Origin
Laurie is a second-generation mutant. Her father, from whom she received her power, used his power to manipulate people and get money, fame, and women. Laurie’s mother Gail was one of these women, and stayed with him until the day his power stopped working on her, because she was pregnant with his child.
Leaving him after learning what had happened, she raised Laurie alone, and Laurie, realizing her mother had been hurt, became a quiet loner. Until one day, on holiday, she suddenly became very popular because her power had emerged. Her mother, realizing this (and immune to her pheromones), tried to talk her down gently – but Laurie, who hadn’t realized why she’d suddenly become popular, became scared of what she could do and ended up even more withdrawn than before.
Creation
Wallflower was created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Keron Grant. She first appeared in New Mutants Vol.2 issue 2 (2003).
Mayor Story Arcs
Student at Xavier’s
After the Xavier Institute became public, Gail decided to send her there, and moved to Salem Center to stay near her, so that she could have one person whose reactions she could trust. Although she insisted she live at the school to try and make her come out of her shell, it didn’t work. Laurie went through several roommates very quickly, and stayed quietly in her room, panicking, while a riot was going on, hoping she wasn’t the cause.
When Sofia Mantega came to the school, she was paired with Laurie and, given her ability to blow Laurie’s pheromones away, Sofia didn’t have to worry about being accidentally manipulated by Laurie. Refusing to let her stay in their room, Sofia started hanging around with Laurie, as did David Alleyne and Kevin Ford, with Laurie and Kevin developing mutual crushes. Then, when on a visit to meet Sofia’s “dad” (not her real father, but his manservant who’d had more time for her than her real father ever had), they got into a fight with the Reavers, and Laurie was stabbed through the chest, mortally wounded. She was only saved when Josh Foley, one of the Reavers who had just discovered he was a mutant, healed her (she quickly developed a crush on him), while Kevin, enraged, tried to kill Donald Pierce, the Reavers’ leader, by Withering him away with his power. Dani Moonstar was forced to make him confront his worst fear – killing Laurie – to make him stop, and he left the school shortly after.
Laurie continued to hang around the future New X-Men, and enjoyed her stay more, growing closer to her team squad, the New Mutants (advised by former member Dani Moonstar.) Laurie got really close with one of the members of her squad Elixir (Josh Foley), which led into she having a crush on him. At first, Laurie was not too sure about her feelings for Elixir and thought if she got too close to him her pheromones would take over and “make him” fall for her. Soon later Laurie grasped more control of her powers and she wasn’t worried about her pheromones consuming Elixir. The two New Mutants grew closer and closer and began an intimate relationship.
During their romance (Elixir & Laurie), Wither, a student on the squad The Hellions, also had a love interest for Laurie. Breaking curfew one night, Wither overheard Wolfsbane (a teacher at the school) breaking up with Elixir, telling him they couldn’t do what they were doing anymore because she was a teacher. Elixir understood and backed away from their romance and began to pursue his feelings for Laurie. Wither, pleased with what he heard, threatened Elixir that if he still went through with dating Laurie, he’d tell everyone. Elixir, not scared of Wither’s threats, still went for Laurie. Later on, Wither exposed the teacher-student relationship, breaking Laurie and Elixir up.
After this experience, Laurie grew stronger as her emotions were at a rage. Not acting usual, Laurie decided to not get pushed around anymore, which was a good thing, because her powers were at its fullest, and she had a lot more control over her pheromones.
Death
After the House of M crossover, where almost the entire mutant population lost their powers, Laurie was one of the lucky few who retained the mutant gene. Unfortunately, Kevin Ford believed he had lost his powers and reached out to Laurie, withering away her arm. While in the infirmary, Josh tried desperately to heal her again, but couldn’t. Her arm was gone. She and Josh went out to talk after Josh was thrown off the New X-Men team. This was where she was shot and killed by a sniper working for the Reverend William Stryker.
It is later revealed that Stryker had her killed because a vision, from Nimrod, about the future foretold where she would be the one to defeat his army. She would be able to stop his army in their tracks using her full power. He killed her in an attempt to prevent any chance the X-Men had of defeating him. After she died, Nimrod showed Dust taking her place as defeating his forces. She only was sixteen years old when she was killed by Willaim Stryker.
Reappearance
Laurie resurfaced in the Astonishing X-Men chapter Exogenetic (Astonishing X-Men 31-35). Confused, Emma Frost sees her in a crowd of people. Emma goes after her even though Scott points out that she has been dead for awhile. Emma claims that she never forgets one of her students. Suddenly, Laurie explodes into a Bio- Sentinel, causing mayhem in the streets with her powers. The team defeats her in the street with minimal damage.
In actuality, Laurie’s corpse had been exhumed and retooled by a survivor of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb who hates mutants called Kaga, with Sentinel Technology designed to infiltrate mutant groups and assassinate them.
Krakoa and ressurection
When the X-Men formed the Mutant-nation of Krakoa on the likewise named island of Krakoa, the mutants unlocked the secrets of ressurection. As such, allmost all (former) mutants that where killed, where ressurected by a group of mutants known as The Five. This also was the case for Wallflower, whom after being ressurected, remained on the island nation.
Powers
Wallflower’s mutant ability was pheromone-based. Physically, Wallflower generated and released powerful mutant pheromones, which altered the chemical balance in the brains of those around her. Laurie could psionically will the pheromones in any direction and manipulate different pheromones simultaneously. Her pheromones had a variety of effects, from controlling simple emotions to inducing personality changes, and in the House of M alternate reality, coerced Kid Omega to commit suicide with her pheromones. She can create pheromones that can make a person have fear, anger, lust, calm, happiness, or sleep. Laurie is immune to her own and the pheromone-based powers of her father; whether or not she is immune to pheromones in general is unknown.
Initially, she had no control over this effect at all, and she would cause everyone within range to match her moods. She later learned to control her power and was thus able to choose what effect she desired those in her proximity to experience. Her psionic control of the pheromone particles was not strong enough to prevent external forces from impeding their path; Storm and Wind Dancer both could disperse the pheromone with their wind powers.
Characteristics
Birth place: Kent, Connecticut
Occupation: Student, Adventurer
Martial status: Single
Relatives: Sean Garrison (father), Gail Collins (mother)
Education: Currently in high school level courses at the Xavier Institute
Height: 5’4″
Weight 118 lbs
Eyes: blue
Hair: blonde
Likes:
Reading, Puzzles
Dislikes:
Public Speaking
Voted:
Shyest Student
Alternate Realities
Earth-58163
House of M -In this alternate reality, Wallflower was close to her father but more distant from her mother. Both her father and her served as secret agents for S.H.I.E.L.D, who were working with Emperor Sunfire in Japan on ‘Project Genesis’ which is a classified experiment similar to Weapon X, only mutants were experimenting on humans, trying to force mutation to turn humans into mutants without the human’s consent, but mostly resulting in death or physical defects and grotesque abnormalities. When Quentin Quire read Wallflower’s mind and found out her secret, she used her powers to make him feel depressed and suicidal, ultimately ending up in Quentin shutting off his own mind, killing himself instantly. During the story’s climax, Wallflower used her powers on the New Mutants, Hellions and the Human Terrorists (who also wanted to shut down ‘Project Genesis’) to force them to hate each other so much that they would fight to the death, however Mercury (the only one immune to Wallflower’s powers in this reality and also Wallflower’s best friend) shape-shifted her arm into a large knife and used it to pierce right through Wallflower from her back, killing Wallflower and ending her pheromone-based control over the parties involved.
Media
X-men: Battle of The Atom
Wallflower appears as a support card in the mobile game X-men: Battle of the Atom. Her cards are:
- Wallflower