Riptide

Origin

Riptide is a member of the Marauders – a mutant group brought together under the orders of Mr. Sinister.

Creation

Riptide was created by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr and Bret Blevins in 1988 and first appeared in shadow in Uncanny X-Men # 210. Riptide’s full appearance was in Uncanny X-Men # 211.

Character Evolution

Riptide was sent with the others to destroy the Morlocks where they also faced the X-Men. Riptide was killed in the battle by Colossus.

Years later, another band of cloned Marauders including Riptide, later attacked Threnody but were defeated by X-Man. A team of Marauders clones also defended one of Mr. Sinister’s secret bases against an incursion by Gambit, the mutant Courier, and Sabretooth.

Story Arcs

Post M-Day

After the events of M-Day, Scarlet Witch removed the mutant gene from the majority of the world’s mutant population. Riptide retains his powers, and attacked the X-Men alongside other Marauders.

Riptide assists Mister Sinister in his attempts to eliminate mutants with knowledge of the future. Riptide kills Quiet Bill while both are in an elevator. Later, during the Messiah Complex, Riptide is part of the final battle on Muir Isle. He seems to be aware of the fact his neck had been broken before. He battles Wolfsbane, knocking her out and giving her superficial wounds before he is rendered unconscious by Prof X.

Powers

Riptide has the mutant ability to spin his body at superhuman speeds. Janos generates his own shuriken while he is spinning– his skin secretes a substance that instantly crystalizes into razor-sharp snowflake-like shapes. Janos usually is drawn so that he appears like he is ‘riding’ a tornado over his lower body.

Other Media

Movies

Riptide is portrayed by Álex González in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class. Riptide is one of Sebastian Shaw’s henchman and a member the Hellfire Club. He later joins Magneto’s Brotherhood. In the film, his powers differ slightly from the comics. In the film he is able to create whirlwinds that can take the form of tornadoes, hurricanes and combine with water to create water spots, whereas in the comics he spins his body at an accelerated rate in order to give off the effect that his own body is the whirlwind.