Hope Summers

Origin

Hope was the first mutant born after the events of Decimation. She was born in Cooperstown, Alaska to Louise Spalding and an unknown man, with Cerebro blowing up the moment little baby Hope was born. Cooperstown was attacked by the Purifiers soon after, who had been warned of the baby’s birth by the time-traveling sentinel known only as Nimrod. Hope was the only child left unharmed after the Purifiers attacked and was eventually saved by Cable. Cable claimed that the baby, Hope, was the messiah and was destined to save all mutants and all of humankind alike. However, there were those, such as Bishop and the Purifiers, who believed that the birth of Hope was the end, that she was a sort of “Antichrist,” who was destined to kill a million humans in six minutes. This would be responsible for turning humanity against mutants once again, and creating a new era of mutant persecution (which would one day turn out to be the timeline in which Bishop was born).

Soon after, the Marauders kidnapped the baby, and she was delivered to Mister Sinister (who turned out to be Mystique in disguise). Mystique made the baby touch the comatose Rogue. Having believed that she had just killed her, Gambit took the baby away from Mystique, but to his wonder the baby was fine, and Rogue was cured. After a battle between the Marauders, X-Men, and Predator X, Cyclops comes to the decision that the baby would be safest with Cable, and so Cable takes the baby Hope to the future. However, Hope and Cable are tracked by Bishop, who still means to kill Hope in an attempt to prevent the creation of his future.

Creation

Hope Summers was created by Mike Carey (writer) and Chris Bachalo (artist). Hope Summers made her comic book debut in January 2008 in the pages of X-Men #205. Although, Hope Summers is technically first referenced in the pages of New X-Men #36, which prophesied her coming. Hope’s birth was first mentioned in the pages of X-Men: Messiah Complex one shot and it wasn’t until Cable #10 that the powerful baby girl was given the name Hope Summers.

Major Story Arcs

The Future

Upon entering the future, Cable took Hope to the secluded safe haven of New Liberty. Here Cable married a woman called Hope Summers, who became the surrogate mother to the mutant baby. Cable’s time machine had been damaged during his battle with Bishop, prevented him from going to the past, leaving him no choice but to jump to the future when he was being pursued by Bishop.

The mutant child was now seven years old. New Liberty was subsequently invaded by humanoid insects who called themselves the United States Army. Cable succeeded in defeating them and left New Liberty with his wife and Hope to make sure New Liberty could survive. The family spent months in the wasteland, but were attacked by the president of the insects. After observing Cable fighting, Hope stabbed the insect in his weak spot and saved her family. The president was questioned by Cable, who revealed that Bishop had destroyed all the continents in the world, except North America, in an attempt to find Hope.

Cable killed the president, and the family moved on. They ended up in a settlement, where they met some opposition. Cable easily defeated them, but despite his best efforts his wife was shot in the process. She died in Cable’s arms. The mutant child watched as Cable buried her mother, and then left with him. They later arrived at a church and, when asked by the pastor, Cable named the child Hope after her adoptive mother.

Messiah War

When Cyclops was able to track down Cable into the future, he sends out the mutant Black Ops team, X-Force to retrieve him to the present. When they were able to track Cable down, but they were greeted by Hope. Cable told X-Force that he doesn’t need their help and also briefed them that Bishop is now aligned with Cable’s clone, Stryfe. As the team was traveling, they were attacked by Stryfe and were defeated. Stryfe then took Hope and Warpath to his citadel, where he removed his helmet and Hope ask him if he was Cable.

Stryfe tried to figure out the significance of the child but he detects that she is nothing special and it was at this time that Bishop made his move to kill Hope. Stryfe was able to stop this and was finally able to read Bishop’s mind to know about the child. Warpath broke free and attacked Stryfe but Hope distracted him, telling him not to hurt Cable, giving Stryfe an opening to retaliate at Warpath.

As Stryfe was about to kill Hope, he was stopped by Cable, Wolverine and Elixir. Stryfe defeated half of the X-Force, and again set his sights to Hope, only to be stopped again – this time by Apocalypse and his horseman, Archangel, who defeated him. Hope was then picked up by Apocalypse, who told her that she was worthy to become the next vessel for his soul, but he was surrounded by X-Force and Cable demanding the child back. Archangel told Apocalypse that he spared his life when he wanted to die and that he owes him his life, so in exchange he wanted Hope back. Apocalypse honored his end of the bargain. Outside of the citadel, Wolverine told Cable to leave with Hope and he complied but Hope argued that they shouldn’t leave them behind, but it was already too late as Cable had already time-traveled.

Post Messiah War

During the Time-jump, Hope broke free from Cable and arrived two years before Cable did. This left her alone and scared. She tried to use what he had taught her to survive. She noticed two cities, One bright and shiny, one a slum. She went to the bright and shiny one. There she met Emil. Emil was fascinated by this new and strange girl. Hope threatened to kill him repeatedly. He still searched for daily.

Eventually she began to trust him and took food from him and other necessities. He loved her, and it seemed reciprocal. Two years passed and he was the only friend she had and he protected her at all costs, even lying to his father, Commander Spence. After the two years passed, Cable arrived. He was being taken over by the virus. He went to the slum city first and learned of the true nature of the cities in relation to Stryfe. Cable finds Hope and tells her they need to leave, she refuses and claims that it’s not Cable. Cable tracks her down and he drags her on the ship that he was able to get a hold of with the residents of the city, he pretended to be Stryfe. Hope didn’t want to leave without Emil, but Emil wouldn’t leave without his father. So the couple split.

Years later, still aboard the ship that seems to be going nowhere slowly. Cable is jailed for pretending to be Stryfe. Hope visits him daily but still is furious about leaving Emil. The ship is found by Bishop, pretending to be Hope real caregiver and saying that Cable kidnapped her. Emil believes this and helps him. When they reach the ship, Hope sees Bishop and hides, Emil enters where she is hiding and she threatens to kill him for working with Bishop. Emil explains that he has devoted all his time to finding her and that he wants to be with her again and didn’t know that Bishop was lying the entire time. Bishop finds Hope while she is trying to get to Cable. Emil saves her but the ship is attacked by the Brood, space parasites that look for strong hosts. The Brood works with Bishop to collect the girl. Through the events Emil and Hope plan to use an escape pod to get away.

When they get there Hope sees only two, not realizing that he had planned to leave Cable. She freaks out and is about to leave when Emil knocks her out and places her in the pod. Cable discovers them and explains that she needs him, and Emil agrees to stay behind and let Cable take the other pod. The ships explode and Cable and Hope leave in the pods, while Emil dies saving them. Two years in partial status later, they arrive on earth. They arrive to find it still uninhabitable. They are again chased by Bishop who survived the explosion. Cable is finally able to travel back in time but goes too far back. The tech that allowed Cable to travel back was Bishops and every jump brought Bishop with them. They traveled through time, once again. Cable was finally able to get rid of Bishop by sending him alone into the future alone without a way to return. Cable and Hope travel to modern time and land at the old home of the X-Men.

Second Coming

Hope Summers has returned to her time, the current/present timeline, whilst aged of approximately 16 years. Cable brought her to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, unaware the X-Men have relocated to

San Francisco. They are immediately chased by Bastion’s troops, and the X-Men’s lethal team: X-Force. While the X-Force manage to slow down Bastion’s Men, Hope and Cable escape and go to a superstore. There, while Cable fights off some of the Purifiers and Bastion’s men, Hope, who is unfamiliar to the present and all the objects used gazes with longing at a hair beauty set. They escape from the store and go to a motel, where they can finally clean themselves up from those days on the run. For the first time in her life, Hope sees a real soft bed and gets her kicks out of bouncing on it. At that moment, Cable finds out that the X-Men have relocated to San Francisco and plans to drive there in the morning. But Bastion has other plans as he and William Stryker’s Purifiers ambush the two warriors in the night. That is when X-Force steps in.

Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik, had received orders from Wolverine to teleport the girl to safety. Unfortunately she got hurt and Kurt Wagner AKA Nightcrawler had to replace her. While he was trying to survive gunfire, Hope and Cable escape. The X-Force have for primary task to follow them and bring Hope back safely. Rogue discovers she has a “link” with Hope, so Cyclops sends her to go after hope as well, being teleported by Ariel, X-Force’s new prime after Illyana’s disappearance. Rogue and Kurt then go searching for Hope while Psylocke, Colossus, Archangel, X-23, Wolverine and Ariel are trying to find them their way.

As a missile explodes, Ariel is killed in the impact. The X-Force manage to find Cable and Hope and thanks to the New Mutants, tell Cable that he is being tracked via the techno-organic virus. The team thus splits: Hope with Rogue and Nightcrawler and the rest with Cable. As the New Mutants bring Karma home safely, Rogue and Nightcrawler have to fight Bastion, who is hunting Hope. Rogue is left with Bastion whilst Kurt uses the last of his power to teleport Hope to safety. He then dies, but Hope is safely back to Utopia.

There, she meets Magneto and Kitty Pryde, although most people blame her for the death of Nightcrawler. She is considered by all as a mutant messiah, but she insists that she’s no one and nothing, and just wants to be alone. She is just a girl after all, and just wants to be left alone, out of all that grown-up stuff.

Cyclops thus orders everyone to blame him and not her, but Wolverine points claws at her, asking if she is worth it. Hope finds out Cyclops is Cable’s father. Soon Bastion traps the X-Men in a red sphere blocking all of San Francisco from the outside world. Inside they find a smaller sphere powering the larger one and connecting them to the future. An army of Nimrods come from the future and attack the team. They fight them off but an even larger wave is behind the sphere. With no choice Cyclops sends X-Force, Cypher and Cable on a suicide mission to shut the Nimrods down. Hope over hears Cyclops explaining to Emma that he has sent Cable and X-Force on a suicide mission, and immediately confronts him. She tells him that she hates him more than anything for killing her “father” and her eyes begin to glow red. Hope storms off and Cyclops tells Emma that Hope’s eyes looked just like his.

After, Rogue is assigned by Cyclops to protect Hope on Utopia. Rogue then finds Hope crying. Rogue asks if Cable taught her not to cry, Hope tells her that he didn’t mind when she cried, but to cry later. Hope tells Rogue she won’t stand around and let people die on her behalf, she arms herself with a huge gun from the future and asks Rogue to join her on the battlefield. Hope and Rogue arrive in time to save Storm and the others. After the Nimrods are defeated. Hope confronts Cyclops about sending Cable into the future knowing they have no way of returning. Cyclops tells her that he did what he did to save everyone and Cable was aware of the situation. Hope still upset yells at Cyclops and still doesn’t agree with what he’s done. Suddenly something begins to emerge from Bastion’s portal. Cable slowly comes through, over taken completely by the techno organic virus.

Cable manages to keep the temporal door open long enough for the X-Force team to walk through it. He then looks at Hope and suddenly explodes, leaving only his metallic arm behind. Bastion, Lang and Creed watch from the top of a mountain as the time sphere collapses. Creed and Lang try to convince Bastion that the game is over. Bastion refuses to let the girl live, turns into battle mode, and flies towards the bridge. Hope remembers the moment she asked Cable how she would know when she’s ready, and he told her she would know the same way she has ever known anything else.

Cyclops tells Hope he’s sorry and tries to put his hand over her shoulder, when she replies that if he ever put his hand on her again, he will lose it because it was all his fault. Suddenly Bastion destroys the Golden Gate Bridge passing through it. Most X-Men fall into the water. Hope emerges from it, only to be confronted by Bastion, Lang and Creed, all in Nimrods form. They attack her, when, suddenly, she forms an armor. Bastion realizes that her mutant powers just appeared, but he can’t classify them, nor calculate them. Hope then blasts him with an optic blast he can’t adapt to. Her hand turns into metal, and she punches right through him. As she remembers Cable’s words, Hope touches the ground and forms an energy shield. Bastion says she is not the messiah, but the adversary, and that if she survives, nothing will survive.

Hope turns into the Phoenix and blasts Bastion. Wolverine, Colossus and Emma are shocked. Logan tells Emma there’s nothing she can do now. Bastion manages to grasp Hope’s neck, and states that despite his original programming, he will take great pleasure in killing Hope. Cyclops blasts his arm, and Wolverine jumps on him, killing him “for Kurt”. Hope touches the ground again, saying she’s ready now, going full Phoenix Force, and blasting Bastion and the dome all at once. The Avengers rejoice that Summers managed to pull it, while, in Utopia, every mutant just stares at Hope, levitating, like a true Phoenix.

Shortly after that, Hope fell to the ground and curled up next to Cable’s arm to fall asleep, after rejecting Logan’s offer to take her back into the living quarters of Utopia. Thirty hours after this occurred, Hope woke up in the infirmary of Utopia to Beast tending to Colossus’ broken arm. After noticing that Hope had woken up, Beast quickly rushed over to her to examine her and make sure that nothing was wrong with her. Beast quickly told her that she seemed fine, but he would have to check later. In the infirmary, all of the other injured X-Men were being treated for their injuries. Including Hellion and Magneto. Hope then had a talk with Magneto, reminding her that when they had first met and Magneto had asked if Hope’s arrival had brought the mutants a reprieve from those trying to kill them. Hope had said give her a week, but it had in fact taken much less time. Thought shortly after Hope and Erik began to speak to each other, Hellion intervened after Hope had asked if Eric thought she was dangerous. As cocky and sarcastic as ever, Hellion began to complain and whine about how, because of Hope, he had no hands. Shortly afterward, Magneto told Hellion to run along, and Hellion did as he was commanded.

A bit after this occurred, it was Cable’s funeral. Most on the island had gathered to mourn the death of Cable, but the most notable of the two were Hope and Cyclops. Cyclops was so choked up that he couldn’t even speak on his child’s behalf. Hope took over in his stead. Hope had told them not to cry, however, even Hope herself allowed a tear drop to escape from her eye. Later the same day, the other younger X-men were gathered and speaking about Hope as she sat on a ledge overlooking the water. Loa said that someone should be with her, only to have Bling! ask what they could say to her, Prodigy answered saying that it didn’t matter what anyone were to say, and that anything they could do, Hope could do as well.

He then went on to say that Hope was essentially the entire mutant race in one mutant, and that whatever Bling! or Loa wanted to say to her, she probably already knew. That night, the students, Hope included, were having a bonfire and Scott decided to go check on Emma, who was watching over the young students in her diamond form. Emma then saw something within Hope’s eye and instantly switched back to her flesh form, though she was also reminded of when Jean Grey saved her during the Sisterhood arc. Shortly after, Cerebro lit up with five new mutant signatures.

Heroic Age

For Further Information: Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age, Heroic Age

Some time later, Hope was in the Baxter Building being examined by Reed Richards. She wasn’t very happy about being ‘poked and prodded’. As Reed continued to speak and inform her as to what he was going to do, his son Franklin Richards had entered the room and urged Hope not to bring attention to his presence in the room. Quietly, of course. However shortly after Reed walked back over to Hope, and Franklin ran off. Reed that stuck a tongue depressor in her mouth to check for any oral or throat problems. When the scene faded back to Hope, she was being cat scanned whilst saying “I wish I could run away, I wish I could run away, I wish I could run away” over and over again, only to be lectured by Reed, who asked her not to talk as it interfered with the scan.

Almost at the same second, Franklin came over to speak with Hope. He informed her not to move her head, or his father would yell at her. Shortly afterward Reed noticed his son in the room and, over the intercom, and told him that because he had sneaked into the room, even if it was only because he only wanted to keep Hope company, that he was a “very grounded, very sweet, young man” but allowed him to stay in the room considering he was already there.

Franklin then whispered to Hope, saying “my dad can be such a jerk some times.” which instantly made Hope think of Cable. Once Franklin found out that something had happened to Cable, he instantly apologized. After the cat scan, Richards informed Doctor Nemesis of what Hope’s health was like. He then brought up the subject of genetic histories. Nemesis informed Reed that that would be tricky, and Reed asked if they could not be contacted. Hope quickly answered and explained her situation with her family, and how she didn’t know them. Mr. Fantastic then informed her that she could always try to find something about her family, and as they were on the X-Jet, Hope decided that she wanted to find her parents.

Later that night after she had gotten to Utopia, Hope decided to sit on a cliff and look out towards the ocean. That is, only until she was approached by Scott who asked why she wasn’t with the rest of the population of Utopia enjoying the festivities. Hope told him that she could ask him the same thing, only to continue by asking what the whole thing was for. Scott told her that he had won a medal, and that the president had given it to him. Hope asked what he had gotten it for, he replied with “saving lives” which struck one of Hope’s nerves as she was once again reminded of her father. Scott then told Hope that they couldn’t let Cable’s death get in the way of the two of them conversing. Scott then tells her about the five lights that lit up on Cerebro, and that he planned to make a team tomorrow to set out, which included Hope. Hope quickly rejected, saying that she was tired of everybody’s expectations and that she was “nobody” and she tried to continue, only to be interrupted by Scott asking her what it was exactly that she wanted.

Hope tells Scott that she thinks she wants to find her family, who they were, and what they were like, and that she didn’t even know her mothers name. Scott then peered down at the medal he’d gotten from the president, and threw it into the water. Hope asked him why he would do that, and Scott replied saying that all his life, people had been treating him how he was treating Hope and that there would be no more expectations from him. He then goes on to say that they’ll be forming a squad to go to Alaska, and that Hope would be a target. But; he wanted her to go. He wanted to her to find her family. He then tells her the squad is her decision.

The Five Lights

For Further Information: The Five Lights

A day or so later, Hope has finished packing the things that she thought she was going to need to simply go to Alaska. Scott asks her if she knows that they have already discovered Alaska due to all the luggage that she had packed. Hope instantly says that she is over prepared, and Scott agrees with the girl. She then says that “This is how we do it where I come from. When I come from.” in reference of the future. Scott then tries to calm her down, and she tells him that her entire life has been crazy and “what if everyone is wrong?”. Scott waits to reply for a few seconds, and then tells her to go on and that Cypher, Rogue, and Doctor Nemesis are waiting on the Black Bird and to have a good journey. In the X-Jet, Cypher tells her that their next stop is Eielson A.F.B and that A.F.B means Air Force Base, which Hope simply says “Uh, okay…”. After landing in Alaska, Rogue asks Hope if she is nervous. Hope says that she doesn’t know what she is, and remarks that that was why they were here.

Cypher then quickly tells her that he has made progress, and found her birth certificate, and that her birth name was “Spalding”. Cypher then allows Hope to see for herself, which is something that Hope regrets because she finds out that her parent’s died. Hope then says that 266 people were dead because she was born, which is something that Rogue quickly tries to calm Hope down over, and that those people died because of warped and wicked people and that “This is what evil looks like, not innocence”. Later that Night, Cypher continues his efforts in trying to find out who Hope’s parents were, but he does say that it will NOT be easy. He then reveals that her mothers name on the birth certificate was Louise Spalding, and the father area was blank which hinted that it was either a clerical error or a moment of paternal lack at birth.

He then tells Hope that her mother died during the attack on Cooperstown and was buried in the cemetery they passed earlier in the day, and gives Hope his condolences. Shortly after he then tells Hope that he was able to track down her maternal grandmother, as well and that she lived close. Hope then tells the other three people that she thought she’d like to visit her mother’s grave, and the scene changes to Hope holding a bouquet of flowers and placing them on the grave. Shortly after, an elderly woman walked up to Louise’s grave. This woman was Hope’s Grandmother. She informs Hope that there had to be a mistake, and that the tombstone was her daughter’s that she was placing flowers on. Rogue then asks Nemesis if it was Hope’s grandmother, Nemesis says yes, Rogue then tries to ask if he got her to come here. He replied by saying, “I may have made a phone call”. Hope then attempts to apologize about seemingly placing flowers on the wrong grave, something to which her grandmother tells her not to do.

Hope asks afterward, if she could leave the flowers because it would be a shame to move them from their place now. The Grandmother then says that’s very kind, but tries to ask about Hope’s mother. Hope says there will be plenty of flowers. The grandmother then says that Hope looked as if she hadn’t eaten in a year, and that she was as thin as a ghost. Later on, they’re at her grandmothers home, she asks Hope who she had come there to visit. Hope quickly answered that it was her dad, Nathan. Her grandmother then says that she is sorry to hear that, and that it must be tough for a young girl such as Hope to lose her father, and then asks what Nathan was like. Hope says that he was strong, real strong, and then asks about Louise.

The grandmother then says that in one word, she’d have to say that Louise was “difficult”. There was a lot of fire in “that girl” and that she turned bright red when she got mad. She then went on to tell Hope that she was a fire fighter, and that the job suited her. She could have gone on to do something else, but Louise had chosen to stay in Alaska and become a fire fighter. Hope then asks if her mother was married, and her grandmother replies saying, no, but she did have a few boy friends. Hope then says “oh” in a simply tone, and the grandmother goes on to say that if you bugged her about it she would say that maybe she had other things to do. As a tear fell down Hope’s face, she said that she was finally ready to go. While on her X-Jet, Hope asked Scott if he knew.

Scott said that he knew bits and pieces, and wanted to know if Hope was mad. Hope says that she isn’t, and that she is actually happy and that if he had told her sooner she may not have come to see her grandmother, and then thanked him. In the nick of time, Hope’s team arrives in Vancouver as one of the new mutants, Laurie, is about to commit suicide off of a building. Hope tries to talk her out of it, but fails as the girl jumps off the building anyways. Hope’s hands then began to glow an orange color, and she dove after her, grabbing onto her and activating her powers fully and the girl flew them back up to the roof tops. After their introductions, and their moments of relief about being alive, they left to go to the next of the Five Lights.

The Second Light that Hope went to was in Mexico. Psylocke and Cecilia were there to watch over the boy. An intelligent boy that dreamed of leaving Mexico to study in America. His powers began during his final test and his mind began racing, he couldn’t think and was in extreme pain. Reyes was able to sedate him, but that was only temporary because he vanished from the room. Betsy claimed he was still in their and used Cecila’s powers to prevent him from leaving. Hope arrives and enters the room, she is able to find him and make contact. Gabriel appears like he has been gone for week, maybe months.

The next light is in Nigeria. Storm and Hope arrive to a church to find a mob of men about to storm the church and kill the new mutant. When they are able to enter the church, they find a 12 year old girl by the name of Idie Okonkwo, scared out of her mind. she is overwhelmed by her powers and blasts Storm with her fire. Hope takes cover while Storm deflects the flames. After this comes the freeze, Idie explains that she gets really hot and then really cold. After she calms down, Hope is able to make contact. Storm then convinces Idie to exist through the front door, against Hopes advisement. Storm tells the men that the girl is under her protection, suddenly the men begin to fire, Hope again takes cover while Idie uses her powers to melt the bullets and destroy the men’s vehicles. Idie asks if she has done wrong and Hope tells her that she just beat the mob and destroyed their stuff, her father would have been proud.

The penultimate light is Teon, a boy from the Ukraine who is more beast than man. Hope, Rogue and the other lights locate Teon in Miami Beach, Florida, their first interaction with Teon results in the feral boy’s misguided attempt at “mating” with Hope. A battle ensues and is promptly finished by Hope who uses her power to tame Teon. From this point, Teon views her as his Master. Sitting by her feet and becoming fiercely loyal. With that the team head to the final lights location, Japan, but what awaits them may not be another potential ally, but more a potential enemy.

Generation Hope

For Further Information: Generation Hope

Hope, Rogue and the lights head off to Japan in hope to stabilize the fifth and final light’s, Kenji Uedo, powers. As they arrive, Kenji bursts through the apartment building and onto the street where Cyclops and Wolverine are investigating. Kenji pulls down the Blackbird carrying Rogue, Hope and the rest of the Lights. Teon takes off after one of Kenji’s tendrils and tears it apart. He releases a girl trapped inside but is utterly ineffective against him. Hope attempts to make contact with Kenji in order to complete his transformation but he seemingly avoids her touch. She presses on after him and encounters him within his apartment. She tells him she’s there to help and he explains how his “throat slid out of his neck and danced like an eel when this began” and NOW she’s here to help. He turns around and grabs Hope and a large explosion follows. Hope finds her self alone with Kenji. Kenji begins talking about destroying everything. Hope slaps him in a fit of rage, when nothing happens from making contact she realizes that this is not real.

She gets out of the vision but finds herself pressed against the wall by his tentacles. She focuses and is able to use Kenji’s powers. After attacking Kenji with his own powers she becomes exhausted and falls from the sky. Gabriel runs to collect her before she falls to her death. Idie attacks Kenji and he gets sent into the distance. Cyclops, Wolverine and Rogue go to attack Kenji while Hope lays unconscious. When she finally wakes up, Cyclops and Wolverine are attacking Kenji. Hope makes a plan quickly not only to stop them but to save Kenji. Laurie is the only hold out. Laurie thinks the mission is a suicide. Hope continues without her.

Teon stops Wolverine from slicing Kenji to death and Idie freezes the nearby water source and sets a fire wall to separate Kenji from the buildings. Hope and Gabriel make a dash to make contact, Kenji stops to duo. Hope lands on a safer part of Kenji and Gabriel seems to be falling into a pit of tendrils. Laurie swoops in just in time to save him. Hope uses Kenji’s powers, she is able to fight Kenji and also send a message to Cyclops to trust her. Hope is able to defeat Kenji and make contact, saving Kenji, before she passes out from the strain. The whole team was taken back to Utopia and they were looked at by Doctor Nemesis. Hope is told that she will need to be looked at many times in the future when the Doctor revealed his analysis of the team. Hope would later venture into Gabriel’s room and kiss him for saving her twice.

Soon Hope begins to train the Lights in the use of firearms. Hope is a strict teacher and would not let them go until someone hit the target dead on. When the training was complete Erik brought the Professor to meet Hope for the first time. Hope began to berate the Professor for calling his school for gifted youngsters and perpetuating that mutants and humans should be separate. She then told him that that was over and that people would be equal now. When it was time for Hope to have class with Emma, Hope became furious at the women. Somewhere between the revealing clothing and the idea that Cable would have hated her, she decided to get up and leave the class with her five lights. Emma followed her out and told her to return. Hope asked why she was so scarred of her and Emma told her that she could break Hope. Hope told her to stay out of her mind or she would leave Emma in cinder. Once she returned to her room she found a letter from Beast telling her to leave the Island. Hope then talks to Cyclops about her Light being a legitimate Team and Cyclops agrees as long as the don’t mess up.

The Ward and Better

The teams first mission under Hope leadership and Kitty’s guidance is to help the sixth light. The team heads to Germany and are shocked to find that the sixth light is actually still a fetus. Hope tries everything to calm the child so she can make contact, even having herself and each member of the team talk to the fetus to explain why it needed to be born. No one could get through until Primal tried. Primal calmed the child and this allowed him to be born. Hope made contact and the babies powers went dormant until he reaches puberty.

After the success of the last mission, Hope had been waiting for the next mutant to awaken with Gabriel. When it did the team was off to go make contact at somewhat leisurely speed. What they did not know was that the new mutant Zeeshan was with his friends when his powers activated. His friend was cruel and had taken pictures of Zee and posted them online. Zee felt his life was ruined and would kill himself before the team made it. The entire team felt the pain of his death. When Hope found out what had happened she almost attacked the friend responsible and had to be held back. Then she said they had to be better and the team walked away.

Fear Itself

In order to stop the Unstoppable Juggernaut from destroying San Francisco, Cyclops instructs Hope to mimic all the X-Men’s powers to remove/break his telepathy resistant helmet. She manages to remove the helmet, but suffers extreme psychic distress and is placed in the Utopian hospital alongside an unconscious Emma Frost. Emma awake confused, and attempts the suffocate Hope, but is stopped by Namor.

X-Men: Schism

Hope watches news reports of Sentinels gathering after Quentin Quire’s attack on the U.N. alongside Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Magneto, and others. She muses that such situations always end with dead mutants because people are always afraid of them. Later, Oya and Transonic leave with several of the X-Men to attend the opening of a Mutant History Museum, which falls under attack by the new Hellfire Club attacks the Museum, and defeats most of the X-Men. Hope and Velocidad arrive at the Museum to discover that Oya has “saved the day” by “murdering” most of the Hellfire goons based on Cyclops’ orders to do what she thought was necessary. This causes Hope to argue with Transonic for losing her head during the battle and leaving Oya in that position, but Transonic explains that she, nor the other lights, are soldiers except when Hope is around to influence her. Zero asks Oya if she is okay, but she horrifies Hope and the other Lights by asking if there is anyone else she needs to kill.

Avengers vs X-Men

Hope and Cyclops argue on Utopia about her and the Phoenix Force and all the secrets kept from her about it. She steals his power and blasts him before taking off with his jetpack and a police scanner. Hope comes across a bank robbery and intervenes. She discovers the Serpent Society is responsible but is ambushed by Bushmaster. After cutting off his arms, Hope takes on the rest of the team and takes them all down before Cyclops and Emma arrive to take her back. Later while sparring with Cyclops, Hope has a flare up of the Phoenix which alerts the Avengers to it’s presence.

Captain America arrives to Utopia demanding to take Hope into protective custody. Cyclops strikes first and orders Emma to take Hope to safety. Hope is locked away with the Lights to keep safe but winds up breaking Transonic’s nose and defeating the rest and escaping. Wolverine and Spider-Man come across Hope as she becomes engulfed in Phoenix flame. Logan tries to end her now but Hope burns him alive before running away.

Eventually Hope rejoins the Avenger’s camp. She hides along with their injured members at K’un-Lun. She remains there during Round 9 of Avengers Vs. X-men in training under the guidance of the Immortal Iron Fist and Spider-Man.

She does not leave the city until Cyclops, possessed with the Phoenix Force, rips through dimensions to find her and bring her back to the plains of Earth.

In the final Avengers Vs. X-Men battle, Hope cooperates with the Scarlet Witch in order to take out Cyclops who had become Dark Phoenix. These two characters, with their combined power, become the only team able to defeat their overpowered enemy. After Cyclops’ defeat, Hope takes on the full power of the Phoenix Force. But, instead of giving in to the corruption of the Phoenix, Hope is able to use the power to undo all of the horrible things that the other possessors of the force had done. And, at the end of the day, Hope is able to give up the Phoenix instead of giving into the thirst for more power and global domination. The force leaves her, ascending into space.

Now, it would seem, she is back to her old regular self.

Krakoa

Hope later joined a team called the Five, whose purpose was to resurrect mutants on Krakoa. Her role in the team was to enhance everyone’s powers and synthesize them. As a team, they have resurrected many mutants, and still continue to do so.

Hope also appeared to aid Kid Cable, the younger version of her father, until the regular version of him returned and they united.

During the gala, she accompanied some mutants and a teammate of the Five to Mars.

Personal Information

Characteristics

• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 126 lbs.
• Eyes: Green
• Hair: Red
• Distinguishing Features: Hope often takes on the powers of other mutants, altering her appearance. Her eye color has occasionally changed to reflect a strong emotion or the Phoenix force.

Status

• Identity: Secret
• Occupation: Adventurer, former nomad
• Citizenship: American
• Place of Birth: Cooperstown, Alaska
• Education: Tutored by Cable in survival techniques, weaponry, combat, first-aid, warfare strategy, and gymnastics
• Marital Status: Single
• Known Relatives: Louise Spalding (biological mother, deceased), Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable, adoptive father), Hope Summers (adoptive mother, deceased), Scott Summers (Cyclops, adoptive grandfather), Jean Grey (Marvel Girl, adoptive grandmother), Nathaniel Grey (X-Man, adoptive uncle), Rachel Grey (Prestige, adopted aunt)

Powers and Abilities

Hope Summers is an omega level mutant though Hope’s true potential is still as of yet to be shown. When Hope was born, through no fault of her own she released a psionic impulse that was capable of destroying Cerebro. When she came in physical contact with Rogue’s skin she was unaffected by Rogue’s power of absorption (this is due to the Strain 88 virus administered to her by Pandemic), and it was Hope’s touch that erased all of the previous templates Rogue had absorbed, including those of the Hecatomb and its 8 million minds. Furthermore, Hope’s touch also cured Rogue of the Strain 88 virus. The Three-in-One tried to search for her when she was kidnapped by the Marauders, during the Messiah Complex story, Hope was capable of preventing Cerebro from locating her.

Once Hope reached adolescence, it was revealed that she had power mimicry powers. She can mimic any mutant’s powers and combine them with each other, as well as up them to a higher level. On one or two occasions she has been able to mimic non-mutant’s powers.

Hope is also able to enhance and synthesize other mutant’s powers, which she does as a member of the Five when resurrecting Mutants.

Furthermore, Hope had some power over the X-gene. She could activate it in the Lights and even had some level of control/influence over them.

It is said that when the Phoenix Force was near Earth (there has been some instances when it wasn’t), Hope had phoenix-like powers. It is unknown if Hope still has those powers (likely so), but she did take on the Phoenix Force as a host and was able to bring back the Mutant population’s X-gene with Scarlet Witch.

Hope is an excellent survivalist and has displayed a degree of skill in the use of firearms and first aid kits.

Alternate Versions

X-Men Movies – Deadpool 2

Hope appeared in Deadpool 2, portrayed by Islie Hirvonen.

In the movie, Firefist, an enemy of Cable’s, attacked and killed Hope and her mother. Cable came across this and used his time travel device to present this from happening. With the help of Deadpool, they saved Hope and her mother and they lived.

Earth-TRN294

In this reality, Hope is the Phoenix.

Earth-12201

In this reality, Hope was killed by the Avengers and as a result of this, could not save the world. This timeline ended up being rewritten and Hope became Stryfe.

Earth-12164

In this reality, Hope activated every mutant’s powers and used them to take over the world.

Earth-10710

In this reality, Hope’s powers got out of control and the X-Men attempted to aid by de-powering her.

Other Media

Games

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online

Hope is a playable character in the 2011 PC and Macintosh massively multiplayer online role-playing game Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

Her Description says: Trained in the future by Cable, Hope uses an amazing arsenal and the power of the Phoenix to fight evil.

Marvel: War of Heroes

Hope appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [Fulcrum] Hope Summers
• [Adopted Messiah] Hope Summers
• [Something to Prove] Hope Summers

• [Letting Go] Hope Summers

X-Men: Battle of The Atom

Hope is featured in the mobile card game “X-Men: Battle of the Atom” based on the comic book story with the same name. Her cards are:

• [Mutant Messiah] Hope Summers
• [Savior] Hope Summers
• [White Phoenix] Hope Summers

Merchandise

• Hasbro produced a Hope action figure as part of the Marvel Legends Terrax Build-a-Figure wave.
• The Cable figure in Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line came with a baby Hope accessory.
• Hope appeared in the HeroClix figure game.