Forge helped build the X-Men's world. With his technopathic mutant powers that let him build and engineer and build anything he can imagine, this veteran mutant has outfitted the X-Men and their allies with all kinds of impossibly fantastic technology over the years. From the team's Blackbird jets to the Danger Room and even Xavier's Cerebro, Forge has been an instrumental part of building many of the X-Men's most famous tools.

However, Forge's unique talents brought him to the attention of a number of government agencies before he joined the X-Men or served as an official liaison between the United States government and the mutant team X-Factor. But while Forge was working for the government, he created a power-dampening device that almost ruined one of the most important relationships in his life and still gives the X-Men trouble to this day.

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Forge Iceman X-Men feature

While Forge was working with the Department of Defense, Forge created a gun capable of nullifying superhuman powers. Called a “nullifier,” Forge constructed the weapon based on a design that ROM, the Spaceknight, used in his battles against the alien Dire Wraiths. He believed that it would only be used against hostile aliens and super-powered criminals.

Upon orders of the president, Henry Gyrich, an agent of the National Security Council, took the weapon without Forge’s knowledge or consent, to use against Rogue, who was wanted in connection with a murder at the time. However, Rogue had recently reformed and was accepted into the ranks of the X-Men.

Gyrich and a strike team tracked down and attacked Rogue while she was with the X-Men's Storm in Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr.'s Uncanny X-Men #185. Forge showed up and attempted to stop Gyrich from using the weapon by reminding him that the device was untested. However, Gyrich was too headstrong to listen. He fired the weapon at Rogue, but Storm intercepted the blast.

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Forge Storm Lifedeath

The results of Storm being struck by the blast was immediately and had lasting effects. Storm was stripped of her mutant powers and sank into a deep depression. Feeling terrible about what his creation had done, Forge took Storm into his care in order to aid in her recovery and ultimately admitting to her that he was the one who had invented the device in Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith's classic Uncanny X-Men #186 story, "Lifedeath."

Eventually, Storm was able to recover from the mental trauma of her experience and was able to reconcile no longer being regarded as an element controlling goddess. With Forge’s help, she was ultimately able to regain her powers, and become an even greater asset to the team, having embraced the fullness of her human capabilities in addition to her mutant powers.

However, the echoes of Forge’s invention have been felt through the years as the next generation of X-Villains has gained access to the technology he created. As the X-Men have announced the formation of their new mutant society on the island of Krakoa, adversaries have arisen who have been able to use nullifier weaponry against the X-Men.

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In X-Men, Marauders and Marvel's other X-Men titles, the use of power-dampening technology that's similar to or derived from Forge's nullifier has even enabled humans to openly confront Omega-Level mutants, in many cases presenting the heroes with nearly insurmountable odds.

In one of their earliest missions, the Marauders encountered humans in Russia using nullifier technology to ensure that the mutants in their country were not permitted to defect to Krakoa. When confronted, the armored sentinels used the technology to temporarily depower Iceman and Storm. A small group of mutants led by Cyclops faced elderly assailants using nullifier tech and several of the younger inhabitants of Krakoa were taken hostage by foreigner terrorists who sought to use them as bargaining chips to gain access to Krakoan drugs.

Although Forge created his technology years ago, his allowing the tech to get into the wrong hands has continued to cause the X-Men problems long after its creation. While Forge seems set to face the consequences of his actions in the Marauders' next adventure, his mistake has the potential to rob the mutant population of the peaceful, secure existence that Krakoa is meant to ensure.

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