Lead-In is a member of the Death Sponsors which is a team that works for a pirate network in Mojoworld and led by a Spineless One that steals the airwaves for signal supremacy from Mojo. The team consist of Lead-In, Sweep-Zweak, Deadair, Cancellator and Timeslot. The Death Sponsors are considered the Mergers and Acquisitions Department for that pirate network that has established a solid demographic audience on a counter-programming basis against Mojo with the use of bootleg transmissions. The Death Sponsors easily dispatch a bunch of rebels sent by Mojo to destroy their citadel spire and their competition. The Spineless One informs the Death Sponsors that three potential ratings bonanzas have been left on Earth: the original time-dancer, Spiral, the Fallen Messiah and the geneticist Arize. Any of the three would benefit their network and would help successfully overthrow their network rival, Mojo. The Death Sponsors travel to Earth and decide to go after Arize. Deadair is able to tune into the broadcast signal to Arize’s location so Timeslot teleports them to Xavier’s Mansion where the X-Men are protecting the Death Sponsor’s target. A fierce battle takes place between the two teams and Lead-In comes into conflict with Iceman. She uses her five second time shifter against Iceman to confuse him but she gets hit in the face with a snowball. Lead-In recovers and is about to shoot Bishop from behind with her pencil-beam but the X-Man is warned in time and knocks her out with a punch. The Death Sponsors appear to gain the upper hand when Sweep-Zweak uses his energy disruption powers to cut off the X-Men’s access to their mutant abilities. Timeslot performs a cyberlink which allows him to teleport his teammates through a electronic mind-link but that link is disrupted when Bishop shoots the teleporter during midport. Arize remains on Earth while the rest of the Death Sponsors teleport back to Mojoworld. The current whereabouts of Lead-In and the Death Sponsors are unknown. Â Â
Creation
Lead-In was created by Fabian Nicieza and Jae Lee in 1992 and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men Annual # 16.Â
Abilities & Paraphernalia
Lead-In uses a time shifter that slows down time for five seconds in combat and gives her the illusion of teleportation. Lead-In is equipped with a firearm on her wrist gauntlet that fires a pencil-beam for ranged attacks and she is formidable in hand-to-hand combat.