Origin
Josh was always a golden boy — good at sports, admired by his friends and attractive to girls. Josh also happened to be the popular one who would often pick on the the outcasts, and was also once a member of a mutant hating group, The Reavers. During his first meeting, Donald Pierce was demonstrating his blade arm and sliced Josh across the hand. The injury immediately healed itself and Josh dismissed the incident. When the Reavers conducted an attack against the students of Xavier’s, specifically Moonstar’s New Mutants Squad, Josh’s friend was injured. It was at this time that Josh discovered he had the ability to heal. Although at first Josh tried to hide this secret but eventually he decided to to use his ability for the greater good when he healed Wallflower, after she was attacked by Pierce. While he was reluctant to accept Dani Moonstar ‘s offer to come to Xavier’s, he eventually accepted when both his his family and friends rejected him for being a mutant.
Creation
Josh made his first appearance in New Mutants Vol. 2 Issue 5 (2003) and was created by Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis.
Character Evolution
When he was first introduced Josh started out as a member of an anti-mutant group but upon learning he himself was a mutant he enrolled at Xavier’s. Josh would have been described as a frat boy/ ladies man who only cared about being popular but though his time with the X-Men he has grown into a mature young adult.
Josh’s powers have also evolved with his personalty originally he could only heal minor wound but after absorbing Hank mccoy’s knowledge on human biology Josh has been able to regrow human heart’s and has also been shown to be the only know cure the Legacy Virus showing his true omega-level status.
Major Story Arcs
New Mutants Squad
At Xavier’s, Josh became Prodigy‘s roommate. The two had a rocky start to their friendship, especially because Josh felt that Prodigy constantly judged his past deeds. Josh’s parents eventually signed over full custody to the school and Danielle Moonstar became Josh’s legal guardian. Josh still felt like an outcast and sought refuge in with an ex-teammate of Dani’s, Wolfsbane.
Wolfsbane was also going through a rough phase in her life as she had lost her foster mother and her mutant abilities. She and Josh spent an evening talking together which ended in an intense kiss that caused Josh to inadvertently “heal” Wolfsbane, giving her back her powers. Unfortunately, Rahne was not in her right state of mind and brutally attacked the young mutant. It was uncertain if he would survive the attack until Prodigy suggested Surge use her electricity to wake Josh up just long enough for him to heal himself. The plan worked, but in the healing process, Josh turned himself gold, becoming the literal “golden boy” he’d always wanted to be.
Josh and Rahne continued a secret relationship for until the former called it off when she realized Josh was attracted to his teammate, Wallflower. Josh and Wallflower quickly became an item and were happy together until fellow student, Wither exposed his previous relationship with Wolfsbane. Wallflower immediately dumped Josh and used her pheromone powers to keep him away. Josh returned to spending time alone since most of his teams resented his treatment of Wallflower and the fact that he had been romantically involved with their teacher. Of all his teammates, only Surge seemed willing to forgive him. To fix the dynamics of their team, Wind Dancer persuaded the students to have a camp-out where Josh opened up about the disappointments he felt about himself. After healing both Colossus and Kitty Pryde from an incident with the Danger Room, Josh fell into a coma.
After awakening from this state, Josh decided that he wanted to take a more peaceful approach to life. This caused more tension with his teammates, with Rockslide going so far as to suggest that they may need to find a replacement for Elixir. During this time, Josh also became closer to Beast as the aforementioned X-Man taught him about biology and other life sciences in order for him to excel in the use of his powers. Anole then suggested that instead of using so much effort to learn this information, it would just be easier for the Stepford Cuckoos to simply transmit Beast’s knowledge directly into Elixir’s mind. Although reluctant to go through with this plan, he eventually went along with it.
Decimation
After the House of M, Elixir was the chosen to be a part of the New X-Men team. Unfortunately a missile hit the bus and almost instantly killed many of the depowered students it was carrying from the institute. Josh blamed himself for not helping and lashed out at Colossus, causing Emma Frost to kick him off the team. While arguing with Wallflower, she was shot by William Stryker and died in front of him. Josh later blamed himself for what happened to his love interest. Josh later got his revenge by killing Stryker himself. This caused Josh’s skin to temporarily turn jet-black.
Childhood’s End
Seconds after Josh killed William Stryker with his newly acquired powers Josh fell into another coma however his skin remained it’s jet-black colour through the period he was in a coma. After the furious battle between Nimrod and the New X-Men Hellion had his psychic barriers removed by Emma Frost and flew hundreds of miles in seconds with a dying X-23 in his arms. Arriving back at the mansion Hellion burst into the medical bay where Josh was being kept and forced him awake. After healing X-23 Josh’s skin reverted back to it’s original golden colour only now a moving black blob was permanently on his skin.
Quest for Magik
Once Josh’s skin had reverted back to it’s original golden colour it was Prodigy’s idea that he should just take the information from Beast’s mind after thinking this though Josh and the Stepford Cuckoos took the information from their teachers mind. Receiving all this information allowed Josh to know the potential that his power’s held and for days he thought about this in his room until all of the students at Xavier’s were sucked into Limbo by Belasco.
While half of the student body were found by Illyana Josh and a few other students which included Dust, Mercury, Prodigy and X-23 were being held captive by Belasco. Dust and Mercury began to battle Belasco and their demons and as the battle raged Belasco plunged his hand into Prodigy’s chest and tore out his heart. Luckily Josh got to David in time and regrew his heart from nothing. Regrowing David’s heart overexerted his powers and he fainted after Josh woke up again he tried to take down Belasco with his death touch but this only worked for a few moments before Belasco awoke again. At this time Pixie teleported the rest of the students and Magik into Belasco’s castle taking on him and his demons eventually the New X-Men won and Illyana teleported everyone back to the mansion. Once they were back at the mansion Josh confined himself to his room until Loa came in and asked him if he wanted to “make out” to cheer him up.
World War Hulk
After some events, Elixir, together with other members of of the X-Men, attempted to defeat the Hulk. Josh successfully used his powers to disrupt the brutes healing factor, allowing the other mutants attacks to have some effect. Unfortunately, both he and the Beast were still defeated, but before they were killed, the Astonishing X-Men arrived, as if on cue, to save them from death.
Messiah Complex
The New X-Men later decided to attack the Purifiers in retaliation for their assault on the mansion. Elixir decided to stay out of this mission, afraid that he might again be overcome with rage and resort to killing again. Later we see that Elixir had been knocked out during the attack on the mansion by the sentinels and that he is unable to heal Hellion and the rest of the injured X-Men.
Angels and Demons
When Wolsbane was severely injured after being captured by the Purifiers, Wolverine told Angel to find Elixir. Elixir then healed Rahne and managed to purge most of the heroin from her blood cells. When Rahne came to, it was obvious that she has been subjected to some sort of mind control when she goes feral, and stabs Elixir through the chest before she removed Angel’s wings.
Wolverine later smacks Elixir to wake him up so that he can heal himself and Angel. While he does save Angels life, he notes that he is unable to regrow his wings because they’re not organic due to Apocalypse‘s genetic manipulations. He later witnessed Angel transform back into Archangel. After X-Force defeated the Purifiers and came back to Angel’s mansion,
Old Ghosts
Once back at Angels mansion X-23 said that Elixir knew too much about their team and that he needed to be dealt with. While it is implied that she was talking about killing Elixir, it was revealed that Laura already knew that Cyclops would not allow it, so she asked the Stepford Cuckoos to erase Elixir’s memories. Before this could be done, X-Force went on another mission in order to retrieve the Legacy Virus stolen by Vanisher. Because of this, Elixir became an official member of X-Force when he used his abilities to create an inoperable brain tumor inside the Vanisher in order to manipulate the teleporter into working with the team. Later, during a fight with clones of the Marauders, Elixir held back in the fight, still afraid to use her powers for killing. However, when X-23 was infected with the Legacy Virus, Elixir healed her of it before she could succeed with her attempted suicide.
Messiah War
Elixir joined the rest of X-Force on a mission to rescuing his old teammates, Hellion, Surge, and the former X-Force member Boom Boom. However, it was at this time that Cyclops discovered Cable’s location in the time stream, and decided to send them after his son just as they were about to save Boom Boom. Elixir worked with X-Force to help keep Hope from from Stryfe and even seemed to develop a bond with the young mutant messiah. He also attempted to kill Stryfe with his abilities, although this proved to be futile as Stryfe pscionically forced Elixir to heal him. After learning what Hope truly was, Elixir and the rest of X-Force returned to the present to rescue their teammates.
After coming back to the present, he was able to heal Hellion of the Legacy virus. He proceeded to try to save Surge, through a combine effort by him and by Hellion. In the end both of his friends lived. After words he fainted from the exhaustion of over using his powers.
Necrosha
Josh was still unconscious, when Selene sent her minions to attack the X-Men. Then when a pregnant Wolfsbane was was about to die, the Wolfprince made a deal with Hel for a soul to be returned. Knowing that only one soul can be saved for his, the wolf chose Josh. Josh immediately woke after the exchange and was able to save both Wolfsbane and her child. He transferred some of the baby’s powers to Wolfsbane, so she can survive the pregnancy.
As X-Force readies themselves for the final battle Elixir is among them. Like his team mates he too is painted in the special death paint that Warpath suggested they should wear. On arriving he instantly sets his eyes upon a single and long past teammate and friend of his: Wither, as he is attempting to kill Wolfsbane. Josh calls out to the traitor and tells him to fight him. Both engage in a brutal hand to hand combat as each tries to over power the other with their own powers. During this Kevin tries to gain an upper hand as he says that Josh never loved Laurie and was responsible for her death. It was because of this that Elixir managed to over power Wither with his own anger and determination. And so he manages to succeed and kill Wither by disintegrating him and using his death touch to do so. After this happened his skin turns to black and he is slightly horrified by what he had done.
Later on, it is said by Wolverine that Elixir is having troubles reverting to his golden form. This issue is raised again during ” Second Coming“, where he is mentioned, however merely remains in the background due to his problems with “staying gold”. Elixer returned to the Xavier school with Wolverine, now named the Jean Grey School, after the Shism that broke the X-Men into to fractions, one Wolverine’s side, the other Cyclops’ side.
The Logan Legacy
Elixir remained on the Jean Grey school and fought alongside the X-Men on a number of occasions while also going to school. Elixer still had trouble regaining his original golden form, and was now almost permanently in his darker black form. Later on, Elixir and teammate X-23 where both kidnapped among others such as Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike, by the Paradise Group, a few rejects from the Weapon X program whom wanted to know how to get healing-factors for themselves, since they where all seemingly dying. After Elixer’s group had persuaded the Paradise Group to let them go, they where encountered by a strange feral being known as Siphon. whom almost instantly attacked them. Elixer immediately came to the defense of his teammate X-23, but was grabbed by Siphon in the process, seemingly draining Elixer of his energy and life-force.The rest of the group eventually ran from the creature and regrouped outside. Elixer was luckily revealed to be alive, but did not return to an active superhero life.
Targetet by the Dark Riders and Death
After the events that lead to the release of the (to mutants fatale) Terrigen Mists, Elixer was seen again, living a normal civilian life. It was then that he was contacted by Magneto’s new group of uncanny X-Men. He was informed that a group attached to the mutant Apocalypse, named the Dark Riders, where targeting healer-mutants. Elixer was uninpressed but soon found out that the Dark Riders where indeed targeting him. The X-Men intervened, but could not save Elixer from being shot by Gauntlet. Elixer seemingly died, but his story was far from over.
Powers and Ablities
Very early on, Elixir was identified as an Omega-level mutant whose abilities could have an effect on a sub-atomic level. However, he has yet to reach the full potential of his powers.
His power is to manipulate the organic material on a genetic level which he uses to mainly heal wounds. This ability requires him to have direct contact with those he wishes to heal. Because of the nature of his power, Elixir has received in depth knowledge on human anatomy. With a greater understanding of the inner workings of the human body, he has demonstrated the ability to heal or even re-grow tissues that have been damaged beyond repair or removed completely. For example, when a classmate’s heart was removed by an enemy, Elixir was able to grow a new heart in its place simply by concentrating on the construction of the human heart, re-growing one section at a time until the organ was complete. He has also demonstrated the ability to heal his own minor wounds at a subconscious level, however healing greater damage to his own body does take some degree of concentration.
Theoretically, he may even have the capacity to alter his own genetic code, which may be why he is classed as an Omega. Elixir has also demonstrated offensive uses of his powers. When enraged by an attack on the Mansion, Elixir made contact with William Stryker and reversed his healing power, which caused Stryker to rapidly die. This power has been demonstrated since, and is an ability that he has limited control over. While he has begun to explore what he can do with his healing abilities, he has yet to fully explore his control over the reversal of healing, and any practice of this ability will most likely result in the death of his target.
After his recent confrontation with the Dark Riders, Elixir’s power spiked tremendously and truly showcased his Omega-level potential. With both his healing and deterioration increasing to the point where touching is no longer required, Elixir’s feats include:
Healing:
- Reverses the forced mutation of humans for miles around (those with latent X-gene are exempt)
- Instantly cures hundreds of M-pox (a fatal disease brought on by the Terrigen mist)
- Nearly succeeds in bringing up 16 million bodies from the dead (collapsed before it was complete and those given life could have been zombies)
- Heals from damage “almost as soon as it’s made“
Deterioration:
- Raises a corpse from the dead, just to snuff it out again
- Overpowers the Death touch of Wither (a fellow insta-deteriorator)
- Wolverine says “You coulda killed me. There aint 10 people in the world I’d say that to“.
- Deteriorated even those with regeneratation (Sabretooth) and invulnerability (Monet), then restores their bodies to health
Originally Elixir’s appearance was that of a normal human, Caucasian teenager. After healing himself from a nearly fatal injury sustained when he returned Wolfsbane’s powers, his skin and hair took on a shiny golden appearance, along with his traditionally blue eyes. After using his power to kill Stryker his skin turned pitch black, suggesting that his color and emotion changes depending on how he uses his powers. After again using his powers to heal his skin has reverted to its original golden hue with pitch black globs of pigment flowing around his body (much like the movement in a lava lamp). Currently when he uses his powers, his skin will turn to the dominant color of whichever power he is using. So if he uses his hands to heal, they become primarily gold in color. Conversely, when he uses his death touch, black becomes the predominant color of his hands. Recently his hair & eyebrows appear more of a white/silver color.
Alternate Earths
Earth-58163 (House of M)
Elixir worked with SHIELD in this alternate reality. He was a torturer, he combined his powers with Wither (Kevin Ford) on Cameron Hodge, a human terrorist to try and get information. When Wither touches someone, they die almost instantly, but Elixir would negate Wither’s power’s effects on the victim with his healing touch, but not before a part of them dies and comes back via healing, which is said to be an extremely painful experience for the victim they force to undergo this process. He also used his powers offensively against Surge (Noriko Ashida), he forced blood to go into her lungs just by touching her arm, making it hard for her to breathe throughout the rest of the story.
New X-Men: Too Much Information
This reality was created by amplifying Moonstar’s illusion abilities. Prodigy’s mental blocks were removed by Emma and he was able to retain all the knowledge that he collected. He was able to lead the New Mutants to Victory in the Field Day competition, but cared significantly less about the team on the micro level. He leaves right after claiming that the school can no longer offer him anything. Months later, David reveals that he has a working cure for Cancer and for AIDS. To do this, he had to take samples from Elixir’s body, unfortunately, this meant the death of Elixir.