Wild Child (comics)
Wild Child (or
Wildchild), also known as
Weapon Omega and
Wildheart, is a
fictional character in the
Marvel Comics universe. The character has been active as both a
superhero and a
supervillain. He has been a member of
Alpha Flight,
X-Factor, and
Weapon X. He was created by
John Byrne in a
cameo appearance in
Alpha Flight volume 1 #1, but he did not appear in full until
Alpha Flight volume 1 #11.
Wild Child (real name Kyle Gibney) is a
mutant who manifested a feral mutation during puberty; this mutation granted him enhanced strength and agility and an increased rate of regeneration. He also suffered from a bestial appearance, which prompted his parents to throw him out of their house. Living on the streets, he was kidnapped by the conspiratorial
Secret Empire and subjected to mind- and body-altering experiments. The experiments had the consequence of making him psychologically unstable, and in particular prone to violent and animalistic behavior. During this time, he became acquainted with Dr.
Valerie Cooper, a
United States government official who was unaware of the Secret Empire's true nature or activities. He was freed by
Wyre, the man who had unwittingly been the source for the genetic material that was used in the Empire's experiments.
Gibney (now
Wild Child) was detained by the military and given over to the custody of
Canada's secret
Department H, who oversaw the formative
Alpha Flight team. The Flight member
Walter Langkowski, wanting to protect the youth from the military, placed him in the trainee team dubbed
Gamma Flight. After Alpha Flight and its trainee groups were officially disbanded, Gibney was recruited to join the first
Omega Flight team, who fought and were defeated by Alpha Flight twice. Afterwards, he committed a series of murders, which ended when he was captured by
Wolverine after he almost killed Alpha Flight member
Heather Hudson.
Wild Child was subsequently pardoned under unrevealed circumstancesand given membership in the new
Gamma Flight team. When that team was also disbanded, he went berserk over his deprecated status and attacked
Pathway, another trainee. Gamma's leader
Nemesis teleported him away during a fight with Heather Hudson (then
Guardian) and Wolverine. Department H would later help him overcome his psychological problems, train him in unarmed combat, and place him in Alpha Flight under the codename
Weapon Omega. He eventually changed his codename to
Wildheart and became romantically involved with his teammate
Aurora.
His appearance eventually deteriorated back to his initial feral form, which prompted him to leave Alpha Flight and Aurora. He followed Valerie Cooper to the United States, where he joined the government operated team X-Factor. There he began a romantic relationship his teammate
Shard. His feral teammate
Sabretooth frequently attempted, with little success, to convince Wild Child to become a hunter and killer like himself. He remained with the team until his body began mutating towards a more feral form. He eventually degenerated to a near-mindless state and was recruited (either willingly or via brainwashing) by the new
Weapon X team.
As part of his draft, Wild Child was paired with Sabretooth to try and recruit
Sunfire to the program. The
Japanese mutant refused and badly burned Sabretooth. When Wild Child mocked his burns Sabretooth viciously sliced through Kyle's
vocal cords, making sure that he would remain mute. His past flame, Aurora, was also recruited into the team but she was not herself. After the Weapon X upgrades she became cocky and aloof, snubbing the ugly Wild Child and even engaging in a relationship with the horribly disfigured Director of the program. This became fuel for the fire when
Brent Jackson attempted to undermine the authority of the Director
Malcolm Colcord. Using Aurora's attitude toward him as motive, Jackson convinced Wild Child to join his splinter group, and was still seen with this group in the
limited series Weapon X: Days of Future Now.
Decimation
Wild Child was seen on a terminal screen in
New Avengers #18 as one of the mutants depowered after
M-Day. His energy signature was found within the entity known as
The Collective, along with the energy signatures of many other depowered mutants.
Kyle Gibney has superhuman senses, moderately enhanced strength and enhanced agility. His teeth and fingernails are hardened and strong enough to rend substances as thick as bone. His body heals at a rate several times greater than that of a normal human being but not at the rate of
Sabretooth's healing factor. He also has various animal-like mutations common for 'feral' mutants: leaf-shaped ears, eyes with neither pupils nor irises, sharper then normal teeth with pronounced, fang-like canines and elongated fingernails, as well as his hunched body posture. He is an excellent
hand-to-hand combatant.
As a result of injuries suffered at the hands of Sabretooth, Wildchild is currently
mute.
In the
Age of Apocalypse alternate timeline, Wild Child was a member of the X-Men and was frequently partnered with Sabretooth. Wild Child possessed a low level of intelligence (comparable to that of a dog) and an inability to communicate verbally. As such, he was kept on a chain leash to prevent him from harming any of the X-Men. For a time, he was Sabretooth's
sidekick but his current fate is unknown and he is presumed dead.
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AlphaFlight.Net*
Uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On Wild Child
