Mach 2

Origin

Not much is known about Nomi Blume history except that she first appears as one of a large group of children rescued from Stryker by the X-men in New York. She subsequently lives in the Morlock Tunnels with them.

Creation

Nomi Blume (Mach 2) was created by Brain Wood and Paco Medina and first appeared in Ultimate Comics X-Men Vol.1 issue 13 (2012).

Major Story Arcs

X-War

When Kitty Pryde decides to lead the X-men into a war against the Sentinals which are attacking the mutant population, Nomi volunteers to join them. However, Kitty refuses, stating that Nomi is too young. At the same time, she reassures the girl that she is a born leader, and promises that, when Nomi is old enough, she can come and join Kitty in her fight. Kitty leaves Nomi, and the other children, in the care of Johnny Storm, who has been living with them in the Morlock Tunnels since the storyline began.

At The Speed of Mach Two

Nomi reapears in, and is the focus of, the Point One issue, 'At The Speed of Mach Two'. Initially, she appears to be there to help, and spots and removes a piece of shrapnel from Iceman's skull. However, it is quickly shown that she has become much more violent and powerful. She later attacks Kitty, demonstrating her magnetic abilities for the first time, levitating Kitty off of the ground while preventing her from phasing. She states her anger at Kitty for allowing other mutants to accept the mutant 'cure', blaming her for apparently abandoning the war for mutant liberation. She muses that she could kill Kitty, and threatens her with a piece of shrapnel. She is interrupted by Rogue, and leaves.

Reservation X

Nomi is one of the twenty mutants who refuse the mutant cure offered by Captain America's government. Together with Kitty and the X-men, she is transported to the new mutant reservation. There, she challenges Kitty's authority, demanding that the group elect a new leader. She cites the poor quality of the land on which they have been settled, and suggests that they demand better. Although she loses the vote, she manages to stir up a sizeable minority of the group against Kitty. Her followers include Blackheath, Warpath, Psylocke, and Shola Inkosi.

Once the group reach the settlement, which they name 'Utopia', Nomi's group breaks away, claiming a block of shelters to themselves. Although Blackheath continues to work with Kitty on a project to make the land more hospitable, he aligns himself with Nomi, acting as a spy for her in Kitty's group. Nomi also has Psylocke use her powers to telepathically spy on Kitty. In this way, Nomi learns that Kitty has been given a gun (the only weapon on the Reservation) by Nick Fury.

Codenames

To date, Nomi has been given two different codenames. The first, 'Mach Two', was given to her in 'His Will Be Done'. This same title was given to her after 'United We Stand', and is the codename by which she is addressed by other characters. However, during her brief appearances in 'Divided We Fall' and 'United We Stand', she is identified as 'Purge', although no character addresses or refers to her using this name in the narrative.

Powers and Abilities

Nomi's mutant powers give her control over magnetic fields. Initially, this power was only minor, and she herself states that the most she was able to do was magnetize her ankles, allowing her to hang upside down from the pipes in the tunnels to amuse the younger children.

However, when the character reappears in 'At The Speed of Mach Two', her powers have advanced considerably. She is now able to move any object providing it contains a sufficient amount of metal. To date, she has been shown levitating an entire trailer without any visible difficulty, and manipulating a piece of shrapnel to use as a weapon. Nomi is also able to levitate people, and can isolate and control the iron in another person's blood. When she does so to Kitty Pryde, she is able to use this aspect of her powers to stop her from phasing.