A flamboyant South Africanmutant who spoke in exaggerated Afrikaansslang, Maggott was advertised as one of the strangest X-Men. His digestive system took the form of two slugs which could eat through practically any substance. After feeding, the slugs reentered Maggott's abdomen and passed nourishment into him, giving him incredible power.[1]
Maggott was first seen as a mysterious mutant who is searching out the X-Men’s adversary Magneto for an unknown reason.[3][4] His search led to Antarctica where Magneto was holding the X-Men captive. Maggott then joined up with the team and returned with them to their Westchester, New York headquarters.[5]
For a short period of time, Maggott believed his companions were going off on their own and killing innocent people. He even tried to turn himself over to the police before being stopped by the X-Men. His companions turned out to be innocent, as the people had been slain by a faction of N'Garai, though they hated to be called so. These entities are a demonic-type race that the X-Men had faced many times, mainly because a regenerating magical portal lies deep in the woods on the mansion's grounds.[6] A matter which was never resolved was why Maggott's slugs were seemingly related to the N'Garai.
Maggott later was tempted by the entity Shadow King with promises of a better life in exchange for his loyalty and abandonment of the X-Men. He managed to resist the villain. Marrow and Cecilia Reyes were also propositioned by the King, but also resisted. Psylocke then rescues the X-Men after keeping Shadow King in a psionic prison, which forced her in retirement as she could not use her mind powers for anything or else the Shadow King would be released from the prison within Psylocke's mind.[7]
At first, he kept his past to himself, but Maggott eventually revealed his origin to Wolverine.[8] Maggott had been born a sickly child in Apartheid-era South Africa and was named Japheth. He was always very ill and could not digest solid food. Feeling himself to be a burden on his family, he ran away from home with his younger brother. Having left home, hoping to die, he was found by Magneto, who uncovered the mutant slugs living in his digestive system. Compassionate at heart, Japheth immediately rejected Magneto's philosophy and his offer to join him after witnessing him massacre white soldiers who were engaged in racist atrocities against black South African civilians. In spite of this, he later sought out Magneto when he got older, for help in easing the pain caused by his unique mutation. After the then-current roster of the team parted ways, the X-Man Beast suggested Maggott transfer to the junior team Generation X, but his tenure there lasted only one issue and afterwards he fell out of sight. [9]
Maggott reappeared as an inmate at "Neverland," a concentration camp run by the covert government program Weapon X. Along with a number of other mutants, he was exterminated there.[10]
One of his slugs, which he gave away to two children at the camp after foreseeing his death (thanks to his psychometric powers) at the camp, was last seen in a container in Mister Sinister's laboratory.[11]
Maggott is later resurrected by means of the Transmode Virus to serve as part of Selene's army of deceased mutants. Under the control of Selene and Eli Bard, he takes part in the assault on the mutant nation of Utopia.[12] Maggott's fate is uncertain as it is unknown if he was among the mutants teleported to Genosha by Blink to serve as a sacrifice to the newly-deitious Selene or if he was among the mutants that managed to escape Utopia.
Maggott was confirmed to still be alive and powered (though with only one of his slugs) as he was a guest at a superheroes and supervillains-themed costume party of New York branch of the Hellfire Club and was later apparently passed out drunk with other party guests (such as Rocket Raccoon) around an outdoor swimming pool. [13]
Maggott appeared (along with both of his slugs) along with the other X-Men as part of Cyclops' Million Mutant March in Washington D.C.[14]
Maggott's digestive system consists of a hollow cavity that houses two slugs called Eany and Meany. They share a telepathic link with him and can temporarily emerge from his body to digest solid matter, giving him superhuman strength and durability. He additionally possesses a form of psychometry that enables him to view the recent past and future by reading psychic imprints from the environment.
Reception
In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Maggott 100th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[19]
Other versions
Age of X
An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-11326 appears in Age of X: Universe #1. This version is a prisoner of Camp Gorge before being killed by Iron Man.[20]
Ultimate Marvel
An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-1610 makes a cameo appearance in Ultimate X-Men #47 as one of several mutants killed by Mister Sinister.[21]
Battleworld X-Tinction Agenda
An alternate universe variant of Maggott from Earth-24201 appears in X-Tinction Agenda.[22]
Maggott makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the X-Men '97 episode "To Me, My X-Men".[25][26][27]
References
^Morris, Jon (2015). The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Quirk Books. pp. 216–217. ISBN978-1-59474-763-2.
^DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 225. ISBN978-1-4654-7890-0.
