Havok (comics)

Havok
Havok from the cover of X-Men: Emperor Vulcan No.1
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Uncanny X-Men No. 54 (March, 1969)
Created by	Arnold Drake (writer) Don Heck (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Alexander "Alex" Summers
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Avengers Unity Squad X-Factor Investigations Starjammers X-Men The Six X-Factor Brotherhood Genoshan Magistrates "Defenders for a Day"
Notable aliases	Mutant X, Magistrate Summers, Goblin Prince
Abilities	Energy blasts Immunity to Cyclops' optic blasts Ability to absorb cosmic energy

Havok (Alexander "Alex" Summers) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. He first appears in Uncanny X-Men No. 54 (March 1969), and was created by writer Arnold Drake and penciller Don Heck. Havok generates powerful "plasma blasts", an ability he has had difficulty controlling. One of the sons of Corsair, he is the younger brother of the X-Men's Cyclops, and the older brother of Vulcan. He often resents Cyclops' authoritarian attitude and reputation as a model X-Man.

In contrast, Havok and his longtime love interest Polaris have had a love-hate relationship with the team, often finding themselves roped into it. Both were also members of the 1990s-era Pentagon-sponsored mutant team X-Factor. After X-Factor disbanded, Havok starred in Mutant X, a series in which he explored a strange alternate reality. He has since returned to the X-Men, later taking over his father's role as leader of the Starjammers to bring Vulcan's reign over the Shi'ar to an end.

In 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Havok as #44 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics".^[1] Lucas Till played Havok, as a member of the X-Men, in 2011's superhero film X-Men: First Class. Till returned as Havok in the 2014 film, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and reprised the role again in 2016 film, X-Men: Apocalypse.

Publication history

Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Don Heck, Havok first appeared in X-Men #54 (March 1969).

In the 2012 relaunch of Marvel comic books, Havok will be leading a team called the Uncanny Avengers, a mix of the X-Men and the Avengers teams.

Fictional character biography

Origins

Alexander Summers was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the second of the three known sons of Christopher Summers, a United States Air Force Major and test pilot, and his wife Katherine Anne. When Alex was a boy growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, his father took the family for a flight in their airplane, which came under attack by a Shi'ar spaceship. As the plane caught fire and was crashing, his parents fastened Alex and Scott into a parachute and pushed them off the plane in hopes that they would survive. His brother hit his head, and was in a coma for a short while.

The Summers boys were recovered and put into an orphanage and Alex was soon adopted though Scott remained there for much of his childhood. Alex was raised by the Blandings whose son, Todd, had died in a car accident.^[2] They tried to make Alex fit into the image of their son, and he tried to do as best he could. When the boy responsible for Todd's death kidnapped Alex and his foster sister, Haley, Alex manifested his powers for the first time, incinerating the boy. Mister Sinister, an evil geneticist who was obsessed with the Summers bloodline, appeared eager yet surprised that Alex's potential exceeded Scott's – despite the fact that he seemed to lack control over his gift. Sinister placed psi-blocks on both Alex and Haley's minds, causing them to forget what had happened that night.

First encounter with X-Men

Alex went on to study and earn a degree in geophysics at college. There he first met the original X-Men, and learned that Cyclops is his brother. His mutant powers became apparent when he was kidnapped by the Living Pharaoh, who declared Alex the only being able to rival his power. The two shared the same cosmic energy-absorption abilities, in reverse proportion to each other. By locking Alex in a shielded cell, the Pharaoh was able to absorb enough cosmic energy to become the Living Monolith. The X-Men fought a losing battle against the virtually unstoppable Monolith, until Alex managed to free himself, and the Monolith turned back into the Living Pharaoh.^[3]

Alex's mutant power at first seemed to manifest itself only when he was near death. He was unable to control it, and feared its immense power.

Alex was later captured by Larry Trask and his Sentinels, who were bent on controlling or eradicating all mutants. Trask fashioned a costume for Alex that would help him control his powers and Alex was given the code name Havok. Trask turned out to be a mutant himself and the Sentinels were defeated by the X-Men. Havok lost control of his powers, however, and his excess energy was absorbed by Sauron. Havok then gained control of his powers.^[4]

Havok actively joined the X-Men team, and began a relationship with Lorna Dane/Polaris, much to the anger of Iceman who was romantically interested in her as well. While the senior X-Men were in the Savage Land, Havok and Polaris were approached by Professor X about the imminent invasion of the alien Z’Nox. During this time, the couple fell in love.

With the original X-Men, Havok and Polaris were captured by Krakoa the living island, but were rescued by the new X-Men.^[5] Havok and Polaris then quit the team's active membership along with most of the original members.^[6]

Havok was again captured by the Living Pharaoh, and was this time rescued by Spider-Man and Thor.^[7]

Havok and Polaris were occasional members and allies of the X-Men for years. They alternated between doing graduate work and earning a postgraduate degree in the American Southwest – where they occasionally encountered the Hulk – and helping out Moira MacTaggert at her facility for genetic research on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. It was during their stay on Muir Island that Havok helped the X-Men battle Proteus.^[8]

Eventually, Alex learned that Corsair of the Starjammers was really his father.^[9]

During one of their adventures, Polaris was possessed by the mutant Marauder Malice, ending the romantic relationship for a time. Havok then sought out and rejoined the X-Men.^[10]

Wolverine and the X-Men

During this period, Havok became involved with Madelyne Pryor. Both of them had been rejected by their previous lovers: Pryor's then-husband Cyclops had left her for Jean Grey. Madelyne was manipulated by N'astirh and became the Goblin Queen. She attempted to use Havok to help take over the world and transform it into a demonic realm. Havok eventually came to his senses and Madelyne killed herself after discovering she was a clone of Jean Grey.

Havok befriended Wolverine and others, then they shared adventures. While they were vacationing in Mexico, they were targeted by a terrorist cell. They defeated the cell, but were fooled by a damsel in distress who was actually a member of the terrorist group. Havok woke up in a hospital, in the care of nurse Scarlett McKenzie, the assassin without disguise. She manipulated Havok and made him fall in love with her. Scarlett was working for the Russian terrorists, Dr. Neutron and Meltdown. Having previously failed to charge up Meltdown's superpowers with the energy released from Chernobyl nuclear disaster, they wanted to use Havok as a conduit to channel the energy of an atomic reactor into Meltdown. Scarlett fed Havok with false information that terrorists were trying to sabotage a nuclear power station. When he ventured into the heart of the reactor, he found it reaching critical limit. According to plan, Havok tried to absorb the dangerous radiation; however, when he witnessed Meltdown killing Scarlett, he unleashed the energy into Meltdown bringing him up to full power. Wolverine arrived and prevented a full disaster by battling with Meltdown, while Havok continued to absorb energy from the reactor, still on the verge of explosion. Wolverine killed Meltdown by penetrating his body with multiple control rods that slowed down the nuclear reactions raging within him, and Havok redirected the nuclear radiation into space.^[11]

Around this time, Havok rescued Leila O'Toole from the Trackers. With Wolverine, he discovered that Leila was actually Plasma, the Living Pharaoh's niece. Havok defeated Plasma and the Trackers.^[12]

Genosha

Havok ultimately went through the Siege Perilous with several other X-Men fleeing the Reavers, the cyborg hunters.^[13] Havok ended up an amnesiac in Genosha, a country that used mutants and genetically-engineered slaves called Mutates. He became a high-ranking Magistrate in the Genoshan army. His fellow X-Men had no idea what had happened to him until, during the X-Tinction Agenda, the Genoshan government kidnapped members of the mutant teams X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants.^[14] During a pitched battle with Cyclops, Havok's memory returned, but he kept it a secret hoping to catch the Genoshan leader, Cameron Hodge, off guard.^[15] He succeeded and delivered the killing blow to Hodge, yet he and Wolfsbane decided to remain in Genosha, as they wanted to help in rebuilding the once proud nation.^[16]

X-Factor

Havok and Wolfsbane however were soon brought back from Genosha by Professor X and Cyclops as they wanted him to become the leader of the new government-sponsored X-Factor. He reunited with Polaris and Havok led the team effectively for quite some time. He dealt with the unwilling, unwitting affections of Wolfsbane, the physical problems of Strong Guy and various public relations disasters, such as the destruction of the Washington Monument. Much of the team's bad image was orchestrated by Mister Sinister, his Nasty Boys and a mutant senator who could cause bad luck. He dealt physically with Random and personally, as they clashed for various reasons. He grew in new directions as a leader, once seemingly drinking poison in an effort to buck up the spirits of Strong Guy, who had been poisoned. (What Alex drank had been water).

Havok and X-Factor were called on to subvert a civil war aggravated by the Pantheon. In this instance, Alex physically challenged the Hulk. He soaked up the various energies that fuel Hulk and used them to bolster his plasma blasts, thereby gaining an advantage. It was the second time Havok had beaten the Hulk.^[17]

During this time, Havok's team participated in the events of the Infinity War and the Infinity Crusade. Alex and Strong Guy participated the most in far reaching, reality altering cosmic battles.

Multiple Man had contracted the Legacy Virus in Genosha and later chose to undergo a seemingly mystical healing effort.^[18] Despite the procedure's previous success with Wolfsbane, curing her of her unnatural love for Alex, Multiple Man perished.^[19] This hit Havok hard, as he felt responsible since Madrox was under his command. He left the team for Hawaii, where he and Polaris enjoyed a romantic honeymoon until Malice, Mr. Sinister and The Nasty Boys showed up.^[20] Reinforcements helped Havok and Polaris survive the villains.^[21] Shortly afterward, Strong Guy suffered a heart attack and ended up in stasis,^[22] and Wolfsbane left to be with her foster mother.^[23]

After the Age of Apocalypse event, Havok accidentally destroyed a dam and was forced back into his old containment suit. After new members Wild Child, Shard and Mystique were introduced to the team, Havok fought Random and was captured by the Dark Beast. He was brainwashed into serving Dark Beast and Onslaught. He broke free of the brainwashing, but used it as an opportunity to infiltrate the enemy and recreated a version of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He succeeded in defeating Dark Beast and attempted to mend fences with his former X-Factor teammates, specifically Polaris and Multiple Man (the man who had died had been a Madrox duplicate).

While Havok was attempting to reform X-Factor, one of his time-traveling team members, Greystone, created an experimental time travel device to return him to the future. It exploded in mid-air, seemingly killing Havok and Greystone in front of their teammates.

Mutant X

In actuality, Havok was cast into a parallel world where he was the leader of a drastically altered version of X-Factor, known as The Six. In this world, he was the leader of the original X-Men, since his brother Cyclops was abducted by the Shi'ar along with his parents. He found he was married to Madelyne Pryor, with whom he had a son named Scotty, and all his friends were twisted versions of the ones he knew. Despite being unfamiliar with this realm, Havok willingly took over the role of father for Scotty, though the boy knew he was not really his dad. Havok becomes leader of The Six and his adventures in this reality lead to a disaster which leaves most of the superhumans dead. Havok is able to save the world itself before being cast into black nothingness.

Resurrection

However, Havok was found back in the original reality in a coma. The X-Men were able to restore his psyche with the help of the son of Havok's nurse, Annie Ghazikhanian. When he was reunited with Polaris, she asked him to marry her, to which he did not respond. Beast immediately congratulated them, and Havok said nothing further. Likely he felt he should want to marry Lorna, but did not love her as he had before. Unknown to Havok, Polaris, and Annie, Carter had used his telepathy to link Annie and Alex's dreams while Alex was comatose. In their dreams Havok and Annie fell in love, unknown to Alex but not Annie. Before his wedding Scott tested Alex's resolve by hiring a shapeshifter to morph into Annie, something that disturbed Alex very deeply. The night before the wedding, Alex had a dream convincing him that he now loved Annie. During the wedding Alex stopped the proceedings and called off the marriage. Lorna, already affected by the incident at Genosha, tried to kill Annie and Carter, only to be stopped by Juggernaut and Havok.

Alex revealed to Annie that it was Carter who linked the two due to their loneliness and that Alex loved her. Despite the fact that Iceman had started a relationship with Annie, he expressed his feelings for Lorna.

Havok and Annie's relationship continued until an impending attack on the X-Mansion at the hands of a new Brotherhood of Mutants led by Exodus. This caused Annie to leave Havok and take her son away from the X-Men feeling it was no longer safe for the two to live at the mansion. She wanted Alex to come with them, but his duty was to his team, so mother and son left for parts unknown.

Decimation

With Annie and Carter now gone, Havok's mind seems to be mending, since he expressed feelings to resume his relationship with Polaris, who moved on after being rejected and was dating her former boyfriend Iceman. During the post-"House of M" storyline, many mutants lost their powers. When Polaris revealed that she had lost her powers, she left the X-Men, and Havok decided to leave with her. However, after he and Polaris encountered the creature called "Daap", during which Lorna was abducted, Havok returned to the X-Mansion to see a Sphinx bearing the face of Apocalypse.

He then returned to active duty to bring down Apocalypse with the remainder of his squad, composed of Rogue, Iceman, and new member Mystique. Havok single-handedly destroyed the antidote to Apocalypse's meta-plague, which had been a key element in his plan to decimate the human population. Gambit was turned into a horseman and clashed with Havok and the other X-Men. During the last battle, Iceman struck down Pestilence, who was revealed to be Polaris. As her esophagus closed down, Havok administered CPR to save her life, but was infected with the meta-plague. Luckily, Emma Frost had saved some of the antidote Havok destroyed earlier and cured him with it.

The Rise and Fall of The Shi'ar Empire

Havok was recruited by Professor X,^[24] along with Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers), Nightcrawler, Warpath, Darwin and Polaris to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from unleashing his powers on the Shi'ar empire. Havok has recently been reunited with Corsair, his father, and brought him news about Vulcan. His current relationship with Polaris is still developing. Polaris seems to finally show concrete signs of forgiving Havok, telling him to "just shut up and kiss" her after the team won their first battle against the entire regiment of Shi'ar soldiers in their beginning struggle against D'Ken and in support of Lilandra.^[25] Although Havok initially rebuffs her advances, hesitant to "start up again after" everything that happened between them, Lorna says that he needs to "blow off some steam" and the scene ends with them kissing. During the final battle,^[26] Corsair tries to reason with his son Vulcan but Vulcan kills his father where he stands. Havok, enraged by this, launches an attack at his brother with intention of killing him, but is easily defeated. In the end, Nightcrawler, Warpath, and Hepzibah get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to the ship, but Lilandra sends the ship back to Earth, leaving Havok and his teammates stranded.

Havok along with Polaris, Rachel, Korvus, Ch'od, and Raza form a new team of Starjammers after the death of Corsair, dedicated to defeating Vulcan and restoring Lilandra to the throne.^[27]

Starjammers

The civil war between Vulcan's forces and those loyal to the dethroned Lilandra rages on. Led by Havok and the Starjammers, Lilandra's forces gradually whittle away at Vulcan's forces, which are plagued by defections. The Shi`ar, contrary to Vulcan's expectations, are not happy to have an outsider as their ruler. Vulcan is discouraged by this, but Deathbird convinces him that they will come to accept him.

Warned in advance of a rebel raid on Feather's Edge, Vulcan and his fleet ambush the Starjammers. However, in the middle of the battle, his ship, the Hammer, is destroyed by the Scy`ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Vulcan and Gladiator attack the leader of the Scy'ar Tal and are easily defeated, whereupon they retreat deeper into Shi'ar space.

Marvel Girl makes contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called the M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi`ar attacked them, killed a great number of their people, making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M`Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra & K`ythri. The M'Kraan then changed their named to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to the destruction of the Shi`ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan makes contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire.

Under the ceasefire, the Shi'ar and the Starjammers decide to take out the Finality, thus crippling the Scy'ar's biggest threat. Once Havok and Vulcan are in position to destroy Finality, the Eldest Scy'ar tries to stop them. Once Vulcan figures out how the Eldest is powered, he severs the connection Eldest has with his brothers, making him powerless. Once the connection is severed, the Scy'ar become unorganized, and the tide of the battle shifts to the Shi`ar. The Shi'ar then proceed to attack both the Scy'ar and the Starjammers. Meanwhile, Vulcan blasts Havok into a sun.

Vulcan decides to use Finality to destroy the Scy'ar by using the weapon to place a star in the middle of their fleet. Alex returns and, having absorbed enough power to burn Vulcan, decides to end things with him. While they battle, Rachel and Korvus try, and fail, to stop the beacon that will initiate the attack by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Imperial Guard end Alex's battle with Vulcan by appearing with the Starjammers in captivity, threatening to kill them. Before surrendering, Alex destroys Finality. Alex and the Starjammers are then taken into Vulcan's custody and placed in a prison, while Rachel Summers remains free.

Divided We Stand

Alex and Lorna along with the other captured Starjammers are kept in a deep underwater prison 20 miles (32 km) below a planet's surface. Alex and Lorna are tortured daily and forced to hear each other's screams, and Alex is powerless as he's nowhere near a star to draw his powers from. Vulcan informs Havok of the events of Messiah Complex and that the baby is gone, Charles Xavier is dead and the X-Men are no more (not knowing the full truth of the result). Alex laughs off Vulcan, seeing the baby as a beacon of hope.

X-Men: Kingbreaker and War of Kings

Despite ploys such as telling Havok that his teammates are dead and it was all Alex's fault, Havok remains defiant. Alex Summers was last seen displaying energy coming from his left hand proving that he had at least some power left.^[28]

Havok allowed some time to go by, allegedly with these moments of exposure continuing, before making his move. Waiting until it was his meal time, as the guards slid the food through the door, he blasted it open, warning the guards to run. When they instead attacked, he mercilessly defeated them, killing both. Alex then raced into the depths of the Complex searching for his teammates.

He had no problem locating the cells of his crew and liberating them from captivity. He then went in search of Lorna, defeating more guards along the way. Alex, with Raza and Ch'od in tow made it to Lorna's lab where Alex set her free. After receiving a thank-you kiss upon waking her, Havok surprised his team as he informed them of his true plan. Instead of running they would wait, Gabriel would be coming to them to defeat them, and Havok planned to kill him when he did.^[29]

Realm of Kings

Due to the incident of Rachel and Korvus both losing the connection to the Phoenix Force; Havok, Polaris, Rachel and Korvus have departed for Earth.^[30] According to Rachel, they are still "half a universe away" from Earth. Havok, Polaris, and Rachel return in X-Men Legacy #254, in which Rogue launches a rescue mission after Rachel sends a telepathic distress signal.^[31]

Regenesis

Havok along with Polaris are seen joining Wolverine's side due to Polaris wanting to keep herself away from her father Magneto.^[32] Shortly after they arrived back on Earth,^[33][34] the duo is encouraged by Wolverine to lead X-Factor Investigations after Jamie Madrox's death.^[35] Jamie returns to life shortly after, but Havok remains with X-Factor for a while. Polaris decides to remain with the team even after he leaves.^[36]

Uncanny Avengers

During Avengers vs. X-Men, he joined the Avengers, the X-Men and Nova in the final battle against his brother.^[37] He is asked to lead the Avengers Unity Squad by Captain America, reasoning that the mutant race needs a new 'spokesperson' with Xavier dead and Cyclops imprisoned, although Havok doubts his ability to fulfill such a role.^[38]

The Celestials destroyed Earth and mutants were relocated to 'Planet X' by the machinations of Eimin - one of the children of the Celestial-infected Archangel and the latest Horseman of Pestilence.^[39] Havok married the Wasp (Janet van Dyne) and they had a daughter, Katie, but Katie is lost when she is captured by Kang the Conqueror after he helps the team avert this timeline by projecting their minds back into their past selves.^[40] Although Alex is left disfigured after the battle, he and Janet remain together,^[41] and are contacted by Immortus, who informs them that he can return their daughter to them if they take action at the right time and place to conceive her, but also warns them about the imminent threat posed by the Red Skull.^[42]

During the AXIS storyline, the Red Skull and Scarlet Witch accidentally morally invert various heroes and villains. Havok is among those affected by the inversion spell. He resigns from the Avengers Unity Division and reconciles with his brother.^[43] Havok remains corrupted after the other heroes and villains are returned to normal where Havok and Sabretooth have been unintentionally 'protected' from the reversion by a shield generated by Iron Man prompting him to join Cyclops's team after using the Wasp as a hostage to escape.^[44]

All-New, All-Different Marvel

Havok was later seen observing afar with Emma Frost the funeral of his brother Cyclops. Because he doesn't believe his brother had become suicidal at all and convinced that Scott was actually alive but in hidden, Emma tells him the truth about what truly happened in the confrontation with the Inhumans. Emma takes Alex to see his brother's dead body and reveals that Scott was one of the victims of the Terrigenesis clouds.She used a telepathic projection of him to rally mutant attempts to destroy a Terrigenesis cloud, subsequently faking his death in a final confrontation with Black Bolt.^[45]

Powers and abilities

Havok is a mutant possessing the power to absorb ambient cosmic energy, process it and emanate it from his body as waves of energy that heat the air in the path, turning it into plasma in the form of a blast or discharge, with a tell-tale concentric circle pattern. These waves will emanate from his body in all directions unless he purposefully tries to channel them in a single direction, usually along the length of his arms. This results in control over an extremely powerful sort of destructive force. He is immune to the adverse effects of most forms of radiation and heat. In the past, he was not entirely able to control this ability, which made him a danger to those around him unless he wore a special containment suit equipped with special sensors for measuring and controlling his power output. Havok is immune to his own powers and to those of his brother Scott. He is resistant but not immune to Vulcan's powers.

Despite past accounts, the energy that Havok releases is not truly a concussive force. When Havok strikes an object with hot plasma, the sudden temperature jump often causes objects to shatter or disintegrate. Should Havok direct his energy at the lowest level, he can project it towards a human being and his target will suffer a severe headache, but will not burn up. He can absorb cosmic energy from his environment (such as starlight, x-rays, and gamma radiation) and store them in his cells, metabolizing the energy to generate plasma wave discharges that super-heat and disintegrate objects. His absorption is normally passive, but he has shown that he can actively drain and absorb energy as well.

Havok's body is constantly absorbing cosmic radiation. When his body reaches its capacity, excess energy is then immediately re-emitted in negligible quantities. The circle on his chest is an indicator as how much energy he has left. Upon the expenditure of all his available energy, it takes Havok about 17 hours to recharge to peak level. The concentration involved in releasing his energy in focused beams is exhausting for Havok, especially if he does it over an extended period.

Havok has the normal human strength, height, and build of a man who engages in intensive regular exercise. Havok is well-educated in the field of geophysical science where he has earned a master's degree and completed some doctoral work, and he has been trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts by Wolverine. He is an instinctive tactician and strategist.

It was also revealed, in the Mutant X and Exiles books that his body and mind were a nexus for all other Alex Summers in other realities and his very existence is sort of a "back door" to the others. This revelation caused the problem in the Uncanny X-Men and Exiles crossover. Not much more is known about his multidimensional status.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse continuity, Alex and his brother Scott are not separated after the plane crash, but adopted together by Sinister. Raised together as the cream of the new mutant aristocracy in Apocalypse's America, the brothers, under the rank of Prelate, work to oversee their foster father's interests. Alex, being the more emotional, and thus unstable, of the two, loses ground in Sinister's eyes and watches with envy as his brother gains favor.^[46]

The two brothers reunite briefly with their real father, Christopher Summers, who has been kept in Sinister's medical labs. They discover that Christopher had been infected by the Brood and was transforming into the new Brood Queen, forcing Scott to kill him. Alex refuses to believe that there were no other options and blames his brother for their father's death.^[47]

Alex meets Lorna once, but they have no relationship other than that of jail warden and prisoner. The power-hungry Alex is arrogant of his powers both as a mutant and as a Prelate. He frequents the club which Angel owns, Heaven, and has an affair with the club's diva, a flatscan (or human) woman named Scarlett (presumably that reality's version of the woman who appeared in the Meltdown miniseries). Because of the antagonism between humans and mutants, they both must keep this affair a secret. Scarlett, it turns out, is a spy working for the Human High Council. Scarlett is arrested right after she discovers that she is pregnant with Alex's child.^[48]

At almost that moment, Alex has just recaptured Jean Grey to use against his brother, Scott. Indeed, when Jean was originally a prisoner, she had captivated Scott and inspired him to release other prisoners. Alex exposes his brother as a traitor by asking Scott to execute Jean Grey, which Scott refuses to do. Following this, Alex has Scott arrested and gives him over to the Dark Beast for experiments, however, Jean Grey and Scott escape. Alex tracks them down and knocks his brother and seemingly kills Jean, but this action proves fatal for Alex when Weapon X takes vengeance on Jean's behalf.^[49]

Age of Ultron

When Wolverine kills Hank Pym to avert the future in which Ultron nearly annihilated the human race in the Age of Ultron reality, a new timeline where Morgan le Fay conquered half the world is created in which Havok relinquished his birthname and married Rogue. He worked as leader of the Morlocks until he was killed by Archangel's son Uriel of the Apocalypse Twins.^[50]

Marvel Zombies

In Ultimate Fantastic Four #23, Havok is seen as one of the zombies attacking the surviving humans.^[51]

Mys-Tech Wars

In the four issue series Mys-Tech Wars an alternate universe version of Havok, along with the rest of X-Factor, appear in order to assist the mainstream heroes in their battles. An enemy's energy bolt pierces Havok through the neck, killing him instantly.

New Exiles

On the world of the Sons of Iron and Daughters of the Dragon, the New Exiles face a squad of alternate 'core X-Men' who are loyal to Lilandra. These X-Men include an alternate version of Alex who is codenamed 'Warshot'. Alex is covered from head to toe in battle armor and combines his mutant powers with his weaponry.^[52]

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity of Ultimate X-Men, Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok, is the headstrong, brash field leader of the Academy of Tomorrow, the mutant peacekeeping squad of Emma Frost. In this incarnation, he is the boyfriend and teammate of Polaris.

In this incarnation, he also is the brother of Cyclops. As in the mainstream comics, their powers are useless on each other. However, there are several key differences: first, Alex is sometimes called the older brother and other times called the younger brother; second, in this world, Alex and Scott are frequently at odds with each other, both ideologically and physically; and third, neither seems interested in mending this rift. Ideologically, their rift was evidenced by Alex's affiliation with Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow. There is also more than one reference to their physical competition over Polaris. In one case, Alex even knocked out Scott with a wrench, though he states that this was because Scott let him. The two have shown to help each other in great danger, but in general, they have a lot of sibling issues separating them.

During the Ultimatum event, Alex wasn't among his team-mates of Academy of Tomorrow when all were killed by Madrox, and is listed as missing in action after end of the event.^[53] Alex is later revealed to be alive and is now a patient in Kennerman Acres mental institute,^[54] where his only company was an imaginary version of his brother Scott. Alex was released from the institute by Nathaniel Essex. Nathaniel brought Alex to Roxxon and was introduced to Layla Miller, where they prepared their unknown plans.

X-Men: The End

In the alternate future X-Men: The End, Carter creates an illusion that he is still a child and Havok and Annie are together. Both Havok and Annie are killed prior to the beginning of the series.^[55]

In other media

Television

• Havok guest starred in the X-Men animated series episode "Cold Comfort", but his voice actor is uncredited. He appears as a member of X-Factor and revealed to be romantically involved with Iceman's ex-girlfriend Lorna Dane (now called Polaris), daughter of Magneto. In the episode, X-Factor fights against the X-Men for a "friendly skirmish", as Forge puts it. When face-to-face, Cyclops and Havok do not recognize each other and express genuine surprise that their powers can't affect the other. They form a quick rivalry however. In the episode "Orphan's End", a flashback shows a young Alex with his brother and parents. In the episode "Days of Future Past" Pt 2 during a montage of Bishop's future, Havok is briefly seen fighting Sentinels alongside his brother Cyclops.
• Havok appeared in the X-Men: Evolution animated series, voiced by Matt Hill. In the series, he was adopted by the Masters family rather than the Blanding family as in the comics and was portrayed as a stereotypical long haired surfer-even with the stereotypical surfer accent and vernacular. Though, like in the comics, he was separated from his brother after escaping the plane they were in that was about to crash. Unlike the other X-Men animated series, however, in X-Men Evolution, Scott and Alex do develop a bond, though Alex still declined full-time membership in the X-Men to pursue a career as a professional surfer. Alex manifests his powers here as simple red energy blasts rather than as the massively powerful circular power signature from the comics. In the series, he first appeared in the two part Season 1 finale, The Cauldron, and like his brother and other mutants, his mutant powers were fully evolved, as Magneto put it, by the Gem of Cyttorak, which, in the series, had slightly different origins & abilities than in the comics. As a result, both he and his brother were transformed into adult versions with white hair and mastery over their powers, which, beyond taking away the pain Alex felt because of his own powers, also allowed his brother to open his eyes without the need for protective glasses. It was in this same episode that Magneto gave him the codename Havok as one of his Acolytes, though this was a brief position as he realized, as did his brother, that Magneto was using them to achieve his goals. As the result, both of them assisted X-Men in his defeat and the destruction of Asteroid M. Afterward, like many mutants affected by the Gem of Cyttorak, the effects wore off, bringing Alex and his brother back to normal—returning both their pains caused by their powers. Beyond his first appearance in the series, Havok only appears significantly in one other episode and briefly in four others, the last two of which were the two part series finale where he aided in the defeat of Apocalypse and his Horsemen.
• Havok is mentioned in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Breakdown". Alex and Scott's parents were lost in a plane crash, in which the brothers were the survivors. Scott fell into a coma for two years, while Alex was adopted. He was to be added to the series as a character, but the series was cancelled prior to his appearance in the proposed Season Two.

Film

• Actor Lucas Till played Havok in X-Men: First Class.^[56] According to executive producer Bryan Singer, Havok was not portrayed as Cyclops' brother in the film, but "somehow [was] related to him in a way that works for the film." When first introduced, Alex is shown to be in solitary confinement in a government prison, preferring it due to the nature of his powers. When Sebastian Shaw invaded their base, Darwin and Alex attempted to defend the others. Shaw absorbed the energy Alex shot at him and then placed it in Darwin's body. Due to the fact that Darwin could not adapt to such raw energy, he ultimately explodes. His guilt for the indirect cause of Darwin's death is what leads him to become an X-Man. Initially having trouble controlling the energy bursts he releases as part of his powers, Alex eventually manages to focus his abilities thanks to equipment developed by Professor X and Hank McCoy.
• Lucas Till reprised his role in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Alex was drafted into the U.S. Army and forced to leave the X-Men to be deployed in the Vietnam War. He is placed in a special division alongside mutants Toad and Ink. In the aftermath of the war, Major William Stryker attempts to retrieve them for the experiments of Bolivar Trask. Stryker and his men are incapacitated by Mystique with the help of the other mutants. Alex asks Mystique about Magneto's whereabouts, to which she replies that she is on her own. Mystique manages to send Alex, Toad, Ink and Daniels out of Vietnam via airplane. Alex's damaged X-Man suit is also revealed to be in the care of the government.
• Lucas Till again reprised his role in X-Men: Apocalypse. Despite Bryan Singer's prior assertion about the relationship between Alex and Scott, a May 2015 posting to Singer's Instagram account of a behind-the-scenes image from the filming of Apocalypse depicts a couple who are identified as the parents of both characters. ^[57] In this portrayal Alex is Scott's older brother. In the film Alex escorts his brother Scott into the X-Mansion after his powers manifest, and later accompanies Xavier as he investigates a sudden tremor caused by the rise of the ancient mutant Apocalypse. When Apocalypse attacks the mansion and abducts Xavier, Alex destroys Cerebro to stop Apocalypse using it and then tries to attack him, but accidentally strikes the engine of the X-Jet, causing an explosion that engulfs the mansion. Although Peter saves everyone else, Hank presumes Alex perished in the explosion as he was right next to the blast when it occurred and is unaccountable afterwards.

Video games

• Havok appeared as a main playable character in X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 for the PlayStation, voiced by Rod Wilson.
• Havok appeared as a playable character in X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants for the PC.
• Havok appeared as a playable character in X-Men 3: Mojo World for the Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System.
• Havok appeared as a playable character in X-Men: Next Dimension, voiced by Wally Wingert, for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the Xbox.
• Havok appeared as a supporting, temporarily playable character (through use of a power-up) in the Wolverine video game for the NES.
• Havok appears as an NPC in X-Men Legends, voiced by Matt Nolan. He has joined forces with the Brotherhood, much to Cyclops' chagrin. Discovering that mutants are being experimented on in the abandoned Weapon X labs, he contacts his brother to secretly meet up with him to check it out. Cyclops initially fights it out with Havok, until Wolverine, having also come to investigate due to his ties to Weapon X, breaks things up. Together the three attack the labs, freeing the imprisoned mutants, though Havok returns to the Brotherhood afterwards. Later on, Havok (along with Magneto and some unnamed Brotherhood grunts) fights alongside the X-Men when the Mansion grounds are under attack by Sentinels. Eventually, Havok has second thoughts about working with the Brotherhood and is immediately imprisoned for mutiny upon being subdued by Blob. He is freed in the final mission by the X-Men. After winning the game, Havok and the rest of the Brotherhood of Mutants are playable in the Danger Room.
• Havok appears as an NPC in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, voiced by Scott Holst. Here, he serves as the pilot of the X-Jet during the game's third act. Dialogue in the game suggests that some of the X-Men apparently have trouble trusting him due to his alliance with the Brotherhood in the previous game.
• Havok appears in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2,^[58] voiced by Jason Zumwalt. Following the incident at Prison 42, Havok is featured in a funeral scene as one of the missing and presumed deceased heroes. When the heroes travel to Wakanda, they discover that Havok was taken over by The Fold and end up fighting him on the path to the city where Black Panther's palace is. He is an exclusive boss character, only appearing on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. He has special dialogue with Storm and Jean Grey.
• Havok is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
• Havok appears as an unlockable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Clones based on Havok appears in Deadpool. The Havok clones fire yellow energy balls instead of blue.
• Havok appears in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Liam O'Brien.
• Havok appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Greg Cipes.

References

External links

• Havok at Marvel.com
• Alexander Summers at the Marvel Database Project