Reaper carries a scythe, which gives him a recognizable silhouette before he has said much. The important detail is that a strike can interfere with a victim’s ability to move.…

Reaper carries a scythe, which gives him a recognizable silhouette before he has said much. The important detail is that a strike can interfere with a victim’s ability to move. He is equipped to make somebody helpless, not merely to give them another wound to fight through. His confrontation with Cable in New Mutants #87 demonstrates that danger. Cable is affected, but still manages to hit back. It is a short exchange that makes room for both the threat and its limits. Landing the special attack does not automatically end the encounter. Reaper’s behavior is another part of the picture. He is eager to keep hurting people even when the rest of the operation is moving toward its exit. That makes him a poor fit for any comforting idea that the MLF only uses the minimum violence necessary to make its point. A team can have a stated objective and still contain people who enjoy what the objective allows them to do. Reaper gives that problem a face. His enthusiasm matters because it affects how the victims experience an attack, regardless of the explanation Stryfe gives afterward. The early version does not need later injuries, replacements or upgrades added to him. The scythe, the disabling effect and his willingness to use them already establish his place. He is the member who makes it especially difficult to believe that everybody in this group is reluctantly doing a bad thing for a good reason.