Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
From medicine man to mechanical marvel, he’s the mysterious mutant: Forge
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Appearances in Heroclix: Deadpool Weapon X, X of Swords, House of X, Wizkids Marvel 18, Wolverine and the X-Men, Sinister
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #184 (Aug. 1984)
Team Affiliations: United States Army, X-Men, X-Factor, X-Corporation, X-Force
Powers/Abilities: Superhuman intuitive talent at inventing; Genius-level intelligence; Various mystical abilities; Skilled marksmanship
Created by: Chris Claremont – John Romita Jr.
Forge grows up on a Cheyenne reservation, trained to be a classic medicine man. However, Forge tends to gravitate towards technology more than mysticism which may be due in some part to his mutant abilities. This leads to a conflicted relationship with his teacher, Naze, which leads to the young Forge leaving to join the military.
Forge serves in the army during the Vietnam War and becomes a sergeant before being recruited by SHIELD. He declines, believing that he can do more good on the actual front lines. During his second tour, his unit is killed and enraged, Forge uses their spirits to summon a group of demons to destroy the Vietcong. The demons are successful but Forge realizes the danger he has created once he calms down. He orders an airstrike on his location to close the portal he opened. The strike does its job but also takes Forge’s right leg and hand as well as allowed The Adversary to come to Earth. This sequence of events leaves Forge hesitant to use any of his mystical knowledge.
Years later, Forge is able to use his mutant abilities to create cybernetic replacements for his limbs. When Tony Stark stops making weapons for the US government, Forge is hired by the Defense Department. During this time he creates a weapon to detect Dire Wraiths as well as a gun that can neutralize mutant powers. Henry Gyrich takes the weapon before proper testing is done and it is the same weapon that removes Storm’s powers, though Rogue is the intended target.
After losing her powers, Storm goes on a cross country trip to find herself. While on it, she falls into a river and is rescued by Forge. Forge brings her to his home and helps her recover from the fall. During this time, they begin to have romantic feelings for one another. This ends, however, when she discovers that he built the weapon that stole her powers. The pair are briefly reunited to battle the Dire Wraiths, alongside Magik and Amanda Sefton. Forge is able to improve his neutralizer and works together with Rom the Space Knight to send the Wraith’s home world into Limbo.
Once this is accomplished, Forge destroys all evidence of his neutralizer technology. He then sets to work on banishing the Adversary from Earth. The Adversary tricks Storm into stabbing Forge and casts them both into another dimension. While there, they rekindle their romance and Forge is able to restore Storm’s powers. Together, they open a portal back to Earth. They arrive just in time to join the X-Men in battling the Adversary. Forge knows how to banish the demon but its cost is high: it requires the sacrifice of nine willing lives. Eight X-Men and Madelyne Pryor volunteer and seemingly die in the spell, though the goddess Roma secretly restores them to life. Magik is enraged at Forge for killing he brother, Colossus, and attacks him. Feeling guilt over all of it, Forge lets Magik stab him with her soul sword. Rather than killing him, however, it allows the two to make peace with all the loss they’ve suffered and each other.
Unaware of his friends’ resurrection, Forge joins Freedom Force and a temporary team of X-Men to battle the Reavers on Muir Island. Destiny dies in this battle but not before sharing a vision of Forge and Mystique in love. Mystique immediately blames Forge for Destiny’s death leading to them going their separate ways. Banshee and Forge begin traveling the world to find the X-Men, after Polaris has a vision that the team is still alive and well. During this time they battle the Fenris Twins and rescue Jean Grey from a gang of Morlocks. They eventually find the X-Men and join them as full time members.
Forge helps rebuild the X-Mansion as well as redesign both the Danger Room and Blackbird. Though he is a great asset to the team, his relationship with Storm grows weakened until eventually ending. Forge returns to his home in Dallas, Texas and cares for Mystique. While there, the two grow close and become intimate.
Forge eventually replaces Valerie Cooper as the government liaison for X-Factor. They take part in the Infinity crusade. Forge gradually takes the mantle of leadership and even oversees Mystique and Sabretooth being forced to serve on the team. Eventually, the Adversary returns and is ultimately banished with help from Naze.
When the team is tricked into tracking down former member Multiple Man, Forge severs their relationship with the government. When the team goes underground, Forge and Mystique grow even closer romantically. Forge also builds a device to help save Strong Guy’s life during this time. Eventually, Sabretooth betrays the team and attacks Forge. This ultimately leads to Forge retiring from superheroics.
When Xavier begins an Underground movement, Forge willingly returns to help. He works in Genosha with Multiple Man as well as finding Mystique for a special mission. Forge helps several of the younger mutants with their powers and equipment. He eventually begins work on a Nimrod unit to protect mutants first and humans second. This leads to a confrontation with a Nimrod from an alternate timeline that is ultimately defeated by the arrival of the New X-Men.
Forge sends Madrox and Layla Miller to the future before going to rendezvous with the X-Men only to be shot by Bishop. This leads to an obsessive spiral in Forge, as Bishop steals several time travel devices that Forge had been working on. Forge heals enough to begin work and upgrades his home security to ensure that he will never fall victim to an attack like that again.
This obsession results in a plot involving advanced devices known as “Ghost Boxes.” Forge believes that a great invasion is coming an intends on sending the X-Men to another dimension to stop this invasion. Before this can be achieved, however, the Ghost Box is destroyed and Forge remains in his lab, content to be destroyed along with it.
Somehow Forge survives and is able to restore his right hand. His mind is healed by Cable before the time traveling mutant recruits Forge into a new X-Force team. Forge later joins Storm’s X-Men and builds a copy of Cerebro into a Sentinel body so that it can travel along with the team when they are tracking down mutants.
As part of the formation of Krakoa, Forge upgrades Cerebro so that it can store backups of mutant minds. Forge is chosen to be part of the X-Men during the second Hellfire Gala.
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