Michael McCain (Earth-616)

Michael McCain
Name	Michael McCain
Current Alias	Michael McCain
Aliases	Forearm
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	MLF
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Originally had multiple arms
Origin and Living Status
Origin	mutant Repowered by Unknown Source
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld
First	New Mutants #86 (December, 1989)
First	New Mutants #86 (December, 1989)

History

Mutant Liberation Front

Forearm was one of the founding members of the terrorist organization known as the Mutant Liberation Front (or MLF). One of their first missions under the leadership of Stryfe was to liberate the incarcerated New Mutants members Rusty and Skids. They broke them out of prison and the pair joined the MLF out of confusion (and, as later evidence showed, neural implants kept them there). Forearm continued to be a mainstay in the team's ventures, including fighting X-Factor and other heroes.

Under the leadership of Cable the New Mutants became the paramilitary organization known as X-Force, and began to be more aggressive in their campaigns. In one such mission X-Force discovered a hidden MLF base and, while fighting Forearm, Reaper and other members of the team, nearly lost their lives when Stryfe ordered the destruction of the base.

Later, Garrison Kane stumbled upon Forearm, Wildside, and Sumo in the Canadian mountains and, after a brief scuffle, followed them through their teleportation portal, where he was tortured.

After a series of supposedly unconnected art thefts (all of which were related to Apocalypse), Forearm and Reaper approached Mister Sinister on behalf of Stryfe and proposed a trade. In exchange for a genetic matrix (none other than the Legacy Virus which Stryfe owned), Sinister handed over the captive Cyclops and Jean Grey. In the end, all of the MLF members were taken into custody.

Reignfire's Leadership

Soon after, a tyrannical despot named Reignfire decided to restart the MLF. He broke Forearm, Reaper, Wildside, and Tempo out of prison and gave them their first mission: kill Henry Peter Gyrich. The MLF also picked up new members Locus and Moonstar. Their assassination attempt was foiled by X-Force. Locus and Sunspot become lost, but Feral defected to the MLF after having a heated discussion with Gyrich. The team left and was taught teamwork by Moonstar, as, at the time, their ranks were once again down to four--Moonstar, Wildside, Forearm, and Feral. During this time Forearm and Moonstar began to form a close friendship, as she saw something in him that was different from the other members of the terrorist outfit. During the time Moonstar was part of the team, Forearm ended up battling forces from the other-dimensional realm of Asgard. They had appeared due to Moonstar's past history with the realm.

Sometime later Reignfire began to hunt down his followers, taking Wildside and Forearm out first. All would have been lost if not for X-Force and Locus teleporting in to stop Reignfire.

Legacy Virus Data

Next the MLF traveled to Muir Island where they meant to steal the Legacy Virus data from Moira MacTaggert. While there, they learned about the Xavier Protocols, and decided to try and steal them. They were confronted by members of the super-team Excalibur. If not for the covert efforts of Moonstar, the mission would have been a success, but instead the team teleported away.

The MLF once again tried to steal data on the Legacy Virus, this time from a government institution who was trying to manufacture their own strain of the disease. They infiltrated the building and took the scientists hostage. Again, through the sabotaging efforts of Moonster, members of X-Force managed to enter the building in an attempt to stop them. However, three of the scientists revealed themselves to be Prime Sentinels and attacked. The two groups pooled their resources, but only X-Force, Moonstar and Forearm managed to escape. The remaining members of the MLF were captured by operatives of Operation: Zero Tolerance. During their time together, Moonstar revealed to him that she had been an undercover agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. meant to infiltrate the organization and feed the government information. Feeling betrayed, Forearm parted ways with the team.

Death, Resurrection, and Depowering

When he surfaced next Forearm was part of a fighting championship in Madripoor called Bloodsport where superpowered opponents fight to the death. However, in an unfortunate turn of events Forearm was killed during a fight with former Serpent Society member Anaconda, who broke his neck. However, he would later appear inexplicably, alive and well, again as a member of the MLF.

In the events of M-Day, most of the world's mutant population lost their powers due to the Scarlet Witch. Forearm was among them.

He lost his powers during M-Day but he later regained them.

Attributes

Powers

• Multiple Arms: Forearm is a mutant who possesses an additional pair of arms (hence the name).
  • Superhuman Strength
  • Superhuman Stamina
  • Superhuman Durability

A group of MLF members including Moonstar, Dragoness, Forearm, Locus, Tempo and Wildside were stated to include Alpha Class Mutants. It is unknown if all or only part of them were included in the statement, or if it was even a true statement and not a pretext for Operation: Zero Tolerance to step in.

See Also

• 46 appearance(s) of Michael McCain (Earth-616)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Michael McCain (Earth-616)
• 6 minor appearance(s) of Michael McCain (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) of Michael McCain (Earth-616)
• 28 image(s) of Michael McCain (Earth-616)