Cerebra's Files

Marrow


Real Name: Sarah ?
Affiliation: X-Cell
Previous Affiliations: Weapon X , S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Men, Gene Nation, Morlocks
Aliases: Sarah Rushman
Alternate-X Versions: (AOA), (Ultimate)
Codename Etymology: Pronounced măr'ō [From Old English, "mearg"]; Tissue that fills the bone cavity.
Powers & History: Marrow's bones grow at a highly accelerated rate, constantly shifting and pushing their way through her skin. As a Morlock child named Sarah, she watched in awe as Storm defeated Callisto in single combat, but her admiration turned to hatred first when the Morlocks remained underground, and later when the Marauders massacred her people. Sarah herself was saved by Gambit, and lived to see Mikhail Rasputin transport the remaining Morlocks to the hellhole dimension known as the Hill. Marrow grew up and returned to our world leading the mutant terrorists known as Gene Nation, using bones she had pulled from her body as deadly weapons. She and her fellow second-generation Morlocks planned to exact vengeance on the humans for every mutant lost to the Marauders in the Mutant Massacre. However, the X-Men were there to stop them, and Storm faced Marrow in armed combat, ripping out her heart to save the humans' lives. Despite her "death" at Storm's hands, Marrow survived due to her mutant physiology, which provided her with two hearts. She returned with Callisto in the middle of Operation: Zero Tolerance, and after Cal was injured, she sort of teamed up with the X-Men against their common foe. After OZT, Marrow remained in the Mansion, and although at times things get tense she resolved to stay as part of the team. On a mission to stop the Juggernaut in an alternate dimension, Gambit's cards went wild and severly injured Marrow. Then, when the X-Men were transported to the Skrull homeworld eight years in the past, Gambit managed to find a working replica of a Shi'ar healing chamber and put her inside. When she emerged, Marrow's bone growths were completely under control, and were shaped in a way that made her beautiful, not hideous as before. She has a much greater degre of control over the projections, and was able to expel them as shards rather then simply pull them out. In addition, Marrow's bones were no longer shifting and poking through her organs and skin, eliminating the excruciating pain she had lived with for so long. As a result, Marrow's attitude changed considerably, although not completely. However, she left the X-Men soon after the battle of the Twelve and was missing for quite some time.

Months later, Peter Parker (Spider-Man) met a waitress named Sarah Rushman, who was a student in his class at ESU. Parker then encountered Marrow, who was back to her original "ugly" form, after she apparently killed a record producer. Marrow fought Spidey and got away. Spider-Man eventually discovered that S.H.I.E.L.D. had found Marrow in a banged-up state and had brainwashed her into an undercover agent set to kill escaped Life Model Decoys (like the dead producer). The Sarah Rushman identity was her cover. Spider-Man tried to help Marrow, but she was too far gone and full of self-loathing, and she jumped off the top of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Somehow, Marrow survived the fall, and made her way to the revamped Weapon X Program. In return for her services as an agent, the Director of Weapon X agreed to slow or stop Marrow's bone growth in an experimental procedure. When it worked, however, Sarah had second thoughts, since she now looked normal, even though she could still generate bone spikes and blades at will. More importantly, her first target was D'Gard, a Gene National who had once saved her life.

Sarah went out on the town and met a guy named Junichi, and for the first time in her life felt comfortable being intimate. Then Kane came to send her on the mission, but Sarah decline and beat the snot out of him when he got angry. Upon returning to Junichi's place, however, her lover revealed himself as Mesmero, the second agent sent to watch over her. Sarah was furious and beat him to a pulp, then went to kill D'Gard, just to prove herself. She returned to Weapon X and joined the team.

Marrow went on a few missions for Weapon X, but her big break was when she was assigned to bring down Sabretooth. She actually found him skulking in the compound's sewers, and fought him with Wolverine-like claws and porcupine quills. Though Sabretooth was stronger, Marrow maneuvered him near a pipe release, then turned it and flushed Creed away with a massive jet of water. Following Agent Jackson's betrayal of the Underground movement, Marrow flew the recovering Cable away from Weapon X and told him that Neverland was a lie and that they had destroyed Weapon X. Cable gave Marrow a disk with all the information on the Underground and asked her to disband the cells.

Marrow lied to Cable, however, and transformed the Underground into a new Gene Nation, which she sent on terrorist attacks around the US. Her fight with Sabretooth appeared to have "shocked" her back to her original mission, and also caused her body to reject some of the physical changes made to her by Weapon X, so she now has permanent bone protrusions at various locations.

Following M-Day, Marrow was depowered but retained her headbones, and returned to the Morlock tunnels to help protect her weaker comrades. She was interviewed by reporter Sally Floyd, and demonstrated a deep concern for those mutants and ex-mutants who had been affected by the loss of 99% of the world's mutant powers. Marrow then got involved with the X-Cell, a group of depowered mutants who believed the government caused their loss of powers. Given her loss of power, she used throwing knives as weapons when she, Blob and Fatale attacked M and Siryn in Mutant Town. Their exact objective is unknown at this time.
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