Art by Brian Hitch
- Name: Pete Wisdom
- Code Names: He jokingly had X-Force call him Professor W once
- First Appearance: Excalibur #86 (Feb ‘95)
- Powers: Shoots “Hot Knives” from his Fingers
- Teams Affiliation: Excalibur, X-Force, MI-13
About
One of the most common experiences in fandom is placing yourself in the stories. You would battle along with your favorite heroes, romance your idealized love interest, and defeat the vilest villain. With comic books being such a long running media, many writers have been given to opportunity to make their fan fiction dreams into canon. When a young Warren Ellis was given control of Excalibur he channeled all of his desires into one character, molded into everything Ellis wished he could be. He birthed himself into the pages of the European X-Men and introduced Pete Wisdom to the world.
Alongside artist Ken Lashley, Ellis introduced the roguish Wisdom early in his run on Excalibur. He was a brash, anti-authoritarian, hyper-competent, chain smoking, stylish, British secret agent with a troubled past. Throw him, Elijah Snow, Mr. Knight, John Constantine, Karnak, and Spider Jerusalem in a room together and they would last minutes before being pissed off over how alike they are. He was Warren Ellis viewed through the lense of what an average American teenager would think was cool in 1995. He was an ex-wetworks agent for the British intelligence agency Black Air and was devastated by all the death around him. He had just transferred to a non-combat role as an advisor and his first mission was to work with Excalibur to help quell an uprising in Genosha. His devil may care attitude immediately put him on the wrong side of the team, especially the young Kitty Pryde.
Art by Ken Lashely, Tom Wegrzyn, and Joe Rosas
The mission quickly went pear-shaped. The team’s transport was shot down and Pete had to use his finger-blasted hot knives to lethally protect himself and Kitty. The intel the team was sent to recover was destroyed before they could procure it and Black Air was no help in calming the insurrection. The team left the island as failures. While Wisdom relaxed on the Excalibur base at Muir Island he received a message from an old pal from his spy days who needed help. Kitty Pryde offered to pilot him to wherever he needed to go to watch over him. They jumped from old haunts, to safe houses, and eventually broke into the secret Black Air base known as Dream Nails. Wisdom’s contacts showed Kitty a different side to the spy. They called him brave, loyal to a fault, and devoted to make the world a better place. Kitty began falling for the man that who was ten years her elder.
Art by Ken Lashely, Tom Wegrzyn, and Joe Rosas
Dream Nails held secrets about an alien race who claimed to have killed god. They discovered that Wisdom’s friend had been exposed to an alien bacteria that lead to his death, and Dream Nails discovered they had unwelcomed guests. Kitty escaped but Pete was captured and psychically tortured by a Black Air agent named Shrine. Shrine reached for the worst memory in Wisdom’s mind but was shocked when the spy was ready for it. He had accepted all of the lives he had taken and turned the memory on Shrine, killing the torturer. Kitty and he escaped and destroyed the facility, with adrenaline high and affection growing, the two embraced on the plane. Pete Wisdom took Kitty Pryde’s virginity.
Art by Some of the Jam Artists on Excalibur #90
I want to stop for a moment and talk about relationship from the meta sense. All accounts indicate that Ellis was writing Kitty as if she was 18 or 19 years old, this however ran contrary to recent continuity which just a few real world years ago made a plot point of Kitty celebrating her 15th birthday. What adds another wrinkle to this is that Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter ordered the dissolution of the fan favorite Kitty and Colossus relationship to avoid any negative implications of the 20 year old Russian dating the 14 year old Shadowcat. The fact that Ellis jumped on the book, added a character that was based on himself, and immediately put the character in a relationship with the much younger Kitty after the “one true pairing” of her and Piotr was destroyed because of an even smaller age difference did not sit well with readers.
When Wisdom and Shadowcat returned to Muir Island, Pete asked to join Excalibur permanently. With some coaxing from Kitty, the rest of the team begrudgingly welcomed him, except for Ms. Pryde’s pet space dragon Lockheed who didn’t like that Shadowcat was spending so much time with this brute. He was not alone and on a trip to a local pub with the team Captain Britain and Nightcrawler cornered Pete in the bathroom. They told him that they did not approve of the relationship and if he ever hurt Kitty, Brian would cause unspeakable harm to Wisdom while Kurt watched. But his Excalibur teammates were the lease of Pete’s problems, as they left the bar they found someone who was looking for Shadowcat, Pitor Rasputin. Seeing his beloved lock lips with another threw Colossus into a rage and he savagely beat on Wisdom until Captain Britain and Meggan could detain him, but the damage was already done. Pete Wisdom was in critical condition on Muir Island.
Art by Casey Jones, One of 4 Inkers on Excalibur #92, and Ariane Lenshoek
He slowly recovered and his relationship we Kitty grew, she was even able to help him reconnect with his estranged mother. However dark days awaited Pete, when he found out an ex-lover of his was mixed up with Black Air and her actions lead to the death of one of his old spy buddies and the capture of NIghtcrawler. Wisdom pushed everyone away out of guilt, including Kitty, and didn’t join with the team when they worked a joint op with S.H.I.E.L.D. When he straightened himself out, he realized he wasn’t to only one who changed. Shadowcat had been flirting with an age-appropriate intern at S.H.I.E.L.D. and realized that her relationship with Pete was aging her much faster than she wanted. The two broke things off and Pete coped the only way he knew how, getting a fake eye patch (to look more sexy and dangerous) and helping reorganize X-Force as a mutant law enforcement squad before faking his own death.
Art by Whilce Portacio, Gerry Alanguilan, and Avalon Studios
After M-Day, Pete was one of the mutants to retain his powers and rejoined the spy community proper as a top agent for the British MI-13. He teamed up with Captain Britain and a new Excalibur to understand what had happened after the decimation hit. This led him to become close with a few alternate reality who would go on to die in a battle with the villainous Captain Albion. MI-13 would later have him lead a team including the old British hero Captain Midlands, a punk fairy named Tink, and a John Lennon impersonating Skrull, and the psychic Maureene Raven. Their missions ended tragically for Wisdom as he was forced into an arranged marriage with Tink and required to kill Maureene, whom he was having an affair with.
Soon all UK super heroes put under the authority of MI-13, and Wisdom had become a senior field officer. When the Skrulls attacked London during the Secret Invasion, Wisdom rallied a team, including his good friend John the Skrull, to enter Otherworld and prevent the shapeshifters from accessing the source of all British magic. Captain Britain had previously given his life to protect the country and, in Otherworld, the wizard Merlin offered Pete a choice allow Merlin to resurrect the Captain and, in doing so, release evil magic all across his homeland, or keep Brian dead and watch his homeland burn. For Wisdom it was no choice at all. The Captain was able to defeat the Skrulls, but Wisdom’s team suffered loses of their own as John was executed by his own alien people in the attack. The lives on Wisdom’s soul grew greater and greater, and when a demonic figure offered him is heart’s desire Pete only saw a world where his loved ones were still with him.
Art by Leonard Kirk, Jesse Delperdang, and Brian Reber
When Dracula planned an assault on England, Wisdom showed his strategical prowess in protecting Queen and Country. Wisdom used an artifact that required vampires to be invited in to the United Kingdom, alongside careful profiling and manipulation of the vampire king to destroy Dracula’s attack force before they were able to make it far past their moon base. Also in this story Dracula has a moon base. Since then he has continued in his role as the English Nick Fury, protecting the crown as only he can.
Art by Leonard Kirk, Jay Leisten, and Brian Reber
Must Read
Pete has actually been in a lot of fun comics. The Ellis run of Excalibur isn’t bad, it just feels like an author trying to be Warren Ellis and missing something. The Counter-X era X-Force, was a much needed re-imagining but one that Wisdom was a much smaller player in than hoped. However the clear answer is Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk’s amazing Captain Britain and MI-13 run. This takes out all the least enjoyable parts of the character and adds more pathos than he has had in years. You feel for him as he struggles with the heavy conscience that he bears and cheer when one of his gambits pay off. Plus this story is just a fantastic romp through the Marvel universe and Kirk has been a secret weapon for a ton of books and always delivers clean and striking pages. This series is available on Marvel Unlimited and can be found in three trades.
Art by Brian Hitch
Ranking
So where do we put a Pete Wisdom on this list? After reading a bunch of his stuff that I had overlooked I actually kinda like the guy. Yes he is an author insert and yes he is virtually indistinguishable from most Warren Ellis characters, but you know what? There is a good reason that Ellis keeps going back to that well. Wisdom, like most Ellis characters, is pure competence porn. He is better than you at everything and he knows it. Sometimes though, that is exactly what you are looking for in a story. I’d rather read another cool guy Pete Wisdom story than an angsty Elixir tale or a story about a character like Armor who writers have struggled to give a unique angle. That being said I would still pick up a book with Glob Herman on the cover much quicker than the master of hot knives. That’s why Pete Wisdom is the new number 11 in the Xavier Files.
Pete Wisdom was requested by /u/kiji23 on reddit. Thanks for the request, it was a lot more fun than I expected! If YOU have a character you want me to do, leave a comment and I’ll get it added to the list.
Make sure to check out our interview with X-Men ’92 writers Chris Sims and Chad Bowers for more 90’s X-Men awesomeness. Issue #1 comes out tomorrow!
If you liked what you read be sure to subscribe to the tumblr so you never miss an update. You can also follow me on twitter@Xavierfiles where I throw out my thoughts about the X-Books that come out each week. That’s also where I harass Cullen Bunn and Dennis Hopeless about getting Maggott back into the X-Men books, join in on that fun with #BringBackMaggott! Or like the Facebook page!
Next week we take a look at character that has jumped back and forth between terrorist and hero with one of the most grotesque X-Men ever. Marrow is jumping on the list.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
