Negasonic Teenage Warhead started out as many non-major mutants do in the Marvel Universe, as cannon fodder for a new status quo. The young mutant was killed off mere panels after her introduction. Her distinct name and appearance allowed her to make sparse reappearances over the years before she disappeared almost entirely from comics. With most young mutant characters, that's the end of their journey.

But things changed for Negasonic Teenage Warhead when she ended up playing a minor role in Deadpool. Proving to be a quick audience favorite, she returned for the sequel and even inspired Marvel to fully resurrect the character and make her more like her cinematic equivalent. Along the way, she quietly became one of the most powerful characters at Marvel and even broke new ground for representation in the superhero genre. Now, CBR is taking a look back at the strange and unexpected history of Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and how Deadpool helped bring her to prominence.

NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD IN X-MEN

Negasonic Teenage Warhead in her first goth look from the New X-Men comic series

Negasonic Teenange Warhead was created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely in New X-Men #115. The characters was named after a Monster Magnet song of the same name, and she only made one appearance before being killed off. She was introduced as one of the students under the tutelage of Emma Frost, who had transformed from a full-blown villain into one of the most dependable teachers of the next generation of Mutants. Negasonic was in class with Emma when the Sentinels commanded by Cassandra Nova came to the mutant nation of Genosha. She was among the millions killed in the attack.

Negasonic's death hung over Emma, and even personified itself during the "Torn" story arc of Astonishing X-Men. Having dug her psychic hooks into Emma's subconscious before the attack, Cassandra Nova attempted to manipulate Emma into betraying the X-Men and helping her transfer her conscious into a new body. To this end, Negasonic appeared to Emma as one of the hallucinatory new "Hellfire Club", working alongside Nova. When the subterfuge was discovered, this vision of Negasonic faded away.

The real Negasonic was briefly resurrected by Selene in the Necrosha event, notably as one of the few restored mutants not under her control. But Negasonic appeared to die again at the end of that story arc, alongside the rest of the resurrected characters.

NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD IN DEADPOOL

negasonic-warhead-yukio-header

Negasonic received a surprising second life as a cast member in the first Deadpool film. She became a deadpan foil to Deadpool, and eventually worked alongside him and Colossus to try and save Deadpool's long-separated love, Vanessa.

Played by Brianna Hildebrand, her powers were dramatically redefined, but her goth sensibilities remained. While the comics version of the character had initially been a telepath and was capable of seeing the future, Deadpool changed her abilities into charging herself up with energy to blast forward with extreme force. These are actually more similar to former New Mutant Cannonball than her canon abilities.

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To change her powers, Fox actually made a deal with Marvel Studios that allowed Ego the Living Planet to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in exchange for tweaking Negasonic. The decision paid off though, as the filmmakers' belief that she would make a good supporting character for Deadpool proved correct.

Hildebrand was very well-received in the part, returning in the sequel alongside her girlfriend Yukio for Deadpool 2. This actually makes Negasonic Teenage Warhead the first superhero to have a major role in a live-action film while also being in an openly gay relationship.

NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD'S REVIVAL

Negasonic Teenage Warhead comic

Negasonic Teenage Warhead's success in the live-action films also led to the full revival of the character in the comic book Marvel Universe. A small retcon revealed that Negasonic Teenage Warhead survived the events of Necrosha, sand he used her powers to make a new quiet life for herself in New Mexico. Eventually being dragged into Deadpool's orbit during the events of Deadpool & the Mercs For Money, she adopted a more punkish look that reflecting her movie appearance and reentered the world of super heroics.

The character's powers have expanded as well, allowing her to absorb energies much as she did in the film. But this hasn't hindered her psionic powers. In fact, her abilities have uniformly been upgraded in recent years, allowing her to move things with her mind and create things out of thin air.

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It's later revealed this is because Negasonic Teenage Warhead's powers allow her to modify reality at a quantum level. She's capable of doing almost anything, as evidenced by a parallel reality where she managed to modify the inherent properties of the Terrigan Mists in an attempt to end the Inhumans vs. X-Men conflict. But that only led to further bloodshed when Lash took offense to this act and escalated a conflict with Magneto that ravaged this alternate timeline.

After the Deadpool book was relaunched following Secret Empire and the character's mind-wipe, Negasonic was the only member of the Mercs For Money who remained alongside Deadpool. She's becoming increasingly similar to her film counterpart, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, that's how a character who was more or less a footnote in the history of the Marvel Universe could go on to become a dynamic and popular new character who could soon have a place, alongside Deadpool. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.