X-Men Origins: White Queen

No, you didn't misread that title. Every Thursday up until the May 1 release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Omnicomic will be profiling the mutants in the film. So sit back and get yourself up to speed on some of the lesser known characters. Gotham City Dossiers will return in a few weeks, so in the meantime you're on your own for finding cool indie comics (I'm sure you'll manage). Real Name: Emma Grace Frost Powers: Miss Frost is one of the most powerful mutant telepaths on the planet. Anything that you’ve seen Professor X and Jean Grey do- mind reading and control, psychic links, entering the astral plan, etc.- she can do. While we’re on the subject, I often find that she does it with a little more flair, strategy, and confidence too. Emma isn’t one to restrain her impulses. More recently, Emma developed a “secondary mutation.” In her case, she can transmute into a diamond hard form. This gives her substantial protection from harm and enhanced strength. She can even be shattered apart and put back together, unharmed, in this form (although, it’s likely only someone with substantial telekinetic and telepathic power- like Jean Grey- would be able to accomplish such a feat. Jean has, in fact, pulled off this trick… after shattering Emma herself.) While in diamond form, Frost doesn’t need food, water, or air. Emma feels no emotions in this form- she becomes clinically detached, reasoning with the razor-sharp precision. I know. Frost. It isn’t just a clever name. Frost can’t access her telepathic abilities while in diamond form. Alternately, she retains a degree of telepathic invulnerability while in this state. There have been some hints that Emma might have latent telekinetic abilities that she hasn’t fully explored and tapped into. First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (1980) Background: Emma is the second of three daughters born to a wealthy, and unhappy, Boston couple. Emma’s home life (as depicted in the limited series Emma Frost) could be described as a cautionary sleigh-ride through every wrong lesson an adolescent can learn while facing the pressures of puberty and emerging adulthood. Sort of like Cinderella…on crack. An overlooked middle child, Emma’s father was overbearing and abusive and her mother absent and strung out on pain medication. Ruthlessly teased at school, Emma was miserable and on the verge of failing out until her mutant powers emerged. Using her powers to glean answers to exams, Emma’s academic career turns around. She takes a part-time job as a tutor, using her “insight” into students' problems to bolster her teaching approach. This brings Emma closer to one of her teachers who she has a crush on, Ian Kendall. One day after school, Emma has a flash of insight into Kendall’s mind, realizes he’s attracted to her, and kisses the older man. Emma’s sister, Adrianne, videotapes the incident and shows the tape to her father. Emma’s father, who is more disgusted with the idea that his daughter would “slum” as a high school teacher than he is with the idea that his daughter is on the verge of a sexual affair with an older man, uses the video footage to have Kendall fired. Following this series of events, Emma becomes bitter and colder. Her older brother, likely homosexual, is sent to a mental asylum by her father after an attempted suicide. Emma strikes back at her sister and father, digging up various secrets to blackmail them with. Emma’s father, surprisingly, encourages this behavior- stating that she reminds him of himself. He offers her a chance to inherit the family business and fortune. Instead, Emma gets involved in a ransom scheme to con her father out of her money. The scheme goes wrong, however, when Emma’s father leaves her to be killed by thugs and refuses to pay the ransom. She only lives through the use of her mutant powers. Later, Emma is traumatized in college when she is reunited with her Ian Kendall- who she thinks of as her true love. When she reveals her mutant powers to him though, he rejects her. Without much means to support herself and no real friends to turn to, Frost gets a job as a stripper at the Hellfire Club. What she doesn’t know at first is that the Hellfire Club- a sort of sleezy strip-bar for the upper class kind of deal- is actually a cover for a group of politically minded mutants who are interested in covertly collecting wealth and power. It isn’t long before Frost falls in with Sebastian Shaw’s “inner circle,” becoming his “White Queen” (the club’s “ranks” corresponded to valuable chess pieces, white and black. Hence the name). The Hellfire Club clashed with the X-Men over the years- often times, it was concerning the induction of young mutants into one or the other team’s ranks. Still a competent teacher, Frost collected a group of fledgling mutants and trained them in their powers. This team, called the “Hellions” was primarily designed to be the club’s foot soldiers. Usually, the Hellions butted heads with the New Mutants (kind of the X-Men Junior Varsity team). Emma’s training focused mostly on service- that is, her students were taught to follow orders and use their powers to benefit her and the clubs members. When they ended up in a running battle with a group of enhanced sentinels, however, Emma’s students were butchered. Captured by the X-Men and tortured over her failure as a teacher, Xavier offered Emma a chance to work as a teacher at the Westchester School. Slowly, Frost became a valued, if somewhat controversial, instructor and X-Man. Emma’s methods still tend to be very cold and utilitarian- she can be somewhat conscienceless about using her mutant abilities to get what she wants. Lately, she has begun a romantic relationship with Scott Summers, A.K.A. Cyclops, resulting in the dissolution of his marriage with Jean Grey (now deceased). During her tenure at the Hellfire Club, Frost has had dealings with numerous criminal and underground organizations. Her presence in a Wolverine movie isn’t completely out of character- she might be a mysterious, distant figure, representing the faceless political and financial Weapon X backers, for example. Be sure to check out the profiles of the other mutants in the film: Agent Zero Beak Blob Cyclops Deadpool Gambit Sabretooth Silver Fox William Stryker Wolverine

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