Hey everybody, welcome back to Marvel Snapshot! In this edition, we’ll be checking out one of Marvel’s biggest weasels in Fabian Cortez! This schemer has been a big part of the lives of the X-Men for a long time, but is now currently dead. He was quite a thorn in the side of the X-Men and Magneto for a while, and we’ll explore that right now! Fabian Cortez was created by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee in 1991 (X-Men #1 vol. 2).
Not much of Cortez’s early life is known, but at some point he became a fanatical follower of Magneto. He gathered a few other mutants, and began to start carrying out terrorist strikes on Genosha. He and his “Acolytes” were eventually brought to Magneto’s asteroid base (Asteroid M), and Cortez was so fanatical that he brought on the destruction of that base, and Magneto was mind-wiped by Xavier (X-Men #25, vol. 2). Magneto did survive, but was not seen for quite some time. Another who served Magneto at that time was a man called Exodus. This very powerful mutant knew Cortez had something to do with Magneto’s demise, so he hunted him down. He found that Cortez was still using Magneto’s name to rouse the people of Genosha into a civil war. During this event, “Bloodties,” Cortez knew Exodus was coming for him, so he kidnapped the child of Crystal (of the Inhumans) and Quicksilver. The baby, Luna, was caught between an all out war between the Genoshans, the X-Men, the Avengers, and Exodus.
There were battles with Sersi (of the Avengers) and Exodus, and then Exodus and a combination of X-Men and other Avengers. He was about to kill Cortez, and maybe even the baby, but then Xavier set into motion a calculated plan that had Exodus overtaxing his powers, while he assaulted the mind of Exodus, hurting him badly. Exodus knew he was defeated, but as he fled he lashed out at Quicksilver, almost killing him.
It would be a while before we would see Cortez again, but he eventually resurfaced in Genosha, and was even brought to Magneto, who allowed him to live and be a part of his new regime, as Magneto was now in control of the island nation. He eventually betrayed Magneto again, and was imprisoned. Magneto, who had been substantially less powerful, was regenerated to full power by some of the scientists on Genosha. He then grabbed Cortez from inside a prison cell, and hurled him many miles across the island, killing him.
Cortez has appeared once more since then, though, as he was resurrected by Selene during Necrosha. He and two other dead Acolytes (Delgado and Mellancamp) were attacking Loa, to obtain the whereabouts of Magneto. Selene wanted to exact revenge on him for his earlier ties to Emma Frost. At one point, Magneto helped Frost usurp the title of queen at the Hellfire Club, a title that belonged to Selene. Deadpool helped Loa, and Cortez was “killed” again.
Whether you love him or hate him (like most), you have to agree he was a polarizing character! And let’s be honest, since its comics, he’ll probably show up again in the future!
As usual, check out my recommended reading list along with some great covers below! See you next time!
Recommended Reading
X-Men: Mutant Genesis – Tpb
X-Men/Avengers: Bloodties – Tpb
Magneto Rex – Tpb
Magneto: Dark Seduction – Tpb
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
