X-Men Spotlight: Bishop
Bishop, The Cop from the Future.
Lucas Bishop came to the present timeline from a near dystopian future. In his time, the X-Men are legends. Without them, the Sentinels came to dominate the world. Him, his parents, and sister (Shard), and most other mutants are put in concentration camps- the origination of the M tattoo/brand. After the deaths of their parents, Bishop and his sister are given refuge by the Witness, a man otherwise known as Lebeau. After some time the two were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in a Brooklyn camp.
Eventually, mutants obtained their freedom following an uprising. Bishop and Shard, still children, are left to fend for themselves as their grandmother had passed away by then. After his mutant ability to re-channel energy catalyzed, and a couple encounters with the XSE (Xavier’s Security Enforcers) the two would come to join the mutant community’s peacekeeping force.
After finding evidence that the X-Men were betrayed, Bishop began to suspect that Lebeau, being the last one alive, had more to do with their deaths. Following the criminal Trevor Fitzroy to the present, Bishop encountered the X-Men. Stuck in the “now,” Bishop, in the end, joined them, even if just to keep an eye on Gambit, the man he knew as the elderly Witness. Even with his suspicions, and a hilarious picnic-brawl, the two X-Men grew closer than most. It would soon be revealed that the “traitor” was, in fact, Xavier himself, or at least something of his creation, in the psionic entity, Onslaught.
As an X-Man Bishop has seen his share of adventures including, playing a key role in ending the [easyazon_link identifier=”0785195092″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Age of Apocalypse[/easyazon_link] debacle and being lost in space alongside the Shi’ar rebel/royal, Deathbird. He’s been a loyal and dedicated follower of Xavier’s dream. That is, of course until he accidentally shot him while trying to kill Cable during the events of [easyazon_link identifier=”0785123202″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Messiah Complex[/easyazon_link]. Bishop had concluded that the young child that Cable had come to protect (Hope) was the cause of the hellish future he grew up in.
From that point on, he made it his life’s work to put an end to the child and everyone that would get in his way- not short of razing an entire planet from a future timeline. He even allied himself with Cable’s evil clone, Stryfe. Ultimately it was revealed that Bishop at some point leading up to his drastic heel-turn was possessed by the Demon Bear. Thanks to Psylocke and the X-Force, the demonic entity is removed from his mind. Remorseful of the past, Bishop rejoined the X-Men to atone for his actions.
Off the Page
Bishop was a steady feature in X-Men: The Animated series but has otherwise only been used sparingly. He was featured in the X-Men Legends console game series and recently in Marvel Contest of Champions mobile game. As for other media, Bishop had a small part in [easyazon_link identifier=”B00X6G9QG4″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]X-Men: Days of Future Past[/easyazon_link], played by French actor/comedian Omar Sy. In the movie, Bishop’s role was to be sent back in time to warn his teammates of an impending Sentinel attack. Over the years other actors have been attached to the role (mostly rumor), but it obviously never came to fruition. Such actors are the Oscar-winning Jamie Foxx, and most recently, Idris Elba.
Uncanny FaX
- Bishop’s powers allow him to absorb all energy; concussive, psionic, electromagnetic, and even kinetic. This means he could (and has) rob the momentum of a speeding car, stop it in place, and convert the power into energy blasts.
- While still in the future, his sister, Shard, was fatally injured by mutant vampires called Emplates. Her personality and memories were transferred into a hologram matrix by the Witness. This means the Shard that came to the past both in the books and the TV show, wasn’t real.
- Just before he nearly killed Professor-X during Messiah Complex, Bishop lost his right arm when Predator-X attacked him. He replaced it with a bionic one.
- Bishop and Shard are originally from Australia. He and his family migrated to the States. He’s also related to the mutant Aboriginal teleporter, Gateway.
- In an alternate timeline (X-Men: The End), he fathered a half Shi’ar daughter with Deathbird, named Aliyah.
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