Post by Banshee on May 16, 2014 18:58:49 GMT -5
Hey all,
I will be apping Mr. Cassidy this weekend. I am having a problem finding the best pics for him.
If I use an RL PB, I will likely use Damien Lewis or Thorsten Kaye.
Bio is from ComicVine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Name
Banshee
Real Name
Sean Cassidy
Aliases
Sean Cassidy
Madame Banshee
Irish
Death
Publisher
Marvel
Creators
Roy Thomas
Werner Roth
Gender
Male
Character Type
Mutant
First Appearance
The X-Men #28 - The Wail of the Banshee
Appears in
1754 issues
Birthday
n/a
Died
X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2 - Deadly Genesis Part 2; Darwin
Characteristics
Height : 6'
Weight : 180 lbs
Eyes : Green
Hair : Ginger
Powers and Abilities
Banshee is a mutant whose superhumanly powerful lungs, throat, and vocal cords could produce a sonic scream for various effects, in concert with limited, reflexive psionic powers which directed his sonic vibrations. He could hover or fly at the speed of sound, and could carry at least one passenger. He could overwhelm listeners with deafening noise, stun them with tight-focus low-frequency sonic blasts, plunge them into a hypnotic trance, disorient them, nauseate them, or simply render them unconscious. Using sonic waves, he could rapidly vibrate himself or other masses at will. He could generate sonic blasts which struck with tremendous concussive force, liquefying or outright disintegrating targets at his highest levels of power. By radiating sound waves outward and reading the feedback, he could locate and analyze unseen objects in a sonar-like fashion. By modulating his scream's harmonics, he could confuse most scanning equipment. He could instinctively analyze, replicate, and block sonic waves or vibrations from other sources.
Banshee generated a psionic field which protected him from the detrimental effects of his sonic vibrations, though his sonic powers could still injure him when pushed beyond safe limits. His physiology seemed fully vulnerable to conventional injury when his sonic powers were not engaged. Banshee had selective hearing, enabling him to focus upon, enhance, or totally block out any given sound in his environment; this shielded him from the deafening sound of his own screams, and made him a superhumanly acute eavesdropper in surveillance situations.
Origin
Sean Cassidy was a young rich mutant with undiscovered powers. His parents died, leaving him and his cousin Black Tom Cassidy with a huge fortune and the castle they had grown up in, called Cassidy Keep, although as Sean was the rightful heir, he gained all of it. The castle was a strange place, where leprechauns lived under the protection of the Cassidy Family. Both Sean and Black Tom were mutants; Sean's power was a sonic scream.
Creation
Banshee first appeared in X-Men #28 in January 1967 and was created by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth and Stan Lee.
Character Evolution
Silver Age
Banshee first appeared as an enemy of the X-Men under the control of Mutant Master and Factor Three.
Bronze Age
Banshee later repays the help of the X-Men by joining their team in Giant Size X-Men #1 in 1975.
Modern Age
Banshee continued as a minor, but valuable player in the X-Men, eventually taking on leadership in teaching the new students of Generation X with Emma Frost. He sadly died after being hit by a Blackbird plane piloted by Vulcan, although he was briefly resurrected during the Necrosha and Chaos War arcs.
Major Story Arcs
Working for Interpol
Sean got a job with Interpol while he was still a young man. After visiting a concert in Northern Ireland, Sean misses the last train home and has to hitch a ride. He is picked up by a corrupt policeman, who thought he was scouting for the IRA and intended to arrest him. He is saved by a young woman on a bike named Maeve Rourke. At one point in their journey back to Cassidy Keep Maeve's bike is damaged, and Sean flies her the rest of the way. Maeve isn't scared by his mutant powers at all. When he arrives back home, he introduces her to Black Tom. Both men are smitten by her.
Eventually Sean wins Maeve's heart. Even though he loved her too, Black Tom agrees to be Sean's best man at the wedding, since he wanted to have the best happen to Maeve. Shortly after the marriage, Sean is away on a mission for months, and while he is gone, Maeve discovers she is pregnant and gives birth to their daughter, Theresa Cassidy. Maeve dies soon after from a bomb, so Tom has to take care of Theresa. Sean returns and is devastated, and is livid at Tom for not taking care of Maeve. Sean knocks him into a chasm that breaks his leg before Tom could tell him about his daughter. Tom was furious, promising to get revenge on Sean and never tell him about his daughter.
After Maeve was killed, Sean buries himself in his work, although didn't tell anyone about his powers. On one of his earliest missions, Sean had to guard a weapons specialist named Patrick Lipton whilst he took his new weapon to Rome. On the way there, the train is attacked by the terrorist group HYDRA. Lipton and Sean get out of the train and attempt to clear the tracks so the train could move again. Before they can, Sean is shot by a HYDRA agent, causing him to accidentally let loose a sonic scream as he falls. Lipton knows that he couldn't let HYDRA know about Sean's sonic scream, so kills the HYDRA agents who had seen it and offers his services to HYDRA in return for Sean's life.
Another of Sean's missions with Interpol involved catching a serial killer. Unfortunately his superiors don't believe there really was a serial killer, and Sean has to go rogue to find and catch the killer. While Sean searches for the killer, he is aided by a mysterious man who was afraid of a genetic war. The mysterious man tells Sean that the killer would be found at Cassidy Keep. Years later, Sean would meet this mysterious man again, only this time he would be calling himself Magneto. Sean is joined at Cassidy Keep by Inspector Magrite Deveraux, who now believes him about the killer. The killer is a Russian called Arkady, who wishes to be killed so that he could stop being the Russian government's pet mutant. Sean refuses, so Arkady infects Magrite Deveraux with his death spore virus to give him motivation. Sean empties his gun on Arkady, who he believed was sent to prison. Unfortunately, he was put in a special ops program that turned him into Omega Red.
At some time, Sean was working with the New York Police Department. One evening, Sean and his partner notice Harry Leland enter a party, where they find Emma Frost also in attendance. Emma is accosted by some men, and Sean ignores his orders and runs to join the fray. Sean and his partners find the men dead. The trail leads to the sewers, where Dark Beast had taken Emma, needing her help. Sean assumes that Emma is in danger, and attacks Dark Beast. Emma telepathically stops Beast from attacking back and wipes everyone's memories of the incident. Sean manages to get evidence on Black Tom's illegal activities shortly after this, and sends him to prison. Sean still didn't know about Teresa, who was at boarding school at the time.
Sean's last Interpol mission was a rather delicate one. Sean and his partner Daniel Peyer have to infiltrate the mansion of a gangster named Almadovar and retrieve information from him. The operation had been prepared for years. Right after Sean uses his sonic powers to deactivate the security systems, Almadovar finds him. He would have shot him if the mercenary Deadpool hadn't appeared and shot Almadovar, who had a price on his head. Even though Sean is saved, the mission was now blown, since they needed Almadovar alive. After this operation, Sean quits Interpol, and goes freelance.
Factor Three
Factor Three, a villain team, discovers him and their leader, Changeling invites him to join. Sean is horrified and refuses, but Factor Three trick him and set explosives next to his head. He is forced to do their bidding, or they would detonate the explosives. After working for them for a long time, Sean runs into the X-Men on a mission in New York. Professor X easily disarms the bombs and Sean, codenamed Banshee, helps the X-Men stop Factor Three. Banshee is kidnapped by the Sentinels a few months later, and the X-Men save him again. Professor X asks him to join the X-Men when the original team is captured by the living island known as Krakoa, who wanted to feast on them. Banshee, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, Thunderbird, and Wolverine all manage to stop Krakoa and save the original X-Men. These seven (minus Sunfire, who quits) form a new team of X-Men after the original team leaves (with the exception of Cyclops, who stays on as team leader). Banshee is reluctant at first, as he was much older than the rest of the X-Men, but Professor X manages to convince him to stay.
Joining the X-Men
Over the next few weeks, Banshee became a well-liked member of the group, as well as something of a back-up leader when Cyclops or Professor X are not around. Soon Xavier's old colleague Moira MacTaggert joins the X-Men as their housekeeper. Banshee falls in love with Moira, and the two grow close quickly. After a few adventures with the team, Banshee receives a letter from his lawyer, explaining that he has inherited Cassidy Keep fully for himself. The rest of the X-Men and Banshee go there for a holiday, not realizing that it was a trap set up by Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut.
The two had been given exotic weaponry by a villain known as Erik the Red. Black Tom and Juggernaut's plan was to capture Xavier, which they attempt by torturing the X-Men until he arrives. The X-Men wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Storm, who overcomes her claustrophobia and saves them. The two groups fight on the battlements of the castle, until Black Tom falls down to the sea, followed by Juggernaut, who didn't want to lose his only friend.
Months later, Banshee and the X-Men are stranded in Japan after making their way there from the Savage Land. Whilst all they wanted was Sunfire's help to get back to the US, they had to fight a terrorist named Moses Magnum. Moses Magnum was threatening to trigger earthquakes that would destroy Japan if he wasn't given control of it. The X-Men sneak into his base, but Magnum defeats most of them and then goes to trigger his earthquakes. Banshee works out that the earthquake would be triggered by an intense beam of energy, and that he could stop it with a wall of sound. Banshee manages this feat, but as a result his vocal cords are damaged and he loses his powers. He stays with the group for a while, until they travel to Muir Island to combat the threat of Proteus, Moira MacTaggart's deadly mutant son. After the battle, Sean decides that he will stay with Moira, since without powers he is no use to the X-Men. He doesn't cut off his ties completely though; Banshee helps the X-Men when Arcade's partner Miss Locke kidnaps several of the X-Men's friends, using the skills he had developed as an Interpol agent to make up for his lost powers.
Siryn
Shortly after helping with the Murderworld situation, Sean is greeted by a girl at Professor Xavier's school, who gives him a letter to read. The letter explains that she is Banshee's daughter Theresa Cassidy, who Sean didn't even know existed. She had thought Tom was her father, and she was overjoyed to learn of her real father's existence. Siryn feels she needs to help Tom with crimes, but she decides not to, and joins Sean and Moira on Muir Island.
One day, Banshee is kidnapped from Muir Island by James Proudstar, who is the brother of John Proudstar, the X-Man who had died before Banshee's eyes. James blames the rest of the X-Men for John's death, and wants to use Banshee as a hostage against them. Sean manages to talk John into giving up, as he doesn't want to be a murderer.
Banshee and Moira MacTaggart later help Morlocks who are stationed at Muir Island. After the Mutant Massacre, the few surviving Morlocks are sent to Muir Island, along with the newer members of the X-Men. Whilst they are all there, Banshee teaches them a bit about battle skills and teamwork. Banshee's powers temporarily come back later thanks to Moira. Moira had been hypnotised by a rebuilt Master Mold into creating a virus called the Retribution Virus, which was designed to kill mutants. Sean is one of the first mutants to be affected and is kidnapped and taken to Master Mold's base for further studying. Eventually Moira, Cyclops and Callisto (the leader of the Morlocks) manage to find and save Banshee. Moira is free of Master Mold's influence, and creates a cure for the virus. The cure kicks Banshee's systems into overdrive as it destroys the virus and his powers temporarily come back. Banshee soon uses these new powers to save Polaris, who is trapped on a sinking ship.
Return to the X-Men
Banshee's powers come back for good soon afterwards. The mutant hating Reavers, led by Donald Pierce, invade Muir Island and shoot Banshee straight in the heart. Amanda Sefton manages to use her magic to teleport Banshee to the infirmary of Muir Island before he dies, and once there, the Morlock healer heals him back. His touch not only heals Banshee's chest wound, but it also restores his powers completely.
Thanks to Forge and Freedom Force, Muir Island survives the Reavers attack, but there are casualties on both sides. After the fighting is over, Banshee asks Forge to design a new security system for the island whilst he looks for the X-Men. The X-Men had been believed killed in Dallas, but Polaris informs Banshee that they are still alive. Banshee asks Forge to accompany him on this trip. Once again, Moira begins acting strangely, making harsh decisions and dressing rather sharp. Forge and Banshee are going to board a plane for Cairo, Egypt, when they change their plans at the last minute. The plane was shot out of the sky, and it appeared that Moira had set them up, as she was the only person who knew about them being on the plane.
Sean and Forge go to the ruins of the school in Westchester, where they unexpectedly meet Jean Grey and a group of Morlocks, led by Masque. Masque and his Morlocks manage to capture Jean and Sean, and disfigure them with his powers. Jean's arms turn to tentacles, and Banshee now has no mouth, which means he had no powers. If it hadn't been for Forge, who had recorded their genetic codes, they wouldn't have been able to change back to their normal bodies. During this little adventure, Banshee and Forge also run into Colossus, who has amnesia and can't remember his time as an X-Man. Colossus is an artist, and Banshee decide to leave him alone and let him enjoy his fame.
Banshee reunites with Storm and her new companion Gambit at the ruins of the mansion, before meeting up with other X-Teams during the X-Tinction Agenda incident on Genosha. After this, these X-Men decide to stay as a team, with Banshee a member of it. Banshee finds out that Moira was still acting as strangely as she had been when he communicated with her via a holographic com-link. Shortly afterwords, Sean and the X-Men are called in to the Shi'ar Empire to help Professor X and his lover, Princess Lilandra. After the adventure, Banshee tells the Professor about Moira's behavior. Professor X mindscans Banshee to find out that Moira, as well as most of the inhabitants of Muir Island, have fallen under the Shadow King's influence. It takes the combined effort of the X-Men as well as X-Factor to stop the Shadow King. Banshee has to fight his loved ones, including Moira and Theresa, who have pretty harsh words for him, reminding him of his past failures. After the Shadow King is defeated, Banshee and Moira help with the reconstruction of the mansion and the X-Teams, whilst Theresa joins X-Force.
Moira leaves the X-Men shortly afterwords, as it has been revealed that she had tampered with Magneto's DNA several years ago. She leaves out of guilt, and Banshee also leaves the X-Men to find where she has gone. Banshee soon finds out that she is fine without him, and so not knowing what to do, he decides to have a holiday on the Canary Islands. Banshee eventually returns to the X-Men, where Moira was too, as she had wanted to help cure the Legacy Virus. The two decide to keep their romance going, but it was hard as both had different duties and responsibilities.
Around the same time, Banshee rekindles his relationship with his daughter. When he visits X-Force, he suggests that a father-daughter bond might be too much to ask, but that they could still be good friends. This proves to be a good choice when their paths crossed later. Black Tom Cassidy had a virus which was slowly turning him to wood, and it seemed that the only way to cure it was with Deadpool's healing factor. Whilst Siryn helps Deadpool in the fight, Sean asks Daniel Peyer (his old Interpol friend, who was now a high-ranking officer) for a clue on their whereabouts. Daniel still held a bit of a grudge for the Almadovar job Banshee had stuffed up, so he claimed that he knew nothing. Eventually Banshee works it out on his own, before helping Deadpool and Siryn, and makes sure that Black Tom gets the cure before he goes to prison.
Phalanx and Forming a New Team
Back with the X-Men, Banshee notices that Jubilee is having trouble fitting in. Wolverine was temporarily gone, so Jubilee didn't have her mentor there, and the other X-Men were too busy in between missions to worry about her. Sean also is around when Emma Frost wakes from her year-long coma. He hadn't fought her with the X-Men before, so he feels a bit of sympathy for her when she finds out that her students had died.
A few days later, when Banshee returns from a trip, he notices that the X-Men are all acting strangely. Upon investigation, he finds out that they had been abducted and replaced with the Phalanx. Banshee frees Emma Frost, Jubilee and Sabretooth, the last non-Phalanx members in the mansion, and teams up with them to save the teenagers that the Phalanx were experimenting on. They manage to track the Phalanx to a freighter, but are trapped by a techno-organic creature. The only way possible for it to be defeated is for one of the teenagers, Blink, to use her teleportation powers to cut it to pieces. Unfortunately, she is caught in the effect of her teleportation too, and is also killed.
Generation X
In the aftermath of this battle with the Phalanx, it was decided that Banshee and Emma Frost would share duties at Xavier's new school, where they were training the mutants the Phalanx had captured, as well as Jubilee. Sean soon enjoyed the role of Headmaster of Generation X, but there was some friction between him and Emma Frost, who Sean thought would misuse her telepathic powers. In the beginning of Generation X, Banshee and the students went to the airport to pick Chamber up and were attacked by Emplate, someone who becomes the major antagonist of the series later on. Generation X was a short-lived team that he and Emma Frost led for a short time. It eventually broke up, but had consisted of teenage mutants like Chamber, Jubilee, and Skin.
Within the first few months of Generation X being created, Omega Red returned from Banshee's past, wanting to kill him for his part in his creation. Omega Red nearly killed Banshee, and if it weren't for Emma Frost holding his life energies together telepathically, Banshee probably would have died. Whilst Emma was helping Sean, Chamber managed to defeat Omega Red, as he was immune to his death spores. Sean's cousin Black Tom escaped from prison shortly afterwards, and revealed that he had mutated into a being that was more plant than human. Black Tom wanted revenge on Sean for taking away Teresa from him, so decided he would take away Generation X in return. Black Tom ordered Sean to kill Emma Frost or he would never return the kids to Banshee. Banshee didn't want to kill Emma, but she forced him to because she didn't want to be responsible for the death of more children. Once Emma was seemingly dead, Black Tom revealed that he had never intended to return the children, as they were already far away. Penance, the only Generation X member not captured by Tom, managed to stop him long enough for Banshee to escape.
Luckily Emma had survived, so Banshee and Penance made plans with her to find the missing children. Unfortunately, they had to stay undercover, as Operation: Zero Tolerance had been activated and Sentinels were everywhere. Without the proper resources, it looked as if Banshee and Emma would be unable to find Generation X, but one of their enemies, Emplate, offered them a deal: in return for Penance, he would reveal where the students were. While Banshee disagreed to the deal, Emma pretended to agree, but Banshee thought she really was agreeing. As a result of this, Banshee told Emma to keep away from the school. Luckily, Generation X soon managed to find their own way home, and with everything how it should be, Banshee took the opportunity to visit Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, who by now was the only non-mutant with the Legacy Virus. Moira and Sean spent some time together before she realized the importance of finding a cure to the Legacy Virus, and locked herself in her lab until she discovered a cure. Banshee did the only thing he could for her: he encouraged her and told her he would wait for her. Upon his return to the school, Emma hit him in the face for the way he had treated her. Banshee apologized and the two returned to their headmaster duties.
Banshee was shocked to find out that his daughter had lost her sonic powers in a fight with her fellow teammate Feral. Feral had severely damaged Teresa's vocal cords, so Teresa could no longer use her sonic powers. Instead of being with her father, who had gone through a similar experience, Teresa went to stay with a distant aunt to cope with her loss.
Around Christmas, Black Tom and Juggernaut returned, and attacked Generation X with there newest charge: The real Mondo, as opposed to the clone that was a member of Generation X. Mondo wanted revenge against Emma's sister, Cordelia, whilst Black Tom wanted revenge on Banshee as usual. Generation X beat the villains, but they still managed to escape, which left Sean thinking that Black Tom had another youngster to corrupt, just as he had partially corrupted Teresa. When Emma went broke, the school had to accept some human students to pay the bills. This didn't go very well, as Emma's sister Adrienne (who was staying at the school) egged on the students' anti-mutant ideas. One night, Adrienne planted bombs around the school, and Generation X member Synch was killed trying to disarm them. After his death, this gave Banshee something of a wake-up call, who realized that they had to start training the kids differently, and be more proactive.
Sean got a bit of a shock when he tried calling Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, only to be redirected to the Xavier Institute, where Professor X informed him that Moira was dead. Just a few days earlier, the mutant terrorist Mystique had blown up her lab whilst she was still in it. This shock affected Banshee severely; just a few days later, he couldn't concentrate in battle and had to be saved by his student Skin. To cope with Moira's death, Sean soon started drinking, which led to Generation X disbanding, as neither of their teachers were fit to teach (Emma Frost was becoming nastier).
X-Corps
After a lot of soul-searching, Banshee finally gave up alcohol, and found a way to make his life worthwhile once more. Sean founded the X-Corps, which were supposed to police mutant activities. X-Corps had some brainwashed members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, as well as some old Generation X members, who wanted to keep an eye on Banshee. Unfortunately, Mystique had infiltrated the X-Corps, and she soon cut Sean's throat before taking over the team. After the Generation X members stopped the Brotherhood, X-Corps disbanded.
Death
Banshee is contacted on Muir Island by Beast, who asks if Moira had any old files that might have given them any idea about where Charles Xavier had disappeared too. He finds nothing, but as their conversation is about to end, Banshee sees a figure through the window, and runs out, believing it to be Moira. He follows "Moira", and she leads him to a cabin where she opens the door, and then she fades into thin air. Banshee enters the cabin, where a computer is switched on. He pulls a CD out from the shelf marked "Charles Xavier's Notes: Important". He plays the tape, and for an unknown reason at the time, we see Moira bad mouth and curse about Charles Xavier.
Banshee then catches a plane to America, and on the plane, he speaks to Nightcrawler who's at the mansion, and explains that he doesn't know what it means (talking about the CD). Vulcan is listening in on their conversation from the Blackbird, and Nightcrawler and Wolverine leave the mansion to go and pick Banshee up.
Banshee gets his luggage from the over-head compartment, and just as he's about to leave the flying plane (presumably he was going to fly out of it to Nightcrawler and Wolverine who are waiting for him just outside the airport). Someone behind him then spots a jet, and Banshee notices that it's the Blackbird and can see that it's going to hit them. He quickly takes off his over-clothes to reveal he has his suit on underneath, and opens a door on the plane that's facing the Blackbird. He jumps out of the moving plane and tries to use a sonic scream on the Blackbird to stop it, but because his voice is still damaged, he is unable too. and the two planes collide. Banshee smashed through the window screen of the Blackbird.
His body was later buried at the Institute next to Sway and Petra. His grave reads: Sean Cassidy, Banshee, Beloved Comrade.
Inheritance
Before Banshee died, he filmed a video for his daughter, Siryn, explaining that Cassidy Keep is now her's and he wanted to leave her something else, something special his father left him: an old pipe.
Necrosha
Selene had Banshee resurrected as part of Necrosha. He was forced to act under the control of Eli Bard through the transmode virus. He confronted Emma Frost, Cyclops and Domino and briefly gained control of his senses enough to tell his old friends to run away.
Horsemen of Death
The Apocalypse Twins, Eimin and Uriel, resurrected Banshee to serve as one of their Horsemen of Death.
--Karen
I will be apping Mr. Cassidy this weekend. I am having a problem finding the best pics for him.
If I use an RL PB, I will likely use Damien Lewis or Thorsten Kaye.
Bio is from ComicVine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super Name
Banshee
Real Name
Sean Cassidy
Aliases
Sean Cassidy
Madame Banshee
Irish
Death
Publisher
Marvel
Creators
Roy Thomas
Werner Roth
Gender
Male
Character Type
Mutant
First Appearance
The X-Men #28 - The Wail of the Banshee
Appears in
1754 issues
Birthday
n/a
Died
X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2 - Deadly Genesis Part 2; Darwin
Characteristics
Height : 6'
Weight : 180 lbs
Eyes : Green
Hair : Ginger
Powers and Abilities
Banshee is a mutant whose superhumanly powerful lungs, throat, and vocal cords could produce a sonic scream for various effects, in concert with limited, reflexive psionic powers which directed his sonic vibrations. He could hover or fly at the speed of sound, and could carry at least one passenger. He could overwhelm listeners with deafening noise, stun them with tight-focus low-frequency sonic blasts, plunge them into a hypnotic trance, disorient them, nauseate them, or simply render them unconscious. Using sonic waves, he could rapidly vibrate himself or other masses at will. He could generate sonic blasts which struck with tremendous concussive force, liquefying or outright disintegrating targets at his highest levels of power. By radiating sound waves outward and reading the feedback, he could locate and analyze unseen objects in a sonar-like fashion. By modulating his scream's harmonics, he could confuse most scanning equipment. He could instinctively analyze, replicate, and block sonic waves or vibrations from other sources.
Banshee generated a psionic field which protected him from the detrimental effects of his sonic vibrations, though his sonic powers could still injure him when pushed beyond safe limits. His physiology seemed fully vulnerable to conventional injury when his sonic powers were not engaged. Banshee had selective hearing, enabling him to focus upon, enhance, or totally block out any given sound in his environment; this shielded him from the deafening sound of his own screams, and made him a superhumanly acute eavesdropper in surveillance situations.
Origin
Sean Cassidy was a young rich mutant with undiscovered powers. His parents died, leaving him and his cousin Black Tom Cassidy with a huge fortune and the castle they had grown up in, called Cassidy Keep, although as Sean was the rightful heir, he gained all of it. The castle was a strange place, where leprechauns lived under the protection of the Cassidy Family. Both Sean and Black Tom were mutants; Sean's power was a sonic scream.
Creation
Banshee first appeared in X-Men #28 in January 1967 and was created by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth and Stan Lee.
Character Evolution
Silver Age
Banshee first appeared as an enemy of the X-Men under the control of Mutant Master and Factor Three.
Bronze Age
Banshee later repays the help of the X-Men by joining their team in Giant Size X-Men #1 in 1975.
Modern Age
Banshee continued as a minor, but valuable player in the X-Men, eventually taking on leadership in teaching the new students of Generation X with Emma Frost. He sadly died after being hit by a Blackbird plane piloted by Vulcan, although he was briefly resurrected during the Necrosha and Chaos War arcs.
Major Story Arcs
Working for Interpol
Sean got a job with Interpol while he was still a young man. After visiting a concert in Northern Ireland, Sean misses the last train home and has to hitch a ride. He is picked up by a corrupt policeman, who thought he was scouting for the IRA and intended to arrest him. He is saved by a young woman on a bike named Maeve Rourke. At one point in their journey back to Cassidy Keep Maeve's bike is damaged, and Sean flies her the rest of the way. Maeve isn't scared by his mutant powers at all. When he arrives back home, he introduces her to Black Tom. Both men are smitten by her.
Eventually Sean wins Maeve's heart. Even though he loved her too, Black Tom agrees to be Sean's best man at the wedding, since he wanted to have the best happen to Maeve. Shortly after the marriage, Sean is away on a mission for months, and while he is gone, Maeve discovers she is pregnant and gives birth to their daughter, Theresa Cassidy. Maeve dies soon after from a bomb, so Tom has to take care of Theresa. Sean returns and is devastated, and is livid at Tom for not taking care of Maeve. Sean knocks him into a chasm that breaks his leg before Tom could tell him about his daughter. Tom was furious, promising to get revenge on Sean and never tell him about his daughter.
After Maeve was killed, Sean buries himself in his work, although didn't tell anyone about his powers. On one of his earliest missions, Sean had to guard a weapons specialist named Patrick Lipton whilst he took his new weapon to Rome. On the way there, the train is attacked by the terrorist group HYDRA. Lipton and Sean get out of the train and attempt to clear the tracks so the train could move again. Before they can, Sean is shot by a HYDRA agent, causing him to accidentally let loose a sonic scream as he falls. Lipton knows that he couldn't let HYDRA know about Sean's sonic scream, so kills the HYDRA agents who had seen it and offers his services to HYDRA in return for Sean's life.
Another of Sean's missions with Interpol involved catching a serial killer. Unfortunately his superiors don't believe there really was a serial killer, and Sean has to go rogue to find and catch the killer. While Sean searches for the killer, he is aided by a mysterious man who was afraid of a genetic war. The mysterious man tells Sean that the killer would be found at Cassidy Keep. Years later, Sean would meet this mysterious man again, only this time he would be calling himself Magneto. Sean is joined at Cassidy Keep by Inspector Magrite Deveraux, who now believes him about the killer. The killer is a Russian called Arkady, who wishes to be killed so that he could stop being the Russian government's pet mutant. Sean refuses, so Arkady infects Magrite Deveraux with his death spore virus to give him motivation. Sean empties his gun on Arkady, who he believed was sent to prison. Unfortunately, he was put in a special ops program that turned him into Omega Red.
At some time, Sean was working with the New York Police Department. One evening, Sean and his partner notice Harry Leland enter a party, where they find Emma Frost also in attendance. Emma is accosted by some men, and Sean ignores his orders and runs to join the fray. Sean and his partners find the men dead. The trail leads to the sewers, where Dark Beast had taken Emma, needing her help. Sean assumes that Emma is in danger, and attacks Dark Beast. Emma telepathically stops Beast from attacking back and wipes everyone's memories of the incident. Sean manages to get evidence on Black Tom's illegal activities shortly after this, and sends him to prison. Sean still didn't know about Teresa, who was at boarding school at the time.
Sean's last Interpol mission was a rather delicate one. Sean and his partner Daniel Peyer have to infiltrate the mansion of a gangster named Almadovar and retrieve information from him. The operation had been prepared for years. Right after Sean uses his sonic powers to deactivate the security systems, Almadovar finds him. He would have shot him if the mercenary Deadpool hadn't appeared and shot Almadovar, who had a price on his head. Even though Sean is saved, the mission was now blown, since they needed Almadovar alive. After this operation, Sean quits Interpol, and goes freelance.
Factor Three
Factor Three, a villain team, discovers him and their leader, Changeling invites him to join. Sean is horrified and refuses, but Factor Three trick him and set explosives next to his head. He is forced to do their bidding, or they would detonate the explosives. After working for them for a long time, Sean runs into the X-Men on a mission in New York. Professor X easily disarms the bombs and Sean, codenamed Banshee, helps the X-Men stop Factor Three. Banshee is kidnapped by the Sentinels a few months later, and the X-Men save him again. Professor X asks him to join the X-Men when the original team is captured by the living island known as Krakoa, who wanted to feast on them. Banshee, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, Thunderbird, and Wolverine all manage to stop Krakoa and save the original X-Men. These seven (minus Sunfire, who quits) form a new team of X-Men after the original team leaves (with the exception of Cyclops, who stays on as team leader). Banshee is reluctant at first, as he was much older than the rest of the X-Men, but Professor X manages to convince him to stay.
Joining the X-Men
Over the next few weeks, Banshee became a well-liked member of the group, as well as something of a back-up leader when Cyclops or Professor X are not around. Soon Xavier's old colleague Moira MacTaggert joins the X-Men as their housekeeper. Banshee falls in love with Moira, and the two grow close quickly. After a few adventures with the team, Banshee receives a letter from his lawyer, explaining that he has inherited Cassidy Keep fully for himself. The rest of the X-Men and Banshee go there for a holiday, not realizing that it was a trap set up by Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut.
The two had been given exotic weaponry by a villain known as Erik the Red. Black Tom and Juggernaut's plan was to capture Xavier, which they attempt by torturing the X-Men until he arrives. The X-Men wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Storm, who overcomes her claustrophobia and saves them. The two groups fight on the battlements of the castle, until Black Tom falls down to the sea, followed by Juggernaut, who didn't want to lose his only friend.
Months later, Banshee and the X-Men are stranded in Japan after making their way there from the Savage Land. Whilst all they wanted was Sunfire's help to get back to the US, they had to fight a terrorist named Moses Magnum. Moses Magnum was threatening to trigger earthquakes that would destroy Japan if he wasn't given control of it. The X-Men sneak into his base, but Magnum defeats most of them and then goes to trigger his earthquakes. Banshee works out that the earthquake would be triggered by an intense beam of energy, and that he could stop it with a wall of sound. Banshee manages this feat, but as a result his vocal cords are damaged and he loses his powers. He stays with the group for a while, until they travel to Muir Island to combat the threat of Proteus, Moira MacTaggart's deadly mutant son. After the battle, Sean decides that he will stay with Moira, since without powers he is no use to the X-Men. He doesn't cut off his ties completely though; Banshee helps the X-Men when Arcade's partner Miss Locke kidnaps several of the X-Men's friends, using the skills he had developed as an Interpol agent to make up for his lost powers.
Siryn
Shortly after helping with the Murderworld situation, Sean is greeted by a girl at Professor Xavier's school, who gives him a letter to read. The letter explains that she is Banshee's daughter Theresa Cassidy, who Sean didn't even know existed. She had thought Tom was her father, and she was overjoyed to learn of her real father's existence. Siryn feels she needs to help Tom with crimes, but she decides not to, and joins Sean and Moira on Muir Island.
One day, Banshee is kidnapped from Muir Island by James Proudstar, who is the brother of John Proudstar, the X-Man who had died before Banshee's eyes. James blames the rest of the X-Men for John's death, and wants to use Banshee as a hostage against them. Sean manages to talk John into giving up, as he doesn't want to be a murderer.
Banshee and Moira MacTaggart later help Morlocks who are stationed at Muir Island. After the Mutant Massacre, the few surviving Morlocks are sent to Muir Island, along with the newer members of the X-Men. Whilst they are all there, Banshee teaches them a bit about battle skills and teamwork. Banshee's powers temporarily come back later thanks to Moira. Moira had been hypnotised by a rebuilt Master Mold into creating a virus called the Retribution Virus, which was designed to kill mutants. Sean is one of the first mutants to be affected and is kidnapped and taken to Master Mold's base for further studying. Eventually Moira, Cyclops and Callisto (the leader of the Morlocks) manage to find and save Banshee. Moira is free of Master Mold's influence, and creates a cure for the virus. The cure kicks Banshee's systems into overdrive as it destroys the virus and his powers temporarily come back. Banshee soon uses these new powers to save Polaris, who is trapped on a sinking ship.
Return to the X-Men
Banshee's powers come back for good soon afterwards. The mutant hating Reavers, led by Donald Pierce, invade Muir Island and shoot Banshee straight in the heart. Amanda Sefton manages to use her magic to teleport Banshee to the infirmary of Muir Island before he dies, and once there, the Morlock healer heals him back. His touch not only heals Banshee's chest wound, but it also restores his powers completely.
Thanks to Forge and Freedom Force, Muir Island survives the Reavers attack, but there are casualties on both sides. After the fighting is over, Banshee asks Forge to design a new security system for the island whilst he looks for the X-Men. The X-Men had been believed killed in Dallas, but Polaris informs Banshee that they are still alive. Banshee asks Forge to accompany him on this trip. Once again, Moira begins acting strangely, making harsh decisions and dressing rather sharp. Forge and Banshee are going to board a plane for Cairo, Egypt, when they change their plans at the last minute. The plane was shot out of the sky, and it appeared that Moira had set them up, as she was the only person who knew about them being on the plane.
Sean and Forge go to the ruins of the school in Westchester, where they unexpectedly meet Jean Grey and a group of Morlocks, led by Masque. Masque and his Morlocks manage to capture Jean and Sean, and disfigure them with his powers. Jean's arms turn to tentacles, and Banshee now has no mouth, which means he had no powers. If it hadn't been for Forge, who had recorded their genetic codes, they wouldn't have been able to change back to their normal bodies. During this little adventure, Banshee and Forge also run into Colossus, who has amnesia and can't remember his time as an X-Man. Colossus is an artist, and Banshee decide to leave him alone and let him enjoy his fame.
Banshee reunites with Storm and her new companion Gambit at the ruins of the mansion, before meeting up with other X-Teams during the X-Tinction Agenda incident on Genosha. After this, these X-Men decide to stay as a team, with Banshee a member of it. Banshee finds out that Moira was still acting as strangely as she had been when he communicated with her via a holographic com-link. Shortly afterwords, Sean and the X-Men are called in to the Shi'ar Empire to help Professor X and his lover, Princess Lilandra. After the adventure, Banshee tells the Professor about Moira's behavior. Professor X mindscans Banshee to find out that Moira, as well as most of the inhabitants of Muir Island, have fallen under the Shadow King's influence. It takes the combined effort of the X-Men as well as X-Factor to stop the Shadow King. Banshee has to fight his loved ones, including Moira and Theresa, who have pretty harsh words for him, reminding him of his past failures. After the Shadow King is defeated, Banshee and Moira help with the reconstruction of the mansion and the X-Teams, whilst Theresa joins X-Force.
Moira leaves the X-Men shortly afterwords, as it has been revealed that she had tampered with Magneto's DNA several years ago. She leaves out of guilt, and Banshee also leaves the X-Men to find where she has gone. Banshee soon finds out that she is fine without him, and so not knowing what to do, he decides to have a holiday on the Canary Islands. Banshee eventually returns to the X-Men, where Moira was too, as she had wanted to help cure the Legacy Virus. The two decide to keep their romance going, but it was hard as both had different duties and responsibilities.
Around the same time, Banshee rekindles his relationship with his daughter. When he visits X-Force, he suggests that a father-daughter bond might be too much to ask, but that they could still be good friends. This proves to be a good choice when their paths crossed later. Black Tom Cassidy had a virus which was slowly turning him to wood, and it seemed that the only way to cure it was with Deadpool's healing factor. Whilst Siryn helps Deadpool in the fight, Sean asks Daniel Peyer (his old Interpol friend, who was now a high-ranking officer) for a clue on their whereabouts. Daniel still held a bit of a grudge for the Almadovar job Banshee had stuffed up, so he claimed that he knew nothing. Eventually Banshee works it out on his own, before helping Deadpool and Siryn, and makes sure that Black Tom gets the cure before he goes to prison.
Phalanx and Forming a New Team
Back with the X-Men, Banshee notices that Jubilee is having trouble fitting in. Wolverine was temporarily gone, so Jubilee didn't have her mentor there, and the other X-Men were too busy in between missions to worry about her. Sean also is around when Emma Frost wakes from her year-long coma. He hadn't fought her with the X-Men before, so he feels a bit of sympathy for her when she finds out that her students had died.
A few days later, when Banshee returns from a trip, he notices that the X-Men are all acting strangely. Upon investigation, he finds out that they had been abducted and replaced with the Phalanx. Banshee frees Emma Frost, Jubilee and Sabretooth, the last non-Phalanx members in the mansion, and teams up with them to save the teenagers that the Phalanx were experimenting on. They manage to track the Phalanx to a freighter, but are trapped by a techno-organic creature. The only way possible for it to be defeated is for one of the teenagers, Blink, to use her teleportation powers to cut it to pieces. Unfortunately, she is caught in the effect of her teleportation too, and is also killed.
Generation X
In the aftermath of this battle with the Phalanx, it was decided that Banshee and Emma Frost would share duties at Xavier's new school, where they were training the mutants the Phalanx had captured, as well as Jubilee. Sean soon enjoyed the role of Headmaster of Generation X, but there was some friction between him and Emma Frost, who Sean thought would misuse her telepathic powers. In the beginning of Generation X, Banshee and the students went to the airport to pick Chamber up and were attacked by Emplate, someone who becomes the major antagonist of the series later on. Generation X was a short-lived team that he and Emma Frost led for a short time. It eventually broke up, but had consisted of teenage mutants like Chamber, Jubilee, and Skin.
Within the first few months of Generation X being created, Omega Red returned from Banshee's past, wanting to kill him for his part in his creation. Omega Red nearly killed Banshee, and if it weren't for Emma Frost holding his life energies together telepathically, Banshee probably would have died. Whilst Emma was helping Sean, Chamber managed to defeat Omega Red, as he was immune to his death spores. Sean's cousin Black Tom escaped from prison shortly afterwards, and revealed that he had mutated into a being that was more plant than human. Black Tom wanted revenge on Sean for taking away Teresa from him, so decided he would take away Generation X in return. Black Tom ordered Sean to kill Emma Frost or he would never return the kids to Banshee. Banshee didn't want to kill Emma, but she forced him to because she didn't want to be responsible for the death of more children. Once Emma was seemingly dead, Black Tom revealed that he had never intended to return the children, as they were already far away. Penance, the only Generation X member not captured by Tom, managed to stop him long enough for Banshee to escape.
Luckily Emma had survived, so Banshee and Penance made plans with her to find the missing children. Unfortunately, they had to stay undercover, as Operation: Zero Tolerance had been activated and Sentinels were everywhere. Without the proper resources, it looked as if Banshee and Emma would be unable to find Generation X, but one of their enemies, Emplate, offered them a deal: in return for Penance, he would reveal where the students were. While Banshee disagreed to the deal, Emma pretended to agree, but Banshee thought she really was agreeing. As a result of this, Banshee told Emma to keep away from the school. Luckily, Generation X soon managed to find their own way home, and with everything how it should be, Banshee took the opportunity to visit Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, who by now was the only non-mutant with the Legacy Virus. Moira and Sean spent some time together before she realized the importance of finding a cure to the Legacy Virus, and locked herself in her lab until she discovered a cure. Banshee did the only thing he could for her: he encouraged her and told her he would wait for her. Upon his return to the school, Emma hit him in the face for the way he had treated her. Banshee apologized and the two returned to their headmaster duties.
Banshee was shocked to find out that his daughter had lost her sonic powers in a fight with her fellow teammate Feral. Feral had severely damaged Teresa's vocal cords, so Teresa could no longer use her sonic powers. Instead of being with her father, who had gone through a similar experience, Teresa went to stay with a distant aunt to cope with her loss.
Around Christmas, Black Tom and Juggernaut returned, and attacked Generation X with there newest charge: The real Mondo, as opposed to the clone that was a member of Generation X. Mondo wanted revenge against Emma's sister, Cordelia, whilst Black Tom wanted revenge on Banshee as usual. Generation X beat the villains, but they still managed to escape, which left Sean thinking that Black Tom had another youngster to corrupt, just as he had partially corrupted Teresa. When Emma went broke, the school had to accept some human students to pay the bills. This didn't go very well, as Emma's sister Adrienne (who was staying at the school) egged on the students' anti-mutant ideas. One night, Adrienne planted bombs around the school, and Generation X member Synch was killed trying to disarm them. After his death, this gave Banshee something of a wake-up call, who realized that they had to start training the kids differently, and be more proactive.
Sean got a bit of a shock when he tried calling Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island, only to be redirected to the Xavier Institute, where Professor X informed him that Moira was dead. Just a few days earlier, the mutant terrorist Mystique had blown up her lab whilst she was still in it. This shock affected Banshee severely; just a few days later, he couldn't concentrate in battle and had to be saved by his student Skin. To cope with Moira's death, Sean soon started drinking, which led to Generation X disbanding, as neither of their teachers were fit to teach (Emma Frost was becoming nastier).
X-Corps
After a lot of soul-searching, Banshee finally gave up alcohol, and found a way to make his life worthwhile once more. Sean founded the X-Corps, which were supposed to police mutant activities. X-Corps had some brainwashed members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, as well as some old Generation X members, who wanted to keep an eye on Banshee. Unfortunately, Mystique had infiltrated the X-Corps, and she soon cut Sean's throat before taking over the team. After the Generation X members stopped the Brotherhood, X-Corps disbanded.
Death
Banshee is contacted on Muir Island by Beast, who asks if Moira had any old files that might have given them any idea about where Charles Xavier had disappeared too. He finds nothing, but as their conversation is about to end, Banshee sees a figure through the window, and runs out, believing it to be Moira. He follows "Moira", and she leads him to a cabin where she opens the door, and then she fades into thin air. Banshee enters the cabin, where a computer is switched on. He pulls a CD out from the shelf marked "Charles Xavier's Notes: Important". He plays the tape, and for an unknown reason at the time, we see Moira bad mouth and curse about Charles Xavier.
Banshee then catches a plane to America, and on the plane, he speaks to Nightcrawler who's at the mansion, and explains that he doesn't know what it means (talking about the CD). Vulcan is listening in on their conversation from the Blackbird, and Nightcrawler and Wolverine leave the mansion to go and pick Banshee up.
Banshee gets his luggage from the over-head compartment, and just as he's about to leave the flying plane (presumably he was going to fly out of it to Nightcrawler and Wolverine who are waiting for him just outside the airport). Someone behind him then spots a jet, and Banshee notices that it's the Blackbird and can see that it's going to hit them. He quickly takes off his over-clothes to reveal he has his suit on underneath, and opens a door on the plane that's facing the Blackbird. He jumps out of the moving plane and tries to use a sonic scream on the Blackbird to stop it, but because his voice is still damaged, he is unable too. and the two planes collide. Banshee smashed through the window screen of the Blackbird.
His body was later buried at the Institute next to Sway and Petra. His grave reads: Sean Cassidy, Banshee, Beloved Comrade.
Inheritance
Before Banshee died, he filmed a video for his daughter, Siryn, explaining that Cassidy Keep is now her's and he wanted to leave her something else, something special his father left him: an old pipe.
Necrosha
Selene had Banshee resurrected as part of Necrosha. He was forced to act under the control of Eli Bard through the transmode virus. He confronted Emma Frost, Cyclops and Domino and briefly gained control of his senses enough to tell his old friends to run away.
Horsemen of Death
The Apocalypse Twins, Eimin and Uriel, resurrected Banshee to serve as one of their Horsemen of Death.
--Karen
