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Quote1 Pops an' me been callin' her Threnody, Emil, like this banshee-song of hers. Started off almos' pretty, if you lis'ened real close. An angel's keening, sad but soulful. Quote2
—One of The Forgotten[src]

History

Origins[]

Melody Jacobs was a mutant with the power to sense people dying and absorb their dying energy.[7] However, she had little control over it, and all the deaths happening around the world, especially the agony of the mutants suffering from the Legacy Virus, started taking a toll on her and she began losing her mind.[12]

She started living on the streets of New York City and was found by the monstrous Abomination, who took her to a homeless haven underground. It was then that she was nicknamed Threnody, after her mournful cries.[13]

Upon accidentally killing a couple of fellow homeless people, she left the haven,[13] and ended up on the streets of Los Angeles, where her uncontrolled powers kept causing destruction with bursts of death energy.[11]

Melody Jacobs (Earth-616) from X-Men Vol 2 27 001

Living on the streets

Later, she sought shelter in the laboratory of Gordon Lefferts, the first recorded victim of the Legacy Virus, and, when the X-Men Beast, Rogue and Iceman came to the lab to search for clues on how to cure the virus, they found Threnody, who surprised them with her knowledge of the virus before fleeing. Curious, Rogue went after her, only to find her in the arms of Mister Sinister, who had also been investigating the virus.[11]

Sinister offered to help Threnody, seeing her potential as an aid in hunting down infected mutants, but Rogue intervened, not wanting Threnody to be a victim of Sinister's plans. However, when Hank arrived at the scene, he realized that Sinister was perhaps Threnody's best option, and her helping Sinister could actually be beneficial for the entirety of mutantkind, so they allowed Threnody to leave with him.[11]

Under Sinister's care, Threnody had huge improvements, gaining control of her powers thanks to small neuro-chips that Sinister placed around her face. In return, she was plugged to Sinister's systems to scan for mutants afflicted with the Legacy Virus, which also allowed her to learn more about the world in general, by tapping into his data banks and assimilating vast quantities of information.[2]

Melody Jacobs (Earth-616) from X-Man Vol 1 12 001

At her monitoring room

When the X-Men invaded Sinister’s lab, they found Threnody, and she secretly helped them sabotage Sinister's genetic data banks, but, despite Beast's offer, she refused to leave with them, as she believed she could do the most good from the inside.[2] She kept using Sinister's banks to learn more about the world and, as he grew suspicious of her, she began plotting her escape. During her constant monitoring, she learned of the existence of Nate Grey, a refugee from an alternative timeline, whom she viewed as her ticket to freedom. Therefore, when Sinister asked about Nate Grey, she lied and told him she'd never even heard the name before.[14][12]

With Nate Grey[]

Feeling her time running out, Threnody tried to escape and seek out Grey. Sinister immediately sent his Marauders after her, and they caught up with her in the sewers of Paris, where Threnody knew Grey was currently located. Just as Threnody was cornered by her pursuers, Grey heard her telepathic screams and jumped to her rescue. He mercilessly slaughtered all of the Marauders except Riptide, in whom he placed a false mental image of Threnody dying to deter Sinister from pursuing her further. Having nowhere to go, Threnody decided to tag along with Grey.[15]

Nathaniel Grey (Earth-295) and Melody Jacobs (Earth-616) from X-Man Vol 1 13 001

Escaping with Nate Grey

They found themselves in the Swiss Alps, where they found Grey's counterpart Cable and also the ancient mutant Exodus.[16] A fierce battle erupted between the three, and Threnody's life essence was nearly drained by Exodus, but Grey intervened and defeated the villain,[17] burning himself out in the process due to the over-extension of his powers. Cable helped save his life, but Grey was still left unconscious.[18] The Red Cross rescued them and brought them to a ski-lodge. Grey woke up to find Threnody kissing him and began to question whether he had been a pawn of Sinister all along. He reached deep into her mind to find the truth, but only ended up understanding her struggle more. Hoping to help her, he tried to remove one of her neuro-chips, but this caused an explosion, which took all of Grey's strength to stop from killing everyone, once again leaving him unconscious. Threnody thought of leaving him alone after the transgression to her private space, but couldn't bring herself to do it and decided to take Grey to a Mediterranean beach to relax.[19]

While at the beach, they were attacked by one of Grey's old enemies, the nefarious Holocaust. Several bystanders were injured in the process, and Threnody, sensing the pain, rushed to their aid, finding a man mostly crushed under a boulder. He was very close to death, but still trying to hold on; however, his death energy was intoxicating to Threnody and she used her powers to end his life for good. This caught the attention of Holocaust, who captured the girl to use her as a bargaining chip against Grey.[20] He tried to communicate with Threnody telepathically, but when she didn't respond, he was forced to enter her mind and activate her mutant power, super charged by the death energy she'd just absorbed, successfully blasting Holocaust into the ocean. However, Holocaust re-emerged from the water, once again threatening Threnody's life. Grey stood in front of one of Holocaust's blast to protect Threnody, and the two enemies squared off, with Grey eventually cracking Holocaust's armor and making him flee. Threnody, worried about Grey over-extending himself again, suggested going to the Avengers for help, as Grey was distrustful of anyone affiliated with Professor X.[21]

When they got to New York, they had some some sort of disagreement, and Threnody left Grey. Before long, the Marauders came after her, but, unlike the previous time, she was ready to face them and managed to get the upper hand. Only when Sinister made a personal appearance was she defeated and recaptured by the maniacal scientist.[7] She was later liberated by the Abomination, who took her back to his lair against her will, but once there, Grey was able to sense her telepathically and came to her rescue.[13]

Nathaniel Grey (Earth-295) and Melody Jacobs (Earth-616) from X-Man Vol 1 21 001

Kissing Grey

They remained in New York for a while and grew even closer together.[22] During this time, Threnody began lusting for death energy and so started secretly feeding off dying people everywhere, from homeless people on the street to terminally ill patients. When Grey finally learned of her action, he left, telling her he could only help her if she wanted him to.[23]

As Threnody decided to go after Grey, she was met by Madelyne Pryor, who killed her after she refused to tell her Grey's whereabouts. When Threnody didn't go after him, Grey began feeling remorse for being too harsh on her and went back, but he was unable to find her.[9]

Curiously, due to the nature of her powers, Threnody absorbed her own death energy, which combined with the energy from the other corpses of the morgue fully restored her back to life. However, in addition to being attracted by the dying, she was now attracting the dead, being constantly pursued by zombie hordes.[8]

Before long, she realized she was pregnant and sought Grey to help her get rid of the zombie hordes. She found him as her pregnancy was reaching the end, but he collapsed at her feet and only woke up after she'd given birth. She then told him about her death and her zombie problem, and Grey emotionally apologized for not being there for her, while getting rid of all the zombies coming after her. Afterwards, he told her he would never leave her side again, but Threnody feared for him due to her death addiction and pushed him away.[8]

With Deadpool[]

Threnody's child was affected by her powers, resulting in it becoming an undead and demonic creature. In order to nourish the child, Threnody required a steady supply of the necroplasmic energies she was capable of absorbing. To this end, she joined the Assassins Guild.[24] When the Assassins Guild clashed with the mercenary Deadpool, Threnody was sent with Blackout to take him down. However, she stopped Blackout from killing Deadpool, and left the Guild to partner with him and use their adventures as a new source of death energy for her child.[6]

Melody Jacobs (Earth-616) and Wade Wilson (Earth-616) from Deadpool Assassin Vol 1 3 001

Meeting Deadpool

With Deadpool, Threnody went wherever their mission would take them, from Las Vegas to New Amazonia and absorbed more death energy that she could dream of,[25] but it still wasn't enough. After Clarice, the wife of Deadpool's partner Weasel, revealed she was pregnant with his child, Threnody kidnapped Clarice, with the intention to absorb her unborn baby's energy. She hoped that the energy of Clarice's baby would be enough to cure her baby's affliction. Deadpool tried to make Melody come to her senses to no avail, so he impaled Threnody's baby to stop her. Threnody initially retaliated against Deadpool until he made Melody realize he wanted to spare her from the guilt of murdering a child. She then left him with the warning to stay away from her.[24]

Attributes

Power Grid[29]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Poor:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Medium Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Necroplasmic Energy Vampire: Threnody is empowered by necroplasm. She is capable of sensing the certain necroplasmic energies that surround a person when they are near death or dying.[26]

  • Necroplasmic Energy Manipulation: She can absorb these death energies and convert them into bursts of explosive plasma.[11]
  • Immortality: She is able to absorb the necroplasmic energy of her own death, allowing her to regenerate her body and return back to life.[8]
  • Necromancy: After dying and coming back to life, her powers began inadvertently reanimating dead people as well,[8] but she has since gained control of them as can now reanimate people to do her bidding.[27]

Weaknesses

Left alone, her powers are uncontrollable, to the point of possibly driving her insane. She wears neuro-chips Mr. Sinister gave her to stabilize her powers.[12]

Notes

Trivia

  • A threnody is a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.

See Also

Links and References

References

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