Legacy Virus
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In the fictional Marvel Universe, the Legacy Virus was a devastating plague that ripped through the mutant population, killing hundreds and mutating so that it affected baseline humans as well.
The Legacy Virus storyline ran through various Marvel comics titles from 1993 to 2001.
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[edit] Description
The Legacy Virus was actually a viroid and was released by Stryfe, a terrorist from approximately 2,000 years in the future. It originally existed in two forms, Legacy-1 and Legacy-2, but later mutated into a third form, Legacy-3; all were airborne agents.
Legacy-1 and Legacy-2 searched for a target organism's "X-factor", the sequence of mutant genes that gave a mutant his/her superpowers. If it did not find an activated X-factor in the target, the viroid would die off, leaving the person completely unaffected. If, however, it did detect the X-factor, it would begin inserting introns (junk DNA sequences) into the transcription codings of the victim's mutant RNA, the process commonly being triggered after the patient used their powers for the first time after contracting the disease. The result was a major compromise of the replication and transcription process so disruptive as to eventually render the body incapable of creating healthy cells, ultimately resulting in the death of the victim.
Legacy-1 attacked general transcription and replication of all cells, a messy and non-selective process that resulted in a condition akin to a fast-replicating cancer. This is the version that infected Illyana "Magik" Rasputin, sister of Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin. Legacy-2, however, was much closer to Stryfe's original template and more in tune to his desire to stir a species war between humans and mutants. Its attacks were selective, working only on the X-factor genes. The net result was that a victim would eventually lose control of his superhuman powers. In addition to developing at a far slower rate than Legacy-1, victims of Legacy-2 developed skin lesions, fever, cough and overall weakness (symptoms displayed by the telepathic X-Man Revanche). The slow nature of Legacy-2 is why St. John "Pyro" Allerdyce survived for years following his initial infection.
Legacy-3 was a complete fluke, accidentally created in the body of the mutant woman known as Infectia. Her powers allowed her to scan and visualize the genetic structure of a living being and then alter it according to her own whims; she was essentially a walking genetics laboratory. Infectia had herself been infected with the Legacy Virus, which her own powers tried to stave off. In doing so, they caused a replication error in the Legacy-2 viroid that was killing her. The viroid's conditioning—to not infect if no X-gene was found in the host—was stripped. When Henry "Beast" McCoy opened Infectia's containment chamber in an act of compassion to allow her one final look at the night sky, he inadvertently released this new "free agent" strain. Legacy-3 was capable of infecting any living being that fit within the parameters of its general original template; that is, hominids only, not canines, felines, etc. Moira MacTaggert, long-time ally of the mutant X-Men and one of Earth's top geneticists, seemed to have been the first non-mutant human to be infected with Legacy-3. She passed on the data she had gathered to McCoy, before being killed by an explosion at her research station caused by the shapeshifting terrorist Mystique. McCoy was able to devise a cure, though one that had a price; the virus had first been released by the death of the first victim, so the release of the cure would cause the same reaction, Colossus volunterred to be the victem so noone would lose anyone else as did he with Illayna, Colossus sadly died.
The Legacy Virus was based on a virus created by Apocalypse in the distant future, which was intended to kill the remaining non-mutants. At the time that this alternate version of Apocalypse was killed, the virus had not been perfected, and much like Legacy-3, it targeted all humans indiscriminately. As a result, this virus was never deployed, until Stryfe acquired it and altered it for his own purposes.
Mystique had also created (or commissioned the creation of) a strain of the Legacy viroid that only attacked non-mutant humans, leaving mutants completely untouched.
[edit] History
During the X-Cutioner's Song crossover, the villain Stryfe gave Mister Sinister a canister that he claimed contained 2,000 years worth of genetic material from the Summers bloodline. When Gordon Lefferts, a scientist working for Sinister, opened the canister (in X-Force (vol. 1) #18, January 1993) after Stryfe was apparently killed by Cable, they found nothing inside. Far worse than that, the canister actually contained a plague, Stryfe's "legacy" to the world.
When Colossus' sister Illyana fell ill and died of the Legacy Virus in Uncanny X-Men #303 (August 1993), he left the X-Men and joined Magneto's Acolytes, but later returned. His teammate Beast developed a cure for the virus, but in order for it to be quickly dispersed, a mutant had to sacrifice himself. Colossus did not want any more people to suffer his sister's fate, so he injected himself with the Legacy cure and activated his mutant powers, transforming his body into organic steel. This "supercharged" the Legacy cure and simultaneously killed him and stopped the spread of the Legacy virus (in Uncanny X-Men #390, March 2001).
Much later[issue # needed], it was revealed Colossus had been resurrected by alien technology and was being used as a test subject for an experimental formula that would reverse mutations; he was eventually rescued by the X-Men, however, and rejoined the team.
Unfortunately, this rapid cure had unforeseen geopolitical effects. Thousands of Legacy-infected mutants and mutates had been quarantined on the island nation of Genosha, which was controlled by Magneto at the time. The instant cure gave Magneto a vast army overnight and allowed him to begin carrying out his plans for world conquest in the Eve of Destruction crossover.
In X-Factor (vol. 3) #10, it was revealed that Singularity Investigations was creating a virus designed to kill mutants. While Jamie Madrox referred to this as the Legacy Virus, it is unclear whether Singularity is actually recreating Stryfe's virus, creating what is to later actually be Stryfe's virus, or merely engineering a new one with a similar purpose.
[edit] Infection list
listed alphabetically
| Character | First Appearance of Infection | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Absalom | X-Force (vol. 1) #37 (August 1994) | Killed by Selene in X-Force (vol. 1) #54. |
| Abyss | Cable (vol. 2) #40 (February 1997) | |
| Bolt (Chris Bradley) | X-Men Unlimited (vol. 1) #8 (September 1995) | |
| Burke | Killed by the Virus. | |
| Infectia | Killed by the Virus in X-Men (vol. 2) #27 (December 1993). | |
| Lefferts, Gordon | Revealed to have been the first victim killed by the Virus in X-Men (vol. 2) #27 (December 1993) | |
| MacTaggert, Moira | Excalibur (vol. 1) #80 (August 1994) | Publicly designated as the first human to contract the Legacy Virus in X-Men Prime. |
| Madrox, Jamie | Duplicate infected in X-Factor (vol. 1) #91 (June 1993). | Duplicate died from Virus in X-Factor (vol. 1) #100 (March 1994). |
| Magik (Illyana Rasputin) | Killed by Virus in Uncanny X-Men #303 (August 1993). | |
| Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde) | Killed by the Virus in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17. | |
| Maverick | Healing factor put Virus into remission. | |
| Mutate #24601 | Only Mutate "named"; many others infected and presumed killed. | |
| Nicodemus | X-Force (vol. 1) #20 (March 1993) | Revealed to have been killed by the Virus in the same issue. |
| Pyro | X-Men Annual (vol. 2) #2. | Killed by the Virus in Cable (vol. 2) #87 (Jan 2001). |
| Revanche | X-Men Annual (vol. 2) #2. | Mercy-killed by Matsu'o before she succumbed to the Virus in X-Men #31 (April 1994). |
[edit] Appearance in other media
Something akin to the Legacy Virus was included in the X-Men animated series. This "techno-organic virus" was a creation of Apocalypse, designed to destroy all humans and originally spread into an epidemic plague. After a time travel adventure, Bishop and the X-Men destroyed the virus, thus altering the timeline and forcing Cable to go back in time, as anti-bodies that developed as a result of the plague were required for the mutant race to survive into Cable's own time. (One scene depicting what would befall mutant-kind without the antibody showed Colossus at Illyana's bedside.) Cable eventually infected Wolverine with the virus, as he realised Wolverine's healing factor would allow the creation of the anti-bodies that would counter the virus, but without the need for the plague.
In the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, a side mission affects the development of a cure for the Legacy Virus.
