Stryfe - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Stryfe is the clone of Nathan Christopher Summers, the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor (a clone of Jean Grey); when the immortal mutant Apocalypse infects the infant Nathan with a techno-organic virus, a woman from the distant future introducing herself as Askani appears to Cyclops and Jean Grey, telling them that she can save the child. Once the infant Nathan arrives in the future, Askani clones the baby, hoping to salvage something if he dies. The clone's growth is greatly accelerated until he is the same age as Nathan himself. The Askani succeed in halting the spread of the techno-organic virus in Nathan's body, thereby saving his life. However, Apocalypse and his forces attack the Askani's hiding place and steal the cloned infant. Apocalypse takes the child as his own, raising him himself and naming him Stryfe, intending to use him as his next host body. As Apocalypse is about to transfer his essence into Stryfe, he discovers that Stryfe is in fact a clone, thus unfit to house his essence. A teenage Nathan and the time-traveling Cyclops and Jean confront Apocalypse, leaving him unable to transfer into any host body, thus causing his essence to discorporate. Apocalypse's second in command, Ch'vayre, raises Stryfe afterwards.

Stryfe grows up to be an insane madman, wanting vengeance on both what he thought were his real parents (Cyclops and Jean) and his spiritual parent, Apocalypse. He becomes an anarchist and terrorist rebel in the Nor-Am Pact region c. 3783-3806. in his alternate future. He raises an army and became a fierce opponent of both Nathan (now known as Cable) and his Clan Chosen, and the New Canaanites, a despotic regime that replaced Apocalypse's. During these wars he kills Cable's wife, Jenskot, as well as kidnapping and brainwashing their son, Tyler Dayspring.

In 3806, the New Canaanites take full control of the planet, but Stryfe manages to travel back in time two-thousand years. He forms a mutant terrorist group, the Mutant Liberation Front (MLF), alongside many powerful mutants including Tamara Kurtz. Stryfe orders his Mutant Liberation Front to capture Rusty Collins and Skids. In Japan, he fought Cable and first clashed with the New Mutants, who thwarted his attempt to poison the water supplies of major cities. Before long, his face was revealed to his minions; he looked identical to Cable. Stryfe abandoned his Antarctic Mutant Liberation Front base during an invasion by the new X-Force team (a reorganized New Mutants lineup). Stryfe then had the Mutant Liberation Front free the captive mutants Hairbag and Slab, and turned them over to Mister Sinister before ordering an MLF attack on a clinic. He also confronted and defeated Kane (Weapon X II), and eventually declared his enmity for Apocalypse. Stryfe later battled Cable, who learned that Stryfe was actually his double. Stryfe sows chaos in the ranks of the X-Men, posing as Cable and shooting Professor X, as part of an assassination attempt. He confronts his captives, Cyclops and Marvel Girl. He bested the Dark Riders, and confronted Apocalypse on the moon. Stryfe fights Apocalypse and nearly destroys him, wounding Apocalypse badly, becoming leader of the Dark Riders. As a final insurance, Stryfe gives Mister Sinister a canister that he claims holds genetic material from two-thousand years worth of Summers's descendants; in truth, it holds the deadly Legacy Virus. Stryfe battles Cable until the latter opens a temporal rift by detonating a self-destruct system, destroying his body. Stryfe's consciousness, however, enters Cable's mind, in which he stays until he voluntarily leaves.

While physically dead, Stryfe attempts to return to life through the body of Warpath. However his attempt is avoided by the arrival of X-Force and Warpath was sent back to the living by Blackheart Somehow by unknown means Stryfe was revived and together with the Dark Riders began to subjugate Latveria. Stryfe was opposed by Cable and Nate Grey, and at first beat them easily, even going as far as to siphon off all of Nate's power. However, in the end, Stryfe was betrayed by Madelyne Pryor, who gave Nate his power back. Stryfe was defeated by Nate.

Stryfe then reappeared controlling the activation sequence for the Prime Sentinels. He used them to hunt down Lady Deathstrike, who held the complete codes for all the Sentinels in her cybernetic systems. Deathstrike was forced to turn to the X-Men, and together they defeated Stryfe, who teleported away.

Later, Stryfe tried to hunt down Bishop who was at the time possessed by an entity known as the Bete Noir, whose power rivaled the Phoenix Force itself and threatened to consume Bishop's body and unleash its evil upon the universe. However in the end, Stryfe regrets the path and choices he has made in his life, freed Bishop from the entity and sacrifices himself to save the Earth from La Bete Noir. Bishop remembers a proverb from his time - "It doesn't matter how a man lived his life; what matters is how he ends it" - and says he thinks Stryfe ended his life well.

Stryfe made an appearance in the Mesiah War storyline, which is set in an alternate future. This was confirmed by the writer Christopher Yost to be the same Stryfe that had previously plagued the X-Men, mentioning in particular his survival of his fight against Nate Grey and Cable.