Damocles Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Damocles Foundation is a fictional organization in the Marvel Comics
universe. It first appeared in X-Force
#79 in 1998, and was created by John Francis Moore
, Adam Pollina
, Mark Morales and Rob Stull
.
The Damocles Foundation was an organization of Eternals
, Deviants
and humans who were tired of the constant battles between the various offshoots of Homo Sapiens. When the atom bomb was invented, a number of Deviants and Eternals felt that their wars had become too dangerous, and chose to separate from their peoples and unite with human scientists to find a better way.
Unfortunately, their "better way" consisted of trying to create a race of super-beings which could control the Earth, and thus put an end to all warfare. They performed genetic experiments using human mutants
, and also had agents infiltrate organizations such as S.H.I.E.L.D.
and Operation: Zero Tolerance
to keep tabs on existing superhumans. Their experiments produced an entire generation of super-powered mutant children in the small town of Almost Reno, Nevada, but the children proved genetically unstable and all but one perished at a young age.
The Damocles Foundation takes its name from Damocles
, who had a sword supended over his head by a thread. This name symbolized the danger the group felt their races' actions had created.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
universe. It first appeared in X-Force
X-Force
X-Force is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero team, one of several spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team was formed in New Mutants, vol. 1 #100 and soon afterwards was featured in its own series.The group was a new incarnation of the 1980s...
#79 in 1998, and was created by John Francis Moore
John Francis Moore
John Francis Moore lumber merchant, politician. Born: 1816, Wiltshire, England. Died: April 5, 1870, Montreal, Quebec. Buried: Hamilton Cemetery. He was mayor of Hamilton, Ontario in 1857.Married twice: Jane Loughry; Elizabeth Donnelly...
, Adam Pollina
Adam Pollina
Adam Pollina is an American comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics' X-Force comic book.-Biography:...
, Mark Morales and Rob Stull
Rob Stull
Rob Stull is an American modern pentathlete and fencer. He competed at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics.-References:...
.
The Damocles Foundation was an organization of Eternals
Eternals (comics)
The Eternals are a fictional race of superhumans in the Marvel Comics universe. They are described as an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. The original instigators of this process, the alien Celestials, intended the Eternals to be the defenders of Earth which...
, Deviants
Deviant (comics)
The Deviants are a fictional race of superhumans in the Marvel Comics' universe. They are an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth instigated by the alien Celestials, and wage war against their counterparts, the Eternals...
and humans who were tired of the constant battles between the various offshoots of Homo Sapiens. When the atom bomb was invented, a number of Deviants and Eternals felt that their wars had become too dangerous, and chose to separate from their peoples and unite with human scientists to find a better way.
Unfortunately, their "better way" consisted of trying to create a race of super-beings which could control the Earth, and thus put an end to all warfare. They performed genetic experiments using human mutants
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
, and also had agents infiltrate organizations such as S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
and Operation: Zero Tolerance
Operation: Zero Tolerance
"Operation: Zero Tolerance" was a crossover storyline that ran through Marvel Comics' X-Men related titles during 1997. The story followed from the "Onslaught Saga" and focused on individuals, including Bastion and Henry Peter Gyrich, within the United States government and their attempts to use...
to keep tabs on existing superhumans. Their experiments produced an entire generation of super-powered mutant children in the small town of Almost Reno, Nevada, but the children proved genetically unstable and all but one perished at a young age.
The Damocles Foundation takes its name from Damocles
Damocles
Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote commonly referred to as "the Sword of Damocles," which was a late addition to classical Greek culture. The figure belongs properly to legend rather than Greek myth. The anecdote apparently figured in the lost history of Sicily by Timaeus of...
, who had a sword supended over his head by a thread. This name symbolized the danger the group felt their races' actions had created.