Ogun (comics)

Ogun is a fictional character, a Japanese supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and a foe of Wolverine. His first appearance was in Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #1 (November, 1984). The issue was scripted by Chris Claremont and drawn by Allen Milgrom.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Ogun was a ninja and martial arts master who acted as Wolverine's mentor. Very little is known of his past or the exact nature of his abilities, but he was apparently a mutant who could possess and control minds via telepathy. His reflexes and reaction time also appear to have been enhanced beyond the range attainable by normal humans, such as that he was easily a match for Wolverine. Note that either or both of these abilities may have been wholly or partially mystical in nature.^[2]

According to Wolverine #113 (May, 1997), Ogun first met Wolverine in Shanghai, China. At the time Shanghai was held by the Empire of Japan, following the Battle of Shanghai in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Ogun was reportedly active in the War as a captain of the Imperial Japanese Army. Wolverine was only a wandering sailor but managed to draw the attention of the captain who would seek his acquaintance. The issue was scripted by Larry Hama and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu.^[3]

At some point in the past, Ogun fell from the path of honor and became a criminal enforcer for the Yakuza. Ogun mentally possessed Kitty Pryde, Wolverine's X-Men teammate, trained her as a ninja, and attempted to turn her into an assassin. Under Wolverine's care, however, Kitty recovered and resisted another brainwashing attempt, and Wolverine was eventually forced to kill Ogun.^[4]

Years later, Ogun returned as a disembodied spirit and, mentally possessing host after host, again attacked Wolverine and Kitty Pryde. With Ghost Rider's help, Wolverine figured out that to destroy Ogun he need only destroy Ogun's enchanted mask (apparently he had several as the first was already destroyed). Ogun was thus destroyed, seemingly for good.^[5]

Later, Ogun returned yet again this time travelling from host body to host body and he even tried to take over the body of Lady Deathstrike. Wolverine found a way to force him out of all available host bodies and into the body of Viper who Wolverine impaled (non-lethally). Panicking, Ogun jumped from Viper's body but having no form to inhabit, seemed to evaporate away.

But as seen somewhat later Ogun even survived that and tried to take his revenge on Kitty Pryde and Wolverine by luring them onboard of the Hellicarrier he was able to control through the things about cyberpathy he learned while taking over Lady Deathstrike, but once again he was defeated. It is not known what happened after Kitty managed to convince him of the error of his ways inside the astral plane.^[6]

After the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Ogun's clan is now shown to be run by Sojobo and Karasu, a pair of psychic twins he had adopted as a son and daughter prior to his demise. The children are rescued from this brutal existence by David Haller, who shows them that they don't have to follow in their father's murderous footsteps.^[7] After a skirmish with the X-Men, the twins are then taken to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.^[8]

Ogun's spirit later resurfaces and tries to possess Kitty once more before she manages to drive him out. It's also revealed that Ogun had murdered Cyber in an attempt to sell the villain's adamantium-laced corpse to Abraham Cornelius.^[9]

Powers and abilities

The extent and nature of Ogun's powers was never fully revealed. He demonstrated the ability to control minds and could remove his spirit from his body and place it in a new host (submerging the personality of that body). His original body also seemed to be somewhat resistant to injury, although Wolverine managed to kill him. Ogun was able to survive impalement through the torso by a sword thrust with no apparent ill-effects. His reflexes and agility were heightened beyond normal human levels. It is implied that Ogun was a telepath who also had some mystical powers, but this was never clearly specified.

In life he was also apparently capable of slowing or completely halting his aging; a legend is mentioned where he had once a duel of wills with the Japanese swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi.

References