Wolfsbane (comics)
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Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair) is a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, she first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants. (1982)
A Scottish mutant, Wolfsbane possesses the ability to transform into a wolf. She has honed her powers to shift between human and wolf characteristics but must keep her feral instincts at bay as she does.
She was originally a member of the X-Men's 1980s junior team The New Mutants and later the Pentagon-sponsored X-Factor and the European offshoot Excalibur. She is current a member of the X-Factor Investigations detective agency. She has thus been a member of four secondary X-Men teams, more than any other character.
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[edit] History
Wolfsbane first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants. Rahne (pronounced "Rain") is a Scottish citizen who was a ward of Moira MacTaggert. She was recruited by Professor X to join the original New Mutants and remained with that team for much of its existence.
Rahne was raised as an orphan by an abusive priest named Reverend Craig who beat religion into her from an early age. When she was revealed as a mutant, Reverend Craig led an angry mob intending to burn her at the stake. Rahne was rescued and later adopted by Moira MacTaggert. Later, when she confronts Reverend Craig as an adult, she learned that Reverand Craig is actually her biological father and that her mother had been a prostitute.
Rahne was the youngest of the New Mutants. Although she was a shy, emotionally repressed girl, Rahne managed to build a strong frienship with Danielle Moonstar and harbored a crush on Sam Guthrie. Danielle was also able to establish a psychic link with Rahne when the latter was in wolf form. Rahne's strict religious upbringing often made her uncomfortable when dealing with mythological entities or demons, as well as making her uncomfortable almost to the point of self-loathing with her superhuman power, which resembles the transformations of a werewolf; these feelings were at odds with the pure joy she found in using her powers, causing a deep emotional conflict. She was disturbed to find herself attracted to Hrimhari, a shapeshifting wolf prince while in Asgard.
During the X-Tinction Agenda storyline in Genosha, Rahne was mentally bonded to Havok and was subsequently manipulated by the Shadow King; this led to her joining X-Factor. Some time after her mental damage from the Genoshan bonding process was undone, she returned to MacTaggert's base on Muir Island and joined Excalibur. Following the disbanding of Excalibur, she and teammate Douglock stayed on Muir Island to assist Moira in her search for a cure for the Legacy Virus. Unfortunately, the island came under attack by the Brotherhood, an attack that resulted in Moira's death, the destruction of the island, and the suppression of Rahne's mutant powers when Mystique shot her with a version of Forge's Neutralizer.
Rahne spent some time motorcycling across the United States following the loss of her powers, causing her to adopt a new, less introverted persona, most exemplified by the growing out of her hair from its normal short buzz-cut and the loss of her Scottish brogue. Rahne's travels eventually brought her back to New York, and she became both a teaching assistant at the Xavier Institute and a part-time employee of Jamie Madrox's detective agency, X-Factor Investigations. Prior to her joining the Institute faculty, Rahne was in a relationship with Elixir. A passionate encounter between the two caused Elixir's mutant healing abilities to restore Rahne's powers; however, Rahne's reversion to her wolf form prompted a tragic moment of savagery that left Elixir seriously wounded. Elixir was able to heal himself, but Rahne opted to end the relationship when she was hired as a teacher for the Institute. Though Rahne was initially resistant to continuing the relationship, the two began seeing one another secretly until Rahne ended it upon learning that Elixir's classmate Wallflower was interested in him. When she ended the relationship, the conversation was overheard by Wither, and he later released the information to the whole school, in an attempt to end Elixir's budding relationship with Wallflower. In the wake of this, Rahne resigned from the school, and her formerly close friendship with Dani Moonstar, Elixir's legal guardian, has become strained.
Rahne now works full-time for X-Factor. Many aspects of her previous persona are now evident, including her close-cropped hairstyle and Scottish accent. She attends church meetings each week and her devout Christian religiosity remains a central aspect of her character. Previously in X-Factor #6, she rescued Layla Miller from the orphanage where (X-Factor at least has been led to believe) she was being abused. Recently in X-Factor #12, Rahne has been tormented by a vision, implanted by Tryp of a possible future where she murders Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller on their wedding day. She has told the X-Factor psychiatrist that she has even considered killing herself to prevent it from happening but "Suicides go to hell... but so do murderers. So I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't" (X-Factor #13).
Rahne is also seen in New X-men #32 where it is implied that Emma Frost has blackmailed her with her previous relationship with Elixir into keeping an eye on Wither.
[edit] Powers
Wolfsbane has the power of lycanthropy. She can change into a humanoid lupine form resembling a werewolf, or become an actual red wolf. In either form, Wolfsbane has enhanced senses of hearing, sight, and smell, animal-like strength, agility, and reflexes, razor-sharp talons and fangs, and bestial instincts. However, her powers are unaffected by the moon, unlike most lycanthropes.
Recently in X-Factor #11, Rahne was shown to exhibit her keen sense of smell while in human form, sensing traces of blood and "spittle" on teammate Strong Guy's hand, (identifying who the fluids belonged to) despite him having already wiped it clean. This was followed by Siryn's sonic-scream, leaving Wolfsbane's "doggy-ears...ringing for a week" implying her hearing is also enhanced in human form. Whether this is a further mutation, (possibly triggered by Elixir restoring her powers) or simply the writers' artistic licence, is up for debate.
Dani Moonstar's former telepathic talent, which enabled her to communicate with animals, allowed her to communicate with Wolfsbane when she was in her lupine form or "transitional" humanoid-wolf form.
[edit] Alternate versions
An alternate reality version of Rahne, named Princess Rain, appeared prominently in the 1991 graphic novel Wolverine: Rahne of Terra (a pun on the phrase "Reign of Terror"). Wolfsbane was transported to the magic-based world of Gesham by the "Mage" (Cable's counterpart) in exchange for the Princess Rain, her own counterpart, and brainwashed to make her believe herself to be Rain, in an attempt to save the Princess from a prophecy which apparently said the Princess would die on her sixteenth birthday; while Wolverine was taken there by the wizard Magnus (Gesham's version of Magneto), who Magnus attempted to mind-control in an attempt to fulfil the prophecy. While there, Rahne encountered counterparts of most of the New Mutants, hallucinating that they were the versions she knew, and gradually remembering who she actually was, while Wolverine killed Magnus at the climax before they both returned home.
In 1995's sequel, Wolverine: Knight of Terra, Wolfsbane and Wolverine helped Queen Rain accept the "Beast" which gave her shapeshifting powers, as she was the only one who could control it (Since she had rejected it, it had possessed someone else, transforming them into a version of Sabretooth). In this volume, the Queen's associates were counterparts to the X-Men, with the role of the Mage being taken by Professor X's counterpart, the Shaman.
A third installment, Rahne Fall (a pun on "Rainfall") was planned but never produced.
In the Age of Apocalypse Rahne found herself stuck in her lupine form and was a companion to the Dark Beast in his hideous labs. When this universe was revisted ten years later in the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, Rahne had been rescued and had begun to grab hold of her humanity again. She was now capable of shifting into her hybrid form but was still very feral in her mindset.
Wolfsbane also plays a minor cameo role in the Ultimate X-Men issue #50 where she is seen at a coney island freak show, along with other subsequent mutants playing cameo roles. She is seen in her human-wolf hybrid form. Also, in Ultimate X-men issue #43, while approving members of Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow, the President of the United States of America mentions, "No to the wolf girl.", it can be assumed that he was referring to Wolfsbane.
[edit] Other media
Wolfsbane appears in the X-Men animated series episode "Cold Comfort" as a member of the X-Factor led by the modern-day Forge.
Wolfsbane is featured as a minor character at the Xavier Institute in X-Men: Evolution (one of the "New Mutants"). She usually transforms into a full wolf, but in one episode takes her hybrid form to scare some poachers.
