Tarot (comics)
| Tarot | |
|---|---|
|
Tarot. X-Force issue #87. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Mutants #16 (Jun 1984) |
| Created by |
Chris Claremont Sal Buscema |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Marie-Ange Colbert |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Hellions |
| Abilities | Materialize tangible representations of 2D images into 3D objects; Psychometric precognition. |
Tarot (Marie-Ange Colbert) is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe.
Publication history
Tarot first appeared in New Mutants #16-17 (June–July 1984), and was created by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema.
The character subsequently appears in The Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985), Firestar #2-4 (April–June 1986), The New Mutants #39 (May 1986), #43 (September 1986), #53-54 (July–August 1987), #56 (October 1987), #62 (April 1988), The New Warriors #9-10 (March–April 1991), and apparently died in The Uncanny X-Men #281-282 (October–November 1991). The character made posthumous appearances in The New Warriors Annual #1 (1991) and #2 (1992). Tarot mysteriously appeared alive again in X-Force #87-90 (February–May 1999).
Tarot appeared as part of the "Hellions" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #5.
Fictional character biography
Marie-Ange Colbert was born in Lyon, France. As Tarot, she joins the original Hellions. Tarot is generally of a kind and sympathetic nature. Mirage's psychic abilities reveal that Tarot is in love with one of the New Mutants. It is later strongly hinted that the New Mutant in question was Cypher, but nothing ever comes of her supposed infatuation with him, and she instead falls in love with one of her teammates, Empath.[1] He does not return her feelings, and leaves the Hellions in order to pursue his seduction of Magma, leaving Tarot heartbroken.[2] Tarot's flying constructs sometimes serve as transportation for the Hellions.[1]
Tarot and her team battle the New Warriors inside their penthouse headquarters over the fate of ex-Hellion Firestar.[3]
She is ostensibly killed by Trevor Fitzroy and his Sentinels, who uses her life force to fuel one of his temporal displacement portals.[4] She reappears years later as a member of the second Hellions team.[5] Tarot's life force is now somehow bound to King Bedlam, who was apparently the key to her resurrection, though this has never been fully explained. After her resurrection, Tarot displays greater control over her powers, being able to assume the likeness of specific tarot cards herself. During the Hellions' conflict with X-Force, in which she confronts her former teammate James Proudstar, Tarot aids them, incurring Bedlam's wrath. In the end, however, she leaves with him and her new teammates for whereabouts unknown.
M-Day and Necrosha
Tarot is one of the many mutants depowered as a result of M-Day.[6] King Bedlam was also amongst the depowered, and the loss of his powers apparently returns Tarot to her former state.
She is resurrected yet again, this time alongside her fallen teammates, by means of the Transmode Virus to serve as part of Selene's army of resurrected mutants.[7] It is not explained how Tarot's mutant abilities returned. Tarot, alongside her fellow Hellions are dispatched by Eli Bard to collect and reprogram Cypher. They are intercepted by the New Mutants and Warlock knocks them away with an explosion.
Powers and abilities
Tarot is a mutant who formerly possessed the ability to generate animated constructs composed of tangible psionic energy based on the two-dimensional figures on the tarot cards she carried. It is unknown if Tarot was actually limited to the use of her tarot images for her power to operate, or if this was merely a personal preference. She could create several (up to five, at least) human-sized figures and even massive flying constructs without any apparent strain. Tarot's psionic constructs were superhumanly strong and durable, being resistant to physical damage, temperature extremes, and certain forms of energy. Tarot's constructs were completely under her mental control, and would dissipate on her command. They could only be destroyed by a force that dispersed the majority of their psionic mass, or if Tarot herself was rendered unconscious. Tarot was vulnerable to her psionic constructs being destroyed, as the psionic feedback left her disoriented.
Tarot also possessed a fair degree of precognitive ability, being able to accurately predict events that would occur years in the future. This power, however, was largely (if not completely) dependent on the use of her tarot cards.
After her resurrection, Tarot had somehow either gained or learned the ability to manifest characteristics of certain tarot cards upon herself, such as weapons and armor, increasing her effectiveness in physical combat.
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
Tarot, along with several other members of the original Hellions, appear briefly in the Age of Apocalypse universe as former agents of Apocalypse. After his death, they became renegades and were hunted down and captured by the X-Men for the United States government. Their fates after being remanded into government custody are unknown.