Icarus

Icarus is the brother of Cannonball, Husk, Aero and Elizabeth Guthrie.

Origin

The Guthrie family was never very popular in their hometown of Cumberland, KY. Due to his family's large number of mutants ( Cannonball, Husk, Aero and Jeb) the towns population wanted nothing to do with them. After Sam left to go to Xavier's school Joshua resented having to give up his musical dreams to help care for his family in the absence of his father. When Paige manifested her powers and left as well he began to have a negative attitude towards mutants. Luckily this had changed when his mutant powers developed.

Creation

Joshua Guthrie was created by Bill Mantlo and first appeared (as a normal human) in Rom Annual issue 3 (1984).

Major Story Arcs

She lies with Angels

Originally hiding his wings from his families he revealed them to his band and used them as a stage gimmick. Falling in love with a waitress, Julia Cabot, only brought heartache to the young man's life. The Guthries and Cabots had been feuding for years and when her father found out he attacked Joshua (now calling himself Jay) with superpowered armor. Believing Jay dead, a distraught Julia dragged him to the river and sank to the bottom of it. It was at this time his mutant healing power kicked in. He awoke at the bottom of the river with Julia in his arms. Bringing her to the riverbank he discovered she was dead and attempted to kill himself but was stopped by his healing ability. Jay was found by Angel who helped him bring Julia's body back to the Guthrie home. After trying to kill himself several more times, hoping his healing ability would fail, his mother sent him to the Xavier Institute despite his protests.

Hellions - New Mutants

At the Institute, Jay was roommates with Squidboy and was a part of the Hellions. He later traded places with Wither and joined the New Mutants. Jay was a quiet, sullen boy who did not often take part in the teams fights. Yet they often came to him to talk about their problems. A good friendship between Squidboy and Jay grew, it was because of this that Jay was horrified when he learned that Squidboy was killed some months later by an enemy of the X-Men. After that, Jay mostly played on his guitar, morning both his lost girlfriend and newfound friend. Icarus was one of the few New Mutants to retain their powers after M-Day.

M Day and Death

Unfortunately, this only caused him more problems. He was found on Emma Frost's doorstep with his wings cut off. When he was unable to heal himself, Beast discovered that his healing ability was linked to his wings and that he wouldn´t recover without them. It was later revealed that William Stryker had tricked Jay after finding him praying in church for Julia.

Stryker convinced him that if he gave his wings "back to god", his friends would be saved by Stryker. This lead to Jay having his wings cut off. Still convinced of Stryker's good intentions, Jay made the phone call that lead to the bombing of the bus carrying the depowered students. It also lead to Wallflower's death at the hands of Nimrod who believed her to cause the death of the Purifiers in the future. Not trusting Jay because he smelled like death, X-23 was given the address to Stryker’s church by Dust. Using one of Dust's burqas as a disguise she went to the church and was gunned down. It was there that William Stryker revealed to Jay that he had killed Julia Cabot before shooting Jay, killing him instantly.

Legacy

Some years after these events, Joshua's older brother Sam (Cannonbal) had a child with his girlfriend Isabel Dare whom they named Josiah Guthrie, most likely in honor of his departed brother Joshua.

Krakoa and ressurection

When the X-Men formed the Mutant-nation of Krakoa on the likewise named island of Krakoa, the mutants unlocked the secrets of ressurection. As such, allmost all (former) mutants that where killed, where ressurected by a group of mutants known as The Five. This also was the case for Icarus, whom after being ressurected, remained on the island nation.

Powers & Abilities

Icarus had multiple powers, the most prominent of which would be the pair of wings that had grown out of his back. These wings gave him abilities much like those of Angel, another X-man. He was able to use his wings to fly with considerable speed and agility, or stun or knock down opponents with more force than he could do with his fists or feet. Along with his wings, Icarus had a body that was naturally adapted for flight. His bones were hollow like those of a bird, and he had nearly peak human strength since his body naturally used all nutrients to build muscle.

Another of Icarus's powers was his healing factor. He was able to heal from wounds far more quickly than any ordinary human could. It is believed that his healing factor actually came from his wings. During a time when Icarus's wings had been cut off, his healing factor also seemed to have left him. It should be noted that Icarus's healing power was not perfect, since he claimed that there was a scar near his heart that had never fully healed, though this could just be meant metaphorical. Icarus's final power was superhuman vocal cords. He was able to perfectly mimic any sound that he had ever heard before, or he could use his voice to hypnotize people.

Personal Data

Characteristics

• Gender: Male
• Height: 5' 9"
• Weight: 193 lbs (77 kg)
• Eyes: Green
• Hair: Red

Status

• Place of Birth: Cumberland, Kentucky
• Citizenship: U.S.A.

• Likes: Singing, Playing Guitar
• Dislikes: Shallow People
• Voted: Most Musical

Alternate Realities

Earth-295: Age of Apocalypse

The Guthrie family was found by Mr. Sinister. who offered them a membership to his Mutant Elite Force. Sam and Elizabeth agreed but Paige refused. It is unknown if Joshua accepted or not.

He had his debut in this reality in the 10th year anniversary edition of Age of Apocalypse. He appeared with his siblings Cannonball and Amazon (former Sinister´s Elite Mutant Force), attacking the White House in Washington, using this attack to create a distraction to the X-Men and let Husk to kidnap Magneto´s son. Later he is seen in the Xavier Institute with Paige, Sammuel and Elizabeth, threatening the X-Men. Psylocke managed to free Charles. When the battle was about to begin, Magneto appeared and killed Joshua and Cannonball using his magnetic powers to crush them.

He has bionic wings and some kind of energetic beam.