S'ym

S'ym
S'ym in his first appearance, Uncanny X-Men #160 art by Brent Anderson
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Uncanny X-Men #160 (August 1982)
Created by	Chris Claremont Brent Anderson
In-story information
Species	Demon
Abilities	Super strength, Near-Invulnerability

S'ym is a fictional supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe, a demon of Limbo who served as a frequent enemy and sometimes supporting character in The Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants. He was created as an homage to independent cartoonist Dave Sim's character Cerebus the Aardvark.

Created by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson, the character is an homage to Cerebus the Aardvark and his creator, Dave Sim, after Sim featured a villain named "Professor Charles X. Claremont" in early issues of Cerebus. S'ym always refers to himself in the third person, a trait shared by Cerebus. S'ym also has the same purple-grey coloration as Cerebus, and the same vest. "S'ym" is pronounced the same as "Sim".

S'ym was a minion of Belasco, the ruler of the demonic dimension known as Otherplace or Demonic Limbo. S'ym battles the X-Men when the team are transported to Limbo via teleportation "discs" in their search for 7-year-old Illyana Rasputin, the younger sister of the X-Man Colossus.

During Ilyana's seven years in Limbo, Belasco takes her as his heir and apprentice. She ultimately defeats him, becoming Limbo's new ruler - and S'ym's master - before returning to the X-Men. S'ym challenges Illyana's newfound status as Limbo's ruler. Illyana defeats S'ym, leaving S'ym to agree to serve Illyana whenever she visits Limbo. S'ym allies himself with the extraterrestrial Magus, allowing himself to be infected with a techno-organic virus. Though Illyana tries to take Limbo back from him several times after this, she is unable to defeat him, and S'ym's hold on Limbo only increases as he spreads the techno-organic virus to other demons.