Stepford Cuckoos

The Stepford Cuckoos are a group of fictional characters of the Marvel Comics universe.

Originally five mutant teenage girls, born as quintuplets, they were in training to be X-Men. Telepaths, their minds are usually in contact and can be linked together into a group mind. Due to their connection, they sometimes referred to themselves as the Five-in-One. Since then, two of the five, Esme and Sophie, have died, and the remaining three, Celeste, Mindee, and Phoebe, now refer to themselves as the Three-in-One.

Like their former mentor Emma Frost, they are blonde-haired and blue-eyed, though their eyes glow white when they use their telepathic superpowers. Their name is an allusion to the Stepford Wives and the Midwich Cuckoos.

First appearance

The first appearance of the Stepford Cuckoos was in New X-Men #118 (November 2001); however, they were not identified by name. They were first called the Stepford Cuckoos in New X-Men #123 (April 2002), which was also the first issue in which Esme was named. Sophie, Phoebe, Celeste, and Mindee were named in New X-Men #134 (January 2003), New X-Men #149 (January 2004), New X-Men #153 (April 2004), and New X-Men #156 (June 2004), respectively. In the New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook, their last name was confirmed as "Cuckoo" and their codename as the "Three-in-One".

Biographies

Writer Grant Morrison introduced the Stepford Cuckoos as the protégés of Emma Frost and, along with Quentin Quire, the strongest telepaths among the fourth-generation students at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. Although Kid Omega and the Stepford Cuckoos were rivals, Kid Omega had a crush on Sophie. Sophie and the other Cuckoos considered him to be disgusting and rejected him completely. Partly as an expressions of adolescent rebellion, partly under the influence of the drug Kick, and partly out of a desire to impress Sophie, Kid Omega incited a riot at the X-Mansion. Sophie died stopping Kid Omega in New X-Men #137 (April 2003). The Stepford Cuckoos held Frost to be partially responsible for Sophie's death and disassociated themselves from Frost at that time. With the death of Sophie, the Five-in-One became the Four-in-One.

Soon afterwards, Esme attempted to murder Frost, an attempt which failed. Esme fled the X-Mansion, and it was revealed that Esme had really been responsible for Sophie's death. Esme wanted to seize control of the Cuckoos, but had a hard time doing so because Sophie was the dominant personality and the strongest telepath. Therefore, Esme had concocted a plan to become dominant by using Kick to amplify her own powers and by manipulating Sophie into overextending her telepathic powers to the point of death. With the departure of Esme, the Four-in-One were now the Three-in-One.

Esme returned in the Planet X storyline, in which it was revealed that Esme had been working for Magneto (who had masqueraded as Xorn) the entire time. When Esme turned on him in New X-Men #150 (February 2004), Magneto killed her. (It was later revealed that the person who was apparently Magneto was actually a Magneto imposter.)

In X-Men: Phoenix Endsong (March-June 2005), Kid Omega, still in love with Sophie, had the Phoenix (in Emma Frost's body) exhume and resurrect her, but she promptly chose to die again once she realized why Kid Omega had wanted to resurrect her. It should also be noted that in the X-Men: Phoenix Endsong (see above), a shard of the Phoenix Force in firefly form flew to one of the Stepfords, who replied '"What took you so long?"' It is not identified which Stepford. This matter should be clarified in an upcoming limited series entitled Phoenix: Warsong by Endsong writer Greg Pak. Warsong serves as a direct sequel to Phoenix Endsong.

The Cuckoos now appear in Academy X, wherein they were co-leaders of the Corsairs squad under the mentorship of Cyclops. Since the House of M storyline, the squad-format has been discarded, since only 27 students remained. When Emma had the remaining students fight in a Royal Rumble to determine who would become the main focus of her training, the Cuckoos refused to participate.

Powers

The Stepford Cuckoos are each individually powerful telepaths. However, aside from telepathy, the Cuckoos can also form a psychic gestalt, linking together to form a supermind stronger than the sum of its parts. When all five were alive, Sophie was the dominant consciousness and often commanded the Cuckoos. However, as implied by Esme's actions, it was possible for another one of the Cuckoos to wrest control of the gestalt and perhaps even use the powers without the consent and knowledge of the others. With the loss of Sophie and Esme, it is unknown as to whether they are now weaker than they were as the Five-In-One, or if the sum of their powers was redivided amongst the three remaining Cuckoos. Although it has not been clearly stated it is possible that one or all of the original and remaining Stepfords are Omega-Level Mutant(s). This is supported by the fact that a fragment of the Phoenix Force now resides inside one (or all) of the Stepfords; and the Phoenix is the highest form of evolution after Omega Level. Also, the power level of the Stepfords, in all of their incarnations, have been reported by many of the staff at Xavier's School to be extremely impressive and strong; these staff members include: Professor X, Jean Grey (the Phoenix, itself), Emma Frost, and Henry McCoy (Beast). The Cuckoos and their abilities are roughly based on those of the "Paper-dolls", telepathic quadruplets from a 1964 novel by L.P. Davies.

Link to Weapon Plus?

In New X-Men #154 (May 2004), Grant Morrison's last issue of New X-Men, the Stepford Cuckoos are identified as Weapon XIV (each girl being units 1 to 5, ordered alphabetically by their first names). However, no connection between the sisters and Weapon Plus has been shown in any issue. An interview with Mike Marts stated that more will be revealed about the Cuckoos in early 2006. Marts was most likely referring to Phoenix: Warsong, which will be written by Greg Pak and continues plotlines from both Endsong and Morrison's run on New X-Men.

Boyfriends

Writers have continued to use a running joke about boyfriends of the Stepford Cuckoos. Thus far, whenever one of the Stepford Cuckoos has become involved in a romantic relationship, the other Stepford Cuckoos have usually expressed strong disapproval, perhaps out of jealousy. On the other hand, perhaps the disapproval is justified, considering that the Cuckoos have had an extremely poor track record when it comes to boyfriends:

Esme's boyfriend Kato, seen in New X-Men #123 (April 2002), apparently a Japanese mutant, turned out to actually be the sponge-like Stuff, an "advance scout of the Shi'ar Superguardian Team, assigned to lifeform sterilization procedure."
Kid Omega had a crush on Sophie (which she did not return) and engaged in such actions for her sake as inciting a riot at the X-Mansion (indirectly causing her death) and resurrecting her (an action she promptly rejected).
Germaine, Mindee's boyfriend who first appeared in New X-Men #155 (June 2004), died the very next issue, #156 (June 2004), defending her from an anti-mutant mob.
When Xavier's Institute held a dance to celebrate the end of the school year, all three Cuckoos attended the dance with Julian Keller (Hellion). It should be noted that Julian is extremely arrogant, sometimes cruel, and, as one of the Hellions, is one of the antagonists of New Mutants and New X-Men: Academy X. Julian later left his dates to have a dance with Wind Dancer, whom he shares a mutual attraction. The triplets did not seem to care.

Alternate Versions

In the Here Comes Tomorrow timeline, 150 years from now, the Stepford Cuckoos are members of the X-Men and operators of Cerebra, having merged with the machine, and calling themselves Three-in-One. Their psychic powers have also been amplified, allowing them to see the future. They also appear to be in their early to mid-twenties, despite the long time that has passed. While not made explicit, a healing factor could be responsible for their youthful appearance.

In the alternate future depicted in The End, the Stepford Cuckoos are known as the Spykes.

In other media

The Stepford Cuckoos appear as antagonists in the video game Rise of Apocalypse. Like the comics, they once had Emma Frost as their mentor. When one of them died, the rest blamed Emma and joined forces with Apocalypse to get revenge on her.
Three identical blond girls were shown in the background in an Institute Scene in The Last Stand. Writer Zak Penn confirmed in a chat that these were indeed the Stepford Cuckoos. ^*

External links

Triplicity, a Stepford Cuckoos fansite

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