Feral

Characteristics

• Height-5'9
• Weight-115 lbs
• Eyes-Brown
• Hair-Orange & White

Biography

Origins

Maria Callasantos's story starts in New York City, in a tenement that she called home. There she lived with her family: mother, father, and her siblings: Older sister Lucia, younger brother Matteo and younger sister Carolina. In appearance they seemed like a normal family, a little down on their luck but still together; this wouldn't last very long. In Maria's youth, prior to her mutation, her father began heavily abusing alcohol which led to him abuse his wife. He would beat Maria's mother regularly, then one day it stopped, not because he realized there was a problem - he simply grew tired of his surrounding and abandoned his family after the birth of Maria's youngest sibling, Carolina. He left his wife and four children, without a second glance, not caring if they were going to be ok or not. Maria and her family would not hear of her father again, or even see him. That is until they were informed of the new thing he decided to abuse: drugs. Becoming a heavy user, Mr. Callasantos, was eventually found dead from a drug overdose. Around this time, Maria's burgeoning mutant gifts were already starting to manifest themselves. Not yet in the physical sense, like fur and her feline appearance, but internally. She began to notice differences in herself. Maria could smell things she couldn't before, hear the smallest noises and her eyes could see in a way she was never able to do prior. Maria's sister, Lucia, began to show signs of her mutation as well. Oddly though, her gifts were growing at a slower rate. Where she had just began to mutate at the age of 17, Maria at 15 was already far more advanced in her mutation. Maria's changes began to occur mentally as well, even faster then her older sister's. Unbeknownst to either sister the mutations they were encountering were classified as a "feral" mutation. "Feral" mutants, like Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maria and her sister have a harder time with their emotions. More instinctual, animalistic and primitive by design; for feral mutants, action and thought become one, rarely do they consider before they act. Feelings of anger would lead to feelings of rage. If unchecked this would then lead to a berserker enraged fury that was uncontrollable. In this state they are a different person and would do anything that that came to their mind, including hurting someone. Maria definitely noticed these internal changes, but was ill-equipped to deal them by herself. Emotions became a chore for Maria to deal with. Small things would occur resulting in Maria destroying anything in her eye sight. Mutants that are feral tend to give into their animal rage, having an "attack first, ask questions later" attitude. Though they can attempt to restrain that part of themselves, even the best of them give in to the animal inside. All these changes Maria was going through only made her home life harder. She was always arguing with her mom, and not getting along with her younger brother and sister. Surely she, too, would have fought with Lucia but she was dealing with her mutations differently. She would lock herself in a room by herself and not talk to anyone. The only real thing that made Maria happy was her pigeons. On the room of her tenement she had fairly large bird coop filled with pigeons. These were her pets, and only friends. Maria would stay up there for hours a day. This would be her only refuge as a child, though this refuge would only be temporary. Maria became hyper-sensitive to her surroundings and the abandonment by her father and his death were hugely impacting her family, only making situations worse. Her mother struggled to pay bills; it was a constant battle just to maintain their meek living quarters. Maria wanted to fix the problem, but didn't know how to. This made her constantly in an edgy state and made her very reactive in ways she had never been before. One such incident was when she began to blame her younger siblings for their father’s actions, and that they were the reason that their father abandoned them. In fits of rage she would yell at her siblings and destroy things in the house. This went on for weeks. Subsequently, while babysitting her siblings, Carolina fell down a large flight of stairs. The injuries that she sustained would lead to her death. Speculations are that Maria was behind this, murdering her little sister, but at the time nothing was ever proven. Her brother, Matteo, similarly had a death that was questionable. He was on the roof of the tenement his family lived in chasing pigeons around. While chasing them, he tripped and went over the edge of the building. He was able to hold on to the ledge for a short while, but eventually his grip released and he plummeted to his death. As with her sister's death, Maria was babysitting. In this particular case, Maria was more of a witness to the death, rather than a participant in it. Like her sister's death, it is unclear if Maria was involved in anyway. As for Maria's mother, after her husband left her she met a man named Harry Bellinger. He romanced her, and she quickly fell in love and married him. Harry did a good job at hiding his flaws for he was both an alcoholic and a drug addict, using cocaine as often as possible. He introduced Mrs. Callasantos to both and unfortunately she, too, became addicted. Maria slowly saw her mother's state deteriorate. Mrs. Callasantos was a changed woman; she cared less and less for anything in her life except for her drugs and alcohol. This would only make Maria grow angrier every day. Her anger only worsened and increased, her mutation helped it along. Maria's sister Lucia was less reactive, because of her slowed mutation. All the turmoil came to head one day when Lucia was attacked by Bellinger and he tried to rape her (it would later be revealed that both Feral and Thornn were both sexually abused by their step-father). Maria, with her mutations nearly at their peak and more feral than ever, intervened. She stopped Bellinger, but nothing could stop her in return. Maria embraced all of her inner rage and ferociously attacked and killed him. His flesh and bones were mutilated by Maria, whose strength was superhumanly increased due to her mutant nature and bolstered by her berserker fury. The girls immediately took action and decided to hide the body. Lucia helped because Maria had helped her when she was going to be raped. Although she didn't agree with the actions, she would never let her sister take a fall for someone like Harry Bellinger. They hid the body in the walls of the apartment that they lived in. Though never revealed how, Maria's mother was fully aware of what occurred. Mrs. Callasantos, though wasn't the same caring mother Maria and Lucia once had. Nothing of that person was in Mrs. Callasantos anymore. The drug's, that Harry introduced her to, had taken a huge toll on her affecting her mind. She cared not that her daughter, Lucia, was going to be raped by her husband. The only thing Mrs. Callasantos acknowledged was that Harry would no longer provide her with drugs. This infuriated her. Knowing that Maria had murdered Bellinger, Mrs. Callasantos took action and took from Maria some that would equally hurt her. Mrs. Callasantos went to the roof of the tenement and killed all of Maria's pet pigeons in revenge. This action took Maria somewhere she has never been before. Maria never really had fully control over her feral nature to begin with, but she had never been more furious. Seized by hatred and rage, Maria succumbed to the raging beast inside her, once again, and went on a berserker rampage that would rival that of Wolverine or the Hulk. In a fit of rage and she wanted was revenge and only felt hatred for her mother. Maria attacked her mother and brutally killed her. She was only brought back from her rage when she realized what she had done. It was also hinted too, at this time, that she had purposely pushed their younger sister down the stairs, leading to her death, as well as allowed their younger brother to fall to his death from their roof. With so many deaths and only two living people, the girls knew they couldn't stay. They left seeking a place to hide. The heard of an underground community of mutants that society did not accept. Thinking this was the right decision they headed for the sewers. In the sewers, Maria and Lucia lived amongst the underground community of mutants known as the Morlocks.

Refuge In the Sewers

It was during the time with the Morlocks, that the girls mutations would fully finish. They would take on physical appearances that looked completely different from their prior look. The two sisters came to resemble humanoid animals; both taking on cat like appearances also growing tails. Trying to hide their past lives and looking physically different they figured it was the perfect time to erase the past entirely. It was then that they took on the codenames they would be more known as; Maria took the name "Feral", and Lucia became known as "Thornn", no longer would any know who they truly were. Even with the Morlocks, living in their community, the girls wouldn't find peace. Eventually leaving due to he tyrannical leader of the Morlocks, Masque, and his malicious way. While attempting to escape the sewers, because they were unwilling to join Masque's army, they were separated. Thornn went one direction, Feral the other. Thornn eventually fell in with the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants that was organized by their then leader Toad, and joined his team. Feral, on the other hand, would head to the X-Mansion seeking refuge and encounter members of the New Mutants. After a brief introduction she was asked to become a member of the team. Feral decided to join their team.

X-Force

Feral agreed to join the New Mutants as they requested, but she in return asked for their help in taking down Masque. The team gladly aided their new team-mate. Successful in their mission, Feral felt that she made a good decision, even though she wasn't very keen on being told what to do by anyone. This was a problem with Cannonball, leader, of the New Mutants, and would be an even greater problem in the future. Very soon after, the New Mutants transitioned from being a 2nd generation X-team learning to use their powers under the tutelage of Professor X, to the paramilitary-like soldiers-of-war, trained and led by the enigmatic Cable. Their name would change to X-Force. Feral, at first, liked the new team’s ways, lots of fighting, always on the move, it fit her well. With one exception, Cable ran a strict team. A no questions asked, type of person he was. He had a goal for the team and knew what he had to do to prepare them. It required lots of training and lots of following commands. He also selected two co-leaders for the team: Cannonball, who previously served as field leader of the team while they were the New Mutants, and Siryn, daughter of Banshee, she showed strong leadership capabilities. He expected the team to follow their leader as they would his. This only made it harder for Feral, as she now had 3 people she had to listen to, rather than one. In one incident the team was training in a sparring session. She was to take on Cannonball. She went from training and learning to viciously attacking Cannonball nearly eviscerating him. Later she had a run-in with Siryn as well. She had especially disliked Siryn, as with the male leaders, Feral would flirt her way out of most things, with Siryn it didn't work. Feral was pushed and worked even harder, but she put up with it for a while though. Feral served a long tenure with X-Force, joining them in their inception and going on all their early adventures, including one that brought her into conflict with Lucia and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. This came about when Masque's Morlocks teamed up with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. This was also the first time she had seen her sister since they separated ways in the sewers. It reminded her of her past, something she hadn't thought about in a long time. Though even on the team, not everything went perfectly. Feral’s naturally ferocious nature brought her into conflict with her teammates on many occasions. In some cases she would be doing battle, always with an all or nothing attitude, and would go way too far, nearly killing, but her team-mates would hold her back. Similar to her attack on Cannonball, Feral was prone to letting loose on her team. Feral, would have run-ins with anyone in the team that held a leadership role, including Cable, Siryn and. Many of her team-mates were very distrustful of her, and they would have no problem letting her know. She did though make some connections to member's on the team, preferring those that had a similar vicious nature as her like Warpath and she definitely enjoyed Shatterstar's unrestrained fighting nature. Feral also made it very clear that she was attracted to Shatterstar, though nothing ever came of that.

The Defection

X-Force eventually came into conflict with the Mutant Liberation Front, a terrorist organization that had kidnapped the government official and anti-mutant activist Henry Gyrich. The MLF's leader, Reignfire, being the trained strategist that he was convinced Feral to switch allegiances, playing up on her hatred of Gyrich and what he represented, it wasn't hard for him. He knew X-Force wasn't a perfect fit for her, and promised that he would never hold her back in a fight. Feral quickly accepted the offer and attacked Gyrich, but was stopped by Cable. He tried to reason with her but she was being egged on by Reignfire. Cable would shoot her, only wanting to stun and take her down. Effective in his attack he tried to apprehend her. Confronted by her ex-teammates and not knowing what to do, she decided to run and escaped with the MLF. Though the team was thrown off by her actions, none of them were really surprised. These actions would put the members of X-Force (her former friends and team-mates) and Feral at odds with each other. Feral would reappear to confront her sister when she was captured by New York City police (NYPD). Cannonball was also present and he and Thornn (Feral's sister) engaged Feral in battle. The goal was to try to agitate Feral to such an extent that it would force her to admit to the murders she had committed. Cannonball held himself back in the beginning not wanting to hurt her but noticed that Feral didn't share that same regard. She was on a berserker fury that would rival Wolverine's, and trying to kill him. Similarly, Cannonball went all out on Feral and easily subdued her. In the fray, Cannonball managed to have Feral admit her actions in the murder of Harry Bellinger and her three family members. Although Feral tried to fight her way out, she was defeated, arrested and sent to prison. It would seem that she finally was going to pay for her past transgressions.

The Legacy Virus

While Feral was in prison she was informed that she had contracted the, mutant killing, Legacy Virus. It was during this time the mutant Random would offer a proposal that she couldn't refuse. He was gathering together a strike force of mutants, which he wanted to send on a mission for the one, and only Magneto. She accepted and was broken out and was sent to the group of mutants, Acolytes. There she joined them and they informed her of the plan. They were to invade Wundagore Mountain, break into and steal the High Evolutionary's Isotope E. The strike force would also be informed that the item they were seeking out had the power to cure anyone of the Legacy Virus. This would sweeten the deal, as there were quite a few of the strike force member's that were afflicted by the virus. The group of mutants advance assuming they would get "push-back", they assumed wrong. When they began their attack they are rebuffed by the High Evolutionary's personal army, the Knights Of Wundagore. The knights were a highly trained group of warriors. Their experience and fluid team work would easily overpower the ragtag strike force. With a win far from their reach, they instead retreated failing in their attempt. Not too long after, the team would find out that they were set up by Exodus. He wanted the Isotope E, though not to help the Legacy Virus affected mutants in the strike force, but for his own personal agenda. He sent the mutants so they would do the dirty work for him, and he would not be faulted for the actions. Feral would be very upset once she caught wind of this. In fact, Feral at this point was an uncovered raw nerve of fury looking for an outlet. All she needed was a direction, an individual by the name of King Bedlam would help her with that.

The New Hellions

Feral's first attempt to find a cure was a miserable failure. She had begun to feel the effects of the virus more than ever, it even began to affect her mentally. Distraught from her illness she would accept King Bedlam's offer and resurface as a member of his New Hellions. Feral's participation in the group would put her at odds once again with X-Force. Though this team would not last long, Feral would make sure her actions would. Feral would once again prove her bite is far worse than her bark. The New Hellions would attempt to steal, activate and control the cryogenically frozen Armageddon Man. He was to be used a bribery again the United States government to blackmail them and get a large sum of money. One the New Hellions, the recently resurrected Tarot, began to question the motives of her team and decided instead to help X-Force, a battle quickly ensued. Each member taking on another, X-Force's years of teamwork and experience gave them the upper hand. With everyone busy fighting; it left only Siryn to do battle with Feral. Neither of the two women would want it any other way. This fight was long overdue and both were raring for it. It started with a heated argument, Siryn angry due to Feral's defection; Feral angry simply because she disliked Siryn. Many words were exchanged; Siryn confident that she would win continued to egg Feral on. All of the rage and hate that Feral had felt for Siryn in her past boiled over in the argument. Feral, enraged, lounges at Siryn viciously slashing her vocal cords open. This injury would prove to be a critical one. It effectively took Siryn out of the fight and left her completely powerless, mute and requiring a long recovery time. Though Feral was successful in her fight, her team would not be and would lose their first and only battle. The New Hellions would disband shortly after, going their separate ways. Not too long after, the cure for the Legacy Virus would be found and released into the air. Feral was cured. A strange side effect though was that she began to question her life, which would lead her to a make major decision.

A Change of Heart

Feral experienced many things in her life, some by choice others by circumstance; all though, molded her into the person that she had became. Of all the things she had experienced, death specifically, her own mortality was never one of them. With all her strength and mutant power, Feral was powerless to fight when she found that she had contracted the deadly Legacy Virus. Once afflicted by the Legacy Virus she went through many emotions including: anger, rage, denial and finally acceptance. To her surprise she would wake-up one day and she would find that was cured. No longer did she have to worry of her life being taken by the virus. She now had a choice; future being it. Feral would decide to make a change, a change that would have her head back to the good side and reform. She then contacted Professor X and with his acceptance she would join the X-Corporation, specifically the Mumbai Branch. It would be here that Feral would start her new life. She would be joined in the group by her sister, Thornn, former X-Force team-mate Warpath and one time X-Men, long time ally Sunfire. There wouldn't be much time to get reacquainted though because the team would be sent on a mission almost immediately. It would be in this mission Feral would have the chance to pay Professor X back for the second chance he gave to her. The Mumbai Branch of X-Corporation would be integral in helping save Professor X from an assassination attempt by the craze-possessed Lilandra Neramani, who was under the belief that Charles Xavier was actually Cassandra Nova (the benevolent evil twin of Charles Xavier). This particular mission would be a highlight amongst many in her time with the X-Corporation.

M-Day

Feral would stay with the X-Corporation for a long while until both she and her sister were affected by the events of M-Day. This would leave both of them powerless, their X-Gene removed, they would now be baseline human. No more powers and completely human in appearance. Unhappy by their new status quo they, Feral and Thornn, would go on a journey to find answers and a way to reverse their situation. This would have travel to New York to seek answers. Specifically leading them to Mutant Town, and then to Wakanda. While there Feral and Thornn met up with other feral mutants all of them animal in appearance such as Sasquatch & Wolfsbane. As a group, the four of them were to aid Wolverine in his search for his long time foe Sabretooth. During the group’s investigation to find Sabretooth, both Feral and Thornn would be kidnapped by the enigmatic geneticist Romulus. Romulus is a 2,000 year old geneticist that has been a part of many things, including Weapon X and Wolverine's past. Romulus specializes in feral mutations preferring wolf-based entities such as individuals like Wolfsbane. While captive, the girls would be experimented changing them on the genetic level.

Weapon X

When the sister's wake up and find that they are in Weapon X experiment facility. They also found that they remembered nothing of the events that brought them there. Though not feeling any different except for their slight amnesia, they were more than surprised when they got up and looked at each other. Whatever that had been done to them had, in their beliefs, reversed their depowering. The sisters would realize that their bodies had been tampered with when they looked at each other they only saw their once mutant forms; cat-like in appearance. They were both mutants again (or so they thought). Both Feral and Thornn had re-emerged in their feline humanoid forms. Their memories began to slowly come back when Wolverine appeared. He was surprised to see their visages but gladly accepted the additional power that their mutant forms carried, should they wished to continue. Feral would choose to proceed, ecstatic in the chance to use her powers again. Now that Wolverine had finally found and secured the sisters he could continue his search for Sabretooth. The two would continue to search the facility they were in. With so many hallways and doors they inadvertently get separated. While alone, Feral stumbles upon Sabretooth. He was very different, more animalistic, even more so then normal. He appeared as if he was a mindless animal. One important factor would affect the outcome of this particular battle. Feral was NOT truly a mutant. She DIDN'T have her powers. She was ONLY a mutant in appearance. Unfortunately she didn't know this. Confident in her skills she willingly confronted him. In such close quarters and Sabretooth in his, apparent, mindless state, she would find the truth about her powers far too late. Sabretooth closed in and slaughtered her. Had Feral still been powered she could have held her own against him. She may have even won considering his mental state. But she didn't. Wolverine would arrive right after Sabretooth had just killed her, too late to save her. Wolverine would, in a way, avenge her death, by ultimately killing his arch-nemesis, beheading him. In the end when the team regrouped. With Feral dead, it was then speculated by Wolfsbane that the sisters were still base-line humans. Only their outward appearances had been changed back to their once feline forms. Wolverine agreed, as it explained why she would have lost so easily. It would appear that Romulus only reverted their physical forms back to their previous mutant forms, not actually granting them their actual mutant powers. It's presumed that Romulus didn't grant them their fully mutant powered forms purposely. Possibly because he was under the assumption that they were wolf-based mutants where his expertise lay in. In actuality they ware feline-based. Either he wasn't able to restore them (as he only specialized in feral lupine types) or chose not to when he found that they were not what he expected. Either way Feral would not survive this battle. Her life would come full circle; she was murdered cold-blooded by a feral mutant in a berserker state as she in a similar state did too much of her family in her youth, many years prior.

Necrosha

She was one of the many mutants to be revived by Selene and Eli Bard during Necrosha. She was seen attacking X-23 and Dr. James Bradley.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Superhuman Speed: Feral is capable of running and moving at speeds greater than that of the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Stamina: Ferals muscles produce far less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the muscles of an ordinary human. She can exert herself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue impairs her.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Feral is capable of healing mild to moderate injuries much faster than an ordinary human. Injuries such as broken bones can completely heal within a few days. She is incapable of regenerating missing limbs or organs.

Superhuman Agility: Feral's natural agility, balance, and coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the human body's natural limits.

Superhuman Reflexes: Feral's natural reaction time is enhanced to levels beyond the human body's natural limits.

Superhuman Strength:

Superhumanly Acute Senses: Feral possesses superhumanly acute senses of sight, smell, and hearing comparable to those of certain animals. Feral is capable of seeing with greater clarity and at greater distances than an ordinary human. She retains this same clarity, even in near-total darkness. Her hearing is enhanced similarly, enabling her to both hear sounds that ordinary humans can't and to hear at much greater distances. Feral is able to use her highly developed sense of smell to track a target by scent. Her sense of smell is so acute, she is able to detect the slight chemical differences in different brands of deodorants that, supposedly, have the same scent.

Night Vision:

Superhuman Durability:

Razor Sharp Claws & Teeth: Feral possesses retractable claws at the tip of each finger. These claws are capable of cutting most conventional materials including flesh, bone, wood, stone, and some types of metals. She also has elongated canine teeth that she can use to rend flesh in combat situations.

Prehensile Tail: Feral possesses a long, prehensile tail that she uses to help balance herself while running or during combat situations. She is also capable of supporting her weight with her tail.

Abilities

Feral is a formidable hand to hand combatant trained by Wolverine and Cable.

Strength level

Feral possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift about 1 ton.

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Formerly X-Force vehicles.

Affliations

• Morlocks
• New Mutants
• X-Men formerly
• X-Force formerly
• X-Corporation formerly
• Mutant Liberation Front formerly

Alternate Realities

in other media

Television

X-Men: Animated Series

Wolverine and the X-Men

Film

X2: X-Men United