Maggott

Maggott (Japheth) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was briefly a member of the X-Men.

A flamboyant South African mutant who spoke in exaggerated Afrikaans slang, Maggott was advertised as one of the strangest X-Men. His digestive system took the form of two slugs which could eat through practically any substance. After feeding, the slugs reentered Maggott's abdomen and passed nourishment into him, giving him incredible power.

Publication history

Maggott was created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Madureira, and first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #345 (June 1997).

Fictional character biography

Maggott was first seen as a mysterious mutant who is searching out the X-Men’s adversary Magneto for an unknown reason. His search led to Antarctica where Magneto was holding the X-Men captive. Maggott then joined up with the team and returned with them to their Westchester, New York headquarters.

For a short period of time, Maggott believed his companions were going off on their own and killing innocent people. He even tried to turn himself over to the police before being stopped by the X-Men. His companions turned out to be innocent, as the people had been slain by a faction of N'Garai, though they hated to be called so. These entities are a demonic-type race that the X-Men had faced many times, mainly because a regenerating magical portal lies deep in the woods on the mansion's grounds.

Maggott later was tempted by the entity Shadow King with promises of a better life in exchange for his loyalty and abandonment of the X-Men. He managed to resist the villain. Marrow and Cecilia Reyes were also propositioned by the King, but also resisted. Psylocke then rescues the X-Men after keeping Shadow King in a psionic prison, which forced her in retirement as she could not use her mind powers for anything or else the Shadow King would be released from the prison within Psylocke's mind.

At first, he kept his past to himself, but Maggott eventually revealed his origin to Wolverine. Maggott had been born a sickly child in Apartheid-era South Africa and was named Japheth. He was always very ill and could not digest solid food. Feeling himself to be a burden on his family, he ran away from home with his younger brother. Having left home, hoping to die, he was found by Magneto, who uncovered the mutant slugs living in his digestive system. Compassionate at heart, Japheth immediately rejected Magneto's philosophy and his offer to join him after witnessing him massacre white soldiers who were engaged in racist atrocities against black South African civilians. In spite of this, he later sought out Magneto when he got older, for help in easing the pain caused by his unique mutation. After the then-current roster of the team parted ways, the X-Man Beast suggested Maggott transfer to the junior team Generation X, but his tenure there lasted only one issue and afterwards he fell out of sight.

Maggott reappeared as an inmate at Neverland, a concentration camp run by Weapon X where he was ultimately executed. One of his slugs, which he gave to two children at the camp after foreseeing his death, was seen in a container in Mister Sinister's laboratory.

Maggott is later resurrected via the Transmode Virus to serve as part of Selene's army of deceased mutants. Under the control of Selene and Eli Bard, he takes part in the assault on the mutant nation of Utopia.''X-Men: Legacy'' #231 (January 2010) Maggott's fate is uncertain, as it is unknown if he was among the mutants teleported to Genosha by Blink to serve as a sacrifice to the newly-deitious Selene or if he was among the mutants who escaped Utopia.

Maggott was confirmed to still be alive and powered, as he was a guest at a superheroes and supervillains-themed costume party of New York branch of the Hellfire Club and was later apparently passed out drunk with other party guests around an outdoor swimming pool.

Maggott briefly appears during the ''X-Men Disassembled'' storyline battling Nate Grey. He later becomes a citizen of Krakoa, and is among the mutants hunted by Kraven the Hunter during the '' A.X.E.: Judgment Day'' storyline.

Powers and abilities

Maggott's digestive system consists of a hollow cavity that houses two slugs called Eany and Meany. They share a telepathic link with him and can temporarily emerge from his body to digest solid matter, giving him superhuman strength and durability. He additionally possesses a form of psychometry that enables him to view the recent past and future by reading psychic imprints from the environment.

Reception

In 2014, ''Entertainment Weekly'' ranked Maggott 100th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.

Other versions

Age of X

An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-11326 appears in '' Age of X: Universe'' #1. This version is a prisoner of Camp Gorge before being killed by Iron Man.

Ultimate Marvel

An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-1610 makes a cameo appearance in ''Ultimate X-Men'' #47 as one of several mutants killed by Mister Sinister.

Battleworld X-Tinction Agenda

An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-24201 appears in ''X-Tinction Agenda''.

Age of X-Man

An alternate universe variant of Maggott who became a disciple of Apocalypse appears in ''Age of X-Man''.

In other media

Maggott makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the ''X-Men '97'' episode "To Me, My X-Men".

References

External links

*

Maggott
at UncannyXmen.net

Maggott
at World of Black Heroes

{{X-Men characters

Characters created by Joe Madureira
Characters created by Scott Lobdell
Comics characters introduced in 1997
Fictional South African people
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics psychics
Marvel Comics telepaths
X-Men members