History:(X-Factor I#74 (fb) - BTS) - Despite being married with a loving wife and daughter, Sen. Steven Shaffran sought to become US President.
RICOCHET
Real Name: Steven Shaffran
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: US Senator
Group Membership: The US Senate
Affiliations: Dora,
the Nasty Boys (Gorgeous
George/George Blair, Hairbag/Michael Suggs, Jamie Madrox duplicate,
Mister Sinister/Nathaniel Essex, Ramrod/Patrick Mahony, Ruckus/Clement
Wilson, Slab/Kris Anderson), Mrs.
Shaffran, the US Senate
Enemies: Pres. George H.W. Bush (see comments), X-Factor
(Val Cooper, Havok/Alex Summers, Multiple Man/Jamie Madrox,
Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Polaris/Lorna Dane, Strong Guy/Guido
Carosella, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair)
Known Relatives: Mrs.
Shaffran (wife),
unidentified daughter
Aliases: "Daddy," "Dear Ally," "Sir"
(nicknames)
Base of Operations: Washington, DC, USA
First Appearance: (seen in shadow,
unidentified) X-Factor I#72 (November, 1991);
(fully seen, identified) X-Factor I#74 (January,
1992)
Powers/Abilities:
Ricochet had the ability to affect probability fields, allowing him to
manipulate events to his liking and unsettle the minds and cloud the
thinking of others as it suited his whims. When affecting other
mutants, Ricochet's powers cause his victim's abilities to ricochet
back on themselves, leading to physical pain and other power
malfunctions.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'11")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 165 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue (red when using powers - see comments)
Hair: Brown
History:
(X-Factor I#74 (fb) - BTS) -
Despite being married with a loving wife and daughter, Sen. Steven
Shaffran sought to become US President.
(X-Factor I#75 (fb) - BTS) - As part of his
aspirations for the US Presidency, Sen. Shaffran attempted to use his
probability-altering mutant powers on the man running for US President
but only succeeded in manipulating the man into
picking a
lesser Vice President as his running mate (see comments). Still working
towards the goal of the Presidency, Shaffran hired the enigmatic Mr.
Sinister and his agents, the Nasty Boys, promising Sinister power once
he became President. Foreseeing the possibility of Shaffran using his
powers to succeed at becoming President, Sinister agreed to work with
Shaffran in order to halt the potential difficulties for mutants
Shaffran would create should he become President.
(X-Factor I#74 (fb) - BTS) - Mister
Sinister dubbed Shaffran "Ricochet" and guided him to use his
powers on the super-speedster Quicksilver as part of a plot to
discredit the formative, government-sponsored mutant hero team
X-Factor, knowing
that Quicksilver would seek aid within the team.
(X-Factor I#73 (fb) - BTS) - As instructed, Ricochet used his mutant
abilities on X-Factor members Quicksilver and later, Multiple Man.
(X-Factor I#72) - Ricochet met with a rogue duplicate of Jamie Madrox
serving Mr. Sinister and
noted to the duplicate that it appeared his task was unsuccessful.
Staying in the shadows, the duplicate replied that appearances could be
deceiving and Ricochet reminded him that they had to be thorough,
starting with X-Factor's Quicksilver then Multiple Man then the rest of
X-Factor one by one. Ricochet then questioned whether the duplicate was
still willing to work for him and the duplicate assured Ricochet he was
still willing and asked what was next on their agenda. When Ricochet
replied that they now had to wait for their opponents to make the next
move and suggested the duplicate have patience.
(X-Factor I#73) - After X-Factor became involved in a large city-wide battle between Multiple Man's duplicates, Ricochet monologued to himself that his plan was going perfectly. Thinking about how he had already used his powers on Quicksilver and Multiple Man, Ricochet wondered aloud who he should next use his powers on, whose confidence he would next erode and whose public image he would next shatter. Thinking about it for a few moments, Ricochet decided that his next target should be Strong Guy.
(X-Factor I#74 (fb) - BTS) - Working late in his personal workroom,
Sen. Shaffran finally went to bed around 1am.
(X-Factor I#74) - Later that morning, Mr. Sinister paid a visit to Ricochet, who praised Sinister's guidance in their objective to discredit X-Factor and remarked that it was like the future was an open book for Sinister, who joked that it was more on a permanent loan. Ricochet was soon called down for breakfast by his wife and he excused himself as Sinister did the same. Venturing down into the kitchen, Shaffran greeted his family and housekeeper Dora and when his daughter asked what he was going to do for the day, Shaffran explained that he was going to the Senate to speak on things he hoped the President would listen to. His daughter responded by asking if Shaffran would be President someday and Shaffran answered by stating he was working on it. After one of Mister Sinister's Nasty Boys, Slab, lured X-Factor (specifically Strong Guy) into a battle at the Washington Monument that resulted in the Monument's destruction, Sen. Steven Shaffran came running up in the aftermath and demanded Strong Guy's arrest. Announcing that X-Factor had destroyed a national monument and should be locked up like animals, Shaffran introduced himself to Havok and proclaimed that X-Factor was about to choke down a three-course helping of trouble.
(X-Factor I#75 (fb) - BTS) - Sen. Steven Shaffran filed an official
complaint against X-Factor, stating that the group's activities pose a
threat to public safety, as evidenced by the destruction of the
Washington Monument.
(X-Factor I#75) - As news
reports of Shaffran's complaint aired on
television, Mr. Sinister's Nasty Boys watched and Slab hurled a tomato
at the television when it showed Strong Guy. When Mr. Sinister arrived
at the hideout, he noticed Shaffran speaking and joked that Shaffran
with tomato on him was an intriguing improvement. The report continued,
showing Shaffran announcing that the American people would not stand by
while mutants, especially government-sanctioned ones like X-Factor, ran
rampant through the streets. When Shaffran remarked that the tax
dollars funding X-Factor could also be funding some secret, sinister
agenda, Mr. Sinister noted that Shaffran was a man who knew a good
soundbite despite knowing little else. Later, Shaffran paid a visit to
Mister Sinister, who introduced Shaffran to his Nasty Boys agents and
properly to the Jamie Madrox duplicate that had been acting as a
go-between with Shaffran on Sinister's behalf. Speaking with the Madrox
duplicate, Shaffran asked if he got what he wanted as the primary
Madrox personality following the duplicate's absorption of the true
Madrox and the duplicate thanked Shaffran for his involvement in
arranging the events. Shaffran instead suggested the duplicate thank
his Ricochet powers, as they were a rare talent only possessed by
another like the heroic Scarlet Witch. Proclaiming that once he took on
the Avengers, Ricochet would be the only one with those sort of powers,
Shaffran asked the Nasty Boys to keep up their good work, as he had a
Senate speech that afternoon that would be the next step towards his
goal of becoming US President. When he proclaimed that they could bet
on him being in the White House for the next election, Shaffran was
asked by the Madrox duplicate why he didn't use his powers on the
President during the last election. Shaffran explained that he did use
his powers on the now-President, revealing that his powers had caused
the President to pick a lesser Vice President.
As Shaffran departed, the Nasty Boy Ruckus
commented that he didn't understand why Mr. Sinister continued to
cooperate with Shaffran, noting that Shaffran must be paying Sinister
handsomely. Sinister confirmed that and asked what Ruckus' point was
and when Ruckus asked when the Nasty Boys would get their cut of the
money, Shaffran quietly exited while Sinister attacked Ruckus for
overstepping his position. A short time later, after X-Factor began to
suspect they had an enemy capable of ricocheting mutant powers back on
themselves and manipulating existing events, the true Madrox overtook
and reabsorbed his errant duplicate from the inside and learned from
the duplicate about Ricochet's recent manipulations of X-Factor.
Sinister allowed the real Madrox to escape and Madrox made his way to
the Senate, where he planned to expose Sen. Shaffran's ties to Mr.
Sinister. The Nasty Boys pursued and Madrox generated numerous
duplicates to escape them, completely unaware that Mr. Sinister had
kidnapped the real Sen. Shaffran and posed as Shaffran himself, going
on a rampage, publicly battling X-Factor and busting his way out of the
Capitol building. Following the debacle, Sinister returned and untied
the real Shaffran, having let him watch the events on television during
his absence, and revealed that his only interest in allying with
Ricochet in the first place was to prevent him from causing further
difficulties for mutants once he became President. Fully admitting that
he had manipulated Shaffran from the beginning and commenting on how
the public now thought Shaffran to be the exact mutant menace Shaffran
himself spoke out against, Mr. Sinister remarked that it was now
Shaffran's job to kill himself. Shaffran exclaimed that he would inform
the public that Mr. Sinister had posed as him and the voters would
believe his words but Sinister asked if voters believed the
explanations of other politicians who had gotten into trouble before
handing Shaffran a gun. Angrily announcing that Sinister wasn't as
tough as he thought, Ricochet fired the gun at Sinister and the bullet
ricocheted off Sinister's armor, instead hitting Shaffran in the head
and killing him. With Shaffran dead at Sinister's feet, the television
played footage of Havok proclaiming X-Factor to be heroes and how they
had rooted out the corrupt Sen. Shaffran and would be tracking down his
accomplices, the Nasty Boys.
Comments: Created by Peter David, Larry Stroman and Al Milgrom.
It was stated that the President Ricochet used his powers on was George H.W. Bush, who was so affected by Ricochet's powers that he chose Dan Quayle as his Vice President. Of course, with Marvel's sliding time scale, this would've been a different President and Vice President instead of Bush and Quayle...
Mrs. Shaffran was only ever referred to by the nickname of "Mrs. S." S, of course, stood for Shaffran.
Ricochet's eyes appeared blue in the closeup with
his family in X-Factor I#74 but on the last page of that issue, a
closeup on his face (see above
headshot image) shows his eyes to be red. Since red is not a
natural eye color, my vote is that his eyes appear red when he uses his
powers...
This profile was finished on 08/07/2025, but saved for the late Peter David's birthday!
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ricochet should be distinguished from:
| --X-Factor I#74 |
| --X-Factor I#74 |
Appearances:
X-Factor I#72 (November, 1991) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#73 (December, 1991) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#74 (January, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#75 (February, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Larry Stroman
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
First posted: 09/23/2025
Last updated: 08/07/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Dora
Mrs. Shaffran