Havok has never had the easiest life as a mutant or as a member of the X-Men. He had moments where he could shine, such as when Captain America handpicked him to lead a team of mutants and Avengers following Avengers Vs. X-Men, but he has more often than not found himself conflicted over right and wrong.
More than most mutants, Havok has found himself experimented on or otherwise manipulated by everyone from Mister Sinister and the Living Monolith to Larry Trask and Madelyne Pryor. And after the Dark Beast brainwashed Havok in 1996, Alex Summers started his own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants around the time of Onslaught’s attack.
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This started in X-Factor #125 by Howard Mackie, Jeff Matsuda, Al Milgrom, Richard Starkings, Comicraft & Glynis Oliver. In the lead-up to the Onslaught storyline, Dark Beast was posing as the real Hank McCoy and brainwashed Havok to work for him as a member of the Dark Descendants as Onslaught rose to power. Dark Beast forced Havok to betray his own teammates and even attack his beloved Polaris, blasting her with his powers, giving her a heart attack before running. Luckily for Havok, Random freed him of Dark Beast’s mind control, but he had other plans when he got his bearings back.
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Havok quickly set up his own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants but shortened the title to simply The Brotherhood. This was, by all means, a mutant terrorist group, but there was another reason behind its formation. Havok returned in Uncanny X-Men #339 by Scott Lobdell, Adam Kubert, Cedric Nocon, Jesse Delperdang, Scott Hanna, Steve Buccellato, Team Bucce, Richard Starkings & Comicraft. This Brotherhood immediately became a threat when they attacked an aircraft and attempted to assassinate J. Jonah Jameson, who was investigating Graydon Creed. Havok ended up in a battle with Cyclops and Beast.
During that fight, Havok explained that things were different this time. He claimed there was no Living Pharaoh, Eric the Red, Malice or Genoshan Magistrate controlling him; he was Alex Summers being who he was meant to be. However, that was also a misnomer because this was not Havok as a villain either. He gathered several mutants to work by his side, including Ever, Fatale and Dark Beast. That final member of the team was what this Brotherhood was all about. In X-Factor #131 by Howard Mackie, Jeff Matsuda, Art Thibert, Richard Starkings & Comicraft and Glynis Oliver, Havok freed Dark Beast, offering membership to his new Brotherhood. Alex explained he wouldn’t take sides in mutantkind’s larger conflicts and convinced Dark Beast to join him.
While Dark Beast was imprisoned and held captive, Havok knew the villain had further plans, and offensive action needed to be taken to stop him. Without telling anyone, including his own brother, Havok started the Brotherhood with the sole purpose of keeping an eye on Dark Beast and stopping him when the time was right.
This all came to a head in X-Factor #144 by Howard Mackie, Duncan Rouleau, Jaime Mendoza, Starkings/Comicraft & Glynis Oliver. In this issue, Havok had finally revealed his true intentions and immediately set out to stop Dark Beast, who had mutated the Legacy Virus into one that would kill humans. He disbanded his Brotherhood and joined the time-traveling X.U.E. to stop the villain. Sadly, Havok’s moment of redemption was short-lived because five issues later, Havok appeared to die in an explosion that sent him into an alternate reality.
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