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STALWART

Real Name: Adewale Ekoku

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Student

Group Membership: Xavier Institute student body

Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Choir/Irina Clayton, Contact/Frida Rivera, Imp/Anders Nobel, Keratin/Dave Finn, Mentat/Robert Zepheniah, Polymer/Dana Holmes, Redneck/Vincent Stewart, Spike/Gary Walsh, Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, Sophie Cuckoo), other unidentified students), Special Class (Angel/Angel Salvadore, Beak/Barnell Bohusk), X-Men (Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett, Xorn/Kuan-Yin Xorn)

Enemies: Cassandra Nova

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, New York

First Appearance: New X-Men I#126 (July, 2002)

Powers/Abilities: Stalwart had the ability to enhance his strength by bulking up.

Height: 5'7" (by approximation)
Weight: 120 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:

(New X-Men I#116 - BTS) - After Professor Charles Xavier (secretly Cassandra Nova who had switched minds with her twin brother) came out as a mutant on live TV, the Xavier Institute was opened to the public. Adewale was one of the many young teenagers that enrolled at the Xavier Institute. Because of his mutation, he took the codename Stalwart.

(New X-Men I#126) - Refusing to hide like a common human, Stalwart and most of the students decided they wanted to join the fight against Cassandra Nova who at that point had fully manifested herself as a Mummudrai. Nova effortlessly used her psionic abilities to mind control Stalwart and the other students, sending them to fight Beast and Wolverine. Stalwart and the others were eventually freed from Cassandra's control by the Stepford Cuckoos.

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

Stalwart of course means strong and imposing but also loyal and resolute. Stalwart was most likely one of the many millions mutants who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 300 worldwide.

Since all Xavier Institute students were selected to join special training squads mentored by members of the X-Men, Stalwart could have been a part of the Excelsiors (Iceman's squad), the Exemplars (Beast's squad) or the Paladins (Shadowcat's squad) whose rosters have never been revealed.

Stalwart's name and codename have been revealed in the Xavier Institute entry of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#13 (2010).

   Inside Info: His real name is a portmanteau. I wanted a genuinely African name, so I pinched the first name of a friend, (Ade)wale Ekunsumi, who actually wrote a few handbook entries for the Ultimate handbooks, though he didn't get a credit in the book because he got his contract back to Marvel too late. Once I'd picked the first name, the surname Ekoku came from a quick internet search to find surnames from the same West African region that Adewale derives from. The name derives from Yoruban, and if he is African rather than African-American, then Google translate (if it can be trusted) suggests his codename Stalwart would be Igbẹkẹle in his native tongue.
--Loki

Profile by MarvellousLuke

CLARIFICATIONS:
Stalwart has no known connections to


images: (without ads)
New X-Men I#126, p9, pan3,4 (main image)
New X-Men I#126, p10, pan3 (catching Lilandra)


Appearances:
New X-Men I#126 (July, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Powers, Mike Marts, Pete Franco, Mike Raicht (editors)


First Posted: 04/29/2016
Last updated: 08/31/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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