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Cecilia Reyes

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For the journalist, see Cecilia Reyes (journalist).
Dr. Cecilia Reyes
Cecilia Reyes
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceX-Men (vol. 2) #65 (June 1997)
Created byScott Lobdell (writer)
Carlos Pacheco (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoDr. Cecilia Reyes
SpeciesHuman mutant
Team affiliationsX-Men
Weapon X
New Mutants
Notable aliasesForcefield
Abilities
  • Ability to create a psioplasmic bio-field
  • Capable medical doctor
  • Capable medical surgeon

Dr. Cecilia Reyes is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Scott Lobdell and Carlos Pacheco, the character first appeared in X-Men (vol. 2) #65 (June 1997). She belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities.

Raised in the Bronx by her Puerto Rican family, she is a medical doctor specializing in trauma surgery. She has the mutant ability to project a force field around her body. Unlike most X-Men, she has no interest in superheroics and desires only to live an ordinary life, having been forced into the team by circumstance. Cecilia Reyes was briefly a member of the X-Men and often works to assist them.

The character was portrayed by Alice Braga in the 2020 film The New Mutants.

Publication history

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Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Carlos Pacheco, she first appeared in X-Men (vol. 2) #65 (June 1997).[1]

Fictional character biography

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Cecilia Reyes decided to become a doctor when her father was gunned down in front of her as a child, and she was unable to do anything to help him.[2] The X-Men tried recruiting her when it was discovered that she was a mutant, but Reyes had no interest in being a superhero.[3] She preferred to pursue her trauma surgeon career.[4]

Operation Zero Tolerance

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When Reyes is targeted by Operation: Zero Tolerance, a government-backed anti-mutant task force, she is forced to join forces with the X-Man Iceman and other mutants to escape New York City and track down Bastion, leader of Operation Zero Tolerance.[5]

After meeting with problems with racism and both encouragement from Daredevil and an encounter with the villain Pyro, Reyes reluctantly joins the X-Men. Her first adventure involved saving Cyclops from nanotechnology inside his body, which threatened to kill him and obliterate everything within a three-mile radius. Afterwards, a dazed Cyclops offers her honorary X-Men status.[6] She has several adventures with the team, combating the Ru'tai and the Shadow King. She usually does not bother with a costume, wearing either the yellow and blue training uniform or, on one occasion as a joke by Beast, an old costume of Wasp's.[7] Reyes eventually decides to leave the X-Men and set up her own medical practice.[volume & issue needed]

Reyes becomes involved in the X-Men's battle with the Neo, a villainous group of mutants who claimed to have evolved beyond the level of other mutants. She is trapped in the Neo's fortress below New York City and uses the street drug Rave to enhance her powers, ensuring her survival. The X-Men rescue Reyes and Professor X helps her overcome her addiction to Rave during a detox period at the X-Mansion.[volume & issue needed]

Neverland

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Reyes appears as a prisoner at Neverland, a mutant concentration camp run by the Weapon X program. There, she attempts to use her medical expertise to help out the other prisoners.[8] She is apparently killed when a brainwashed Agent Zero destroys the camo. Marvel Comics editor Mike Marts contradicted this in an interview on uncannyxmen.net, stating that if Reyes was dead, then her death would have been shown on panel. As she did not appear on panel, she was not yet considered dead.[9]

In X-Men: The 198 Files, it is revealed that Cecilia's older non-mutant brother, Colonel Miguel Reyes, had been assigned to head O*N*E security on the Xavier School grounds, with the purpose of finding out the fate of his sister.[volume & issue needed]

Return

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Cecilia Reyes is revealed to have survived Neverland and now volunteers at local homeless shelters. The NYX teenagers bring an injured Tatiana Caban to her for help. During their visit to her apartment she does not reveal to the teens that she used to be part of the X-Men. After treating Tatiana, she offers them a place to rest while she goes out for a few hours. Unaware Kiden Nixon is following her, she calls up Beast to ask a favor.[10] Later when Reyes returns with groceries, she finds the teens have left.[11] Sometime after these events, Reyes moves to the X-Men's new base of operations; Utopia.[12]

The Five Lights

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After the events of Second Coming, Cecilia Reyes is partnered with Psylocke and sent to Mexico to locate the second of the Five Lights; the first mutants to manifest powers since M-Day. After sedating Gabriel Cohuelo, she informs his parents of what is transpiring and offers him help from the X-Men. Psylocke comes to the room and explains that something has happened, Gabriel's manifesting ability to slow time around him causes him to appear to be moving so fast that he is invisible to the naked eye. Psylocke taps into Reyes' powers to create a force field around Gabriel's room so contain him until Hope Summers arrives.[13]

X-23

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Gambit and X-23 arrive in New York City following a lead from London. Gambit is injured, with his wounds reopening later on. They visit Cecilia Reyes at her apartment, and she agrees to give Gambit stitches, but is perturbed at being disturbed and admits she left Utopia to avoid such "stupidity". X-23 picks up the scents of her friends from NYX in the apartment, and asks where they are. Reyes states that she gave them permission to stay there before she went to Utopia, but they were gone by the time she returned. X-23 leaves to pursue a lead, and the city is soon hit by a mysterious earthquake. Reyes and Gambit help rescue and treat quake victims. Reyes then accompanies Gambit as he searches for X-23, eventually finding her recovering in the care of the Future Foundation.[14]

Fear Itself

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During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Cecilia Reyes is added to a team of X-Men opposing the "worthy" empowered Juggernaut in the form of Kuurth: Breaker of Stone. She is instructed by Cyclops to protect a mob of anti-mutant protesters following Kuurth's attack.[15]

Astonishing X-Men

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Although she is still more comfortable healing humans than fighting superhumans, Cecilia Reyes is part of the new team composed by Wolverine. Alongside Northstar, Iceman, Beast, Gambit, and Warbird, she assists to Northstar's wedding and tries to help Karma, whose mind has been taken over Ms. Hatchi for yet unknown reasons. She is also carrying on a romantic relationship with Gambit.[16]

Dawn of X

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In the new status quo for mutants post House of X and Powers of X, Professor X and Magneto invite all mutants to live on Krakoa and welcome even former enemies into their fold. Cecilia Reyes becomes something of a medical expert on mutant biology, running medical operations, autopsies and the like.[17][18][19] She is also approached by Prodigy of X-Factor with a suggestion to build a body farm to study the effects of decomposition on mutant bodies.[20]

Powers and abilities

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Cecilia Reyes can generate a force field described as a "psioplasmic bio-field" around her body.[21] This force field provides superhuman durability, increasing her resistance to energy and physical attacks. She can shape or expand it to protect those nearby. Impacts on the force field cause Cecilia pain. She also has shown the ability to wield her forcefield as a blunt force, pushing others out of her way. She can create spikes which could punch through a human body.[22] Under the effects of the mutant-enhancing drug Rave, Cecilia is able to use her force field offensively, as a blade to attack enemies. The field can be raised consciously and in her initial appearances, shown triggered by any external force used against it.

Additionally, Cecilia is a capable medical doctor and surgeon.

Reception

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Critical reception

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Marc Buxton of Den of Geek said, "Dr. Cecilia Reyes has a really cool power, the ability to cast a force field that can protect herself or others, but the true specialness of the character is her desire to be a doctor instead of a superhero. Reyes is the X-Men’s most skilled healer, a woman who seeks true service as a medical professional rather than an adventuring crusader. Reyes is one of the most underutilized but humane of all the X-Men, a woman who has a clear sense of identity and purpose beyond throwing down with Unus, the Untouchable."[23] Karen M. Walsh, in the book Geek Heroines (2019), also commented on Reyes offering a "unique representation of a mutant and an empowering female Puerto Rican doctor" who finds her place based on her medical and intellectual skills instead of her mutant abilities.[24]: 96  Walsh opined that while the character is often "peripheral" in the X-Men line, "she is meaningful as a superheroine in many ways".[24]: 97  Walsh highlighted Marjorie Liu's inclusion of Reyes in NYX: No Way Home – the X-Men often act as stand-ins for the "struggles marginalized groups face in society" so Liu's portrayal of Reyes as "a mutant defined by something other than her mutant powers offers an important perspective".[24]: 219  Walsh commented that token characters from marginalized groups often "exist solely as representations of their cultures. By focusing on Reyes' full self, NYX offered a twice-marginalized character—Latinx and Mutant—whose sense of self arose out of her choices rather than how she was born. By giving her agency, Liu's story expanded the way in which marginalized characters are written".[24]: 219 

Accolades

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  • In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Cecilia Reyes 95th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[25]
  • In 2014, BuzzFeed ranked Cecilia Reyes 49th in their "95 X-Men Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list.[26]
  • In 2017, Den of Geek included Cecilia Reyes in their "40 X-Men Characters Who Haven’t Appeared in the Movies But Should" list.[23]
  • In 2019, CBR.com ranked Cecilia Reyes ranked 10th in their "Ranking All The Members Of NYX" list.[27]
  • In 2020, Scary Mommy included Cecilia Reyes in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.[28]
  • In 2020, CBR.com ranked Cecilia Reyes 5th in their "Doctors Unite! The Doctors Of Marvel Comics" list[29] and 10th in their "10 Best Superhero Doctors In Marvel & DC" list.[30]
  • In 2022, Newsarama included Cecilia Reyes in their "20 X-Men characters that should make the jump from Marvel comics to the MCU" list.[31]
  • In 2022, Screen Rant included Cecilia Reyes in their "10 Best Doctors In Marvel Comics" list.[32]
  • In 2022, CBR.com ranked Cecilia Reyes 3rd in their "X-Men Who Deserve Their Own Spinoff Films" list.[33]

Other versions

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In the Age of X-Man reality, Dr. Cecilia Reyes is the Medical Instructor of the 10th Year class within the Summers Institute Of Higher Learning, located in Winchester, NY.[34]

In Days of Future Now, Cecilia survived the death camp Neverland and tried to help Wolverine to change the past to prevent "Days of Future Now" from ever happening.[volume & issue needed] While watching over him, she was shot in the back by a Fantomex who was under the control of Sublime.[volume & issue needed]

In X-Men: The End, she also had survived Neverland and has married Beast. They have three children (two boys and one girl): Ciaran, Francesca, and Miguel McCoy.[volume & issue needed]

In other media

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Dr. Cecilia Reyes appears in The New Mutants, portrayed by Alice Braga.[35][21] This version works for the Essex Corporation, who tasked her with monitoring potential recruits, until she is killed by the Demon Bear.

References

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  1. ^ Elvy, Craig (January 7, 2020). "New Mutants Cast, Character & Power Guide". ScreenRant. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Chrysostomou, George (August 25, 2020). "New Mutants: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Cecilia Reyes". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  3. ^ X-Men Vol 2 #66
  4. ^ All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #9
  5. ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #69
  6. ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #70 (December 1997)
  7. ^ X-Men (vol. 2) #75 (June 1998)
  8. ^ Weapon X: Days of Future Now #3
  9. ^ "Interview with Mike Marts at uncannyxmen.net; November 29, 2005". Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
  10. ^ NYX: No Way Home #4
  11. ^ NYX: No Way Home #5
  12. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #522
  13. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #527
  14. ^ X-23 #13-14, 16
  15. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #541
  16. ^ Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #48-53.
  17. ^ X-Men (vol. 5) #1. Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ Hellions (vol. 2) #1. Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ X-Force (vol. 6) #2, 8, 11-12. Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ X-Factor (vol. 4) #6. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ a b Couto, Anthony (June 29, 2017). "New Mutants Casts Alice Braga as Rosario Dawson Exits". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  22. ^ In X-Men (vol. 2) #100
  23. ^ a b Buxton, Marc (February 3, 2017). "40 X-Men Characters Who Haven't Appeared in the Movies But Should". Den of Geek. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  24. ^ a b c d Walsh, Karen M. (2019). Geek Heroines: An Encyclopedia of Female Heroes in Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, California: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 96–97, 218–220. ISBN 978-1-4408-6640-1.
  25. ^ Franich, Darren (June 9, 2022). "Let's rank every X-Man ever". EW.com. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  26. ^ Perpetua, Matthew (January 28, 2014). "95 X-Men Members Ranked From Worst To Best". BuzzFeed. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  27. ^ Howe, Nicholas (September 16, 2019). "Ranking All The Members Of NYX". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  28. ^ "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic". Scary Mommy. November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  29. ^ Wyatt, Liz (August 14, 2020). "Doctors Unite! The Doctors Of Marvel Comics, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  30. ^ Keller, Rich (March 29, 2020). "10 Best Superhero Doctors In Marvel & DC, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  31. ^ Marston, George (November 3, 2022). "20 X-Men characters that should make the jump from Marvel comics to the MCU". gamesradar. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  32. ^ Etemesi, Philip (May 26, 2022). "Doctor Strange 2: 10 Best Doctors In Marvel Comics". ScreenRant. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  33. ^ Howe, Nicholas (August 23, 2022). "X-Men Who Deserve Their Own Spinoff Films". CBR. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  34. ^ Age of X-Man - NextGen #1 (February 2019)
  35. ^ Kit, Borys (June 29, 2017). "Alice Braga Joins 'New Mutants' as Rosario Dawson Exits (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
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