Meet M Squad: The Mind Controlled Mutant Menacers

"The Empire State building is GROWING!"

One of Chris Claremont's best loved traits as a writer is his knack for casually introducing seemingly irrelevant characters that eventually blossom to fill a far more prominent role. Case in point: these scientists arguing in the background in the opening pages of Uncanny X-men # 240.

The reason they thought the Empire State building was growing that, well, it was... New York was about to be hit by Inferno and the city's landmark was the focal point of the demon invasion. Madelyne Pryor would soon turn into the Goblin Queen and she was already being surrounded by demons.

Very hungry demons...

"I don't remember these murals... from when we came up."

Yes, Madelyne had sicked her personal demon dogs on them... And, apparently the poor, hapless scientists didn't survive the experience.

"I think these belong to the lady scientist. I wonder why she dropped them."

So that, it seemed, was that, for the silly looking cadre of academics... That is, until Uncanny X-men # 244, in which Jubilee was causing ruckus in an LA mall during her first appearance... 

"We need trained professionals."

So, do I need to say it, really? The mall cops called these guys in...

"Have no fear, citizens... M SQUAD is here!"

Well, how do you like them apples? They actually survived being attacked by demons... and apparently, that encounter caused a bunch of ordinary scientists to become mutant hunters? What caused them to change?

"One night, last Summer, something happened.
We don't talk about it, that's why we left town and changed fields."

Ignoring the obvious Ghostbusters similarities, right down to their car, the M Squad seemed possessed by their Inferno infected equipment. And this band of miscreants had to capture mutant mallrat Jubilee. Luckily, some of the X-men just happened to be shopping at that same mall. 

"Trouble!"

Luckily, some of the X-men just happened to be shopping at that same mall. 

"Follow me, M Squad... Let's get them!"

Well, needless to say, even with their Inferno powered weaponry, the M Squad were no match for Storm, Rogue, Psylocke and Dazzler. Before long, the X-women had defeated them and returned to Australia... with Jubilee.

On a completely non mind control related subject... Jubilee decided to follow the X-men home by jumping after them... Only seconds after they'd passed through Gateway's teleportation portal. You'd think she'd arrive at about the same time the X-men would, but no... Jubilee was able to enter the X-men's outback base for months, holing up in the many service crawlways, before revealing herself to save Wolverine from the Reavers.

Ah well, at least we saw the last of M Squad...

Regaining Rogue part II: So You Think You Can Rogue?

Remember Uncanny X-men # 182 ...?

It's the one where Rogue lost control of her mind and Carol Danvers' psyche finally managed to resurface, albeit temporarily... Well, that was just the first confrontation in the ongoing war for mental domination of the grey matter.

Remaining kind of dormant during the X-men's plights, even ignorning the fact Rogue died and was reincarnated during the battle with the Adversary, Carol was still alive and well inside Rogue's head when the two of them found themselves in Genosha during Uncanny X-men 236. The Genoshan mutant Wipeout had used his own mutant abilities to delete Rogue's, so she was a helpless, defenseless victim...

Even worse, without her natural ability to keep back the imprints of those she had taken over in the past, Rogue's mind ran the risk of being taken over by, well, anyone ranging from a random Dire Wraith to Loki and Captain America. Luckily, Carol was there to help out...

"You'll have to trust me!"

Carol Danvers took over from Rogue, right in time for the former secret agent to deal with the arrival of a few handsy Genoshans...

Carol quickly took care of them and then freed her old war buddy Wolverine. Together, they took down the Genoshan regime a peg or two, despite the fact Logan was suffering from adamantium poisoning without her healing factor... But the second Wipeout was forced to restore their powers, Wolverine was back to her old self and so was Rogue.

That is, until the Australian outback days of Uncanny X-men # 244  when Rogue threw a sudden temper tantrum.

"It's her, Storm, don'tcha see?! Ahh, golly-gosh, don't any of y'all understand?!"

Yup... After Genosha, Carol had used their deal to subtly take over Rogue's mind on occasion... Let's see what she did with that self claimed liberty... 

"Look around... Without even so much as a by-your-leave"

For some time now, Carol had subtly been influencing Rogue's decisions... Which resulted in not so subtle things like redesigning Rogue's living quarters.  So when Rogue finally regained control for a second, she got understandably pissed off.

Still, one might think it's only understandable a young woman like Carol Danvers, snuffed out in the prime of her life, would also long to live a little... albeit vicariously through the woman who snuffed out that life.

But Rogue was fed up with this mental time sharing deal and begged to be released...

"Psylocke... You're a telepath! You can wipe Danvers outta my head!"

The presence of two seperate yet intertwined minds within one body, made Rogue and Carol's psyches not unlike Siamese twins. Psylocke was unable to cut and separate the two of them, condemning them to spend their lives together. It didn't go over well with Louisiana's favorite skunk haired river rat...

Storm had very little sympathy for her plight, though...

"Sorry about that"

Rogue's apologising? Ow, heavens no...

"I figured the kid could use a chance to cool off".

Carol took over, a change made clear by Rogue's eyes shifting from green to blue... Also, the whole 'not smashing stuff and yelling at anyone in sight' was kind of a tip off, along with Carol wistfully filling in her teammates on what had happened.

"... Finally, I got fed up and took over."

So, when she got half the chance, we got this resolution...

"You cannot keep her locked away forever, Carol"

Well, that's what Carol tried to do, until she and Rogue got sucked into the Siege Perilous in Uncanny X-men # 247.

When Rogue reemerged, the Siege had separated her from the Carol essence still inside of her. That stolen bit of lifeforce had also respawned as a rather horrific memory of sins and things past... And she came to get her revenge a little under two years later in Uncanny X-men 269 when Rogue and the Ms. Marvel remnant had a physical struggle to determine who was worthy to lead her life...

"We don't possess sufficient life-foce between us to sustain two independent beings. As one prospers, the other rots! And guess what, "shugah"... that won't be ME"

Oy, Rogue seemed to be in a real pickle... Freshly reincarnated by the Siege Perilous and freed from the Ms. Marvel aspect of her soul, she was about to die in the Savage Land... 

"No matter how hard ah try... nothin' works... She's drainin' me, body an' soul... like ah did her"

But just as Rogue was about to succumb to the Ms. Marvel remnants's madness, a certain someone stepped in to make sure the right gal won the struggle...

"ARRGH!" indeed...

"I chose you"

Magneto killed the newly spawned 'Ms. Marvel', allowing Rogue to survive. For some reason, despite being reverted to her old self thanks to a trip through the Siege Perilous, it didn't take long for Rogue to regain her powers...especially the ones she'd stolen from Carol.

So much for leasons learned...

Regaining Rogue part I: Applying A Little Rossi For That Black Eye

"Ah'm Carol... In all the ways that count!"

Welll, how dó we explain this one?

Remember how back in 1981, Rogue forcibly took over the powers and mind of Ms. Marvel? Sure ya do, it was back in Avengers Annual #10. 

Yeah, funny story: turns out you can't just absorb another person without some serious repercussions. After getting drained, Carol remained dormant for a while... But all of that changed in 1984's Uncanny X-men # 182 in which Rogue lost control of her mind.

A little background: this tale is set right after the X-men returned from the gruelling events of the first Secret Wars. The X-men departed the Beyonder's Battleworld and, much to their own surprise, found themselves in Tokyo upon being returned to Earth. Before long, they'd be forced to fight Lockheed's dragon girlfriend who had grown to giant size and planned to turn downtown Tokyo into her nest... But before all that went down, professor Xavier asked Rogue to check in on the New Mutants back in Westchester... Which meant she had to fly halfway across the world.



I know this tale is set in the early 80s, welll before the internet made global communication a lot easier... But how about dropping a yen or two in the nearest payphone and simply call home?

Just a thought.

Still, flying from Tokyo to the States tired her out so much that Carol's spirit was able to gain dominance. Once she got home, she found the New Mutants missing, they were busy getting mind controlled by Emma Frost at the Massachusetts Academy, but the school's answering machine also included a call for help from one colonel Rossi... Hearing his voice was all it took for Carol to take over.

Rossi happened to be one of Carol's former lovers and he was being held captive. Carol/Rogue immediately flew off to rescue him and even invaded their fearsome flying fortress... the Helicarrier. In this really cool scene, Carol's smarts combine with Rogue's innate brashness to come up with an impromptu way of breaching the Carrier's defenses...

Penny for your thoughts...

She was able to rescue Rossi from SHIELD's clutches, but was shocked when the colonel (naturally) didn't recognise the young woman. When she told him the story, Rossi freaked out and slapped her. No way to treat a lady... especially one who can absorb your mind when her skin touches yours...

"I wish I had the power to kill you."

Wait, he *did* just hit her with his bare hand, right? So much for falling prey to her aforementioned powers!

Ow, continuity...

Rogue and Cyclops Get Mind Controlled: The Sinister Way

When one thinks of Inferno, it mostly summons up images of an unending horde of demons invading New York.

And while a lot of that did indeed go down, back in 1989, during the finale of Inferno, there were no more demons to be fought, only those ephemeral inner ones. Limbo's merger with Earth was halted well before the finale... Heck, even the Goblin Queen was defeated before that. Meaning the end game was played between just the X-men, X-Factor and... Mister Sinister.

I guess that explains this particular house ad...

With S'ym and N'astirh vanished and gone, the X-teams faced Mr. Sinister in X-Factor # 39. It was the first time the mastermind behind the Marauders, among other threats, fought Xavier's children head on. In an added, sadistic twist, their confrontation took place on the site of Professor Xavier's wrecked school for gifted youngsters...

One by one, the X-men and X-Factor tried to take down Sinister and the Marauders' leader Malice, who was still in control of Polaris. They didn't exactly have the best of luck, Sinister brushed off most of their assaults... And when Rogue tried to take him out by draining his essence... This classic example of reverse mind control happened.

"YOU... absorb me, child? Never. I am strongest... by far the dominant personality...
And I have become YOU!"

Yup, Sinister's physical form may have been incapicated, his mind is in control of Rogue's far more powerful form. He takes over her mind and knocks out Cyclops, who he's had a special interest in from the get go, which readers of Classic X-men (or this blog) already knew.

"On your knees to me, your master!"

Bless Sinister for posing like a cheesy 1950's movie villain... But he wasn't too wrong, after all he'd been subtly influencing young Scott Summers from the moment he was unfortunate enough to end up in an orphanage run by Sinister.

The master villain immediately realised Scott's genetic potential and just how he could put it to his advantage... But what's the one rule of creating a super weapon? Why, making sure you can't be harmed by it's effects, of course!

And in Scott's case, it involved a fair bit of mind control.

"How wonderful, child. How... deadly."

The Inferno crossover revealed it wasn't professor Xavier who first came up with the ruby quartz glasses that kept Cyclop's optical blasts in check... It was Sinister all along. For some reason, the seemingly omnipotent villain feared Scott's power and made sure he couldn't be harmed by it.

"Cyclops is under some form of mind control."

Storm was right... Or, as Rogue points out: he can't use his optic blast against Mr. Sinister. But leave it to the formerly mind controlled Havok, Scott's brother, to sort him out. After Jean uses her power to restrain Cyclops, Alex confronts his brother... And he's being a right diva about it.

"Well, well, well... look at poor Scott, all helpless! What's the matter, brother of mine?"

Hitting his brother senseless didn't exactly help him snap out of it... But luckily, Scott was able to rid himself of his conditioning it when he saw this...

"You see, Scott? He has Jean!" You know what he'll do to her!"

And that was enough to snap Scott out of his mind control madness. He rushed up to Sinister and took control... mostly by opening his visor wide...

Done and done? Oh, lord no...

But I don't mind controlling my wise ass'ed ness. Why ruin the moment for Scott and co?

Madelyne's Mean Mind Control part III: X-tracting The Worst.

Assuming the role of the Goblin Queen during Inferno changed Madelyne Pryor.

A lot.

For one thing: she developed certain abilities... No doubt because she was a clone of Jean Grey, one of the world's premiere telepathic minds. Maddie's mutant powers however, focussed more on moral corruption... mind control, by any other name.

At the height of Inferno, she orchestrated a meeting between the X-men and X-Factor... An encounter rife with tension, because X-Factor didn't know the X-men were still alive (nor were they easily recognisable due to Inferno's demonic corruption).

And as far as the X-men were concerned, X-Factor was little more than a team of mutant bounty hunters. Hardly what professor Xavier had in mind when he assembled his first group of students.
It made for tense moments... and having Maddie there in the opening pages of X-Factor # 38 didn't exactly help matters.

And ow yeah, she had already overpowered Jean Grey. Of course, this was signified by Jean wearing a slave collar made of energy. Anyhoo... She gleefully revealed the nature of her new powers...

"I bring out the demon in things... and in people... as I have in all of you." 

Makes sense.

After all... What could keep the X-teams from attacking the Queen? Well, apart from a virtually unending horde of demons... mostly their own teammates, of course.

Y'see, remember how Madelyne had already started to corrupt the X-men well before she even turned into the Goblin Queen? Back in Uncanny X-men # 242, Alex finally and most willingly made the decision to serve as Maddie's lover...

 "Spoken, lover, like a true Goblin Prince!"

That explains why he was at her side, tattered costume and all, when the Queen confronted the X-people in Central Park...

"I offer...the spotlight! Center stage. The starring role!"

Bless Madelyne for knowing just how to seduce the already influenced X-men. After living with them for an extended period of time, she's fully aware of their deepest desires. Dazzler always wanted to be a world famous singer, before her mutant powers forced her out of the limelight. And Longshot, while not a mutant per se, was genetically engineered to be *the* star of Mojo's many movies.

It only makes sense their life with the X-men, living in the obscurity of the Australian outback and being believed dead by most of the world at the time, left them longing for... well, recognition. And they were more than willing to do anything for that spotlight.

"The world is watching! So play your parts like the stars I know you are!"

Dazzler and Longshot brought down X-Factor charter member Warren Worthington, formerly the Angel. But after Apocalypse gave him a pair of techno organic wings and pressed him into service as one of his horsemen, the now blue skinned Warren reinvented himself as the much more volatile and deadly Archangel...

Just the right tool for a mind controlling woman intent on causing carnage...

"We have been tainted by evil. But evil is the price of power."

The Goblin Queen managed to corrupt Archangel... somewhat. But his initial corruption by Apocalypse took precedence, in a way. His techno organic wings refused to obey Madelyne's commands long enough for him to inadvertently free the others, which led to a big fight between the two X-teams and Maddie.

Who won was never really in doubt...

"X-men and X-Factor confront Mr. Sinister!"

And indeed they did... As we covered *here*.

But there was even more mind control, courtesy of Mr. Sinister... As we'll cover in the next entry.

Madelyne's Mean Mind Control Make Over Part II: Inferno Infers The Inconceivable

The Goblin Queen just might be Chris Claremont's most stereotypical creation ever.

"It appears your devices have limits. And I don't."

Yes, the Goblin Queen is 'Claremont concentrate' when it comes to the way he writes villains and powerful women. A driven, determined and strong willed woman who wields considerable power and dresses provocatively in black leather... radiant in her glory all the way through.

Goblin Queen started out as Madelyne Pryor, the self reliant pilot wife of Cyclops who was also a dead ringer for Scott's first love Jean Grey. They shacked up, had a baby boy and then it all fell apart. Cyclops abandoned her, the Marauders tried to kill her, the X-men rescued her but before long she was forced to sacrifice her life in a fight against the Adversary...

After being revived by Roma, Madelyne stayed with the X-men, tending to the advanced computer systems in their new Australian base. Those systems showed her what had happened to her husband: Scott had joined the other original X-men into forming X-Factor... With Jean Grey!  

Driven insane by jealousy, anger and grief... Madelyne slowly went down the path to become the fearsome Goblin Queen, after getting influenced by Limbo demons S'ymm and N'astirh. But before she put on the tattered, black thong bikini, she had already started to corrupt the X-men.

"No more, dear heart... nor less... than I."

Madelyne slowly started to seduce Havok, better known as Scott's brother Alex Summers. On the eve before her ascension, she slept with him... Which would lead into a plot point later in the Inferno crossover. But before that, Madelyne had another score to settle...

"I want the Marauders found... so that the X-men can pay them back..."

And in Uncanny X-men # 240, the X-men did just that. Sneakily teleporting into their base in the Morlock tunnels, the team proceeded to clean the villain's collective clocks. Their fight eventually moved to the surface and there... they noticed the city of New York was right in the middle of a demonic infestation... and the X-men weren't immune to its effects!

The Marauders were pretty much routed in Uncanny X-men # 241, when all of a sudden a new threat entered the scene...

"We are well aware of your abilities, Dazzler. There's no need to boast."

During their confrontation, Colossus noticed his teammates were rapidly changing. Becoming more rough, unhinged, lethal and yes... demonic. 

"Work ain't done, heroes... So long as a Marauder's left! Let's bust some heads!"

Storm and Wolverine are already falling prey to the Inferno lit by the Goblin Queen. The other X-men share their fate, slowly giving in to their nastiest, most undesirable impulses... Like when Longshot tries to make love to an anything but cooperative Dazzler.

"Your eye... that glow... Makes me feel...okay, lover."

Yes, they all succumbed to the madness of Maddie's Inferno. Everyone, except Colossus...

"In my heart and soul... I burn. I want to join the others... let myself be consumed..."

Colossus lumbers off by himself, eventually playing a part in the New Mutants chapters of the crossover, before returning right in time for the finale.

Speaking of which, when next we see the X-men, they've met X-Factor for the first time. There's quite a bit of distrust between the two teams, not in the least because the X-men have been fully consumed by the Inferno...

All that right around the same time the Goblin Queen finally makes her appearance as well, as we'll see in part III of Madelyne's Mean Mind Control: X-tracting The Worst.

Madelyne's Mean Mind Control Make Over Part I: Jogging The Ol' Grey Matter

Poor Madelyne Pryor...

She meant so well, but she was punished so much for being who she really couldn't help but be... A clone of Jean Grey, created by Mr. Sinister to seduce Cyclops in producing the most potent mutant offspring ever conceived... And after accomplishing that goal, all the thanks she ever got was her husband abandoning her for the real Jean, while Sinister ordered his Marauders to kill her.

Needless to say, she was more than a little ticked off at the hand life dealt her. And when Limbo's top demon S'ym offered her a better deal in Uncanny X-men # 234, the tired, slightly naive and mostly world weary Maddie Pryor accepted, thinking it was only an elaborate dream of sorts...

"And you've just bound yourself to mine!"

Turns out... It wasn't. 

S'ym had set in motion a chain of events that would turn Madelyne into the Goblin Queen, a central player in the 1989 crossover Inferno. And, clone of Jean Grey or not, by the time the story started in Uncanny X-men # 240, Maddie had proven herself capable of quite a bit of mind control ánd body transmogrification.

For example, this is what happened when she visited her own grave of sorts...

"Curse you both... I'm not your precious daughter!"

That much seems obvious... Most beloved children don't shoot their parents on sight. But the already far from mentally stable Madelyne wasn't out to kill professor John and his wife Elaine Grey. No... A fate far worse than death awaited them.

"It's but a foretaste... of what I mean to do to her!"

Yes, those are cocoons in the background. Maddie didn't murder her 'parents', no... But before she could deliver another classic 'triumphant villain' style monologue, she got an unexpected guest...

Moments after N'astirh's unexpected arrival, the Goblin Queen's pods hatched with a distinctive *skrak!* and we learn the Greys are alive and well... Sort of.

"Isn't it nice to see the professor and mrs. Grey reduced to their demonic essence."

That Madelyne! 

She had just used her Goblin Queen powers to turn two innocent civilians into a pair of mind controlled pet demons... Pawns in her war game against the woman she originated from. And this wasn't the only mind control power she wielded, as we'll see in part II of Madelyne's Mean Mind Control Make Over: Inferno Infers The Inconceivable.