Shola Inkosi

Shola Inkosi is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a mutant with the power of telekinesis. He first appeared in Mekanix #1, and was created by Chris Claremont and Juan Bobillo.

Fictional character biography

Born in Genosha, Shola was smuggled out as a child as a foreign exchange student. After he grew older, he attended the University of Chicago. When Cassandra Nova had "Mega-Sentinels" destroy Genosha, Shola lost his entire family, who had been living at the island during the time. He was left utterly alone, not only because of the loss of his family and home, but also with the revokation of his student visa when the United Nations declared Genosha a terrorist state due to the activities of Magneto. Also, an anti-mutant group called Purity was trying to get Shola deported and expelled from the college he was attending. To add insult to injury, Shola had been in contact with a telepath on Genosha the moment that the island was destroyed leaving him with a mental imprint of the "death-moment" of everyone who died on Genosha during the horrific attack. Every time he closes his eyes and goes into an active rapid eye movement state, he experiences another first-hand death from that terrible day. As a result, he can't sleep and hasn't slept since. After the attack Shola briefly remained at the University of Chicago, where he met Kitty Pryde and Xi'an Coy Manh and helped them defeat a remnant of the wild Sentinels that had destroyed his home. Shola was instrumental in their destruction as Karma's telepathic powers were useless on the machines, and they quickly adapted to Shadowcat's phasing ability.

In his next appearance he had been captured and placed in stasis by a group of Magistrates which used to dominate the island before Magneto took over. Along with the Prime Sentinel Karima Shapandar it appeared that they were going to be the secret weapons of the Magistrates to take back the island. However the airplane that was carrying them crashed and Shola found himself on the side of the ragtag members of the newest incarnation of Excalibur. His abilities were indispensable to Professor X in the demolition and reconstruction of his homeland.

In the wake of Decimation, where the Scarlet Witch erased the mutant genome from 90-95% of the mutant population, the members of Excalibur were depowered, then temporarily repowered by Quicksilver with the Terrigen Mists of the Inhumans.^[1]

Powers and abilities

Shola is a self-described "combat telekinetic". His considerable telekinetic abilities are mostly destructive in nature, but he has also displayed precise fine motor control, the peak of which was obliterating a granite slab to dust, removing that dust from clothing and the surrounding environment, compacting the dust into a granite spear, then re-obliterating the spear back into dust (shown in Mekanix). However, in the Excalibur series his powers were mostly destructive.

Shola also had some limited telepathic abilities, enabling him to connect minds with others telepaths and engage in normal telepathic communication. His ability also allowed him to sense the mental state of others. The ability was usually relatively controlled except when strong emotional force triggered it - ultimately resulting in constant struggle and the inability to sleep upon the death of all Mutants on Genosha.

Notes

Shola's costume in Excalibur (pictured above) is strikingly similar to the Magistrate uniform, hinting at his planned involvement in their organization.

Ultimate Marvel

Ultimate Shola Inkosi is featured as a former mutant prisoner of Camp Angel and joined Kitty Pryde's resistance in the Ultimate Marvel title, Ultimate Comics: X-Men.^[2] Inkosi has also been in contact with Nick Fury, during the Nimrod invasion.^[3]

References

External links

• Uncannyxmen.net character bio on Shola