Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)

Arclight
Name	Philippa Sontag
Current Alias	Arclight
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Marauders, formerly 198, Femizons
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5′8″ (1.73 m)
Weight	126 lbs (57.15 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Violet
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant clone again and again
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Vietnam
Place of Death	New York; Paris' sewers
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American (presumed)
Occupation	Refugee; former criminal, soldier
Base of Operations	Mobile
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr.
First	Uncanny X-Men #210 (July, 1986) (shadow) Uncanny X-Men #211 (August, 1986) (1stfull)
First	Uncanny X-Men #210 (July, 1986) (shadow) Uncanny X-Men #211 (August, 1986) (1stfull)

History

Origin

Arclight was once a soldier serving in American peacekeeping forces during a conflict in Southeast Asia. The experiences there severely traumatized her, and she retains bitter memories of that place. She used her rage to fuel her bodybuilding, which she further used to augment her mutant abilities.

Marauders

At some point, Sontag became a member of the Marauders, a team of superhuman assassins brought together by the mutant thief Gambit when he was in the employ of the enigmatic Mister Sinister. On Sinister's orders, the Marauders massacred the underground community of mutants known as the Morlocks. Arclight is possibly the cruelest of the Marauders, taking great delight in murder and mayhem and always eager to prove herself up against an opponent with a reputation. In the course of the massacre, the Marauders, including Arclight, clashed with various superhuman champions, including the superhuman mutant adventurers known as the X-Men and X-Factor. Her physical strength was gained half due to her mutation and half to her obsessive body-building, her defense against the wartime nightmares which still plagued her in secret.

Arclight and the rest of the Marauders originally died during the demonic invasion of Manhattan that came to be known as the "Inferno", but Sinister had the technology to clone the Marauders thanks to him retaining samples of their DNA. Thus, Arclight continued to appear among the Marauders in all subsequent activities, including their battles with Cable and X-Man, each time on behalf of Mister Sinister.

During the track of Threnody and X-Man, she was killed by Riptide, manipulated by Nate Grey, after having been herself lured into killing Blockbuster.

Femizons

For a brief time, Arclight served as a member of the Femizons, an all-female superhuman army led by the other-dimensional warrior woman known as Superia. During this time, Arclight clashed with the super-soldier Captain America and the mercenary named Paladin.

The 198

After the House of M events, Arclight joined the mutant refugee camp on the grounds of the Xavier Institute, the inhabitants of which came to call themselves the 198. She seemed to have a romantic relationship with fellow Marauder Scalphunter, and didn't hesitate to use this relationship to cement her tenuous position as second-in-command.

Marauder again

For unknown reasons, Arclight left the 198 team and rejoined her former longtime team the Marauders. Arclight, along with the help of the Marauders and new members Mystique and Lady Mastermind attacked the X-Men unexpectedly.

She later joined the Marauders gathered by Da'o Coy Manh against her will as the others, and attacked the X-Men. She was eventually found dead, having killed each other with Harpoon.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Shockwave Generation: Arclight can direct a wave of energy by striking a victim with her hands or feet. This typically creates a massive shockwave, damaging and/or disorientating all within her line-of-fire, shattering objects, creating shock waves. Her hands give off a bright light upon impact.
• Superhuman Strength: Arclight possesses superhuman strength allowing her to lift approximately 50 tons.
• Superhuman Durability Arclight possesses a high degree of durability, protecting her against such damage as impacts caused by being struck by superhuman opponents.
• Superhuman Endurance Arclight's endurance is far superior to a normal human's.

Abilities

Arclight is trained in covert ops, and is an above average hand-to-hand combatant.

Trivia

• Dyed her hair Purple. She has dyed it blue and pink as well.
• Arclight's codename comes from the B-52 bombings during the Vietnam War, also called Operation Arc Light.
• Arclight was at one point depicted as unusually tall, and with the physique of a body-builder, but in recent appearances she has gained a more conventional comic-book female appearance.
• Arclight's cloning partner in the Marauders is Vertigo.

See Also

• 49 appearance(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 6 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 11 minor appearance(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 29 image(s) of Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)
• 2 victim(s) killed by Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Philippa Sontag on Marvel.com
• Philippa Sontag on Wikipedia.org
• Danny Wall's Unofficial Handbook to the Marvel Universe