Cerebra's Files
Senator Kelly
Full Name: Senator Robert Kelly
Affiliation: United States Senate
Status: Deceased
Relatives: Sharon (wife, deceased)
Powers: None (human). Obviously, as a member of the Senate, though, Kelly
wielded a formidable amount of political power. Unfortunately for mutants,
Kelly maintained for years that mutants' very natures make them too dangerous
to allow them to run unchecked. His Mutant Registration Act was proposed years
ago to force mutants to register themselves (and the natures of their powers)
with the government, much as one might register a handgun. It was the Act's proposal
that prompted Mystique and her Brotherhood
of Evil Mutants to attempt to assassinate him in Washington, D.C. Fortunately,
the X-Men had been warned of the attempt by Kate Pryde,
a future version of Kitty Pryde who had been sent
back in time to stop the murder. Kate also revealed that Kelly's murder in her
past made him a martyr, and the government passed the Act and then increased production
of mutant-hunting Sentinels to round up dangerous
mutants. However, the Sentinels soon "updated" their programming, and began to
kill non-mutant people with powers as well as mutants, even those with passive
powers. The Avengers and Fantastic
Four, as well as most of the mutants in the U.S. were all killed, and the
remainder were sent to concentration camps. All of this horrible future was caused
by Kelly's murder, so the X-Men had to stop it. Unfortunately, while Sprite (Kitty)
managed to deflect Destiny's aim and save Kelly, the
incident only fueled his resolve to pass the Registration Act. Kelly also cultivated
a relationship with industrialist Sebastian Shaw, who
built Sentinels and supported Kelly's plans. Unbeknownst to Kelly, Shaw was himself
a mutant, and the Black King of the Hellfire Club,
a mutant cabal bent on world domination. It was after one of these meetings with
Shaw in New York that Kelly's limo got smashed by debris from a fight between
the X-Men and the conglomerate of Nimrod and Master
Mold. Horribly, while Kelly survived, his wife Sharon died in the wreckage.
Though with her dying breath she refused to condemn the mutants, who were trying
to stop the rampaging machine, Kelly's grief only strengthened his position that
mutants were too dangerous to be allowed to run rampant. He became more convinced
of the righteousness of his crusade and immediately ordered more Sentinels into
production. Later, Kelly supported Bastion's Operation:
Zero Tolerance, but when he realized that Bastion was converting innocent humans
into Sentinels and taking away the rights of U.S. citizens (even those who were
mutants), he withdrew his support. He then became a target of Bastion's minions,
and was forced to call the X-Men (through Professor Xavier)
for help. Luckily, Cyclops repsonded to his plea just
in time to save his life, and Kelly was able to use his political influence to
have S.H.I.E.L.D. shut Bastion down. Kelly
didn't change his ultimate position, though, and shortly thereafter declared his
candidacy for President of the United States, running on an anti-mutant platform.
To be fair, the Senator honestly believed that mutants must be recognized and
controlled, or innocent people will be harmed. However, his methods and proposals
always seem to scare mutants, who feel that his idea open doors to other actions
that would strip them of their rights. Recently, Kelly was alerted to the fact
that Mystique was after him again. She had actually been posing as some of his
friends and acquaintances to talk to him about his policies. To his credit, the
Senator stood his ground and refused to let her obvious threat to his life dissuade
him from fighting for what he believes in. When the Brotherhood made its move,
Kelly was defended by the X-Men, though it was the dying act of Pyro
(blasting Post) that saved his life. Kelly's speeches
became more and more tolerant of mutants, trying to downplay the hysteria and
hate that his cause had spawned. He even came to understand and respect Cable,
who had been inserted into his campaign to protect him. Ironically, though, it
was an anti-mutant human who shortly thereafter gunned Kelly down, upset that
the candidate had "betrayed" his human brothers by toning down his rhetoric against
mutants.
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