Armor (comics)
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Armor (Hisako Ichiki), is a fictional mutant teenager who is enrolled at the Xavier Institute; she retains her powers after the events of Decimation. She first appeared in Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #4.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Hisako is a young girl whose greatest aspiration is one day to be an X-Man. Along with her friend and fellow student, Wing (whom, after his death, she later describes as being her best friend), Hisako is attacked in the halls of the Xavier Institute by the alien villain Ord of the Breakworld. Hisako and Wing attempt to oppose Ord, but are overpowered. While both teenagers survive the attack, Wing discovers that he has been injected with a "cure" for his mutant ability of flight. Despondent, he commits suicide after some goading from a Danger Room hologram of her.
In the wake of this tragedy, Hisako, her teacher Kitty Pryde, and several Xavier students find themselves trapped in a sentient and hostile Danger Room with Wing’s reanimated corpse. Danger, as the intelligence names itself, eventually leaves the Institute.
Hisako finds classmate Blindfold "crying" in the restroom, which is ironic as Blindfold has no eyes and cannot cry[1] While trying to comfort Blindfold, Blindfold tries to convince Hisako that they are soon "to lose another one," as Wolverine, believing he is a defenseless child due to the manipulations of Cassandra Nova, barges into the restroom, followed closely by the feral Beast. Beast attacks Blindfold, but Hisako uses her powers to fight off Beast. Exhausting herself, she faints. Blindfold and Hisako make their way through the Institute. Blindfold tells Hisako that someone is awake in the infirmary; they find the unconscious bodies of Colossus and Cyclops.[2] Soon afterwards, Shadowcat rises through the floor and asks the girls to explain everything they know.
Soon after, both Ord and Danger attack the mansion, where they are confronted by Hisako and then Wolverine where the young girl holds her own only to end up slightly impaled by Wolverine's claws. Although she only receives minor injuries, things do not get any better when Cassandra Nova chooes Hisako to be her new host body. It is left unknown if Cassandra was successful in getting Emma Frost to transfer her consciousness into Hisako, as S.W.O.R.D. beams the team, Danger, Ord, and Hisako into a spaceship headed for the Breakworld.
The team and Hisako find that S.W.O.R.D. have abducted the X-Men and Hisako because they need heroes to fight a threat: Breakworld has a weapon capable of destroying the Earth. After flying through space, Ord sends the ship's coordinates to Breakworld's ruler, and he sends a fleet to attack the ship. When the attack is over, the ship is heavily damaged and the X-Men are separated. Hisako ends up with Wolverine. Hisako is given membership to the X-Men and a costume exactly like Shadowcat's. After commenting on how she had a test that week, Wolverine tells her that she is an X-Man now, and she is there to save the world. She takes up the codename Armor, at least until Wolverine can go a day without stabbing her to pick a better one, fulfilling her dream of being an X-Man.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Hisako can generate a psionic body armor that grants her increased strength and durability. In addition, the body armor greatly strengthens the force behind her offensive blows. Strangely, Wolverine is able to pierce through Hisako's armor with his adamantium claws,[3] although he is not able to go through it with the rest of his body. In the same issue, Hisako, when asked by Wolverine what her powers "are made of," she replies, "It's...my family. I...I mean, the line of my ancestors passes this strength, this protection that I can access, it's hard to..." and trails off.
[edit] Trivia
- Hisako does indeed speak Japanese, strengthening the idea that she is from Japan instead of simply being an American of Japanese descent. She attempted to use it to insult Wolverine, but he unfortunately also spoke Japanese. She said, "It’s a shame they hired a murderous gorilla as a teacher," to which Logan replied, "Don’t you think it’s shameful to your ancestors that you’re always complaining?"
- Hisako was one of the students without an official squad before M-Day, she may have been a part of Iceman's Squad, Excelsiors, or Beast's Squad, Exemplars. Both of which never had officially listed students.
- Hisako's greatest aspiration is one day to be an X-Man, which she recently has fulfilled. Based of what has happened recently, she may choose to not be an X-man.
[edit] Alternate Future
In the Runaways vol. 2 #2, a time-displaced future version of Gertrude Yorkes mentioned a future team of X-Men led by Hisako which, like Gertrude's Avengers, was decimated by a villain. One panel shows the psionic armored arm of Hisako. Hisako & Gert are stated to be the last of the X-Men & Avengers, respectively.
[edit] Bibliography
- Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #4-5, 7-9, 13, 15-20 by Joss Whedon
- Runaways vol. 2 #2 by Brian K. Vaughan
- New X-Men vol. 2 #23 and #25 by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
- X-Men: The 198 Files by Eric J. Moreels, Marc-Oliver Frisch, and Brian E. Wilkinson
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #15
- ^ Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #16
- ^ Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #13
