Ship (comics)
Encyclopedia
The fictional
A.I.
entity originally known as Ship has appeared in several incarnations in the Marvel Universe
. At times controlled by both the X-Men
and their enemies, the sentient Ship A.I. has been at the core of a Celestial
starship, two space station
s, and a techno-organic being.
to monitor humanity's progress.
Circa 1100 A.D., a Mongolian immortal
known as Garbha-Hsien (later known as Saul
), discovered the Ship and lived next to it while he researched its mysteries. Saul never attempted to enter the Ship.
In time, the Egyptian immortal En Sabah Nur
learned of Saul and sought him out as another immortal. In a confrontation, En Sabah Nur slew all of Saul's guards. Saul then sought to humble his fellow "forever-walker" by revealing the secret titanic vessel. Having had previous experience with futuristic technology due to his encounters with Rama-Tut, Nur attacked Saul and left the other immortal for dead and entered the Ship. He emerged later as a vastly changed being who now called himself Apocalypse
.
Over the next few centuries, Ship's sentience slowly evolved. Apocalypse noticed the evolving A.I. and enslaved it, telling Ship that he had created it.
mobile headquarters as he attacked New York with his Four Horsemen. Defeated by X-Factor
, Apocalypse retreated, and was forced to leave the Ship behind. During the battle, the Ship's cloaking and navigation systems were damaged. X-Factor managed to get the Ship to safely crash in the river. The only building damaged in the crash was X-Factor's own headquarters. Conveniently, the Ship also projected a force field
that prevented non-mutants
from entering. Given these reasons, X-Factor decided to adopt the Ship as their new home base.
When X-Factor tried to move in, they discovered that the Ship was booby-trapped, but then the Ship A.I. revealed itself and assisted them, and Rusty Collins, in disabling the security. Ship then became a butler of sorts to the team. Ship "had complete control over every part of its structure and could fashion rooms, weapons and vehicles as needed from various storehouses and parts it had. It was able to design and run training programs for X-Factor, as well as make living quarters and workshop areas for them."http://www.mutanthigh.com/tech/ship.html However, it apparently could not shut off the field that repelled non-mutants from its interior.
An attempt by the mutant called Infectia
to steal the craft led to X-Factor ultimately moving Ship to a more mobile position over the Atlantic Ocean.
Ship played host to the New Mutants
and the X-Terminators
for some time, as Professor X
's mansion had been destroyed. Unfortunately this did not stop him attacking them when they brought on board the entity known as Gosamyr
. The two sides fought to a standstill, until Ship was persuaded to generate a spacecraft that would take Gosamyr away from Earth.
In time, Ship took to space, responding to the call of the Celestials, with X-Factor unwittingly along for the ride, leaving them temporarily stranded on a planet undergoing its own mutant crisis. The Celestials collected the data Ship had gathered during its stay on Earth and Ship came to realize that Apocalypse hadn't created it. The Celestials showed it its true origin. Given the choice, the Ship A.I. decided to return to Earth with X-Factor. Upon return from the space journey, Ship landed on-end as a building in Lower Manhattan.
Apocalypse later sent his Dark Riders
to kidnap the infant Nathan Christopher Summers
from within Ship. The Dark Riders infected Ship with a techno-organic virus
that damaged its systems. Explosion imminent, Ship launched itself into space to protect the city.
The Ship A.I. managed to salvage part of itself as a construct which was able to protect and ferry X-Factor to the Blue Area of the Moon, where they joined the massive confrontation against Apocalypse. X-Factor found that baby Nathan had also been infected with the T-O virus, and that it threatened his life. A mysterious stranger named Askani
appeared and offered to take Nathan to the future, where technology would be capable of saving him. As Ship's remaining form lost cohesiveness, it spent the remainder of its energy protecting Nathan Christopher on the trip. Although Ship's energy was dissipated in this way, when Nathan arrived in the future, there was no trace or mention of Ship.
broke into the prison and extracted a glowing orb from the metallic flesh of Nathan's chest. The orb was the Ship A.I., which, forgetting its past, had begun to call itself "Professor." Professor lived within Nathan's techno-organic flesh, acting as advisor to Nathan and helping to control the T-O infection. In time, Nathan became known as Cable.
. Professor had assumed control of Graymalkin, performing duties similar to those it had as Ship. Graymalkin not only served as a base for Cable, but also allowed Cable to teleport through time and space.
Eventually, Graymalkin was destroyed in a battle between X-Force against War Machine
and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
, although parts of the station were jettisoned safely to earth. Magneto
later salvaged the wreckage in space, combining it with that of his old Asteroid M base to form his new space-borne home Avalon. Cable undertook a raid on the station and, despite suffering heavy damage he was able to download Professor back into his own techno-organics.
's Camp Verde, AZ bunker base. During the "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, the Phalanx attempt to assimilate the camp's systems but are overwhelmed by the Professor's Celestial and future technology. X-Force returns to find that the Ship A.I. has gained a T-O body and calls itself Prosh.
X-Force learns that Prosh's techno-organics are interfering with Cable's control over his own infection. Having come out of remission, the infection begins killing Cable. Despite having befriended the X-Force team, Prosh has to leave. With Warpath's
permission, it assimilates the remainder of the base with the exception of the burial grounds. With the greater bulk, Prosh forms a spaceship again and flies off into space. Prosh returns as a key figure in the 2001 X-Men Forever
miniseries.
develops a friendship with Ship and persuades it to turn against Apocalypse. The X-Men hope to use Ship to entrap Apocalypse behind a forcefield forever. However, Apocalypse had left some security systems outside of its control and quickly escaped. Resulting battle damage, the strain of overriding the security systems and sending Apocalypse into deep space ultimately caused Ship to lose power and "die." Beast grieved over the loss of his friend.
Ship was voiced by the same actress who played Cable's computer in the episode "Time Fugitives, Part One," and voiced in the same style, hinting at the connection between Ship and the Professor in the comics.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
A.I.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
entity originally known as Ship has appeared in several incarnations in the Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. At times controlled by both the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
and their enemies, the sentient Ship A.I. has been at the core of a Celestial
Celestial (comics)
The Celestials are a group of fictional characters that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters first appear in Eternals #1 and were created by writer-artist Jack Kirby....
starship, two space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
s, and a techno-organic being.
Ancient history
The Ship A.I. was created untold millennia ago by the Celestials as the operating system for a data collection device. The Celestials had genetically manipulated humanity, and they left the Ship in the area that would come to be known as MongoliaMongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
to monitor humanity's progress.
Circa 1100 A.D., a Mongolian immortal
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
known as Garbha-Hsien (later known as Saul
Saul (comics)
Saul is a fictional character in Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in X-Force #10. He is both a mutant and one of the Externals.-Fictional character biography:...
), discovered the Ship and lived next to it while he researched its mysteries. Saul never attempted to enter the Ship.
In time, the Egyptian immortal En Sabah Nur
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
learned of Saul and sought him out as another immortal. In a confrontation, En Sabah Nur slew all of Saul's guards. Saul then sought to humble his fellow "forever-walker" by revealing the secret titanic vessel. Having had previous experience with futuristic technology due to his encounters with Rama-Tut, Nur attacked Saul and left the other immortal for dead and entered the Ship. He emerged later as a vastly changed being who now called himself Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
.
Over the next few centuries, Ship's sentience slowly evolved. Apocalypse noticed the evolving A.I. and enslaved it, telling Ship that he had created it.
The Present
The Ship next appeared as Apocalypse's cloakedCloaking device
Cloaking devices are advanced stealth technologies still in development that will cause objects, such as spaceships or individuals, to be partially or wholly invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum...
mobile headquarters as he attacked New York with his Four Horsemen. Defeated by X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
, Apocalypse retreated, and was forced to leave the Ship behind. During the battle, the Ship's cloaking and navigation systems were damaged. X-Factor managed to get the Ship to safely crash in the river. The only building damaged in the crash was X-Factor's own headquarters. Conveniently, the Ship also projected a force field
Force field
A force field, sometimes known as an energy shield, force shield, or deflector shield is a concept of a field tightly bounded and of significant magnitude so that objects affected by the particular force relating to the field are unable to pass through the central axis of the field and reach the...
that prevented non-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...
from entering. Given these reasons, X-Factor decided to adopt the Ship as their new home base.
When X-Factor tried to move in, they discovered that the Ship was booby-trapped, but then the Ship A.I. revealed itself and assisted them, and Rusty Collins, in disabling the security. Ship then became a butler of sorts to the team. Ship "had complete control over every part of its structure and could fashion rooms, weapons and vehicles as needed from various storehouses and parts it had. It was able to design and run training programs for X-Factor, as well as make living quarters and workshop areas for them."http://www.mutanthigh.com/tech/ship.html However, it apparently could not shut off the field that repelled non-mutants from its interior.
An attempt by the mutant called Infectia
Infectia
Infectia is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe.-Publication history:Infectia first appeared in X-Factor #28 , and was created by Louise Simonson and Walt Simonson....
to steal the craft led to X-Factor ultimately moving Ship to a more mobile position over the Atlantic Ocean.
Ship played host to the New Mutants
New Mutants
The New Mutants are a group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training published by Marvel Comics. They have been the main characters of three successive comic book series, which were spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise....
and the X-Terminators
X-Terminators
The X-Terminators are fictional characters in the Marvel Universe.-History:The name "X-Terminators" was originally used by X-Factor at that group's inception. The five original X-Men had founded X-Factor Investigations, and posed as normal humans purported to be an organization of mutant-hunters...
for some time, as Professor X
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
's mansion had been destroyed. Unfortunately this did not stop him attacking them when they brought on board the entity known as Gosamyr
Gosamyr
Gosamyr is a fictional character, a superhero from Marvel Comics.-Publication history:Gosamyr first appeared in New Mutants #66 , and was created by Louise Simonson and Bret Blevins....
. The two sides fought to a standstill, until Ship was persuaded to generate a spacecraft that would take Gosamyr away from Earth.
In time, Ship took to space, responding to the call of the Celestials, with X-Factor unwittingly along for the ride, leaving them temporarily stranded on a planet undergoing its own mutant crisis. The Celestials collected the data Ship had gathered during its stay on Earth and Ship came to realize that Apocalypse hadn't created it. The Celestials showed it its true origin. Given the choice, the Ship A.I. decided to return to Earth with X-Factor. Upon return from the space journey, Ship landed on-end as a building in Lower Manhattan.
Apocalypse later sent his Dark Riders
Dark Riders (comics)
The Dark Riders, also known as the Riders of the Storm, are a team of comic book supervillains in Marvel Comics' universe. Created by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, and Whilce Portacio in X-Factor Volume 1 #65...
to kidnap the infant Nathan Christopher Summers
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
from within Ship. The Dark Riders infected Ship with a techno-organic virus
Techno-organic virus
A techno-organic virus is a fictional virus in the Marvel Comics universe. The virus transforms organic material into techno-organic material. Techno-organic material resembles both machinery and living tissue...
that damaged its systems. Explosion imminent, Ship launched itself into space to protect the city.
The Ship A.I. managed to salvage part of itself as a construct which was able to protect and ferry X-Factor to the Blue Area of the Moon, where they joined the massive confrontation against Apocalypse. X-Factor found that baby Nathan had also been infected with the T-O virus, and that it threatened his life. A mysterious stranger named Askani
Askani
The Askani are fictional characters, a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe in the future/alternate timeline designated as Earth-4935, also known as Earth Askani...
appeared and offered to take Nathan to the future, where technology would be capable of saving him. As Ship's remaining form lost cohesiveness, it spent the remainder of its energy protecting Nathan Christopher on the trip. Although Ship's energy was dissipated in this way, when Nathan arrived in the future, there was no trace or mention of Ship.
The Future
After arriving in the future, Nathan's T-O virus went into remission. Around 16 years after arriving in the future, Nathan was imprisoned, and his techno-organic virus infection worsened. BlaquesmithBlaquesmith
Blaquesmith is the name of two characters in the Marvel Comics universe. One is a mutant from the future and an ally of Cable, the other is a man hired to impersonate the former when he was presumed dead.-Blaquesmith :...
broke into the prison and extracted a glowing orb from the metallic flesh of Nathan's chest. The orb was the Ship A.I., which, forgetting its past, had begun to call itself "Professor." Professor lived within Nathan's techno-organic flesh, acting as advisor to Nathan and helping to control the T-O infection. In time, Nathan became known as Cable.
Back to the Present
Deciding to change his tactics for bettering the future, Cable returned to times close to the present day. He shuttled between past and future multiple times, at one point bringing with him his space station GraymalkinProvidence (comics)
Providence is a fictional island featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Providence, located in the South Pacific Ocean, southwest of Hawaii at 20°N 165°W, is an artificial island made of parts from Cable’s old space station Graymalkin...
. Professor had assumed control of Graymalkin, performing duties similar to those it had as Ship. Graymalkin not only served as a base for Cable, but also allowed Cable to teleport through time and space.
Eventually, Graymalkin was destroyed in a battle between X-Force against War Machine
War Machine
War Machine is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics universe. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118 by David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton...
and agents of 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....
, although parts of the station were jettisoned safely to earth. Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
later salvaged the wreckage in space, combining it with that of his old Asteroid M base to form his new space-borne home Avalon. Cable undertook a raid on the station and, despite suffering heavy damage he was able to download Professor back into his own techno-organics.
Prosh
Cable installs Professor in X-ForceX-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...
's Camp Verde, AZ bunker base. During the "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, the Phalanx attempt to assimilate the camp's systems but are overwhelmed by the Professor's Celestial and future technology. X-Force returns to find that the Ship A.I. has gained a T-O body and calls itself Prosh.
X-Force learns that Prosh's techno-organics are interfering with Cable's control over his own infection. Having come out of remission, the infection begins killing Cable. Despite having befriended the X-Force team, Prosh has to leave. With Warpath's
Warpath (comics)
James Proudstar, previously known as the second Thunderbird but also known as Warpath, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X-Men....
permission, it assimilates the remainder of the base with the exception of the burial grounds. With the greater bulk, Prosh forms a spaceship again and flies off into space. Prosh returns as a key figure in the 2001 X-Men Forever
X-Men Forever
X-Men Forever is the name of three comic book series published by Marvel Comics based on the mutant superhero group The X-Men. The first is a 2001 miniseries, unrelated to the others. The second and third are the work of writer Chris Claremont....
miniseries.
A Copy
Cable later salvages the remains of Avalon, which had fallen out of orbit. He creates a floating nation called 'Providence' and installs a copy of Ship into its power core. Cable works with this copy to keep Providence, damaged in battle, from falling into the hands of enemies.Other versions
- In the Age of ApocalypseAge of Apocalypse"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
, Ship was nearly destroyed by Magneto when it endangered the lives of his X-Men. This was after they successfully thwarted the plans of En Sabah Nur's Horsemen to take control of the United States nuclear arsenal. The battle between Ship and Magneto left the X-Men leader drained and unable to ever fully restore his magnetic powers. Later, while hovering over the Moon and in possession of the Horseman Death, who powered Ship using Sunfire's explosive mutant abilities, Ship was destroyed when Sunfire's powers flared out of control. Some of Ship's remains were salvaged and would later be used to construct the science chamber run by Peter Corbeau.
- Prosh is a key figure in the X-Factor Forever mini-series. However, this series doesn't take place in the current Marvel Universe storyline. The Forever series takes place after the original writers left the series years ago, and they simply continue to write what would have happened if they had stayed on the series.
In other media
Ship appeared in the X-Men animated series episode "Obsession." BeastBeast (comics)
Beast , Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy, is a comic book character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the mutant team of superheroes known as the X-Men...
develops a friendship with Ship and persuades it to turn against Apocalypse. The X-Men hope to use Ship to entrap Apocalypse behind a forcefield forever. However, Apocalypse had left some security systems outside of its control and quickly escaped. Resulting battle damage, the strain of overriding the security systems and sending Apocalypse into deep space ultimately caused Ship to lose power and "die." Beast grieved over the loss of his friend.
Ship was voiced by the same actress who played Cable's computer in the episode "Time Fugitives, Part One," and voiced in the same style, hinting at the connection between Ship and the Professor in the comics.