HORSE
 |
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (unidentified insectoid race)
Occupation: Mercenary, salvage/junker, warrior
Group Membership: Formerly the crew of the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog (Glitter, Jat Vor-Thrul; presumably formerly Sovel Redhand)
Affiliations: Glitter, Jat Vor-Thrul;
loose alliance with Rogue (Anna Marie) and to-a-lesser degree Rachel Summers-Grey (aka Marvel Girl), and to an even-lesser-degree (allies of convenience) Frenzy (Joanna Cargill), Magneto/Max Eisenhardt, Starjammers (Korvus, Polaris/Lorna Dane)
formerly Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Sovel Redhand (see comments), Charles Xavier
Enemies: Danger, Friendless, Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Sovel Redhand, Charles Xavier (aka Professor X), Friendless-controlled Shi'ar soldiers and Grad Nan Holt aboard the Gul Damar Space Station;
formerly Rogue (Anna Marie)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None identified
Base of Operations: Last seen on the Gul Damar space station outside Earth orbit (and formerly on the station in the Shi'ar galaxy);
formerly mobile throughout space in an unidentified starship;
formerly mobile throughout space in the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog;
First Appearance: X-Men:
Legacy#220 (March, 2009)
| 
|
 |
Powers/Abilities: A bilaterally symmetric insectoid extraterrestrial, Horse possesses a dense carapace and six arms (see comments).
He at least formerly had two pairs of wings that retracted onto his
back possibly under protective shielding (like a ladybug).
He, at least formerly, has/had numerous spikey
projections from his back and shoulders, plus spikes on his arms, as
well as fimbriae-like projections from his mandibles. He appears to
have armored plates over his shoulders. He has four fingers and a thumb
on each hand, and he has two toes on each foot.
Horse is superhumanly strong, although he has not
been shown in combat against known beings of superhuman strength, so
his strength is difficult to gauge. I would think he is likely able to
lift between 10-25 tons, possibly more (or less). His most clearly
impressive feat was shoving a massive i-beam through a Sentinel's head,
incapacitating it.
His carapace is durable, able to stand up to
conventional assaults, and only minimally stunned by a Grad Nan Holt
ion grenade, followed in rapid succession by a pyro bomb, etc.
However, lasers fired by Danger easily passed the whole way though his
body, gravely wounding him...he got better, though.
Horse is intelligent, although single-minded
obsession with his happy pills or lethargy from withdrawal sometimes
affects his reasoning, the former often leading to furious assaults and
ranting. Among the things of which is he is ignorant of is the concept
of directional arrows indicating "up" or "down."
He at least formerly suffered from addiction to
"happy pills" (presumably some sort of narcotic or other addictive,
euphoria-inducing drug). Desperation to obtain this drug could motivate
him to phenomenal feats of strength, while lethargy from withdrawal
sometimes virtually incapacitated him. Following tertiary withdrawal,
he MAY have overcome this addiction.
Horse typically uses a- belt and/or shoulder
strap with numerous storage pouches. It wasn't shown what his pouches
contained, although, he likely would have wanted to fill them with
happy pills.
Like his
teammates/co-workers, Glitter apparently could activate some type of psi-shield
to protect him from telepathic intrusion.
Like his teammates/co-workers, Glitter's goals were self-preservation first and profit second, and he was
generally reluctant to risk his life for others unless there was some
profit in it.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 9')
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 950 lbs.)
Eyes: Solid yellow (glowing?)
Hair: None on head. Apparent sensory hairs on shoulders/back
|
|
History: Horse is apparently a native of an unspecified extraterrestrial insectoid race.
(X-Men: Legacy#220 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Horse joined the crew of salvage/junkers including Horse, Jat Vor-Thrul, and Sovel Redhand aboard the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog starship.
(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb) - BTS) - Per Sovel Redhand, his motto (presumably extending to the crew) "No job too small, brute force always
an option."
(X-Men: Legacy#220 (fb) - BTS)
- At some point, Horse became addicted to a drug he called "happy
pills." Per Sovel's orders, Glitter was placed in charge of dispensing
one "happy pill" a day to keep Horse at a functioning level.
(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb) - BTS) - Horse may have been present with Glitter and Sovel on the planet Derumek for unspecified reason, when Sovel Redhand "got stuck in a sentient brothel."
(X-Men: Legacy#220) - As
the crew/ship was in deep space, Horse begged Glitter for a dose ("just a little taste") of
happy pills, but she refused, telling him the medicine cabinet was
closed and that he was allowed one happy pill daily and reminding him this was per Sovel's orders. Horse countered, "But I'm dying here..."
When Jat discovered highly advanced Shi'ar technology on Earth,
Sovel instructed Jat to
set a course for Earth so
they could recover it.
They did not realize the target -- Danger, the sentient form of the Danger Room, which had been constructed with Shi'ar technology -- was a sentient, mobile entity.
As the Boneyard Dog warped into
Earth, the ship appeared in the sky in Maynard's Plains in the Australian Outback, firing on Danger (and, indirectly the X-Man Rogue, in her proximity).
Danger shot the ship, which plummeted directly toward her.
(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb)) - Danger shot down the Boneyard Dog. After Jat landed the ship safely, Horse and the others engaged
Danger with flow-inhibitors, attempting to shut her down without
damaging her. Instead, the inhibitors shut down her higher cognitive
functions and reduced her back to her core programming. Danger
automatically engaged a program that immersed them in an holographic
scenario.
(X-Men: Legacy#221) - Redhand, Glitter,
Horse, and Jat were imprisoned in manacles against a wall in a room
within Danger's hologram scenario when they were detected by the newly
arrived Gambit and Charles Xavier, who broke into their cell. Although glaring at the new arrivals, Horse
remained silent as Sovel unwittingly mocked their
rescuers.
(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb) - BTS) - Gambit and Xavier freed Horse and the rest of his crew.
(X-Men: Legacy#222) - Within
Danger's hologram scenario, Horse and the rest of the crew fought
alongside Xavier and Gambit against Sentinels.
As Jat used his dermware against a sentinel, Horse
shoved a steel girder through its head, incapacitating it. When Jat
explained that it had already contracted a "sessite metavirus," Horse
noted that now it had contracted a steel girder, too.
 |
(X-Men: Legacy#222) - As Jat led the others to Danger, Horse told Glitter he needed more happy
pills, but she informed him that the pills were on the ship and as as
soon as they got back, she would break into the med cabinet for him.
When Xavier requested Redhand's people clear a way
for him to get
inside so they could get out of there alive, Redhand told Horse that the
happy pills were in the ship that was just beyond the building in front
of them.
Horse immediately tore a path through the various
Danger-created warring forces to the ship, allowing Xavier to
approach the giant Danger, who was wrapped in a fetal position.
| 
|
|
(X-Men: Legacy#223) -
As Xavier prepared to telepathically
interface with Danger's CPU and initiate self-repair algorithms, Horse
told Glitter that he needed happy pills, and he needed them now.
Glitter assured Horse that he could hold out a little longer for his
happy pills, as they were almost done.
After Xavier ended Danger's program, restoring
reality, Redhand shot Xavier in the back with his
energy blaster before he could finish the commands to restore Danger's
free will (so they could still capture and sell Danger).
After Gambit stunned
Jat and Glitter, Horse grabbed Gambit by the head and smashed
him through a building while noting that he knew when to stop..."when there's no one else moving and it's really squishy underfoot!" Continuing that Gambit had stopped him from getting his happy pills and "talked and talked and talked and wouldn't...stop...talking...!", Horse picked up a large piece of masonry over his head and noted "Now. Now you're gonna stop."
However, Rogue then arrived, entered and took control of the Boneyard
Dog, and advised Horse against his planned crushing of Gambit. |
 |
(X-Men: Legacy#224) - Despite Glitter's warning, Horse
turned and charged the ship, smashing the masonry against it as he
repeatedly noted that he hated this planet. As he continued to batter the
ship, threatening to peel Rogue "like a fruit and squash her like a..."
Rogue figured out the ship's controls and blasted Horse away.
With Jat's assistance, Glitter entered the ship. Impressed that Rogue had taken down Horse, Glitter
considered that she should shake her hand...and then cut her throat. Glitter ultimately knocked out Rogue; however, Rogue's distraction allowed Xavier to recover sufficiently to finish speaking the commands to
restore Danger's free will.
|
|
|
When Danger confronted Redhand and his crew, Horse
leapt against Danger, threatening repeatedly to kill her. Instead, she fired
dozens of lasers from her torso that perforated his body. Collapsing,
Horse told Glitter that he was gonna need happy pills, and she replied that
she didn't think there were that many happy pills in the quadrant.
Redhand then called for a blind jump, locking on
him, which teleported Redhand, Glitter, Horse, and Jat away.
| 
|
(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) / X-Men Legacy#257 (fb) - BTS) - ) - On the Shi'ar space station Gul Damar, the
Grad Nan Holt telepath and former slave known as Friendless took
control of the Grad Nan Holt, former slaves of the Shi'ar, leading
them to rise up and war against their former Shi'ar masters.
(X-Men Legacy#255 (fb) - BTS) -
Answering a distress call on Gul Damar,
Rachel Summers/Grey and the rest of the Starjammers walked into a civil war.
(X-Men Legacy#255 (fb) - BTS / X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - Friendless assaulted Rachel with a powerful
mind-punch that knocked out for a week (or, at least an extended period
of time); Friendless believed he had slain her. Friendless then placed the other Starjammers under his control.
(X-Men Legacy#254 (fb) -
BTS) - After the Shi'ar were defeated in a war with the Kree, Redhand
led his crew to the damaged Gul Damar. With the
station's defenses down and former slave race the Grad Nan Holt
rebelling against the Shi'ar, the crew thought to salvage a large amount
of technology.
However, as Gul Damar's gravitic flux generator had
been damaged, local gravity was distorted, and the crew lost control,
presumably crashing the ship (and destroying their supply of happy pills).
Finding the unconscious form of Rachel/Marvel
Girl and noting that she measured a "9-Tau-9 on the Kiatna psi-scale,"
Redhand and his crew picked her up.
(X-Men Legacy#253 - BTS) - Rogue -- having absorbed
a teleporter's power from Legion/David Haller -- locked on to Rachel's location and transported herself, Frenzy, Gambit, and Magneto a couple thousand light years to reach Rachel Grey.
Rogue was split from her allies, who arrived on a different part of the Gul Damar space station.
(X-Men Legacy#253 - BTS) - When Rogue appeared aboard in front of them, Jat and
Glitter held her at gunpoint. 
(X-Men Legacy#254) - As Jat reminded the others of their previous encounter with Rogue, Horse, who was in tertiary withdrawal as they had run out of "happy pills"
five cycles ago, sat listlessly. When Jat noted
"suspect energy readings" and advised they move on, Glitter told Horse
it was time to get up as they were going to steal a ship. Horse replied
simply "Can't." but Glitter assured him that he could, "Just think about moving your arms and legs and they'll move."
En route, Horse carried the inert Rachel and the
platform into which she was secured. When they encountered a blockage,
Redhand sent Horse to clear it. Noting that this was probably set up as
an ambush by the Grad Nan Holt, Glitter advised Horse to watch out for
booby traps.
As Horse noted that he was not stupid and he always -- he
was shocked and briefly stunned by a Grad Nan Holt's ion grenade, after
which he confirmed the nature of the assault. He soon resumed clearing
the pathway and encountered a pyro-bomb, which only stung him.
Once the
path was clear, Horse resumed carrying Rachel, and he pointed out as
another planet was pulled into the sun due to the damage to Gul Damar's gravitic flux generator
causing the sun's gravity field to spike. He watched with the others as the planet Xanthimi was consumed by the sun.
Horse remained silent as Rogue punched down Sovel and invoked the rite of Arin'nn Haelar (the Shi'ar
battle to the death), challenging Redhand for rule of his crew.
(X-Men Legacy#255) - After Glitter told Redhand that he could nominate her as his
champion, Redhand instead chose Horse to fight for him. However, Rogue
also chose a champion, and a secretly revived Rachel (in Rogue's form)
told Horse she didn't want to hurt him. He thanked her and told her that he would do all the hurting.
"Rogue" dodged Horse's crushing blows, but when he
noted that she was running out of road, Rogue instead noted that she
had just been getting him into position, and she subdued Horse with a
touch to the head. Rachel and Rogue then revealed what they had done.
(X-Men Legacy#256) -
After Rachel telekinetically sealed a hull breach caused by warring
Shi'ar and Grad Nan
Holt (in a fight involving the X-Men and Starjammers), Glitter
explained the assaults as being from Shi'ar who were very close.
After Rachel noted the presence of other X-Men (some
under mind-control), Rogue instructed Glitter to find the guns and shut
them down while she -- at Glitter's query -- would rendezvous with the
X-Men.
Noting that freight platform would give them some
height so they could find the Shi'ar positions, Glitter asked if Horse
could work the hoist; however, when he made it clear he didn't really
understand up or down, Glitter decided that she would work the hoist.
(X-Men Legacy#256 - BTS) -
After Friendless assaulted Rachel anew, she cast him out through a rent in the wall into space; all those
under his influence regained their own wills.
(X-Men Legacy#256) -
Meanwhile, Horse accompanied Glitter and the rest of his crew to confront the Shi'ar
soldiers working the weapons. Not wishing to participate in a firefight
in an external freight bay,
the commander of the group ordered all gunners to stand down, allowing
Magneto and Polaris to
repair the rent in the spacewall.
Horse and his crewmates, alongside Rachel and Rogue,
joined up with the X-Men and Starjammers. Rogue, who had absorbed the
memories and knowledge of a dying Shi'ar scientist (at the expense of
losing her teleportational power), which revealed the great difficulty it
would take to reach and repair the generators (which were 10,000 miles
away) in the hour before Gul Damar hit the sun's corona.
Horse was silent as Jat and Redhand argued that they should liberate a ship and get clear of Gul Damar.
However, Rogue's borrowed knowledge from the Shi'ar scientist instead
led her to use the station's flux array to swiftly travel to the
generator (her body protected from the damage by absorbing half of the
strength and durability of Joanna Cargill, who accompanied her on the
mission).
Feigning a desire to protect his captain, Redhand gave Rogue a
"stun baton" (actually
one end of a short-range teleport shunt) allegedly in case there was anyone waiting for her by the generators.
(X-Men Legacy#257) - As the
space station approached the sun, Horse remained silent as the others discussed means to find a ship.
Horse and the others followed Jat to a dockyard, where they worked to repair the ships already destroyed by those under
Friendless' control to prevent anyone from escaping death.
However, a
Friendless-controlled Shi'ar
leader had a Null Cascade antimatter factory activated and used it
against
them. Redhand used the teleport shunt device reach the station's
flux array, leaving his teammates behind.
(X-Men Legacy#258) - Horse and the others fled from the effects of the Null Cascade until Rachel helped Rogue recognize the
nature of the teleport shunt, and she transported Horse and the rest of
Redhand's crew, as well as the X-Men and the Starjammers, to the
generator alongside herself, Cargill, and Redhand.
Confronted by his irate crew, Redhand started trying
to explain, but Jat neutralized his force field, and Glitter swiftly
punched him out.
(X-Men Legacy#258 - BTS) - Rogue and Rachel
overwhelmed Friendless and used his intelligence combined with the
previously absorbed knowledge of the Shi'ar scientist to fire the Null
Cascade into the nearby sun, converting it into a white hole and using
it to transport Gul Damar to Earth's orbit.
(X-Men Legacy#258) - Following the successful
execution of the plan, as Horse held Sovel upside-down by the ankle,
Rogue told Horse to feel free to rip his head off if he made another
sound; Horse asked if that included breathing.
Rogue then placed Glitter in charge
but promised that she would get them a ship and a captain before
departing. Jat, Glitter, Horse, and Redhand were left aboard Gul Damar.
Comments: Created by Mike Cary, Scot Eaton,
and Andrew Hennessy.
You might expect a character named
horse to be equine in appearance rather than insectoid, but Horse is
presumably named for heroin, of which "horse" is a nickname. It could
be used to indicated that he is as strong as a horse (actually far
stronger), but both name origins fall apart when you consider that
neither he nor his crew normally spoke English, either using
translators or learning the language over time.
It wasn't until I started scanning
images for this profile that the images in X-Men: Legacy#220 and 222
really caught my eye, and I realized that Horse was clearly intended to
be an insectoid being. The ladybug like coverings on his back and then
the image of him leaping with wings...I had an epiphany! Cockroach Conspiracy!
4 or 6 arms?
In #223, pg. 4 six arms, he pretty clearly has six
arms, and a few others, like where Danger blasts him, seem to show him with a third arm on one side, but most appearances in #220-224 show him as having four arms.
In
#253-258, he consistently has six arms.
His "shoulders" are apparently
mobile enough that his lowest set of arms may sometimes be completely
obscured by his torso.
Or, he did only have four arms in
the initial story arc, and images showing him to have six were in
error. After his severe injuries caused by Danger, he may have been
somehow modified in the process that restored him to health, whether
that was some external means or his own healing/adaptive ability.
Artistic license vs. modifications
also would explain the differences in his appearance between the two
story arcs.
X-Men Legacy#254 described the
location of Gul Damar as "Vector, Spinward 30/715, Distance 3.2 Standard Units" - I
don't know what that means or to what the units are in reference.
I don't recall a resolution to
returning Gul Damar to Shi'ar space, but it seemed like they were
saying it was so big that it's gravity might have been a problem with
it being in Earth orbit?
I don't know...I'm a surgeon, not an astronomer, engineer, etc.
I suspect Redhand had a pattern of
betraying his partners for money, but that Horse and the other might be willing to
eventually get past that and again work with him for their collective
goal of profit.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Horse should be distinguished from:
- HORSE - Dormammu's priest, drug dealer--Dr. Strange II#6
- HORSE ( ) - China Force, defected,
former agent of Dog, Kingpin, and Teng. Enhanced strength and agility, mohawk --[Alpha Flight I#69], Marvel Graphic
Novel: Agent
- other "Horse" characters, insectoid or otherwise...
images: (without ads)
X-Men Legacy#220, pg. 12, panel 2 (seated behind Glitter);
pg. 13, panel 2 (face, projections)
#222, story pg. 6, panel 3 (back);
panel 4 (leaping with girder);
pg. 20, panel 4 (charging);
panel 5 (clearly pathway);
#223, pg. 21, panel 4 (assaulting Gambit);
#224, pg. 3, panel 1 (face, close-up, assaulting Rogue-controlled Boneyard Dog);
panel 2 (upper body, battering ship);
panel 3 (blasted off feet...showing feet);
#254, pg. 8 (carrying Rachel);
#255, pg. 2, panel 3 (profile);
pg. 6, panel 2 (towering over Rogue);
#256, pg. 6, panel 4 (arrows);
#258, pg. 18, panel 1 (holding Redhand upside down)
Appearances:
X-Men:
Legacy#220-224 (March-July, 2009) - Mike Cary (writer), Scot Eaton (penciler),
Andrew Hennessy (inker), Daniel Ketchum (assistant editor), Nick Lowe
(editor)
X-Men Legacy#253 (October, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Khoi Pham
(penciler), Tom Palmer & Craig Yeung (inkers), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#254 (October, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth
(penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#255 (November, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth
(penciler), Craig Yeung & Jay Leisten (inker), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#256 (November, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth
(penciler), Craig Yeung with Jeff Huet and Ed Tadeo (inkers), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#257 (December, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Khoi Pham
(penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#258 (January, 2012) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth
(penciler), Ed Tadeo (inker), Sebastian Girner
(assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
First posted: 01/29/2021
Last updated: 01/29/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to
www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
Back to Characters