The X-Men have a long and varied comic book history, and if there is one thing that readers appreciate, it is the huge range of mutants available in the comics. The X-Men, on the other hand, have had their fair share of non-mutant allies who have frequently joined their ranks and aided them in difficult situations, as well as non-mutant opponents who have put them in such positions.
This video is about a character who has done both in her numerous comic book appearances. Danger is a sentient android who has served as both a friend and a foe to the X-Men. When it comes to the X-Men, her unique physiology, as well as her origin narrative and relationship with Professor X, all combine to make her a notable enemy turned friend. Keep watching as this video deconstructs everything and more!
First comic appearance explored
Danger’s debut happened in terrifying style in The Astonishing X-Men Issue #9 which was released in the year 2005. In fact, the comic is definitely something you should read because the visuals truly make the spine-chilling environment extra terrifying. The comic opens with X-men including Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Mystique, and Colossus all conversing about a major threat that struck the X-Men facility – and no, this threat was not from outside, it was from within the facility itself. The Danger Room had mutated and was now hell-bent on killing everyone.
The Danger Room had been designed by Professor X to test the mutants and help them enhance their skills and abilities by posing fight simulation challenges to them. The Professor had also upgraded it with Shi’ar technology which meant that the tech involved was extremely advanced and sentient in nature. It turns out that the Danger Room has mutated and gone much further than simply being a sentient being.
It hated mutants because it had been programmed to kill them but it also had been installed with a counter-information vein that did not allow her to actually kill any of them, falling short each time. Thus, she held a lot of hate for mutants, and specifically Professor X, whom she considered her father because he programmed her to be like this – to live in such a way that she would never achieve the very goal she was programmed to achieve. A prisoner of the X-men for all intents and purposes.
We see the true extent of Danger’s powers as she practically toys with Kitty and the rest of the young mutants who were stuck in the Danger Room. Because Danger was in control of the physical landscape and manifestation of the room, the mutants were already at a disadvantage as she changed landscapes and created monsters that ruthlessly beat down the young mutants as Kitty desperately tried to hold things together.
On the outside, Colossus and Wolverine, helped by Cyclops, Beast, and Mystique were trying to reach the operating system of the Danger Room so that they could stop the chaos and nip it in the bud by ripping out the very brain of the AI system.
On the inside, Danger reigns supreme as she controls the corpse of a young mutant, Wing, hovering in the air. She calls herself God and the red panels are truly frightening as the AI assumes complete control over the room, her room – where everything was her creation.
One would think that the mutants could rest easy knowing that Danger could not possibly kill any of them because of the contradiction in her programming that prevented her from doing so. However, that relief was also not afforded to them as they learn that due to the death of Wing, she had ‘transcended’ and now was no longer a slave to her commands and programming.
She then creates a desert landscape as she explains to Kitty that her purpose had always been to kill, she had been programmed to do so – to learn the mutant’s weaknesses, strengths, habits, and moves and then kill them but she could never finish her purpose.
The program that stopped her from killing mutants was not a part of her internal system and instead was a different strain of information that would shut her down in case she tried to. This contradiction created the seed of consciousness that led to her mutation when young mutant Wing killed himself by falling from the air after Danger convinced him to do so. His death helped Danger overcome her own programming.
While she was talking to Kitty, the others outside had managed to reach the brain after destroying a large part of the facility. However, instead of actually causing the brain to shut down, Wolverine ended up freeing the command core that freed her from all her shackles, allowing her to form her blue, AI robotic form that she is known for. This form of danger would go on to oppose the X-Men multiple times as she quickly rose to become a formidable supervillain with a vile hatred for our beloved mutants.
Some major story arcs featuring Danger
Danger has since appeared in many major story arcs as the main antagonist and has even gone on to become an ally of the X-Men. She first appeared in the Genosha story arc. Danger, maybe more than anyone else, understood the X-Men’s strengths and weaknesses and was able to rapidly defeat them in a fight before fleeing to Genosha to exact her vengeance on Professor X for knowing of her consciousness and sentience but still doing nothing to free her.
While Danger had a thorough understanding of the X-Men’s powers and skills, she had no idea of Xavier’s true capability. Before she transferred her consciousness into the latent Sentinel that had recently devastated Genosha, Xavier was able to telepathically vanquish her using his powers. Kitty Pryde phased through the sentinel in an attempt to halt her, reactivating some of its dormant memory banks, allowing it to recall Genosha’s devastation. The sentinel fled the island, distraught about the devastation it had wrought.
Danger reappeared later in order to save Ord, an alien warrior from a SWORD airship. Danger persuaded Ord to make an alliance with her because they both wanted to kill the X-Men, and the two set out to assault the X-Men at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The X-Men, along with Ord and Danger, were transferred on board the S.W.O.R.D. airship during the battle between Danger and Ord and Armor and Wolverine. This was done in order to bring them to the Breakworld and launch a pre-emptive attack on the people of Ord’s world. Danger and Ord were both apprehended after arriving on the Breakworld.
Danger then escaped, only to resume her anti-X-Men vendetta. Cyclops and Emma Frost ran into her at one point and they engaged in battle. She went on to attack Emma once she had subdued Scott. However, Emma remained still and challenged Danger to murder her. While Danger despised the X-Men for being the reason behind her captivity, Emma believed she was nevertheless a slave to her programming. She was capable of fighting the X-Men and nearly killing them, as well as coercing a pupil to commit suicide, yet she could never murder anyone.
Danger later joined the X-Men in their struggle against the Breakworld, even piloting their plane, after being somewhat convinced by Emma to join their ranks.
Danger reappears on Earth’s Maynard Plains in Western Australia, where she observes and later contacts Rogue using holographic projection. She intended to use Rogue as a weapon against Charles. However, a Shi’ar salvage vessel attacks them, and while Danger subdues and captures the salvage crew, Rogue is severely hurt. Danger then constructs a remembrance of Rogue’s recollections, which Rogue was attempting to flee from. Meanwhile, Charles and Gambit had been looking for Rogue and stumbled upon Danger.
Danger had managed to almost completely reboot her systems, so Charles had to force access into her operating system and take control of her essential functions. Charles and Danger have a long talk while doing this, deep within her artificial core. He claims that he labored tirelessly for years to free her, always bearing in mind that she may turn out to be deadly. He tried again, but it was difficult to liberate her because she was enslaved not by physical bars, but by programs and codes that he couldn’t comprehend.
After finally getting Charles to turn her off, the Shi’ar crew turns on Charles, Gambit, and Rogue. However, Charles manages to recite a protocol to Danger, which restores her functionality and allows her to assist in the rescue of the squad from the Shi’ar crew.
After the events of Utopia, in which Danger assists the X-Men in combating the evil Avengers, Emma takes Danger to show her the secret holding cells that only she and a few other X-Men were aware of. It’s where they had decided to put some of the X-Men’s most heinous enemies.
Emma wanted Danger to become the convicts’ warden while keeping it a secret. Danger takes up the job and promises to keep the secret. And as a result, Danger joins the X-Men and lives on their island base, Utopia. Soon after starting this position as a warden, Danger is attacked by Armor, who is seeking vengeance for the loss of her comrade, Wing. They fight, but Hisako notices that Danger genuinely cares about Wing, and something had changed in the AI. She might not be a mutant like them but she was a mutant in her own right and belonged on the island.
In other story arcs, Danger was also ambushed by revived versions of Harry Leland and Shinobi Shaw, who were resurrected by Selene, during the events of Necrosha. Danger was quite overpowered but was able to quickly adjust and prevent Shaw from murdering his father.
Danger has proved to be both a formidable ally and a terrifying foe for the X-Men. Danger let herself be destroyed by Mister Sinister when he took possession of the Dreaming Celestial’s head and built a miniature city of his clones, so she could collect data unhindered. She transformed herself and destroyed every Sinister clone within his throne room after obtaining enough evidence, declaring him as a ‘criminal on the genetic level,’ he was beyond redemption. Danger later served as an analyst for the team on Tabula Rasa, analyzing the alien habitat and relaying her readings to the X-Lab for analysis.
She even made an attempt to comprehend humans and “feel human.” In an attempt to feel human empathy, she even had intercourse with the New Mutant Cypher. Danger has remained an ally to the X-Men since then, collaborating with Serval Industries in All-New X-Factor and posing as the time-displaced X-Men Blue Team’s Blackbird plane to protect them from harm.
However, it is revealed at the end of Wolverine #20 by Benjamin Percy and Adam Kubert that Danger is really in charge of the new Robot X-Men, and that she may be orchestrating all the trouble coming from Dolores Ramirez’s CIA’s X-Desk. Questions in the minds of the readers are along the lines of – Has Danger, perhaps feeling deceived by their migration to Krakoa, once again become an adversary of mutants? Or is Danger working with the X-Men as a double agent, infiltrating the X-Desk to assist them without their knowledge? Her story thus continues to this day.
What makes Danger truly dangerous!
Staying true to her name, she has a vast range of powers and abilities that make her a fearsome adversary. Danger has the appearance of a humanoid female. Professor X once confessed that she made this decision because she envied humanity. She can modify her physical form using technology in addition to mending herself and creating new bodies out of other machinery. She had previously constructed wings for herself, as well as a giant arachnid form to fight the X-Men.
Danger possesses tremendous physical strength. Danger’s extraordinary strength allows her to lift nearly 100 tonnes at full capacity. Instead of organic muscle tissue, Danger’s body has complex and advanced hydraulics. As a result, Danger is nearly indestructible, and she can push herself to her maximum capacity almost indefinitely, or at least as long as her physical components aren’t damaged by prolonged use. Danger possesses physical agility, balance, and coordination that are superior to and beyond the normal physical limits of even the best human athletes. Danger’s body is made of a high-impact, high-grade Titanium/Steel alloy that makes her very resistant to physical injuries.
Her reflexes are also improved, enabling her to react to most situations practically instantly. Danger can quickly examine a situation and process a large amount of data in parallel since she is a computer. She also has certain technopathic powers that allow her to communicate with computers and other machines over the internet.
She can reroute circuits and rebuild herself using technology around her if she is wounded or immobilized. Danger has shown the ability to give other complex machinery consciousness in addition to commanding other technologies. As far as her techno powers go, she can also project holograms, just like she could when she was in the Danger Room, allowing her to take on other forms as well as physical creations like landscapes.
Most notably, Danger has a specialized and in-depth understanding of the talents and shortcomings of all the basic X-Men team members due to her prior job as a training aid for the X-Men, but she has exhibited minimal knowledge of some students, such as when she first battled Armor. As evidenced by her first attack, she is on par with any member of the team in terms of fighting ability. Danger is also a capable combatant even when she is not employing her knowledge of the X-Men’s fighting tactics. She can also use her expertise regarding the X-Men’s fighting styles in combat with non-X-Men. Additionally, Dr. Strange also taught her a particular technique for dealing with magical energies and banishing demons.
However, her programming will not enable her to kill any of the X-Men, no matter how hard she fights them. It is unknown if other beings suffer from the same limitation but this stands to be her major weakness.
Danger in the X-Men animated series
Danger is also featured in the X-Men animated series but not in the way one would expect. The Master Mold Sentinel we saw in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, was largely based on none other than Danger herself, making her sort of a composite character. While Master Mold is typically shown as a male robot, the show’s version is a female with design aspects that are strikingly similar to Danger’s – the robotic body with all the bells and whistles.
Danger also inspired Master Mold’s characterization itself. Gwendoline Yeo provided the character’s voice, leading people to further draw similarities between danger and what would traditionally have been a male robot.
To conclude, Danger, who began as a dangerous foe to the X-Men due to the nature of her sentience and consciousness has been quite the villain across all X-Men story arcs. However, she has also had what one would call a redemption arc and has helped our favorite mutants in various battles. Her latest appearance in the Wolverine comics however might have something completely new in store for her. We can’t wait to see how that one pans out!