Nanny (comics)
Encyclopedia
Nanny is the name of two different fictional characters in X-Men
and related titles in the Marvel Comics
Universe.
The more well known Nanny is a mutant
.
and Walt Simonson
.
The character subsequently appears in X-Factor #35 (December 1988), #40 (May 1989), The Uncanny X-Men #247-248 (August-September 1989), #265-267 (August-September 1990), Generation X #4 (February 1995), Generation X Holiday Special #1 (February 1998), Slingers #9 (August 1999), and Wolverine: Killing Made Simple #1 (October 2008).
Nanny received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
#5.
in the field of cyborg
technology. When she learned of the Right's anti-mutant agenda, she tried to stop them. The Right sealed her in one of her cyborg designs, an egg-shaped armored suit; she escaped their custody, but the ordeal unbalanced her to borderline insanity. At some later date, she rescued a young mutant named Peter, crafted a battle suit for him and christened him the Orphan-Maker
. She also obtained (possibly self-manufactured) high-tech weaponry and a flying craft.
Nanny and her Orphan-Maker became a pair of would-be saviors of mutant children, with Nanny as the brains and guiding force and Orphan-Maker as the brawn. In her mentally addled perception, Nanny believes that parents of mutant children are evil, especially those who abandon their children, or at the very least incompetent and ill-equipped to properly raise and protect young mutants from danger and exploitation. She and Orphan-Maker travelled the world, searching for young mutants to take care of, murdering their parents to sever any family connections and using her minor telepathic powers to control her new charges. Nanny dubbed these children her "Lost Boys and Girls", after the Lost Boys from the story of Peter Pan
; in her psychosis, Nanny had developed a near-obsession with children's tales and nursery rhymes, often quoting passages from them appropriate (in her mind) to the situation at hand.
Nanny’s first major mission was at the State Home for Foundlings in Omaha, Nebraska
, in reality a facility where Mister Sinister
kept many mutant children for observation and experimentation, including the young Scott Summers, who became the X-Man Cyclops
; at the time of Nanny's raid on the Home, Nathan Christopher Summers
, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor
, was among the children held there. Nanny sought to "liberate" several of the mutant children into her own custody, with the aid of the Orphan-Maker and some of her "Lost" children, but were opposed by Cyclops and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey
), then members of X-Factor
, who were there to retrieve Cyclops' son. In the course of their battle, Marvel Girl discovered that two of Nanny's "Lost" children were in fact Gailyn and Joey Bailey, the children of Sara Grey, Marvel Girl’s sister, who had been missing for some time. Thwarted by Cyclops and Marvel Girl, as well as demons in the service of N'astirh
(there to acquire Nathan Christopher Summers and other mutant children for sacrifice), Nanny fled with her Orphan-Maker and "Lost" children in tow; Marvel Girl was forced to let her niece and nephew go with Nanny, who posed little danger to the children in her care, to pursue the demons who had taken Nathan Christopher. This initial appearance of Nanny left the impression to the heroes that she and the Orphan-Maker were robot
s.
in their Australian outback-town headquarters in an effort to "save" them. At first, Nanny was successful in sealing Psylocke
, Dazzler
, and Havok in battle suits and mentally regressing them to child-like behavior. She also confronts Jubilee
, who is secretly living in the town, Jubilee literally evades her reaching grasp and uses her own firework powers to negate Nanny's hynotic dust. Eventually, the tide of battle turned and Nanny and the Orphan-Maker flee in their ship. Storm pursues and was caught by the ship's appendages. In a panic, confused by the ordeal Nanny has put him through, Havok unleashes his plasma blast on the ship, seemingly killing Nanny, the Orphan-Maker, and Storm.
In reality, Nanny deployed a decoy ship containing a Life Model Decoy
to impersonate the corpse of Storm in the wreckage. Nanny then regressed Storm's body to that of a child. Storm eventually escaped, but with her memories of her adult life blurred and her childhood persona dominant. With the aid of Gambit
, Storm regained her adult memories and defeated Nanny and the Orphan-Maker, sending the cyborg duo and their ship crashing into a swamp. (Storm would later be restored to physical adulthood during the crossover storyline, "The X-Tinction Agenda".)
Nanny reappeared much later in Generation X
. In the course of acquiring another "Lost" child, the Orphan-Maker's armor began to malfunction; Nanny determined that his (still unrevealed) mutant power was growing stronger, and she had to create a new armor to contain it. She later sent the Orphan-Maker to protect a deformed child trapped in a schoolhouse by a mob believing him to be a mutant. This brought them into conflict with the Generation X team, who had the same goal. The heroes had to deal with protecting the mob and the boy's parents from the Orphan-Maker's violent methods. After the situation ends badly, with an innocent death, Orphan-Maker escapes in a technologically advanced vehicle disguised as an ice-cream truck.
It is notable that in this appearance, Nanny's egg-shaped battlesuit is shown in pieces outside her base of operations, and Nanny herself appears only in shadow as a vague shape.
At present, Nanny and the Orphan-Maker are at large, but and it was revealed within the Slingers
series that both she and the Orphan-Maker were responsible for killing Ricochet's mother.
Most recently, she and Orphan-Maker battled with Wolverine after they tried to make Trance an orphan.
that first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #112 (August 1978). Magneto used computerized chairs to impair the nervous systems of the X-Men and reduce them to the capabilities of infants. He programmed Nanny to care for them as if they were children, as psychological torture; she had no other functions or offensive capabilities - except for being nauseatingly patronizing; Cyclops likens her voice to "a marshmallow soaked in honey". Unbeknownst to Magneto, Storm had outstanding coordination even in infancy; this, and her lock-picking skills, facilitated an escape. This Nanny was damaged by the X-Men upon their escape and used as bait to draw Magneto into the open. In Uncanny X-Men #149 the X-Men returned to the base, where they find Nanny's severed head. Nightcrawler
used it to make joking references to Hamlet
. Wolverine clawed the head to shreds.
Much later, a rebuilt Nanny returned in Uncanny X-Men #347, attacking the X-Men and holding them hostage like before. She was destroyed by Trish Tilby
in #349, who (as an ordinary human, could not be detected by Nanny) was able to get close enough to the robot to attack her. Right before she was destroyed, Nanny began to display more advanced weaponry, as she was finally angry with the X-Men.
Another version of Magneto's Nanny appeared in the alternate reality dubbed the Age of Apocalypse
. This Nanny was the caretaker of Charles Lehnsherr, the toddler son of that reality's Magneto and Rogue
. This Nanny was equipped with retractable offensive weaponry and a defensive capability that let her envelop Charles in a protective cocoon formed from her own body mass; her primary function was to protect the child above all else. She was destroyed while performing this function, and failed to prevent Charles' abduction by agents of Apocalypse.
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
and related titles in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
Universe.
The more well known Nanny is a mutant
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
.
Publication history
Nanny's first appearance was in X-Factor #30 (July 1988), and she was created by Louise SimonsonLouise Simonson
Louise Simonson, born Mary Louise Alexander , is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel...
and Walt Simonson
Walt Simonson
Walter "Walt" Simonson is an American comic book writer and artist. After studying geology at Amherst College, he transferred to the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1972. His thesis project there was The Star Slammers, which was published as a black and white promotional comic book...
.
The character subsequently appears in X-Factor #35 (December 1988), #40 (May 1989), The Uncanny X-Men #247-248 (August-September 1989), #265-267 (August-September 1990), Generation X #4 (February 1995), Generation X Holiday Special #1 (February 1998), Slingers #9 (August 1999), and Wolverine: Killing Made Simple #1 (October 2008).
Nanny received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...
#5.
Fictional character biography
The woman now known as the Nanny was once a scientist employed by the RightRight (comics)
The Right is a fictional anti-mutant organization in the Marvel Comics universe. The group first appeared in X-Factor #17 in June 1987.-Fictional biography:...
in the field of cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
technology. When she learned of the Right's anti-mutant agenda, she tried to stop them. The Right sealed her in one of her cyborg designs, an egg-shaped armored suit; she escaped their custody, but the ordeal unbalanced her to borderline insanity. At some later date, she rescued a young mutant named Peter, crafted a battle suit for him and christened him the Orphan-Maker
Orphan-Maker
Orphan-Maker is a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics universe. His first appearance was in X-Factor vol. 1 #31.-Publication history:...
. She also obtained (possibly self-manufactured) high-tech weaponry and a flying craft.
Nanny and her Orphan-Maker became a pair of would-be saviors of mutant children, with Nanny as the brains and guiding force and Orphan-Maker as the brawn. In her mentally addled perception, Nanny believes that parents of mutant children are evil, especially those who abandon their children, or at the very least incompetent and ill-equipped to properly raise and protect young mutants from danger and exploitation. She and Orphan-Maker travelled the world, searching for young mutants to take care of, murdering their parents to sever any family connections and using her minor telepathic powers to control her new charges. Nanny dubbed these children her "Lost Boys and Girls", after the Lost Boys from the story of Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
; in her psychosis, Nanny had developed a near-obsession with children's tales and nursery rhymes, often quoting passages from them appropriate (in her mind) to the situation at hand.
Nanny’s first major mission was at the State Home for Foundlings in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, in reality a facility where Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
kept many mutant children for observation and experimentation, including the young Scott Summers, who became the X-Man Cyclops
Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
; at the time of Nanny's raid on the Home, Nathan Christopher Summers
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
, was among the children held there. Nanny sought to "liberate" several of the mutant children into her own custody, with the aid of the Orphan-Maker and some of her "Lost" children, but were opposed by Cyclops and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
), then members of X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
, who were there to retrieve Cyclops' son. In the course of their battle, Marvel Girl discovered that two of Nanny's "Lost" children were in fact Gailyn and Joey Bailey, the children of Sara Grey, Marvel Girl’s sister, who had been missing for some time. Thwarted by Cyclops and Marvel Girl, as well as demons in the service of N'astirh
N'astirh
N'astirh is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics as a demonic inhabitant of Limbo. He first appeared in X-Factor #32 and was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.-Fictional character biography:...
(there to acquire Nathan Christopher Summers and other mutant children for sacrifice), Nanny fled with her Orphan-Maker and "Lost" children in tow; Marvel Girl was forced to let her niece and nephew go with Nanny, who posed little danger to the children in her care, to pursue the demons who had taken Nathan Christopher. This initial appearance of Nanny left the impression to the heroes that she and the Orphan-Maker were robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
s.
X-Men Battles
Later, Nanny and the Orphan-Maker attack the X-MenX-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
in their Australian outback-town headquarters in an effort to "save" them. At first, Nanny was successful in sealing Psylocke
Psylocke
Psylocke is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those comics featuring the superhero team the X-Men. The character has also appeared in licensed adaptations. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in the UK...
, Dazzler
Dazzler
Dazzler is a Marvel Comics superheroine, associated with the X-Men. She first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #130 ....
, and Havok in battle suits and mentally regressing them to child-like behavior. She also confronts Jubilee
Jubilee (comics)
Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine associated with the X-Men.A mutant, Jubilee had the superhuman power to generate "fireworks" of explosive plasma. A teenage "mall rat," she was the X-Men's youngest member in the early 1990s, often playing sidekick to...
, who is secretly living in the town, Jubilee literally evades her reaching grasp and uses her own firework powers to negate Nanny's hynotic dust. Eventually, the tide of battle turned and Nanny and the Orphan-Maker flee in their ship. Storm pursues and was caught by the ship's appendages. In a panic, confused by the ordeal Nanny has put him through, Havok unleashes his plasma blast on the ship, seemingly killing Nanny, the Orphan-Maker, and Storm.
In reality, Nanny deployed a decoy ship containing a Life Model Decoy
Life Model Decoy
A Life Model Decoy is fictional android appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is designed to function as an exact body double for VIPs...
to impersonate the corpse of Storm in the wreckage. Nanny then regressed Storm's body to that of a child. Storm eventually escaped, but with her memories of her adult life blurred and her childhood persona dominant. With the aid of Gambit
Gambit (comics)
Gambit is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero that has been a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Jim Lee, the character first appeared briefly in Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 , weeks before a more comprehensive appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266...
, Storm regained her adult memories and defeated Nanny and the Orphan-Maker, sending the cyborg duo and their ship crashing into a swamp. (Storm would later be restored to physical adulthood during the crossover storyline, "The X-Tinction Agenda".)
Nanny reappeared much later in Generation X
Generation X (comics)
Generation X is a fictional comic book superhero team, a spin-off of the X-Men franchise published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Chris Bachalo, the team formed during the 1994 "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, and appeared in their own monthly series in September 1994...
. In the course of acquiring another "Lost" child, the Orphan-Maker's armor began to malfunction; Nanny determined that his (still unrevealed) mutant power was growing stronger, and she had to create a new armor to contain it. She later sent the Orphan-Maker to protect a deformed child trapped in a schoolhouse by a mob believing him to be a mutant. This brought them into conflict with the Generation X team, who had the same goal. The heroes had to deal with protecting the mob and the boy's parents from the Orphan-Maker's violent methods. After the situation ends badly, with an innocent death, Orphan-Maker escapes in a technologically advanced vehicle disguised as an ice-cream truck.
It is notable that in this appearance, Nanny's egg-shaped battlesuit is shown in pieces outside her base of operations, and Nanny herself appears only in shadow as a vague shape.
At present, Nanny and the Orphan-Maker are at large, but and it was revealed within the Slingers
Slingers
The Slingers are a group of fictional superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. They starred in their own eponymous short-lived comic book.-History:...
series that both she and the Orphan-Maker were responsible for killing Ricochet's mother.
Most recently, she and Orphan-Maker battled with Wolverine after they tried to make Trance an orphan.
Powers and abilities
Nanny's mutant power is a type of low-level telepathy/mind control, which she enhances by projecting a chemical "pixie dust" at her victims. By unknown means, Nanny can regress the bodies of adult mutants to those of children; this is likely a technological process, as Storm was shown strapped to a machine as she was transformed, with Nanny operating a control console. Nanny can also mentally regress adults to a child-like mindset, or maintain that mindset in children despite their physically continuing to age; whether this is a facet of her telepathy or a technologically derived effect is unknown.Battle Suit
Nanny is encased within a battle suit of her own design: an egg-shaped suit of armor that is capable of flight, teleportation, producing a repulsor field, firing rockets and has an inbuilt machine pistol.Magneto's robot Nanny
The first Marvel character to bear the name Nanny was an obscure robot created by MagnetoMagneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
that first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #112 (August 1978). Magneto used computerized chairs to impair the nervous systems of the X-Men and reduce them to the capabilities of infants. He programmed Nanny to care for them as if they were children, as psychological torture; she had no other functions or offensive capabilities - except for being nauseatingly patronizing; Cyclops likens her voice to "a marshmallow soaked in honey". Unbeknownst to Magneto, Storm had outstanding coordination even in infancy; this, and her lock-picking skills, facilitated an escape. This Nanny was damaged by the X-Men upon their escape and used as bait to draw Magneto into the open. In Uncanny X-Men #149 the X-Men returned to the base, where they find Nanny's severed head. Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler (comics)
Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
used it to make joking references to Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. Wolverine clawed the head to shreds.
Much later, a rebuilt Nanny returned in Uncanny X-Men #347, attacking the X-Men and holding them hostage like before. She was destroyed by Trish Tilby
Trish Tilby
Patricia "Trish" Tilby is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe and first appeared in X-Factor vol. 1 #7-Fictional character biography:...
in #349, who (as an ordinary human, could not be detected by Nanny) was able to get close enough to the robot to attack her. Right before she was destroyed, Nanny began to display more advanced weaponry, as she was finally angry with the X-Men.
Another version of Magneto's Nanny appeared in the alternate reality dubbed the Age of Apocalypse
Age of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
. This Nanny was the caretaker of Charles Lehnsherr, the toddler son of that reality's Magneto and Rogue
Rogue (comics)
Rogue was first slated to appear in Ms. Marvel #25 , but the book's abrupt cancellation left her original introduction story unpublished for over a decade, before seeing print in Marvel Super Heroes #11 in 1992. Rogue's first published appearance was in Avengers Annual #10...
. This Nanny was equipped with retractable offensive weaponry and a defensive capability that let her envelop Charles in a protective cocoon formed from her own body mass; her primary function was to protect the child above all else. She was destroyed while performing this function, and failed to prevent Charles' abduction by agents of Apocalypse.