Hero Profile: Banshee

Erin Go Bragh, Lads and Lasses. Ireland Forever for those that have never heard the Gaelic phrase, or seen the anglicized spelling. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and as an Irishman, less than half but more than a quarter, you bet your bottom I celebrate. Green clothes, a celebratory drink, I even put on an Irish Brogue for my customers at Fleet Farm. Yeah, I go a little overboard, so sue me. Because of my pride in my Irish roots, I figured it’d be a good idea to do an Irish character for St. Paddy’s day. Now the most Irish character that I could think of is Sean Cassidy aka Banshee, an Irish born Mutant and occasional X-man. My original plan was to do an entire theme week on Irish superheroes, but then I discovered several characters I intended to use were in fact Scottish. Can’t have a Scott appear for an Irish theme week, my ancestor’s would roll over in their graves. If you point out the fact that from a genetic standpoint there is no difference between the Irish and the Scottish, please, smack yourself. This is about Culture, not genes. Enough of my failed ideas and genetics, let’s get to it.

Cover your ears!

Sean Cassidy is from a relatively rich family, the main heir to the family’s castle estate and their fortune. Sean broke the mold of rich heirs in two ways. One, he married young and for love. His wife Maeve was very important to him, second only to his choice in career. Which is the second mold breaking thing he did, Sean chose to do something productive and noble with his life rather than just, you know, be rich. Said job was an Inspector with Interpol. He loved his work, loved his wife, and loved his wife. You know something is about to hit the fan. It’s like mentioning you’ve got two days to retirement, showing a picture of your girl while fighting overseas, or talking about how much you love your car/guitar/baseball/heirloom/etc. Bad signs. While Sean was away for a long mission with Interpol, Maeve found out she was pregnant and gave birth to their daughter, Theresa. Happy. Then was killed in an IRA bombing. Significantly… less happy. Theresa was cared for by Sean’s cousin Tom until he returned to Ireland. Why no one called him or his superiors to mention the pregnancy, birth or death of wife, I'll never know. Now, Tom did the dumb thing and mentioned the bad news, the dead wife thing, first. Before he could get to the good news, the alive daughter, Sean flipped out. Apparently in his grief Sean lashed out at his cousin, feeling that Tom hadn’t done his best to protect the pregnant Maeve like he swore too. The emotional turbulence at apparently losing his wife and child caused Sean’s latent powers to manifest, rather late in the game if I’m being honest, and he sonic blasted Tom off the side of a cliff. He survived, somehow. Tom received a permanent limp from the incident and swore vengeance against Sean, and to never tell his cousin about Theresa.

Just had to swap green for blue with the team costume
Easy Peasy.

Sean left Interpol, though later telling’s explain that Deadpool botched a mission so Sean’s options were either quit or be fired, and became a private detective. He crossed paths with an evil organization called Factor Three, a lesser Brotherhood of Mutants, and was offered a spot on their roster when one of it's leaders, Changeling, discovered Sean was himself a mutant. He was disgusted by Factor Three’s methods, probably because they might just remind him of the IRA, and refused. Not taking no for an answer, Changeling and a few Factor Three goons nab him in the dead of night and stuck an explosive headband on his noggin. Changeling gave him the codename Banshee, and forced Sean to do criminal dirty work for the revolutionist group. He worked with Factor Three for a short time before crossing paths with Charles Xavier in New York. Xavier was able to disarm the explosive headband, and offered him the X-men’s aid in defeating Factor Three. Sean accepted, they kicked some ass, and there was much rejoicing.

A few years later Sean joined the X-men officially, and even helped reform the group after it temporarily disbanded. He has fought against his disgruntled cousin “Black” Tom, who has his own plant manipulating powers, on several occasions. While the animosity still remains between them, Black Tom did eventually inform Sean about his daughter Theresa. Despite having never known her father, Theresa is just as happy to meet her father as he is to meet her, and the two of them do their best to make up for all the lost years. Sean also has a long on again, off again relationship with Charles’ ex, Moira MacTaggert. She’s usually the first person he goes to see if he loses his powers or drive to be a superhero. He’s remained a close friend of the X-men, often rejoining the team after brief stints of retirement.

Wasn't awful, but could have been better.

Banshee, as his name suggests, has a superpowered scream. More specifically, he has extremely powerful lungs, throat, and vocal cords, which allows him to use his voice for a variety of effects. He can fire off a super powerful sonic blast, capable of shattering glass, deafening or disorientating opponents, and even flight. Something about screaming with the right strength and frequency lets him fly, but honestly its most likely just because it looks cool. He can also use his powers to mimic or block sonar equipment, making him very useful for covert ops. Another side effect of his powers is selective hearing, he can basically enhance, hone in on, or block any sound, which does protect him from his own sonic scream. He’s also a skilled detective and capable hand-to-hand fighter. His most useful and unique piece of equipment is his costume. It’s designed to cut wind resistance while he’s in flight, and usually comes with underarm wings that help him fly on air currents and his own screams. It’s a very visually distinctive costume, what with how the underarm wings tapers out behind him. In flight he looks a bit like a flying squirrel.

Like Darwin, Banshee has been used somewhat sparingly. Though, he has appeared in a few more franchises.

Banshee was a recurring character in X-men: The Animated Series. In this universe he’s never an official member of the X-men, but is a close friend and ally. Although things between he and Xavier are a little tense when Xavier first is introduced. Meeting your ex’s new beau will do that to a man. Banshee helped fight his cousin and the Shi’ar during the Phoenix saga. He also helped the X-men track down and defeat Moira’s extremely powerful and slightly unstable son Kevin in the episode “Proteus.”

Just showing his friends round the castle. Normal Irishmen stuff.

In X-men: First Class Sean Cassidy, portrayed by Caleb Landry Jones, is introduced as an American (for some reason) teenager that is a founding member of the X-men. He is trained by Xavier and Magneto to use his sonic powers both for flight (the training montage has a few very funny scenes where he tries to figure it out) and even to use his powers as sonar. He spends most of the climax battling Angel Salvadore in the air. He doesn’t appear in the sequel Days of Future Past, but Magneto mentions him on a list of Mutant friends that were torture, experimented on or killed while Charles was locking himself away in the mansion. Considering we didn’t see his autopsy report, or a sick “trophy” taken from him, I think it might be safe to assume he’s alive but no longer active as a Mutant hero. I’d have return in X-men: Apocalypse if the choice was mine, I’d make him a Horseman alongside Darwin. It’d be badass. Just saying.

He has a cameo in X-men Legends II as an NPC. It’s a small role, but at least this time he’s played by an actual Irishman. It’s a good game, check it out.

I like Banshee. His powers, while not the most original, are used to great effect. He’s more than just a super-screamer, he can use sound to a variety of effects other than deafening folks. Though, admittedly, he does do that quiet a lot.  I really like the unique design of his costume with the trailing flying squirrel like wings that he has. His animosity with Black Tom is a slightly different twist on the family rivalry dynamic. At least they’re not brothers. Despite what the movie would have you believe he’s only been an X-man for rather short time, but he leaves a hell of an impact. He’s the superpower, screaming spirit inspired Mutant from the Emerald Isle, the Booming Banshee. Next time, I’ll cover the much, much scarier character that adapts to survive, the destructive Doomsday.

 http://x-men.wikia.com/wiki/Banshee

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

 http://de.x-men.wikia.com/wiki/Datei:New-X-Men-First-Class-Trailers-BeastHavok-and-Banshee.jpg

 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/226305950001652013/