Origin
Lockheed first met the young mutant, Kitty Pryde, during a battle between the X-Men and an alien race known as The Brood. There he helped save Kitty from the Brood, by chasing them away with a burst of flame. Kitty wondered if he could talk, but before she could find out, an explosion rocked the both of them. As Kitty ran out of the cave she was stuck in and back to the rest of the X-Men, she found that Lockheed had disappeared.
But unbeknown to Kitty, Lockheed secretly stowed away with the X-Men back to Earth, appearing later at the X-mansion. At first, his reappearance surprised her, but then she was excited that she was able to find him again. He later helped her battle some Sidri aliens that had invaded mansion. When he went with Kitty to meet Professor Xavier, Xavier found out that he couldn’t probe Lockheed’s brain with his telepathy and he agreed that Lockheed could stay with her at the X-mansion. Kitty named him Lockheed after the X-Men’s XR-71 Lockheed Blackbird jet and the two of them became inseparable, forming an empathic bond with each other.
Creation
Lockheed was created by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith for use in Marvel comics. His first appearance is in The Uncanny X-Men #166.
Major Story Arcs
X-Men and Excalibur
Later on, Lockheed encountered a green dragon named Puff on the planet Battleworld, whom he later became friends with. But as the X-Men unknowingly brought Puff back to Earth, she grew to gigantic size and terrorized the city of Tokyo. Lockheed helped to defuse the situation, and Puff disappeared in a massive energy discharge
When Kitty went to the United Kingdom to join the team Excalibur as a founding member, Lockheed went too. Lockheed would venture off on his own from time to time, but always returned to Kitty eventually.
And one time, Lockheed helped defend Kitty from Doctor Doom, where he got severely injured. After he underwent surgery, his astral form was aboard a spaceship that carried the collective transient souls of his space-faring alien race, The Flock . There he was placed on trial for not only abandoning his people, but also his bride on their wedding day. But as Lockheed was defending his reasons for leaving, the pilot of the ship fell asleep, so Lockheed regained control of the ship, saving the people’s souls from dissipating. The court still found him guilty, but instead of putting him to death, they banned him from returning to the Flock.
During the Secret Wars, Lockheed fought with Colossus but disappeared after the first battle. He reappeared with another dragon, just in time to fly into the teleporter that Reed Richards had built, causing it to spark and create numerous anomalies.
When the alien known as Ord first made his presence known, Lockheed was instrumental in stopping him the first time he confronted the X-Men by breathing fire in his face.
Lockheed then learned that Puff had reappeared on Earth and was being held captive by the Path of Destiny cult. With the help of Kitty, they helped save her from the cult.
SWORD
Later the X-men were taken by the Agency SWORD to the planet Breakworld to oppose their intended destruction of Earth. This was the first time that the X-Men learned that Lockheed had been working as mole for SWORD the whole time. He was recruited by the espionage agency that works on extraterrestrial matters to report on the X-Men’s activities in exchange for SWORD’s help in resolving pressing homeworld issues. In this Kitty later sacrificed herself to save Earth.
Lockheed then openly leaves the X-Men and joins SWORD in space. Still grieving over Kitty, Lockheed drinks heavily to help with the pain. Lockheed has also taken on a much tougher attitude, not hesitating when to attack others violently. This new attitude has also given him an edge in battle, easily overpowering and defeating armed SWORD officers who were trying to arrest him. It is eventually revealed by Abigail Brand that Kitty is still alive within the bullet but they can’t get her out yet. Lockheed then approaches Unit for help with Kitty, but then changes his mind. Unwilling to pay Unit’s price, which involves freeing him from his prison, Lockheed flies off.
Pet Avengers
After Lockheed had lost Kitty after she had sacrificed herself, the lonely dragon was encountered by Lockjaw and Throg, who recruited him to the team they were forming to help recover the Infinity Gems. Lockheed agreed to do so and went with them on their many journeys. He was instrumental in finding the second of the Infinity Gems, using the gem he was holding to transport them through time in the Savage Land, where they encountered Devil Dinosaur. Lockheed told how his people (the Flock), had encountered Devil Dinosaur before he had become intelligent and before the dinosaurs became extinct, explaining he was as Savage as he was. He then helped to distract Devil Dinosaur (saving Ms. Lion from becoming dinner to Devil Dinosaur as well) as Lockjaw and Ms. Lion recovered the gem. Afterwards, he followed them as they teleported to sea, unsuccessfully trying to prevent them from plunging into the ocean. They later got swallowed by Gigianto, where they found more of the Infinity Gems. He then helped the Pet Avengers as they battled Thanos, to whom most of them were easily defeated, including Lockheed. After Lockjaw came back to them victorious over Thanos, a telepathic link was formed between the Pet Avengers before they parted ways.
Character Profile
- Height: 15″ (at shoulders)
- Weight: 20 lbs
- Eye Color: Yellow
- Hair Color: None
- Species: Flock (alien race)
- Place of Birth: Flock homeworld
- Known Masters: Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde,
- Distinguishing features: Appearance similar to a purple dragon: elongated snout, 2 leathery wings, two horns, and a tail.
Powers and Abilities
Lockheed has sharp claws, teeth, and two horns. He has small wings on his back, providing his power of flight. He can understand what one is saying regardless of language; he knows several human and alien languages and speaks English, but rarely does so. On the defensive end of battle, Lockheed is quick, nimble, and strong, being able to carry a human in mid flight (several times heavier then himself). He is also much more durable than most would assume, having taken direct hits from super-humanly strong beings and being relatively unfazed.
Lockheed is immune to the extreme heat and flames that he can generate, and can also withstand high heat delivered by another to a certain degree. He was once able to immerse himself in a pool of lava without a scratch on him. He also has five lungs, to which no-one knows what use they are.
Lockheed is an empath, allowing him to sense the emotions of other people, and he cannot be probed by telepaths, not even by the likes of Professor X . Additionally, he is very intelligent, along with being very skilled pilot.
Lockheed shares a telepathic link induced by the Infinity Gems with the other members of the Pet Avengers.
At one point he had an image inducer on the collar around his neck, which created the holographic illusion that he was a house cat.
Alternate Earths
Earth-1289
The alternate reality counterpart of Lockheed from this reality has a bipedal form, and is a member of the Captain Britain Corps.
Earth-1610
In the Ultimate universe, Lockheed doesn’t exist but his image was used in the Danger Room, where Kitty was a damsel-in-distress who is captured by a very large purple dragon.
Earth-597
On this alternate world, where the Nazi won the WWII, and ruled all the world, the Lockheed is a grown-up female version of the original, and is kept slave into the engine of a train, lately used by Excalibur during the Cross Time Caper saga.
X-Men Forever
In this reality, he is still Kitty’s loyal pet, and stays with her and consul’s her during Wolverine dying and gaining one of his claws
X-Men: The End
Lockheed is with the X-Men during ‘The End’, he’s seen saving Wolfsbane from falling to her death
Mojoverse
In Mojoverse Lockheed is called Locksteed.
Other Media
Television
- In Pryde of the X-Men, Lockheed served as a pet to the Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists. Despite this, he was shown to be bullied and not treated well. When the X-Men came to retrieve the power circuit after being stolen by the Brotherhood, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler fought Magneto. Since Nightcrawler was busy performing a task, Kitty was left to fight Magneto on her own. At a key moment, Lockheed bit Magneto’s foot and foiled his plot. After the mission, Lockheed joined Kitty Pryde on the X-Men. He was voiced by Frank Welker.
- In X-Men: Evolution, Kitty is shown to own a stuffed toy that resembles Lockheed.
- Lockheed appears in the Super Hero Squad Show episode “Mysterious Mayhem at Mutant Academy!” where he chases Reptil and the hypnotized X-Men out of the girls’ bathroom on Kitty’s behalf.
Film
- Lockheed is featured in the New Mutants movie. Initially appearing as a puppet owned by Illyana Rasputin, Lockheed is brought to life as a real purple dragon while in Limbo, where he helps Illyana defeat the Demon Bear.
Video Games
- Lockheed appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance as an assist move for Kitty.
- Lockheed appears as an upgrade for Kitty in the Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past mobile game.
- Lockheed appears as an NPC in Marvel Heroes.
- Lockheed appears in the Marvel Puzzle Quest mobile game.
Merchandise
- The Magik figure from ToyBiz’s X-Men: New Mutants line came with a Lockheed pack-in.
- The Marvel Legends Kitty Pryde figure from ToyBiz’s Giant-Man wave came with a Lockheed toy as a pack-in.
- Kitty and Lockheed were featured in Hasbro’s Super Hero Squad line.
- The Minimates figure of Shadowcat from Diamond Select came with a Lockheed pack-in.
- The Marvel Universe Kitty Pryde figure from Hasbro came with a Lockheed pack-in.
- Eaglemoss Publications released a Kitty Pryde and Lockheed figurine as part of The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection.
- Kotubukiya released a statue of Kitty and Lockheed as part of their Bishoujo line.
- Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line featured a Kitty Pryde figure as part of the Juggernaut wave, which came with a Lockheed pack-in.
- Lockheed was also featured alongside Shadowcat in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Excalibur box set.