Shatterstar

Real Name: Benjamin Russell

Powers: Shatterstar's original body was genetically engineered to give him enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes. He apparently also possesses these attributes in the body of Benjamin Russell.

Shatterstar has had extensive training in many forms of the martial arts of Mojoworld; in particular, he is a master swordsman.

Shatterstar wears body armor composed of alien materials from Mojoworld. His principal weapons are two 2 1/2-foot single-edged swords with spiked hand guards.

History: Shatterstar's origin is shrouded in mystery and paradox. At this point the story of Shatterstar's life appears to be the following: Shatterstar comes from a hundred years in an alternate future of the extradimensional planet Mojoworld, which is ruled by the alien tyrant Mojo. There, Shatterstar was genetically engineered to have enhanced physical capabilities so he could serve as a warrior. (The Beast has claimed that Shatterstar has DNA that is identical to that of the X-Man Longshot who was artificially created on Mojoworld. This seems to be an exaggeration, since Shatterstar does not look physically identical to Longshot and lacks some of Longshot's superhuman abilities.)

Shatterstar learned the arts of battle as a warrior in arenas on Mojoworld, where he was forced to participate in combats staged for Mojo's television programs. Eventually, however, he escaped and became a rebel and joined the Cadre Alliance that sought to overthrow Mojo's dictatorship. At some point he married his wife Windsong, who later died.

Shatterstar was either teleported or traveled back in time to Earth at the point just before Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force. Shatterstar became a founding member of the new team, and his new teammates became his friends, especially Rictor, who became his best friend.
But later Shatterstar discovered, to his bewilderment, that he also had the memories of an Earthman named Benjamin Russell. Soon afterwards, Mojo made Cable and Shatterstar his prisoners and transformed them into digital images in one of his television programs. In the course of the program, Shatterstar was mortally wounded in combat. Mojo's sometime ally Spiral teleported Cable and Shatterstar back into reality, where they regained their true forms. Spiral brought Cable, Shatterstar, Longshot, (who was Shatterstar's ally on Mojoworld), and the X-Force member Siryn to the Weisman Institute for the Criminally Insane in Rutland, Vermont. There Spiral directed them to the bedside of one of its patients, a mutant named Benjamin Russell who had no living relatives, had been in a coma since his powers had emerged, and, curiously, greatly resembled Shatterstar. Longshot transferred Shatterstar's "uemeur," or soul, into Benjamin Russell's body, and the two became one. Apparently Shatterstar's body merged with Russell's as well, for the resulting body bore the starburst pattern that Shatterstar had around his left eye. Restored to full health and consciousness, Shatterstar resumed his work as a member of X-Force.

However, this does not explain why Shatterstar had some of Benjamin Russell's memories before they merged with each other or why they looked so much alike. There are still mysteries yet to be explained about Shatterstar's origin.