Ship (comics)
| Ship | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Factor, vol. 1 #19 (1987) |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations |
X-Factor X-Force Celestials Askani |
| Notable aliases | Ship, Professor, Prosh |
| Abilities | As Ship: Self-aware intergalactic starship As Prosh: Bio-metallic transformable body. |
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 A.I. has been installed in the core of a Celestial starship, two space stations, and a techno-organic being.
Ship's 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 Mongolia 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, he 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 from 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.
The Ship next appeared as Apocalypse's cloaked 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 crash safely 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 defences, X-Factor decided to adopt the Ship as their new home base.
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Wikipedia