THE SKULL

 

THE SKULL

Real Name: Benjamin Beckley

First Appearance: Earth X (Vol. 1) #3, June 1999

Powers: The Skull is the Earth-9997 counterpart of Benjamin Beckley of Earth-616. His exposure to the Terrigen Mists granted him the ability to override the willpower of any person with a Celestial seed. He could overtake the motor functions and powers of an unlimited number of people at once and potentially the whole world. His power didn't fade with time, or distance, or overreaching. It took no effort at all for him to control hundreds of people completely, even without focusing on them independently. He could not control the minds of the insane nor could he control beings who had no minds to control. He also had to be within a certain distance of a being to first enslave him or her.

In Earth-9997, the Skull's power manifestation was part of the underlying Celestial plot to unite humanity in defense of the Celestial embryo, making them of one mind in the protection of it. The Skull's power manifestation unleashed a wave of psychic backlash that killed all the world's telepaths, including Professor X (Charles Xavier), White Queen (Emma Frost), and M.O.D.O.K. (George Tarleton). Eliminating any and every other psychic who could have potentially counteracted the Skull's power was a deliberate side effect that the Celestials engineered into his rising.