There have been plenty of times when the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. did not exactly see eye to eye. With S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ties to world governments and their desire to keep the peace above all else, it makes sense that they would be opposed to some of the X-Men’s more extreme goals over the years. This fact is one of the reasons why X-Men veteran Dazzler is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s more intriguing recruits.
Alison Blair (aka Dazzler) was created as part of the media tie-in with the band KISS in the 1980s, with Tom DeFalco and John Romita Jr. credited as her creators. The goal was to create a pop star/superhero that could cross between comics and pop culture. Pop stars aren’t exactly the type expected to become S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but the X-Men’s status quo at the time was one defined by uncertainty.
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After the events of Avengers Vs. X-Men, Cyclops was talking more and more about leading a mutant revolution. S.H.I.E.L.D. was understandably very wary of such a revolution and Maria Hill decided that the government agency should have a mutant liaison. In Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo’s run on Uncanny X-Men, it was revealed that Hill personally asked Dazzler to fill the position.
With new mutants popping up all over the world, Dazzler faced a choice between factions. While the choice seemed to be between teams led by Wolverine or Cyclops, Dazzler opted to abandon her allies on both sides of the mutant conflict, deciding instead to accept Maria Hill’s offer to work with the clandestine S.H.I.E.L.D.
Her role as mutant liaison soon put her in direct conflict with her former X-Men teammates. After taking her first mutant into custody, Cyclops and his team came to their rescue. This gave Dazzler and Cyclops their first face-to-face since the War with the Avengers and allowed Allison to ask Scott what happened to Charles Xavier, who had died at the hands of the X-Men leader during the events of Avengers Vs. X-Men.
Shortly after the tense encounter between S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest agent and her old comrades, Dazzler was drugged by longtime X-Men opponent Mystique. Mystique took Dazzler’s place amongst S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ranks without anyone even noticing. However Mystique didn’t just take Dazzler’s place in S.H.I.E.L.D., she also used the mutant to produce Mutant Growth Hormone to fuel her illicit operations. Mystique also used Dazzler’s role as mutant liaison to divert S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention away from a former Hydra base, and used it to establish a new Brotherhood of Mutants. She claimed that she was checking on reports of a mutant rebellion there, when in fact she was the one leading the rebellion.
Mystique revealed herself to Magneto, who was working as a double agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time, leading him to oppose her and rescue Dazzler. When he found her in a coma, he woke her up and told her all of what Mystique had done. She was upset by the fact that she had been used by Mystique, but what hurt even more was the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t even notice she was gone.
Dazzler confronted Maria Hill about the incident. Angry with the fact they didn’t even notice the switch, Dazzler told Hill that she finally understood that she was a member of the X-Men at heart. She joined Cyclops’s Uncanny X-Men team and, with a new goth costume in complete contrast to her S.H.I.E.L.D. attire, worked with the team to capture Mystique.
Dazzler may have betrayed her closest allies for an organization that didn’t even notice she had gone, but in the end, she realized exactly where she stood with S.H.I.E.L.D. The cold nature of the spy network eventually showed her that her true place was with the X-Men and that, despite any difference in opinion, they were the ones she could really trust.
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