The Morlocks were a community of mutants
who considered themselves outcasts from society and rebelled against
it. Their leader, Callisto named them after the subterranean race depicted
by H. G. Wells in his novel The Time Machine.
The Morlocks lived in a network of tunnels beneath
New York City and beneath much of the surrounding area in New York State,
New Jersey, and Connecticut. The tunnels were constructed in the 1950s
by the United States government for its and the military's use in case
of nuclear war, but were later abandoned by both. The Morlocks called
the main tunnel, which runs the length of Manhattan, "the Alley."
The Alley was discovered by Callisto, who made her
home there and then found another mutant, Caliban, who had the psionic
ability to locate other superhumanly powerful mutants (see Caliban).
Using Caliban's power, Callisto gathered together a large community
of mutants who considered themselves to be social outcasts, and they
became known as the Morlocks. As signs of rebellion, many recruits to
the Morlock community had their physical appearance distorted by the
powers of the Morlock called Masque.
Members of the Morlocks included Callisto, Caliban,
Sunder, Annalee, Ape, Beautiful Dreamer, Blow-Hard, Cybelle, Erg, Healer,
Leech, Masque, Piper, Plague, Scaleface, Skids, Tar Baby, and Tommy,
among many others.
The genetic engineer Mister Sinister decided to
exterminate the Morlocks. He hired the mutant outlaw Gambit to assemble
a team of superhuman mutants who worked as assassins, who became known
as the Marauders (see Gambit, Marauders). Despite opposition from the
X-Men, the original X-Factor, the New Mutants, and Power Pack, the Marauders
slaughtered the majority of the Morlock population (see individual entries).
The members of the X-Men and the original X-Men
got some of the Morlocks to safety, and a considerable number of other
Morlocks managed to escape the Marauders.
Years later, the insane mutant Mikhail Rasputin,
decided to try to redeem himself for the people he had killed in the
past by committing suicide, and relieve the suffering of the Morlocks
by killing them as well (see Rasputin, Mikhail). He seemingly killed
himself and the other Morlocks by telekinetically flooding the Morlock
tunnels.
However, Rasputin had used his mutant powers to
teleport himself and certain members of the Morlocks to another dimension,
which he called "the Hill." There time passed more swiftly, and decades
passed while mere months elapsed back on Earth. During that time a new,
younger generation of Morlocks grew up, whom Rasputin trained to become
a terrorist army called Gene Nation. He intended that Gene Nation would
take vengeance on humanity for their oppression of mutants. Callisto
returned to warn the X-Men about Gene Nation's plans to avenge the massacre
of the Morlocks.
Arriving on Earth, Gene Nationalists led by Marrow
hijacked a subway car with the intent of killing a human being for every
Morlock who had died in the tunnels (see Marrow). Storm seemingly killed
Marrow in combat, and the other members of Gene Nation vanished.
Subsequently, Mikhail Rasputin transported Storm
to the Hill. She forced him to teleport her and all of Gene Nation to
Earth, and she sent Gene Nation to live in a small village in Africa.
As for Marrow, she had survived and she is currently a member of the
X-Men.
First appearance: (Caliban) X-MEN (first series)
#148, (Callisto, Masque, Plague, Sunder, and Morlock community) X-MEN
(first series) #169
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