Morlocks

Morlocks are a sub-race of mutant featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. As a group, they first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #169 in May of 1983. One of their number, Caliban, actually made an earlier appearance in Uncanny X-Men #148 in 1981.

History
The Morlocks take their name from characters featured in the 1895 novel, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. The Morlocks are mutants, but their gifts and physical abnormalities set them apart from not only baseline humanity, but from other mutants as well. A version of Hank McCoy from an alternate reality, dubbed the Dark Beast, traveled to this world some twenty years prior to the X-Men's first encounter with the Morlocks and used technology developed by a man known as Mister Sinister to create this ragtag band of "wild card" mutants. Although directly responsible for their creation, the Dark Beast had very little involvement with their future development as a society.

Originally led by a tracker named Callisto, the Morlocks took to living underground in a massive network of tunnels beneath New York City dubbed The Alley. The other Morlocks associated with Callisto at this time included Caliban, who had the ability to sense the presence of other mutants, Masque, who could transform the facial features of others, Plague, who could transmit disease, and Sunder, who had super-strength and endurance.

The Morlocks first gained the attention of the X-Men several years ago when Caliban, seeking an end to his oppressive lonliness ventured into the city where he discovered a young teenage mutant named Kitty Pryde. Caliban tried kidnapping Kitty, but ultimately fled back into the tunnels as police and other heroes arrived on the scene.

A short time later, Callisto decided that she wanted her own member of the X-Men as well. Having taken a desire for the winged Warren Worthington, III, she sent Sunder to his apartment to abduct him. When the X-Men discovered that Angel was missing, they used a Mini-Cerebro to track him down to the Morlock tunnels. During this encounter, Plague managed to transmit her viral touch to Kitty Pryde, who fell deathly ill. Caliban found her and nursed her back to health. As such, Callisto promised Kitty to him as his bride. The X-Men fought up against the Morlocks and the team's field leader, Storm, challenged Callisto in one-on-one combat. To the surprise of not only the Morlocks, but her X-Men teammates as well, Storm drove a knife into Callisto's heart, nearly killing her. By right of combat, Storm was now named the new leader of the Morlocks.

A few years later, Mister Sinister staged a massive attack against the Morlocks using a team of super-powered clones called the Marauders. He employed the services of a young thief from New Orleans named Remy LeBeau, who led the Marauders to the Morlock tunnels. The Marauders began indiscriminately slaughtering as many Morlocks as they could find. When word spread about what was happening, several mutant and/or superhero teams got involved to help out, including the X-Men, X-Factor, Power Pack and even Thor. The casualties were high and the X-Men had to set up a triage for Morlock survivors at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Many survivors blamed their leader Storm for failing to protect them. This event became known as the "Mutant Massacre".

A man known as Mikhail Rasputin, the brother of X-Men member Peter Rasputin, became a problem when a recent trauma caused him to go insane and embroil himself in a fight with the X-Men. At this time, Rasputin was forced to cause a flood that swept through The Alley putting many Morlock lives at risk. Not wishing to see them come to any harm, Mikhail used his powers to open dimensional rifts and shunted a group of Morlocks into a new realm. Mikhail followed and closed the rift behind them. In this dimension, the passage of time moved more quickly than it did on Earth, so the expatriated Morlocks aged more quickly. Those who were children when The Alley was flooded, such as Marrow, was now a fully grown adult. Mikhail dubbed this next generation of Morlocks Gene Nation.

Members

 * Dark Beast, Hank McCoy - Founder; Geneticist; Superhuman strength and agility.
 * Callisto - Former leader; Enhanced senses; Hunting; Tracking.
 * Sunder, Mark Hallett - Superhuman strength and durability.
 * Masque - Former leader; Bio-reconstruction.
 * Caliban - Sense other mutants.
 * Plague - Transmit disease.
 * Storm, Ororo Munroe - Former leader by right of combat; Weather control.
 * Skids, Sally Blevins - Force field generation.
 * Leech - Power negation.
 * Annalee - Empath.
 * Ape - Ape-like features; Superhuman agility.
 * Healer - Can heal others.
 * Tar Baby - Secretes an adhesive resin.
 * Feral, Maria Callasantos - Were-feline traits.
 * Erg - Absorbs and redirects energy through his eye.
 * Cybelle - Secretes acid through her pores.
 * Marrow - Leader; accelerated bone growth; projectile biology.
 * Glow Worm - Worm-like appearance; Can infuse objects with energy and cause them to explode.
 * Bulk - Radiation emission; superhuman strength and durability.