Legion (Marvel Comics)

Legion
Cover to X-Men, vol. 1 #40 (1995). Art by Andy Kubert.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New Mutants #25 (March 1985)
Created by	Chris Claremont (Writer) Bill Sienkiewicz (Artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	David Charles Haller
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Muir Island X-Men X-Men
Notable aliases	Daniel Haller, Cyndi, Rodney, Ian, Lucas, Fanya, Jack Wayne, Boris, Zachary, Sylvester, Jemail Karami
Abilities	Ability to absorb a person's psyche into his as an alternate personality and manifest their superhuman abilities when they are dominant, including: Telepathy Telekinesis Pyrokinesis Time travel Reality warping

Ability to absorb a person's psyche into his as an alternate personality and manifest their superhuman abilities when they are dominant, including:

Legion (David Charles Haller) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the mutant son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. Legion takes the role of an antihero and has a severe mental illness including a form of dissociative identity disorder in which each of his alternate personas controls one of his many superpowers. The name 'Legion' is most likely derived from Mark 5:1-13 where Jesus freed a man who was demon possessed. When the demon was asked his name, he replied “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, Legion made his debut in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).

In 1991 Legion was assigned to be a co-starring character in the newly revamped X-Factor, as a member of the titular superteam. However, writer Peter David was uncomfortable with this, and ultimately editor Bob Harras independently came to the conclusion that Legion should not be used in the series. David explained, "I don't mind building a story around [Legion], but working him into a group - you're really asking for a bit much from the reader. Believing that a group of people will come together to form a team is enough of a suspension of disbelief... 'Oh, by the way, one of them is so nuts he shouldn't be setting foot off Muir Island'... that's asking the reader to bend so far he will break."

Charles Xavier met Gabrielle Haller while he was working in an Israeli psychiatric facility where she was one of his patients. Xavier was secretly using his psychic powers to ease the pain of Holocaust survivors institutionalized there. The two had an affair that resulted in the birth of their son David. Xavier was initially unaware of this, as Gabrielle never told him she was pregnant.