Brian Bendis Reveals Dazzler: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dazzler has a new gig, and it's not with the X-Men.
It's been an eventful past year for the X-Men, between their war with the Avengers, the reemergence of the mutant race, and Cyclops going rogue and forming a new underground team. But one particular X-Man has missed out on all the fun. Dazzler has been a little busy with her own problems in the pages of X-Treme X-Men. Along with a ragtag band of X-Men from various alternate realities, she was charged with preventing ten evil versions of Charles Xavier from destroying reality.
In the wake of last month's X-Termination crossover and the cancellation of X-Treme, Dazzler is back in her own reality again. How will she adjust to a post-AvX world? Will she join up with Wolverine's school or try her luck with Cyclops' faction? As it turns out, the answer is neither. The solicitation for Uncanny X-Men #10 teased that a "fan-favorite mutant" would be joining the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D.
We had the chance to talk with Brian Michael Bendis about Dazzler's new job and what it means for the rest of the Uncanny cast. He confirmed that Dazzler plays into Maria Hill's threat from issue #5 to respond to Cyclops' increasingly volatile actions. Bendis said, "She is recruited by Maria Hill who finds herself between a rock and a hard place as far as the growing chaos of all things mutant. New mutants are popping up all over the world, the original X-Men are running around, and Scott Summers is hard at work at some kind of mutant revolution. Scott Summers has publicly spanked the Avengers and has no problem calling everybody of authority out on their BS in the international media, plus somebody is using the Sentinel program to attack the mutants as they appear."
As for Dazzler's motivations for joining for S.H.I.E.L.D., Bendis described the position as a good opportunity for someone struggling to find her place in the world. "That's why she's a perfect candidate. She's on nobody's side. She is looking at this with eyes wide open. Even though her relationship with Cyclops has been very good in the past she doesn't know how she feels about what he has turned into. Dazzler's previous relationship Scott Summers is part of the reason Maria Hill recruited her."
Bendis also talked about Dazzler's unique music-based powers and how her career as a singer would play into the series. "I love the VH1: Behind the Music element to her life. She had a legitimate music career and people know her face. I imagine it's part of what she deals with all the time. I think years ago Dennis Miller had some kind of quote about once you're famous you're always famous. So imagine someone like Debbie Gibson or Sheena Easton with superpowers."
Dazzler isn't the only mutant under Maria Hill's employ at the moment. Magneto is currently working as a double agent, though whether he's ultimately working for Hill, Cyclops, or his own ends is still very much the question. Bendis teased, " The Magneto of it all is going to get very complicated in future issues diving well into the 50th anniversary event, Battle of the Atom."
Look for Dazzler's S.H.I.E.L.D. debut in Uncanny X-Men #10 this August.