Basilisk (X-Student)

BASILISK

Real Name: Mike Columbus

Identity/Class: Human mutant, citizen of the United States

Occupation: Student

Group Membership: "Magneto's" Brotherhood (Angel Salvadore, Beak/Barnell Bohusk, Esme Cuckoo, Ernst, No-Girl/Martha Johansson, Toad/Mortimer Toynbee); formerly Xorn's Special Class (Angel Salvadore, Beak/Barnell Bohusk, Dummy/Dean Boswell, Dust/Sooraya Kadir, Ernst, No-Girl/Martha Johansson)

Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Choir/Irina Clayton, Contact/Frida Rivera, Crater/Erik Hallgrimsson, Forearm/Marcus Tucker, Glob Herman/Robert Herman, Imp/Anders Nobel, Keratin/Dave Finn, Longneck/William Hanover, Mentat/Robert Zepheniah, "Michael Jackson," Polymer/Dana Holmes, Radian/Christian Cord, Redneck/Vincent Stewart, Spike/Gary Walsh, Stalwart/Adewale Ekoku, Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, Sophie, Cuckoo), Tattoo/Christine Cord, other unidentified students), X-Men (Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Professor X/Charles Xavier, White Queen/Emma Frost, Wolverine/James Howlett, Xorn/Kuan-Yin Xorn)

Enemies: The Omega Gang (Glob Herman/Robert Herman, Kid Omega/Quentin Quire, Radian/Christian Cord, Redneck/Vincent Stewart, Tattoo/Christine Cord), "Magneto" (Kuan-Yin Xorn), U-Men

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
   formerly "Magneto's" citadel, New Genosha (New York), USA;
   formerly Xavier Institute, Salem Center, New York, USA

First Appearance: New X-Men I#135 (February, 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Mike Columbus had the mutant power to emit a pulse of high-frequency strobe light directly from his brain. The beam had a paralyzing, catatonic effect on everyone affected by it. Mike wasn't too bright, had trouble concentrating and was often amused by silly and crude jokes.

Height: 6'5"
Weight: 220 lbs.
Eyes: One, metallic
Hair: Bald

History: (New X-Men I#135 (fb) - BTS) - Born with unusual features, the dim-witted Mike Columbus was frequently teased, which caused him to develop a mean and sarcastic streak. When his mutant powers manifested themselves, Mike Columbus transformed into a bubblegum pink, large cyclops. As soon as Charles Xavier came out as a mutant and opened the doors of his school to any and all mutants, he joined the Xavier Institute.

(New X-Men I#135) - Basilisk was placed in Xorn's "Special Class" along with other young students whose unique powers or backgrounds warranted specialized tutelage. Among his classmates were the quiet, living gas form Dummy, the seemingly geriatric Ernst, the outspoken Angel, the relatively powerless Beak and the ever-elusive No-Girl. Xorn, ignoring the "jackass" sign taped to his back, decided to take them all camping to get to know one another a little better. Deep in the forest, while making camp for the night, none of them were aware they had been located by a squad of mutant harvesting U-Men out on patrol who prepped for attack

(New X-Men I#136) - Chased by the U-Men, Xorn led Basilisk and the others to a safe place in the woods. However, Dummy's suit was nicked by one of the U-Men's scalpel guns. No one noticed this until after Xorn left them alone to go deal with the U-Men  but soon, Dummy's foul smelling odor and the hissing from the leak in his suit became obvious. Basilisk snickered that his classmate was a living fart before bickering with Beak, whom he condemned for his ambition to become an X-Man in spite of his lack of powers. After some initial bickering and boasting, Basilisk used his strobe light powers to signal the Xavier Institute for help while Beak patched up Dummy's leak with a spare condom. As a result, No-Girl was so impressed with Basilisk that she agreed to go out with him, a fact the overjoyed Mike misinterpreted, believing the incorporeal, invisible mutant girl was his fiance.

(New X-Men I#137) - During the Xavier Institute's Open Day, the rebellious, Kick-addicted Omega Gang got into a fight with a band of human protesters. Basilisk and the other members of Xorn's Special Class observed how things got out of hand and hurried to get to safety inside the Institute while the X-Men dealt with the situation. However, they weren't safe inside either, as an explosive broke several windows near the Special Class, hitting and ripping Dummy's suit, essentially killing him.

(New X-Men I#138) - Following the riots, Basilisk and the other Special Class members attended the Xavier Institute's prize-giving ceremony. The usually nonplussed Basilisk couldn't take the prestigious event seriously, commenting to Xorn that he was sure that he smelled the gaseous Dummy somewhere near his mentor's butt. When master of ceremonies Charles Xavier announced a special award for Beak and Angel Salvadore for their outstanding heroism, Columbus snickeringly called them losers.

(New X-Men I#140) - When Xavier Institute headmistress Emma Frost was seemingly killed by a diamond bullet, Sage and Bishop were called in to investigate the crime. They assembled the entire student body, including Basilisk, to announce their intentions, showing the bullet responsible for shattering Emma's diamond form. They then declared everyone present was a suspect. Some time later, Sage and Bishop approached Xorn to arrange interviews with all the members of the Special Class. However, when they briefly observed them, just as Basilisk was cheating Beak at the murder mystery board game Clue by insisting the killer was "Professor Sex in the toilet with the landmower," the investigators decided to solely interview Angel Salvadore, who had become Emma's latest protege prior to the assassination.

(New X-Men I#146 (fb) - BTS) - Kuan-Yin Xorn, suffering from the delusion he was actually Magneto, mutant master of magnetism, slowly began to subvert the Special Class. He started to teach his views on the world under his rule, signified by a number of "Magneto was right" posters and a map of the world hung upside down as a symbol of his vision of the future, which he called Planet X. He began to use his powers to coerce the telepathic Martha Johansson to influence Basilisk and the other Special Class pupils, ensuring their cooperation.

(New X-Men I#146) - Basilisk and the others welcomed Afghani mutant Dust (Sooraya Kadir) into their midst. However, she proved immune to Xorn and Martha's mental manipulations and tried to warn Charles Xavier just as Xorn's plans for world conquest were getting underway. She managed to escape the classroom and reach Xavier, who she only told a little of the plan before Xorn showed up to stop her. She fled and went back to the Special Class, where the coerced Ernst ordered Basilisk to use his paralyzing eye beam to subdue the violent, incoherent Dust, who had turned into a sandstorm to stop them. Before he could act, Xorn arrived and forced her inside a containment canister. Basilisk and the others then watched as Xorn revealed himself as "Magneto" to a startled Xavier, who only then noticed the disturbing propaganda displayed in the classroom. Basilisk yucked away when "Magneto" disabled the nano-sentinels that he had used to allow Charles to walk, turning the professor into a cripple again. They all then watched as Xorn revealed his "true" visage.

(New X-Men I#147 (fb) - BTS) - Basilisk and the other Special Class members joined "Magneto" as he used his considerable abilities to lay waste to the Xavier Institute. Joined by the villainous Esme Cuckoo and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-founder Toad (Mortimer Toynbee), he watched as "Magneto" laid waste to New York in a single day, effortlessly turning the city that never sleeps into a living nightmare for all mankind. He took Basilisk and the others to the highest building in old Manhattan, dubbing them his new Brotherhood and declaring the island New Genosha.

(New X-Men I#147) - "Magneto" showed Basilisk and the other members of his Brotherhood "New Genosha," assuring them that he had kept his promise and had tuned the world on its head for them and that the lowest were now the highest. Despite all this, Ernst still had trouble dealing with the current reality of their situation, asking when Mister Xorn would be back. The sniggering Basilisk chimed in, explaining that "Magneto" had been Xorn all along, which according to Columbus made him "a Xornvestite." He then mocked Esme's fascination for the elderly villain, telling her to get a special website for her particular fetish. Esme ignored him, believing she was vital to "Magneto" and offering him more of the power-enhancing Kick drug that stimulated his waning abilities and fired him up to go on an anti-human razzia in Manhattan. Later that evening, Basilisk and the others watched as a Kick-influenced Esme used her telepathy to herd the human inhabitants of "New Genosha" to the newly-assembled gas chambers. To prove her total control, Esme had some of the mutant bystanders pick a random human prisoner to tear apart. Basilisk couldn't help but comment that only a total drug addict could think this up, adding that Magneto must really hate people.

(New X-Men I#148) - When "Magneto" realized no one on New Genosha was paying much attention to his lofty decrees, he decided to disrupt their television reception and other devices to insure they listened to what he had to say. Basilisk calmly took in this declaration but openly mocked Esme when "Magneto" ordered her around like a common foot soldier, noting that stuffing her bra clearly didn't work to get into his good graces. "Magneto" ordered him to shut up before announcing that Beak would be in charge of the mass extermination of all remaining homo sapiens, dubbed homo inferior, in New Genosha.

(New X-Men I#149) - Basilisk joined Toad, "Magneto" and the others in observing how Manhattan's human population was being marched into the hastily designed crematoria. Faced with the very real notion that he was about to be responsible for the death of thousands of innocents, Beak rebelled. Aided by his lover Angel Salvadore and their children, they told "Magneto" off. He slapped them aside, deciding that Angel and the children needed to be taught a lesson. He ordered Beak to be put with the humans scheduled for destruction. Not sensing the severity of the situation, the simple minded Basilisk interrupted the tense moment by farting and blaming someone else. Thoroughly fed up with his disappointing and rebellious followers, the drug-addled "Magneto" lashed out at the hapless Basilisk, killing him instantly for his lack of discipline. The act shocked both the Brotherhood as well as "Magneto" himself, who stammered that he'd only intended to teach Columbus a lesson. Still, the senseless death of a fellow mutant didn't force him to reconsider his plans. "Magneto" pushed ahead while his second-in-command Esme Cuckoo gave orders to find a pyrokinetic to cremate Mike's body on the spot to save themselves the trouble of getting a truck to remove his remains.

Comments: Created by Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils) and Tim Townsend (inks).

*Hyuk-hyuk*, it's a small miracle the creator of Beavis & Butthead didn't sue Marvel because Basilisk essentially stole their entire shtick.

Basilisk received a profile in Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 2: X-Men. His real name was revealed in the Xavier Institute entry of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#13.

   Inside Info: His surname, Columbus, is a nod to Peter Falk's detective. The reason it isn't an exact match is because it was felt that naming a one-eyed character Columbo would be a little too obvious...
--Loki

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Basilisk should not be confused with

• Basilisk, the conveniently named criminal Basil Elks @ Marvel Team Up I#16
• Basilisk, powerful demon bound to Satana, @ Marvel Preview I#7
• Basilisk, Wayne Gifford, Morbius enemy, @ Morbius I#4
• Basilisk, Hellbent, kills others that observe his face, killed by own reflection @ Moon Knight III#44
• Basilisk, robot, created by Diangelo’s men, @ Power Pack I#7
• Basilisk, creation of Arnim Zola, destroyed by Deadpool @ Deadpool III#0
• or any other "Basilisk" characters

images: (without ads)
New X-Men I#147, p8, pan1 (main image)
New X-Men I#136, p13, pan2 (closeup)
New X-Men I#136, p15, pan5 (uses powers)
New X-Men I#138, p17, pan2 (is sure he smells Dummy)
New X-Men I#147, p9, pan12 (mocks Esme Cuckoo)
New X-Men I#149, p6, pan5 (killed and ignored by Magneto)

Appearances:
New X-Men I#135 (February, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#136 (March, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#137 (April, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#138 (May, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Avalon Studios (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#140 (June, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#146 (November, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#147 (November, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#148 (December, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New X-Men I#149 (January, 2004) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts (editor)

First Posted: 07/12/2015
Last updated: 08/31/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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