Mindee Cuckoo

Current Events

Mindee, along with the rest of the Stepford Cuckoos, have left the Jean Grey Institute and are now on Cyclops’ team of mutant revolutionaries at his own school. She recently cut and dyed her hair in order to stand out from her sisters.

Origin

When Emma Frost was put into a coma following a Sentinel attack on her and the Hellions, Dr. John Sublime harvested some of her ova cells to create clones of Emma. Irma and her sisters Celeste, Esme, Phoebe and Sophie were all created in this process. Sublime intended them to become weapons to be used against mutants under the Weapon Plus program.

Creation

Irma along with the rest of the Stepford Cuckoos were created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver. Unlike the others, she was only named Mindee in a later arc by Chuck Austen, becoming his pet Cuckoo. Grant had intended for her name to begin with an I so when the Stepford Cuckoos’ names were placed in the correct sequence, it would spell out SPICE, but Chuck Austen was unaware of this Easter egg. Later, it was retconned that “Mindee” is a nickname for “Irma,” thus spelling SPICE.

Major Story Arcs

We see Irma’s personality in X-Men #163. While she plays piano one day Gambit comes in and tells her to look out the window for anything since he is blind and can’t see. She looks out the window just as a body comes flying through followed by Sabretooth.

Sabretooth grabs Irma, and she use her powers so Gambit can see through her eyes. They go outside to be attacked by Avalanche, and Mindee takes him out quickly and easily. She then projects false images into Exodus‘ mind so he can’t find them. They are then rescued by Jay. She mindwipes Black Tom and Mammomax so they won’t remember where the institute is.

Open Day

During the events of Riot at Xaviers, Sophie convinces Irma and the others to take Kick and use Cerebra to stop Quentin. Sophie leads by entering the machine and taking Kick while the others help her. after they destroy Quentin, Emma reveals that Sophie had died in the machine. The four living sisters get revenge against Emma who they blame for Sophie’s death, by alerting Jean to Scott’s affair.

Esme later shoots Emma in the imperfection in her diamond form and shatters. When it is revealed that Esme is the attempted murderer, it is too late as the institute is destroyed; and Esme joins Xorneto. Sadly, Esme is killed in cold blood by Xorneto leaving the Cuckoos the Three-in-One.

Phoenix Force

Quentin awakes from his stasis and decides to revive Sophie using the Phoenix Force. Through the events Sophie dies again, but Irma, Celeste and Phoebe all have the Phoenix force inside them.

It is revealed that Irma and the others are actually clones created from Emma’s eggs that have been artificially aged and that there are a thousand Cuckoos. While Irma chooses to assimilate back into the Thousand-in-One, Celeste ends up using the Phoenix Force to destroy all the other clones leaving only the three. To stop the Phoenix force from overwhelming Celeste, she split the Phoenix force into the three and trapped in their hearts which now became diamond.

New X-Men

The girls later decided to help both Elixir and David. They gave Elixir all the medical knowledge of Beast and gave back everything David had ever had learned using his powers. When Belasco came to the school looking for Magik, the three were put into special helmets to prevent the use of their telepathy. When the helmets were removed the three were crucial in the defeat of Belasco.

The girls helped find Hope, before Cerebra was destroyed.

San Francisco

The girls helped with coordinating during Secret invasion, but when the thought wall was implemented, they were all but useless. Emma died when she tried to break the wall, and the girls were given the job of keeping her alive until she returned.

Quentin once again came back and was going to destroy the X-Men, but was stopped when the Cuckoos were alerted to his presence by Martha. They told him that they had become much more powerful no that their was only the three of them and the easily beat the omega mutant.

Irma was used to infiltrate the mutant prison that Norman created to combat the mutant presence in San Francisco. she was captured which allowed the X-Men to infiltrate the base and save Xavier and Beast among others.

During the Predator-x battle on the island, the girls lost the Phoenix force that inhabited their hearts.

Avengers vs X-Men

Irma, along with her sisters, Celeste and Phoebe, were evacuated to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning after Cyclops and Emma Frost began to go insane with the power bestowed upon them by the Phoenix Force. They monitored the final battle during which Scott Summers became the Dark Phoenix, via Cerebra. They were telepathically present when Charles Xavier was killed. They informed Kitty Pryde, and the four women hugged each other, expressing their surprise and sadness.

Revolution

After a brief confrontation with their “mother”, the Three-In-One joined Scott Summers’s “Mutant Revolution”. Irma currently attends the New Xavier School for Mutants with her sisters.

Powers and Abilities

Irma is a powerful and bright mutant telepath able to merge her mind with her sisters’ into a psychic gestalt. She can also transmute her biology into a diamond-like indestructible form.

Other Media

Television

• In Wolverine and the X-Men, the Stepford Cuckoos are members of the Hellfire Club and were used by Emma Frost to release the Phoenix from Jean Grey to prevent the destruction that will be caused by the aforementioned entity. The Cuckoos had difficulty releasing the Phoenix and were consumed by the entity. They went on to cause trouble in the city and Emma, Scott, and Jean had to join forces to fight them. Scott blasted them with his optic blast to capture their attention, then Emma and Jean used their combined powers to trap the Phoenix Force in Emma’s diamond form, freeing the Cuckoos. As confessed by Selene to Scott, the mysterious explosion in the Institute that caused the X-Men’s temporary disbandment was caused by Emma with the help of the Cuckoos. Wolverine also sensed a vision of Emma and the Cuckoos taking Jean. The Cuckoos were voiced by Tara Strong.
• The Gifted: Mindee makes a minor appearance in the episode “iMprint,” portrayed by Saree Mcintosh. It is revealed that Mindee and Celeste were killed when the other three sisters attempted to escape from the lab where the quintuplets were originally created.

Games

• The Stepford Cuckoos appear as boss battles in the game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. They were voiced by Jennifer Hale. The player encounters the Cuckoos in the Madri Temple as they fight alongside Holocaust.
• The Cuckoos are 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: “[3-in-1] Stepford Cuckoos,” “New Xavier School] Stepford Cuckoos,” “[New X-Men] Stepford Cuckoos,” “[Utopia Defender] Cuckoos,” “[Weapon X Renegades] Stepford Cuckoos,” and “[Phoenix] Stepford Cuckoos.”

• Mindee appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes.

Merchandise

• Mindee Cuckoo was featured in the HeroClix figure game as part of the X-Men: Xavier’s School series.
• The Marvel Legends Stepford Cuckoos figure from Hasbro came with three interchangeable heads that could be used to transform the figure into a representation of the desired Cuckoo, with one of the options being Mindee.