#weapon plus program

spreadsheet cleanup STEPFORD CUCKOOS

ComicVine issues: 1600~1700 Fandom appearances: ~320 across 14 variants 3 video games

I never added them because conceptually they're just “what if: a hivemind of teen Emmas”

But statistically they do merit an @MCOCwishlist listing.

- Other Gabe

Notes

The Cuckoos were developed by the Weapon Plus (“Weapon X”) Program, from eggs Sublime harvested (without consent) from Emma Frost. The resulting Weapon XIV comprised a thousand cloned daughters with perfected diamond form and a telepathic hive mind. The purpose of this “Thousand-in-One” was to capture, harness, and control the Phoenix Force for Sublime’s nefarious intent to eradicate all mutants in a Cerebro-like effect. While the majority of the thousand lay dormant, five of the sisters infiltrated Xavier Academy as students calling themselves a Five-in-One: Sophie, Phoebe, Irma, Celeste, and Esme. (In school, Irma originally went by the nickname Mindee.) These five—or fewer, depending who remains surviving at any time—are the Stepford Cuckoos.

While the Cuckoos tend to operate as a unit, they have individual personalities, drives, and interests.

Plot tensions circle around their unity or individuality or lack thereof, depending on factors such as the girls’ varying levels of:

chemical state (classically certain members’ exposure and/or addiction to the powers-enhancing drug Kick);

individual willingness to submit to their created villainous fate (nature) versus their heroic training (nurture);

individual (or, sometimes, apparently shared group) romantic interests;

exposure to, involvement with, or possession by cosmic or astral beings or phenomena (most notably the Phoenix Force)

Three-in-One. [SPOILERS] Sophie died in combat leading the hive mind while amplified by Kick; Esme had a hand in that and a murder attempt on Emma while also under the influence of Kick and also was killed. As a result the original five-person squad was reduced to the more iconic and recognizable triplet team of Phoebe, Irma, and Celeste.

SPEEDSTERDAY: AURORA

Northstar's twin sister, AURORA has issues of her own, having gone through the Weapon X program and dealt with multiple-personality disorder, that could give her a unique build. Blinding light and speed.

MCOC Wishlist Waitlist Card SILVER FOX

There are too many champs for the MCOC Wishlist. This card is a quick reference for a Marvel character not yet among the ranks.

Editor’s Note: Revised Priority Level November 2022

The “high” priority designation for Silver Fox was originally based on an inflated ComicVine number that made it appear she had been in over 150 comics. However, Marvel Fandom listings for Silver Fox (not counting other distinct characters who have used the same nickname) total no more than 55 appearances in comics, movies, and television.

Typically a number below 100 comics appearances indicates a low priority for the MCOC Wishlist given the staggering plentitude of characters who have appeared in that many comics or more. 

Furthermore, Silver Fox only has one print multiverse variant listed on Fandom, where most strong Wishlist candidates have 10-15 or more.

She is much more noteworthy than a typical 55-comic character, since she has appeared in one mobile game, as well as X-Men: The Animated Series, and one of the lesser X-Men movies from FOX. But this data requires some interpretation.

For instance, the mobile game in which she appeared was not a game in which each character required a great deal of development resulting in a high level or character prominence. The game, X-Men: Battle of the Atom, was particularly deep and niche. It was deep because, as a deck-building card game, it required a great number of characters and concepts to be depicted on the hundreds of cards needed for card battling. The game’s depth was particularly niche because it was dedicated exclusively to X-Men characters mostly associated with one major X-Men-related arc. As a result, the game was likely to feature many mutant characters unlikely to be a high priority for character pools pulled from the broader Marvel catalogue.