Cerebra's Files
Belasco
Affiliation: NoneAlternate-X Versions: Earth X
Powers: Belasco was the ruler of Limbo. He is a powerful demon/sorcerer, responsible for aging Illyana Rasputin and training her as a sorceress. He lost his right arm at some point, but the exact circumstances are unknown. After Illyana's death, Belasco stole the Soulsword from Margali Szardos, who had her daughter Amanda acquire it from Shadowcat. He was then defeated by the mother and daughter sorceresses, and the Soulsword was stripped from him. He also lost his title as ruler of Limbo. Recently, Belasco reappeared, this time with a new right arm granted him by his masters the Elder Gods, and teamed with the N'Garai. The N'Garai and Belasco each hoped to regain their lost kingdoms by generating a cairn in Limbo which the demon armies could use to conquer all the dimensions. Belasco's plan hinged on Shadowcat, whom disguised N'Garai tricked into casting a spell that switched the X-Men's souls with N'Garai ones. Belasco then stole Shadowcat's soul to form a talisman with five bloodstones, simliar to the one he gave Illyana years before. The N'Garai X-Men were tasked with stealing five more X-Men's souls to fill the talisman, allowing Belasco to open the portal for the N'Garai hordes. Fortunately for the world, Magik II opposed him and while Shadowcat distracted the sorcerer, Magik II smashed the bloodstones. Belasco was defeated and disappeared.
Belasco's failure brought him the ire of his Elder Gods masters, who cast him down. After crawling his way up from the bowels of the nether regions, Belasco caught a glimpse of Illyana Rasputin, who was alive in the altered reality of the House of M. He vowed to re-capture her and fought his way all the way back to Limbo, where his fury and skill were unleashed upon Magik II, who only narrowly escaped back to Earth. He then captured the New X-Men, who (in their HoM versions) had known Illyana, and tried to extract information from them about her whereabouts, but they didn't know (all memory of HoM having been lost)...
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