Changes: Philippa Sontag (Earth-616)

Arclight was once a soldier serving in American peacekeeping forces during a conflict in Southeast Asia. The experiences there severely traumatized her, and she retains bitter memories of that place. She used her rage to fuel her bodybuilding, which she further used to augment her mutant abilities.^{[citation needed]}

Marauders

At some point, Sontag became a member of the Marauders, a team of superhuman assassins brought together by the mutant thief Gambit when he was in the employ of the enigmatic Mister Sinister. On Sinister's orders, the Marauders massacred the underground community of mutants known as the Morlocks. Possibly the cruelest of the Marauders, Arclight took great delight in murder and mayhem, always eager to prove herself up against an opponent with a reputation. In the course of the massacre, the Marauders clashed with various superhuman champions, including the superhuman mutant adventurers known as the X-Men and X-Factor. Her physical strength was gained half due to her mutation and half to her obsessive bodybuilding, her defense against the wartime nightmares which still plagued her in secret.^{[citation needed]}

Arclight and the rest of the Marauders originally died during the demonic invasion of Manhattan that came to be known as the "Inferno", but Sinister had the technology to clone the Marauders thanks to him retaining samples of their DNA. Thus, Arclight continued to appear among the Marauders in all subsequent activities, including their battles with Cable and X-Man, each time on behalf of Mister Sinister. ^{[citation needed]}

During the hunt of Threnody and X-Man, she was killed by a Nate-manipulated Riptide, after having been herself lured into killing Blockbuster.^[1]

Femizons

For a brief time, Arclight served as a member of the Femizons, an all-female superhuman army led by the other-dimensional warrior woman known as Superia. During this time, Arclight clashed with the super-soldier Captain America and the mercenary named Paladin. ^{[citation needed]}

The 198

After the House of M events, Arclight joined the mutant refugee camp on the grounds of the Xavier Institute, the inhabitants of which came to call themselves the 198. She seemed to have a romantic relationship with fellow Marauder Scalphunter and didn't hesitate to use this relationship to cement her tenuous position as second-in-command. ^{[citation needed]}

Marauder again

For unknown reasons, Arclight left the 198 team and rejoined her former longtime team the Marauders. Arclight, along with the help of the Marauders, and new members Mystique and Lady Mastermind attacked the X-Men unexpectedly.^{[citation needed]}

She later joined the Marauders, controlled by Da'o Coy Manh, and attacked the X-Men. She was eventually found dead, having killed Harpoon at the same time he killed her.^[2]

Joining Magneto

More recently, Magneto managed to find Mr. Sinister's cloning machines and used it to produce new clones of the Marauders, including Arclight, this time to help his mutant cause.

After being resurrected, the Marauders struck off on their own, once again massacring the Morlock population. This lead an angered Chamber, their new leader, to rejoin the X-Men. When the X-Men re-encountered the Morlocks, the Marauders fought briefly, but ultimately surrendered, professing their innocence. Not believing them, Chamber burned them to death with his psionic flame.^[3]

Attributes

Power Grid^[4]

Powers

Shockwave Generation: Arclight can direct a wave of focused energy by striking a victim with her hands or feet. This typically creates a massive shockwave, damaging and/or disorientating all within her line-of-fire, shattering objects, and creating shock waves. Her hands give off a bright light upon impact.
Superhuman Strength: Arclight possesses superhuman strength allowing her to lift approximately 50 tons.
Superhuman Durability Arclight possesses a high degree of durability, protecting her against such damage as impacts caused by being struck by superhuman opponents.
Superhuman Endurance Arclight's endurance is far superior to a normal human's.
Superhuman Stamina Arclight's stamina is far superior to a normal human's.

Abilities

Arclight is trained in covert ops, and is an above average hand-to-hand combatant.

Trivia

Dyed her hair purple. She has dyed it blue, white, and pink as well.
Arclight's codename comes from the B-52 bombings during the Vietnam War, also called Operation Arc Light.
Arclight was at one point depicted as unusually tall, and with the physique of a body-builder, but in recent appearances she has gained a more conventional comic-book female appearance.
Arclight's cloning partner in the Marauders is Vertigo.
Arclight is romantically involved with team member Scalphunter.

Links and References

Philippa Sontag on Marvel.com
Philippa Sontag on Wikipedia.org
Danny Wall's Unofficial Handbook to the Marvel Universe

References

[X-Man_Vol_1_13-1] X-Man #13

[Astonishing_X-Men_Vol_3_#48-#50-2] Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) #48 #50

[Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_5_18-3] Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 5) #18

[4] Marvel Encyclopedia Vol 1 X-Men

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Marvel Database:Character Template
-| Image                   = Philippa Sontag (Earth-616) from X-Men Battle of the Atom Mobile Card Game.jpg
+| Image                   = Philippa Sontag (Earth-616) from X-Men Blue Vol 1 14 001.jpg
 | RealName                = [[Philippa Sontag]]
 | CurrentAlias            = [[Arclight]]