AINET
Real Name: Ainet Mwangi
Identity/Class: Human magic user;
citizen of Kenya
Occupation: Village priestess and magician
Group Membership: Her village
Affiliations: Her villagers, and the X-Men (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Iceman/Robert Drake, Maggott/Japheth, Marrow/Sarah, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Prestige/Rachel Summers of Earth-811, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke/Elizabeth Braddock, Pyro/Simon Lasker, Dr. Cecilia Reyes, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James Howlett);
formerly the Shadow King (posing as Ananasi)
Enemies: Shadow King, Uovu, Zuberi
Known Relatives: Ororo Munroe (aka Storm, adopted daughter)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Uzuri in Kenya, Africa
First Appearance: X-Men II#76 (June, 1998)
Powers/Abilities: Ainet is a village priestess and magician. It seems that Ainet has limited sorceress abilities and can animate inanimate objects. She may have other magical abilities not seen.
History:
(X-Men II#77 (fb)) - When Storm was a child and wandered into Ainet's
village. Ainet gave her shelter and had her remember things like trust,
respect, and dignity. When Ororo manifested her mutant powers Ainet helped her get through them.
(X-Men II#78 (fb))- The Shadow King discovered Ainet and created for himself the guise of Ananasi to strike fear into the heart of her people. The Shadow King then prepared Ainet's people's minds for the pulse and took control of the physical body of Ainet, trapping her mind in the psychic plane.
(X-Men II#76)- Storm received a package from Ainet saying she was in trouble and that Storm must come home.
(X-Men II#77)- Storm returned to Africa and wandered into her old village. There she met Ainet, apparently possessed by the god Ananasi. Ananasi took all the X-Men to the psychic plane and began battling Psylocke and Storm. Ainet tried to help them, but she was too late and Psylocke unleashed a radical psychic event. Ananasi then stood revealed as the Shadow King.
(X-Men II#78)- Within the psychic plane Psylocke received help from Ainet and searched for Ororo. They found her and Ororo began to despair but Ainet showed Ororo that it wasn't her fault. Psylocke distracted the Shadow King while Storm and Ainet rescued Marrow, Maggot, and Cecilia Reyes from the Shadow King's grasp. Psylocke began to fight the Shadow King and every person in the psychic plane was pushed back into his or her own physical bodies. When the Shadow King was defeated Ainet helped comfort Psylocke because of the loss of her power.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(X-Men: Gold II#33 (fb)) - In the village of Uzuri, Kenya Ainet was hunted down by Uovo's followers led by Zuberi, who gave her one more shot to swear allegiance to their god Uovo. Ainet declined one final time and before she was killed by Zuberi and his men, Ainet prayed to ancient powers that could turn Ororo into a true god. Her prayer was heard in the ruins of Asgard by Storm's hammer Stormcaster, which began its voyage to Earth. Ainet died with a smile on her face.
(X-Men: Gold II#33 - BTS) - A month later Ororo was contacted by the Wakandan consulate and learned about Ainet's death and that information about her death were sketchy. Ororo also learned that her old village had fallen under the control of a death cult. Ororo traveled to her former home to pay respect to her dead foster mother and look into Ainet's death.
Upon arriving in Uzuri, Ororo tried to find out more about how Ainet died, but was immediately lied to that she died peacefully in her sleep due to old age. She learned about the cult of Uovo, which meant "evil" in Swahili. Ororo was then led to Ainet's gravesite while Uovo and his followers already made plans to turn Ororo into an ally. At Ainet's gravesite Ororo felt bad for not even inviting her to her wedding and promised to get to the truth about the death cult.
(X-Men: Gold II#34) - Ororo discovered a hidden hall with hundreds of dead, but preserved Uzuri villagers underground. Among the dead was Ainet. Uovo rasied these dead as his army when Ororo confronted him and they quickly overpowered her.
(X-Men: Gold II#35) - Uovo made it clear that fighting him would harm her resurrected parents, Ainet and all the others he had brought back from the dead. Uovo's high priest Zuberi admitted that he had killed Ainet when she chose not to follow Uovo and Ororo was now given the same choice. Ororo chose the same way her foster mother did, but aided by the X-Men (Iceman, Nightcrawler, Prestige, Kitty Pryde, Pyro), who arrived through a portal opened by Stormcatcher, Uovo and his army and followers were defeated. With Uovo defeated Ainet and the other dead were not under his control anymore, but soon dissolved. In her final moments Ainet told Ororo, who felt guilty for abandoning her and the village, that she had done nothing wrong because Ororo just followed her dreams and gave herself to the world. Ainet dissolved after telling Ororo that she was proud of her.
(X-Men: Gold II#35 - BTS) - Ororo visited Ainet's grave again the next day and cried, promising to return to the village now more regularly.
Comments: Created by Joe Kelly and German Garcia.
The Ananasi impersonated by the Shadow King in this story is apparently an alternate spelling for Anansi , the trickster African God.
Many moons ago I actually thought that she and Ashake were the same character. This is the reason why I added Ashake to clarifications.
--Markus Raymond
Her last name was revealed on her gravestone in X-Men: Gold II#33.
Profile by Sammy 7D. Update by Markus Raymond (2018).
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ainet should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
X-Men II#77, p9, pan2 (main image, serving Ananasi)
X-Men II#78, p22, pan6 (second image, goodbye to Ororo)
X-Men: Gold II#33, p17, pan3 (gravestone)
X-Men: Gold II#35, p20, pan6 (dissolving, final goodbye)
Appearances:
X-Men II#76 (June, 1998) - Joe Kelly (writer), Mat Broome (pencils), Sean Parsons with Aaron Sowd (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
X-Men II#77-78 (July-August, 1998) - Joe Kelly (writer), German Garcia (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
X-Men: Gold II#33-34 (October, 2018) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Michele Bandini (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
X-Men: Gold II#35 (November, 2018) - Marc Guggenheim (writer), Simone Buonfantino & Giovanni Valletta (artists), Darren Shan (editor)
First Posted: 12/14/2003
Last updated: 04/17/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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