Penance (X-Men)

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For the Thunderbolts member, see Robbie Baldwin

Penance
Penance, by Chris Bachalo
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Generation X #1 Created by Scott Lobdell Chris Bachalo
Characteristics Alter ego unknown Species Human Mutant Affiliations Generation X Notable aliases Hollow, Penny, Yvette Abilities Razor-sharp and exceptionally tough skin Has long claws for hands, feet and hair.

Penance is a body which several members of the St Croix family, all members of the Marvel Comics superhero team Generation X, had been trapped in. The body possesses red diamond-like skin and is mute. When last seen, however, the form had no known host.

Contents 1 Character history 1.1 Generation X 1.1.1 Penance I 1.1.2 Penance II 1.2 The Loners 2 Powers and abilities 3 Original plan 4 External links

[edit] Character history

[edit] Generation X

[edit] Penance I

Monet St. Croix is the sister of Marius, Claudette, and Nicole St. Croix. When her brother Marius, who would later become the mutant Emplate, first manifests his powers, the conceited Monet often verbally abused him. An enraged Emplate transforms her body into a hardened, spiked, red state and left her mute. He then tells her to "consider this your penance". Claudette and Nicole, realizing how dangerous their brother is becoming, banish him to his own pocket dimension, but he manages to bring Monet with him, who takes the name Penance. Nicole and Claudette, knowing Monet was their parents' favorite, decide to merge into one body with the appearance of Monet (see Monet-twins).

Shortly after the formation of the mutant teen team Generation X, Penance is dropped onto the front lawn of the Massachusetts Academy by Gateway, who reveals her identity as Penance. She is brought inside by headmaster Banshee, who discovers her powers as he cuts his hands by trying to pick her up. As Penance cannot speak, understand english (apparently), and with an immunity to telepathy, Banshee places her in the infirmary as Banshee and Emma Frost attempt to discover her identity. Teen member M, her relation to Penance unknown, tells the adults that Penance was perhaps a prisoner of Emplate, a parasitic mutant who fed upon other mutants who the group had encountered previously.

As the team leaves, Penance awakens with one thought on her mind: survival. Tearing apart her (in her mind) cell and escaping, she was free. Hearing the alarms of a breach, the team rushes to the infirmary and stares at the extensive damage she caused during her escape. The team splits up to find her before she can cause further damage to the Academy. Team member Chamber , feeling a kindred spirit due to his own mutilated body, leaves the group to search for her alone. Feeling that another deformed soul would seek him out, he waited for her arrival. After Penance fights her way past the rest of the team (Husk, Synch, Jubilee, and M), she approaches Chamber, who talks telepathically to her in an attempt to convince her that he knows how she feels and eventually calms the girl down into staying with the team.

During her stay at the Academy, she would rarely interact with her peers, due to her animalistic nature and fright of being captured again. Fortunately, perhaps due to her time with the feral mutant Wolverine, Jubilee becomes a friend to her. Trusting her friends more, Penance begins to go on missions with the others, and in in Generation X #8. In a subsequent mission, presumably to cover up their relation, Emplate refers to her as "Yvette" and the others grow somewhat weary of Penance.

[edit] Penance II

Finally, M reveals that she is a combination of two sisters, and tell the others the truth about Penance, and that they feel horrible about impersonating their sister. To "make things right", the twins, now split apart, merge once more into the form of Monet and swap places with Penance, freeing the real Monet at last, with the merged twins taking over as Penance's body.

Monet, free at last, continues to operate under the twins' codename of M, while the twins retain the identity of Penance. Both remain a part of the Generation X team, while still trying to cure the still mute Penance. Later, an explosion frees the twins from the Penance body, but the body would continue to function as though a mind is still inside it.

When the twins leave for their home, they take Penance's body with them, along with the mutants Artie Maddicks and Leech. Penance has not been seen since.

[edit] The Loners

A preview in Wizard #181 shows that Penance will join the cast of the Runaways spin-off, The Loners. Joe Quesada mentioned that the former Generation X member will be renamed; due to the current use of said name by Robbie Baldwin, within the Thunderbolts series. Penance's new codename, in which will be revealed in issue #3, is Hollow.

[edit] Powers and abilities

The powers of the different hosts of the Penance form vary, but while in the Penance form its powers are red diamond-hard skin and extended razor-sharp claws on their fingers, toes, and hair follicles. Because of the density of the skin, it is quite durable, as well as resistant to psychic intrusion.

[edit] Original plan

Scott Lobdell, the creator of M and Penance, never intended for there to be a "real" M - only the twins - or for Penance to be, in effect, a host body. His intention was that Penance was simply a wholly deaf (and mute) girl from the (former) Yugoslavia and apparently named "Yvette", whose skin had drawn tightly around her as a result of Emplate feeding upon her^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] External links

• Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Penance I/M II
• Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Penance II/M twins
• Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Penance III