Leper Queen

The Leper Queen is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is the masked leader of the Sapien League, an extremist anti-mutant organization that is similar to Friends of Humanity.^{[citation needed]}

Leper Queen
Cover art for X-Force vol. 4 #13. Art by Clayton Crain.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	House of M: The Day After #1 (January 2006)
Created by	Peter Milligan Salvador Larroca
In-story information
Alter ego	Page (first name unknown)
Team affiliations	Sapien League Purifiers
Abilities	Competent ability with weapons and skilled fighter. Infected with the Transmode Virus.

Biography

The Mutant Daughter

The Leper Queen was originally a normal woman whose unborn child was "infected" by a passing mutant. At the age of two, the child manifests pyrokinetic mutant abilities and burns down her house, killing herself and scarring her mother. The latter swears revenge against all mutants, calling herself the Leper Queen.^[1][2][3]

Decimation

The day after M-Day, the Leper Queen attacks the Xavier Institute with the Sapien League. She is first seen to be attacking Mammomax, Erg, and Peepers, who are attempting to gain sanctuary in Xavier's mansion. The Sapien League ties the three to X-shaped crosses and attempts to burn them to death. They are stopped by Wolverine and Colossus, who had seen the smoke from this attack.^[4] After this failure, she also leads an attack on the mansion. It is only by the combined efforts of the X-Men and the Sentinel Squad O*N*E that the Sapien League is stopped. During this fight, Iceman is captured. When the Leper Queen tries to execute him, he suddenly regains his powers and freezes her arm, making her flee and encounter both Outlaw and Peepers as she escapes.^[5]

After tracking Polaris and Havok (who had left the institute in search of Lorna's powers) to Puerto Rico, members of the Sapien League are attacked by Havok, who stops their attack on an old man.^[6] Then, they call upon the Leper Queen, who is visiting her daughter's grave. She arrives to kill Havok and Polaris, but is stopped by Havok.^[1] The alien Daap, who had been killed by Havok, reforms its body and brings Polaris and the Leper Queen to a nearby temple of Apocalypse. Apocalypse finds the Leper Queen's bloodlust and thirst for vengeance too much to handle and denies her the chance to become one of his Horsemen, Pestilence. He gives that "honor" to Polaris instead and chains the Leper Queen in a dungeon.^[7]

Purifiers

The Leper Queen, alongside other prominent anti-mutant leaders, is forcibly recruited into the ranks of the Purifiers. She is later intended to be executed in the electric chair for the murder of two girls in Guatemala, but is rescued by Bastion and infected with the Transmode Virus.^[8]

At an anti-mutant rally held in Iowa by the Friends of Humanity, the Leper Queen infects Beautiful Dreamer with a modified version of the Legacy Virus that causes her to kill herself and all the people attending the rally. However, the Leper Queen feels guilt over killing humans for Bastion's cause.^[9]

After a similar incident where Fever Pitch is infected and used to kill thousands of innocent people, the Leper Queen later captures Surge, Hellion, and Boom Boom. She injects Surge and Hellion with the Legacy Virus and sends them both to the United Nations to face the same fate as Beautiful Dreamer. The Leper Queen keeps Boom Boom alive as a precaution, knowing that an X-team member will otherwise halt her in her path. While in the middle of giving X-Force an ultimatum—to choose between saving the teens or Boom Boom—Cyclops calls the team away by forcing them to travel through time. Boom Boom, left in the hands of the Leper Queen, is told that she had been used to lure X-Force to her location. Since Bastion would not allow the Leper Queen to kill herself, she had planned for X-Force to kill her to save Boom Boom. Leper Queen shoots Boom Boom between the eyes at point-blank range, killing her, before stating that X-Force "failed us both."^[10] However, X-23 comes back to a point three seconds after the jump, shooting the Leper Queen and saving Boom Boom. The Leper Queen thanks X-23 for killing her, thus freeing her from Bastion.^[11]

Powers and abilities

The Leper Queen has an affinity with weapons. She is a highly skilled fighter and is also infected with the Transmode Virus by Bastion.^[8]

Personality

During the Sapien League's attack on the mansion, it is said that Leper Queen hates mutants and has been on many mutant hunts.^[12] Her sole purpose in life is to kill all mutants as revenge for her daughter's death.^[1] She also hides her burnt face with a mask that lifts just when she's about to suppress her opponents.