Xorn

This entry is for the X-Men character. For the Dungeons and Dragons creature, see Xorn (Dungeons and Dragons). Template:Superherobox Xorn is the surname of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics universe.

Kuan-Yin Xorn ("Xorneto")

The first Xorn was a mutant who claimed that his mutation had gifted him with a "star for a brain"; as a result, he was a powerful healer and possessed the ability to manipulate energy and gravity. He was originally found by the X-Men Cyclops and Emma Frost in China. He became a valued member of the team, even going so far as to apparently heal Professor X's severed spinal cord.

Soon he was put in charge of the "Special Class", a group of physical and social misfits who attended the Xavier Institute, who he soon commanded as his own unofficial team of X-Men. However, this proved to work against them when he took off his helmet to apparently reveal his identity as none other than the X-Men's nemesis Magneto. He claimed that he had used his energy-manipulation powers to fake the fictional Xorn's spurious mutation (Xorn had previously only demonstrated the ability to manipulate magnetism, gravity and electricity and to control nanotechnology, all of which Magneto was easily capable of). Upon this revelation, he once again crippled Xavier, levelled Xavier's mansion, and fatally wounded Jean Grey before being beheaded by Wolverine.

Charles Xavier then took "Xorneto"'s body to Genosha, where he joined with the real, alive and well, Magneto. While they debated (and the body of "Xorneto" was shown, wrapped in bandages), most of the answers so far have come in X-Men (see next section).

Shen Xorn

Later issues of X-Men have stated that Xorn was an actual person who was under the influence of the entity known as Sublime. A man named Shen Xorn possessing similar powers has appeared, saying he is the brother of the original Xorn. (The character Shen Xorn was created because Marvel thought Xorn was a marketable character and wanted to bring the character back. However, he left the team when Chuck Austen left as writer and has not been shown since then.

Behind the Scenes

Grant Morrison had intended Xorn to be the real Magneto. However, knowing that what he had planned for the character and the school would cause behind the scenes problems, he deliberately sent in his scripts at the last possible moment, to minimise the chances of being asked for rewrites (the New Mutants writers, whose book was also set in the school, only found out that Morrison had destroyed the school when New X-Men #147 came out).

Unhappy with the treatment and death of Magneto, wanting to allow other books to get back on track, and wanting a Xorn, a marketable new character, around; Marvel then reversed several of Morrison's decisions in the Planet X arc, reconstructing the school immmediately and reintroducing Magneto (in Chris Claremont's new Excalibur book, while establishing that he never left Genosha after it's destruction), and a new Xorn (in Chuck Austen's X-Men), while establishing that the new Xorn was the brother of the original and that the original had been possessed by some (unrevealed) force. Note that this is not strictly a retcon, but instead an example of an in-story revisation of prior events.

Some confusion has arisen, however, due to the somewhat chaotic way Marvel went about this reversal, in two separate comics, and without complete answers as of yet.

Grant Morrison fans remain unhappy at what they see as Marvel maliciously unwinding Morrison's story, while ignoring the impact of the story on other writers' plans. Other fans point out that Morrison's characterisation of Magneto (a Jewish Holocaust survivor) as a tyrannical dictator who would herd people into crematoriums was horribly out-of-character, and even offensive.

More recently, in the Avengers Disassembled event, the Scarlet Witch was revealed to have been subconsciously rewriting reality for some time, and some expect this, in the follow-up House of M miniseries, to be used to complete the explaination.