A traditional and powerful organization with roots way back into the last century. Membership is passed on to descendants, or can be earned through wealth or influence. Originally the Club was not about mutants. The Club has many members (ancestors of Worthington, Braddock, Grey, Shaw and more - see the Hellfire Club limited series) and next to it's New York setting, there is also a London branch. Unknown to most members the club is ruled by a Council of the Chosen, later renamed as Inner Circle. Positions are named after chess pieces.
Membership: Edward Buckman, Paris Seville, Sebastian Shaw, Lourdes Chantel, Emma Frost, Mastermind, Donald Pierce, Harry Leland, Tessa, Phoenix II, Selene, Emmanuel DaCosta, Friedrich von Roehm, Magneto, Storm
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129, 130 and 132 show the individual members for their first times
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #281 [Emma Frost, the last member of the old order, was shot by a Sentinel]
Before
- Only Mastermind was known as an old foe of the X-Men. He belonged to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants I and Factor Three. The other club members were new characters.
- Selene, who later became Black Queen II was introduced in New Mutants (1st series) #9-11 as a villain in Nova Roma. In Uncanny X-Men #183-184 she made her way to New York City.
Flashbacks / Behind the scenes / Reprints in Classic X-Men
- X-Men: The Hellfire Club #1-4 is about the Hellfire Club and various ancestors of its members through the centuries.
- Generation X #minus 1 shows Emma Frost using her telepathy to get invited to certain parties. Reading the other guests' minds she gets enough Wall Street tips to build a fortune. At one of these parties, she meets Harry Leland and through him she learns about Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club.
- In Uncanny X-Men #110, a villain named Warhawk breaks into Xavier's mansion and the X-men catch him. However, even the deepest mind probes couldn't uncover his intentions. In Uncanny X-Men #129, it is revealed that he planted bugs in the mansion for the Hellfire Club.
- Note: Classic X-Men reprinted the Uncanny X-Men, but sometimes extra pages were added. In issues #6 and 7 they focus on Hellfire activities. Also the back-stories of #7, 24 and 34 are about the Hellfire Club or it's members. All Classic X-Men material is listed chronologically as well.
Retcon
As it turns out, Tessa has been working as a spy for Xavier all along. In X-Treme X-Men #3 she mentions to have been discovered by the professor around the same time when the original five X-Men enrolled in the school. However he asked her to become his spy. Years later she successfully prevented Psylocke from getting entangled in the Hellfire Club, though she was unable to do the same for Phoenix later on. The exact details of her job and how she stayed in contact with Xavier are still mysterious.
Chronology
| X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4: | Sebastian Shaw's family was poor and his father had just died. However, Sebastian got a scholarship to study engineering at the Stevens Institute. He was so driven to prove himself against the rich town folks and to his deceased father that he graduated and built a fortune. He then met his first love, Lourdes Chantel, and he was invited to join the Hellfire Club. Within the Club, Shaw found other allies in Harry Leland, Emma Frost, Donald Pierce and his assistant, Tessa. Lourdes fears that Shaw was becoming too power hungry. Surprisingly, Sebastian proposed to Lourdes and she accepted. |
| X-Men (1st series) 100: | Stephen Lang reveals that he was able to recreate the Sentinels program with the funding of the "Council of the Chosen". |
| Classic X-Men #6-7: | The Hellfire Club is funding Stephen Lang's Sentinels through their private council and current White King, Ned Buckman. While Sebastian Shaw, as a probationary member, is involved as well, he does not know the robots’ true purpose in wiping out mutantkind. Buckman knows, but claims to Shaw that their task is simply to capture and test the X-Men because they want to isolate the mutant gene for study. |
| Classic X-Men #7: | During one of the club's holiday parties Shaw and Buckman introduce their women - the White Queen's name is Paris Seville. Shaw's partner is Lourdes Chantel, a mutant as well. Tessa, Shaw's personal aide is also present. Both females sense betrayal in Buckman and try to warn Shaw. Meanwhile, a Sentinel attacks Shaw's beach house, where Emma and Harry Leland are waiting, exactly as Buckman planned. Since Shaw has completed funding for the project, the Club no longer needs him. Lourdes teleports the three of them to the beach house to help when she receives Emma's telepathic call. They defeat the Sentinel but at the loss of Lourdes’ life. The same night Emma and Shaw kill the complete Council out of revenge and rise as new Black King and White Queen. |
| Marvel Super Heroes (2nd series) #11: | Ms. Marvel observes the Hellfire Club dealing with a weapons smuggler. Due to personal reasons Mystique and her Brotherhood attack Ms. Marvel, and as a side effect the weapons deal is exposed, prompting bad blood between the Club and Brotherhood. |
| Classic X-Men #24: | Phoenix believes the X-Men to be dead and takes a vacation on the Greek isles. Mastermind, in the guise of a young Greek named Nikos, spends the trip by her side, studying her psyche. |
| X-Men (1st series) #122: | While staying on Muir Island, Phoenix runs into Jason Wyngarde (also Mastermind) in Scotland. He introduces himself and Jean is strangely attracted to him. |
| X-Men (1st series) #125: | Mastermind sits in his room, observing Phoenix from afar. He has followed her the whole time since she left Xavier's mansion in #119. While she changes clothes he causes her first time-shift illusion. Suddenly she is dressed in 18th century garments until Lorna tries to speak to Jean and everything snaps back to normal. |
| X-Men (1st series) #126: | Upon awaking from unconsciousness, Jean mistakenly refers to Scott as Jason. Mastermind causes another illusion and suddenly she finds herself dressed as a lady, riding a horse, and participates in a formal hunt. |
| X-Men (1st series) #129: | En route back to the US, Mastermind causes a third illusion from a plane with parallel course: Phoenix is 200 years back in time on a ship with course to America, where she will marry her beloved Jason Wyngarde. |
| Classic X-Men #34: | Interlude in X-Men (1st series) #129. Once back in the club, Emma Frost and Mastermind play a unique game of chess. The outcome is stalemated. Emma also explains to a waitress that the sexist White Queen uniform is a weapon for her she can use. Note: The story falsely refers to Mastermind as Black King, but that is Shaw's title. |
| X-Men (1st series) #129: | When Cerebro discovers two new mutant signatures, the Hellfire Club due to Warhawks bugging (see X-Men (1st series) #110) know about them as well. The Hellfire Club is shown, yet the readers only see Mastermind and the White Queen, Emma Frost, with three silhouettes, one of them by the name Shaw. The White Queen is able to capture half of the X-Men and Xavier. |
| X-Men (1st series) #130: | Another time shift for Phoenix, this time she marries Wyngarde. The vicar holding the ceremony is Shaw, whose face is shown in this issue for the first time. |
| X-Men (1st series) #131: | The final battle over the fates of Kitty Pryde and the Dazzler (the two mutant signatures) is between Phoenix and the White Queen. Phoenix wins, and Emma’s fate remains unclear as she is left incapacitated under a crushed building. |
| X-Men (1st series) #132: | The X-Men ask Hellfire Club member Warren Worthington, a.k.a. the Angel, about the club. He himself is member through heritage, although he doesn't visit, he is able to organize faked invitations for the X-Men. In the club the last two members are fully shown: Leland and Pierce. Mastermind causes the final illusion and Phoenix believes herself to be the Black Queen of 200 years ago. Taken by surprise, the X-Men are overtaken by the Club and only Wolverine is able to escape imprisonment. |
| X-Men (1st series) #133: | Phoenix still in the illusion believes her former companions to be slaves and gypsies. Wolverine plots his rescue plan while Cyclops tries to reach Phoenix through their mental bond. However, Mastermind intervenes and kills Cyclops' astral self. |
| X-Men (1st series) #134: | The shock of seeing her lover "die" awakens Phoenix. Still she acts as Black Queen till Wolverine strikes. Now the surprise is on the X-Men's side, and the Hellfire Club members are defeated quickly. Harry Leland receives heavy injuries from Wolverine and Phoenix takes a personal revenge on Mastermind. She makes his mind one with the universe and his brain is almost wiped clean. As the police arrive, the X-Men make their escape. |
| X-Men (1st series) #135: | Shaw watches over Leland who barely survived the fight and is carried away by an ambulance. Mastermind's manipulations did enough damage to trigger Phoenix's transformation into Dark Phoenix. |
In between
- One of the people present at the Hellfire Club was Senator Robert Kelly and the incident proved to him that mutants are dangerous. He decides to support the Sentinel program of Shaw Industries and to run an anti-mutant campaign.
- X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #33 has a short story about Mastermind escaping from the building. Unaware that he is trapped in his own illusions, Mastermind believes to defeat the X-Men, the Avengers and every major villain only to be welcomed back into the Hellfire Club with open arms. However, he actually beats a drunken man and scares some people in a bar, before the police takes him to a mental asylum. Mastermind gets better in time and starts on a personal revenge mission against Emma Frost (Uncanny X-Men #169), Mystique (#170) and the X-Men (#172-175). Mastermind never rejoined the Hellfire Club. Years later while dying from Legacy he apologized to Jean for having caused so much pain, not knowing that Phoenix was a separate individual. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #17)
- Pierce develops a hatred for all mutants, and later he tries to transfer the mental powers of both Xavier and Tessa into himself, but fails. [Marvel Graphic Novel #4] This incident effectively severs his ties with the Hellfire Club. He then creates the Reavers, a whole team of cyborgs like himself. Some of them are former Hellfire operatives, who were badly injured while fighting Wolverine.
Chronology continued
| Uncanny X-Men #151-152: | Kitty's parents decide to enroll her in the Massachusetts Academy. Once there Emma Frost switches minds with Storm. Meanwhile, Shaw’s Sentinels attack the rest of the X-Men. After "Storm" helps to defeat them, she turns on the X-Men, who end up as helpless prisoners of the Hellfire Club. Ororo in Frost's body is able to get a handle on her telepathic powers and takes Kitty back to the mansion. In the final battle, Storm proves to be the better woman and gets her body back. |
| Uncanny X-Men #169: | Emma Frost was attacked by an unseen enemy (later turns out to have been Mastermind). |
| New Mutants (1st series) #7-8: | Shaw approaches Emmanuel DaCosta, the father of Sunspot, about membership in the Hellfire Club. |
| Uncanny X-Men Annual #7: | During a wild chase after the Impossible Man, the X-Men enter the Hellfire Club. They stumble upon Emma Frost still recovering and Shaw orders them to leave. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #12: | Emmanuel DaCosta accepts membership after an angry discussion with his son. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #22: | Selene contacts the New York high priest of a 2000 year old cult of her worshippers. She asks him about access to influence, wealth and power. He suggests the Hellfire Club. Meanwhile Emmanuel DaCosta is familiarized with the Hellfire Club's dress code. |
| Uncanny X-Men #189: | Selene applies for the title of Black Queen. She is introduced to Shaw through another club member, a human named Friedrich von Roehm, who is completely under Selene‘s control. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #23: | Both Selene and Emmanuel DaCosta gain membership to the club in a formal ceremony. |
| Firestar #3-4: | Shaw and Emma Frost feel threatened by Selene, and attempt to mold Emma’s new student Firestar into an assassin to rid them of her. This scheme ultimately fails. |
| Uncanny X-Men #207: | Rachel uses her telepathic powers to gain entrance to the Hellfire Club through Friedrich von Roehm. Once in the club, she plans to kill Selene since she telepathically felt how she killed innocent humans. Just before the killing, Wolverine intervenes. To stop Rachel he has to mortally wound her. |
| Uncanny X-Men #208: | Selene consults the other members of the Inner Circle about Rachel, but the X-Men are searching for her as well. Both teams arrive at Phoenix's location at the same time. In the middle of the fight, Nimrod, a future version of the Sentinels, appears. |
| Uncanny X-Men #209: | As the fight goes on, von Roehm gets killed by one of Nimrod's blasts. Only then the groups realize that they have to work together if they want to survive. Nimrod hits Sebastian into space and the stress is too much for Leland. Harry suffers a heart attack, yet with his dying breath, he is able to bring Shaw back to Earth using his powers. Shaw happens to land on Nimrod, which defeats the Sentinel. |
| Uncanny X-Men #210: | Inspired by the efficiency of the team-up, the Hellfire Club offers the chair of White King to Magneto if he wishes to hold it for himself, or in the X-Men's name. Magneto abides some time to think the offer through. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #51: | Magneto and Storm debate about the Hellfire Club. Storm thinks that joining is a good way of keeping tabs on them and reducing the ever increasing number of their foes. They jointly taken over the mantle of White King. |
| Uncanny X-Men #219: | In search for the X-Men, Havok tracks down Magneto to the Hellfire Club. He is shocked to hear that they formed an alliance with the X-Men and Magneto now is part of the Inner Circle. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #53-54: | Magneto takes his charges, the New Mutants, to a formal party at the Hellfire Club. Karma possesses Tessa because she hopes to get clues about her missing siblings through the Hellfire Club's vast resources. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #61: | The Hellfire Club discuss Apocalypse and his Horsemen, who went on a rampage through New York. |
| New Mutants Annual #4: | Learning that Amara, a Hellion, has been kidnapped, Emma Frost assembles the Inner Circle for a rescue mission. Unknown to them the New Mutants already performed the task. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #69-71: | The Inner Circle assembles because of the strange events during Inferno. |
| New Mutants (1st series) #73-75: | Shaw blames Magneto for Inferno, claiming it is his fault because he lost control of his student Illyana. This leads to a duel between them. Magneto wins - he, Emma Frost, and Selene rule Shaw out of the Inner Circle. Magneto now calls himself Grey King. |
| Uncanny X-Men #245: | Tessa discovers that the former White King Donald Pierce was broken out of the secluded place the Club had been keeping him since Marvel Graphic Novel #4. Since Shaw was forced out of the Club, she chooses not to warn the Inner Circle. |
| Uncanny X-Men #246-247: | Shaw continues to guide Senator Kelly. He even arranged that a former waitress of the club was married to him. Unfortunately this woman was killed in an attack of Nimrod against the X-Men. More oil to fuel Kelly's anti-mutant campaign. |
| Marvel Comics Presents #78: | In a meeting, Selene keeps her fellow members waiting. She left for the town earlier where she runs into the Hulk. Trying to enslave him, she learns a lesson about arrogance and underestimating a foe. |
| X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #33: | The Black and White Queen of the Hellfire Club are bored and when they recognize a good looking Hellfire Club soldier they agree on a bet. They want to make him declare his love for either of them. Both Emma and Selene try their best to impress Chet, taking him to beautiful places around the world and giving him access to the vast Hellfire Club resources. Finally they both use their powers on him, and Chet is torn between Selene’s magic and Emma’s telepathy until his head explodes. Neither woman cares about his fate and they move on. (Note: The placing of this story is difficult, as only Emma and Selene are shown. Considering them interacting kind of friendly, it seems that this story takes place during the time when Shaw was already expelled and Magneto no longer cared) |
| Uncanny X-Men #275: | In the Savage Land, Magneto kills Zaladane, concluding a storyline that ran through Uncanny X-Men #269, 274-275. This act causes him to revert back to the "old, villainous" Magneto. He thinks that he only tried to impersonate Xavier and that he had to fail. He leaves, seeking his purpose in liberating mutants from being oppressed by humanity as well as people like Zaladane or the Hellfire Club. Although he does not officially resign, this qualifies as quitting. |
| Uncanny X-Men #281: | Emma Frost is giving another Hellfire Club party and among the party guests are several Hellions and the X-Men's Gold team. Suddenly Trevor Fitzroy teleports in and immediately kills Jetstream and Beef. He belongs to the Upstarts, a group of young, powerful and wealthy people (most of them mutants) winning points by killing special targets; right now this would be (former and current) Hellfire Club members. Trevor Fitzroy wants to get in the lead, by killing Donald Pierce and Emma Frost. To do that, he sends his Sentinels to the Reavers' base in Australia, where they slaughter Pierce's men. Pierce tells Gateway to take him to the person responsible for this. Through the portal, Pierce and a few following Sentinels get to the Hellfire Club in New York. One of the first Sentinels blasts hits Emma Frost. |
| Uncanny X-Men #283: | Actually, the creation of the Upstarts was Selene‘s doing. She is seen with the Gamesmaster, talking about a true nature of the game: eliminating her potential rivals in the Club. |
Afterwards
- Sebastian was seemingly killed by his son, Shinobi of the Upstarts, in X-Factor (1st series) #67. Years later he re-appears. [see Hellfire Club III]
- In X-Men (2nd series) #1-3, Magneto rebuilds his space station Avalon and creates a new group of followers called Acolytes. He is quickly betrayed and apparently killed by the leader of the Acolytes, Fabian Cortez, who is also involved in the Upstarts competition.
- Emmanuel DaCosta is also killed, by an agent of Gideon’s in New Mutants (1st series) #98, but this apparently had nothing to do with Selene and the Upstarts.
- Emma Frost's unconscious body first hosted Jean Grey's mind when she was hit as well by the Sentinels. Later, Emma is cared for in the X-Men's medilab. After she regains consciousness in Uncanny X-Men #311, she is shocked to hear about her Hellion‘s fate. She admits that her training was not efficient enough and joins Xavier's cause. Together with Banshee she becomes headmistress of Generation X.
- Selene soon loses control of the Upstarts competition as, in Uncanny X-Men #301, Fitzroy imprisons her in a device called Spooling Chamber, earning him points in the Upstarts‘s competition, which is now being run exclusively by Gamesmaster. After a long time Selene gets released from her prison in Excalibur Annual #2 and rejoins the Hellfire Club III.
Members
Edward "Ned" Buckman - Former White King
First appearance: Classic X-Men #6
Last appearance: Classic X-Men #7 [killed by Sebastian Shaw]
All appearances: X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #6-7
Powers: none, human
Paris Seville - Former White Queen
First appearance: Classic X-Men #7
Last appearance: Classic X-Men #7 [killed by Ned Buckman under Frost's telepathic influence]
All appearances: Classic X-Men #7
Powers: none, human
Sebatian Shaw - Black King
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 [silhouette], #130 [fully]
Seemingly died: X-Factor (1st series) #67
Revealed alive: X-Force (1st series) #48
All Hellfire appearances: X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #6-7, X-Treme X-Men #3, Marvel Super Heroes (2nd series) #11, Uncanny X-Men #129-130, 132-135, 151-152, 169, New Mutants (1st series) #7-8, Uncanny X-Men Annual #7, New Mutants (1st series) #12, Uncanny X-Men #182, New Mutants (1st series) #17, Firestar #2, New Mutants (1st series) #22, Uncanny X-Men #189, New Mutants (1st series) #23, Firestar #3-4, Uncanny X-Men #208-210, New Mutants (1st series) #51, 53-54, 61, Annual #4, #70-71, 73-75
Powers: Absorbs kinetic energy or electricity into his body, immunizing him to most forms of physical injury while converting it into raw power that increases his strength and resilience. His body has an upper limit of energy it can metabolize, sending him into a coma if it is surpassed.
Tessa - Shaw's personal aide
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #132
All Hellfire appearances: X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #6-7, X-Treme X-Men #3, Marvel Super Heroes (2nd series) #11, Uncanny X-Men #132, 151, 169, 182, 189, New Mutants (1st series) #23, Uncanny X-Men #208-210, New Mutants (1st series) #51, 53-54, 61, Uncanny X-Men #245
Powers: Expanded brain capacity gives her computer-like storage abilities to record and analyze vast amounts of data and limited telepathic power to scan thoughts and manipulate minds.
Note: After leaving the Club she demonstrated the capability to manipulate mutagenic fields in order to sense mutants, enhance genetic traits, and unleash the potential of latent mutants. How long she has been possessing this power is unknown, though she probably kept it secret from Sebastian Shaw.
Lourdes Chantel - no position
First appearance: Classic X-Men #7
Last appearance: Classic X-Men #7 [killed by a Sentinel]
All appearances: X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #7
Powers: Shape an energy matrix out of the atmosphere that can teleport herself and others from place to place.
Emma Frost - White Queen
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129
All Hellfire and Hellions Appearances: Generation X #minus 1, X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #7, 34, Uncanny X-Men #129-131, 151-152, Firestar #1, Uncanny X-Men #169, Annual #7, #180, New Mutants (1st series) #15-16, Uncanny X-Men #182, New Mutants (1st series) #17, Firestar #3-4, New Mutants (1st series) #26, 38-40, Uncanny X-Men #210, New Mutants (1st series) #51, Uncanny X-Men #219, New Mutants (1st series) #53-54, 56-57, 62, Annual #4, #69-71, 73-75, Marvel Comics Present #78, X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #33, New Warriors (1st series) #5, 8-10, Uncanny X-Men #281
(Also listed are her appearances as the mentor of the Hellions I)
Powers: Telepathic abilities enable her to read and project thoughts, plant illusions in the minds of others, and release her astral form.
Harry Leland - Black Bishop
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 [silhouette], #132 [fully]
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #209 [dies of a heart attack]
All Hellfire Appearances: Generation X #minus1, X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Classic X-Men #7, Marvel Super Heroes (2nd series) #11, Uncanny X-Men #129, 132-135, 152, New Mutants (1st series) #23, Uncanny X-Men #208-209
Powers: Geometrically increase the mass of any object in his vicinity, weighing it down with enormous gravitational pressure.
Donald Pierce - White King
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 [silhouette], #132 [fully]
Seemingly killed: Uncanny X-Men #281
Revealed rebuilt: Domino (1st series) #2
All Hellfire Appearances: X-Men: The Hellfire Club #4, Marvel Super Heroes (2nd series) #11, Uncanny X-Men #129, 132-134
Powers: Cybernetic implants forged out of adamantium grant him augmented strength, endurance and reflexes, and durability.
Notes:
Pierce’s position of White King gets named in Uncanny X-Men #245, 247, 251 and 252. In one occasion it is Tessa and a guard of the Hellfire Club talking about him; they should know his position. However the Marvel Handbook and Ultimate X-Men book by Peter Sanderson refers to him as White Bishop, and as a follow-up error, the title is used again by Jubilee in Generation X #55 and a narration box in Cable #50. There are several possible explanations:
- Before Pierce became White King, he might have served as White Bishop in the previous Hellfire Club under Ned Buckman. As the only non–mutant member of Shaw’s Inner Circle, it might have been the case that Pierce was rewarded with the upgrade to King for introducing Shaw into the Club or him not interfering when Shaw and Frost killed the former Inner Circle.
- Both Cable #50 and Generation X #55 take place at the time of the Hellfire Club III or afterwards. Maybe White Bishop was Pierce’s intended position of that incarnation, with Shaw not wanting him to become King again, remembering how Pierce betrayed them earlier on.
Jason Wyngarde / Mastermind – probational member [planned for White Bishop ?]
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #3
First Hellfire appearance: Uncanny X-Men #122
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 [succumbs to the Legacy virus]
All Hellfire Appearances: Classic X-Men #24, Uncanny X-Men #122, 125-126, 129, Classic X-Men #34, Uncanny X-Men #129-130, 132-134
Powers: Confuse and alter the perceptions of other living beings, creating illusionary projections or realities, turning himself invisible, and seemingly morphing his physical appearance. While working with the Club he made use of a mind-tap device that enabled him to project his illusions directly into the minds of his victims, perceivable only to them and him.
Note: Although Mastermind’s membership depended on his success to lure Phoenix into the Inner Circle, he was already referred to as a member of the Hellfire Club in Uncanny X-Men #130, 132 and 134.
Phoenix II - Black Queen [a duplicated body of Jean Grey, with some of her life-force, empowered by the Phoenix Force]
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #101
First Hellfire appearance: Uncanny X-Men #132
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #137 [sacrificed herself on the moon]
All Hellfire appearances: Uncanny X-Men #132-134
Powers: Cosmic entity representing the flow of all life in the universe in possession of a human body with psionic abilities, so that she/it has absolute power over thought, can manipulate matter at a molecular scale, fly unaided through outer space, absorb energy on a incalculable level, and open stargates between points in space.
Friedrich von Roehm - Black Rook
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #22
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #209 [killed by Nimrod]
All Hellfire appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #22, Uncanny X-Men #189, 207-209
Powers: At first none, baseline human. However, Selene had altered his bloodline so that she could activate a mental cue to transform his skills and behavior into a semi-lycanthropic state, giving him heightened strength, agility, and reflexes, animal-like senses, and clawed talons on his fingers.
Selene - Black Queen II
First appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #9
First Hellfire appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #22
All Hellfire appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #22, Uncanny X-Men #189, New Mutants (1st series) #23, Firestar #3-4, Uncanny X-Men #207-210, New Mutants (1st series) #51, 53-54, 61, Annual #4, #70-71, 73-75, Marvel Comics Presents #78, X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #33, Uncanny X-Men #283
Powers: Superhuman strength, speed, endurance and reaction time, telekinetic powers allows her to create fire and manipulate the molecules of inanimate objects, can induce a momentary hypnotic trance in the minds of others, and retains her youth and beauty for centuries by draining the life energy from others. A partial absorption gives her a level of hypnotic control over her victims.
Emmanuel DaCosta - White Rook
First appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4
First Hellfire appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #7
Last appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #98 [poisoned by one of Gideon's operatives]
All Hellfire appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #7-8, 12, 22-23
Powers: none, human
Note:
- Although a specific title was never mentioned for him, Selene later said that he was a Rook, and with Von Roehm being the Black Rook, DaCosta must have been the White one.
- The Marvel Handbook: Deluxe Edition and Ultimate X-Men book by Peter Sanderson also names DaCosta as White Rook.
Magneto - White King [at first, he shared the position with Storm]
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #1
First Hellfire appearance: Uncanny X-Men #210
All Hellfire appearances: Uncanny X-Men #210, New Mutants (1st series) #51, Uncanny X-Men #219, New Mutants (1st series) #53-54, 61, Annual #4, #69-71, 73-75, Marvel Comics Presents #78, Uncanny X-Men #275
Powers: High electrolyte count in his bloodstream increases his personal bio-magnetic field, which is aligned with Earth’s electromagnetic field to give him total mastery over magnetism, allowing him to:
- sense nearby metal objects and specific energy signatures
- levitate and manipulate anything containing metal
- release magnetic energy as concussive blasts and protective force fields
- generate intense heat within metal by accelerating the motion of ferrous molecules
- draw forth electrical energy from magnetic fields
- manipulate iron in the bloodstream to cause aneurysms, unconsciousness, or biological ruptures
- increase his power by absorbing electricity or intensely cold temperatures, like a super-conductor.
Storm - White King [sharing the position with Magneto]
First appearance: Giant-Size X-Men #1
First Hellfire appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #51
All Hellfire appearances: New Mutants (1st series) #51
Powers: Did not possess powers at the time of her alliance with the Club. Normally, she is psychically linked to the weather patterns of Earth, allowing her to sense shifts in her environment and command meteorological energy patterns to:
- raise or lower temperature levels
- direct air currents as hurricane-force winds or to maneuver herself through the sky
- excite electron particles to call down lightning bolts or fire electrical blasts from her fingertips
- summon clouds as fog cover or
- to bring forth precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hail
- and alter her body temperature to compensate for weather conditions.