Caliban

Caliban Caliban is already familiar when the Morlocks appear. He first encountered the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #148, and #169–170 place him within this larger underground community. His ability to sense other mutants helps explain how people scattered across the city could be found and brought into the tunnels. In #169, he discovers Kitty Pryde after Plague has infected her. He pulls her from the water and brings her to his room, trying to care for her as her fever worsens. His concern is genuine, but it is tangled with the hope that rescuing her will make her remain with him. Kitty’s situation becomes desperate in #170. Caliban fears that helping her reach the X-Men will leave him alone again, and she promises to stay if he helps. The exchange exposes his fear of abandonment while showing how unfairly his loneliness is being imposed on her. He eventually carries Kitty to the others and appeals to Callisto. When she refuses to help, Caliban explains that a challenge to her leadership can overturn her decision. His knowledge gives the trapped X-Men a way forward. My take: Caliban was a pretty forgettable character. He was a side character for a lot of the older comics, and he was unique. He was also one of the ones that underwent one of the biggest transformations. I was extremely surprised when he got picked up by Apocalypse and completely changed. He turned into an absolute badass after that. I've not even finished his whole storyline, but he went toe to toe with both Angel and Sabretooth and held his own. He's a beast now. He's a hell of a character, and I'm curious. Again, I know a lot about X-Men history, but this is my first time doing a full read-through, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the direction that he goes in.