Biography[]
Early life[]
Nicholas Gleason was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Unlike most mutants, whose powers manifest around puberty, Nicholas was an early bloomer, and transformed into his wolf-state as a child. After his parents died, two humans with mechanical enhancements attempted to kill him because he was a mutant. Fortunately, he was saved by Decibel and Cyclops of the X-Men, who brought him to the Xavier Institute.
Meeting the Exiles[]
Once at the Xavier Institute, Nicholas began making friends. Despite having trouble fitting in at first, Husk helped him adjust. One day as he was playing a game of touch football with Carter, Havok, and Juggernaut, he and Havok got into a disagreement. Losing control of his feral instincts, Nicholas lashed out at Havok, gutting him. Immediately afterward, Nicholas regained control of himself and tried to apologize, but his words went unheard. At that moment, the time-hopping team of Exiles appeared. Their mission: Protect Nicholas and Carter at all costs. Havok's consciousness was taken away, and Evil Havok had replaced him. The Exiles and X-Men were attacked by Evil Havok, and in the ensuing chaos, Nicholas ran away. As he hid in the underbrush outside the Xavier Institute, the Dominant Species pack returned to both attack the Exiles and X-Men, and to bring Nicholas into their pack. Under the influence of the Dominant Species pack, Nicholas began to lose his mind. He became a feral creature, and attacked Rogue, Husk, and Morph with the Dominant Species. Soon though, he fought off his instinctual urges, and tried to convince Maximus Lobo to leave his friends alone. After realizing that the wolf mutants would not listen to him and planned on killing Wolverine and Husk, Nicholas bought some time by telling them that there is a whole school of mutants nearby, and it would be a good idea to keep the X-Men as hostages instead of outright killing them. As the Dominant Species made their way to the school, Nicholas ran away. He found the other Exiles, and brought them to where Morph's remains were. After, they met up with the other Exiles and X-Men. They teamed up and defeated Evil Havok and the Dominant Species.
New X-Men[]
Once the Xavier Institute initiated its Squad program, Nicholas was given the codename Wolf Cub and placed on the Paragons training squad, led by Wolfsbane. After Wolfsbane left the school, Magma became their replacement advisor. Fortunately, after the Scarlet Witch depowered most of mutant-kind, Wolf Cub was one of the few students to keep his powers. The squad system was disbanded, but he continued to be a member of the student body. When the Institute was dragged into Limbo, Wolf Cub was dragged in with Rockslide and the others. When the group was attacked by demons, Wolf Cub let loose and defended his friends by attacking the monsters. After the Darkchilde appeared, he also did his best to defend Pixie from Darkchilde's magics. Later, the student body decided to find out which among them was the youngest mutant. Unfortunately, while eating ice cream with Loa, Wolf Cub was told that all the students expected him to be the youngest. This caused him quite a lot of strife, because the students assumed that the youngest mutant would be a target for mutant haters. During Messiah Complex, the only time Wolf Cub was seen was when he, Trance and Indra were watching Predator X attack someone through a window. He ran away when it lunged through the window at them.
Young X-Men[]
At the beginning of Young X-Men, Wolf Cub was in Germany seeking revenge from a depowered Maximus Lobo. Wolf Cub was about to kill Maximus when Cyclops stopped him, telling him that if he has the desire to kill, to go with him and he'll point him in the right direction. Cyclops formed a new team of X-Men that is operating out of the ruins of the destroyed Xavier Institute. The team's target is the new Brotherhood, made up of the old New Mutants. At the conclusion of the first arc of young X-Men Wolf Cub was the mutant to be destroyed by Donald Pierce at the end. His last words to Rockslide were not to kill Pierce, because X-Men don't kill".
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Lycanthrope: Gleason possesses a permanent werewolf-like form that imbues him with:
Enhanced Strength.
Enhanced Endurance.
Enhanced Speed.
Enhanced Senses.
Enhanced Agility.
Razor-sharp Claws.
Weaknesses[]
like several feral mutants, he was prone to uncontrollable fits of rage called berserker rages.
Trivia[]
- In the New X-Men: Academy X: Yearbook Special, it's listed he likes moonlit nights and dogs and dislikes people who make fun of him. He was voted most likely to cry at a movie by the student body.
- Wolf cub has been drawn several different ways. he has been drawn as a normal looking human with pointed ears, a human with claws and a coat of fur, a normal werewolf, and an actual anthropomorphic dog. He has even been drawn to resemble a lion instead of a wolf. The reason was most likely either further mutation or artistic error.
- Wolf cub is one of the only few mutants to have his mutation develop before puberty, but after birth.