Forge (Earth-616)

Forge
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	Forge
Aliases	Maker, Skitch, Dr. Silvercloud
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	X-Force (founder and leader) Formerly X-Men, X-Force (Cable), X-Factor, Muir Island X-Men, DARPA, "New Mutants" (creator and leader), Stark Industries
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′ (1.83 m)
Weight	179 lbs (81.19 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Bionic right leg and hand
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant cyborg enhanced to Omega-level; tribal shaman
Living Status	Alive; formerly deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Unrevealed, presumably in the American West
Cause of Death	Head eaten by Cerebrax (resurrected by The Five)
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	Cheyenne, American, Krakoan
Occupation	Cheyenne Shaman, magician, inventor, adventurer; former soldier, prison warden
Base of Operations	Krakoa, Pacific Ocean Formerly Danger Room Prison Complex, Age of X-Man; Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York; New Tian, California; Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, X-Haven, Limbo (formerly Salem Center, North Salem, Westchester County, New York); Eagle Plaza, Dallas, Texas; X-Factor HQ, Embassy Row, Washington, D.C.
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr.
First	Uncanny X-Men #184 (May, 1984)
First	Uncanny X-Men #184 (May, 1984)

 My power is in my mind. Deep inside. That is where I live. That is where I get to be a super hero... They don't understand what they don't see... But I see. I see it all. I see things before they are real. It always starts with a problem. An impractical, unattainable, unworkable problem that needs to be solved. Then... I solve it. I work it. I attain it. I move and shift and reshape. Make something out of nothing. I prepare my unfeasible solutions for birth. And when they've incubated and grown and developed, I bring them into the world. I am a midwife of the impossible. I am Forge. I make the impossible real. 

—Forge

Forge is a mutant with the ability to intuitively understand and design technology. As a master inventor and engineer, he is also known as the "Maker." His affinity for technology diverged from his connection to his heritage as a Cheyenne, eventually leading him to join the U.S. Army. While serving, Forge sustained severe injuries after being close to a bomb detonation, which caused the partial loss of his right leg and hand. Using his powers, he has built cybernetic prosthetics to replace his missing limbs. After this tragedy, Forge became a recluse, focusing on his work as an advanced weaponry developer for the U.S. Government. During one of his assignments, he replicated a Neutralizer that can inhibit a mutant's powers. His creation was used to depower Storm, the leader of the mutant heroes known as the X-Men. Following this accident, Forge's journey has permanently intersected with the X-Men in addition to a complicated relationship with Storm.

In a major crisis, a demonic entity called the Adversary threatened the world. In the past, Forge had inadvertently released the creature during his time in the army. Thanks to the sacrifice of the X-Men, Forge was able to reconnect himself with his origins to banish the beast. This was followed by him devoting his efforts to revive and assist the X-Men. Eventually, Forge reestablished his involvement with the government, by serving as a liaison for X-Factor, subsequently becoming the leader of the team. Throughout the years, Forge used his mind to collaborate with mutantkind. In a desperate attempt after the mutant decimation, Forge went insane and attempted to recreate mutantkind by himself. After clashing with the X-Men, he was helped by Cable and joined his extremist band of vigilantes in X-Force.

For the establishment of the mutant-exclusive island-nation of Krakoa by Professor X, Forge played a central role in the development of mutant technology. He devised backups for mutant minds to be stored in Cerebro in order to enable the Resurrection Protocols. Additionally, he showcased his ingenuity by crafting organic technology derived from the island itself. His expertise led him to work closely with the Quiet Council of Krakoa and eventually join the ranks of the X-Men, where his unique abilities proved invaluable to the team. Following the fall of Krakoa, Forge has deployed his abilities into creating his ultimate machine, a new and secret team X-Force that preventively targets threats in order to fix the world.

History

Early Years

The man known as Forge was a Cheyenne, once the pupil of Naze, a shaman in his tribe. Forge developed considerable mystical powers as a result of the training Naze gave him and was also a mutant with an unusual talent for inventing mechanical devices. Forge has explained that he was an intuitive genius and it was as natural as breathing for him.

In the army

Forge served in the Siancong War and lost his right hand and right leg in a B-52 attack. During the war, Forge, using the souls of nine dead comrades, had opened a portal that released the Adversary to win a battle. Forge sank into a suicidal depression and tried to kill himself. Forge designed an artificial hand and leg to replace those that he had lost and, for reasons connected with the war that has not yet been made clear, Forge decided to give up the use of his ability to wield magic. For the most part, Forge did not use his mystical abilities for at least ten years.

Forge concentrated instead on his career as an inventor, and when Tony Stark ceased making advanced weaponry for the federal government, the Defense Department began commissioning new weaponry from Forge via the DARPA agency. The government commissioned Forge to devise a means of detecting and combating the shape-changing alien Dire Wraiths.

First encounter with the X-Men

Forge created a scanner device that could detect the presence of superhumanly powerful mutants and extraterrestrials in its wielder's vicinity and could even specifically differentiate between Dire Wraiths and other aliens. Forge also created a neutralizer device that could theoretically deprive any superhumanly powerful being the ability to use his or her superhuman abilities.

Neutralizer

On presidential orders, Henry Gyrich, an agent of the National Security Council, took possession of the only existing model of Forge's neutralizer in order to use it against Rogue, a member of the mutant X-Men who was falsely suspected of killing an agent of the intelligence organization S.H.I.E.L.D.. Forge was outraged, as the neutralizer was still untested and he did not know if it would remove a target's superhuman powers temporarily, permanently, or possibly even kill him or her. Forge physically attempted to prevent Gyrich from using the device on Rogue, but Gyrich instead shot Rogue's fellow X-Man Storm with it, as she attempted to protect her colleague. With her superhuman powers apparently entirely removed, Storm fell into a river, from which Forge rescued her.

Feeling guilt and responsibility for the loss of her powers, Forge brought Storm to his Eagle Plaza in Dallas, Texas. There Storm revived and she and Forge grew strongly attached to each other. However, when Storm learned that Forge had designed the neutralizer gun that had deprived her of her powers, she felt betrayed and furious at Forge.

Slapped by Storm after she found the truth

Storm left his building but returned on learning Forge was in danger from the Dire Wraiths. The Wraiths were aware that Forge's neutralizer could not, in its present stage of development, harm them and intended to kill him before he could improve it.

Together, Naze, Magik, and Amanda Sefton joined with Forge, Storm, and the X-Men in defeating the Wraiths who came after Forge, but Storm's hatred of Forge persisted.

Forge further improved his neutralizer so that it would negate the Wraiths' mystical abilities, and created several of these improved devices, but he was still guilt-ridden over Storm's loss of her powers. Fearing that people would use his neutralizers against other superhuman Earth beings, Forge did not want to give them the devices even for use against the Dire Wraiths. After joining forces with the Wraiths' greatest foe, the space knight Rom, Forge decided to construct a gigantic "neo-neutralizer" in Earth's orbit. Powered by Rom's own neutralizer, Forge's orbiting device could cast all the Dire Wraiths on Earth into other-dimensional Limbo.

Gyrich intended to use the neo-neutralizer to eliminate the superhuman powers of every being on Earth. To thwart Gyrich's plan, Forge and ROM aimed the neo-neutralizer, not at Earth, but at the Wraith's homeworld, Wraithworld, which was approaching Earth through hyperspace. The device negated Wraithworld's magic, the source of the Wraiths' own mystical powers; therefore, causing Wraithworld to cease to exist and depriving Wraiths throughout the universe of their mystical abilities. Thus, Forge was responsible for saving Earth from the Dire Wraiths.

Forge ensured that the neo-neutralizer could not be used against Earth's superhuman beings and destroyed all known specimens of the neutralizer. One neutralizer was used by Tony Stark to depower the superhuman criminal, known as the Termite, and was subsequently destroyed.

Fall of the Mutants

Forge was next seen atop a mountain, seemingly opening a dimensional portal filled with demons. Storm, who had been manipulated by the Adversary in Naze's guise, stabbed Forge in the chest and, only then, realized he had been attempting to close the portal, not open it. The Adversary then trapped Forge and Storm in the other dimension and seized control of Dallas, warping time and space in order to foment chaos on Earth. Forge and Ororo Munroe spent a year on an alternate Earth, during which time they made peace and admitted their love for one another.

Exiled together

After a fight, Ororo left and, upon returning, Forge used components from his cybernetic leg to fashion a new device that restored Storm's ability to use her powers, which she then used to energize a portal back to their own world. Forge and Storm rejoined the X-Men and were captured in the Omniversal Guardian Roma's Starlight Citadel, that the Adversary had taken over. Forge was forced to use his mystical abilities again to banish the Adversary, using the souls of eight X-Men and Madelyne Pryor-Summers. However, Roma restored the X-Men to life and freed the Adversary under the notion that there could be no order without chaos.

Magik's Revenge

Forge was later sought out by one of the X-Men's younger siblings, Magik, in her Darkchylde form seeking revenge for her slain brother. After a lengthy battle, Darkchylde teleported Forge to her dimension, Limbo, where she was more powerful and Forge eventually decided that he was no better than her as a youth and gave up. After being stabbed by Darkchylde's Soulsword and influenced by the New Mutants, Darkchylde understood how evil she was becoming and withdrew her attack, returning Forge to Dallas and restoring his health.

Mystique

Forge returned with the X-Men to completely restore their mansion to their previous level of technology. Forge proposed to Storm, but when she would not leave the X-Men for him, he retracted his offer. He returned to Dallas with Mystique, taking it upon himself (and fulfilling Destiny's dying prophecy) to rehabilitate her as she was suffering from psychological damage after having been possessed by the Shadow King. Forge and Mystique were attacked by the time-hopping mutant Trevor Fitzroy and were rescued by the X-Men. Mystique left Forge soon afterward, claiming her sufferings were a ruse to enable her to steal sensitive information from Forge's computers.

X-Factor

Forge was then contacted by Valerie Cooper to become the government liaison to a new version of the mutant team X-Factor, modeled after the defunct government-sanctioned Freedom Force. Forge soon became an active member of the team, participating on many missions and supplying the team with its technology. During this time, he was reunited with Mystique and also fixed a holographic module that contained the mutant law enforcer from the future, Shard.

X-Factor

When team leader Havok was MIA, Forge took his place. He later reclaimed his mystical heritage in another confrontation with the Adversary team, defeating him by using both his technological and magical abilities.

Later still, Forge divorced X-Factor from government sanction in order to take the team underground. Soon after, however, the team was nearly destroyed by the rampaging of its member Sabretooth and Forge quit the team, returning leadership to Havok.

Working with Professor X

After a time, Forge was contacted by Professor X to infiltrate Genosha with Multiple Man, since Magneto had seized control over the country. In reality, Magneto's acolyte Exodus was posing as Magneto, and he captured Forge to force him to enhance his psionic powers. The X-Men rescued Forge, and he returned to his clandestine mission observing Genosha. With the apparent demise of Magneto and the freedom of Genosha, Forge returned to the X-Men where he acted as a member of the team's support crew.

First Encounter

Retiring from the X-Men to create a new high-tech headquarters in Baltimore, Forge was contacted by Professor X once again. He needed Mystique’s help in order to track the murderer of one of his secret mutant operatives. They rescued Mystique from her sentence of state execution, setting her up as one of Professor X’s underground agents. Forge became her support technician, supplying her with technology and weapons, despite their rocky relationship and Forge’s continued feelings for her.

Nimrod

Forge also helped Cannonball and Siryn find Cable with the aid of Deadpool. Forge built a pair of special gauntlets for New X-Men team member Surge. Forge began working on a Nimrod unit with the primary objective of protecting mutants and secondary objective of protecting humans. It seemed that Nimrod was trying to stop the objectives from being downloaded.

Messiah Complex

After M-Day, Forge constructed a machine to search for alternate futures for any sign of mutants. He found nothing, implying that there was no future where mutantkind survived the Scarlet Witch's spell. After the birth of the first mutant baby since M-Day, Forge's machine registered two new branching timelines with mutants in them. He contacted Cyclops, who sent Jamie Madrox to investigate. Forge launched two of Jamie's dupes into each of these futures, so they could learn more.

Before Forge could rendezvous with the other X-Men, he was ambushed and shot by Bishop during the latter's mad quest to murder the mutant baby, hoping this would avert the dark future he had grown up in.

Trauma

Forge began to behave differently after Bishop attacked him, suffering an array of injuries including serious head trauma. Before fleeing, Bishop stole several time-travel devices that Forge was reverse engineering. Throughout his recovery, Forge became obsessed with recreating his notes and research on these devices. Fixated to an unhealthy degree on this project, Forge shut himself off in his home at Eagle Plaza to devote all his time to this work. But before he began, he enhanced his home’s defense systems to ensure that he could never fall victim to such an attack again.

Ghost Box

The X-Men confronted him at his complex on Wundagore Mountain over his apparent role in an inter-dimensional invasion of Earth. After following a trail of mysterious artificially-created mutants and death, the X-Men finally tracked Forge down, who revealed his true madness. He endeavored to save the world from the Annexation, an invasion from a parallel world on the other side of the Ghost Box, a trans-dimensional teleporter. He planned to send his neo-mutants to the parallel universe that was home to the Ghost Boxes to destroy them before the Annexation could begin.

Mad Forge

The X-Men tried to talk Forge down but he rebuked them and furthered his madness by forcibly opening the Ghost Box, risking all life on Earth. Thanks to the assistance of Abigail Brand and Beast, a world-destroying laser was shot into the opening of the Ghost Box; before everything could be destroyed, Ororo offered Forge a chance to come back with them. Forge only screamed of his rejection by Ororo and she let him go. Forge remained in his complex as it was destroyed, and was believed to have perished in the ensuing laser blast.

Forge survived the Ghost Box encounter, and was later approached by Cable who used his telepathy to create a scenario which portrayed Forge's mind as a machine. Forge used his abilities to repair the machine construct, thus curing himself of his insanity. As he awoke, he found an injured Cable asking Forge for his help. Forge joined Cable's new X-Force team and constructed a new mechanical arm and weapons for Cable.

Reconnecting with Storm

After being on the run with X-Force for a while, he traveled to Kenya and helped construct a weather manipulator device to help a local farming community deal with droughts. While doing this, he reunited with Storm, apologizing for what he had done to her during his time with X-Factor and while under the control of the Adversary.

Following the M-Pox crisis and the Earth becoming increasingly uninhabitable for mutants due to Black Bolt releasing the Terrigen Mist into the Earth's atmosphere, Storm led the X-Men to Limbo, to where she relocated the mansion, turning it into a refugee camp for mutants.

Forge joined the X-Men, creating various devices to aid them, such as a mobile Cerebra-unit housed in the body of a Sentinel, and a protective sphere to keep the mansion safe from the demons of Limbo, in case Magik was indisposed.

Storm apologizing to Forge

Despite being vital to their operations, Forge felt undervalued by the X-Men, particularly Storm, struggling with his unresolved feelings for her.

During the war between the Inhumans and the X-Men, Forge constructed a machine that would purge the Terrigen Mists from the Earth's atmosphere, making the planet habitable for humans again. Despite some initial setbacks, the machine was deployed and mutantkind was successfully saved after the Inhumans and X-Men reached an accord. During the conflict, Storm apologized to Forge, admitting that she had been treating him poorly to avoid dealing with her feelings for him. She told him that while much had happened since the days when they were together, a part of her would always love him.

Slave of Cassandra Nova

After the end of the M-Pox crisis, Forge left the X-Men because he needed time off. He started working for Dazzler as her stage manager/set designer.

Forge was eventually enslaved by Cassandra Nova, who used her immense telepathic powers to force Forge to work for her in her quest to destroy mutantkind. She had Forge construct various gadgets to aid her, such as nanosentinels that gave the victim an intense hatred of mutants. Forge tried desperately to resist her control, but to no avail.

Forge was finally freed of Cassandra's control when Jean Grey and her team of X-Men succeeded in defeating her.

Age of X-Man

Forge was one of the many mutants that opposed the crazed Nate Grey from remaking the world in his image. When Grey realized that his vision of the world would never come about with the X-Men around, Grey made his enemies vanish in an instant, including Forge.

Forge and the others were transported to another reality created by Nate Grey and a Life Seed in an attempt to create a utopia where they and all other mutants would be at peace, altering their memories so they wouldn't resist.

Warden Forge

Forge acted as the warden of the Danger Room Prison Complex, home to "mutant criminals" such as Beast, Bishop, Mirage, Polaris, and Honey Badger.

Forge made it a priority to be the one to welcome Bishop and gave him a tour of the prison. As they walked, Forge told him that he would wear a Inhibitor Collar in order to dampen his abilities, but it could be removed after Bishop had proven that he could control himself and had served his mandated time.

He then went on about what their job entailed, that they were to rehabilitate and help him learn to become a productive member of society. Forge then took Bishop to his cell and locked it, as he left him with the notion that he would learn his place in things and he hoped his stay would be short and productive.

Forge eventually returned to the real world after Nate decided to release the mutants he trapped there after he was made to realize the flaws to his reality.

House of X

Charles Xavier commissioned Forge with adding a new functionality into Cerebro, the ability to store every mutant’s thoughts and personality in order to resurrect them with the help of the "Five" in case of their death. Forge stressed the complexity of the task, and how much work Cerebro would need. On joining the mutant nation of Krakoa, Forge began experimenting with organic technology created from Krakoa and became the X-Force's weapons expert. He even used an organic suit of armor to join them in a mission to Silicon Valley.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Forge is a Omega-level mutant and tribal shaman.

He has been stated to be a High Threat by the O*N*E, while Nimrod inversely classified him at a Low Threat Level.

Mutant Powers

Intuitive Genius: Superhuman intuitive talent for inventing mechanical devices. His mutant ability functions as perception, as he possesses the ability to visually perceive "mechanical energy" (the kinetic energy and potential energy present in the components of mechanical systems) in action. Forge recently experimented on himself with what he calls "McCoy Project" (modeled after Hank McCoys attempt to cure his mutation, but instead enhanced it), to power himself up to a Omega-Level mutant.

Forge's mutation allows him to instinctively know and understand the potential and functional operations of any machine or technological device in his visual range, a skill that, combined with his natural intelligence, allows him to conceive, design, and build mechanical devices, as well as operate, modify, disassemble, or create countermeasures against existing technologies. He has been described as a technopath.

Forge's technical acumen and creativity are not directly comparable to those exhibited by notable geniuses such as Reed Richards, Victor von Doom, or Anthony Stark, since none of these individuals' abilities and inventive skills have their roots in genetic mutation. Non-mutant geniuses at invention must, for the most part, engage with a problem or an idea, make decisions to consciously work out the theoretical principles behind the invention and then design and produce the invention itself through a series of connected logical steps. The process is mostly a conscious, directed one, bounded by the limits of the human mind.

What differentiates Forge from those without his mutant ability is that the majority of his process of working with technology (if not all of it) is subconscious, and thus almost automatic. The relationships between parts of technological systems are worked out by his mutant subconscious. He merely needs to know that some tool or weapons system is needed and get to work—there is little to no decision-making to do in making it. Hence, Forge himself might not be entirely aware of exactly how he figured out how to create an invention of his; he often has to take apart his own inventions to see how they work. He has created fantastic futuristic devices including cybernetic systems, sophisticated holograms, and elaborate computer and fiber-optic systems.

Shaman Powers

Sorcery: He also has a high mystical aptitude and has developed several magical spells, including a so-called "spirit sight," the ability to open portals to other dimensions, the ability to steal and use others' souls to enhance his mystical spells, and to separate his mind from his body and travel in a spirit form (similar to Professor X's Astral Form). For the most part, he has not used these abilities in years, and hence is out of practice in wielding them. More recently he has practiced his Shaman skills when assisting a Phoenix-empowered Echo.

Abilities

Forge is an accomplished athlete and trained soldier. Expertise in many areas of science and technology, extensive knowledge of Native American magic.

Weaknesses

Former Weaknesses

Forge was mentally insane. Wolverine stated during the Manifest Destiny that he was crazy for about at least twenty years, according to a CIA agent. He was then approached by Cable who used his telepathy to create a scenario which portrayed Forge's mind as a machine which was repaired by Forge, curing himself of his insanity.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Forge's right leg is cybernetic, a replacement he created for his original leg, which was lost during combat operations in Sin-Cong. It contains various devices which he has used in emergencies. He has also harvested it for parts. His left hand and eye are also cybernetic replacements.

Weapons

Forge sometimes employs devices of his own invention. Most notable among these was his neutralizer gun that could suppress superhuman mutant abilities. The only known examples of this device have been destroyed.

Transportation

Forge has constructed and piloted several aerial vehicles. He once stole a Ghost Box from mutants invaders from an alternate reality, intending to use it as a channel to his own invading troops.

Trivia

• Chris Claremont's outline for Forge's debut in Uncanny X-Men #184 had his real name as "Daniel Lone Eagle." However, this name was never implemented.

See Also

• 400 appearance(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 17 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 32 minor appearance(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 141 mention(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 301 image(s) of Forge (Earth-616)
• 28 quotation(s) by or about Forge (Earth-616)
• 8 item(s) used/owned by Forge (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Forge on Marvel.com
• Forge on Wikipedia.org
• Marvel Directory - Forge (profile)
• uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On... Forge