Pete Wisdom
| Pete Wisdom | |
|---|---|
| File:Petewisdom.PNG Peter Wisdom, by Michael Ryan | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Excalibur (v1) #86 (February 1995) |
| Created by | Warren Ellis Ken Lashley |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Peter Winston Wisdom |
| Team affiliations | New Excalibur, Black Air, X-Force |
| Abilities | ability to throw 'blades' of energy from his fingertips |
Peter Winston "Pete" Wisdom is a fictional character, a secret agent in the Marvel Comics comic book universe created by British comic writer Warren Ellis. Wisdom is a former British Secret Service agent with the mutant ability to throw 'blades' of energy ("hot knives") from his fingertips (one online critic pointed out that "hotknife" was a slang term for drug paraphernalia; this is presumed to have been deliberate on Warren Ellis's part).
Wisdom was briefly a member of the X-Men splinter teams (and spinoff titles) Excalibur and X-Force. He is rarely seen in anything other than a scruffy suit (sometimes under a trenchcoat) or without a cigarette or a bottle of liquor in hand. Wisdom is said to be a derivative of DC Comics' Vertigo character, John Constantine (whom writer Warren Ellis later wrote during a brief and troubled stint on Hellblazer), though Ellis himself has denied this and said Wisdom is based on Jack Regan from The Sweeney.
Character history
Pete Wisdom was initially created by Ellis and drawn by Ben Dilworth, in a pitch for "Electric Angel" for publisher Trident Comics. Wisdom was an angry young Essex man, with the power to summon electricity.
Pete Wisdom next appeared early on Warren Ellis' two-year run on Excalibur (issues 83 through 103). His first appearance was as an agent for the British covert organization Black Air in Excalibur (vol.1) #86. Soon therafter he left Black Air and joined the Excalibur team.
Kitty Pryde
Wisdom was romantically involved with Kitty Pryde for a while, a relationship controversial in fandom for its implied sexuality. (The Warren Ellis script which introduced the relationship between the two was far more explicit than what made it to press: Originally, the last panel in the issue in question was to have Shadowcat and Wisdom in bed together. After initially approving the scene, Marvel's editors got cold feet and the panel instead showed the couple exchanging a kiss in silhouette. Some later small touches that Ellis was able to include were Pete's reference to Kitty's feet being "like plates of ice" in bed, and an illustration of Kitty's bedroom with one of Pete's ties hanging on a bedpost.) The controversy of their relationship stems primarily from their disparate ages: Wisdom is said to be ten years older than Pryde (due to the vague nature of times passage in comic universes, Ellis chose to portray her as being in her early twenties, though other writers felt that she was still in her mid-to-late teens). The pair starred in the Pryde and Wisdom three-issue miniseries, which was also written by Ellis; this series also introduced Wisdom's sister Romany, as well as his father Harold, a retired Scotland Yard inspector. He had a somewhat antagonistic (though ultimately friendly) relationship with the other team members, particularly Lockheed, who was jealous of his relationship with Kitty. His relationship with Pryde eventually ended, and Wisdom left the team in issue 120.
X-Force
After Excalibur dissolved, he was briefly affiliated with X-Force. His first appearance in this comic occurred in X-Force volume 1, issues 94 and 95, where he requested X-force's aid in recovering a cybernetic brain from Genosha, fighting Magneto in the process. Soon after, Warren Ellis became the 'plotmaster' of X-Force - Ian Edginton was the actual scripter, as part of the Counter-X rebranding of several second-tier X-titles (the others being Generation X and X-Man) - and Wisdom appeared as the new leader of the team beginning in issue 102. He acted as a mentor and showed the team members how to use their mutant powers in new ways. At the end of the first major story arc in issue 105, in which Romany Wisdom returned as a villain, Pete Wisdom was apparently murdered. He appeared in flashbacks in the next arc, these flashbacks taking place between issues 101 and 102. In issue 115 the remainder of X-Force (with the exception of Domino) were apparently killed, while Wisdom was revealed to still be alive. (Later, the rest of the X-Force team were revealed to have survived as well.) Wisdom's survival is apparently not known to any members of X-Force or Excalibur, and possibly the only person to know that he is alive is Alistaire Stuart, head of the British Intelligence organization "The Department".
New Excalibur
However, more recently, Wisdom has helped bring together the latest version of Excalibur, alongside Captain Britain, Dazzler, Nocturne, Sage and the Juggernaut, in a new series scripted by Chris Claremont.
Originally, the series' mandate was to explore the fallout from House of M in Britain. The series has since gone far beyond that including stories concerning the Dark X-Men, Black Tom Cassidy and even a slowly blossoming relationship between Wisdom and Sage.
MAX
At the 2006 Comic-Con International, Marvel announced that Pete Wisdom would be returning in a six-issue limited series titled Wisdom. The series will be written by British author Paul Cornell and drawn by Trevor Hairsine. It will be published by Marvel's mature readers' MAX comics imprint.
Powers and abilities
Peter Wisdom has the power to absorb ambient heat and solar radiation, and release the absorbed energy from his fingertips as "hot knives" of pure thermal energy, said to be as "hot as the surface of the sun". He can fire his hot knives as projectiles, or leave them attached to his fingertips like claws for close physical combat. He also has years of experience in espionage from working for Black Air.