Armor (Marvel Comics character)

Image	250px
Caption	Artwork from X-Men: Nation X Vol 1 #3. (April 2010). Art by Dustin Weaver and Morry Holowel
Character Name	Armor
Real Name	Hisako Ichiki
Species	Human mutant
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Debut	Astonishing X-Men #4 (October 2004)
Creators	Joss Whedon John Cassaday
Alliances	Xavier Institute New X-Men X-Men Jean Grey School Students New Mutants S.W.O.R.D.
Aliases	The Shield
Powers	Ability to generate an impenetrable psionic exoskeleton body armor: Superhuman strength, reflexes, agility, endurance, stamina, dexterity, and durability *Concussive blast of energy projection

Armor () is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Armor is a Japanese mutant with the power to generate a psionic exoskeleton, granting her various offensive abilities.

Armor was introduced as a student of the Xavier Institute in Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #4 (October, 2004), and was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. Armor maintained her abilities after the events of Decimation and went on to join the X-Men. She would later join other superhero groups such as S.W.O.R.D. and the New Mutants.

Armor appeared in Marvel Anime: X-Men, voiced by Yukari Tamura.

Publication history

Armor first appeared in Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #4, and was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday.

Fictional character biography

Student at Xavier's

Hisako Ichiki is a young girl whose greatest aspiration is one day to join the X-Men. While it was originally thought that Hisako was not a member of any of the X-Men's various training squads, a 2010 handbook entry reveals that she was a member of Kitty Pryde's Paladins squad.

Along with her friend and fellow student, Wing, Hisako is attacked in the halls of the Xavier Institute by the alien villain Ord of Breakworld. Hisako and Wing attempt to oppose Ord, but are overpowered. While both teenagers survive the attack, Wing discovers that he has been injected with a "cure" for his mutant ability of flight. Despondent, he commits suicide after some goading from a Danger Room of her. In the wake of this tragedy, Hisako, her teacher Kitty Pryde, and several Xavier students find themselves trapped in a sentient and hostile Danger Room with Wing's reanimated corpse. Danger, as the intelligence is named by the X-Men, eventually leaves the institute.

Armor is among the 198 mutants who retain their powers following M-Day, when the Scarlet Witch depowered most mutants on Earth.

Member of the X-Men

Hisako and Blindfold are attacked by a mind-controlled Wolverine and Beast, under the thrall of Cassandra Nova.

Soon after, Ord and Danger attack the mansion, where they are confronted by Hisako and then Wolverine. Hisako holds her own, only to be wounded by Wolverine's claws, sustaining minor injuries, just as Cassandra Nova chooses Hisako to be her new host body. It is unknown if Nova was successful in getting Emma Frost to transfer her consciousness into Hisako, as S.W.O.R.D. beams the X-Men, Danger, Ord, and Hisako into a spaceship headed for the Breakworld, to stop the world ending device created there.

The is heavily damaged and the X-Men are separated, with Hisako ending up with Wolverine. Hisako is given membership to the X-Men and Shadowcat's uniform.

The plot to destroy the Earth is thwarted by Shadowcat, who is lost in space. Back on earth, Armor attempts to console Wolverine after losing Shadowcat by forcing him to train with her.

Messiah Complex

X-Men: Messiah Complex
During Messiah Complex, some of the New X-Men, including Hisako, launch a pre-emptive strike against the Purifiers. After breaking into the Washington base and fighting the Purifiers, they are ambushed by the Reavers, who wound Hellion. Pixie manages to teleport the team out, and they are spread between Washington and the institute.

Hisako is brought back to the mansion by Iceman with the other New X-Men. When Predator X shows up at the mansion, Hisako teams up with Gentle and battles it in the infirmary. Pixie believes X-23 can defeat the monster and teleports it and the entire team to the battle between the Marauders and the other mutant teams taking place on Muir Island.

Manifest Destiny

X-Men: Manifest Destiny
Hisako becomes a full member of the X-Men in San Francisco, where she received classes from Wolverine in combat and from Cyclops in tactics. She accompanies the team to a spaceship graveyard, where she performs a fastball special with Wolverine and confronts a mysterious man. The man, dubbed Subject X, is found fixing and restarting the "ghost box" in a spaceship. He is defeated, but kills himself rather than surrender information about his intentions and "the Annex".

The X-Men locate Tian, an uncharted area of China that no surveillance or satellite system can get through. They are able to sneak into Tian and discover the headquarters of a group of mutants from another dimension, who seem to be dying due to the effects of M-Day.

As Armor and Wolverine search the temple, they come across a man who can fire lasers from his fingers. Armor is shocked when the laser goes through her armor and hits her in the arm. After the X-Men take down their foes, they reveal to the X-Men they have a mutual friend, Forge. After finding Forge on Mount Wundagore and discovering he has gone mad, he tries to open the Ghost Box. Thanks to the assistance of Abigail Brand and Beast, who borrows Hisako's phone, Brand fires a laser at the Ghost Box and the phone, destroying it as well as much of the area while the X-Men escape.

Hisako shared a room with Pixie and X-23. During an attack by the Sisterhood of Mutants, Armor is hiding with X-23 when they are attacked by Chimera. Pixie teleports the pair away.

Utopia

Utopia (comics)
Hisako is seen watching the protests between Humanity Now and Pro-Mutant Rights protestors. Hisako is then seen during the riots in San Francisco with Karma, Match, Angel and Bling! trying to keep calm. She is later made a part of a team by Cyclops to take down the Dark X-Men and participates in the final fight against Norman Osborn's forces, teaming up with X-23 and Pixie in taking on Daken.

Armor, alongside many other mutants, was transported to an alternate plane by Nate Grey during the Age of X-Man event. She later returned to the mainstream reality.

Krakoan Age

Armor later became a citizen of the mutant nation of Krakoa. She became a member of the New Mutants, tracking down mutants that had not responded to their invitation to the new nation. She later became an ambassador for S.W.O.R.D., using her mutant powers for space exploration.

Armor was a candidate in both Krakoan X-Men votes, but lost to Polaris and Firestar, respectively.

Powers and abilities

Armor can generate full-body armor made of red psionic energy that gives her superhuman physical abilities. The body armor is depicted as enveloping her completely, granting her extreme durability and strength. The armor is capable of withstanding the heat from re-entering the atmosphere, falling from great heights, and other instances of potential significant damage, however, it is vulnerable to lasers, which are able to pass through it and harm her, due to the transluscent nature of the exo-skeleton. Adamantium is also able to pierce through Hisako's armor. The armor also grants Hisako superhuman strength and concussive force.

Armor can manipulate the shape of her armor, forming new structures such as Wolverine-like claws. In instances of extreme duress, Hisako is also able to expand her armor, greatly strengthening and increasing its size and shape around her, though her own body remains the same at its center. She has also been shown to be able to extend her powers around other people at times.

The armor is capable of releasing a large amount of solid, concussive energy at once, though this is initially a difficult task.

Hisako's body armor is partially explained as being composed of something related to her family lineage and ancestors. It is later described as being composed of memory. This is stated in an issue of Wolverine: Origins, when Hisako's armor is able to withstand blows from the Muramasa blade, which can cut through any material, since memory is "the only material that the blade cannot cut through." Similarly, in Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #39, Armor's armor expands and grows to the size of a building due to the fact she feels strongly about not attending her recently deceased mother and brother's wake.

Hisako has also received combat training from Wolverine and classes in tactics from Cyclops.

Reception

Critical reception

George Marston of Newsarama included Armor in their "20 X-Men characters that should make the jump from Marvel comics to the MCU" list. Marc Buxton of Den of Geek included Armor in their "40 X-Men Characters Who Haven't Appeared in the Movies But Should" list. CBR.com ranked Armor 5th in their "10 Best X-Men Mutants Who Haven't Been In A Movie Yet" list, 5th in their "10 X-Men That Are Surprisingly More Powerful Than Hulk" list, 6th in their "10 Powerful X-Mutants Who Still Haven't Shown Up On The Big Screen" list, 7th in their "X-Men: 10 Classic Mutants The MCU Needs To Introduce ASAP" list, 9th in their "10 Most Powerful Female X-Men" list, 9th in their "Marvel's 15 Fiercest Female Mutants" list, 9th in their "15 Most Powerful Ultimate Universe X-Men" list, 12th in their "20 Most Physically Strong Mutants" list, 15th in their "X-Men: The 15 Strongest Members Ever" list, 17th in their "25 Strongest Marvel Mutants" list, and 23rd in their "25 Most Powerful Young X-Men" list. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Armor 58th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.

Other versions

Aliens vs. Avengers

An alternative version of Hisako Ichiki from Earth-24223 appears in Aliens vs. Avengers (2024-2025). This version is one of the last survivors of a Xenomorph attack on a mutant city on Mars. She is killed when an alien with the powers of Nightcrawler teleports inside her psionic exoskeleton and attacks her.

Ultimate Universe

An alternate universe version of Hisako Ichiki from Earth-6160 appears in Ultimate X-Men (2024). This version is a resident of Hi no Kuni, a power bloc which includes Japan's territories. Shortly before graduating from middle school, Hisako meets a shadowy figure who gives her a special omamori charm. The charm activates Hisako's mutant abilities, giving her the ability to summon a pink humanoid figure resembling a samurai.

In other media

Armor appears in Marvel Anime: X-Men, voiced by Yukari Tamura in the Japanese version and Stephanie Sheh in the English dub. This version's parents hired Emma Frost to help Armor control her powers and later give Armor their blessing to join the X-Men as a junior member.
Armor appears in Marvel Snap.
Armor is a playable character in Marvel: Mystic Mayhem.

References

External links

Category:Characters created by Joss Whedon
Category:Comics characters introduced in 2004
Category:Japanese comics characters
Category:Japanese superheroes
Category:Marvel Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Category:Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Category:Marvel Comics female superheroes
Category:Marvel Comics martial artists
Category:Marvel Comics mutants
Category:Marvel Comics psychics
Category:X-Men members
Category:New Mutants

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