Art by Mark Brooks
- Name: Benett du Paris
- Code Names: Exodus
- First Appearance: X-Factor #92 (July ‘93)
- Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleportation, Healing Factor
- Team Affiliation: Acolytes, Brotherhood of Mutants
About
The central conflict of the X-Men franchise is the ideology of Charles Xavier vs Magneto. Can mutants peacefully coexist with the rest of the world or do they need to rise up and take control of the future for only mutants. Many champions have risen for either side but the 90’s X-Men book’s brought two interesting characters out of time who embodied these ideals. While the future X-Man Bishop was a devout follower of Charles Xavier, Magneto had his most zealous Acolyte in Bennet du Paris, the 12thcentury crusader best known as Exodus.
Exodus first appeared in the X-Factor tie in to the Fatal Attraction crossover, created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Quesada as a member of Magneto’s Acolyte’s. He participated in the fight against the X-Factor team, X-Force, and the combined X-Men Blue and Gold teams during the event. He rose to the position of power previously filled by Fabian Cortez as Magneto’s top lieutenant. He passionately believed in mutant supremacy and used his substantial mutant abilities to ensure victory. When Magneto was incapacitated during the event, Bennet took leadership of the Acolyte’s and ensured the care of the comatose Magneto, believing he could hear his master’s voice.
Art by Joe Quesada
When Fabian Cortez manipulated mutant human relations in Genosha to a state of civil war and kidnapped Quicksilver’s daughter Luna, Exodus could not stand on the sidelines. While the Avengers and X-Men tried to keep the peace, Exodus made it his mission to protect the mutants against the humans and save his master’s granddaughter. He was able to defeat the Avengers Sersi and War Machine before finding Cortez and Luna. After a fierce standoff, Exodus was able to defeat Magneto’s former lieutenant and return Luna to her father. In retribution for the human’s actions during the event, Exodus told the Genoshian they must rise up and kill the humans or he would destroy their home. The Black Knight recognized Bennent and was able to defeat his former friend while Exodus retreated to the Acolyte base of Avalon.
When Colossus defected to join the Acolyte’s, we got our first real view of how Exodus treated his crusaders. Colossus took to the defense of the Acolyte known as Neophyte for helping a human at the expense of his mutant brethren. Bennent du Paris stood as intermediary to interpret Magneto’s will. Exodus had become increasingly isolated, spending all his time with the comatose Magneto and lashing out against those who would dare deem themselves worthy of looking upon his saviors face. He said he received all orders and counsel from Magneto but his religious devotion to the man put his commands in question. While the verdict was assumed by all to be death, Colossus stood his ground and made a passionate call for mercy. He was adamant that the Magneto that trained his sister would not sentence this boy to die. Exodus adapted the judgment saying “I would have taken his life without a shred of remorse, but Magneto is by far a more compassionate soul” and banished Neophyte to Earth. Paris was shaken by this doubt, a doubt that the Acolytes may no longer believe he spoke for the master of magnetism.
Art by Rodger Cruz
In the one-shot Black Knight: Exodus, Bennet de Paris’ origin was finally revealed. Dane Whitman, the modern Black Knight, had his mind transported into the body of the 12th century Black Knight, Eobar Garrington. Eobar was on a quest with his friend and fellow crusader Bennet du Paris to find a pharaoh’s temple that was said to hold great power. During their quest the two were taken prisoner by the ancient mutant En Sabah Nur and forced to fight and determine only the strongest survive. The knights were unwilling to kill each other and Exodus attacked Apocalypse calling him a false god. Apocalypse stopped the mutant and beat him comatose, as he fled into the night. After six months the Black Knight was able to find the friend, cursed inside a crystal crypt in the Swiss Alps. He had guards posted for generations until Bennet would be awoken again by his savior, Magneto.
Art by Jim Cheung
Exodus would continue to be a threat to the X-Men and others throughout the late 90’s and early 2000’s. He took control of Wundergore Mountain in a play to eliminate those he deemed impure mutations like the Inhumans or the High Evolutionary’s New Men. The Heroes for Hire, including the Black Knight, were able to stop him and his Acolytes and Dane was forced to seal his old friend in the crypt once again. After the fall of Genosha and the apparent death of Magneto, Exodus escaped and formed his own Brotherhood of Mutants. They attacked the X-Men’s home and were successful in killing the mutant Squidboy before being sucked into the Black Hole in Shen Xorn’s (who is different from the Xorn was actually Magneto on drugs but then wasn’t actually Magneto at all) head. It was written by Chick Austen and only served the ruin the relationship between Squidboy and Juggernaut (who was on the X-Men at the time) which was the only good thing about his run.
Art by Salvador Larocca
The Decimation devastated Exodus. His cause of mutant superiority had fallen to an impossible dream and his savior, Magneto, rendered powerless. After confirming there were no new mutants, Exodus and his new Acolytes, aligned themselves with Mr. Sinister, who promised he alone could save the mutant race. Exodus next led his Acolytes on an attack on the Xavier Institute to recover the Destiny Diaries. While the assault proved fruitless it played into Sinister’s greater machinations leading into the Messiah CompleX event. When the first mutant since M-Day was born, she was heavily sought after. Exodus believed Sinister when he said the baby could be used to return mutant kind to its rightful place and fought the X-Men for possession of the child. The crusader was defeated by the Islamic mutant Dust during the final struggle but had enough strength to take Charles Xavier from the fight after the man was shot in the head.
Art by Humberto Ramos
Exodus made it his mission to see that Xavier survived the event. He was able to heal the physical damage atom by atom but struggled to fix the mental defects. Exodus removed all of Xavier’s memories but was unable to return them without the help of Eric Lehnsherr, even then there were gaps in Xavier’s mind. When Eric struck the Acolyte Frenzy, Exodus felt he had no choice but to kill the human for striking a mutant. Charles stood in defense of his former friend and telepathically defeated Exodus. Humbled by this Benett du Paris rejected the name Magneto gave him when he awoke and pledged fealty to Xavier, offering him control of the Acolytes. Xavier refused and Bennett declared he must find a new way to help the fledgling mutant race.
Art by Scot Eaton
Benett was horrified that Cyclops and Wolverine would fracture the mutant people over their schism. After agreeing with Wolverine’s moral stance, Benett decided he must eliminate the man standing in the way of mutant unification. He must kill Cyclops. The combined efforts of the Jean Grey School X-Men and Generation Hope were enough to stop Benett and he was taken to the X-Brig on Utopia. He reappeared to assist SHIELD dealing with the powerful mutant Matthew Malloy and was killed when he tried to enter the boy’s mind. Thanks to time travel shenanigans this got erased and Exodus has not been seen since.
Art by David Baldeon
Must Read
There are two strong contenders when talking about best Exodus stories. Mike Carey did good work with him in his run on X-Men: Legacy but in my mind you can get everything you need to know about Exodus is a single issue, Uncanny X-Men #315: Judgement at Avalon. This is the story of the Acolyte trial that Exodus presides over and it really digs into the character. You understand his devotion to the cause and sympathize with him, even as you are horrified at the actions he is going to take. Writer Scott Lobdell and guest artist Rodger Cruz do a fantastic giving a sense of family to the Acolytes and turning them into Magneto’s X-Men in a way the Brotherhood never were. This is a hidden gem of the 90’s X-Men and can be found on Marvel Unlimited.
Art by Rodger Cruz
Ranking
I think Exodus is a much better concept than he has ever been written. He is the ultimate crusader for Magneto and mutant superiority but he has never been consistently written to live up to that potential. He has a pretty cool design but his power set feels so generically strong. His history makes him sound like a Silver Age baddie but he was conceived smack dab in the middle of the 90’s. I think someone is going to come along and write an amazing story with Exodus someday but it just hasn’t happened yet. He is the most developed villain on the list and I think he has more upside than Longshot. That’s why Exodus is sitting right under Armor as the new number 7 in the Xavier Files.
Exodus was requested by someone on tumblr and I totally forgot to write their name down, if it was you let me know and I’ll add it. Thanks for the request! If YOU have a character you want me to do, send me a message on my Ask Box and I’ll get it added to the list. If you send it anonymously I can’t respond privately to you which means if there is an issue or something I think you should know, I can’t tell you and who wants that. I am pretty well booked with requests till June so don’t be shocked if it takes a little bit to get to yours, I am on it! Thanks for reading!
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
