Marrow

Origin

Sarah's real name is unknown as well as her place of birth or who her parents really were. From a young age she manifested bones which grew sticking out of her face. This obvious mutation lead her to be taken in by the Morlocks, mutants that felt themselves too hideous to live above ground, cursing herself to a life underground. She may even have been among the first group of Morlocks. As an adult she often fought the X-Men, partly because that their fight for peaceful co-existence was foolish and also for revenge for their inability to save the Morlocks during the Mutant Massacre. Some say she was jealous of their beauty and ability to be normal as well.

Sarah was a little mutant with the mutant power of see kindness in every person. She was a very close friend to Callisto, who saw her as a daughter.

Creation

Marrow first appeared as a child in Cable #15 (1994) and later as an adult in Uncanny X-Men Issue #325 (1995). As a child she was created by Jeph Loeb and David Brewer. As an adult, she was created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira.

Mayor Story Arcs

The Morlocks

Since her mutation manifested early she was taken in by the Morlocks before she reached puberty. There she was befriended by many of its most notable members, including Thornn, Feral, Healer , Annalee and Tommy among others. The founder of the Morlocks Dark Beast also known as "the first" also played a part in her upbringing. Sometime in her past she was subjected to the experiments of Dark Beast as all Morlocks were as he continued his genetic work from his time in the Age of Apocalypse. For the most part she lived a happy childhood despite being denied the basic amenities of human life, such as fresh air, clean water and sunlight.

One night however she watched as the Morlock member Callisto kidnapped the X-man Angel. The Morlock has been struck by his beauty and grace, and decided she had to have him. Callisto had planned to wed this mutant, dressing him up in bondage gear and nailing his wings to a cross, but their union was not meant to be. Marrow witnessed the rescue of Angel by the X-men who were lead by the mutant weather witch Storm. This was another mutant who made an indelible mark on her. She remembers the duel between Callisto and Storm.

Callisto was the dark lady, while Storm was the light. For a young Marrow the fight was more about conflicting ideals and beauty vs ugliness than a simple rescue attempt. When Storm emerged victorious, a young Sarah had great hopes that "the bright lady" would lead the Morlocks out of the tunnels and into the light. Alas, this was not to be as Storm and the X-men returned to the surface while the Morlocks remained in the sewers. In time, she lost hope and began to resent the 'goddess' who had abandoned her people.

Mutant Massacre

The day of the massacre was like any other, the Morlocks were happy despite their hard lives and the many children there enjoyed playing with each other and then suddenly death descended up them like a plague. The Marauders were death made flesh and they slaughtered all who they saw whether you fought back or not. Gambit was responsable of take the massacre to the tunnels but when he saw what he had done he tried to stopped them but it was useless. It was during the massacre that she would once again see the beautiful Angel. He had been crucified by the Marauders and yet still clung to life. It was here that he transcended the mortal plain for her and became a "Christ like" figure. Many of the children and people she had laughed and played with lay dead at her feet. She remembers in particular the cruelty and extreme glee that the mutant Sabretooth took in killing them off. Gambit was wounded by Sabretooth and was walking in the tunnels when he saw a mutant woman and her daughter, that mutant was trapped under tons of rocks and she did not feel her legs and begged him to take her daughter Sarah out of the tunnels. The mutant thief Gambit saved her and quickly ran with her in hand away from the massacre ensuring her survival. He left her in the care of surface policemen.

Aftermath

Later on she returned to the sewers along with fellow survivor, chief among them Thornn. She briefly met with Cable and Domino during a ceremony of light and proved the only one bold enough to speak with them. Later on the surviving children and some new arrivals settled into life in the tunnels again but the arrival of the mad mutant Mikhail Rasputin would lead to another traumatic experience.

Flood and Life on the Hill

One day as she was walking through the tunnels a great flood swept through the tunnels cutting her off from her friends and almost drowning her. Miraculously she and the other young Morlocks washed up in a world of sunlight and their they met their new master Mikhail. It was here that Marrow grew close to the "dark lady", Morlocks member Callisto, who had never abandoned her people. It was her as well that they fulfilled a longing each of them had but never realized, Sarah got a mother figure and Callisto a daughter. Callisto trained the young girl and protected her until she reached the age of puberty and her powers fully manifested. Here she was torn from Callisto's arms and cast out of the protection of Mikhail's citadel. She would now have to prove herself worthy of living there by fighting the other inhabitants of the twisted world they grew to call "the Hill".

Those who had been her friends as children now sought to kill her on sight. She returned the favor and killed as many as she could. In time she grew bitter at the humans who had denied the Morlocks a peaceful life in the "upworld" and hated the X-Men for their feeble attempts at coexistence and their paltry attempts at helping her people.

The traumas she survived while on the Hill cauterized many of her memories and left her in a feral state with only her hate and contempt to drive her forward. In time she became revered by her people as the greatest hunter of their tribe and the most ruthless killer. She ascended the hill and joined Mikhail's personal guard known. In time however she and the more rebellious of her clan found a way to return to Earth and came under the tutelage of the first, Dark Beast. He fed them information they needed and allowed them to inflict all the suffering they wanted on the world. They were christened Gene Nation and on the eve of the Morlock Massacre they planned revenge.

Gene Nation

The first thing they did was kill a disco full of humans and signed in blood the words " Gene Nation". Leading her team she tested the many X-Men related teams to see if they would pose a threat to their planned revenge but more so they planned to kill the failed leader Storm in their celebration. They clashed with Generation X around this time also and manged to survive a mind fry by Emma Frost. She also sent her her team to clash with the X-Men to gather information.

Next they abducted a train full of people and she attached bombs to them to be triggered by her beating heart. Figuring that the X-Men would be too weak to kill her she attached the detonator to her heart. The X-Men arrived and she fought with Storm everything was going as planned except Storm ripped out her heart in the heat of battle ending her life, or so they thought.

Road to Redemption

Marrow did not die but instead survived as a result of her unique physiology. She next appears before Callisto and the two join forces and rekindle the relationship they had before. The two commonly fought alongside one another and Callisto acted as a mother figure who tried to ease Marrow's often violent nature. They clashed with Storm and Cable some time later and she was visibly more in control of her mutation. Later still she and Callisto tried to kill Gyrich for his support of Operation Zero Tolerance only to be stopped by Spider-Man. He would prove a driving force in her life as his words of "great power and great responsibility" hit home with her as well as his defense of her despite being human. In the end she and him were saved by Callisto who threw herself in between them and certain death at the hands of a Prime Sentinel. With her mentor severely injured she returned to the sewer's.

Zero Tolerance

Following the attack Callisto instructed Marrow to seek the X-Men and aid them in their plight. At first she is reluctant but Callisto pleads with her and in the end gets a vow from her that she will not kill anyone and she will aid the X-Men. She learns of the teams capture at the hands of Bastion but manages to locate Iceman and his new ward Cecilia Reyes. She remains unseen by them and eventually saves them from an ambush at a police station they were remanded to, shut down the electric supply of the station. Despite her bad blood with the X-Men, she offered Iceman to be his backup. Her vow not to kill also lead her to simply knock a few police officers unconscious and even simply frighten the criminals locked within.

They eventually escape the ambush and as a trio walk straight into an even bigger one. This time they are saved by Sabra and she gives them information that will lead them to Bastion's only weak point. She accompanies Cecilia, Iceman and Sabra on this journey where she verbally spars with both women. She also saves them yet again from a prime sentinel none realized were tracking them from underwater. Once they reach Bastion's stronghold they attack him head on and she is prevented from exacting any revenge by Iceman. Soon enough S.H.E.I.L.D. arrives and Bastion is taken into custody. Realizing the need for new allies and her invaluable merit throughout the mission, Iceman offers her a place with the X-Men at the institute. Keeping her word to Callisto she accepts.

X-Man

Marrow joined the now crumbling team, causing tensions within the team due to a tumultuous past with veteran X-Man Storm. In her first meeting with fellow X-Men she flirted with Cannonball, threatened both Storm and Cecelia Reyes yet managed to forcibly remove two bones to save the life of team leader Cyclops despite the protest of storm. Once things cooled down she took up residence in the schools now empty basement. After blowing a kiss to Cannonball she went to what she knew best, darkness.

The next few days found her lack of civility causing even more problems for the team as she ate like an animal and used her threatening appearance to scare others. She confronted Storm in the barn after Cannonball, Cecilia, Jean and Maggott were to make a trip to Westchester county. Storm, knowing how dangerous she was, forbid her from venturing outside the walls of the school. Marrow used the opportunity to show how the X-Men were hypocrites, casting the "ugly ones" in the shadows while the "pretty-pretty" could walk around free. Needless to say this left Storm very angry and Wolverine ready to defend her.

Things worsened yet again when Wolverine and Storm were left in charge of the X-Men when Jean and Scott left to recuperate. Quickly she found herself confronted by Wolverine at the behest of Storm. Wolverine recognized a kindred spirit within the girl and offered her a chance to be a lady and be civil. She knew he wanted a fight so she gave him one. She held her own against the veteran X-man even displaying more control of her bones than she had previously displayed, her healing factor also prevented her from being injured too severely. As she lay defeated at Wolverine's feet, he offered her a chance to be trained by him, since he knew she really wanted to be a soldier with simply a "cause" to fight for. He offered her a chance to become more than she was and as he extended his hand to her, in her fright and confusion and anger she pulled Wolverine down onto a bone shard and rammed it straight through his throat. This left Wolverine in a feral state and she literally had her life flash before her eyes. Luckily for her, Cannonball rushed in and knocked Wolverine out. She quickly escaped back to the sewers but Wolverines word's stayed with her. "Could she be a part of their world? Why would they even want her?" As she returned to Callisto she lied to make her mentor happy telling her she was making friends. She would occasionally return to the mansion when no one knew and steal medical supplies and spy on them.

First Phase

While in the sewers Marrow tries to heal Callisto by use of belief and a doll made in the likeness of Angel. While her mentor pleads she return to the X-Men, she says they have nothing to teach her except weakness. She then runs into the Abomination, who is trying to kill Angel. She leads him down a path to try and save him while remaining unseen, but before he can be caught she steps in and leads the Abomination away from him. Angel saw her courage and confronts Abomination, this action helps Sarah to recover herself and attacks the monster. Angel tells her that she is beautiful because her bravery. In the end his words of encouragement causes her to have an epiphany, "Light never dies even in Monsters". After talking with Angel and having his reassurance she bids Callisto goodbye and returns to the X-Men.

After her abomination´s encounter, she figured out that some people (including Morlocks) had been dissapearing in Manhattan Tunnels, Storm discourage her to go there and wait to gather more information nevertheless Marrow went alone to investigate the incidents. Then there she met with Spider-man who stopped her to attack some civilians who were yelling at her. They entered the tunnels together and found a bunch of people and mutants (Including Calisto) tied up in one chamber of the Morlock Tunnels, Spider-man and Marrow then faced a vampire-like creature and managed to chase him away.

Marrow returns just in the nick of time as the X-Men are in a fight with the Ngari. She saves Cecelia's life and aids Beast and Cecilia in battle though they are eventually captured. Once they awake she finds it amusing that the Ngari have singled out Cecilia for vivisection she also picks up on best budding feelings for the doctor.

When it disintegrates into all out battle again she proves her worth by rallying teammate Maggott and together they perform a fastball special of there own that leads to her severing the enemy's power source. Cecilia finishes the job and with her new found friends and team she grabs the helpless humans and dives through the portal just before everything is destroyed. Once out she greets some police men telling them they are X-Men and they just saved the world.

She underwent a physical exam by Cecelia Reyes and later was whisked away to Africa by Psylocke where they faced the Shadow King on the astral plane. There he revealed to her what life would be like if she had complete control of her mutation and the beauty that lay underneath it all. All she and her teammates had to do was renounce the X-Men. Despite all the temptation she and her friends resisted and were saved by Storm and Psylocke. Because of her concern for teammate Cannonball she rushed to his side and saved him from the torment he was to endure. When it was all over she snapped at him for thanking her because she was not accustomed to his politeness of even the feelings he incited within her.

Her life shifted again as she overheard his have a phone conversation with his mom about returning home. This coupled with Callisto's return and refusal to take Marrow with her this lead her on a rampage through Westchester as she struggled with the feeling she was having. She never hurt anyone though and encountering the two police officers she had injured during Zero Tolerance. Cannonball beckoned she look into his fearful eyes and decide if she wanted to be the monster he feared or something else, she chose the latter. She wished Callisto goodbye and even reconciled with Storm somewhat before talking a finale ride on Cannonball's back before he left for home.

Second Phase

She accompanied the team s they searched for Xavier and found a kindred spirit in Gambit. She faced the renegade machine Cerebro and his X-Men all before returning to the mansion and losing her room in the basement as the Danger Room was rebuilt. She continued to display her snide attitude but also displayed comradeship with her teammates. She helped the X-Men battle Pyro as he fled from Cerebro and later also helped battle Cerebro's X-men and Cerebro himself during the search for Xavier arc. Here she found a kindred spirit in Gambit who she did not remember from so many years ago.

She stayed with the team as they battled Magneto during the "Magneto war arc" despite her and Kitty not getting along. Once she even threw a rat into kitty's bed even though she later saved her life. It was after the death of Joseph when the X-men were abducted by the Octid did her life take a change. Here in this alien dimension the Earthly laws of physics did not apply and the X-Men found there powers manifesting in bizarre ways. She was mortally wounded by Gambit who took it upon himself to tend to her in this state.

Transformation

After saving the Octid and a rampaging Juggernaut, the team was sent to the past of the alien world of the Skrull. Here Gambit's guild and responsibility caused him to abandon the team and seek help for her. He placed her inside a Skrull healing chamber and when she emerged she was irrevocably altered.

She now displayed great control of her powers and with them she saved Gambit and the X-Men though they tried to stop Galactus from destroying the planet couldn't but managed to avoid dying there as well. The X-Men returned to Earth in the past right as the Magneto War occurred but the ship endured damage and they were knocked unconscious until after the event.

With her new look and lack of pain she started opening up more and became playful with her teammates. She now looked up to Remy as a father figure and a sort of a little sister to the X-Man Colossus, taking an involvement in his passion with the arts. Even after the X-Men were disbanded she accompanied Colossus on his journey's outside the mansion. Here for the first time she managed to completely retract the bones on her face and managed to pass as human without an image inducer. It wouldn't last however as she lost control and scared some museum patrons. Here she and Colossus were whisked away by Mikhail to the Hill where she faced down her past and the monster she was. She saved Colossus from his brother and it was her speech to Mikhail which reached his heart and he returned them home.

Apocalypse: The 12

They returned to the X-Men with Mikhail and underwent a loyalty test by Xavier after he had discovered that Wolverine had been replaced by a Skrull. Marrow passed and continued to serve along side her friends. She remained mostly on the sidelines until the finale battle where Apocalypse, now in Cyclops' body altered reality to gain godhood but ultimately failed.

After this Xavier left the X-Men to go with some mutant Skrulls. She remained on Earth until the High Evolutionary shut down mutant powers globally. Marrow dated during this period and even got advice from Storm showing how far she had grown. When the X-Men intercepted the plot of Sinister in this they attacked and defeated him and his plans. Her powers returned but soon after this the "revolution" happened to the X-books and a concept known as the "6 month gap" took place. Marrow disappeared from the X-Men's ranks and was not mentioned by any of her teammates.

Spider-Man/Marrow- 2 month Gap

Marrow disappeared from the X-Men's ranks when Chris Claremont returned and it was never explained why she left. In a series called Spider-Man / Marrow, surrounding herself and Peter Parker, we get some answers. Apparently she lost control of her powers again and returned to the sewers for unknown reason where SHIELD agents and Valerie Cooper drug her and make her an agent to hunt down robots who look like humans for them.

In a civilian identity of Sarah Rushman she is a waitress who shares a few flirtations with Spider-man. Eventually she reverts to a feral state and Spider-man tries to save her she however will have none off it and throws herself off the Brooklyn bridge. She is recovered by gene nation teammate Hemingway.

Weapon X

Marrow later emerged as a recruit for the new Weapon X program, who had promised they could make Marrow look normal if she would work for them. She agreed and they performed extensive tests and experiments to stabilize her powers. She was "date raped" by teammate Mesmero after a night of partying. Then she was forced to kill childhood friend and gene-nation leader D'Gard to prove her loyalty to the program.

She would kill many others to maintain her normal look and life even capturing mutants that unknown to her was sent to never-land a mutant concentration camp.

She made friends with the unstable Aora and played civil to Sabretooth the killer from her childhood. She served the program until uncovering an undercover anti-mutant operation, causing her to betray the team by assisting Cable and a group of underground forces. However Agent Zero tracked them down and killed all of Marrow's followers to humiliate her.

M-Day

Marrow's status following the events of M-Day had been widely disputed, but she was finally confirmed to be de-powered working alongside the de-powered mutant terrorist team X-Cell. Marrow is one of the few de-powered mutants to experience the strange phenomenon of retaining her physical mutation while losing her abilities and allegedly her mutant X-Gene as well.

Utilizing steel knives in lieu of her powers, Marrow worked with X-Cell on the promise that Quicksilver could restore their mutant powers via Terrigen crystals he had stolen from the Inhumans. However, Marrow's long-time ally Callisto intervened having experienced Quicksilver's near-fatal methods. His method of re-powerment caused former mutants powers to return to an extreme state, spiraling out of control before fading away or somehow killing its users. The rest of X-Cell received the treatment without her and later spontaneously combusted during battle with X-Factor. Meanwhile, Marrow and Callisto overheard Quicksilver admit his involvement in M-Day to crafty X-Factor member Layla Miller. The two stole a tape recording of his confession and escaped back into the sewers. Their current whereabouts are still unknown.

Powers

Marrow's mutant ability granted her a unique physique. Her entire skeletal and muscular structure were enhanced, while bone-constructs protruded from her body. It is possible that she either possessed two hearts or her first heart regenerated after it was removed. Marrow's ability to grow bones in abnormal ways works both defensively and offensively. She can form armor beneath and over her skin that's harder then steel as well as take bones out of her body to use them a weapons. Marrow can fire needle-bullets at rates of hundreds at a time from anywhere on her body like a human machine gun. She has a great healing factor that would constantly regenerate her bone and skin covering, in addition to repairing wounds. Marrow also has superhuman agility and enhanced strength. Removal/detachment of these bones cause her pain. On top of that, she is a good hand to hand fighter and has her own unique style that utilizes her spikes as weapons like swords, daggers and clubs.

When she was a little girl had empathy powers to see kindness in another beings. It is not cleared if she lost those powers.

Statistics

Citizenship: American

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Terrorist; former X-Man, covert operative, waitress, adventurer, and scavenger

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 155 lbs

Eyes: Green

Hair: Reddish Pink/Magenta

Unusual Features: Pinkish skin, and bony protrusions on her forehead and body

Alternate Realities

Earth-32098

When Apocalypse used the power of the 12 to run the X-Men through a series of alternate Earths on one such world Marrow had wed Gambit after Rogue had left earth. They had an unspecified number of children and were expecting 3 grandchildren. This is the last conjured world Apocalypse creates before he loses control.

Earth- at war with the Shiar

In another world conjured by Apocalypse using the power of the 12 the X-Men and Shiar are at war. In this world the Shiar are led by Deathbird who has usurped the throne by killing Lilandra. Marrow is one of the X-Men who has been severely injured. She is protected by Cecelia Reyes and tended to by Gambit.

Earth- alternate beginnings

This is another world created by Apocalypse using the power of the 12. In this world Marrow plays the part of Toad as all the X-Men present are drafted into playing different roles stemming from the first clash of Magneto and the X-Men. In this world Rogue is mastermind, Sunfire is Quicksilver, Gambit leads the X-Men, Storm takes Angels place on the team and Polaris has taken on the role of the Scarlet Witch.

Earth-295: Age of Apocalypse

Marrow is a member of the Morlocks in the Age of Apocalypse. She made her debut in the 2005 miniseries. Here the Morlocks were sewer dwelling mutants who were all victims who had escaped from Sinister's labs. She was strangely an adult despite never going to the Hill to experience the time acceleration like in 616. Nonetheless she acted as a sort of de facto leader for the group and was quick to attack Magneto and his X-Men when they beckoned them to leave the sewers. She was the first to attack Silver Samurai, who defeated her with one swing of his blade.

Earth-1610-Ultimate universe

In this world Marrow was a fourteen year old mutant with pink hair and her typical powers who lived in downtown Manhattan. She was killed by Sinister off panel and only mentioned later. She was killed as a sacrifice to his "God" Apocalypse.

Earth-5692

On this Earth that the time traveling Exiles visited Marrow was one of the many mutants captured and enslaved by the Skrull. Here she was used as one of many gladiators who fought for their entertainment. She engaged in battle with the Exile Nocturne only to be defeated. When Galactus and Terrax show up on Earth however she is able to escape along with her fellow gladiators. She witnessed the Exiles kill Terrax and drive off Galactus and joined with others to rebuild the Earth after years of enslavement.

Earth-58163: House of M

In this mutant run world Marrow was a member of "the red guard" and she was tasked with the mission of destroying the terrorist cell known as the "hoods gang". In particular she was to destroy the faction in Santa Rico. On this mission she accompanied Rogue. They engaged the terrorist in battle and she manged to kill the Sandman but was still killed by " The Hood" the gangs leader.

Earth-983

In this reality the X-Men condemned Gambit to death for his involvement in the Mutant Massacre. Marrow as a member of the Morlocks at the time took it upon herself to kill Gambit even after he was forgiven by the rest of the team.

Television Appearances

Wolverine And The X-Men

Marrow first appears in the first season's opening. Although is not introduced until the episode titled Future X. She is among the mutants that were imprisoned by the Sentinels. She was first doubtful of Professor X's leadership when the Sentinels brought Cerebro to the camp. She do not even believe that Professor X is a telepath and could be their leader to free them from the Sentinels until Professor X called her by her name surprisingly even if that was their first time to meet. She is later saved from being squashed by a Sentinel by Professor X. With the help of the other future X-Men, they were able to defeat the Sentinels and free themselves. In a later episode, the future Marrow befriends a reprogrammed Sentinel dubbed "Rover". When Rover is destroyed due to Bishop's decision of using him as a decoy against other sentinels, Marrow decides to help the Sentinels against Charles Xavier, since his presence in the future caused the death of her only true friend.

Video Games

X-Men Legends

Marrow is a boss character. She leads both the Morlocks and Gene Nation. She eventually sides with the Brotherhood after she arranges for Healer's capture.

She is voiced by Nancy Linari.

In X-Men Legends 2, she is mentioned but she doesn't appear.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Marrow appears alongside fellow X-Men and Marvel characters who fight against Capcom characters. She also has the same powers that she does in the comic books. She is the only character who can jump four times in the air in a row.