First Appearance: New X-Men I#114 (July, 2001)

Powers/Abilities: Ugly John had a physical facial mutation in that he had three faces (three mouths, chins and slightly upturned noses), although his eyes "overlapped" so he had only four eyes. He was tall and thin, possibly around 18, had brown hair and several ear piercings. He clearly had some evasive skills, but no real mutant talents when it came to fighting.

History:

(New X-Men I#114 (fb) - BTS) - Ugly John was hunted and attacked in Sydney, Australia, by an old model Sentinel. Professor X dispatched Cyclops and Wolverine in the X-Wing on a rescue mission.

(New X-Men I#114) - Near the Sydney Opera House, Cyclops and Wolverine stopped the Sentinel, while an astonished Ugly John hid under the fallen hand of the Sentinel that had already been blasted off.

(New X-Men I#114 - BTS) - Cyclops and Wolverine departed with Ugly John for the Xavier Institute in the X-Wing.

(New X-Men I#114) - At the Xavier Institute, the Beast observed, via Professor X's Cerebra display, a mysterious genetic spike in Ecuador. Over the Pacific Ocean, Ugly John is introduced to his rescuers and is stunned to meet X-Men, but instead passed out, possibly from the shock from a combination of the attack, having seen Wolverine's advanced mutant healing in action, and being in the X-Wing. Via a mindlink, Professor X asked Cyclops and Wolverine to investigate the spike on their way home. As the two descended, Professor X was psychically attacked, but was too late to warn those in the X-Wing.

(New X-Men I#115) - Ugly John recovered in time to see small modified Sentinels attack and disable the X-Wing, and encouraged Cyclops to flee, but the X-craft then crash-landed near the entrance to the Master Mold Sentinel factory. With new Sentinels crawling over the X-Wing, Cyclops decided to set the craft to auto-destruct to prevent advanced technology being absorbed by the Master Mold. All three mutants then auto-ejected into the air as the X-Wing detonated. Ugly John then passed out as he hit the river nearby, and was rescued by Cyclops. He recovered again just in time to see more small modified Sentinels attack, and was rescued again by Wolverine, but failed to take cover properly and was shot in the knee by a Sentinel. With rising Sentinel numbers, Wolverine was soon overwhelmed while Cyclops was blasted unconscious. Wolverine and Ugly John were then gathered by a modified Sentinel.

Cassandra Nova condescendingly called the trussed up Ugly John the X-mascot for Xavier's school. Ugly John pleaded for his life but the villainess instead commanded the Sentinel Manowar to which he was attached to terminate him, dubbing him "piggy". He screamed as he fried, the smell of his seared flesh waking Wolverine up ("Bacon?"). Wolverine then disabled Cassandra Nova, as Cyclops blasted through into the room. However, Ugly John had (barely) survived the Manowar's blast and was in agony. Wolverine shouted at Cyclops for a mercy kill and Cyclops gently blasted the Australian mutant dead.

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

It may be that Ugly John's mutant power was undiscovered.

There's a good chance that the Sentinel that attacked Ugly John in Australia was dispatched by Cassandra Nova.

The character seemed to lie somewhere between tragedy and comedy relief.

Wolverine was drinking a can of "four-X" beer in the X-Wing as he recovered from his wounds, which is a popular Queensland-based beer. Sydney, where Ugly John was rescued, is close to the state border with Queensland. Unkind joke: why do Queenslanders have four X's on their beer cans? Because they can't spell "beer"! Hm.

Profile by Grendel Prime

Clarifications:

Ugly John has no known connections to:

• Uglitha - troll hag, ally of Loki, tricked Balder, killed by Balder and Thor @ Thor I#367
• Any other "Ugly", "John" or piggish characters.

images:
New X-Men I#115, p4, panel 4 (main)

New X-Men I#114 (July, 2001) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
New X-Men I#115 (August, 2001) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend & Mark Morales (inks), Mark Powers (editor)

Last updated: 01/15/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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