Anne-Marie Cortez
Context
Ms. Cortez is a very minor enemy of the X-Men, and one of the first Acolytes of Magneto. She primarily appeared in the opening arc of the 1991+ volume of X-Men.
The first three Acolytes are famous waaaaaaayyyyy beyond their importance or actual number of appearances. Because of one simple reason – *everybody* back then bought the much, much-awaited X- Men vol. 2 #1 where they appear.
Many even read it.
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Background
- Real Name: Anne-Marie Cortez.
- Note: Her first name is spelled is Annmarie in some web sources.
- Marital Status: Unrevealed.
- Known Relatives: Fabian Cortez (brother).
- Group Affiliation: Magneto’s Acolytes.
- Base Of Operations: Asteroid M.
- Height: 6’1” Weight: 158 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue Hair: Manga blue (dark blue in low lighting).
Powers and Abilities
Anne-Marie seems trained as a vehicles operator (up to and including military space shuttles) and soldier. She’s a good shot and is equipped with stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. gear.
It is officially assumed she was the one psionically controlling Delgado and the X-Men’s blue team. But that point is, at best, murky.
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History
Anne-Marie Cortez was the sister of Fabian Cortez, and a mutant like him. She thus *might* be a member of a royal family in an undisclosed country. Fabian was reputed to have such ancestry, though one suspects a falsehood.
Along with a small group of mutants lead by Fabian, she was trained in S.H.I.E.L.D. and military procedures. From there they managed to commandeer a S.H.I.E.L.D. space shuttle in a desperate bid to find Magneto. The mutant master of magnetism was then retired on his orbital base, Asteroid M.
The agents chasing them managed to shoot and wound Anne-Marie, though she was later healed by her brother.
Acolyte
The mutants reached his base. They then convinced Magneto to take up the mutant cause again, after Anne-Marie’s passionate plea caught his attention. The small group around the Cortez siblings became the first Acolytes of Magneto.
Anne-Marie fought along the Acolytes and against the X-Men twice. In Genosha, she did not fare well. Gambit *caught* the grenade she fired at him and threw it back, taking her out. However, on Asteroid M she did shoot Cyclops in the arm after he broke the mental conditioning he was under.
A short time after Cyclops rfebelled, Asteroid M was destroyed and plunged into the atmosphere, disintegrating. Anne-Marie was reported dead in the catastrophe.
But if you want to bring her back it should be trivial.
Description
Anne-Marie was fairly tall, like her brother.
The variation in her hair colour might be an oddity of colouring. One could assume that her hair is unusually reflective as a mutant trait.
Personality
A quasi-religious passionaria. Magneto is for her the Messiah of the Mutant People, and she’ll die or kill for him with no hesitation whatsoever.
Quotes
“Lord Magneto, we’re mutants, like you ! We’ve come to serve, to pledge our lives to your glorious cause !”
“Traitors ! Genosha bred mutants as slaves. They tried to destroy you, X-Men. Yet now you defend them !”
“You were warned, X-Man ! Either stand with the master… or fall before him !” (shoots Cyclops)
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Anne-Marie
| Dex: 04 | Str: 03 | Bod: 04 | Motivation: Uphold Magneto |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Acolyte |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 03 | Resources {or Wealth}: 004 |
| Init: 014 | HP: 015 |
Powers:
Empathy: 04, Hypnotism: 06
Bonuses and Limitations:
Hypnotism takes five Phases to use, eating all Actions.
Skills:
Medicine (Brainwashing): 08, Military science (Demolition): 03, Vehicles: 04, Weaponry: 05
Bonuses and Limitations:
Medicine (Brainwashing) is Contingent on her Hypnotism (-1) and is treated as a Power.
Advantages:
Iron Nerves (only when serving Magneto, 15 pts), Lightning Reflexes.
Connections:
Fabian Cortez (High), early Acolytes (Low).
Drawbacks:
SIA toward the Cause.
Equipment:
- S.H.I.E.L.D. ARMOUR [/BODY/ 07, Flame immunity: 03, Radio communications: 05, Sealed systems: 06].
- S.H.I.E.L.D. assault rifle/light machinegun [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 07, Ammo: 12, R#2, Advantage : Autofire] w/ underbarrel Grenade Launcher [BODY 04, Range: 07; Ammo: 01, R#02].
- Four offensive grenades [BODY 03, EV 07 (Area of effect 1 AP), Grenade drawback, R#03 — usually used with the launcher].
Cortez the killer
With Fabian Cortez around, there is no reason to assume high APs for any of the early Acolytes, including Anne-Marie. There is no reason why Fabian would not enhance their powers with his 8 APs of Enchantment. This explains how Anne-Marie was able to take control of the X-Men Blue Team.
Yet she does not use her boosted Hypnotism in combat. Hence the Limitation to explain why, say, she shoots at Gambit instead of taking control of him.
I had the general feeling that, perhaps because they are siblings, Fabian *actually* heals his sister instead of just papering over as he usually does. That would be a misc. clause in Fabian Cortez’s Mind over Matter Bonuses and Limitations. But this is unsubstantiated — just a hunch.
Assuming that Anne-Marie is the one brainwashing Delgado and half the X-Men does not violate the razor . It’s simpler to assume that the mutant with an unknown power is the one creating the effect with no apparent source, rather than coming up with a new entity that does. Such as mind-control tech aboard Asteroid M.
Design Notes
Anne-Marie is an interesting case. She did not display any mutant powers in any of her appearances, but was known to be a mutant. Since many people wondered what Delgado was doing among the Acolytes, she was retconned in secondary sources (like the RPG, Marvel.com and the Marvel A-Z handbooks) to have psionic powers of domination.
Since that makes sense and they were later mentioned in the case of Nance Winters, I’ve added those to her writeup while trying hard to respect Occam’s razor.
The Lightning Reflexes is a tiny tribute to old fan speculation about what her mutant power could be (super-reflexes). But her Initiative in the books justify it on its own.
Source of Character: X-Men v2 #1-3.
Helper(s): Marvel.com for height, weight and precisions about her powers ; Danielle Mendus, Petter Piispanen.