Bishop

Bishop using his Powers

"I am the savior of the future"

-Bishop

Characteristics

• Height- 6'6
• Weight- 275 lbs
• Eyes- Brown
• Hair- Black

History

Age of Apocalypse

When Professor Xavier's insane son, Legion, went back in time to assassinate Magneto, Bishop was one of the X-Men sent to stop him. When they failed, and Legion accidentally killed Professor Xavier, Bishop was the only time-traveler to remain when history was altered and became the Age of Apocalypse. He eventually convinced the Magneto of that era that the existence of this reality was wrong, and with a great amount of sacrifice, managed to correct the error and stop Legion. After the timeline reset itself, Bishop received some of his counterpart's unsettling memories of the Age of Apocalypse. The traitor in the X-Men was eventually revealed to be Professor X in the form of Onslaught. Bishop's knowledge of the future was the only thing that stopped Onslaught from killing the X-Men. As Onslaught fired a massive blast of psionic energy at the distracted X-Men, Bishop threw himself in front of them and absorbed the blast that would have killed them. Onslaught, winded from such a massive attack, said that his blast was enough to kill a thousand mutants and "Another time, another place, I would have been proud". Bishop lost consciousness after absorbing the blast, but soon recovered, although it was not enough to prevent Onslaught from nearly destroying all of humanity. He made peace with Gambit, who was not the traitor after all. On a mission in deep space, Bishop became separated from the rest of the X-Men. Despite trickery and base manipulation by Deathbird, he entered into a romantic relationship with her. They had many adventures far out in space, but when she turned on him and the X-Men, he seemingly killed her. Following this, Bishop spent some time in a distant possible future, detailed in the Bishop: The Last X-Man series, where he again faced Trevor Fitzroy. He was temporarily returned to the present by Apocalypse who needed him as one of The Twelve, before finally returning permanently during the Maximum Security crossover.

X-Treme X-Men

Bishop was a founding member of Storm's splinter team of X-Men, whose mission was to search for the Books of Truth, the diaries of the precognitive mutant Destiny. They left against the will and knowledge of the main team, as the splinter group did not trust in Xavier or the others to use the diaries for the benefit of humanity. He revealed his first name to be "Lucas", using it on a fake police ID. Even though the X-Men came to believe the diaries to be self-fulfilling, the team stayed together for a while before returning to the mansion. His team started believing that the others had grown more mutant-supremacist, and less interested in integration (the original reason that many of them joined the X-Men). While with his splinter team, Bishop was second-in-command. He would participate in solving murder mysteries, and even used false IDs to convince the local authorities he was one of them. With the disbanding of the team, Storm formed her own XSE, the X-Treme Sanctions Executive, which was officially recognized by the government as a mutant police force. Bishop had also begun a friendship with the X-Man Sage. They helped to uncover the killer of the White Queen. Bishop has recently been seen getting close to Angel's ex-girlfriend, Detective Charlotte Jones.

District X

Bishop joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and appeared regularly in District X, a police procedural set in a mutant ghetto in New York City. District X, or 'Mutant Town', had a high-population density. It was also a poverty-stricken area with high crime rates. Bishop was assigned to the area in order to resolve mutant-related crimes. The series was canceled after 14 issues. Since the events of House of M, Bishop continued to visit New York, but since a majority of the mutant population of District X was wiped out by the Scarlet Witch, Bishop turned his primary attention back to the X-Men and school. He had been involved with several missions with the team, such as taking down the Shi'ar Death Commandos, helping Psylocke deal with the Foursaken and the First Fallen, as well as helping Storm save Africa, from soldiers who were taking children from villages.

Civil War

In the Civil War: X-Men miniseries, Bishop sides with the O*N*E* to bring in the X-Men and the 198. He argued with Cyclops over allowing their escape, and stated his fear of what the future might hold. Val Cooper and Tony Stark let Bishop lead Micromax and Sabra into action against Domino, Shatterstar, and the rest of the 198. Bishop led them to the base where the 198 were hiding, and told the X-Men to stand down upon their arrival. However, General Demetrius Lazer betrayed him, by ensuring that Cyclops attacked Bishop. Though at first he simply absorbed it, the power was too much for him to control, and he was overwhelmed. Bishop was forced to direct the energy he had absorbed upwards, in a powerful blast that destroyed an O*N*E* Sentinel. He later teamed up with the X-Men to save the 198 from a bomb explosion, and then went his own way, leaving the X-Men. Bishop was among Iron Man's pro-registration forces, that guarded the Negative Zone prison. When Captain America's team breaks in, a fight ensues, putting Bishop at odds with his former teammates Storm and Cable.

Messiah Complex

In Messiah Complex, the precipitating event causing Bishop's future is finally revealed: the birth of the first mutant child since M-Day. As the Marauders, on Mister Sinister's orders, try to gather anyone and anything with knowledge of the future, Bishop is the only target they were unable to locate and terminate. It is revealed that he had betrayed the X-Men, and he attempted to kill the baby. However, before he could succeed, he was thwarted by the Marauders, who escaped with the baby. As X-Men arrive on the scene, Bishop pretends to have attempted to retrieve the baby. As Multiple Man's duplicate and Layla Miller find out in their mission to one of the planet's possible futures (80 years in the future) that the birth of the child created, the child apparently kills a million people in an event dubbed the Six-Second War, and the U.S. government incarcerates all the mutants into concentration camps, where Bishop is born, grows up, and sees his parents killed. As Multiple Man's dupe and Layla find out, Bishop wishes at a young age to have had the opportunity to kill the baby, so that, while he would not be born, he would also not have to see his parents die, and to endure the horrors of life in the concentration camps. Layla kills the dupe, so that the information conveyed to them by young Bishop can return to the present, to the Multiple Man prime, who conveys Bishop's treachery to the X-Men. The X-Men then attempted to alert X-Force to Bishop's betrayal, but he managed to block all of their communication channels. After arriving on Muir Island and fighting past the Marauders, Bishop found Cable attempting to escape with the baby, and the two fight. Both mutants are then attacked by Predator X, who viciously rips off Bishop's right arm. Bishop cauterizes his torn shoulder on an unconscious Sunfire. The wound did not kill him, though, and in an attempt to shoot down a teleporting Cable, he misses and hits Professor X instead.

Chasing the Mutant Messiah

Bishop managed to escape the X-Men after he seemingly killed their mentor, and makes several time jumps in an attempt to find his newest enemy and the mutant messiah. Now using a bionic arm, he eventually tracks Cable and the newborn mutant. Upon finding them, he shoots Cable twice before being hindered by a local gang. With Cable severely weakened by severe blood loss, he makes a risky attack before the gang can find heavier weapons. He later manages to track down Cable, slaying several mutated beasts in the process, and shoot the Mutant Messiah. He also finds that in the future generated by his choice, Cable will be always revered as a Messianic figure who tried his best to protect the Child, and saved humanity from the very beasts Bishop unwillingly saved Cable from. It has been revealed that the Messiah child is still alive and Bishop has been captured by the X-Men. However, in his efforts to kill the child Bishop has laid out several traps for Cable throughout the timestream, killing millions in the process, though he doesn't see them as people who actually exist, but as people who wouldn't exist or come back to life if he kills Hope.

Messiah War

After multiple failings at killing Hope, Bishop locates and enlists the aid of Stryfe, promising him that he would aid him in killing Apocalypse and Cable. Stryfe and Bishop travel to a point in the future where Apocalypse is at his weakest and manage to defeat him. Stryfe builds an empire using Celestial technology and Bishop becomes his right hand man, waiting for Cable and Hope to re-emerge. When they do appear along with X-Force, Hope is kidnapped. Bishop betrays Stryfe and his plot to kill Hope is foiled by Stryfe, who wants to make her his heir. Both attempts are foiled by Apocalypse, X-Force, and Cable. Cable manages to rescue Hope and escape yet again. Bishop escapes into the "near future" of the 21st century, reconstructing his arm, vowing to find Hope once again.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Energy Absorption: Bishop is a mutant who can absorb most types of energy directed toward him. He can then rechannel it through his body for concussive blasts or in the same form that was absorbed, including Storm's weather effects. This rechanneled energy is apparently able to damage beings normally immune to their own powers. The nature of his powers makes it difficult to damage him with energy-based attacks, while also enabling him to work well with any energy-using teammates. Bishop can also store absorbed energy within his personal reserves, whereupon the energy increases his strength and recuperative abilities, as well as affording him a measure of invulnerability. The upper limits of his ability to enhance his own physical abilities with absorbed energy is not exactly known but is well into the level of being super human.

• Concussive Blasts.
• Healing.
• Enhanced Strength.
• Near-Invulnerability.
• Cybernetic Arm: After Bishop lost an arm, he resorted to breaking into Forge's laboratory to find a replacement. According to the sign which identified the cybernetic arm that was stolen by Bishop, it is a "nuclear-powered battle-ready arm". All of the capabilities have not yet been revealed at this time, however Bishop has been shown to be able to release two clawed tendrils from the arm which he used to ensnare and strangle Cable. The arm had been modified to include Forge's time travel technology allowing Bishop to time-jump. Judging from the nature of the arm, not to mention its nuclear power source it is likely to have a considerable amount of superhuman strength, as well as, perhaps, abilities not yet revealed.

Abilities

Bishop recently has shown the ability to determine his exact location at all times. This may have to do with the chronal energies he absorbed . Bishop is a trained police officer, skilled in the homicide branch. Bishop has also had many years of armed and unarmed combat training has made him a devastating unarmed combatant, and a superb marksman with firearms, both from his own time, some of which he brought with him from the future when he originally arrived in our present, and also both heavy duty military and conventional guns and weapons of the present time.

Strength level

When not enhanced by his ability to absorb energy Bishop possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. When enhanced he can lift at least twice his bodyweight; 550 lbs

Weaknesses

• Originally unlike Sebastian Shaw and Agent Zero, Bishop was unable to absorb energy from inertial impacts such as hitting walls. This does not mean he was incapable of absorbing kinetic energy. Kinetic effects such as an exploding card from Gambit were absorbable. It would seem that as of late he is learning to absorb inertial impact energy, however he still cannot do so with anywhere near the efficiency of Shaw or Agent Zero. Whether it is possible to increase this ability in time with practice is unknown.
• Some energy types are more difficult to absorb than others. Bishop can be overloaded by trying to absorb too much energy.
• Although he can absorb psionic energy from blasts or telekinetic attacks, Bishop is not immune to telepathic attacks.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Sunglasses that display information and allow communication with the rest of the X-Men.

Weapons

XSE guns that fire laser beams and plasma charges. He is able to recharge them with his own stored energy.

Trivia

Bishop's nationality remains a mystery throughout the continuity although some sources report that he was born in Tondo a district in Manila, Philippines. Co-creator Whilce Portacio being half Filipino make's it possible, but it contradicts to his original purpose of being the first black male in the X-Men's team. -In "Comics:X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop Vol 1 3 Bishops grandmother and Storm were drawn remarkably similar. A close up of storm was placed near a panel featuring Gambit with the caption, "and yet some of them were painfully familiar". This was referring to the fact that Bishop had known Gambit in the future. It may have been trying to indicate that Storm and Bishops grandmother were one in the same. This is not the first time the two were subtly linked.