Hero Profile: Bishop

I'm just going to lie down and pretend to be
Unconscious.

Okay, so the Sentinels were a terrible idea. Sure, on paper robots designed to protect humanity from an invasive force makes sense, but the shortsightedness of their designer Bolivar Trask and others overlooked the huge glaring flaw in their design. Mutants are human, they are born of humans, and, as Graydon Creed proved, humans can be born of Mutants. So asking Sentinels to indiscriminately attack and destroy the “Mutant Menace” becomes something of a problem when you consider that little factoid, doesn’t it? Well in at least one timeline people learned this a little too late, and the post-apocalyptic horror of Earth-1191 was created. And with it, characters like Lucas Bishop.

Bishop was born about eighty years in the future of the Marvel-verse, just in time to see the end of the Sentinel’s control of North America, though he did see quiet a bit of horror in those few years. He and his sister Shard grew up in a Mutant Concentration camp for most of their young lives. Mutants of this era were branded with an M over their right eye, to ensure that they could never hide. Eventually, Humans and Mutants banded together to over throw the Sentinels, but after the dust settled Humans were still less than thrilled to have Mutants running around, so the end of the camps was a long time coming. Bishop and Shard were raised by a man known as the Witness, rumored to be the last man to see the X-men in action, and their grandmother, an old ally of the X-men. As you might expect, he grew up idolizing the X-men and wished to see them in action.

While that was impossible, after a number of close calls and the deaths of various paternal figures, Granny included, Bishop and Shard enlisted in the Xavier Security Enforces, (XSE) the de facto X-men of his era. Created to both boost the opinion of Mutants to the Human populace and to stop Mutant Terrorist groups, the XSE were very good at their job.

Bishop blows your head off. No hard feelings.

Several years later Bishop and his squad captured a man by the name of Trevor Fitzroy, a powerful mutant that could drain the life force out of others and convert it into energy that he could use to create portals. He was a XSE drop out and a murderer. Oh, and he was also Shard’s ex. I’m assuming the Murder thing was just icing on the cake for Bishop to kick this guy’s tookus. Unfortunately, Fitzroy later escaped, after draining a LOT of power from other Mutant prisoners. Fitzroy and 93 other “Lifer” prisoners escaped into the past. Fitzroy’s best kept secret was his portals could travel across time as well as space. Bishop and his squad followed at the last moment, allowing Bishop to travel to the current era and meet the X-men for the first time. Since, Bishop has been an ally of the X-men, and at times a reluctant adversary. While he will always idolize the heroes, he is more focused on making sure horrible timelines like his own are never created. Tough job, bro.

Bishop’s Mutant power is the ability to absorb insane amounts of energy. Heat, radiation, electrical, conductive and so on, all are absorbed into his body. Once he has the power, he can either use it to enhance his own body (increase his strength, stamina, regenerative rate and so on) or to release it in a powerful concussive force. He can absorb kinetic energy a little, but it isn’t on the same level as other power sources. A little too complicated explanation for ya? Here’s an example. Bishop is struck by lightning. He can absorb all of that raw power, make himself stronger, or release it in an explosive wave. This happens if he is set on fire, shot with a laser, shot with plasma, Cyclops eye-beamed, Nuked, or if he spends the afternoon sunbathing. Though that last one probably would be a significantly weaker blast. He is also a master of firearms in both future and modern era, and he’s a trained swordfighter. He’s essentially a Cop from the future, they don’t skimp on the training.

He doesn't say or do much, except be awesome.
And his death at the hands of the Sentinels is amazing.

Bishop is a popular character, although his presents in X-men and the greater Marvel-verse is somewhat limited.

He appeared several time in X-men: The Animated Series of the 90s, usually time hopping from the future to stop the latest life ending calamity. His intervention stopped the death of Senator Kelly and the creation of the Days of Future Past timeline, the release of a deadly techno-organic virus engineered by Apocalypse, and the assassination of Charles Xavier at the hands of the aforementioned Fitzroy, and a Sentinel super-warrior called Nimrod. Nimrod originally meant Great Hunter, you can thank Bugs Bunny for the fact it’s now synonymous with stupid. He also helped the X-men stop Apocalypse's most insane plan, use telepaths to somehow destroy time itself and remake it in his own image. High fives all around.

Bishop also appeared in Wolverine and the X-men, working alongside a time displaced Xavier to, again, stop the Sentinels. Bishops seems awfully involved in a conflict that according to the comics was over by the time he was a teenager. Ah well, the whole fighting Sentinels thing is always cool.

He had a cameo as a child in the X-men Legends video game, and was a playable character in X-men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. He is much more awesome in the second one, obviously, though it’s always nice to see a cameo. He also appears in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 video game, on the Pro-registration side of the conflict, as he did in the comics.

He had a brief appearance in X-men: Days of Future Past, portrayed by Omar Sy. He was a member of Iceman and Kitty Pryde’s surviving X-men team. He was largely there only to look awesome and shoot stuff, but he does it so very, very well. Also, I’ve heard a few complaints that the Future team of X-men was very diverse, while the past team was composed solely of white dudes. To which I say, the movie took place in the 70s. Need I say more?

Bishop is a pretty awesome character. He’s a time traveler, which is always a bonus for a character, and he’s also a Cop from the future. Double points. He’s very much a “for the greater good” sort of man, when he has to choose a side in a conflict he always bases his choice on how he feels it will affect the future. In one of his most recent storylines he personally hunted a young girl that he’d helped raised because he’d seen a future where her powers decimated the world. Heartbreaking, no?  His powers make him a destructive force to be reckoned with, and he just looks so good when shooting people. How can I best sum up Bishop? In his first appearance after being stranded in the far flung future, he appears in LA and announces to the world in a booming voice “I’M BAAACK!” sums him up pretty well, doesn’t it?

Next time: The bad part about the Avengers.

Mullets look silly. Unless it's Bishop's Mullet
Then it's glorious.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_%28comics%29

 http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/bishop-vs-havok-10207/

 http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Lucas_Bishop

 http://marvel.wikia.com/Lucas_Bishop_%28Earth-95169%29