) #33
- ↑ During the Utopia crossover.
- ↑ X-Force (Vol. 3) #21–22
- ↑ X-Force (Vol. 3) #27
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 X-Men: Second Coming #2
- ↑ X-Men: Legacy #238
- ↑ X-23 (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 X-23 (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ X-Men: Legacy #242
- ↑ X-Men: Legacy #243
- ↑ X-Men: Legacy #244
- ↑ X-Men: Legacy #248
- ↑ X-Men: Regenesis #1
- ↑ Wolverine and the X-Men #1
- ↑ Spider-Man and the X-Men #1–6
- ↑ X-Men: The 198 Files #1
- ↑ New X-Men (Vol. 2) #31
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5