truthseeker-bilial-facetruthseeker-bilial-fullish-ts-craft TRUTHSEEKER

Real Name: Bilal Khan (see comments)

Identity/Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: Truthseekers

Affiliations: Presumably the Purifiers;
    at least formerly Kamala Khan

Enemies: Mutants in general;
    David Alleyne (aka Prodigy), Anole (Victor Borkowski), Sophie Cuckoo, Doop, Mammomax (Maximus Jensen), Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Caliban, Dante (Alleyene's boyfriend);
    indirectly the Krakoan (Julian Keller);
    at least formerly Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

Known Relatives: Aamir Khan, Kamala Khan (cousins);
    Muneeba Khan (maternal aunt), Yusuf Khan (uncle-by-marriage)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Presumably either Manhattan, New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; or someplace reasonably close to either or both

First Appearance: (Bilal mentioned) NYX II#1 (September, 2024);
    (Bilal full appearance) NYX II#3 (November, 2024);
    (Truthseeker) NYX II#7 (March, 2025)

Powers/Abilities/Traits: A normal human, Bilal wore eyeglasses, although his specific vision limitations are unrevealed.

    Bilal distrusted and disliked mutants, sought to rally other humans against mutants and was willing to sacrifice his own life to expose the true identity of a masked mutant.

    As the Truthseeker, he rose atop a goblin glider-esque flying craft, wielded a hand-held blaster weapon and used multiple scanner drones, intended to determine a masked person's true identity.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 180 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black (or dark brown)

truthseeker-bilial-fullish-pcHistory:
(NYX II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Growing up, Bilal was Kamala Khan's favorite cousin.

(NYX II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Bilal worked with his cousin Aamir on Aamir's first day on the job, and he showed Aamir a video of the 7 train from Hudson Yard vanishing, presumably warning Aamir of the danger of mutants.

(NYX II#1 - BTS) - That evening, Aamir shared what Bilal showed him to his sister Kamala, warning her of the mutant menace, unaware that she was Ms. Marvel and/or a mutant and that she had saved the train from the Krakoan (secretly Hellion/Julian Keller).

(NYX II#3 (fb) - BTS) - Bilal informed Aamir about  "some sort of illegal mutant gathering," which was actually the memorial service for a mutant named Shay who had been killed by humans.

(NYX II#3) - Bilal and Aamir confronted Kamala at the gathering, and Bilal told her that someone needed to keep an eye on all of these mutants for the good of the community, as the Krakoan was killing people every day. Bilal further questioned whether the mutants had already gotten to Kamala, noting how she had always been a "bleeding heart."

    Sophie Cuckoo, irate that Bilal was disrespecting their mourning, telepathically pushed Bilal and Aamir to leave, while Kamala clearly no longer felt that Bilal was her favorite cousin.

(NYX II#4) - As Ms. Marvel battled the Krakoan, Bilal advised Khala (maternal aunt; his mother's sister) Muneeba (with Amir and his father, Yusuf) that the violent fight was what mutants do. "When have they ever de-escalated a situation?"

(NYX II#5) - Bilal and Aamir attended a rally of the Truthseekers (a branch of the Purifiers who were unarmored and apparently sought to recruit humans against mutants), and Bilal fervently joined others in the crowd chanting, "New York is For Humans."

    The rally was interrupted by Ms. Marvel, David Alleyne (aka Prodigy), Anole (Victor Borkowski), Sophie Cuckoo, Doop, Mammomax (Maximus Jensen), Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Caliban, Dante (Alleyene's boyfriend) and many others, arguing that mutant rights were human rights. When a police officer told the mutants that he needed them to stand down, Caliban contended that they needed to stand up, after which Bilal told Aamir that the mutants were escalating, as their kind always did.

    Meanwhile, severing her contact from her sisters (and Empath from controlling her sisters), Sophie Cuckoo at least temporarily burnt out her powers freeing all of the politicians formerly under their control before they could vote on measures that would leave Empath in control of the government.

    Ms. Marvel spoke out to the group, convincing many of them, including Aamir, that by uniting, humans and mutants could protect each other and be a city for everyone. Bilal turned to Aamir, presumably to argue against this, but Aamir told Bilal, "No more."
truthseeker-bilial-fullish-ts-blasting
(NYX II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Presumably supplied by the Truthseekers and/or the Purifiers, Bilal obtained a goblin glider-esque flying craft, a hand-held blaster weapon and scanner drones, presumably intended to discover Ms. Marvel's true identity.

(NYX II#7) - Bilal entered the NYX base, and Kamala was surprised to see him. When he exited soon after, she followed him calling out to the "person I don't know," stating that she wasn't looking for trouble. However, Bilal blasted her and then told her that the time for talk was over and that this time belonged to the Truthseeker. When he hurled a grenade at her, Ms. Marvel leapt on top of it, taking the explosion to protect anyone or anything nearby as she wondered what had happened to him.

    Stretching her arms to reach atop nearby buildings and launching herself at Bilal, Ms. Marvel considered that he had just attacked her and called it righteous, and that his attack didn't make sense, as there was no way he could of thought he could beat her in a fight. He launched a number of scanner drones at her, which she caught while dodging energy blasts.

    Finally, she caught Truthseeker in her hand and asked why he was scanning her, stalking her and buzzing her with store-bought Spider-Slayers. He replied that it was because she was lying to her family and friends, to whom she was a danger, which she hid behind a mask. He further told her that he and his fellow Truthseekers sought the truth because it was pure, that they wanted to live without lies, and that she could kill him if she wished but that he would die an honest man.

    Ms. Marvel discarded him atop a nearby building and departed, after which Bilal's scanners reported that their analysis was incomplete and data was insufficient (presumably to determine her true identity, which he planned to expose). Bilal donned his flying craft and departed.

(NYX II#10 - BTS) - Ms. Marvel discussed her issues with Bilal with Sophie Cuckoo and David Alleyne, both of whom advised her to reveal her powers and mutant nature to her family.

(NYX II#10) - After Ms. Marvel and the rest of NYX united New York City to cast out Mojo when he tried to absorb everyone in it, Bilal called out to the people, denouncing the mutants as celebrating while the people pulled themselves from the rubbles.

    He further stated the what Mojo was creating looked a lot like the former mutant home of Krakoa, and he asked Ms. Marvel what she and the rest of the "mutant community" was hiding from them, and how much of what happened was their fault.

    Ms. Marvel confronted Bilal, asking if he had a problem with mutants or just with her, but regardless, she shrank down to her normal height, called him "Cousin Bilal" and made him realize that she was Kamala.

    After a brief silence, Bilal told her, "Never tell your parents. You'd break their hearts."

(NYX II#10 - BTS) - Kamala cried after hearing that. She later told her family that Ms. Marvel was stopping being a hero for awhile, and her father replied that he bet her father was very happy.

Comments: Created by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly & Francesco Mortarino.

    I don't get how people don't recognize Kamala as Ms. Marvel, especially her brother and her cousin!
    She wears this thin little domino mask that doesn't cover any of her facial features. Do we assume that she morphs her face a little but that we, the readers, don't see it because of artistic license?

    KHAN!!!!!

    In NYX#4, Bilal calls Kamala's mom "Khala Muneeba."

    I don't know any of the Pakistani language, but according to a quick search, Khala means mother's sister, which would presumably indicate Bilal's last name is not Khan...based on the assumption that the wife adopts the husband's last name, which seems to be the case as all of Kamala's immediate family has the last name Khan, presumably derived from her father, Yusuf.

    If Muneeba were his father's sister, he should have called her "Phuppo."

    However, in NYX II#10, I see that Ms. Marvel, while still trying to protect her secret identity, calls Bilal..."Mr. Khan."

    So, my real-world answer would be that the writer intended Bilal to be the son of Kamala's father (Yusuf)'s brother, but that he didn't appreciate the difference in names for aunt of paternal vs. maternal origin in the language in the Pakistani language. Or that someone forgot that Bilal had been indicated to be the son of Kamala’s mother’s sister when they had Kamala reference Bilal as "Mr. Khan."

    My in-universe answer (the "No-Prize" solution) would be that both references were correct, which would mean that Bilal's parents (most significantly, his father) had the surname "Khan," even though they weren't directly related to Yusuf.
    It is also possible that Bilal’s mother married Yusuf’s brother.
    It's not that far-fetched, as some names are rather common and coincidences happen.

    I know I guy named Bradley who had been adopted and found out that his birth parents' surname was Bradley, which he then took as his own surname, becoming Bradley Bradley...

    Kamala's son is named Bilal in the alternate future of Miles Morales: The End; the names possibly inspired each other both in-universe and otherwise.
    --HBK123

    This profile was completed 04/29/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.
    Thanks to Loki for recommending Truthseeker/Bilal to represent NYX for the event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Truthseeker should be distinguished from:


images: (without ads)
NYX II#3, pg. 8, panel 4 (face);
    #4, pg. 15, panel 5 (almost full, plain clothes);
    #7, pg. 8, panel 1 (Truthseeker, full, on flying craft);
    #10, pg. 14, panel 3 (blasting at Kamala; drones);
Appearances:
NYX II#1 (September, 2024) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Francesco Mortarino (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)
NYX II#3 (November, 2024) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Francesco Mortarino (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)
NYX II#4 (December, 2024) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Enid Balam (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)
NYX II#5 (January, 2025) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Francesco Mortarino (penciler), Elisabetta D'amico (inker), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)
NYX II#7 (March, 2025) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Enid Balam (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)
NYX II#10 (June, 2025) - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (writers), Francesco Mortarino (artist), Martin Biro (assistant editor), Analise Bissa (editor)

First posted: 09/08/2026
Last updated: 09/06/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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