Cerebro
Cerebro | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | The X-Men #7 (September 1964) |
Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
In story information | |
Type | Detection device Computer Quintessence carrier |
Element of stories featuring | X-Men |
Cerebro (
Concept and creation
Cerebro first appeared in X-Men #7 (September 1964). Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal, in his 2011 book Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, calls Cerebro "a piece of psychotronics" and describes it as "a spiderlike, Kirby-esque system of machines and wires that transmitted extrasensory data into Professor Xavier's private desk in another room".[1] Kripal notes that Cerebro made multiple subsequent central appearances, including Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), where Cerebro senses and locates a supermutant across the globe, resulting in the recreation of the X-Men team.[1]
Use and function of the device
Cerebro amplifies the brainwaves of the user. In the case of telepaths, it enables the user to detect traces of others worldwide, also able to distinguish between humans and mutants. Depictions of its inherent strength have been inconsistent; at times in the storylines it could detect mutated aliens outside of the planet, when at others it could only scan for mutants' signatures in the United States. It is not clear whether it finds mutants by the power signature they send out when they use their powers or by the presence of the X-gene in their body; both methods have been used throughout the comics.
Using Cerebro can be extremely dangerous, and telepaths without well-trained, disciplined minds put themselves at great risk when attempting to use it. This is due to the psychic feedback that users experience when operating Cerebro. As the device greatly enhances natural psychic ability, users who are unprepared for the sheer enormity of this increased psychic input can be quickly and easily overwhelmed, resulting in insanity, coma, permanent brain damage or even death. The one exception has been Magneto, who has been said to have minor or latent telepathic abilities as well as experience amplifying his mental powers with mechanical devices of his own design.
The only characters to use Cerebro on a frequent basis are Professor X, Jean Grey, Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos. However, Rachel Summers, Kitty Pryde, Danielle Moonstar, Psylocke and Ruth Aldine have also used it. After the device was upgraded to Cerebra, Cassandra Nova used it in order to exchange minds with Xavier. The Stepford Cuckoos once utilized the machine to amplify their combined ability, with only one of them directly connected to the machine, but all of them experiencing its interaction due to their psychic rapport.
Some mutants have learned to shield themselves from Cerebro, usually via their own telepathic ability. Magneto can shield himself from the device through use of minimal telepathic powers; in the film series, he does so with a specially constructed helmet.
It would soon become apparent as to just what and how Cerebro was really meant to be used; on top of tracking and locating mutants across the globe the tracking device's primary function was to act as a soul jar that could catalog the thought pattern self of any and every mutant ever pinpointed through it. X essentially utilized this function to resurrect the mutant strike team lost while battling
History of the device
Originally, Cerebro was a device similar to a computer that was built into a desk in Xavier's office. This early version of Cerebro operated on
When the human-
More recently, following the example set by the X-Men films, Cerebro has been replaced by Cerebra (referred to as Cerebro's big sister), a machine the size of a small room in the basement of Xavier's School For Higher Learning. Though designed to resemble the movie version of Cerebro, Cerebra is much smaller than the films' version. It resembles a pod filled with a sparkling fog that condenses into representations of mental images.[citation needed]
After it is discovered that
When the X-Men and Inhumans went to war to decide the fate of the remaining Terrigen cloud, Cerebra was destroyed after getting caught in the crossfire when Emma Frost unleashed an army of Sentinels programmed to kill Inhumans instead of mutants.[4] While Storm's team of X-Men began returning refugees to their homes from X-Haven after Medusa destroyed the Terrigen cloud, Cerebra was found severely damaged in an abandoned barn surrounded by wild Sentinels. Once she was discovered and the X-Men saw that her current sentinel body was far beyond repair they uploaded her into a new body.[5]
Later when a mutant nation was created on the Living Island
Not soon after, XENO mercenaries were able to infiltrate Krakoa's defenses and successfully assassinate Professor X, destroying Cerebro in the process. Before Professor X was resurrected, Magneto reshaped the broken shards of Cerebro into the Cerebro Sword to represent Xavier's dream, once broken, but now forged anew and refined. The sword retained the information stored in the other Cerebro Cradles, however, it is encrypted.
Later one of the backup Cerebro unit become sentient and rebranded itself under the name Cerebrax. Hunger for intelligence and power, the sentient machine begins killing mutants across the island and eventually takes control of Krakoa and begins unleashing a full-on attack. Answering the call to fight are Kid Omega, Omega Red, Wolverine, Domino and Phoebe Cuckoo. Kid Omega flies into Cerebrax and, with some help from Sage, unleashes a powerful explosion that ultimately destroys the Cerebro unit and himself. Given that Krakoa has the power to resurrect dead mutants, Wolverine tells Sage that they're going to have to do so for Kid Omega, however Sage reveals a problem, there's no trace of Kid Omega anywhere. He's wiped from all the Cerebro cradles.
Other versions
In
In the video game X-Men Legends, Cerebro is identical to its appearance and usage in the X-Men film. Jean Grey and Emma Frost use the device at one point to attempt to return Professor X's mind to his body. In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, it was destroyed along with the rest of the mansion, but Forge mentioned plans on building Cerebra to replace it. He described Cerebra as Cerebro's big sister.
In the video game
In the universe of
In the
In other media
Films
Generation X
In the 1996
X-Men
Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal, in his 2011 book Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, describes the Cerebro of the X-Men films as "a futuristic superroom into which Professor Xavier wheels over a bridge in order to don the helmet that would magnify his already extraordinary telepathic powers and project the results onto the skull-like internal walls of the room."[1] In the films X-Men and X2: X-Men United, Cerebro is a device that fills a massive spherical room in the basement of Xavier's School. The helmet interface is similar to the version seen in the comics, although the bulk of Cerebro's machinery is contained in the surrounding walls. While in use, three-dimensional images of the humans whose minds are being scanned by the device appear around the interface bridge. Unlike the comics' version of Cerebro, the film version can detect both human and mutant minds with ease. The unique signature of mutant brainwaves is shown in the first film by the mental images of humans depicted in black and white, while those of mutants show up in red. When Xavier illustrates his connection with every human and mutant mind on Earth in the sequel, X2, mutants appear in red, and humans in white.
In the first film, Professor X mentions to Wolverine that Magneto helped him build it, and therefore knows how to construct helmets with circuitry to block its detection abilities. Cerebro is sabotaged by
X2: X-Men United
In X2: X-Men United, the device was copied and modified by
In both films, Magneto's helmet is capable of blocking the telepathic signals from Cerebro, as well as any telepathic mutants.
X-Men: First Class
In
In the film, Emma Frost comments on her perception of Xavier's increased telepathic range when using Cerebro, which she feels despite being some thousands of miles away.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Cerebro appears in the future X-Jet as a built in extension to Xavier's hover-chair and is made up of three sensor-pads and a 3D holographic projector. In the past, it appears as it did in X-Men and X2, albeit dusty from long years of neglect due to the past Xavier's current inability to use his powers. As his abilities begin to return, the young Xavier initially attempts to use it to find Mystique after she escapes from their first confrontation, but has trouble concentrating enough to use it properly due to his current emotional turmoil. However, a conversation with his future self—using the time-displaced Wolverine as a 'bridge' to make contact with his other self in the future, who is close to Wolverine's currently-comatose body—helps him regain his old focus, allowing him to temporarily control others to speak to Raven before sending a psychic projection directly to her.
In the Rogue Cut version of the film, Cerebro is being used in the future as a prison for
X-Men: Apocalypse
Cerebro appears in
Logan
In this alternate timeline of Logan, Cerebro has become a covering at Logan and Charles Xavier's home at an abandoned smelting mill in Mexico.
Deadpool 2
Cerebro appears when
Dark Phoenix
Cerebro appears in Dark Phoenix When Xavier uses it to navigate Jean's mind and later to locate Jean, Magneto and Hank.
Television
X-Men: The Animated Series
In the X-Men: The Animated Series Cerebro was heavily featured throughout the series' duration. It was primarily used by Professor Xavier and he was shown to use it in various ways, such as detecting mutants, increasing his powers, and even understanding Shi'ar technology, and so forth. There was no specified room where Cerebro was kept as in the other animated series but instead came out from the ceiling in most notably the War Room where the X-Men held their team meetings. Jean Grey was also noted to use Cerebro frequently and it would amplify her telepathic powers as it did for Professor X. Jean Grey in this animated series did not always join the X-Men on their field missions but rather monitored them telepathically using Cerebro's help. Even the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Emma Frost, used Cerebro when she telepathically hacked into it to secretly "spy" on Xavier, the X-Men, and to learn more about Jean Grey and her transformation into the Phoenix. The X-Men's Blackbird jet was also equipped with its own Cerebro.
X-Men: Evolution
In the animated series
Wolverine and the X-Men
In the 2008 series,
Black Panther
In the 2010 series
Legion
An early version of Cerebro is seen in Legion used by Professor X in the third-season episode "Chapter 22."[8][9]
M.O.D.O.K.
- The Cerebro helmet appears in the second episode of
References
- ^ a b c Jeffrey J. Kripal, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal (2011), p. 208.
- ^ This takes place during the 1998–99 storyline The Hunt for Xavier.
- ^ Extraordinary X-Men #1
- ^ Inhumans Vs X-Men #6
- ^ Extraordinary X-Men #20
- ^ House of X #5 (September 2019)
- ^ "Deadpool 2 Kept a Scene Where Ryan Reynolds Totally Broke a Prop While Filming". 16 August 2018.
- ^ "Professor Xavier Assembles Cerebro in Legion Teaser". 29 May 2019.
- ^ "Exclusive: Professor Xavier builds Cerebro in 'Legion' final season teaser". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Davison, Josh (January 28, 2022). "MODOK: 10 Easter Eggs You'll Only Notice On A Rewatch". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
- Looper. Retrieved July 12, 2022.