In this installment of Mutant Generations I’m looking into a clear case of quantity over quality. Lucinda and Thomas Guthrie had (apparently, according to Cannonball in X-men (Vol. 2) #48) 10 children on their farm in Kentucky and of these 10 children, several of them developed fantastic mutant powers while the rest did not. During Endangered Species, Beast and Dark Beast even thought to use the Guthries as the control group for their experiments (because of the many varied powers that came from the family) to try and restart the mutant gene using the various Guthrie children. Many of the Guthrie siblings made appearances over the years (starting back in ROM Annual #3), but due to changes in writers their appearances (and number) have varied over the years.
Sam Guthrie (Cannonball) – The oldest of the Guthrie family and the first to manifest his mutant powers, which led to his joining the New Mutants, and later X-Force and the X-men. Sam has the ability to project a “blast field” around himself which he uses primarily to propel himself through the air just like his namesake. Originally he could only fly straight, no turns, and couldn’t stop himself properly, but as his control grew he gained pinpoint control over his maneuverability. As his control over his power developed further, he found he was able to extend his blast field in other ways such as projecting it outward as a forcefield or through his fists as a blast punch. Also, while he is blasting he is basically invulnerable since almost nothing can penetrate him blast field. After he was gutted by Sauron in the early days of X-Force, Sam rose from the dead was proclaimed as an External Highlord, like Selene and Apocalypse, but this storyline has not been touched on in years.
Paige Guthrie (Husk) – Paige is Cannonball’s younger sister and the oldest of the Guthrie girls. While musing in the woods one day about her older brother and his exciting life as a mutant, her own transmutation powers kicked in. Paige developed the ability to “husk” her own skin into a new form of her choosing. In this initial mutation, Paige turned herself into a bird, but she has not been seen making this sort of dramatic change since. Typically she uses her skin altering power to change into diamond, granite, or even organic steel (such as Colossus), and it’s worth mentioning that her Age of Apocalypse counterpart was about to change in liquid states such as corrosive acid, while she in her regular 616 form has not learned to do that. Paige originally joined Generation X after its creation in the wake of the Phalanx Covenant, but later went on to join Banshee’s X-Corps and then eventually the main X-men team on Angel’s squad, who she later developed a brief romantic relationship with despite their vast age difference.
Josh “Jay” Guthrie (Icarus) – The story of Josh “Jay” Guthrie is a tragic tale. Originally resentfully of mutants when his older siblings Sam and Paige gained powers and left home, Jay’s attitude changed when his own mutant power sprang forth. First he gained red wings on his back which could be used to fly, and he began using this as an on-stage gimmick for his band. When he fell in love with a daughter from a rival family (a la Romeo and Juliet) and her father found out, he was brutally beaten by the girl’s father and left for dead. The girl, Julia Cabot, thought he was dead and drowned herself alongside Jay’s body in the river, but suddenly Jay’s secondary mutation kicked in, a healing power that prevented him from dying. Unfortunately Julia had no such ability and died in his arms. After being sent to the Xavier Institute he joined the Hellions squad first but later switched spots with New Mutants squad member Wither. After M-Day, Jay retained his abilities, however he was kidnapped by the Purifiers and his wings cut from his back. It was discovered that his healing power came from his wings, and without them he would not properly heal. He was eventually shot by Purifier leader, William Stryker, and without his wings he died.
Melody Guthrie (Aero) – One of the middle Guthrie sisters, Melody developed the ability to fly by enveloping herself in an energy aura. She joined Xavier’s school to learn to use and control her power, but her education was cut short when she lost her powers on M-Day and returned home to the Guthrie farm. It is not known what other applications her energy aura may have had.
Jeb Guthrie – Jeb Guthrie was the last of the Guthrie children to gain mutant powers before M-Day struck. Jeb had the ability to control electricity (apparently through his eyes), but unlike his older siblings, he opted not to go to Xavier’s to be instructed in their use. It has not been made clear if he retained his powers after M-Day.
Now here is where things get a little dicey people! With so many Guthrie children running around, writer never saw fit to firmly establish things like appearance or names for them until one of them develops a mutant power. So here we have the siblings that did not gain powers or stable appearances (or even names).
Elizabeth Guthrie (Amazon in AOA) – Elizabeth is a special case indeed. She has never been shown to develop mutant powers in the main 616 universe but she played a large role in the Age of Apocalypse’s Elite Mutant Force as the sadistic size altering Amazon. In this universe Elizabeth had the ability to change not just her size but also she gained strength proportionate to her increasing stature. It is unclear whether the 616 version of Elizabeth will gain this ability, especially in light of M-Day.
Joelle Guthrie – Joelle is one of the Guthries who has never even been hinted that she may develop powers. Her jealousy about her mutant siblings led her to join an anti-mutant group, Humanity’s Last Stand, but when they attacked Cannonball and Husk, Joelle realized her folly and helped bring the group down.
Lewis and his unnamed twin – Back in ROM Annual #3, readers got to meet the entire slew of Guthrie children. During Endangered Species, Dark Beast tried to do dangerous experiments on the young boy to activate his latent X-gene (which Dark Beast suspected all the Guthries have) almost killing him. While we got to know a bit about young blond (occasionally) Lewis, there was always a young little blond girl about his same age lingering around in the background. While Lewis was named in New Mutants #42, this other blond girl has still not been named, but is rumored to be Lewis’ twin sister due to their close ages and blond hair. What we do know about this unnamed twin is that she idolizes her sister Paige and wants "magic skin" like her.Unnamed Guthrie – Now according to Sam in X-men (Vol. 2) #48, he has 9 brothers and sisters which would bring the total number of Guthrie children up to 10. While this extra sibling is never mentioned by name, there IS an unnamed girl holding a teddy bear in X-men (Vol. 2) #36 who seems a bit too young to be Melody. So this mystery child COULD be the final Guthrie sister. Of course there’s always the chance that Sam had a bit too much to drink at that poker game and there is really only 9 children in total.
This just goes to show you that you do not need a mega-powerful mutant to create mega-powerful mutants! This clan of powerful mutants (of all types of different abilities) is found right in the backwoods of Kentucky in a tiny coal mining town. If not for the unfortunate accidents that claimed Thomas Guthrie’s life and almost his son Sam’s life, we may have missed out on this fantastic mutant dynasty.
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