redhand-sovel-xml222-full-ishSOVEL REDHAND

Real Name: Sovel Redhand

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Shi'ar) advanced technology user

Occupation: Mercenary, captain of the Shi'ar ship Tath En'ruh (the Boneyard Dog), salvage/junker

Group Membership: Crew of the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog (Glitter, Horse, Jat Vor-Thrul)

Affiliations: None when last seen (see comments);
    formerly Glitter, Horse, Jat Vor-Thrul;
    briefly pressured to feign alliance with Rogue (Anna Marie) and Rachel Summers-Grey (aka Marvel Girl);
    Sovel invoked/exclaimed "Sharra and Kythrii," but he doesn't seem to be a particularly religious type, so I'm not sure they are allies

Enemies: Danger, Frenzy (Joanna Cargill), Friendless, Glitter, Grad Nan Holt, Horse, Magneto/Max Eisenhardt, Starjammers (Havok/Alex Summers, Korvus Rookshir, Marvel Girl/Rachel Summers-Grey, Polaris/Lorna Dane), Jat Vor-Thrul, X-Men (Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Professor X/Charles Xavier, Rogue/Anna Marie)

Known Relatives: Unidentified mother

Aliases: Captainissimo

Base of Operations: Last seen on the Gul Damar Space Station outside Earth orbit;
    formerly mobile throughout space in the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog;
    formerly a sentient brothel on the planet Derumek

First Appearance: X-Men: Legacy#220 (March, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: As a Shi'ar, Sovel Redhand possesses both mammalian and avian characteristics, with feathers instead of hair

    Though he didn't particularly demonstrate it, he presumably has superhuman strength (lifting perhaps 1 ton) and endurance.

    Redhand is experienced with use of a handblaster. He also utilized a powerful personal force field, sufficient to incapacitate a significantly weakened Frenzy (Joanna Cargill). He had access to numerous forms of advanced technology, including a teleporter device; this device was limited in that it had to be brought to a location, and they he could identify its signal and teleport to its location. Additionally,the device could be used to teleport multiple beings from the same location from which Redhand had teleported.

    He formerly traveled aboard the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog ship.

    Redhand considers humans to be primitive, speaking to them in condescending fashion. He disregarded humanity to such a degree that he would not remember a human with whom he had had a signficant interaction and who had a distinctive appearance (her hair coloring), such as Rogue.

    Loyal only to himself and dedicated to the acquisition of wealth, Redhand prefers to instruct others to do things rather than having to act himself, but he will certainly act to protect his own interests/desires, betraying long-time allies without qualms.

    Working in salvage, his motto was "No job too small, brute force always an option."redhand-sovel-xml222-face

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 215 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: None
Feathers: Black

History:

(X-Men: Legacy#257 (fb) - BTS) -  Sovel Redhand's mother apparently used to tell him, "If at first you don't succeed...change the rules."

(X-Men: Legacy#220 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Sovel Redhand came to captain a crew of salvage/junkers including Glitter, Horse, Jat Vor-Thrul aboard the Tath En'ruh/Boneyard Dog starship.

(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb) - BTS) - On Derumek for unspecified reason, Sovel Redhand "got stuck in a sentient" brothel.

(X-Men: Legacy#220 (fb) - BTS) - Redhand never allowed any of his crew to sit in the captain's chair.

(X-Men: Legacy#220 (fb) - BTS) - Sovel Redhand provided orders that the drug-addicted Horse could only get one dose of "happy medicine" a day.

(X-Men: Legacy#220) - Jat discovered advanced Shi'ar technology on Earth, and Sovel instructed Jat to set a course for Earth so they could recover it. They did not know the target -- Danger, the sentient form of the Danger Room, which had been constructed with Shi'ar technology -- to be a sentient, mobile entity.

    As the Boneyard Dog warped into Earth. Jat noted that their target was on the move, and Redhand ordered Glitter to spike it without lowering its salvage value.

    The ship soon 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. Jat landed the ship safely, and Sovel 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 with Danger's hologram scenario when they were detected by the newly arrived Gambit and Charles Xavier, who broke into their cell. Assuming the new entries to be primitive and ignorant, Redhand (who apparently, at least, thought he was speaking some terrestrial language) explained, "We come long way across big-fella sky. You set us free, we give you beads and plenty strong liquor." Annoyed with Redhand and frustrated at having seen numerous holographic versions of Rogue suffering, Gambit energized a card and stuck it in Redhand's face, leading Redhand to ask his crewmates if they spoke any other "Earthish" dialects, as this charming young man hadn't quite gotten his drift.

(X-Men: Legacy#222 (fb) - BTS) - Gambit and Xavier freed Redhand and his crew.

(X-Men: Legacy#222) - Within Danger's hologram scenario, Redhand and his crew fought and fled from Sentinels, during which time Redhand considered that Earth was something of a slum and had looked a lot nicer from orbit. When Glitter argued that Earth looked like a sweat-stain from orbit, Redhand countered that it was better than a slaughterhouse; he further requested she not stop shooting, as she she was very attractive when she killed things.

    When Gambit asked who they were, Sovel began to give a condescending reply as if the humans couldn't understand space travel, but Xavier read his mind and identified him and his crew. Uncomfortable with telepaths, Sovel instructed his crew to activate their psi-shields before explaining that his crew worked in salvaging/reclaiming technology: "No job too small, brute force always an option."

    Knowing there was no point in lying, Redhand explained how they had attempted to claim Danger only to be immersed in her holographic scenarios. When Redhand noted that he had never considered a sentient hologram suite to be a possibility, Glitter noted that this was despite his previous experience with a sentient brothel.

    When Xavier criticized Redhand and his crew as unmitigated fools for the trouble they had caused, Redhand tried to argue how much more evolved he was than them, but Jat and Glitter helped Xavier find Danger. As they continued, Sovel told Jat they were going in circles, but Jat explained that the landscape was cycling, so they kept seeing the same places.redhand-sovel-xml223-fullish

    While Gambit observed memories of Rogue's youth, Redhand asked if they were finished with their voyeuristic interlude as he wanted to get his second mate, Horse, back to their ship to get him some "happy pills" before he had a psychotic episode. Gambit warned Redhand he would hold him accountable if Rogue was harmed, but Redhand dismissed this as stone-age reasoning before pointing out that the internal logics of the simulations was breaking down. He continued that if they were lucky, the simulations would fade out altogether; alternatively, they might do some extreme spatial contortions first and they would be pureed in the process. Redhand further pointed out that he was using short words and speaking slowly for the primitives.

    Jat noted as they reached they eye of the storm. When Xavier requested Redhand's people clear a path for him in exchange for getting out alive, Redhand told Horse that his happy pills were in the ship, which was on the other wise of the building Xavier needed to get into. Horse then tore a path to the ship, allowing Xavier to approach the giant Danger, who was wrapped in a fetal position.

(X-Men: Legacy#223) - After Xavier explained that Redhand's assault had fried the subroutines that gave Danger free will and had crippled her reasoning, Redhand noted "In my defense, it was all done in the name of profit." After Gambit again threatened him, an unimpressed Redhand noted him to be "an obsessive little ape."

    When Xavier discussed his intent to telepathically interface Danger's CPU and initiate self-repair algorithms, which only put himself at risk, Redhand noted that was a level of risk he could live with.

    Succeeding, Xavier ended Danger's simulations, after which Redhand noted, "Ah, baseline reality. Boring, but comfortable. We're obliged to you, Earthman."

    However, when Xavier began speaking the commands to restore Danger's free will, Redhand shot him in the back with his energy blaster, insincerely apologizing and explaining that this was business, and the robot was money in the bank. As Gambit fought Redhand's crew, Rogue arrived.

(X-Men: Legacy#224) - Redhand was shocked to see Rogue in possession of his ship, but when Glitter noted that this was because he hadn't locked the helm, he countered that "someone" didn't lock it, but that they shouldn't bicker in front of the primitives.

    Jat's dermware allowed him to open the ship, and Glitter overpowered Rogue, but after which she hurled Rogue outside and told Sovel to "do the honors" while she searched the ship. Redhand was annoyed that he had to do the killing himself, but while he ranted, Xavier recovered sufficiently to finish speaking the commands to restore Danger's free will. As Redhand put his handgun  to Rogue's head, Danger blasted it out of his hands. After Danger threatened him and incapacitated Horse, Redhand called for a blind jump, locking on him. As they teleported away, he noted that he never liked this world much in the first place.

(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, and 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, see comments); 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, Redhand 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 Boneyard Dog.

    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#250) - Jat noted Rachel's awakening, and while Glitter wished to speak to her, Redhand loaded his weapon, noting that he had been practicing his "Terran," and told her that they had killed her friends and taken their time doing it: "The next word you speak had better be the one I want to hear" (see comments).

(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) - When Rogue appeared aboard in front of them, Jat and Glitter held her at gunpoint. Redhand noted that she smelled like a mammal, and since they already had one (the unconscious Rachel Grey), they didn't need another.

 (X-Men Legacy#254) - Failing to recognize Rogue and speaking slowly because he knew that was how she was listening, Redhand asked "the mammal" who sent her and how had she found them.

    When Rogue told Redhand she wasn't looking for them but had come for Rachel, warning them that Rachel had better just be sleeping. After Jat reminded the others of their previous encounter on Earth, Redhand recalled that it was Gambit who had done them the most damage, and so he continued trying to intimidate Rogue. He warned her that while he didn't have to explain himself to someone less evolved than he was, there was no reason to kill her, as they  might use her as a decoy or living shield; he instructed Glitter to "point a gun at her in a threatening way." Detecting "suspect energy readings" two levels down and one click over, Jat advised they move on.redhand-sovel-xml254-rogue-punched

    When they reached another blockage, Redhand instructed Horse to clear it, but not to raise too much dust, as he was wearing his last clean uniform. When Horse encountered a Grad Nan Holt ion grenade, Jat told Rogue some of the history of the base, the Grad Nan Holt, and how they had come across Rachel. Soon after, Redhand, his crew, and Rogue observed as the planet Xanthimi was pulled into the sun, a result of the damage to Gul Damar's gravitic flux generator causing the sun's gravity field to spike.

    Rogue -- seeking to ensure they rescued her friends and teammates rather than just escaping -- subsequently approached and punched down Redhand, invoking the rite of Arin'nn Haelar, the Shi'ar battle to the death, and challenging him for rule of his crew.

 (X-Men Legacy#255) - Calling Rogue insane, Redhand instructed Glitter to shoot her repeatedly, but Glitter noted that she had rightfully challenged him. Despite his argument that they were scofflaws, Glitter told him that this rule bound them all, although he could nominate her as his champion, which she hoped he would do. Learning he could name a champion, Redhand instead chose the monstrously strong Horse.

    As the battle began, Redhand noted that he wanted a good fight, although it didn't have to be a clean one, and he asked that Sharra and K'ythri bless and favor them both...but mostly Horse.

    Redhand was less than satisfied when "Rogue" subdued Horse with a touch to the head, after which she noted that since Redhand had picked a champion, she picked one, too, revealing that it had been the revived Rachel who had fought and taken down Horse.

    As Redhand noted that he needed another champion, his other teammates acknowledged their new leader, and Rachel -- seeing Redhand reach for his pistol -- told him that if he drew it she would make him shoot himself through the foot.

(X-Men Legacy#256) - After Rachel sealed a hull breach caused by warring Shi'ar and Grad Nan Holt (in a fight involving the X-Men and Starjammers), Redhand watched and remained silent as Glitter made a plan to stop the Shi'ar guns while Rogue went to rendezvous with the X-Men.

 (X-Men Legacy#256 - BTS) - After Friendless assaulted Rachel anew, she learned how he had manipulated his own people into war with the Shi'ar, and 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) - Redhand the rest of his crew confronted a group of Shi'ar soldiers who, not wishing to participate in a firefight in an external freight bay, ordered all gunners to stand down, allowing Magneto and Polaris to repair the rent in the spacewall.

    Redhand and his crew, 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) 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.

    Mockingly noting the tragedy about which they could do nothing, Redhand advised they liberate a ship and get clear. 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" in case there was anyone waiting for her by the generators.

(X-Men Legacy#258) - The stun baton was actually one end of a short-range teleport shunt, the other end of which Redhand kept for himself.

redhand-sovel-xml257-face (X-Men Legacy#257) - Having expressed his skepticism of Rogue's success, after Jat used his dermware to download a station map and begin leading the others to a vessel with which to escape, Redhand noted his disappointment in Jat's survival goals, as he always set his sights a little higher. However, they found the ships in the dockyard already destroyed by those under Friendless' control to prevent anyone from escaping death.

    With aid from Magneto, Havok and Glitter, Jat located and salvaged a ship, but when a Friendless-controlled Shi'ar leader had a Null Cascade antimatter factory activated and used against them, Redhand used the teleport shunt device reach the station's flux array. Catching the weakened Rogue and Cargill off guard, he stunned them both with his blaster, after which he began to float free the entire gravity array with the intent of selling it for seven hundred million credits. Pleased with himself, he noted, "It's just like my sainted mother always used to say...if at first you don't succeed...change the rules."

redhand-sovel-xml258-forcefield(X-Men Legacy#258) - Redhand explained to the recovering Cargill that he was stealing the generator because "I like money. I like it very much indeed." When she rushed to stop him, he -- noting how she was weakened from splitting her power with Rogue and her journey through the flux array -- advised her not to touch his personal force field, which blasted her away and back into unconsciousness.

    However, Rachel then communicated with Rogue, waking her back up. When Redhand told her to do herself a favor, stay down, and let him pilot them out of there, she tried to convince him otherwise, but Rachel advised her that she could neither convince nor fight him. Instead, Rachel advised Rogue that Redhand kept thinking about the device he had given her, and Rogue's Shi'ar science knowledge presumably helped her realize the nature of the teleport shunt. Although Redhand warned her she couldn't use it against him, she instead transported the rest of the X-Men and Starjammers to the generator with them.

    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 stun, converting it into a white hole and using it to transport Gul Damar to Earth's orbit.

(X-Men Legacy#258) - With Rogue preparing to return to Earth, Redhand (suspended upside down by his ankle in one of Horse's hands) offered to take back over as captain, but Glitter instructed Horse to rip his head off if he made another sound; Horse asked her if this included breathing. Rogue placed Glitter in charge but promised that she would get them a ship and a captain before departing.

Comments: Created by Mike Cary, Scot Eaton, and Andrew Hennessy.

    X-Men had semi-shadowed figures surround Rachel Grey as she awakened, and their appearance, dialog, and behavior pretty clearly fit Jat, Glitter, and Redhand.
    In X-Men Legacy#254, they tell Rogue that they found Rachel unconscious, which fits with her waking up with them there, but Rachel is also unconscious when Rogue encounters them...so, it would make sense that Rachel only briefly woke up and then lapsed back into unconsciousness, or perhaps due to her weakness from Friendless' assault, she feigned unconscious until she was strong enough (and/or was needed).
    Or, perhaps there's some other explanation I'm not seeing?

    X-Men Legacy#254 described the location as "Vector, Spinward 30/715, Distance 3.2 Standard Units" - I don't know exactly what that means, but spinward means moving in the same direction of the space station's rotation...

    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 they might be willing to eventually get past that and again work with him for their collective goal of profit.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Sovel Redhand should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
 X-Men Legacy#222, pg. 10, panel 1 (mostly full, obscured by Glitter's gun);
       panel 5 (face);
    #223, pg. 2, panel 1 (mostly full, from overhead...partial feet);
    #254, pg. 18, panel 5 (Rogue punched)
    #257, 2nd to last page, panel 3 (face, close up);
    #258, pg. , panel 4 (Cargill blasted away by force field)

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#250 (August, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Tom Palmer & Craig Yeung (inkers), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (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: 06/06/2020
Last updated: 03/28/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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