Harry Leland (actor)

Harry Leland, also known as the Black Bishop, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as an adversary of the X-Men.

Leland possesses the mutant ability to increase the mass of an object or person, making it extremely heavy. Thanks to his allegiance to Sebastian Shaw, he attained the rank of Black Bishop of the Lords Cardinal of the New York branch of The Hellfire Club, an exclusive secret society bent on world domination. In civilian life, he was a corporate lawyer.

Publication history

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne, Leland first appeared in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #132 (April 1980).

Artist John Byrne based Leland's appearance on actor-director Orson Welles, and the name refers to two characters in Welles' films: Harry Lime from ''The Third Man'', and Jed Leland from ''Citizen Kane''.

The character subsequently appears in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #132-135 (April–July 1980), #152 (Dec. 1981), and #208–209 (August–September 1986), in which he was killed. Leland made several posthumous appearances before being resurrected in '' Marauders'' (2021), part of the Krakoan Age.

Fictional character biography

Little is known of Harry Leland's past before encountering the X-Men, although he did encounter former teammate, Emma Frost, before she was inducted into the Hellfire Club. At the time, Emma was homeless and using her powers during a Hellfire Club meeting to gain information about stocks. Leland takes an interest in her but comes on too strongly, and Emma runs away. Shortly after, he accompanies Sean Cassidy and his NYPD partner to an incident behind the club which involves Emma. Emma uses her telepathy to erase the memories of all three men.

Leland encounters the X-Men when they invade the New York headquarters of the Hellfire Club. Leland causes Wolverine to become increasingly heavy until he falls through the floor into a sub-basement. In the rematch, Wolverine attacks Leland from above. Leland panics and uses his mass-increasing powers, resulting in Wolverine crashing through the floor again, this time with Leland beneath him. Leland is hospitalized as a result. When the Hellfire Club again captures the X-Men weeks later, Leland takes revenge by using his power on Wolverine until his heart gives out, though his rival's death proves to be a temporary state induced by Amanda Sefton.

Alongside the Hellfire Club, Leland battles the X-Men in New York's Central Park. When Nimrod attacks the assembled mutants, the X-Men and the Club join forces to battle Nimrod. Leland increases Nimrod's mass to make it more vulnerable to attack. Overweight and in poor health, the effort triggers a heart attack. At Storm's urging, Leland increases the mass of Sebastian Shaw (who had been sent hurtling towards outer space), causing Shaw to crash into Nimrod. Leland succumbs to his heart condition and dies.

X-Humed

The supervillain Black Talon revives Leland's body as a zombie and sets him and other undead mutants (Changeling, Living Diamond, and Scaleface) against She-Hulk. She defeats them and Leland is reburied, with precautions taken to prevent him from being resurrected again.

Necrosha

Despite the precautions made to prevent Leland's resurrection, Selene revives him using the Transmode Virus during the "Necrosha" storyline. Leland and Shinobi Shaw are sent to kill Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost, Magma, and the X-Men.

Reign of X

During the Krakoan Age, Leland is resurrected to serve as Krakoa's ambassador to the United Nations. It is also revealed that he is Shinobi Shaw's biological father.

Powers and abilities

Harry Leland possesses the ability to increase the mass of an object or person within of him, without affecting its size at all, making it increasingly heavy. Though he can only increase mass up to roughly 20 kilograms per second, there is seemingly no limit to the total mass he can add to a person or object. Leland's power can affect both people and inanimate objects, but active resistance by the subject makes it more difficult to assert Leland's power.

Other versions

An alternate universe variant of Harry Leland from Earth-58163 appears in '' House of M: Avengers'' #5. This version is the commissioner of the NYPD.

In other media

Television

* Harry Leland appears in the '' X-Men: The Animated Series'' episode "The Dark Phoenix" as a member of the Inner Circle Club.
* Harry Leland appears in the '' Wolverine and the X-Men'' episode "Foresight" as a member of the Inner Circle. He assists the group in their efforts to transfer the Phoenix Force from Jean Grey to the Stepford Cuckoos, only to be killed in the process.
* Harry Leland makes a cameo appearance in the '' Marvel Anime: X-Men'' episode "The Return - Joining Forces" as a member of the Hellfire Club.

Film

Harry Leland, among other members of the Hellfire Club, was originally planned to appear in ''Dark Phoenix'', but was ultimately cut from the film.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leland, Harry
Characters created by Chris Claremont
Characters created by John Byrne (comics)
Comics characters introduced in 1980
Fictional alcohol abusers
Fictional ambassadors
Fictional businesspeople
Fictional characters with gravity abilities
Fictional lawyers
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics undead characters