Origin
He was born in South Africa, Japheth was one of five brothers. Since he was a little kid, he was always sick, and pretty weak. His stomach grew in abnormal proportions and the doctors told his parents that he had stomach cancer. His father worked very hard at the mines to support the family and to pay the medical bills for Japheth. But despite his efforts, it wasn’t enough to support a family that big. One night Japheth acidentally heard his mother praying to God, she asked him to spare Japheth and them the agony and take him away fast.
The very next day, he stole the family jeep and went far into the desert until he ran out of gas. He wanted to die right there, far from his mother and release them from the agony and economical loss he represented. But what Japheth didn’t know was that his little brother was sleeping in the back of the jeep. He wanted to save his brother, that was clueless on what was really happening, he thought it was an adventure with his brother. They walked and walked until they couldn’t move, he was giving up, and blaiming himself for killing his brother. Suddenly Magneto appeared and using his powers stopped the pain in the boys bodies. He also used his powers on Japheth, and two big slugs came out of Japheth’s oversized stomach.
Magneto accompanied the boys that night. He told Japheth about mutants and their destiny to lead the world, and how they are persecuted just for being born, but Japheth didn’t fully understand what he was saying. The slugs seem only to eat, and each time they did, Japheth turned blue and got stronger. At morning Magneto took the boys home. When they returned home, they discovered that their older brother, whom Japheth admired like a hero was killed by the militia. His father went to look for revenge and Magneto accompanied him. When they reached the military base, Magneto killed them all, and left, telling Japheth that one day they would meet again. The slugs returned to his body, since they are actually his digestive system. For them to return they needed to eat through Japheth’s skin, it’s a very painful procedure.
Creation
The character of Maggott was created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira for use in Marvel comics. The first appearance of Maggott is in Uncanny X-Men #345 which was released on June of 1997
Major Story Arcs
Searching
What happened through all those years in his life is unclear, the only things that are known is that he tried to commit suicide a lot of times, because of the pain the slugs caused him. At one point he adopted the name of Maggott, and began going by this. He was looking for Magneto, whom he confused with Joseph and traced his steps, until reaching New York. In New York he was attacked by Psylocke, she sensed a darkness inside him and confused him with a enemy. He tried to reason with her, but she didn’t listen. At one point Maggot knocked her down, and his slugs were about to eat her, despite Maggott’s order not to. But she was rescued by Archangel, both of them managed to defeat Maggott. Psylocke teleported the three of them so they could talk, but it seems that Maggott’s desire for finding Magneto ended up teleporting them to Antarctica, where Gambit’s trial was going on. Maggott found Joseph who was knocked down by Magneto, he cashed in his favor, and told him to play along in the trial. When they returned to the mansion, they joined the rest of the X-Men. Cyclops had a bomb implanted on him, they managed to take it out, but it was about to explode, Maggott sent one of his slugs to eat it. In this way he earned his spot in the rank of the X-Men.
X-Men
He spent a lot of time with the X-Men, fighting some enemies, Sauron among them. He felt that he finally found a place he felt comfortable in, so he hid the real way his powers worked, he didn’t want to scare or disgust the other members, so he was always making excuses for not joining them at the table, or at the pool. Since he talked with Magneto at Antarctica, he was the only one that was sure that Joseph was not Magneto. One day Sabra appeared and was trying to kill “Magneto”, at first Maggott was going to let her, but he stopped her and told that he is not Magneto. Both Joseph and Sabra left to go look for Magneto, and promised to keep Maggott’s secret. His slugs began to present some weird behavior, they were acting more independently, one day they went away for a long time, since Maggott needed them to survive, he went looking for them. He found them all covered in blood and Wolverine with a huge wound in the chest. He began to worry, since there had been reports on some mysterious killings, and thought the slugs might be responsible.
It was revealed that actually Wolverine’s wound and the killings were made by the Ru’tai, a race from another dimension, that actually looked a lot like the slugs. The slugs joined these creatures, slowly killing Maggott. Finally he and Wolverine defeated the Ru’tai and the slugs returned to their original master, saving Maggott’s life.
Generation X
After that, he told Wolverine how his powers really work and that he was actually a teenager. His next big fight was against the Shadow King, were he had to reject a chance to lead a normal life without the pain from his powers. When his real age was revealed, Hank McCoy considered that what would be best for him, would be to join Generation X, he agreed and left to look for them. Though his stay with the team was only days short, Maggott was soon plunged into action in an impromptu fight with the mercenary known as Slaughter. Obsessed with claiming ‘eany’ and ‘meany’ as trophies, Slaughter defeated Maggott, Synch, Chamber and Skin in order to claim his prize. However, Maggott fought back by using his slugs to destroy slaughter’s weaponry, though the rotund mercenary was able to escape before being apprehended. Maggott left Gen X after the conflict, though he remained on good terms with his former team-mates.
Death
What happened in the next months was never clear, but he was captured by Weapon X, just for being a mutant, and was taken to a concentration camp named Neverland. He was reunited with Cecilia Reyes, a former X-Men partner. He was marked with a red M that meant he was not useful and was programmed for death. Before he was taken, he gave his slugs to a couple of mutant kids he befriended.
Maggott is one of the many mutants to be resurrected as part of Selene‘s plan to seek revenge on the X-Men for standing in her way of being a goddess. Mentally controlled by Eli Bard via the Transmode Virus, Maggott was forced to attack X-Force.
Powers and Abilities
Maggott lacks a normal human digestive system. In its place are two large slug-like creatures named Eany and Meany. While outside of his body they can eat and digest any material rapidly. When they re-enter his body through his abdomen he gains superhuman strength and stamina using energy they create through digestion. This can be a painful process, and a (seemingly) unrelated side effect is that his skin turns blue.
Eany and Meany appear to be able to act independently of Maggott. Maggott has a low level telepathic connection to Eany and Meany, which allows them to communicate. Maggott also has the ability to see events, including future events, due to a low-powered psychometric power that Eany and Meany may also possess.
He also has writting abilities as was noted recently, because Husk teaches Lit 101 in Jean Grey School for Higher Learning and reads: “Ode to Eany and Meany by Maggott”.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 6′ 8″
Weight: 350 lbs
Hair: White
Eyes: Brown
Alternate Realities
Exiles
In Exiles Vol 2 #2 Maggot is a guardsman in Genosha. He is about to take Forge in, but is stopped by Exile Polaris. He reveals details about the reality. He also takes the team to the Palace.
Ultimate Marvel
In Ultimate X-Men #47, Apocalypse orders Mr. Sinister to kill a teenage version of Maggott that is in Manhattan.
Later, another version of Maggott (a child named Joshua) appears after the events of Ultimatum.
Age of X
In the Age of X alternate reality, Maggott was killed by Iron Man.
In Other Media
Merchandise
- Maggott was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
- Maggott was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Bonebreaker Build-a-Figure wave.