The Hellfire Club is an international group of the world's social elite. They are run by mutants that consider themselves superior to other mutants in both their mutant abilities and social status.
Overview
The Hellfire Club is a centuries old organisation with roots in Britain during the 18th Century. It's members were infamous rakes who used their connections within the club to further boost their social standing and to indulge their sexual excesses.
Over time the club has evolved to include high-flying business men and women, as well as the profitable descendants of royalty and other Hellfire Club members. Being a member of the Hellfire Club is an illustrious boost among elite society. However, there is an even more esoteric sect of individuals who run the Hellfire Club, known as the Inner Circle.
The Inner Circle
The Club is ran by a small group of the most influential members that form the infamous Inner Circle. Named after chess pieces, members of the Inner Circle will take on the titles of the Black and White (and later also Red) Kings, Queens, Bishops, and Rooks. The final position of Lord Imperial is reserved for the most powerful member of the club. Additionally, prominent members have also had assistants that did not have official titles within the club.
The Inner Circle was not always mutant dominated, but few members in several generations were not. The Inner Circle dominates the club and secretly influences the club's activities in order to achieve even more power and wealth.
Background
History
The Hellfire Club was originally founded in 18th century England by, Sir Francis Dashwood, Duncan Munro and Scotman John Stuart (Third Earl of Butte). It had some connection to King James I and retained some of his writings on the occult from the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 1760s, it functioned as a social club for the elite of British society. The Club not only provided its members with pleasures, often of sorts that violated moral standards at the time, but also sewed as a means for the members to consolidate their Influence over British economic and political matters. During the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia members tried to obtain secret information from Major General Wallace Worthington. In 1859 the club had to align itself with Apocalypse.
Hellfire Queens
Today's Hellfire Club counts among its members the wealthy, the powerful, and the celebrated from virtually all over the world. Membership la by Invitation only, but such Invitations are rarely turned down, for membership in the Hellfire Club Is universally regarded as the ultimate status symbol. Membership is also hereditary. Tony Stark and Norman Osborne have both been invited into the Hellfire Club.
Different Incarnations
Council of the Chosen
- White King: Edward "Ned" Buckman
- White Queen: Paris Seville
- Black Bishop: Sebastian Shaw
Edward Buckman invited many people into the Hellfire Club including Howard Stark, Warren Worthington Jr., and Sir James Braddock. Edward Buckman had a secret agenda he held from those in his Inner Circle, which was to eliminate all mutants by releasing the mutant hunting sentinels. After Shaw came under attack and his lover Lourdes Chantel was killed, Shaw had Emma Frost use her telepathy in order to control Buckman's mind and kill his entire council, then himself. With Buckman dead, Shaw took control of his Inner Circle as the Black King and renamed the Council of the Chosen to the Lords of the Cardinal.
Lords of the Cardinal
- Black King: Sebastian Shaw
- Black Queen: Dark Phoenix later replaced by Selene
- Black Bishop: Harry Leland
- Black Rook: Jason Wyngarde
- White Rook: Emmanuelle da Costa
- White King: Donald Pierce later replaced by Magneto & Storm
- White Queen: Emma Frost
- Tessa: Assistant to Shaw & Spy for Xavier
- Warhawk
Sebastian Shaw and Tessa
The ancient sorceress Selene became the Black Queen, followed by Emmanuelle da Costa as the new White Rook. Leland was later died after a battle with Nimrod forcing the Hellfire Club and the X-Men. Magneto became the White KIng along with Storm. Differences between Shaw and Magneto led to Shaw's dismissal and Magneto being retitled the Grey King. Magneto would soon leave the club. Selene and Emma soon plan to vote Shaw out of the club. Emma goes on to train her young mutant group the Hellions. Selene takes control and uses the group called the Upstarts to go against members of the inner circle to see who is the best to be in the Hellfire Club. Shinobi Shaw son of Sebastian Shaw, is a member of the upstarts and supposedly kills his father. Fabian Cortez tries to kill Magneto but fails. The Upstarts try to kill Emma Frost but she escapes and her group of Hellions are killed. The Upstarts soon turn against Selene.
Shinobi's Inner Circle
Shinobi's Inner Circle
Shinobi's Inner Circle
- Black King: Shinobi Shaw
- White King: Benedict Kine
- Unknown Queen: Benazir Kaur
- Unknown Queen: Reeva Payge
After killing his father and turning on Selene, Shinobi takes over the New York Branch as the Hellfire Club's new Black King. Shinobi offers membership to Psylocke (who inherited her membership from her father), Archangel and Storm, they all decline the offer. Shinobi asked Brian Braddock(Captain Britain, Psylocke's brother) to join the club's London Branch as a Black Bishop to gain information on there activities. Captain Britain found out that the London branch was trying to harness an ancient evil buried beneath England's capitol. The plot failed. Shinobi lost several battles with other superhumans resulting in the club's lack of confidence in him. The Inner Circle quickly diminished and after finding out that his father was still alive Shinobi deserted his position.
Shaw's Second Term
- Black King: Sebastian Shaw
Madelyne Pryor - Black Queen: Selene
- Black Rook: Madelyne Pryor
- White Rook: Trevor Fitzroy
- Unknown Position: Donald Pierce
- Unknown Position: Holocaust
- Tessa: Shaw's assistant & Spy for Xavier
Shaw resumed his role as the Black King and rebuilt his Inner Circle with Selene, Donald Pierce, Madelyne Pryor and the time traveler Fitzroy(a descendant of Shaw's in an alternate future). Shaw came in contact with Holocaust and had him kidnap X-Force, to get a new containment suit in return. X-Force was brainwashed into hunting down Cable, but instead Cable used his own powers to free his team. After a failed attempt to cure the Legacy Virus he resigned from the Inner Circle. Shaw would soon find out that his aide Tessa had been a spy for Professor Xavier all along. Selene then assumed control of the club and changed it to match her evil nature.
Selene's Inner Circle
- Black Queen: Selene
- Black King: Blackheart
- Black Rook: Sunspot
- White King: Daimon Hellstrom
Selene approached Blackheart the Black King position and Daimon Hellstrom the White King spot. Selene also approached Sunspot for membership since his father had a seat in the club, then so did he. Selene promised to resurrect his girlfriend Julianna if he became her new Black Rook. Selene only partially keeps her word, she resurrects Julianna's spirit and places it in a comatose patient. Nonetheless he keeps his word and accepts his seat. Shaw soon returns as the Lord Imperial of the entire club. Selene was placed in captivity beneath the the Hellfire Club headquarters.
Shaw's Return
- Lord Imperial: Sebastian Shaw
- Black King: Sunspot
- Black Queen: Selene
- White Queen: Courtney Ross
- Warrior White Princess: Viper
- Tessa: Shaw's aide
When Sir Gordon Phillips dies from the Legacy Virus, Shaw takes the Lord Imperial seat for himself. Shaw approaches Sunspot to be the club's new Black King claiming that he is trying to reform the Hellfire Club for the greater good. Sunspot accepts the title of Black King. Tessa now Sage (X-Men member) fails to warn Shaw of Pierce's assassination attempt, leaving him hospitalized but not before Shaw knocks his head off. Emma Frost also claims to have never lost the White Queen title around this time. Sunspot becomes the new Lord Imperial and is trying to change the club into a force for good, though Ross and Viper appear to have their own agenda.
Cassandra Nova's Inner Circle
- Black King: Sebastian Shaw
- Black Queen: Negasonic Teenage Warhead
- White King: Cassandra Nova
- White Queen: Perfection
- Emma Frost
This incarnation of the Hellfire Club didn't exist in the physical world. When the Sentinels attacked Genosha, Cassandra Nova offered Emma Frost a means to survive. In return for igniting her diamond secondary mutation, Emma Frost's mind became host to a portion of Cassandra Nova. She was then mind-wiped to prevent her from fighting Nova's subsequent plans.
Using Emma Frost's telepathic powers, Nova made the X-Men believe that they were fighting an assault of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle inside the mansion. Her ruse was ultimately to use Kitty Pryde's phasing powers to retrieve what was left of her body.
The other members of this incarnation of the Hellfire Club were based on figures buried into Emma Frost's psyche. Perfection was an old out-dated reflection of herself, as the White Queen who had originally confronted the X-Men during the Dark Phoenix Saga. Sebastian Shaw had always been Black King while she was a member of the Inner Circle. Negasonic Teenage Warhead was one of Emma's students on the day that the Sentinels attacked Genosha, and who's lifeless body Emma carried out from the rubble.
Alternate Universes
Earth-1610 Ultimate
In the Ultimate Universe the Hellfire Club is an offshoot of the Church of the Shi'ar Enlightenment, a group that worships a cosmic entity known as the Phoenix. While the Church believes the Phoenix to represent both destruction and rebirth, the Hellfire Club believes that the Phoenix entity is only associated with destruction. The ultimate hellfire club is also an enemy of the X-Men.
X-Men: Misfits
The Hellfire Club in Del Rey's manga version of the X-Men is still an elite club of privileged individuals. However, it no longer revolves around the chessboard-based Inner Circle in high society. Instead, the Hellfire Club is a group of spoilt boys who attend Xavier's Academy for the Gifted. The members included Angel, Forge, Havok, Longshot Pyro, Quicksilver and Kitty Pryde. All of them, bar Kitty, had advanced beyond Epsilon-Delta level to Beta level, and often taunted others who they saw as below them.They use the Danger Room for their own needs, including turning it into a nightclub complete with simulated girls for them to flirt with. They would often skip classes and break curfew to meet outside and roast marshmallows over a bonfire. Their rule braking was often over-looked as they were favourites of Magneto. As a new student, Kitty wanted to study, but the other members of the club would steal her books to force her to play with them. If she ran away, they would spend hours chasing her around the mansion until she phased into the crawl space between walls to hide from them.
Wolverine & the X-Men
This animated version of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle closely resembles the first roster encountered by the X-Men on Earth-616. However, Emma Frost had been sent to infiltrate the X-Men to gain closer access to any knowledge they had about Jean Grey's whereabouts.It transpired that they were hunting down the entity known as the Phoenix, who had inhabited telepaths on Earth throughout history. They had kept many archaic pieces of art which told the story of the Phoenix. They had organised a telepathic assault on Jean Grey, which caused the explosion which tore the X-Men apart at the start of the series. Emma Frost used her telepathic powers with the powers of the five Stepford Cuckoos to attack Jean Grey's mind and force the Phoenix out of her body, which caused the explosion.
When the X-Men had located & retrieve Jean Grey, Emma Frost used her powers to disable the other X-Men allowing the Inner Circle to abduct Jean. They explained the history of the Phoenix to Jean, claiming that they wanted to eradicate the Phoenix. However, once inside Jean's mind, the Cuckoos followed Sebastian Shaw's order to unlock all of the barriers placed there by Professor Xavier. They intended to release the Phoenix, contain it's power and use it for themselves.
| Team Name: | Hellfire Club |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| 1st Appearance: | # |
| Appears in: | 138 issues |
| Disbanded in: |
Marvel Teams
a list of 14 items by Sipsi
a list of 14 items by Sipsi
