Hope Summers (comics)

Hope Summers
Cable #21, featuring Hope as a teenager
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men #205 (November 2007)
Created by	Mike Carey (writer) Chris Bachalo (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Hope Summers (born Spalding)
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men The Lights Jean Grey School Students X-Force
Partnerships	Cable
Notable aliases	Mutant Messiah, White Phoenix of the Crown, MeMe
Abilities	Empathetic Power Mimicry Power Activation Phoenix Force (formerly) Control over the Five Lights

Hope Summers is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The superheroine first appeared in X-Men #205 in 2007 (Chapter five of the "X-Men: Messiah Complex" storyline). She is the first mutant born after the events of the "House of M" and "Decimation" storyline.

Hope is the first mutant to be born after the Decimation, an event in which the Scarlet Witch uses her reality-altering superpower to turn all but 198 of the world's mutants into regular, depowered humans. The moment Hope is born, the mutant-locating computer Cerebro explodes, and soon afterwards the hunt for her begins.

Hope's town is attacked by the Purifiers, who use information given to them by the time-traveling Nimrod who warns them of her arrival. Although all the children in town are murdered by the Purifiers, the X-Man Cable manages to save Hope. According to Cable, the baby is a Messianic figure destined to save both mutant and humankind. The Purifiers and Bishop, however, recall a timeline in which Hope will become the mutant equivalent of the Antichrist, and kill a million humans in an instant. This event, known as the "Six Second War", will turn humanity against mutants once again and lead into a new era of mutant persecution, creating the dark timeline into which Bishop is born.

Later, the baby is kidnapped by the Marauders and delivered to the mutant Mystique who is disguised as Mister Sinister. Mystique takes the baby and makes her touch the comatose Rogue with the intention of waking her from her coma. The mutant Gambit intervenes and takes Hope from Mystique. Believing the baby has died during her rescue, Gambit is amazed to find not only is the baby unharmed, but also Rogue has been awakened from her coma. After an intense battle between the Marauders, the X-Men and Predator X, X-Men leader Cyclops decides the baby would be better off with his son Cable, and allows him to take her to the future. However, an adamant Bishop decides to track Cable and the baby through time in order to kill her and prevent the bleak future of his own timeline from happening.