COACHCOACH
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: X-Force
team manager
Group Membership: X-Force (Anarchist/Tike
Alicar, Battering
Ram, Bloke/Mickey
Tork, Cupric/Derek
Zhang, Doop,
Gin Genie/Beckah
Parker, la Nuit/Pierre
Truffaut, Orphan/Guy
Smith, Ostinato/Rodrigo
de Smith, Phat/Billy
Bob Reilly, Plazm,
Saint Anna, Sluk/Byron
Spencer, U-Go
Girl/Edie Sawyer, Vivisector/Myles
Alfred, Vulpine/Roja
Sanford, Zeitgeist/Axel
Cluney)
Affiliations: Spike Freeman, Smoke, Succubus
Enemies: Wolverine (James Howlett),
X-Force (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Domino/Neena Thurman, Meltdown/Tabitha
Smith, James Proudstar), X-Force (Anarchist/Tike Alicar, Batterin Ram,
Bloke/Mickey Tork, Doop, Gin Genie/Beckah Parker, la Nuit/Pierre
Truffaut, Orphan/Guy Smith, Phat/Billy Bob Reilly, Plazm, Saint Anna,
Sluk/Byron Spencer, U-Go Girl/Edie Sawyer, Vivisector/Myles Alfred,
Zeitgeist/Axel Cluney)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Arm
Base of Operations: X-Force Tower, Santa
Monica, California, USA
First Appearance: X-Force I#116 (May, 2001)
Powers/Abilities: At the time of his death, the Coach had no
superhuman powers but was
an extremely skilled manipulator and was not above drugging his own men
or
using a gun against them. He was also a skilled fighter.
He formerly possessed a gigantic arm that presumably had superhuman strength and had red eyes, which hinted at a possible superhuman powers that he no longer possessed.
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Gray
History: (X-Force I#116 (fb) - BTS)
- The man who would become the Coach was once the superhuman known as
the Arm.
(Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 13 – X-Statix entry -
BTS) – When a group
of mutants decided to use their powers for fame and fortune, rather
than
heroics, the Coach (formerly the Arm) became their team
manager, choosing members from various countrywide "farm teams" using
focus
groups to determine their popularity.
(Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 2: X-Men
– Coach
entry - BTS) – As team manager, the Coach took on the responsibilities
of organizing
X-Force missions, recruiting new members and ensuring the ongoing
profitable
merchandising of the team.
(X-Statix #10 (fb)) – On March 19, the Coach
and the early members of X-Force waved to the public as they returned
from a mission.
(X-Force I #116 (fb) – BTS) – The
Coach
somehow lost his "special arm."
(X-Force I #116) - Coach called a
press
conference to introduce the Anarchist to X-Force.
(X-Force I #120 (fb)) – After X-Force
team
owner Spike Freeman’s investors wanted to bring new blood into X-Force,
the
Coach met with team leader Zeitgeist to discuss killing off most of the
team.
When Zeitgeist asked who would be left, the Coach replied that at least
Zeitgeist and the Anarchist would remain. Zeitgeist then asked about
U-Go Girl
and the Coach asked if Zeitgeist and U-Go Girl were close but Zeitgeist
replied
that he wished he had never been intimate with U-Go Girl, figuring that
death
would probably be doing her a favor. The Coach then began telling
Zeitgeist
about a boy band called Boyz R Us.
(X-Force I #116) - The Coach later
briefed
the team on their upcoming mission to rescue the boy band Boyz R Us,
who had
been taken hostage in New York. He also explained that the mission was
intended to be a nice, clean media event to please focus groups that
showed that the public was having trouble empathizing with X-Force.
During the mission, every X-Force member
excepting Doop, the Anarchist and U-Go Girl were killed.
(Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 2: X-Men HC – Coach entry) – With X-Force merchandise sales plummetting in the wake of the deaths of the majority of the team, the Coach recruited new members Bloke, Vivisector, Phat, St. Anna and the Orphan.
(X-Force I #117) - The Coach discussed
the
deaths of most of the team members to the remaining three, lying to
them to assure them that no one was "meant" to die, and then revealed
to
X-Force that replacement members had already been chosen. When U-Go
Girl argued that existing X-Force members could veto new recruits, the
Coach revealed that X-Force's new team owner, young trillionaire Spike
Freeman, had decided to do away with allowing existing members to veto
in an effort to keep personal issues from affecting team selection.
After the new recruits were gathered together with the surviving
X-Force members, the Coach briefed the team on their upcoming mission
to retrieve young mutant Paco Perez
from his Bastronan captivity and later held a press conference during
which X-Force was attacked by the previous team calling
themselves X-Force. Following the attack, the Coach continued the press
conference, announcing new recruit Orphan as X-Force's new team leader
despite protests from the surviving X-Force members and the Orphan
himself.
(X-Force#118) - The Coach briefed X-Force on their informant, Diego Ardilles, for their upcoming mission in Bastrona.
(X-Force#119) - Following X-Force's Bastronan mission, the Coach spoke with the Orphan about the team's public image, preferring to allow the public to believe U-Go Girl had an addiction to pain killers and alcohol. He also reminded the Orphan that the team's mission was return Paco Perez to the USA regardless of Paco's safety. When the Orphan questioned the Coach’s decision, the Coach sent his bodyguards, Smoke and Succubus, to subdue the Orphan. X-Force soon joined in the fray against Smoke and Succubus but the Orphan eventually broke up the fight. Later that evening, as the Orphan dropped Paco Perez off in Buenos Aires to live with the now-deceased St. Anna's father, the Coach confronted U-Go Girl in her bedroom and tried to manipulate her into killing the Orphan by promising her leadership of X-Force.
(X-Force#120) - The Coach, with a
black eye from the previous battle between X-Force, Smoke and Succubus,
held a press
conference assuring the media that X-Force was still a team and
subsequently spoke with
Spike Freeman about the framing of the Orphan, claiming that he had
just the
thing to push the Orphan over the edge as he revealed to Spike footage
of the Orphan playing Russian Roulette and the Orphan's parents, who
were actually alive. Later, around sundown, the Coach met
with U-Go Girl and asked her about his previous proposition of
murdering the
Orphan. When U-Go Girl began to have doubts and began to look for her
inhaler
that energized her for teleporting, the Coach denied her the inhaler
and told
her it was too late to back out of the murder plot. After she
threatened him,
the Coach gave her the inhaler but upon her using it, he revealed that
he had
drugged it to prevent her from attempting to stop the murder. Since she
was
completely out of it due to the drugged inhaler, the Coach then decided
to rape
her but was stopped by the arriving Orphan. An angry Coach sent Smoke
and
Succubus to battle the Orphan but the X-Man Wolverine arrived, having
been contacted by
team cameraman Doop. Wolverine and the Orphan fought Smoke and Succubus
while
U-Go Girl summoned all of her remaining strength in an attempt to grab
the gun
from the Coach’s hand. The gun instead went off, killing the Coach.
Following the Coach's death, the Orphan watched the footage of the
Coach and former X-Force leader Zeitgeist plotting to kill the other
members of X-Force during their mission to rescue Boyz R Us.
Comments: Created by Peter Milligan and Michael Allred.
The Coach had a profile in Marvel Encyclopedia HC
Vol. 2: X-Men (2003).
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Coach, aka the Arm, should not be
confused with:
X-Force, the government funded MUTANT
group
who went on to become the X-Statics, should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
X-Force I #119, p21, pan3 (The Coach, main image)
X-Force I #120, p14, pan5 (The Coach headshot)
Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe A to Z HC Vol. 13, p198, X-Statix entry,
supplemental image (Coach’s "special arm")
Appearances:
X-Force I#116 (May, 2001) - Peter Milligan (writer), Michael Allred
(art), Axel Alonso (editor)
X-Force I#117 (August, 2001) - Peter Milligan (writer), Michael Allred
(art), Axel Alonso (editor)
X-Force I#118 (September, 2001) - Peter Milligan (writer), Michael
Allred (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
X-Force I#119 (October, 2001) - Peter Milligan (writer), Michael Allred
(art), Axel Alonso (editor)
X-Force I#120 (November, 2001) - Peter Milligan (writer), Michael
Allred (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 2: X-Men (2003) - Syd Barney-Hawke
(writer), Eric J. Moreels (writer, researcher), Michael Allred (Coach
entry art), Mark D. Beazley, Jeff Youngquist (editors)
X-Statix I#10 (June, 2003) - Peter Milligan (writer), Philip Bond
(art), Axel Alonso (editor)
First Posted: 07/15/2002
Last updated: 05/25/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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