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    Bishop

    Character » Bishop appears in 2976 issues.

    Lucas Bishop is a mutant from the 22nd century that traveled into the past, becoming a member of the X-Men, and later, the Uncanny X-Force. He has the mutant ability to absorb and redirect any kinetic energy that is used against him or that is released in his general vicinity. He is the first black male team member within the X-Men Universe.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Bishop last edited by Seraph_Darkholme on 01/22/22 05:32PM View full history

    Origin

    No Caption Provided

    Lucas Bishop was born in the Mutant Containment Center, located in Sheepshead, Brooklyn, in the alternate reality, Earth-1191. The "M" over Bishop's right eye is a brand used in the future to mark mutants for quick physical identification. He was raised in a crumbling apocalyptic society that spawned from the ramifications of what was known as the Summer's Rebellion, which was an uprising where the mutants and humans of that time joined forces to battle the Sentinels. As a child, Bishop was taken in by a man named Witness LeBeau. Later, Bishop and his sister, Shard, were taken away from LeBeau by their grandmother. The grandmother then raised them secretly inside mutant concentration camps in Brooklyn and Nevada.

    Bishop learned of the heroic legacy of Xavier and his X-Men from his grandmother. Her dying request was that Bishop protect Shard at all costs, and to live up to the X-Men of legend. It wasn't long afterward that the Summer's Rebellion ended, freeing the mutants from their camps. Bishop and Shard were still only children, so they resorted to underhanded tactics such as thievery to survive in the cruel post-rebellion society. They were eventually stumbled upon by a blind war veteran named, Hancock. Hancock felt a deep sense of compassion towards the young mutants. He took them in and raised them as best as he could.

    The Exhumes were a group of mutants who had extremely anti-human philosophies. Bishop deeply admired the Exhumes, until they took his sister hostage and discovered that Hancock was murdered in cold blood. Later when the XSE rescued his sister, he knew that they were the group he should admire and eventually join. Bishop later rose through the ranks of the XSE, becoming a commanding officer.

    No Caption Provided

    While on a mission to destroy a nest of vampire mutants known as Emplates, Shard was seriously injured. Distraught, Bishop had nowhere to turn except for the imprisoned Witness. He asked for Witness' help but was told that he would only save Shard and that Bishop must work for him for one year. He agreed. Witness then transferred Shard's being into a holographic matrix which saved her life. This agreement with Witness lead to Bishop leaving the XSE for an extended period of time. What Bishop did for Witness and the nature of the missions are unknown.

    Eventually, Bishop was reinstated as Chief Commanding Officer for the XSE team, "Omega Squad" . At the ruins of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Bishop and the Omega Squad captured and imprisoned a serial killer, and former XSE member, Trevor Fitzroy. While on this mission, BIshop stumbles upon an old recording of Jean Grey, which claimed that the X-Men were betrayed and destroyed from the inside. Later, Bishop confronts Witness concerning the information. His former master gives him an evasive responses, making Bishop suspect that Witness was more involved with the destruction of the X-Men than just an observer.

    Creation

    Bishop was created by John Byrne, Jim Lee, and Whilce Portacio and first appeared in a cameo in The Uncanny X-Men issue 282 (1991) before appearing fully in issue 283.

    Major Story Arcs

    Meeting with the Legends

    Bishop Returns to the past, our present
    Bishop Returns to the past, our present

    Using a huge portion of his life-force, Trevor Fitzroy escapes his prison. During his escape, he breaks out 93 mutant criminals who were serving life sentences. This event creates a time portal through which Bishop and the Omega Squad follow the criminals. After emerging from the portal, Bishop has his first encounter with the X-Men. In shock, he does not trust or believe them. The X-Men then aid in capturing all of the criminals except Fitzroy. Bishop then battles the X-Men, but soon realizes that he would need their help to take down Fitzroy. After the battle with Fitzroy, Charles Xavier offers Bishop a spot on the team, under Storm's leadership. Bishop joins and meets Gambit, soon realizing that Gambit was possibly a younger version of Witness.

    Bishop declares himself Xavier's personal body guard. A position which he fails to live up to when Stryfe, a clone of Cable, critically wounds the professor. This event results in the team's believing that Cable was the one responsible, and Wolverine and Bishop teamed up to track him down. Once they do, they find that Stryfe was the one responsible for the injury, and team with Cable to confront Stryfe.

    Seeing his failure in the protection of Professor X, Bishop tries to resign from the team, but his resignation is refused by the professor. He continues to fight alongside the X-Men, even redeeming himself when he saves many lives by defeating Sabretooth.

    Onslaught

    Stopping Onslaught
    Stopping Onslaught

    The traitor in the X-Men is eventually revealed to be Professor X in the form of Onslaught . Bishop's knowledge of the future is the only thing that stops Onslaught from killing the X-Men, although it is not enough to prevent Onslaught from nearly destroying all of humanity. After defeating Onslaught, Bishop makes peace with Gambit, who was not the traitor after all. On a mission in deep space to stop the Phalanx, Bishop becomes separated from the rest of the X-Men. Despite trickery and base manipulation by Deathbird, he enters into a romantic relationship with her. They have many adventures deep in space, but when she turns on him and the X-Men, he seemingly kills her.

    The Last X-Man

    No Caption Provided

    Following his adventures in space, Bishop spend some time away from the X-Men, but ended up being trapped in a distant possible future. While he was walking in present day New York City, he thought to have seen glimpses of his sister, Shard in an abondoned building. While investigating, Bishop was mysteriously transported to a distant apocalyptic future. There, with the help of the "Witness", Bishop assembelled a team of mutants to fight against the ruler of this future, Trevor Fitzroy. It turned out that Fitzroy had captured Shard in his captital. Eventually, Bishop and his mutant friends gained support from the locals and managed to overthrow Fitzroy. Unfortunately, during the final battle, Shard was killed by Fitzory, leaving a grieving Bishop at her side. Bishop was temporarily returned to the present by Apocalypse, who needed him as one of The Twelve, before finally returning permanently, during the Maximum Security crossover.

    X-Treme X-Men

    No Caption Provided

    Along with Storm, Bishop is a founding member of the team known as the X-Treme X-Men. Without consent from Xavier or the rest of the original X-Team, they set out to find Destiny's Books of Truth. These books apparently contain the future of mutant and humankind. They do not get permission from Xavier because they did not trust him at the time, believing he did not want to use the Books for the benefit of all humanity because of the consequences it might have. Bishop helps the X-Men on a number of missions, but at the same time held close ties to the X-Men in the Xavier mansion. He even helped investigating a seeming murder-case on the mansion premesis. Eventually, Bishop the rest of the X-Treme team formed the X-Treme Sanctions Executive, which made them licensed agents. Eventually, after the events of E is for Exctinction, in which many mutants died, Bishop and the rest of the team rejoined the original X-Men team, but Bishop would not be there for long.

    District X

    As an officer with Ismael Ortega
    As an officer with Ismael Ortega

    District X is the name assigned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for Mutant Town, a slum town of New York which mostly inhabited mutants. The FBI requested Bishop's help and they assigned him with the task of handling mutant affairs. He was partnered with police detective Ismael Ortega. The colleges became good friends, but Ismael started breaking under the pressure of the fact that his own wife was a mutant too. After the events of House of M, in which 99 procent of the mutant population lost their powers, Bishop continued to regularly visit the District, even though most of its denizens were depowered by the Scarlet Witch. He puts most of his time back into the X-Men however, saving Africa with Storm and helping Psylocke defeat the Foursaken.

    Civil War

    In Civil War, Bishop sides with O*N*E* to help arrest the 198 and the X-Men. He and Scott Summers butt heads over the situation, which leads Bishop to state his fear of what the future may bring. With permission from Tony Stark, Bishop heads the Micromax and Sabra teams, and is able to locate the 198 and the X-Men, ordering them to stand down. General Demetrius Lazer eventually turns on Bishop, by getting Cyclops to attack him. Bishop refuses to fight Scott, simply absorbing all of the energy he could handle. When it comes to be too much, he projects it into the sky, destroying a O*N*E* sentinel. He later teams with the X-Men to save the 198 from an explosion. This causes him to ultimately leave the X-Men.

    Messiah Complex

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    The Messiah Complex is the event that caused the future Bishop knows. The first mutant child born since M-Day causes Mr. Sinister and his team to start tracking down anyone with knowledge of the future. This manhunt leads to Bishop being the only target that was not found or eliminated. It is revealed that he is the one to betray the X-Men in an attempt to kill the child. The Marauders, however, stop him before any real damage is done, taking the child and escaping. When the X-Men arrive, Bishop lies, telling them he attempted to rescue the child. Layla Miller and one of Multiple Man's copies, discover that the child in question is the same one that is responsible for the killing of millions during the Six Second War in one of the multiple futures. They also discover that this is Bishop's future and that he intends to kill the child to prevent it from happening. Layla kills the duplicate Madrox so that all of the information gathered is transferred back to "Madrox Prime" in the present time. Madrox then informs the X-Men of Bishop's plan. They attempt to warn X-Force of Bishop's betrayal, only to find out that Bishop has already severed communication between the teams. After fighting through the Marauders on Muir Island, Bishop finds Cable attempting to escape with the baby. They do battle for the child, but both are ambushed by Predator X. Bishop's right arm is brutally ripped from his body by Predator X. He cauterizes the gaping wound on Sunfire, who is unconscious nearby. Bishop survives the wound. As Cable is teleporting, Bishop attempts to shoot him, however he misses and hits Xavier with the shot. Xavier is believed dead. Bishop escaped the X-Men after killing Xavier, and begins time jumping trying to find the Mutant Messiah. He is able to time travel using an arm crafted by Forge. He eventually finds Cable and the child. He shoots Cable twice, but before he is able to kill the child, he is interfered with by a local gang. Cable and the child escape. He eventually succeeds in finding Cable and the baby, and kills Cable. He learns that in the future he created, Cable is remembered as a hero, while he himself is remembered as a monster. Later, Bishop is captured by the X-Men where it has been revealed that the true messiah child still lives.

    Uncanny X-Force

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    As a part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Bishop joined the Uncanny X-Force team co-led by Psylocke and Storm. Bishop's new teammates included a recently reformed Spiral and Alpha Flight's Puck. When Bishop returned to the present from the timestream, he was possessed by a demonic bear spirit. After a battle with the other members of the Uncanny X-Force, he was cured. After being absorbed into Bishop's mind, Psylocke and Storm managed to battle the demon bear. Storm also took this opportunity to shatter his memories of the period during which he was obsessed with hunting down and killing Hope Summers. He discovered this, and decided to leave the X-Force headquarters, furious with Storm. Soon, thereafter, he was tracked down by a vengeful Hope Summers. After a brief scuffle, during which Bishop declared his apologies for the past, Stryfe abducted the pair. Psylocke and Storm tracked them to the spot where Bishop had disappeared. Meanwhile, Cable and his X-Force had tracked Hope down to the spot where she had disappeared. The teams worked together, after a brief altercation, to find Hope and Bishop. The two had been locked away in a room. Stryfe had returned to Hope her psimitar. She spent some time arguing with Bishop, who pronounced his apologies again, and debated whether or not she should kill him. Bishop warned her that, though he deserved it, in doing so, she would be losing herself. Hope stabbed Bishop with the psimitiar, ready to kill him, but she stopped herself. It was a clean cut, and Bishop survived. Both X-Force teams headed back to the headquarters of the Uncanny X-Force. Storm announced that she needed to head back to the Jean Grey School, and would no longer be a part of X-Force. The team disbanded, giving way to a brand new X-Force team that did not include Bishop.

    Personal Data

    • Height: 6'6"
    • Weight: 265 lbs.
    • Eyes: Brown
    • Hair: Black

    Powers and Abilities

    Bishop
    Bishop

    Bishop is a mutant who can manipulate kinetic energy (the energy created by any form of movement) and absorb most types of energy , as well as most types of energy directed toward him.The energy can be converted into electricity, plasma, fire, etc. He can then re-channel it through his body for concussive blasts, or in the same form that was absorbed (this includes Storm's weather effects such as lightning). This re-channeled energy is apparently able to damage beings who are normally immune to their own powers. Due to the nature of his mutant powers, it makes it extremely difficult to damage him with energy-based attacks, while enabling him to work well with any energy-using teammates. Bishop can also store absorbed energy within his personal reserves. Storing this energy within body gives Bishop a variety of benefits including superhuman strength (baseline of a 8 to 12 ton lifting/carrying capacity) with unknown limits, superhuman speed, increased stamina, accelerated healing, and invulnerability. His powers reduce the need for sleep, food, drinking, body evacuations, and oxygen. Bishop can also use his powers to fly. The energy can also be used for flying. In recent years Bishop has been seen to be learning to absorb physical damage much the way Sebastian Shaw does and redirect this kinetic energy into enhancing his physical abilities as well. However, some energy types are more difficult to absorb than others, and Bishop can only absorb so much energy before he is forced to expel it lest it kill him. He also has the ability to instinctively know where he is at. Bishop is resistant to nanites due to his training in the XSE. He is a formidable armed and unarmed combatant, having been extensively trained during his time with the XSE.

    He possesses a cybernetic arm that is powered by nuclear energy, and has been shown to have two clawed tendrils in it, as well as allowing him to time-jump due to built-in time travel technology, the full extent of the technology/abilities of his cybernetic arm are unknown. Bishop's cybernetic grants him Cyberkinesis, allowing him to manipulate technology.

    Alternate Versions

    Earth-616

    Bishop has no counterpart in the main Marvel reality. This is because he has probably not been born yet.

    Earth-1610/Earth-2107

    Ultimate Bishop
    Ultimate Bishop

    The Ultimate universe's Bishop came back from a future timeline to stop Cable from killing Charles Xavier. He became trapped on Earth-1610, after the X-Men disbanded, when they failed to prevent Xavier's death. Bishop began to assemble his own group of X-Men with a base in Australia. Because this version of Bishop came from a future timeline, his own reality wouldn't be Earth-1610, but has been designated Earth-2107.

    This incarnation of Bishop is shown to have the power of changing densities which can make him do amazing feats even at his old age. He also has a vast amount of technology from the future available to him.

    In this universe, Bishop is killed by Wolverine.

    X-Men: The End

    In this reality, Bishop had a daughter with Deathbird. The daughters name was Aliyah Bishop.

    X-Men Noir

    Bishop makes a small appearance as the muscle for The Creole Club

    Other Media

    Film

    X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

    Omar Sy as Bishop
    Omar Sy as Bishop

    French actor Omar Sy portrays Bishop in the First Class sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. In the film, Bishop is one of the last surviving mutants and the leader of a band of band of rebels opposed to Bolivar Trask's Sentinels. He's the one Kitty Pride constantly sends back in time a few days every time they have to fight Sentinels, in order to prevent the battles (and deaths) from happening. The exception to this is when the X-Men decide to send Wolverine instead, but 50 years into the past instead of a few days, in order to prevent the future Sentinels from ever existing. Instead, he helps in protecting Wolverine from the Sentinels. He is killed when 3 Sentinels simultaneously blast him with their laser cannons, overloading his energy absorbing powers and causing him to explode. In the movie, Bishop carries around a special rifle that transforms the energies Bishop absorbs into plasma blasts, as well as amplifying the energy output of said energies.

    Animation

    X-Men: The Animated Series

    X-Men: The Animated Series
    X-Men: The Animated Series

    Bishop travels back in time to stop the assassination of Senator Kelly for which he blames Gambit, unaware that it was actually Mystique in disguise. After the issue is cleared up, he returns to his home reality only to find the population decimated by a deadly plague. He attempts to warn everyone and stop the techno-organic virus. Bishop then meets Cable and discovers that the virus will manifest antibodies necessary to the stabilization of the mutant genetic code. In later events, he also travels back in time to stop Fitzroy from killing a young Professor X. Bishop is later trapped in the Axis of Time as Apocalypse attempts to manipulate all time lines. He is freed after Apocalypse is defeated. He is voiced by Philip Akin.

    Wolverine and the X-Men

    Wolverine and the X-Men
    Wolverine and the X-Men

    Bishop is one of the mutant prisoners of the Sentinels in a future time line. Professor X then appears and introduces his plan of creating a Future X-men. While some mutants doubt him, Bishop introduces him and states that he met him in another timeline. As Professor X and Hellion's powers were about to be absorbed by the Sentinels, Bishop then attacked them and stopped them. After saving both of them, the other Future X-Men were able to take down the Sentinels and free themselves. However, the Sentinels still chases them. Along with his team mates, he encounters the mentally unstable Polaris. He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

    Literature

    X-Men: The Last Stand

    Bishop makes a minor appearance in this novelization of the feature film, written by Chris Claremont.

    Time's Arrow

    Bishop is a major character in this trilogy, which features the X-Men and Spider-Man. The books are written by Tom DeFalco and Jason Henderson, Adam-Troy Castro, and eluki bes shahar.

    Video Games

    Next Dimension
    Next Dimension
    • Bishop is a playable character in X-Men: Game Master's Legacy.
    • Bishop appears as a playable character in the fighting game X-Men: Next Dimension.
    • Bishop makes a cameo appearance in X-Men Legends.
    • Bishop appears as a playable character in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
    • Bishop appears as a boss character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, where he is fought if the player has chosen the Anti-Registration side during the Civil War.

    Merchandise

    From ToyBiz, Hasbro and Kotobukiya
    From ToyBiz, Hasbro and Kotobukiya
    • Bishop was featured in ToyBiz's 90s Uncanny X-Men line. The same figure was also rereleased as part of a two-pack with Apocalypse and a three-pack with Wolverine and Mister Sinister, and again as part of the Amazing Heroes line.
    • Toybiz also produced a deluxe 10" Bishop figure.
    • Bishop was featured in ToyBiz's X-Men: Missile Flyers series.
    • Bishop was featured in ToyBiz's Marvel universe line.
    • A die-cast Bishop figure was featured in the X-Men: Steel Mutants line as part of a two-pack with Gambit.
    • ToyBiz released a Bishop figure as part of the Apocalypse Build-a-Figure Marvel Legends wave. A variant depicting a bald Bishop was also released.
    • Bowen Designs released a statue of Bishop, as well as a bust.
    • Bishop appeared in Hasbro's Super Hero Squad line as part of a two-pack with Wolverine.
    • Creative License produced a Bishop statue as part of the X-Men: Danger Room series.
    • Bishop was featured in The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
    • Bishop appeared in the HeroClix figure game.
    • Bishop appeared in Hasbro's Marvel Universe line
    • Hasbro later released a Bishop figure as part of the Marvel Legends Sauron wave.
    • Kotobukiya produced a Bishop statue based on his 90s animated appearance as part of a two-pack with Storm.
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