Who is Legion From X-Men?

By Amy Awesome

Legion, from Marvel's X-Men is getting his very own series on FX which will premiere this coming February.

While most people are familiar with the X-Men we all know and love like Wolverine, Magneto, Rogue, Mystique, Beast, Professor X, Jean Gray and Cyclops, not that many people know much about Legion.

David Haller is the powerful Omega-level mutant known as Legion. He possesses hundreds of mutant abilities ranging from telekinesis to reality warping, but each power is controlled by a different persona, which could be either benevolent or malevolent.

Legion is a lesser known character in the X-Men comic book universe, but come February everyone will know who he is as the new series looks both brilliant and mind-bending at the same time.

In fact, watching the abovie trailer is already sending a chill down our spines.

The new psychological thriller TV series created by Noah Hawley (Fargo, Bones) follows David Haller, a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he's confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and visions might be real.

Let's get to know this David Haller / Legion character a bit more...

First Appearance

Legion, also known as David Charles Haller, first appeared in New Mutants #25 way back in the year 1985.

He was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz.

The New Mutants is an X-Men spinoff comic which featurs dozens of young mutants-in-training at Professor X's School For the Gifted. Each member struggles not only with learning their super powers, but also being teenagers.

Although he appeared in New Mutants, Legion was not a member until he died and then mysteriously came back to life.

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Parentage

Legion is the mutant son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, meaning he does have powers similar to his father's.

Gabrielle Haller was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #161 in September of 1982.

She was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. During her time at the camp, the secret location of hidden treasure was implanted in her mind.

This caused a serious mental imbalance that caused her to fall into a catatonic coma.

After the war, Gabrielle was hospitalized in Israel where a very young Charles Xavier first met her. He used his extraordinary powers to help cure Gabrielle and the two fell madly in love.

She didn't tell Professor X about their son David Charles until he was a teenager and she desperately needed help with this mental health.

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Mental Health

As a young boy at the age of 10, David Haller was living with his mother and step-father in paris when a terrorist group invaded their home and killed his step-father.

David unknowingly used his powers to defeat the assassins and accidentally linked his mind with theirs as they were dying directly in front of him.

This caused David an immense amount of trauma and his mind was shattered into multiple personalities also known as dissociative identity disorder.

In the comics, the consciousness of the assassination team's leader, Jermail Karami, was absorbed into David's feeble young mind. Karami continuted to create multiple personalities in David's mind while he was catatonic.

During his early twenties, David Haller recovered from his catatonic state but became autistic. His mother, out of options, entrusted David's care to Moira MacTaggert at Muir Island.

David's powers began manifesting on the physical plane and he started to uncontrollably absorb the consiousness' of other mutants, making his mental illness worse.

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Powers

Each persona manifests and controlls a different superhuman ability. Because of this he posesses both psychic and physical mutant powers.

His main personas, which each carry a different super power are:

Cyndi - A pyrokinetic who is able to create fire. Sometimes, he uses this power as an illusion such as using it to make things appear that they are burned though they are not.

Jack Wayne - While in this form, Legion can levitate materials using his mind which have the limit of levitating up to 10 tons. He also uses this to create protective force fields.

Jemail Karami- While using this personality he can read other people's thought's and see inside their minds.

His other powers due to his split personalities and ability to absorb the consiousness of other mutants and humans include:

Time-travel, shape-shifting, being a werewolf, superhuman strength, sonic blasts, flight, X-ray vision, super speed, inter-reality and interstellar travel, skin manipulation, healing, transmutation to salt, omniscience, time control, duplicate generation upon physical contact, weapon's mastery, emotion manipulation, pain transference...

And finally the uncanny ability to alter reality.

More Legion: New Legion Trailer / New Legion Promos / Danger Promo / Jemaine Clement Joins Legion / Legion Producers Talk X-Men And Marvel Universe Connections / How Legion Could Fix X-Men Continuity / LegionPromos

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Legion is created by Noah Hawley (Fargo), who will also serve as showrunner, and is a co-production of Marvel Television and FX Productions. Legion stars Dan Stevens as David Haller, along with Rachel Keller, Jean Smart, Aubrey Plaza, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Katie Aselton, and Bill Irwin.

Legion premieres on Feb. 8, 2017, at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

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