Exiles Bios
Blackwing III
Real Name: Barnell BohuskAffiliation: New Warriors IV
Previous Affiliations: Exiles, Xavier Institute (student)
Status: De-powered
Relatives: Numerous offspring hatched by Angel IV, including Tito, Axel and Kara
Aliases: Beak
Alternate-X Versions: (AOA)
Codename Etymology: Old codename pronounced bēk [From Latin, beccus]; The hard, pointed mouth of a bird.
Powers & History: The Beak was effectively an avian humanoid. He has feathers all over his body, a beak instead of a human nose and mouth, and bird-claws for hands and feet. Unfortunately, unlike Archangel, Beak cannot use his feathered arms to fly. With exceptional effort he can flap hard enough to add a few inches to a jump.
Growing up in Amsterdam, Barnell's mutation made him a social outcast, and he spent much of his time hiding in a bar, where a quip from one of the waitresses was the inspiration for his mutant name. His trauma was deep enough that he remained socially uncomfortable even after coming to the Xavier Institute, where most of the other students deviated just as much from the human norm as he. However, he idolized Beast, and asked him to safeguard a prized bat that he owned.
Arriving with the bat in Beast's lab, Beak was unfortuante enough to walk in just as Cassandra Nova, inhabiting Professor X's body, was telepathically torturing Beast. She grabbed control of Beak as well, and forced him to beat Hank with the aluminum bat, putting the Beast in a coma. Barnell was further traumatized by his actions and became catatonic for a while, likely thanks to Nova's desire to remain incognito. He was put into a containment/healing tank and monitored whiel the X-Men tried to figure out what happened.
When the Shi'ar later attacked the Institute, Angel IV freed Beak from his containment tank and he joined with her, the Stepford Cuckoos and Emma Frost against Nova's genocidal plans. Following Nova's defeat Beak was learning to fly and was going to join the mission to rebuild the Shi'ar Empire. His world turned upside-down when Angel IV kissed him (on a dare, though Beak didn't know it). They started hanging out anyway, though and soon became intimate while they were both in the "special class" taught by Xorn. Beak also emerged as a de facto leader of the class during an attack by the U-Men.
Shortly thereafter, Angel revealed that she was pregnant. When Emma Frost was apparently killed with a diamond bullet, Beak confessed to the murder and to selling the Kick drug that prompted the earlier riot by the Omega Gang. However, it was quite clear to Professor X that this admission was in fact made under a telepathic compulsion, most likely from the Stepford Cuckoo named Esme. The X-Men also discovered that Beak and Angel had babies, quite a few of them, with combined fly and bird characteristics.
Later, when Xorn was revealed to be Magneto, Beak followed him along with the rest of the "special class." However, when he realized that Magneto was not the nice man he knew as Xorn, and that Magneto wanted to kill humanity, Beak rebelled and was injured by his former teacher. Still, Beak met up with the other X-Men and, with his bat, confronted Magneto. After Magneto's defeat, Beak took his Xorn helmet and wore it as a memento. He seemed to feel that Xorn was different from Magneto, which it turns out he was. When the Mansion was rebuilt, Beak, Angel and their kids were given a cottage to live in, and Beak enjoyed his familial responsibilities.
Unfortunately for Beak, he encountered the reality-hopping Exiles and was convinced to bring them to the Fantastic Four. The inevitable melee ensued, and then Mr. Fantastic figured out that Beak was to join the Exiles and replace Nocturne. Beak was "unhinged" in time, and though he tried to visit his family again, they could not see him, and a devastated Angel though he ran away. Beak traveled on to the next reality with his new team.
Beak had little to do on his first few missions, and then was mysteriously replaced by the increasingly belligerent Timebroker, who was really Hyperion from Weapon X, controlling the mental interface from the Panoptichron, a multi-dimensional observation point he had usurped from the aliens who originally started the Exiles. Beak was placed in a stasis field in the Panoptichron, but later, while Hyperion battled the Exiles, one of the worker aliens freed him to save the multiverse. Using his charm and friendliness, Barnell found two other Hyperions, both with pure motives and hearts, and brought them back to the Panoptichron to defeat Hyperion (though in the end, it was Blink who provided the final blow). The two Hyperions were uneasy about leaving the time-jumping machines in the Exiles' hands, but Beak vouched for them and they allowed him to maintain control.
Beak then was able to return home, but he arrived just in time for the House of M reality warp, and Angel (now a rich supermodel) didn't recognize him. Unfortunately, the serial killer Proteus understood the Exiles' inter-dimensional nature and possessed Angel to trap them. Fortunately the Exiles were able to save Angel, and when the world was put back to normal, Beak was de-powered, along with Angel and some of their kids.
Beak and Angel apparently moved out of the Institute to New York City, and were eventually contacted by Night Thrasher (II?) after the passing of the SHRA. Night Thrasher offered Barnell, now going by "Barry," a technologically advanced armored and winged suit that gave him flight, strength and some energy projection abilities as the new Blackwing. He also seemed to have beefed up and gotten a nose job and a sense of style. Night Thrasher sent him to recruit Sofia Mantega (formerly Wind Dancer), but he was initially unsuccessful.
Reason for Being an Exile: According to the Timebroker, Beak would play a pivotal role in a future crisis, and needed the experiences he had as an Exile in order to fulfill his destiny. See above for his role in defeating the evil Hyperion.
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