Gateway is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as an Australian mutant with the ability to teleport objects and people from one location to another. He is considered an unofficial member of the X-Men.

Publication history

Gateway first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #229 (May 1988), and was created by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri.[1]

Fictional character biography

Much of Gateway's past remains a mystery, including his name and place of birth. He is an Aboriginal Australian man who appears to have grown up in the Outback.

He serves the criminal group the Reavers in repayment for an undisclosed favor they did him. As extra assurance of his loyalty, they threaten to destroy an Aboriginal holy place if he betrays them. They call him "Gateway" in reference to his ability to create gateways between two points in space.[2] Some time later, the X-Men appear in the Outback and attack the Reavers' headquarters. Though Gateway helps the Reavers Skullbuster, Bonebreaker, and Pretty Boy escape, the X-Men realize he is not a Reaver.[3]

The X-Men take up residence in the Reavers' former hideout, and Gateway begins voluntarily using his powers to assist them. Initially, since he seems unable or unwilling to speak, Psylocke uses her telepathy to communicate to Gateway where the X-Men wish to go.[4] However, they soon realize he always knows their desired destination without being told.[5] He also used Dreamtime to observe the start of the corruption of the X-Men's ally, Madelyne Pryor, by Limbo demons, and choose not to intervene nor alert any of the X-Men to the growing danger in their backyard just because that was not his purpose in the scheme of things.[6]

When Gateway teleported the female X-Men to the Hollywood Mall in Los Angeles, their unusual arrival was noticed by Jubilee, an orphaned teenage mallrat, who happened to be a mutant herself. Admiring the four beautiful ladies, Jubilee secretly followed them the entire day and was eventually rescued by them from a bunch of mutant hunters.[7] When Gateway transported the X-women back to Australia, he deliberately left his portal open longer than necessary. Jubilee saw this and jumped through after them, finding herself welcomed by Gateway.[8] He then pointed her to a secret hide-out underneath the Reavers’ base and for some time Jubilee lived right under the X-Men's noses without them noticing.[9]

Shortly thereafter, the Reavers – now led by Donald Pierce – returned to reclaim their base. They made their move when the X-Men were away on a mission, but Gateway managed to contact Psylocke nonetheless. Through the Dreamtime, Gateway sent the telepathic X-Man a precognitive vision, alerting her of the cruel fate the Reavers had in store for them.[10] Psylocke took the warning seriously and, by the time Gateway teleported the X-Men back to the Outback, she convinced the other X-Men to step through the Siege Perilous, a magical crystal portal that was to send them to a new life.[11] Though robbed of their revenge, the Reavers still captured the unsuspecting Wolverine when he returned from a short leave of absence a few days later. They tortured him for days, with Gateway unable to help him, as he was once again forced to obey the Reavers. However, Wolverine managed to escape with the help of Jubilee, revealing in the process that he deliberately arranged for Jubilee to be around for this very purpose.[12]

More recently, he appears at the Xavier Institute in Massachusetts, where Generation X is training, with a young girl. When he encounters Banshee, he simply speaks the word, "Penance", which is assumed to be the girl's name. Gateway would continue to appear sporadically around Generation X for some time, often in the presence of the St. Croix twins Nicolette and Claudette, with whom he apparently had a teacher-student relationship.[13][14]

Gateway appears briefly to Storm's X-Treme X-Men team, shortly after the death of Psylocke, and reveals that he is the ancestor of Bishop and Shard.[15]

He is one of the mutants to have retained his powers after M-Day, when the Scarlet Witch depowered most mutants on Earth.[16]

It is revealed to Iceman and Cannonball that Gateway was one of the targeted mutants the Marauders were killing, along with Cable, Vargas, and the Witness, due to his powers giving him the ability to see into the future.[17] Gateway survives the assassination attempt and becomes a mentor to Eden Fesi, who possesses similar teleportation abilities to his.[18]

In Uncanny X-Force (2012), Gateway is killed by Ultimaton.[19] Years later, he is resurrected following the establishment of Krakoa as a mutant nation.[20]

Powers and abilities

Gateway is a mutant with teleportation and psychic abilities. This enables him to generate wormholes that connect vast distances, communicate telepathically, and manipulate dreams.[13][14][21][22][23]

Other versions

In other media

References

  1. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 237. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  3. ^ Uncanny X-Men #229 (May 1988)
  4. ^ Uncanny X-Men #230 (June 1988)
  5. ^ Uncanny X-Men #231 (July 1988)
  6. ^ Uncanny X-Men #234 (September 1988)
  7. ^ Uncanny X-Men #244 (May 1989)
  8. ^ X-Men Annual #13 (August 1989)
  9. ^ Uncanny X-Men #247 (August 1989)
  10. ^ Uncanny X-Men #250 (October 1989)
  11. ^ Uncanny X-Men #251 (November 1989)
  12. ^ Uncanny X-Men #252 (November 1989)
  13. ^ a b Generation X #1-2 (November - December 1994)
  14. ^ a b Generation X #5 - 7 (July - September 1995)
  15. ^ X-Treme X-Men #4 (October 2001)
  16. ^ X-Men: The 198 Files (January 2006)
  17. ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #202 (October 2007)
  18. ^ Secret Warriors #4 (July 2009)
  19. ^ Uncanny X-Force #27 (September 2012)
  20. ^ Marauders #2 (January 2020)
  21. ^ Wolverine (vol. 2) #104 (August 1996)
  22. ^ Wolverine (vol. 2) #35 (January 1991)
  23. ^ Uncanny X-Men #233 (September 1988)
  24. ^ Weapon X #3 (May 1995)
  25. ^ Uncanny X-Force #19 (January 2012)
  26. ^ Civil War: House of M #1 (November 2008)
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