Amelia Voght

Amelia C. Voght is a Marvel Comics character, associated with the X-Men franchise.

A mutant with the ability to turn her body into mist, Amelia was a love interest of Professor X before he founded the X-Men. Unable to believe in his mission, she eventually joined Magneto’s Acolytes, becoming one of Magneto's most trusted lieutenants.

Publication history

Created by Scott Lobdell and John Romita, Jr., she first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #300 (May 1993).

In her first appearance,^[1] it was hinted that Amelia Voght was a former student of Professor X who declined to join his original X-Men team. But 9 issues later a different story emerged.

Fictional character biography

Amelia was a nurse who cared for Charles Xavier after his legs were first injured. Stationed in Tibet, Amelia was glad to see another American and her positive and friendly attitude helped Xavier to get over the depression he developed when his legs were injured. At first their relationship was professional, but it soon became romantic. They left Tibet together and Amelia returned with Xavier to the United States. Xavier, also a mutant, had encountered Magneto and the Shadow King and was developing a machine called Cerebro to track mutants, hoping to protect and educate them, so they wouldn't turn into a threat. Amelia found the plans and thought that Xavier was developing the machine to hunt down and exterminate mutants. She revealed herself as a mutant and attacked him, only stopped when Xavier revealed his own mutant powers. This link strengthened their relationship even more, but over time they both developed different stances on human-mutant interaction. Xavier wanted co-existence with the humans, while Amelia thought it was best for mutants to stay underground. When Xavier brought Scott Summers to his mansion for training, Amelia left him, telling him that his plans for the X-Men would doom all mutants. Xavier attempted to use his telepathy to convince her otherwise, but stopped himself. Amelia noticed and felt betrayed.^[2]

Acolytes

She would stay hidden for the next few years, but when human-mutant relationships deteriorated, she was recruited by Fabian Cortez and became a member of the second lineup of the Acolytes, followers of Magneto, whom she had met with Xavier years before. As one of the older and more experienced mutants, she was given a position of seniority within the group, even though she didn't agree with some of the Acolytes' more extreme policies, like the killing of humans, though initially she advocated it in the case of Moira MacTaggert.^[1] Over the years she would support the Acolytes and Magneto, but she would also try to limit casualties and gave limited aid to the X-Men and other superheroes like Quicksilver who opposed them.^[3]

She eventually became disillusioned with the Acolytes' extremist stance and left the group, ending her services assisting Magneto with his rule on Genosha by working against him to help the X-Men free the captured Professor X.^[4]

Amelia returned to work as a nurse and is also one of a handful of mutants to retain their powers following the events of M-Day.

Messiah Complex/X-Men: Legacy

Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler seek her out during the Messiah Complex crossover to obtain information regarding the Acolytes. At first she's reluctant to speak, fearing the Acolytes will kill the X-Men. However, she relents and reveals them the location of her former comrades. Voght eventually rejoins the Acolytes after the Professor's apparent death. She also informs Omega Sentinel of recent events that took place after she returns to normal following her possession by Malice. She also reveals she still has some feelings for Professor X in the X-Men: Legacy series.^[5]

Voght is seen again when Professor X returns to New Avalon and convinces Exodus to disband the Acolytes and find a new way to help mutantkind. After this, Voght, along with Random and Omega Sentinel decide to relocate to San Francisco.^[6]

Powers and abilities

Amelia Voght is a mutant possessing the power of transsubstantiation, enabling her to convert matter into a psionically resonant vapor at will. This mist became Amelia's natural state after her powers manifested, and she is capable of transubstantiating herself or any person or object in her line-of-sight. Being insubstantial, Amelia can use this power to avoid injury. She can control the flow of the vapor through the air, allowing her to fly, squeeze herself through tight passages, or move objects about; she could pull a person out from under a mob attacking them by dispersing and reforming them nearby, or steal her opponents' weapons by vaporizing from their hands and bringing them to her own. Voght's mist can also be transported through the astral plane, allowing her to employ her powers for long range teleportation. She is able to transport herself and anything else she transsubstantiates across the surface of the globe in an instant, or to and from orbit around the planet. She can teleport with cargo, or send objects to a new location without traveling with them, providing she can visualize the new location in her mind. On certain occasions, Voght even demonstrated the ability to summon distant people to herself by teleportation, visualizing wherever the person is at the moment, seeing them converted into mist, and then bringing that mist into her presence to be reformed.^[1]

In other media

Television

• Amelia first appears in the two-part X-Men episode "Proteus" and later in "Sanctuary" voiced by Susan Roman. She is first seen as a member of the Acolytes, but throughout the episodes it's revealed that Amelia also started out as a nurse and tried to help Charles recover from the injuries on his legs. She even went with him to America when Charles wanted to start founding the original X-Men but later left when she and Charles had an argument. The two didn't speak again until Magneto had created his Asteroid M in outer space where mutants could live without fear. Amelia accepted the offer but Charles and some other X-Men chose to investigate Magneto's true intentions, fearing he would use the Asteroid to attack Earth. When those beliefs were discovered to be untrue, Charles and his team wanted to leave but the Acolytes' leader, Fabian Cortez, wanted to rule Asteroid M by himself and betrayed his fellow Acolytes and Magneto, sending Magneto to his apparent death. Magneto survived the crash and he and the X-Men took revenge on Cortez, but Asteroid M ended up destroyed. Amelia returned to Earth where she decided to become a nurse again, according to her, like her mother always wanted. Amelia returns in another two-part episode "Phalanx Covenant". She is revealed to have taken up a job at Moira MacTaggert's Muir Island facility. Interesting enough, Moira is also an ex-lover of Xavier. When the Phalanx attacked the base, it was completely devoured and Amelia was the only one to escape, while Moira was assimilated. Alongside Beast, Warlock, Forge, and Mister Sinister they seek Magneto for help. Together they defeat the Phalanx, saving those captured and assimilated.

References

External links

• Amelia Voght at Marvel.com
• UncannyXmen.net Spotlight On Amelia Voght