fontanelle-black_womb-gam3-6FONTANELLE

Real Name: Gloria Dayne

Identity/Class: Human mutant;
    pre-modern and modern era;

Occupation: Dream therapist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Courier (Jacob "Kate" Gavin, Jr.)), Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Quiet Bill;
    formerly New Son (alternate reality Gambit/Remy LeBeau from Earth-9921);
    she dreamcast into the minds of Angel/Archangel (Warren Worthington III), Beast (Hank McCoy), Bella Donna Boudreaux, Bullseye (Lester), Joanna Cargill (aka Frenzy), Sekmeht Conoway, Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Iceman (Bobby Drake), Jean-Luc LeBeau, Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex),  New Son of Earth-9921, Kim Purcell, Quiet Bill, Rogue (Anna Maria), Carter Ryking, Sabretooth (Victor Creed), Scalphunter (John "James" Greycrow), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Tante Mattie, Tithe Collector; other unspecified Marauders, Thieves Guild members, and X-Men

Enemies: New Son

Known Relatives: Amanda Mueller (Black Womb, mother)

Aliases: "Fonty" (nickname from Gambit)

Base of Operations: Her clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA;
    presumably the dream dimensions/astral plane, etc.

Education: Two unspecified Ph.Ds

First Appearance: Gambit III#1 (February, 1999)

Powers/Abilities: Fontanelle can psionically project herself into the minds of others when their are dreaming (which she refers to as dreamcasting), during which time she can sift through their memories to glean desired information.fontanelle-black_womb-gam3-9

    Fontanelle has a sexual fetish involving leather and apparently bondage, domination, etc.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'5")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 120 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde (occasionally green, but most images were of her dream self, which she could likely alter at will)

History:
(Gambit III#21 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria Dayne was born in 1950 (see comments).

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria remembered her mother aging, although very slowly.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria had a perpetual headache since her mental powers manifested themselves.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria's mother disappeared when Gloria was about 20 years old, and Gloria thought her mother had died.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Using her mutant power to enter a people's mind via their dreams, Gloria Dayne made a decent living as a dream therapist while living in relative anonymity.

    She maintained a quiet, normal exterior, while she secretly held an alternative career/hobby in some sort of bondage/domination/S&M "clinic"

(Gambit III#23 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria hadn't seen her mother in decades.

(Gambit III#5 (fb) - BTS / Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Gloria's "clinic" was visited by Jacob Gavin, Jr (aka the Courier)., whose employer, the New Son, wished to use her to obtain a psyche profile on the mutant X-Man Gambit (Remy LeBeau); at this time, she was not aware of the New Son's true nature as an alternate reality (Earth-9921) counterpart of Gambit.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Accepting the seemingly straightforward job, Gloria made weekly reports and received cash payments, all routed through Jacob.

(Gambit III#5 (fb) - BTS) - Initially unable to enter Gambit's mind, she instead began studying him through the memories of people who knew him.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - She took the background data "they" (Jacob and New Son, presumably) had on Gambit and prepared a profile chart, choosing whose dreams she would "scape" first.

    As Fontanelle, she started dreamcasting into the X-Men, but found that Charles Xavier (Professor X)'s psi-training limited her access, allowing her to catch only glimpses from them; however, these were enough to see that the X-Men felt guilty for having abandoned Gambit in the Antarctic despite having returned to search for him.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Storm's mind, and Storm recalled Gambit as a devilish charmer, a scamp with no regrets.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Iceman's mind,who looked at Gambit with pity, thinking he was cool but deeply unhappy.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Beast's mind, who saw him as a bipolar dichotomy, a sad, tortured, callous front, covering for a competent, intelligent, moral interior.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into the minds of Rogue and others, who were conflicted on Gambit's true nature.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Sabretooth's mind, appreciating that he saw Gambit as someone respected enough to deserve a slow, painful death; she perceived that Creed still held a grudge against a conflict against the Thieves Guild when Remy was just a teenager.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Joanna Cargill's mind, noting that she hated to love Gambit and loved to hate him.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Dreamcasting into the rest of Marauders, Fontanelle determined that they all respected Gambit.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Having gained a rough idea of Gambit's location via Fontanelle's Dreamcasts, New Son had his Shadowtechs rescue Gambit.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Seeing her mother (or what used to be her mother) in the minds of those into whom she was dreamcasting, she realized she shared a destiny with Gambit; thereafter, she dreamcast into others as much as for herself as for New Son. She sought to better understand Gambit or to prepare others for New Son's plans.

(Gambit III#1) - Dreamcasting herself into the mind of Jean-Luc LeBeau, Fontanelle introduced herself and asked about Gambit's involvement in the Guilds. She discussed how the child-trafficking Antiquary deemed the infant who would become Gambit to be worth owning. She suggested Jean-Luc was troubled by the thought of the child spending his life in the "velvet ministry," despite his fellow thieves cursing the babe as an abomination. When Jean-Luc confirmed this, she asked if he played chess with the boy's life, and Jean-Luc explained that he couldn't have confronted the Antiquary directly, both due to problems this would cause within the guilds and the boy's connection to the outside world. Jean-Luc shared how he had placed the youth within Fagan's mob to learn the Thieves Guild's ways while Jean-Luc kept a distant but watchful eye on the boy. Jean-Luc further discussed how the boy, named Remy, first encountered Bella Donna Boudreaux. When Jean-Luc described this as a pure, innocent love, Fontanelle mocked him, asking if she had forgotten to clean the "idiot" sign painted on her head. She asked if the relationship and/or Jean-Luc's adopting the youth were really accidents. When Jean-Luc failed to respond, she noted that silence was always such a wonderful companion; she further mocked Bella Donna's wearing white at their eventual wedding.

    Jean-Luc admitted to arranging the marriage to create peace between the Guilds, but that, after adopting Remy, he couldn't have loved him any less (pretty sure they meant loved him any more) had he been his own son, nor could his love for Bella Donna have been any truer. Fontanelle then asked why Remy was excommunicated from the Guild, and Jean-Luc discussed Remy's having apparently slain Bella's brother Julien in a duel instigated by Julien, and that Jean-Luc had considered preferable to execution. After reviewing Remy's subsequent history as Gambit and joining the X-Men, Fontanelle considered that she had heard enough, and she wished Jean-Luc sweet dreams.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Via dreamcasting into the Thieves Guild, Fontanelle learned of Gambit's prophecy and history.

(Gambit III#1 - BTS) - Jean-Luc awakened, realizing his recent encounter had been in his mind and wondering what his boy had gotten himself into.

(Gambit III#1) - Fontanelle later interrupted a dream of Courier's asking him how upset was New Son over Gambit's destroying the technology he had been supposed to obtain from Garba-Hsien's 12th tomb. Courier told her that she should tell him, as he already received Gambit's next assignment, stealing something from the X-Men.

(Gambit III#2) - Fontanelle dreamcast herself into Tante Mattie's dreams, observing her as a young woman, fleeing from the a mob who wanted to kill her for failing to save Duclize Bourdois, a powerful churchwarden. Introducing herself and acknowledging the circumstances of her predicament, Fontanelle watched as Gambit arrived and saved her; before departing, she wondered whether Gambit had time-traveled or whether he was much older than they had thought.

(Gambit III#1 - BTS) - Tante Mattie awakened, wondering what Remy had gotten himself into.

(Gambit III#3) - Fontanelle dreamcast herself into Sekmeht Conoway's dreams, where she was 15 years old, studying artifacts in Egypt's Valley of Kings, and bumped into Ozymandias. She fell into a pit, seemingly to her death, until she was rescued by Gambit; Fontanelle noted Sekmeht's self-aggrandizing interpretations of real events, combined with a locomotive drive for parental approval, which was in raging conflict with her excessively repressed desires (Sekmeht dreamed that Gambit had passionately kissed her.

(Gambit III#4) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Carter Ryking's dreams, unlocking a buried memory of him and Charles Xavier encountering the elderly Black Womb in their youth.

 (Gambit III#5) - For fun, Fontanelle attempted to dreamscape the New Son. She struggled to wade through the tar-field of memories that made up the New Son's subconscious with a terrifying feeling of recognition: She felt that she had been there before and she also was certain that this all tied back to Gambit as well. As she finally got a clear glimpse of New Son and found herself close to understanding it all, he looked right at her and kicked her out of his mind.

    Fontanelle awakened with New Son's warning and challenge echoing softly in her ears: "All great truths began as blasphemies."

 (Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle appreciated that New Son's "memories" were probably not his own.

  (Gambit III#6) - Fontanelle dreamcast into the mind of Kim Purcell, the sister of Mary Purcell, whose energy form had bonded with Gambit's body in Antarctica.

(Gambit III#7) - Fontanelle dreamcast into the mind of Scalphunter, analyzing both of their roles in the Mutant Massacre.

    She was then summoned before New Son, where she explained Gambit's involvement as "guilty of stupidity, innocent of murder." New Son considered that it would fuel him for what he would be next called upon to do.

 (Gambit III#8 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Tantie Mattie told Gambit of her encounter with Fontanelle.

 (Gambit III#8) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Gambit's dreams. Impressed with the dangerous visions in the dream, she introduced herself to Gambit as his dream guide and asked if she could talk him into dreaming himself into his underwear.

    After Gambit identified her as Fontanelle, she asked why none of the images in his dream had appeared in his associate's dreams. When he told her that it was probably because they hadn't happened yet, she asked if he was precognitive, and he replied only that it was more complicated than that.

    Gambit asked why she wanted to learn about him, and she told him that New Son was paying her to do so, as he was a wild card in his plans. However, she further noted that she had a personal interest in him and in their connected origins, as well as their part in the tapestry of human evolution.
    During their discussion, an image of the young, pregnant Black Womb was seen.

 (Gambit III#9) - Fontanelle dreamcast into the Tithe Collector's dreams; when he demanded to know who had summoned him to this world of dreams

fontanelle-black_womb-gam3-10-face-feather (Gambit III#10) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Angel/Archangel (Warren Worthington)'s dreams, reliving his experiences when trapped by the Marauders in the Morlock sewers; she discussed how painful it would be to have a feather ripped out, asked him if he held hate or forgiveness in his heart for Gambit for getting him hurt.

(Gambit III#11) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Mr. Sinister's mind, questioning his interest in the Black Womb murder case and of its involvement with Remy LeBeau.
    Fearful of the consequences, she minimized her time with in Sinister's mind.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Seeing New Son panicking somewhat and stating that the only way to complete his plans to save the planet was to kill Gambit, Fontanelle began planting subconscious seeds into those she dreamcast so that when the time came they would help him; she would do this in Bella Donna, Rogue, Courier, and Bullseye; in Bullseye's case, she made him ignore the fact that he felt like killing Gambit for fun.

(Gambit III#13) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Bella Donna Boudreaux's mind, observing as her father, Marius, forbade her from seeing Remy LeBeau again, and as Bella Donna listened to Marius and Gris-Gris discussing the reasons for this.
    Fontanelle then conversed with Bella Donna, asking how she really felt about Remy before vanishing, leaving Bella Donna to awaken and wonder how she could hate a man she loves. fontanelle-black_womb-gam3-13-full-seat

(Gambit III#14) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Rogue's mind, reliving Gambit's telling her of his planned trip into the past, after which Fontanelle interrupted, telling Rogue that Gambit needed his help to return to the modern era; she advised Rogue to seek out Jean-Lic LeBeau for further guidance.

(Gambit III#15) - Fontanelle witnessed as New Son showed her how in every vision of the future he could see, except one, Gambit ended up impaled on a spear. Explaining how he had used Quiet Bill to glimpse other realities, New So suggested there were two options to prevent this reality from suffering the same fate as others: Stopping Gambit's death or changing the parameters under which Gambit was killed; New Son noted that the latter option seemed more logical at this point.
   
(Gambit III#16) - As New Son conferred with Courier (Jacob Gavin, Jr.), Fontanelle expressed her opinion that New Son's plan was "messed up." New Son noted that she had performed her assigned task well, telepathically probing the dreams of people who knew Gambit, but further told her that her opinion was not required. Fontanelle argued that she was on board for his originally stated plan to make the world safer for mutants and humans, and New Son noted that circumstances had dictated that he alter his plans...and that her assignment had been completed and that her services were no longer required. New Son then dismissed her from the Crystal Cathedral.

(Gambit III#17) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Courier's mind, mocking his dreams of being normal (a mailman) and pushing him to subconsciously revert his dream self to feminine to match his physical form. Noting that she had a short time before another scheduled appointment and that this was the only place she could talk to him without worrying about New Son listening, she asked him to whom he would be loyal: Would fear bind him to New Son, or would friendship lead him to help Gambit.

    She subsequently dreamcast into Gambit's mind as he was reliving being badly beaten and impaled by Bullseye; she advised him that the situation with New Son was far simpler and far more complicated than he thought.

(Gambit III#19) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Bullseye's mind, mocking how he set himself up in a throne and served grapes by scantily clad women. She then introduced herself and offered him her services if he would spare Gambit. This spurred him to recall that he only had until dawn until the contract expired, and he prepared to awaken and finish the job. Noting that he couldn't get her out of his twisted mind quickly enough, she nonetheless assured him that the Assassins Guild's messing with his senses had done him no permanent damage.

(Gambit III#20 (fb) - BTS) - Fontanelle spent the next week trying to locate Gambit's mind in order to speak with him. She further felt how New Son was temporarily trapped but would soon be free.

(Gambit III#20) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Gambit's mind, noting that the nightmarish vision of him destroying the world likely represented his subconscious mind telling he he had the potential to do that. When he asked her to come clean, she revealed her real name, her abilities and career, and how she had come to be involved with New Son.

    After Gambit shared how he'd gotten involved, they discussed New Son's plans to transfer Earth's population to a new Earth after the current world became uninhabitable. Gambit then reviewed his missions for New Son, and they both agreed that after Courier brought Quiet Bill (who could view and open portals to alternate dimensions), that New Son had become more suspect in his motives. Gambit further explained how the shifting of the Franklin Richards-created Counter Earth into Earth-616's solar system thwarted New Son's plan to bring another planet into Earth's orbit. As a result, he explained how New Son began using Quiet Bill to find another dimension he could use as an alternative plan, but Fontanelle continued to question why New Son wanted so much personal information on Gambit.

    After discussing Gambit's trip to the past of 1891, Fontanelle revealed she was the daughter of Amanda Mueller, aka Black Womb. She further discussed how she had become uncomfortable with New Son (and eventually fired by him) and that she had been helping him. Gambit, in turn, told her how he had learned that New Son's true identity matched his (Gambit)'s own form, although he was much more powerful. This information exacerbating her headache, Fontanelle discussed that they still didn't know exactly who New Son was, what he wanted, and how he was tied to both of their pasts. She concluded that they wouldn't learn these things until he learned the real history of the guilds and how the resurrection of the old kingdom tied into it, as well as why New Son's powers matched what Gambit's powers seemed to be evolving into. They further speculated that New Son was trying to save the world from Gambit from his own past experiences on his native world.

    Ultimately, she suggested he learn as much as he can about their common pasts. fontanelle-black_womb-gam3-14-face

(Gambit III#20 - BTS) - Gambit met with Courier, convincing him to learn what he could from Washington, DC about the Black Womb project, and Courier adopted Charles Xavier's form to help gain him access to the Pentagon.

(Gambit III#21) - From Washington, DC, Fontanelle contacted Gambit, noting that Courier -- who was impersonating Charles Xavier on a mission to the Pentagon to investigate the Black Womb project -- should have returned hours ago, and she wondered if something had gone wrong. Gambit suggested that if Courier was unconscious, she might be able to dreamcast into his mind; he advised she try that while he worked on things from New Orleans.

    Later, after Gambit had retrieved Courier from Mystique's clutches, Fontanelle met the outside in her car, where they discussed the Black Womb project and any relation to New Son and/or Gambit in the present day.

(Gambit III#22) - Fontanelle dreamcast into Quiet Bill's mind, via which she glimpsed multiple realities in which Gambit died, impaled on a metal lance. She wondered what was the underlying theme in all the realities into which Bill had looked where Gambit had not died.

    She further glimpsed a vision (Reality-9921) of New Son battling alternate versions of Earth's heroes in the past. As she wondered how much Bill knew, Bill awakened, noting that he knew more than he ever wanted to.

(Gambit III#23) - Still in DC, Fontanelle and Courier attempted to decipher the connections between New Son, Gambit, and Black Womb. Fontanelle decided that New Son was either born as a result of the Black Womb program and then raised separately from Remy or an alternate Earth variant who needed to understand the differences of their upbringings. She further suggested that the way to learn the truth was to find Black Womb or New Son.

(Gambit III#24) - Apparently sensing -- via her connection to Quiet Bill -- as New Son used Quiet Bill to transport Gambit to his own world (Earth-9921), Fontanelle awakened abruptly and called Courier. While Gavin planned to take his/her father's corporate jet to meet with Quiet Bill in Remy's safehouse, while Fontanelle planned to go back to sleep to stay in contact with Bill until Courier's arrival.

    As Courier arrived, he/she found Quiet Bill floating in some energy field, and so he/she mentally requested Fontanelle's assistance, and Fontanelle slapped Quiet Bill until he woke up.

    After Gambit channeled his super-charged powers into New Son, which proved to be more than New Son could handle, Gambit, passed out, and Fontanelle dreamcast into his mind, warning him to roll over. Recovering and doing so, Gambit dodged the giant lance that instead skewered New Son.

(Gambit III#24 (fb) - BTS) - After Gambit returned to Earth-616, Fontanelle called Courier, telling him/her that she sent her best and asked that Gambit please not bother calling her for the next decade or so.

(Gambit III#24 - BTS) - Courier relayed the message to Gambit.

Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza, Steve Skroce, and Rob Hunter.

    Also know as the "soft spot," the fontanelle is an anatomic feature of the infant skull comprising the membranous gaps between the cranial bones that make up the calvarium (skull over the brain).
    Fabian Nicieza was kind enough to explain: "<The name> was definitely about playing with people's brains like soft, mushy clay. So Fontanelle was just a wonderfully "French sounding" name that also worked for what her powers were."

    I'm not sure what the Velvet Ministry is...I had assumed it was a euphemism for some corrupt form of child trafficking or other immoral activity, but when I search it on-line, I only find references to the Antiquary. Maybe it's the name of his organization?

    My impression from reading Fabian's Gambit series was that Gambit was a product of the Black Womb project, as his origins paralleled New Son's and as Alpha-One was a bigger version of the Black Womb project.
    However, while it was hinted, it was never spelled out, and so nothing ever came of it. Maybe someday someone will follow up on this...one never knows, does one? No, one does not.

    Born in 1950?

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Fontanelle should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Gambit III#6, pg. 10, panel 3 (mostly full, lying by gravestone);
    #9, pg. 12, panel 5 (face close-up, straight-on);
    #10, pg. 12, panel 3 (face, oblique, feather);
    #13, pg. 12, panel 2 (seated, in gown and drink);
    #14, pg.  panel 3 (face)

Appearances:
Gambit III#1-2 (February-March, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Rob Hunter (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#3-4 (April-May, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Rob Hunter with Scott Hanna & Scott Koblish (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#5 (June, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Rob Hunter with Walden Wong (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#6 (July, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (script, co-plotter), Steve Skroce (penciler, co-plotter), Rob Hunter (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#7 (August, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (script, co-plotter), Steve Skroce (penciler, co-plotter), Rob Hunter, Rob Stull, Scott Hanna, Scott Elmer (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#8 (September, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mat Broome (penciler), Sean Parsons (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#9 (October, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mat Broome (layouts), Anthony Williams (finished pencils), Sean Parsons, Andy Lanning, & Peter Palmiotti (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#10 (November, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer, co-storyteller), Steve Skroce (penciler, co-storyteller), Rob Hunter (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#11 (December, 1999) - Fabian Nicieza (writer, co-storyteller), Steve Skroce (penciler, co-storyteller), Andy Ownes (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Gambit III#13-14 (February-March, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Anthony Williams (pencils), Andy Lanning (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#15 (April, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Sean Parsons (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#16 (May, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Sean Parsons (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#17 (June, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Sean Parsons & Rich Perotta (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#19-22 (August-November, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Sean Parsons (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#23 (December, 2000) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Sean Parsons & John Stanisci (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)
Gambit III#24 (January, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (pencils), Dan Green (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)

First posted: 09/07/2019
Last updated: 09/07/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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