- Name: Callisto
- Code Names: Callisto
- First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #169 (May ‘83)
- Powers: Heightened senses and reflexes
- Teams Affiliation: Morlocks, Excalibur
About
There is a certain strength in deciding to abandon the modern world. Shed the trappings of everyday life and form a new society free of the glares of the ”normal people” who mock you. It wouldn’t matter what you looked like if you surrounded yourself with other outcasts, you could rule on strength, not privilege. The sewer dwelling society known as the Morlocks decided to do just that, cast aside the surface world and become their own people, a mutant community for those that society rejected. A group like that needed a fierce, uncompromising leader, and none were better suited for the job than Callisto.
Portrayed by Dania Ramirez in X-Men: The Last Stand
Created by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, Callisto was introduced as the leader of the grotesque Morlocks. She was fair but harsh, making sure their secret society stayed running as smoothly as possible. Callisto was an ugly woman, ratty unkempt hair, a scared face, sharp nose, and an eye patch, but above all else she was prideful. This came to a head when she decided that the leader of the Morlocks needed a consort, but not any mutant would do. Callisto wanted to prove her power by controlling the most beautiful mutant in the world. She sent a team of Morlocks to capture Warren Worthington III, the retired X-Man known as Angel. Her team surprised Warren and dragged him down to the sewers. She chained him up and clipped his pinfeathers, leaving the high flying mutant grounded.
Art by Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek, and Bob Sharen
The X-Men caught word of their comrade’s capture and rushed down to the tunnels to rescue him but were quickly overwhelmed. The wicked Morlock Masque tortured the X-Men and Storm got the brunt of it, but it was nothing compared to what Kitty Pryde was going through. Plague had infected Kitty with a deadly sickness but Callisto refused to provide aid unless her an Angel were wed. The leader of the Morlocks was challenged by Storm. No powers, only switchblades, to the death, and the prize? Leadership of the Morlocks. Callisto was cocky but began to tremble when she saw the way Ororo handled the knife. The faced each other, both women of strength, both raised in hardship, both champions of their people. Storm lunged at her but Callisto was able to dodge the blade. Callisto drew first blood, a glancing swipe to Storm’s face, and she began to move with more conviction. She dodged another of Storm’s blows and scored a deep cut on the Weather Witch’s arm. She taunted Storm but felt her arm jerked upwards. Ororo Munroe had twisted Callisto’s arm in her cape. Callisto barley had time to think before she felt cold steel slide into her heart. Her eyes opened wide as her body began to slowly collapse. Storm calmly walked forward and freed Warren. As the Morlock Healer saved her from certain death, Callisto watched Storm command her people. She had lost her throne.
Art by Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek, R. Benton, and J. Casey
After this defeat Callisto was obsessed with regaining her title as leader of the Morlocks. During the unpleasantries with Angel, Kitty Pryde had made an arrangement to marry the innocent Morlock Caliban and Callisto decided to use that to her advantage. She had Kitty captured and brought to the altar, the X-Men could only watch as the solemn girl decided to keep her word. What Callisto didn’t anticipate was Caliban’s kind heart. Knowing that she would be unhappy in the sewers, Calliban released Pryde from her vows and Storm chastised Callisto for the stunt. The two rivals batted again with Kulan Gath turned New York City into a Conan the Barbarian realm. During the battle Storm saved Callisto’s life, and while the Morlock wasn’t pleased with the situation, she was honorable. Callisto vowed that she owed Storm a debt for saving her life, but that would not stop her from eventually reclaiming her title as the Morlock leader. For the time being she would be the mouth piece of Ororo among the Morlocks, assisting Professor Xavier after a devastating attack by an anti-mutant gang. She proved her loyalty by going against Masque when he manipulated the Power Pack’s lives and tried to force them to be children to an elderly Morlock named Annalee.
Art by John Romita Jr., Dan Green, and Glynis Wein
When the Mutant Massacre occurred Callisto was one of the first Morlocks to escape, if wounded, and she went to the X-Men for assistance. As leader of the Morlocks, she expected Storm to protect her people and the X-Men sprang into action. The losses were great, the X-Men were unable to save many Morlocks and suffered heavy losses as Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Colossus were all gravely injured in the fight. Storm struggled with coping with the utter defeat of the X-Men and her failure as the leader of the Morlocks, she had recently been depowered and couldn’t cope with her feelings of helplessness. She ran from the X-Men at their time of greatest need. Callisto was having nothing of it. She chased Storm down and laid into her, Storm’s loss was nothing compared to what Callisto had suffered that night. She beat Storm, preaching responsibility, drilling into her head that she no longer had the right to run from this fight, to leave Morlocks and X-Men to die. She threw the vest, the Morlock symbol of leadership, at Storm’s feet, telling her to be worthy of the respect Callisto had given her. The tough love worked and the two returned to save what remained of their people.
Art by Rick Leonardi, Dan Green, and Glynis Oliver
After the Massacre Callisto relocated to Muir Island for a time but eventually got restless and returned to New York. In her absence Masque had rallied the remaining Morlocks against their former leader and used his powers to reshape her, making her beautiful one moment and hideous the next. She was eventually rescued by the X-Men and her body was stuck in the beautiful shape Masque had formed it. Callisto made the best of the situation, getting a job as a model and dating an artist going by Peter Nicholas. Masque got his revenge when he had his Morlocks attack her again with lethal force. Her life was saved by Healer but her beauty could not be saved. She vowed revenge against her former people and allied with Mikhail Rasputin when he flooded the Morlock tunnels, sending the people to the dimension known as The Hill (see the article on Marrow for more details). When Gene Nation began its terrorist activities, Callisto aligned herself with the X-Men and led her rival Storm to stop the deranged Marrow. Callisto began to mentor Marrow and, after Callisto was injured in Operation: Zero Tolerance, encouraged Marrow to join the X-Men. Marrow continued to care for Callisto until Callisto was secretly healed by the Dark Beast and left in a story line that went absolutely nowhere.
In the intervening years, Masque opened and ran an underground mutant fighting arena, creatively called The Arena, in Japan. Remembering the fierce warrior he used to follow he kidnapped Callisto, reshaped her arms into tentacles, and forced her to fight in The Arena. Alongside Storm’s X-Treme X-Men, Callisto led a revolt of the gladiators and took control of the Arena. When Professor Xavier made it his mission to rebuild Genosha, Storm asked Callisto to keep an eye on him and she eventually became the leader of his new Excalibur team.
Art by Aaron Lopresti
Callisto lost her mutant abilities during M-Day and remained on Genosha with the remnants of her Excalibur team. She was among the first to volunteer when Quicksilver promised he could repower the former mutants with Terrigen Mists but she didn’t anticipate the side effects. Her senses were heightened more than she could handle and as little as a drop of rain was enough to knock her out. She eventually recovered and the effects of the Mists went away. She followed Marrow when she joined Quicksilver’s X-Cell, warning her protégée not to take Quicksilver’s gift without understanding the consequences. She reappeared recently as a caretaker for runaway teens in the former Morlock tunnels and is currently in Uncanny X-Men warning of a mysterious threat in the sewers.
Art by Ken Lashley and Nolan Woodard
Must Read
There hasn’t been a Must Read that was so easy to pick because every X-Man fan needs to read the first Morlock story in Uncanny X-Men #169 & #170. This is where Claremont was hitting his stride and pumping out the most consistently good work of his career. The mood is dark, creepy, and just a bit sad. The Morlocks immediately become interesting characters and the reader is left wanting another story with them. The X-Men are the most engaging they have ever been. More than anything else Paul Smith’s art elevates the script to legendary heights. The climatic duel between Callisto and Storm ranks among the best fights in comics and must be read. These issues are on Marvel Unlimited and collected in the classic X-Men: From Ashes TPB and the recently released Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol 3.
Art by Art Adams
Ranking
Callisto is a very engaging character when written well. Her use as a foil to Storm in the 80’s is enough to push her in the top half of the list. After the Mutant Massacre she really hasn’t felt like she has had a point and has had some questionable design choices (seriously Masque, what’s with you and tentacles?). I would get more excited by Callisto showing up than if Pete Wisdom popped in a book, and as a strong female character I think Rachel Summers is more three dimensional. That leaves Glob Herman and he is always a tough one to compare against. I enjoy Glob more but I think Callisto has been written better. Glob has a much cooler design but he hasn’t been as fleshed out as the Morlock leader has been. At the end Callisto was part of one of the best scenes the definitive X-Men writer even did and because of that she will slide above Glob Herman as the new number 10 in the Xavier Files.
Callisto was requested by /u/MRRoberts on reddit. Thanks for the request! If YOU have a character you want me to do, leave a comment and I’ll get it added to the list.
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Next week do super science and get the most requested character ever on the list. That’s right nerds, Doctor Nemesis is joining the Xavier Files. See you then!
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.
