Sunday, June 11, 2006

This Project Is Not Over

Update on the Damned List:

I haven't had a chance to categorize or confirm yet -- I'm in need of so many references still. Categories still stand as listed before, except now there's a cateogory for perpetrators of sexual violence (subcategories will be along the lines of Violent, Mental, and Symbolic -- but I haven't gotten enought for that list to think it out yet).

I've also added a preliminary "clear list" to get your memories working, please, correct me if I'm wrong. I'd like to eventually have every female character at DC or Marvel on the lists.

Once you're done here, head over to Kalinara's for the male list.

Our List So Far
Attempted
Diana/Wonder Woman (WW#10)
Diana/Wonder Woman (WW#51)
Secret (YJ#7)
Jenny Hayden/Jade (GL#109)
Shining Knight (SK#4)
Hawkgirl (Hawkman, ish # needed)
Storm (forced marriage, ref needed)
Kitty Pryde (Forced marriage, ref needed)
Lara of Krypton (false pretenses, forced marriage; World of Krypton trade)

Actual
Felicia Hardy/Black Cat (SM/BC mini)
Elektra (Elektra: Assassin #1)
Grace Choi (Outsiders #17)
Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Ref Needed -- Perpetrator was the Purple Man)
Mia Dearden/Speedy II (GA #42)
Crazy Jane (DP)
Sally Sonic (Statutory, Bulleteer #4)
Spoiler (Robin #111)
Spoiler (Statutory, ref needed)
Rogue (Ref Needed)
Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel (Avengers#200)
Abby (Ref Needed)
Red Sonja (Origin story)
Emma Frost (Ref Needed)
Big Barda (AC#592-593)
Cora (Atlantis Chronicles)
Mirage (NTT -- Need ish #)
Calliope (Sandman)
Catwoman (Her Sister's Keeper)
Queen Hippolyta (WW#1)
Atlanna (Incest, Atlantis Chronicles)
Sue Dibny (IDC #3)
Helen Bertinelli/Huntress (Huntress miniseries ??)
Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (SH#7)
Terra (Statutory, NTT Need Ish #)
The Engineer (The Authority #)
She-Hulk (Sens. She-Hulk ish # needed)
Kate Bishop (YA Special #1)

Implied/Subtextual
Lian Harper (Outsiders #19)
Dinah Lance/Black Canary II (GA: The Longbow Hunters)
Arisia (Warrior #42)
Elektra (Daredevil #181)
Dream Girl (Universo Project)
Phantom Lady (IC#1)
Alicia (Fantastic Four #255)
Cobweb (TS#1)
Barbara Gordon (The Killing Joke)
Starfire (Ref needed)
Debbie Darnell/Star Sapphire (JLA #115)

Symbolic
Arisia (GLC #213)
Susan Richards/Invisible Woman (FF Annual #23)
Susan Richards/Invisible Woman (FF 278)
Jessica Jones (Alias 25)
Helena Bertinelli/Huntress (JLI#30)
Rachel Summers (Ref Needed)
Power Girl (Zero Hour buildup -- Ref Needed)
Donna Troy (WW #136)
Imra/Saturn Girl (Ref Needed)
Donna Troy (RoDT)
Catwoman (CW#50)
Debbie Darnell/Star Sapphire (IDC/JLA-SSoSV Ref Needed)
Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire (Pretty much all of Vol 2 GL)
Dawnstar (Ref Needed)
Zinda Blake (Ref Needed)
Kitty Pryde (Ref Needed)
Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix Saga)
Diana/Wonder Woman (WW#160)

Perpetrators
Martika (GG: Warrior)
Tarantula (Nightwing)
The Mist (Starman #16)
Psylocke (X-Men, ish # needed)
Circe (Wonder Woman)


Mentioned, but even circumstances still unknown -- Kathryn Summers, Sharon Ventura


Clear List
Lois Lane
Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl
Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl
Ma Hunkel/Red Tornado
Maggie Sawyer
Renee Montoya
Hope O'Dare
Cassandra Cain
Sandra Woosan/Lady Shiva
Wasp
Andromeda
Katma Tui

37 comments:

  1. Jessica Jones was also attacked by the Purple Man. During the initial run of Alias, she recounts the story.

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  2. Wait, Psylocke raped someone? When was this?

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  3. You could also add in Swift, Shen Li-Min of the Authority to the list. After Ellis and Hitch left the title, well, she was mind-controlled and there are implications of rape in there. Actually, poor Shen seemed to get tied up and tortured a couple times.

    On the other hand, she was a female character who, in between the torture sequences, seemed to get away with having a healthy sex drive and fairly empowered sex life.

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  4. Spoiler's (in #111) was an attempt, but Spoiler managed to escape. Not Actual.

    Now that I see Saturn Girl in the list... I don't know if this counts, cause it's really weird, but I have been told she was married to Lighting Lad for a while and then it was revealed Lighting Lad had died a while back and she was actually married to PROTY (Superman or Brainiac's pet that could shape shift). Not sure if that counts as unintentional implied rape from the part of the writer. But this is just something I was told, so I can't confirm it myself.

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  5. Also, if Spoiler having sex with a guy her age counts as statutory rape, then wouldn't Wondergirl having sex with Superboy count too?

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  6. I'm not comfortable with putting consensual sex between underage teens in the same category as child abuse. In the real world, we don't tend to look at two 17-year olds dating and say, "oh my god - they're raping each other!" That really doesn't scan. In this context it seems to be asking for more victims when we've got more than enough already.

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  7. If the "forced marriage" of Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) in the list refers to her near miss with Caliban then it's in Uncanny X-men 179.

    There's a synopsis complete with the cover at the bottom of this page:

    http://solo23.abac.com/thecatbox/chrono3.html

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  8. Khan's attempted "forced marriage" with Storm (Ororo Munroe) runs from the end of X-treme X-men 11 through to 16 and the X-men all joke about it in issue 19. Confirmation for you if you visit this page for issue 12 and then click forwards through the issues:

    http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/issues/showquestion.asp?fldAuto=733

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  9. Bah! I correct my above comment:

    ...page for issue 11... (natch)

    ::eyerolls at self::

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  10. Jessica Jones is a complicated assualt. The Purple Man mindcontrolled her to be his slave and to beg to be used by him, but he never actually did. It was his idea of revenge- that she wanted him constantly and he never did anything of a sexual nature. Still pretty twisted and a f'ed up thing to do. With that level of mental rape, I'm not sure why Bendis got squemish about following through with the physical. you could do an entire blog about that messed up mentality.

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  11. Reading Kalinara's list reminded me that you might need to add Dazzler too.

    I don't know how inclusive you want this list to be but you might need to add the Marvel heroine Dazzler who's associated with the X-men. It's, at the very least, strongly implied that her team-mate Longshot used his mutant good-luck superpower to attract both Dazzler and Rogue. Longshot and Dazzler then married and she became pregnant. I don't think readers know for sure what happened but many fans seem to believe Dazzler miscarried. Dazzler and Longshot are no longer together although whether or not they're legally married is anyone's guess.

    You can find confirmation in this wikipedia article (which I didn't write or edit):

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshot

    Under the heading "Powers and abilities" it says:
    "He has a star shaped scar on his left eye from being branded, the scar is only visible (glowing brightly) when Longshot uses his powers. He was genetically engineered and augmented by magical means to have certain superhuman abilities. The mystical augmentation gave him the ability to affect probability fields through psionic means in order to give himself "good luck" in his activities. This ability is tied into the positive aspects of his personality: should he attempt to use his powers for a selfish or evil act, or should he give up hope, his powers will fail to function or even backfire, giving him bad luck.
    Longshot has demonstrated some degree of supernatural attractiveness which tends to compel women to fall in love with him upon first sight, most notably the X-Men's Rogue and Dazzler."

    I can find specific references for some of the above but I don't have all the comics which cover Dazzler's relationship with Longshot.

    There's a slightly different version of this comment on Kalinara's blog.

    Sorry for spamming.

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  12. In Millar's "Authority" run:

    Swift (Shen-Li Min): raped by mind control in #27

    The Engineer II (Angie Spica): raped as child via time travel in #19 or #20 (probably #20), raped by mind control in #27

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  13. The thing about statuatory rape is that the young person isn't seen as being completely capable of consent. This is tricky of course, there's a lot of leeway, and in the *actual* list we're going to be splitting the underage consentual sex from the molestation/abuse.

    However because of the debatable ethics/morality/legality of the issue I, at least, very strongly advocate it remaining on the list, if it its own isolated subcategory.

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  14. Ack, that TT annual slipped my mind. (I didn't bother to read it). But we recognize there is a BIG difference between statutory and nonconsensual sex, but as Kalinara states it's a trick subject. That's the reason I noted "statutory" in this initial list.

    Thanks for the references guys (and those were the forced marriages we were thinking of with Storm and Kitty). I appreciate any uploaded pages you can link me to.

    Psylocke got Cyclops -- mind control, Kali's read it but I don't have a reference issue #.

    Shon -- Yeah, I thought that was wierd too. I think I get the reasoning, though.

    Sounds like Saturn Girl's marriage is filed under "False pretenses" -- Does anyone have a reference for it?

    I'll shift Spoiler to the Attempted list.

    Any more, guys?

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  15. "Psylocke got Cyclops -- mind control"

    I don't recall any issue where Psylocke mind-controlled Cyclops. She tried to seduce him in a very clunkily-written subplot during the Nicieza X-Men era, but that was explicitly stated to be a non-mind-control situation.

    "The thing about statuatory rape is that the young person isn't seen as being completely capable of consent"

    I understand the rationale behind statutory rape laws. But it's absurd to claim that someone can be a victim of statutory rape when they consent to sex with a partner of the same age. By that rationale, they're both raping each other, which defies the fundamental logistics of rape. Who's taking power from whom in this scenario? It makes no sense, which is precisely why statutory rape laws aren't applied to every underage couple that hooks up. Given that human beings become sexually mature before the law recognizes their capacity for consent, that's a good thing - prisons would be full of horny teenagers.

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  16. The Psylocke/Cyclops thing was brought up because of a distinct recollection of a particular storyline. If we can't corraborate it, it'll be removed from the list. This isn't our final product.

    As for the statuatory/underage clause, we understand that this will be a hot topic for a lot of people. That's why we're going to specifically address those incidents. In the end, we still believe that this is an issue worth addressing. Thus it will be.

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  17. What about Salamandra (a member of the Wizard's team of villains in Fantastic Four #515)? It's implied that the Wizard used his machines to impregnate her against her will.

    I think that would be I.A, off-panel.

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  18. I think silver age Supergirl is pretty safe. She did lose her memory and get married to an alien, but that used to happen to Superman regularly in the '60's.

    Supergirl 2/aka Matrix had a relationship with Lex Luthor. It's likely there was a sexual element to this (although I don't think it was ever explicit) but it appears to have been consensual. When she fused with Linda Danvers she took on a lot of Linda's baggage that included a history of drug abuse and wild living but I don't recall if there was any sexual abuse indicated.

    Cir-El was abused but not sexually. The details given are sketchy and contradictory but it appears that the bad guys kidnapped an ordinary girl, Mia, and then gave her a second super-powered persona which she hated and brainwashed her to believe that she was Superman's daughter from the future.

    While they haven't explicitly stated it in any way, some of the pictures in Supergirl v5 #5 are suggestive of an incestuous relationship between the latest Supergirl and her father. They creep me out, anyway.

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  19. Just found a symbolic rape not on the list. Green Lantern #54 has a very poorly researched Dr. Light IV (Kimiyo Hoshi) attacked by Dr. Light III who somehow steals her powers.

    Although the attack is not depicted as a sexual assault, Dr. Light III later (GA #57) describes it as like rape "only more benefitting than usual".

    The person responsible for this was Judd Winick. A name I've heard a lot lately, and not in a good way.

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  20. In a Weapon X : The Draft one-shot, it's implied that Marrow slept with someone she met in a club who later turned out to be Mesmero

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  21. Doh. Green Arrow, not Green Lantern.

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  22. Shrinking Violet, the Legionnaire in the early 80's (Legion v2). She was kidnapped, held captive, and abused in such a way that she had a major personality shift afterwards - harder, more "butch". She cut her long hair very short and began a bisexual relationship with another female Legionnaire.

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  23. Cassandra Cain is clear?
    She's raised to be a mute weapon. That isn't hideously abusive?

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  24. What I mean is, if Shrinking Violet counts, Cassandra Cain certainly does.

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  25. Lea -- It was hideously abusive, but not sexually abusive as is the thing here.

    And Shrinking Violent doesn't necessarily count until we get a good look at the story and the subtext in there.

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  26. We're sticking to obvious and subtextual sexual assault. Both Ragnell and I have read the series and we agree that while terribly physically/emotionally abusive, there's no indication that it was sexual.

    Basically what our lists focus on are times when characters have outright declared sexual abuse has happened (Damage, Speedy) or when we see the event, or a scene with enough subtext to be read as the event in the comic itself. As painful as Cass's origin is, neither of us recall seeing any reference/scene/event that fits our criteria.

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  27. Etta Candy is, to the best of my knowledge, Clear.

    Despite the number of times her Golden Age persona got tied up and spanked.

    I could argue that her latter-day tranformation from asertive, confident, spunky ass-kicker to meek, whiny Diet Lass is a form of abuse, but not in any of the senses applicable here.

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  28. More X-Men fun: There was an issue of the X-Men, some time in the late 80s, I think, involving the X-Men needing to break into some high-security military base, to stop Thunderbird's brother from doing, um, something. There was a group from Emma Frost's kiddie squad who came in to oppose them (?? I forget much of the details of the plot here ??). The kiddie-squad consisted of Empath, Firestar, and I think Roulette (some woman with luck-related powers, anyway), and during the story, Empath keeps Firestar in line by making her fall in love with him - there's a certain amount of kissing on-screen, and the implication that he gets up to this kind of shit all the time.

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  29. I can look up issue numbers in the near future, but some thugs attacked (and attempted to assault) Buddy "Animal Man" Baker's wife in an early issue of Morrison's run, while Lex Luthor blackmailed Lois Lane with pictures he had of her underage strip-search. Not sure where/if that fits in.

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  30. Threatened

    Silver St. Cloud -- Threatened with rape by the Joker, partially stripped, and tortured in Batman: Dark Detective #6.

    Actual

    Karma (Xian Coy Minh) -- Raped in flashback in her first appearance, Marvel Team-Up #100.

    Mera -- Slept with Thanatos believing he was Aquaman for an indeterminate number of years, as revealed in Aquman v.4 #?? and confirmed in v.5 #13-14.

    Lady Lotus -- Rape by Meranno the U-Man retroactively revealed in issues of New Invaders.

    Nebula -- Rape as a child per flashbacks to her abused childhood from Silver Surfer Annual #5.

    Betty Ross Banner -- Raped by Nightmare while comatose in the Tempus Fugit are of Incredible Hulk v.2.

    Implied/Subtextual

    Betty Brant -- Mind-controlled using an "attraction pheremone" by Mister Fear (Alan Fagan) in Web of Spider-Man #63.

    Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) -- Mind-controlled by the Mandrill in Daredevil v.1 #111-112.

    The reference for Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew is New Thunderbolts #12.

    It's disheartening in the extreme that the list is as long as it is....

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  31. According to Mike Grell, Black Canary was NOT raped in Longbow Hunters, only tortured (albeit brutally). He's said so in a number of interviews, many of which can be found online.

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  32. For Rogue, I forget the exact issue of X-Men (mid 200s of Uncanny), but it's when she and Wolverine first go to Genosha, they get hit by power dampers. When she's held captive, and without her powers, the guards "have their way" with her. The Carol Danvers side of her takes over completely because Rogue gets traumatized by it.

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  33. Has anyone mentioned the Red Skull's daughter? She was recently raped by Crossbones in Captain America.

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  34. Here are two more -- dunno if you have them already:

    DC Comics: Watchmen#2 :
    Attempted rape on Sally Jupiter, by The Comedian. On panel.

    DC Comics: packaged by Milestone Media Inc
    Hardware # __?:
    Presented in flashback as back story and motivation for Deathwish's [was that his name?] character.
    Rape and murder of both mother and son while (Deathwish?) was tied up and watched. I don't remember who were the perpetrators -- I didn't keep the issue.

    Actual, and on panel, and panels were "blacked out". Word balloons -- including the victims' while the attacks and murders happened -- were portrayed.

    (A personal side note: I was on the production staff at this time and was scheduled to do the final paste up on the color (on hand painted comics). I hadn't seen this issue yet.

    I got up to these pages (I think it's a two page sequence) and read it in complete horror. I broke out crying and could not paste up the rest of the issue. A freelancer was given the issue to paste up.

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  35. Kalinara's recent comments about the '90s Avengers cartoon reminded me of two characters who each need to be on the List, as both victims and prepetrators.

    Janet Van Dyne, a.k.a. The Wasp, was subject to increasing verbal and emotional abuse from her husband Hank, culminating in actual physical violence -- and, like the classic abused spouse, took him back more than once.

    She, in turn, took advantage of Hank's amnesia and schizoid adoption of another personality to maneuver him into marriage -- that's at the very least "Symbolic Rape", and more along the lines of "Forced Marriage".

    It's definitely "False Pretenses", at the very least, though the casual, shallow way she treated the whole situation as a big practical joke not only on Hank, but on the rest of the Avengers, suggests a harsher interpretation.

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  36. Jean Grey: I believe Jean Grey can be moved to the "Implied" list. In Uncanny X-Men #111, the Beast goes searching for the missing X-Men team, who have been kept in a mind-controlled state by Mesmero. Upon questioning Jean Grey, she mentions, three separate times, that she has a "date with the boss"(Mesmero) later that night; a "heavy date". As she and the other X-Men have been under Mesmero's control for weeks before the Beast locates them, this is unlikely to have been the first such "date" that she had been on. It's also plausible that Storm had similar experiences during this time... her state of dress indicates she was being intentionally exploited as a sex object for the carnival crowds that were being entertained, and the Beast specifically comments on her state of dress... but there are no real direct or indirect indications for Storm, only supposition. There's no reason to believe Mesmero wouldn't exploit her the same as Jean, either though.

    Moira MacTaggert: Another possible "Implied", in Uncanny X-Men #127. This one's debatable, but here it is: Moira's son Proteus had just possessed the body of her abusive estranged husband Joe. Proteus says, "When I possess people, I absorb their memories, their emotions, as well as their bodies. I know all my... father knew, feel all he felt. Never have I experienced such passion, such raw strength. This form will last me a long time. He and I are much alike, you know. What we want, we take, and what we take, we never give up. And now, Moira, what I... we... want... is you!" Not an indisputable example of an implied sexual threat, but that's certainly how it struck me when I first read it. Made particularly creepy by the incestuous undertones.

    Kitty Pryde: I don't believe it's appropriate to put Kitty in the "Attempted" column on the basis of Caliban's forced marriage attempts. As written, I don't think Caliban had it in him to harm a hair on her head. Even if the marriage had gone through, he wouldn't have laid a finger on her, even if she'd stayed down in the Morlock Tunnels with him for a hundred years. However, Kitty can stay on the attempted list for an actual sexual assault attempt on her, in Uncanny #160. On the X-Men's first trip to Limbo, an evil alternate Nightcrawler gropes her before she breaks away: "KURT--!?! How d-dare you... t-touch me like that!" Keep in mind Kitty is only 13-14 years old at the time.

    Madelyne Prior: In Uncanny #175, Mastermind tricks her into a passionate kiss with an illusion that he's Scott Summers. After revealing what he'd done, he says, "...I could have made you love me whatever my appearance. I may yet do so. Won't that be fun?" This is in addition to Mr. Sinister's big reveal in Uncanny #241 that she was just a clone, essentially created as breeding stock so that Sinister could get a child with Scott Summers & Jean Grey's DNA.

    Firestar: In Uncanny #193, Empath uses his emotion-manipulating powers on her. A passionate kiss is shown on-panel, along with the dialogue, "You LOVE me, don't you, my angel? You'll do whatever I ask, without question or hesitation, because you want more than anything to make me happy...." "Oh, yes, Manuel! Yes, Yes, YES!!!"

    Rogue: While not actually raped, she was groped by guards while being undressed in Uncanny #236, which qualifies as sexual battery. In Uncanny #278, she's shown mind-controlled, naked, and in a passionate embrace with a mental projection of the Shadow King. I'd say that implies an actual rape, even though it's only occurring psychically. Also keep in mind that the Shadow King, at the time, pretty much had the whole team plus various associates under his thrall for an extended period. While there's no hint one way or another that he abused any of the other women like he did Rogue, there's also no reason to believe he WOULDN'T have, either, based on previous behavior. He's been shown with highly sexualized-looking thralls in previous appearances.

    Storm: In Uncanny Annual #11, Horde captures the X-Men. He forces Storm into a kiss, and tells her that she'll be made into his consort after completing the mission he's forcing them to go on.

    Polaris: In Uncanny #250, Polaris is chained in a dungeon. Brainchild, in the company of two Savage Land mutates, comes by to proposition her: "A woman as lovely as you, Lornadane... should not be in such a place. A smile... coupled with some further demonstration of your affection... and I can ensure you live out your days as a queen." A mutate responds to Brainchild, saying, "....Besides, why ask the female's permission? Zaladane stole away all her powers. There's nothing she can do to stop us." Fortunately she breaks free as they advance upon her, but I'd say this counts as an attempt.

    Psylocke: In Uncanny #258, she tries to seduce Wolverine as part of a brainwashing attempt, because she herself has been brainwashed by the Hand. I'd count that as putting her in the "victim" column rather than the perpetrator, myself, since she wasn't in her right mind. An on-panel facial caress given to her by her handler in the preceeding issue, while she's naked and bathing, subtly implies that she may also have been physically taken advantage of during her service to the Hand.

    Callisto: In Uncanny #260, a gang of street thugs almost rapes Callisto while she's trapped in a fashion-model form. Saved by Colossus and a Genoshan mutate before she is hurt.

    Shanna the She-Devil & Nereel: this one's circumstantial, but I'd put it in the Implied column. In Uncanny #275, Brainchild is shown gloating over Shanna and Nereel, who have been mentally enslaved to him by Worm's powers. The accompanying dialogue reinforces that they will do whatever he desires, with him having absolute control over their minds and bodies. Given Brainchild's behavior in #250 with Polaris, and the suggestive pose Shanna is in as she and Nereel kneel at his feet, and I'd call this one "Implied".

    That's all I got looking through an Uncanny X-Men CD of back issues I have. It's scratched and I didn't look through every issue, so that may not be everything. Still, it's quite a bit, just off of that one title.

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  37. The reference for Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew is New Thunderbolts #12. when the New Avengers were mind-controlled. However, we don't know whether she is real or skrull empress.

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