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    Skin

    Character » Skin appears in 650 issues.

    A member of Generation X who possessed the ability to manipulate his own skin in a number of ways.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Skin last edited by deactivated-63320d7d5408a on 03/03/21 07:41AM View full history

    Origin

    Captured by the Phalanx
    Captured by the Phalanx

    Angelo Espinosa was a gangbanger from Los Angeles whose life of violence forced him to fake his own death during a gang fight in which his girlfriend seemingly killed several people. He still had a gun he had found on him after waking up from unconsciousness which he plugged so that it could never be fired, keeping it as a reminder of the painful night that had changed his life. He first came to X-Men's attention when he, among other young mutants, were kidnapped by technorganic Phalanx. After escaping the Phalanx, Espinosa was offered a place at the new branch school Xavier was creating at Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy. Espinosa reluctantly accepted after being convinced by Beast into becoming part of Generation X and took on the codename Skin. Unlike the other members of Generation X, Skin didn't want to become an X-Man, he only wanted to learn how to control his powers.

    Creation

    Skin was created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #317 (1994).

    Major Story Arcs

    Generation X

    Joining Generation X
    Joining Generation X

    At first dour and cynical, Angelo soon became one the team's pillars of perspective and good humor, even nursing the severally deformed Chamber out of his funk occasionally and getting the elitist M to loosen up a little. Angelo also developed a good friendship with Paige Guthrie, and they called each other "city mouse" and "country mouse". Husk was one of the first people to notice that Skin was worried of his extra skin tearing or ripping when he volunteered for monitor duty instead of searching for Penance. Angelo was recognized by someone from Los Angeles at one point, which prompted him to threaten to kill him if he blew his cover and told everyone he was alive. Despite that Angelo tried to act tough, he actually had a soft spot for ex-Morlocks Artie and Leech, even helping Synch build a treehouse for them.

    Over time, Skin improved the use of his powers, learning how to retract it so that he could look normal. As a result of this though, Skin would get migraines from the intense concentration. Skin, Chamber and Penance weren't allowed on several missions, as they would have made Generation X stand out, so had to stay at the Academy. Unfortunately, due to his encounter with the psychic entity Onslaught, Chamber began to feel weak. To try and help his friend, Skin tried to drive him to the Xavier Institute, but was stopped by the X-Cutioner, who thought that Skin was the murderer of... Angelo Espinosa. Since he had been using his real name at the academy, that's why the X-Cutioner thought that Skin was his murderer. Skin hid Chamber in a pool of mud, and surprisingly he managed to defeat the X-Cutioner using his powers creatively. However, during the fight with X-Cutioner, Chamber and Skin's car was damaged, and they now had to hitchhike to Xavier's. Before they got there, Onslaught was defeated by several teams of heroes and Chamber recovered quickly on his own. As thanks to Skin for trying to help him, Chamber accompanied him to Los Angeles, since it was almost a year since Skin had been announced dead. Skin disguised himself as an old man and comforted his mother whilst she visited his grave.

    A few weeks later, Generation X were captured by Black Tom Cassidy, who stranded them all out in the middle of the ocean of a raft. All of them were suffering badly, but Skin was suffering the worst, as his skin was spreading out and he was only half-conscious. Luckily, he was saved from third-degree burns by Chamber, who ripped out part of the raft and used it as a sun shield for Skin. The team met Glorian, the Shaper of Dreams, who saved them all and put them in fantasy worlds according to their dreams. Skin was tied to a pole and was yelled at by Glorian, who couldn't accept that Skin didn't want anything. Eventually Skin convinced Glorian that he didn't look hard enough as to what they wanted, and so Glorian asked Skin what he really wanted. Skin said that he wanted to go home, meaning the Academy, but Glorian misinterpreted it as that he wanted to go back to Los Angeles, and transported the team there. Upon arrival, Generation X were targeted by Sentinels of Operation: Zero Tolerance.

    No Caption Provided

    Generation X hid at a cousin of Skin's house, who was the only member of his family who knew that he was alive. Skin was so desperate for help from the Sentinels that he even contacted his old girlfriend, Tores, but she thought he had killed the people that he thought she had killed and was angry with him. Tores was threatening to kill Skin when a group of Sentinels started attacking them. It turned out that Tores was a mutant too, and so she helped Generation X fight off the Sentinels temporarily. With a good amount of luck and some help from Tores, Generation X managed to survive until S.H.I.E.L.D. shut down Operation: Zero Tolerance.

    When Generation X returned to the States, the daughter of the local police chief, Tracy Authier, raided the mansion with a friend and took Wolverine's hat that had been given to Jubilee, Husk's personal diary and the gun that Skin had been thought killed with, plugged up. Jubilee, Husk and Skin managed to convince her that she should give the personal items back, but only if they gave her a personal tour of the mansion.

    Generation X
    Generation X

    Sometime later, Skin decided to return to Los Angeles (accompanied by Husk and Jubilee) and explain what had happened to Tores. It turned out that neither of them had been responsible for the murder, but had been framed by someone named Lupo, who arrived at that point. He tried to kill Tores and Skin, but Tores vaporized him with her powers before he could kill them. Meanwhile, Skin and his friends hid behind a large container. At that point, Skin's mother arrived on the scene since she had heard that her son was miraculously back from the dead. Since she had seen Tores kill someone with her powers, Skin's mother believed that Tores was a demon of some kind, as she was highly religious. Tores tried to convince Skin's mother that it was not her fault that she was a mutant and was normal as her, but Skin's mother wouldn't listen. She also added that if Skin had ever shown any signs of the devil, that she would disown him and never speak his name again. Overhearing all of this, Skin realized that he could never reveal to his mother that he was alive.

    Counter X

    No Caption Provided

    When the school began to run out of money, Emma Frost turned to her sister for help. Unfortunately, this meant that in order to pay various bills, the school would have to start accepting human students. Skin and Chamber had to hide their powers by Skin claiming he had a rare skin disease and Chamber being a mute burn victim. This meant Chamber and Skin both got a lot of unwanted attention. It was even worse for Artie, Leech and Penance, who had to stay in their rooms the whole time and couldn't leave. With all the human students around, it reminded Skin of his life before he was a mutant: he had had good looks and a good looking girlfriend. Due to his appearance, Skin thought he'd never feel like that again. To cheer him up, Artie and Leech arranged it so that Skin went to a dance with Monet St. Croix, the hottest girl in school. While Skin tried to thank her, she explained that the reason she went with him was that no one else had asked her out, since they thought she was out of their league.

    A few weeks later, Skin encountered some people arguing. Trying to stop them before something violent happened, one of the boys accidentally grabbed Skin's wrist, making his skin stretch. The boy suspected that Skin was a mutant, and told his parents. Emma Frost tried to convince the boy's parents that it was just part of his disease, but wasn't entirely successful. A short time later, Emma's sister tried to get revenge on Emma by revealing which members of the school were mutants, causing a riot. She also planted bombs around the school, which killed Synch when he tried to disarm them. Generation X decided that the time for learning how to use their powers was over and the time for using them for something good had begun. Skin trained and found new, creative ways he could use his powers. He managed to use these powers to defeat four thugs who had kidnapped Banshee due to his old career as an Interpol agent.

    Generation X Disbanded

    When Generation X disbanded, Skin and Jubilee left to share an apartment in Los Angeles where Jubilee attempted to become a serious actress, during which time Angelo showed both the concern of friendship and romantic interest, as well as trying to continue a normal life by working in a fast food restaurant as a chef. Jubilee appreciated the first, but turned down the latter. Skin also told Jubilee that she was being exploited by her agent, to which she angrily snapped that he was just jealous. However, a few days later her agent made a move on her, which made her go back to Angelo and apologize to him.

    Death

    Death of Angelo
    Death of Angelo

    Angelo and Jubilee were among the mutants kidnapped by the Church of Humanity and crucified on the Xavier’s Institute’s front lawn. While Jubilee could be saved by Angel's healing blood, Angelo did not have a matching blood type and was unable to be revived. His body was sent home to be buried in his family cemetery (with an incorrectly marked grave that read "Angelo Torres"), but since they did not allow mutants to be buried there, he was exhumed and cremated, his ashes given to Jubilee. She still felt guilty that she hadn't gone on a date with him, and given him happiness in some of his final days.

    Necrosha

    He was brought back from the dead by Eli Bard to be sacrificed to make Selene a Goddess. He was seen with fellow Generation X member Synch. They were attacking the younger mutants which included their friend Husk.

    Krakoa

    It's unclear If Skin survived the Necrosha events, or was ressurrected on Krakoa, but he was seen in many occasions on the Island.

    Powers

    Powers
    Powers

    As his codename implied, Skin possessed six feet of extra skin which he learned to use in a variety of different ways, from wrapping around objects to compressing into weapons to molding into different face and body shapes. He could also cushion blows with this extra skin. Whilst he could hide this extra skin with either baggy clothes or covering up, he couldn't hide his skin color, so it was usually just pretended that he had a rare skin disease. Skin also could retract his skin for short periods and make himself look like a normal human, but the intense concentration would give him a migraine.

    Alternate Realities

    Age of Apocapylse Earth-295

    Age Of Apocalypse
    Age Of Apocalypse

    In the reality called Age of Apocalypse, Skin was a member of Generation Next. He was still the funny man of the group but was better at controlling his powers in this reality. Skin and his fellow teammates rescued Illyana out of a human concentration camp, although most of the team had to pay with their lives for this mission, this included Chamber who was shot by a runaway laser right when they tried to leave the camp. Skin jumped after Jono, trying to save him, but nothing was heard from either one of them.

    Earth-1610

    Skin is referenced by Sunspot who said that his friend Angelo was beaten to near death because of the texture of his skin. Anything that happened after this has not been explained.

    Other Media

    Generation X TV/Movie

    Augustin Rodriguez as Skin
    Augustin Rodriguez as Skin

    Skin was played by Augustin Rodriguez. Angelo was a member of the Generation X who studies in Xavier Institute under the supervision of its headmaster Banshee and its headmistress Emma Frost. Skin has a younger sister whose life was threatened by Russel Tresh if he won't be able to obey his commands. Seemingly, he also displays psychic abilities. Like in the comic books, he also have the power to stretch his body and wrap himself around objects.

    Skin have to leave his family for the Institute and for his own safety. When he is about to leave, his sister pulled his hand which caused it to stretch. After Jubilee's successful recruitment, Angelo was introduced to her and became good friends. The two new recruits had a hard time dealing with the attitudes of their new classmates. Mondo dared them into a football game in which, he accidentally stretched Skin's arms.

    Emma Frost then conducted a lesson about telepathy in which him and Jubilee both became active. He also tried to use the Cerebro by trying several passwords.

    As the team was granted a day to be outside the school and hang-out, he met a girl whom he fell in love with. Though, her friends have bullied him causing so much trouble in that place and a feud between the Generation X and their peer.

    Using Cerebro, Skin have successfully entered the dreams of that girl. Suddenly, an astral Russel Tresh have confronted him and threatened him that he will do something to his sister if he won't follow him. Skin then was left in astral form in the Cerebro. Though it was hard, he was able to project himself to Jubilee. Jubilee then Emma about his projection and discovered that Russel Tresh was responsible for it.

    Emma opened a mental portal. The Generation X and Tresh have finally encountered for attempting to save Skin from that dimension he is stuck in. As the team found it hard to defeat him, Skin mentally contacted Emma and told her to come in. As Emma said that she will commit mental suicide to defeat Tresh, Skin surfaced and wrapped Tresh and fell with Tresh causing the scientist to be dead. The team also thought that Skin was gone with him. But his elasticity enabled him to stretch his arm and climb up.

    Following his defeat, the team went normal again.

    X2: X-Men United

    Skin's name is listed in William Stryker's files on Lady Deathstrike's computer.

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