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History: The Acolytes are a group of mutants who have embrace
d the teachings of the mutant Magneto (see Magneto).
Led originally by Fabian Cortez, the Acolytes first
encountered Magneto on Asteroid M, a space station
created by Magneto orbiting Earth. The Acolytes
requested and were granted sanctuary by Magneto
from American soldiers that were chasing them, and
remained on Asteroid M. The Acolytes first encountered
the mutant team known as the X-Men when the Acolytes
attempted to deliver retribution to the island nation of
Genosha, which had recently granted freedom to its
mutant slaves (see X-Men). The X-Men were defeated by
the Acolytes and Magneto, and were taken to Asteroid M.
Soon after, Magneto kidnapped Professor Xavier and Dr.
Moira MacTaggert, taking them to Asteroid M (see Professor X).
An attempt to turn the captured X-Men was thwarted by the remaining X-Men,
who had stormed Asteroid M in order to rescue their comrades.
It was soon discovered that Cortez had betrayed Magneto,
who had been injured by Wolverine (see Wolverine). |
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Cortez' "healing"
had been causing further harm to Magneto, and the former Soviet Union
had sent a pulse cannon to destroy Asteroid M and everyone aboard. Cortez
escaped the destruction, as well as the X-Men. Magneto, however, remained
on Asteroid M with the Acolytes Chrome, Annemarie, and Delgado. Asteroid
M crashed in the Middle East upon reentry to Earth. During the reentry,
Chrome used his power to change elements to protect Magneto from dying,
but the Acolytes perished in the process. Magneto survived reentry,
and disappeared for some time. Cortez was revealed to be a member of
the Upstarts, a group of young mutants vying for their own leadership
by killing mutants for "points." Now that Magneto, believed
to be dead, was elevated to the status of martyr (by Cortez' own hand),
Cortez was able to recruit more mutants to the Acolytes' cause. The
next move by the Acolytes came about as the Acolytes Unuscione, Cargill
(formerly Frenzy of the Alliance of Evil), and the Klienstock triplets
attacked the Our Mother of the Sacred Heart School in upstate New York.
The purpose of the attack was to capture a young boy who would become
a mutant upon adolescence. The attack was stopped by the X-Men, and
the boy was rescued after he was discarded by the Acolytes when he was
discovered to have Down's Syndrome. At some point during this time,
Magneto, bitter after Cortez' betrayal, found and recruited the mutant
known as Exodus (see Exodus).
Magneto returned
to space and created Avalon, a second space station created from Shi'ar
technology that was stolen during the time that Magneto was in charge
of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (see Shi'ar). After the attack
on the Mother of the Sacred Heart School, the X-Men discovered the Acolytes
were hidden in an abandoned monastery named Mont Saint Francis on the
coast of France, where the Acolytes had taken the again-captured Dr.
MacTaggert. MacTaggert was rescued, and the Acolytes were driven from
the island. The Acolytes then attacked a hospital in Wantaugh, Virginia,
killing humans that were already dying. The government mutant team X-Factor
was called in to investigate and while doing so captured the Acolyte
Spoor. Spoor only revealed the Acolytes' plans in the presence of Quicksilver,
who is Magneto's son (see Quicksilver). Spoor revealed that the Acolytes'
next target was the military base in Camp Hayden, Kentucky.
X-Factor journeyed
to Camp Hayden and drove off the Acolytes, only to discover that Camp
Hayden was actually a front for a plant producing the robotic Sentinels.
After the attack on Camp Hayden, Magneto returned with Exodus, revealed
Cortez' betrayal, and wrested control of the Acolytes from him. To recruit
other mutants, Magneto sent Exodus to retrieve the remaining New Mutants
(Cannonball, Sunspot, Meltdown (then Boomer), and Rictor), along with
the brainwashed former Mutant Liberation Front members, Rusty and Skids
(see individual entries). Magneto reversed the brainwashing technique
used on Rusty and Skids, who joined the Acolytes. The others refused,
and escaped Avalon with the remaining members of X-Force, who followed
them to the space station. Magneto returned to Earth during the funeral
of Illyana Rasputin, a young mutant who had recently died of the Legacy
Virus (see Magik). Magneto offered the assembled mutants at the funeral
membership in the Acolytes, and the offer was accepted by Colossus,
Illyana's brother, who had lost his belief in Xavier's dream (see Colossus).
Colossus returned to Avalon and the X-Men soon assaulted the base. The
attack ended when Professor Xavier wiped Magneto's mind clean, reducing
him to a vegetative state.
Exodus assumed leadership
of the Acolytes, and remained on Avalon. Cortez resurfaced in an attempt
to take control of Genosha, taking Magneto's granddaughter Luna as a
hostage. Luna was rescued by a combined effort of the X-Men, which included
her father Quicksilver,
and the Avengers, which included her mother, the Inhuman known as Crystal.
Exodus killed Cortez during the rescue in the sewers beneath Hammer
Bay, the capital city of Genosha. The Acolytes remained on Avalon until
they had retrieved a cocoon from space, which happened to house the
dimensionally displaced mutant known as Holocaust (see Holocaust). On
Avalon, Holocaust reawakened, killed the Acolytes Rusty and Milan, and
the ensuing fight between him and Exodus destroyed Avalon, plunging
the Acolytes, along with the X-Men Cyclops and Phoenix, to Earth (see
Cyclops, Phoenix). Phoenix had landed safely, but Cyclops, along with
the Acolytes Unuscione, Cargill, Scanner, and the remaining Klienstock
twins, landed in the Australian Outback, where Cyclops led them to the
former X-Men base in Australia, and the Acolytes were arrested. The
current whereabouts of the captured Acolytes, along with the chances
of them regrouping, are currently unknown.
First appearance: X-MEN (second series) #1
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