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...

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.

Backdoor Brain Befuddlement aka Mind Control Madelyne Style

Sometimes, even Chris Claremont doesn't know he's writing mind controlled characters.

Case in point, January 1986's Uncanny X-men # 201 in which Claremont gave the team time to catch their breath and reflect.

In this prototypical classic 'downtime' issue, the X-men were reflecting the many changes thrust upon them after Uncanny # 200, which featured the departure of professor Xavier, the arrival of their former archenemy Magneto as the new headmaster and...

The birth of Cyclops and Madelyne's first child: Nathan Summers.

Which was a little weird for Rachel Summers, the redhead telepathic future daughter of Scott from an alternate timeline. Here we have a touching scene between Kitty and the Summers siblings.

"Wow That's beautiful!"

It's hard to imagine just how 'beautiful' the thoughtprocess of a newborn is, considering they can't even recognise their own fingers yet. 

Still, years later during his Excalibur run, Claremont remembered this psilink, established between Kitty, Rachel and young Nathan. At the start of the Inferno storyline, Nathan was kidnapped and Rachel flew to his rescue, dressing Kitty up as a baby in the process... 

"Long story. Later."

Getting back to the actual story... Uncanny X-men # 201 saw the X-men and their former leader Cyclops returning to the mansion after some adventures in Asgard and Paris, France. Their recent experiences had left Scott with the nagging notion that he should take over as teamleader. Storm had been a more than capable replacement after he left in the wake of Jean Grey's death... But Ororo had recently lost her powers.

Scott felt this no longer made her fit to lead, forcing him to step up, especially in light of the professor's absence and Magneto's presence. Madelyne didn't really agree.

"Or... are you afraid... they really can get along without you?"

... For someone who just gave birth, Maddie Pryor sure is in amazing shape. Bye bye excess baby weight, hello skin tight mumus. And, quite understandably, she wants Scott to leave the team and be a father to his son. After all, would you prefer a husband who abandons you on a regular basis to court death? With, from her point of view, a band of strangers no less?  

Their argument led to a fight Storm broke up by offering a resolution.

"One of us must lead. The best way to choose, I feel, is a duel..."

And what better place for a duel than the X-men's holographic Danger Room?

"Hadda happen."

In a truly classic 1980s scene, the X-men and the New Mutants (along with Magneto dressed in hot purple pink in the far right) huddle in the Danger Room's control perch to witness the confrontation that's about to take place. Doug 'Cypher' Ramsey programs an environment that compensates for Storm's lack of powers. And while the two X-men leaders throw down, Madelyne has a quiet moment with the baby...

"I want Scott to lose, so he'll be coming with us. Except losing will break his heart."

And ow dear... he *did* lose...

"I don't believe it. I'm dreaming! This isn't happening! I lost"

Scott doesn't know the half of it. He leaves the team to be with his wife and son, but before long he abandons them after learning his first love Jean Grey was still alive. Along with the former original X-men, Scott and Jean formed the new team X-Factor, took a hold of baby Nathan... While Madelyne was abandoned and, well... let's see how she fared?

After some decidely convoluted doings, Madelyne was almost killed by the Marauders... This assassination attempt only made sense, considering their leader Mr. Sinister was the one who created Maddie, a clone based on a genetic sample of Jean Grey.

When Jean returned, Madelyne had become superfluous to the evil genius' plans... Not in the least because she had already gave birth to a child that contained Mr. Sinister's ideally imagined bloodlines: Jean & Scott.

But poor Maddie would soon become essential to the schemes of Limbo demons S'ym and N'astirh, who ultimately transformed her into the Goblin Queen during the 1989 Summer crossover Inferno.

The X-men and X-Factor gathered to oppose her, but in X-Factor # 38, Louise Simonson had the Goblin Queen drop a little truth bomb...

"I didn't know that till later, that my nascent powers had awakened."

It may seem like a bit of a cheat of a convoluted cop out, but it actually makes sense. If you clone a telepathic telekinetic, it only makes sense you end up with a clone that has at least a similar genetic potential.

But Scott kept things in perspective.

"Stop! ENOUGH!"

Mind controlled or not, the X-men and X-Factor joined forces to stop the Limbo demon's invasion and Madelyne didn't survive the experience...

All's well that ends well, but with Maddy revealed as the reason Cyclops lost... one does wonder who would win: Cyclops or Storm?

Any thoughts?

Excalinferno Part II: Go Go Goblin Princess!

It took the rest of Excalibur the better part of a day to reach New York, but it only took a few minutes for Meggan to lose control of her mind. Y'see, Meggan's a magical faerie creature capable of transforming herself to please whatever prevalent mood or mindset she finds herself in. She has no real control over this power, so guess what happens to her when she's hovering over a demon infested city of millions that reeks of evil? 

Yeah... You guessed it.

Quickly forgetting she ever was a good guy to start with, Meggan dumped Nightcrawler and sought out the leader of the demon horde N'astirh... who was ever so pleased with his new follower.

Just take a minute to really read the dialogue. It just oozes pure S&M roleplay. "This will hurt", the master warns his slave... "I don't mind", she answers to her master's pleasure. "Even better." Remember how Marvel used to market this as an all ages fun and games book? ... Sigh.

Thus was born... the Goblin Princess. Not quite as evil as the Jean Grey clone turned sour Madelyne Pryor, but still pretty nasty as she soon proved while tormenting her teammates.

Now, precious... I have you forever!"

The Goblin Princess is basically still Meggan, with all her insecurities about herself and her relationship with Captain Britain intact. So it makes sense she would focus her newfound might on him first, by mind controlling him.Shadowcat phases inside the movie theatre and quickly realises she might be in wayyy over her head.

Yup, that's Captain Britain as the Goblin Princess' champion, a warped amalgam of 80s movie icons  like Rambo (the guns & headband), Freddie Krueger (the fingerclaws) and an axe from any generic horror slasher, but lets say The Shining.

Yes, yes, we're still reading Excalibur: the all ages fun book. Try and explain that to your children when they come crawling into bed with you, crying about nightmares after reading this issue.
Also: nice slice of strawberry cheesecake there, Kitty...


Meanwhile, Nightcrawler found himself under attack by the weirdness of Inferno, which caused inanimate objects to come to life and attack the living. In this case, all the mannequins in a department store who attacked the living in a zombie like frenzy. Nightcrawler coulda sworn he saw Rachel in a wedding dress in the store window, but look who is assaulting him...

Using his teleportation powers, Nightcrawler freed the Phoenix-like mannequin from the horde of dolls, ready to unite the doll with the real Rachel. But Kurt'd better hurry up, because the demonic priest who was ready to marry Rachel with the demon Crotus is about ready to join them together in whatever passes for holy matrimony...

Still, Kurt wasn't the only member of Excalibur who was having troubling cutting through the Inferno madness. Luckily, Kitty found herself with a sword. Thanks to her close friendship with Limbo's former ruler Illyana Rasputin, Kitty manifested the Magik armour ánd the enchantment ending soulsword. One swipe of that blade can end any and all magic spells. Alas, sometimes the sword is nowhere near as quick as the spoken word...

Ahh, talk about an almost perfect case of mind control... The Goblin Princess suffers from an ever so convenient spell of weakness while transforming Kitty into an actual Shadowcat, giving her enough time to use her soulsword fascimile...

One slice of the sword reverted the Captain back to his old self, and another hurl of her blade did the same for Meggan...

With Meggan reverting back to her old self, all that's left is getting Rachel back from her marriage to the demon Crotus. Take it home, Nightcrawler...

Having Kurt throw the evil book on the equally evil fire somehow caused Meggan to revert back to her old self. With all of Excalibur free from mind control, issue # 7 had a happy ending. But, wait... weren't they supposed to rescue baby Nathan? Wasn't that why they travelled all the way from Great Britain to New York? 


Nope, unfortunately, Excalibur played no part in the final episode of Inferno. That was all up to the X-men and X-Factor. Fortunately, Claremont wrote this little scene in issue # 8, as a coda of sorts...

Yep, and that's all the influence Excalibur had on the Inferno... The only member who didn't end up mind controlled was Nightcrawler, who was already a demon to begin with. Great start for the new team, people!