Polite Dissent

With the recent return of Colossus, the poorly named Legacy Virus has no legacy left. It was a “plague” that lasted for eight years, yet only managed to kill off a few second- and third-tier characters. Thankfully, the main players in the genesis of the whole plot are long gone and long forgotten.¹

For those of you who don’t remember, the Legacy Virus came about at the end of the X-Cutioner Song crossover. Stryfe, the leader of the Mutant Liberation Front, gave a vial to Mr. Sinister that was supposed to contain the genetic material of Scott Summers. Instead, the vial contained the Legacy Virus, which was unleashed when the vial was opened.

That’s not a bad start, honestly. Treachery and intrigue are always fun. Unfortunately, there were also problems from the beginning. Stryfe’s plan was, to put it simply, idiotic. He wanted mutants to become the lepers of the modern world (as if they weren’t already) by infecting them with a disease that would kill them. Wasn’t he supposed to be a mutant savior? Luckily, both Stryfe and Mr. Sinister have disappeared from the pages of the X-Men. The MLF too was blown-up (though somehow Skids survived and reappeared recently in X-Treme X-Men).

That the Legacy Virus is to some extent a metaphor for AIDS cannot be overlooked. The similarities are obvious: a deadly and mysterious new disease which strikes down members of a persecuted minority. (However, unlike AIDS, the Legacy Virus actually was the result of a secret plot to rule the world.) Sadly, as the storyline progressed, this aspect of the disease was neglected.

The Legacy Virus itself was never clearly explained. Or rather, the explanations for the disease kept changing. At first, it only affected mutants, but even then it would act in different ways – sometimes victims would waste away, sometimes their power would kill them. Later, it started to spread to non-mutants as well. Eventually it was explained that it was not just one disease, but three separate strains of a similar disease. Then later it was explained that it wasn’t a virus, but instead a viroid or prion. A viroid is a type of very primitive virus, but it only affects plants. A prion is an infectious protein particle (as opposed to an infectious nucleic acid particle like a virus or viroid). Prions are thought to be the cause of rare diseases such as “Mad Cow Disease”, CJD, and Kuru².

The mode of transmission of Legacy was never clearly explained. Was it spread by airborne particles? Body fluids? Farm implements? Prions in particular have very particular means for being transmitted and are not likely to the cause of any “plague”.

Several minor characters were killed off by the Legacy Virus. The most significant were Mastermind and Illyana Rasputin, but both were past their prime. Mastermind was years past his Dark Phoenix glory days and Illyana had become a second string character since she reverted back to her normal age at the end of the Inferno storyline. Other characters who died included Revanche, a multiple man, Infectia, several of the Externals³, and Pyro. Several other characters were infected, including Moira MacTaggert, but died by violence rather than the disease itself.

The Beast developed a cure to the Legacy Virus, but it needed a mutant to sacrifice their life to make it work. That’s right; somehow a single mutant killing himself would eradicate the virus worldwide. In Uncanny X-Men #390, Colossus took this final step to end the virus. Is there anybody who read this issue and didn’t think it was one of the stupidest plot devices ever? But at least it ended the mess of a storyline that the Legacy Virus had become⁴.

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¹ Yes, I know that Liefeld and Nicieza are back working on X-stories, but I originally intended this comment to refer to Stryfe and Mr. Sinister, though it also holds true for the various writers on the X-books at the time.

² Despite being one of the world’s rarest diseases (I mean, how many brain-eating New Guinean cannibals are there?), and one I’m guaranteed never to see in my mid-west US practice, a question about Kuru has shown up on every Medical Licensing Exam at least once.

³ Come on, you remember them don’t you? No…you’re thinking of the Eternals, a different group entirely.

⁴ Here’s an excellent website that looks at the Legacy Virus. There’s some good stuff there, including some newsgroup messages from one of the (non-comic) people who helped come up with the virus. I think he’s a little shaky on some of his molecular biology, but his concept of the disease is vastly superior to what it became in the end.