Saturday, 30 December 2017

The Wyngarde Family Tree

I honestly have no idea what's wrong with me. Why did I pick another X-Men related family?! WHY? Without further ado, here is the Wyngarde Family Tree for the MC2.



I learnt a few interesting tidbits while researching the X-Men villain Mastermind aka Jason Wyngarde. For starters Mastermind first appeared way back in Uncanny X-Men #4 as a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It wasn't until Uncanny X-Men #122 that his real name of Jason Wyngarde was uttered. It was unclear at the time whether this was intended as Mastermind's real name or if it was simply an alias he created along with his illusions.Apparently the behind the scenes situation was just as confused with writer Chris Claremont referring to it as though it was both an alias and his real name (see link). Either way, the name stuck. Unfortunately, Wyngarde would contract the Legacy Virus and eventually died in the pages of  Uncanny X-Men Annual #17.  Fortunately, that's not the end of the story.



In Wolverine/Gambit: Victims #2 we meet a woman named Martinique Jason who, it transpires, is the Mastermind's illegitimate daughter. Martinique not only inherited her father's illusionary abilities, but also has some telepathic powers. Adopting her father's villainous identity as Mastermind, Martinique is manipulated by Arcade into framing Wolverine for several murders in London. After discovering the manipulation, Martinique turns on Aracade, leaving him trapped in his own mental prison, before escaping. The only other strictly MC2-relevant appearance featuring Martinique Jason is in Daredevil #352 in which she takes possession of Arcade's extensive files on various super heroes. Later appearances refer to this character as 'Martinique Wyngarde' but given these are later retcons (or honest mistakes?) and she's never called 'Wyngarde' in these early appearances prior to the divergence of the 616 and MC2 I've gone with the surname Jason.

It's again worth pointing out that more recent main Marvel Universe stories establish Jason Wyngarde has other daughters, but these are not part of the purview of this MC2 family tree. No need to tell me I forgot them, okay?




Apparently Jason Wyngarde had a sibling because, as we learn in J2 #2, he also has a niece who follows in his criminal footsteps. All we know about Enthralla is that she had prior run-ins with the X-People before encountering J2 in her first appearance. She later teams with Sabreclaw in a ploy to lure Magneta into a trap. Unfortunately for Enthralla, Magneta was accompanied by Wild Thing and J2, which leads to her defeat (J2 #8). Enthralla encountered Spider-Girl and Wild Thing while attempting to break-out Sabreclaw following his defeat at the hands of the Avengers before surrendering when faced with the Fantastic Five. Having checked through all of these appearances, I can't find a definitive mention of Wyngarde as her surname, but both The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 7 identify her as 'Enthralla (Wyngarde)' so that's good enough for me.

Well, that's it. While it looks fairly straight forward, a few naming inconsistences and relatives did throw a wrench into the works for me.

Until I stop covering X-Men characters, I remain

frogoat

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