X-Men: Externals / Characters

The Externals

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"For some of us, ascendant, death was just the beginning..."

A cabal of immortal mutants mostly built around the character of Gideon, the Externals were introduced as the prime movers behind the various X-Force villains, an ancient threat on par with the likes of Apocalypse and Selene (both of whom were retroactively added among their ranks). Calling themselves the High Lords, the Externals boasted that they were responsible for controling the development of mutant and humankind from behind the scenes using money and political influence. Most of them were ultimately all killed off by Selene... until it was revealed that amongst the many powers of the Externals was resurrection, as each could be reborn in a new body after their death. Several of the Externals continued to plague the X-Men and the rest of mutantkind through various plots, including Selene's attempt to ascend to godhood.

Many of the Externals were amongst those who accepted Krakoa's offer of amnesty, despite their numerous crimes against their fellow mutants.

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Tropes related to the Externals in general

Abstract Apotheosis. Each of the Externals was supposed to represent an intangible concept, though given how little they appeared it ended up being more a case of Concepts Are Cheap:
- Corruption: Selene
- Despair: Absalom
- Destruction: Apocalypse
- Ferocity: Crule
- Fortitude: Burke
- Guile: Candra
- Hope: Cannonball
- Opportunity: Gideon
- Patience: Saul
- Wisdom: Nicodemus
- Purity: White Sword
Ancient Conspiracy: Pretty much their shtick, at first anyway...
Back from the Dead: After being dead for over twenty years, 2017's Cable run brought them all back, even Gideon who was shown as suspended in a near-death state recovering from his run-in with Selene. The series also upgraded the immortality of all the Externals, to this, establishing them as resurrecting in new bodies whenever they are destroyed. This has driven more than one of them into Death Seeker territory.
Continuity Snarl: The issue of whether or not Cannonball is one of them. Sam was pronounced immortal after reviving when Sauron killed him, but during the great External purge Selene laughed off the idea. Beast later pronounced Sam to be immortal too, but it's not clear from the writing whether or not he was joking. The 2017 Cable run seems to have put the issue to bed at last, with Cable dismissing the notion of Sam's External status as "Just a rumor, nothing more.", though Sam's External status continues to be referenced in supplementary material and merchandise.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: The 'Great External Purge', a three-issue storyline that played out in X-Force issues #52-54 where Selene basically chewed them up and spat them back out for the hell of it, although they all got better.
Enemy Mine: Despite never originally being an ally to the Externals, and even being the one who originally killed them all off, Selene seems to have teamed up with her External brethren in the pages of 2017's Cable in an attempt to track down a temporal assassin seemingly intent on killing them.
Eviler than Thou:
- Apocalypse was this to the Externals as a whole. He killed Saul in the 12th century, by the 19th century the group had sworn a collective oath to never meddle in his affairs (and they punished Candra harshly for attempting to), and in the Age of Apocalypse the surviving Externals (Gideon, Candra and maybe Crule) all worked for him.
- Mr. Sinister also subjected Candra to this personally, acting as a sort of envoy on behalf of Apocalypse, the 'judge to (the Externals') jury' is how the issue puts it.
Hazy-Feel Turn: Like just about every other villain with an X-gene, most of the Externals threw their lot in with the X-Men on Krakoa in House of X.
Immortality Immorality: The most prominent members are all guilty of this. Burke, Nicodemus and Saul were more peaceful types, but they were limited to background roles and didn't do much to curb the excesses of their more violent brethren.
In Name Only: Their "appearance" in X-Men: Destiny, in which they are reimagined completely as a street gang loyal to Gambit.
Inconsistent Spelling: Their name was occasionally stylized as the X-Ternals. As of 2023, this definitely seems to have been dropped.
Killed Off for Real: The only way to permanently kill the Externals is supposedly if one of them kills and eats the hearts of every other one. So far the only two attempts to do this were stopped, and those killed in the purges were revived. Apocalypse discovers another way to kill them, through a spell requiring the bones and essence of four Externals to power the External Gate on Krakoa, trapping it and making them unable to resurrect.
Mega Manning: As of the 2017 Cable run, Externals can apparently gain the powers and abilities of their brethren by killing them. Gideon acquires numerous powers in this way, and it is retroactively made Selene's reason for committing the Great External purge, and the reason she stopped was due to realizing that holding that much power would drive her insane and destroy her.
Mutants: All of them, with immortality being their primary ability and most of them then having a secondary ability.
- Lightning Bruiser: If one counts Cannonball, this is his mutant ability, with a side of Nigh-Invulnerability.
- Make My Monster Grow: At least one of them has this ability, though which one it is is unclear. Gideon uses the ability in the 2017 Cable run, but only after killing several other Externals and stealing their abilities via Mega Manning.
Orcus on His Throne: This is the other big reason why the Externals failed — aside from Gideon, Selene, and Candra, none of them really did anything. Lampshaded in-universe by Cannonball, who chews them out for not doing more with their immortality.
Really 700 Years Old: One of the factors separating the Externals from other superpowered mutants is that they're all Long-Lived or The Ageless. Some of the youngest, such as Gideon and Absalom, are only a few centuries old (Absalom, born in The Wild West, seems to be less than 200 years old). At the other end of the scale, Apocalypse is at least 5000 years old and Selene was born around 15000 BCE, “after the sinking of Atlantis but before the rise of the Sons of Aryas”. Some, such as Saul, are white-haired and appear relatively elderly, but without seeming feeble - however, most appear to be adults in their twenties, thirties, or forties. In a few cases their youth needs something else to maintain it (e.g. Selene's Life Drinker powers). For most of them, there's no such requirement.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: One issue of X-Force, written a year or two before the great External purge, pretty much all on its own destroyed any credibility the Externals had as villains. When the heroes themselves dismiss their adversaries as unworthy of their attention, that's a pretty hard low point to come back from.
Sunspot: Funny, isn't it? You and your band of sad old men claim to be immortals — well, I've got news for you. We feel you just aren't worth our time.
Start of Darkness: Externals have to die before their immortality awakens, and for many, but not all, it coincided with the first use of their mutant powers. As such, all of them have a Start of Darkness.
Two Girls to a Team: Selene and Candra.
Unholy Matrimony: They don't get married and are not implied to be in a truly committed relationship, but at one point Gideon and Candra are seen together, talking and behaving with the easy physical familiarity of parted-but-still-on-good-terms lovers.
Villain Decay: One of the most jarring examples in all of comics. In a little over a year, they go from sinister immortal Freemason analogues to idiots staring slack-jawed as the heroes drive a tank through the wall of their lair and then proceed to hand them their asses effortlessly.
We Hardly Knew Ye: All of them expect Gideon and the pre-existing characters, but special mention goes to Burke and Nicodemus, both of whom die from exposure to the Legacy Virus. Nicodemus at least gets the dignity of an on-panel death; Burke doesn't even get that.
Wizards and Witches: Candra, Saul and Selene are all proficient mages. Whether they get it through a mutant proclivity for magic or just hard work remains unknown. In Excalibur (2019) we learn that Apocalypse also has been a proficient mage, although we had not seen it before this title.

Gideon

Nationality: Spanish

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: New Mutants #98 (1991)

"It's time again, to take over the world."

A Corrupt Corporate Executive in the vein of Sebastian Shaw, Gideon is the most active representative of the High Lords, manipulating world events through his highly influential and wealthy public identity. A Power Copying mutant, he became a prominent foe of the New Mutants and X-Force through his efforts to induct the Brazilian mutant Sunspot, whom he believed to be the newest External, into the High Lords. He has also been a recurring foe to Night Thrasher of the New Warriors, and an ally of convenience to Nick Fury. None of this was enough to save him when Selene came calling, but an External rarely stays dead...

Above Good and Evil: He considers good and evil to be antiquated concepts that no longer have any meaning in the modern world, and advises the New Warriors that they will have to embrace acts usually regarded as evil if they want to accomplish their goals.
Achilles' Heel: Gideon tends to rely on his ability to copy his opponents' powers. He lost to an opponent that had no powers for Gideon to copy, but had superior combat training. The implication is that other combat-trained humans can both best him in a fight, and render his main power useless.
Adam and/or Eve: These are the names of Gideon's two android assistants and protectors. Adam was, as far as we know, always a machine, while Eve was originally a human before digitizing herself (or being digitized somehow) into an android being.
Arch-Enemy: To Sunspot, who Gideon befriended and manipulated out of a belief that he was a new External, then tormented and mutated him when he learned that the new High Lord was in fact Cannonball.
Artificial Limbs: Subverted, as he looks like he's got golden metal arms but they're just metallic armsleeves.
Bald of Evil: His head is nearly completely bald save for a long clump of hair he keeps tied in a ponytail. Befitting this trope, he gets called "cueball" more than once by heroes.
Big Bad Wannabe: A high-functioning case, as he has the resources and the mutant power to be a real Big Bad (and was explicitly used as such in his original appearances) but can't quite hang with real mutant heavyweights such as Apocalypse and Selene.
The Chessmaster: He is the most active manipulator amongst the High Lords. One issue unsubtly spells this out by having him play a literal chess game with then-leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Toad. Naturally, they were manipulating real people in time with their 'friendly game'.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He masquerades to the public eye as a legitimate businessman, 'the Ziggy Stardust of the corporate world' is how he is initially described.
Didn't Think This Through: For a supposed master manipulator and businessman, Gideon fails to spot some major holes in his plans. At one point, he blackmailed Cannonball into giving an oath on non-interference in the affairs of the Externals. Gideon expected that this oath would extend to the rest of X-Force. Cannonball simply avoided personal encounters with Gideon, but he used his teammates to fight him by proxy.
Ditto Fighter: Gideon is this to any superhuman he fights, due to his Power Copying ability. Sometimes he can ever surpass the original, such as when he "duped" Speedball's powers and used them in ways Robbie never knew he could do.
Early-Installment Weirdness: A lot of this. Before the Externals were officially revealed, a 1992 trading card listed Gideon's group affiliation as "The Profit$". He was also listed as a member of the Upstarts in a Marvel Super Heroes game book, though later events made it clear he had no association with the group.
Even Evil Has Standards: He refuses to associate with the likes of HYDRA and even briefly allies with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. against them.
Evil Is Bigger: At 6'8, Gideon is positively gigantic. Like most characters of this height, artists usually miss the memo, making this an Informed Attribute.
Evil Mentor: He played this to Sunspot for a time, believing him to be the new External which Burke had foreseen.
Good Old Fisticuffs: He's a reasonably good brawler, acquitting himself well in hand-to-hand combat against Crule and then the New Warriors, although Night Thrasher was able to best him in a rematch.
Kingpin in His Gym: He was shown to have a private gym where he honed his skills against Mecha-Mooks bought from Shaw Industries.
Gideon: Adam, take a memo — "Dear Sebastian, for the money I am paying, I would prefer if you would make these tin darlings a little quieter. Ever yours, Gideon."
Manipulative Bastard: He is this in spades. He has Sunspot's father killed so he can take the boy under his own wing, and later uses his corporate tycoon cover identity to turn public opinion against X-Force.
Man of Wealth and Taste: He can dress well when he wants to, but oddly enough his usual outfit falls well short of stylish.
Noodle Incident: He was apparently kicked out of Harvard at one point. He never tells Sunspot why.
Off with His Head!: A Gideon who traveled back in time from 3,000 years in the future to steal the powers of the other other Externals was decapitated via a Portal Cut by Blink.
Opportunistic Bastard: He takes advantage of a hostage scheme orchestrated by The Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy to turn public opinion against X-Force in general and Cable in particular.
Power Copying: His mutant ability, "wild generic template", allows him to copy the abilities of any mutants within a certain range, as well as decidedly non-mutant power sources such as Mecha-Mooks. Depending on the Writer, it's either a Discard and Draw kind of power or he can copy up to three different powers at once.
Really 700 Years Old: He's roughly 500 years old, putting him in the middle of the pack as Externals go.
Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He's the only High Lord who expands his focus beyond mutants, being a frequent thorn in the side of Dwayne Taylor (Night Thrasher) and opposing Hydra alongside Nick Fury.
Start of Darkness: He was originally a humble tradesman on his way to the New World on the Pinta, who fell ill from scurvy and died in the ship's hold.
Verbal Tic: Has a habit of using a lot of business terms and slang in his speech.
Villain Has a Point:
- When Gideon captured the New Warriors he berated them for their presumption, executing a violent sting operation against someone they not only believed to be a normal human, but someone they had no solid evidence of committing any crime at all. Despite being a raging asshole, Gideon very much has a point there, which the New Warriors themselves realize.
- In the pages of 2017's Cable Gideon gets another one of these moments, scoffing at Cable's attempt to stop him from meddling with the timestream. Given Cable's multiple time-jumps through history, he's not exactly in a position to be casting stones there.
- In an early interaction of Gideon and Cable, Gideon voiced his mistrust of the man. He figured that Cable was prolonging a conflict for his own amusement, and that Cable treated potential casualties as "an afterthought". Cable actually has a history of lying to and manipulating his allies, and he has not hesitated to sacrifice some of them to serve his own goals.
Villain Decay: In his original appearances Gideon was the new and improved Sebastian Shaw, having just as much if not more political influence as the Hellfire Club's (then) deceased leader and a much more versatile mutant power. He has never regained this stature since being unceremoniously killed off by Selene, although he does attempt his own bid for supremacy over the group, and later avoids being sacrificed by Apocalypse by allying with him against the other Externals.
Villain Team-Up: Fairly fond of this, in keeping with his mercantile outlook. He's allied himself with AIM, GeneTech, and Toad's incarnation of the Brotherhod of Evil Mutants.
Villain with Good Publicity: Gideon is seen by the public as an eccentric but well-meaning businessman.

Absalom

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9328edd6_a35b_41ae_9bd6_7e4c6d54a522.jpeg

Nationality: American

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Force #10 (1992)

One of the youngest Externals, his powers did not activate until 1896, although he had already been identified by his fellow Externals and joined the High Lords several years prior. A self-important man with more pride than ability, he never acts without the support of the other Externals.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Begs for his life from Apocalypse after being trounced by an empowered Rictor. Apocalypse grants him mercy as he already had four Externals with which to power the External Gate.
Bad with the Bone: His mutant ability is this, and he was essentially the proto-Marrow. He is able to both grow and shoot from his body spikes that are several feet long.
Big Bad Wannabe: He'd like to be a more competent and effective person but his impulsive personality prevents him from acquiring the influence and respect that his contemporary Gideon manages to gain. Also, his mutant power isn't terribly formidable.
Body Horror: When infected with the Legacy virus, his bone growth was prone to flaring wildly out of his control.
Break the Haughty: His experience with the Legacy virus had this effect on him, to the point that he even apologized to Cannonball and Boomer for insulting them. This Character Development stuck after his death, and while he's still high-strung he's a lot less insufferable in modern day stories than he was during his original appearances.
Continuity Snarl: When his history was originally revealed in X-Force #36, it was stated that Absalom hadn't ascended until 1896, and before that had been a lowly thief and outlaw. This was contradicted by his appearance in Gambit's title, in which he was already affiliated with the Externals in 1891. The current line is that he was found by the Externals before his death, affiliated with them despite neither being immortal nor having knowledge of his mutant powers yet, then broke with them for unexplained reasons to live the much less glamorous life of an outlaw.
Death Seeker: Became one of these in the 2017 Cable series, throwing in with Gideon in exchange from a promise to end his life. Ironically, during his original appearances Absalom was very much afraid of death, having a Villainous Breakdown in response to being infected with the mutant-killing Legacy virus. When he reappears in Excalibur (2019) he has gotten past this and actually begs for his life.
Dying Alone: When he was facing death due to the Legacy Virus, he expressed a fear of dying alone and unmourned. His enemy Cannonball told him that he would sincerely mourn Absalom's death.
Fatal Flaw: Both as a mortal and as an immortal, he acts impulsively and faces severe consequences for it. His fatal encounter with Selene was one of these consequences. He thought that X-Force had murdered his allies, and he acted as a hothead in assaulting them. By the time he realized that his actual foe was Selene, she was already in range to attack him.
The Gunslinger: Before he became an immortal, he was one of these. Notably, he has never used guns again since coming into his immortality.
Immune to Bullets: Averted. When his powers were activated for the first time, they saved him from hanging. But he was then gunned down by several armed men. He revived a couple of days later, but he fled the town to avoid a repeat performance.
Man of Wealth and Taste: One quality about him which has to be given credit. Absalom might not be the most prominent or effective External, but he is usually the best-dressed.
Really 700 Years Old: As one of the youngest Externals he's on the kiddy pool end of this trope, being comparable in age to Wolverine and Mystique.
Smug Snake: He affected a sneering and classist personality despite his less-than-noble roots. Contracting the Legacy virus and being killed by Selene beat a lot of this attitude out of him, but he still thinks of himself as more important than he actually is.
Start of Darkness: He was an outlaw in The Wild West who was hanged after dishonorably shooting the legendary gunslinger Caleb Hammer in the back.
Tragic Villain: Fittingly for the External who represents despair, his history is a long series of failures, with each one making him vow to surpass himself and become a better man, only for him to backslide into the same self-defeating attitudes and behaviors.
Villain in a White Suit: In the early years of his ascension he favored this style of fashion, as seen in the page picture.
Wild Hair: He sports a flowing blonde mane that's more than a little reminiscent of Tyler Dayspring's.
You Will Be Spared: Apocalypse tells him he won't kill him since he has the four Externals he needs to complete the ritual.

Burke

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Force #10 (1992)

A precognitive External, Burke suffered many deaths and lost all his loved ones before joining the group. After being killed by Selene he left his rich and influential lifestyle behind him in favor of a quiet life in Tonasket, Washington.

Affably Evil: His response to a visit from X-Force in the pages of 2017's Cable is to offer the heroes tea. And biscuits.
Born-Again Immortality: When last seen (as of 2020) he had resurrected yet again, as a baby born to a couple in Maple Ridge, Canada.
Burn the Witch!: He has been killed many times over the years, one method of which was when he was burned at the stake in the 17th century.
Death Seeker: He became one of these and welcomed Gideon's attempt to take his power and end his life permanently, though he is much more casual and laid back about it than the high-strung Absalom.
Dreaming of Things to Come: He dreams of the future, with one of his visions indicating that a new External, suspected to be Cannonball, had been born. The 2017 Cable run upgrades it to Combat Clairvoyance.
Harmless Villain: Out of all the Externals, he's easily the most benign.
Irony:
- The External who most wanted to die is now one of their few surviving members.
- A character who supposedly represents Fortitude, yet has given up on life and only wants to die. Although, having been reincarnated, he may find fresh reason to embrace life.
Last-Name Basis: Burke is a rather normal name, implying it's his actual last name.
Man of Wealth and Taste: On a more subdued level than his typically flamboyant brethren, but as a High Lord he always dressed fashionably. Subverted when he broke with them, as Cable found him in a log cabin wearing humble flannel.
Mark of the Supernatural: His purple eyes mark his mutant precognition ability.
Non-Action Guy: He has a passive mutation and no combat ability, thus he usually stands on the sidelines when the superhero brawls break out.
Off with His Head!: Among the deaths he mentions is being guillotined during the 18th century.
Punch-Clock Villain: He works with the other Externals because of their shared immortality, but he's not an inherently bad person.
Retired Monster: Being killed by Selene made him give up on world domination, and when he resurrected he chose to live a humble and secluded life.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: He tells Cable that he is simply sick of dying painfully and being reborn all the time and that he wants to reunite with all of the loved ones he has outlived.

Nicodemus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f8c043b9_c326_4f63_bf97_77c207c4f7f5.jpeg

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Force #10 (1992)

"We are immortal, Gideon. No one ever said that would bring enlightenment."

Another of the elder Externals, Nicodemus' origins are shrouded in mystery, although he claims to be as old as the Swiss mountains which he resides in.

Affably Evil: In his original appearances he has one of the more polite Externals.
The Heart: Played this role within the External dynamic originally, being the peacemaker of the group.
Killed Off for Real: His bones and lifeforce were drained by Apocalypse to create the External Gate on Krakoa, which prevents him from ever resurrecting again.
Playing with Fire: His mutant ability allows him to generate energy flares of 'unstable pyroplasma' that carry incredible explosive force upon impact.
Pet the Dog: A small example, but he did express concern for the fate of Sunspot after the other Externals discovered that DaCosta was not actually one of them. As Gideon puts it, he "hopes for the best, even where a dupe like Berto is concerned".
Power Incontinence: While dying of the Legacy virus he lost control of his powers, exploding and incinerating himself and the doctors and nurses who were caring for him.
Sacred Hospitality: He acts as host for the Externals when they are first introduced, and Gideon compliments him on the "splendid meal" he has prepared for them.
Sacrificial Lion: He was the first External killed the Legacy virus, to show readers that even they were vulnerable to its effects.
Time Abyss: If his boast about being as old as the Swiss mountains is true, then he's up there with Crule in age, older than Apocalypse and comparable to Selene among elder mutants.
Token Good Teammate: Gideon regarded him this way, describing him as a "caring soul even after centuries of hardship".
Took a Level in Badass: It took 20 years for the guy to get an issue where he actually did anything, but when he finally did get around to using his mutant powers in a fight, they were strong enough to make Apocalypse himself call for aid.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Previously one of the more benign Externals, he reveals a nastier side in X-Men (2019), expressing contempt for the younger mutants of Krakoa and refusing to sacrifice himself for their sake.

Saul

Saul / Garbha-Hsien

Nationality: Chinese

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Force #10 (1992)

"Forever vying for political and monetary control over the destiny of this planet. Each of us aware that to truly gain such complete control requires mastery over time itself. For what sense is there in gaining power over your own destiny?"

Born Garbha-Hsien, he is one of the oldest Externals, having already been old when the "continents shook". Once the ruler of a kingdom in the mountains of Mongolia before an encounter with Apocalypse humbled him, Saul left his kingdom to learn more of the wider world. His exact mutant power is unclear, as his mastery of magic has had him display many abilities.

Age Without Youth: At least physically he's the most elderly-looking External, along with Nicodemus, with Fanon stating that it is possibly due to his mutant powers not awakening until he was already old and wizened, but nobody knows for sure, since he may look that old simply because he is that old, nonwithstanding his immortality still keeping him alive.
Big Bad Wannabe: He's one of the more formidable High Lords, once flattening a trio of X-Force kids (Warpath, Siryn, and Boomer) with a single attack, but still can't compare to the power of Apocalypse or Selene.
Combo Platter Powers: Which all fall under Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
- Playing with Fire: Like Selene, he can manipulate fire at will.
- Scaled Up: His most potent ability is the power to transform into a dragon.
- Shock and Awe: He can fire Hand Blasts of explosive electrical energy.
Early-Installment Weirdness: In his debut appearance he had chalk-white skin and spoke in lilac speech bubbles, implying a Voice of the Legion-esque quality to his dialogue. In all later appearances he had the skin one would expect of a Mongolian man and spoke with normal speech bubbles.
Elderly Immortal: Fanon states that His first death possibly did not occur until he was already an old man, thus locking his physical age in there, but nothing was ever confirmed yet.
Evil vs. Evil: During the 12th century he clashed with Apocalypse and was decisively defeated.
Green and Mean: He usually wears green robes.
Killed Off for Real: His bones and lifeforce were drained by Apocalypse to create the External Gate on Krakoa, which prevents him from ever resurrecting again.
Nonindicative Name: Like many other Externals, Garba-Hsien uses the codename of a Biblical figure, but unlike the others who were born in Christian societies, he was born in a time far preceding the Bible and has no real reason to venerate anybody in it (although he's old enough to have met the Biblical Saul and may have taken his name out of respect).
Outliving One's Offspring: He had at least twelve children during his time as a ruler in Mongolia and constructed grand tombs for each of them after they passed.
Smug Super: He sneers at the X-Force kids, calling them "eyeblinks" and "barely-evolving cellular protoplasm".
Time Abyss: He stated at one point that he was "far older" than Apocalypse, putting him at upwards of 5000 years. His reference to the time when "the continents shook" is believed to be describing the post-Hyborian cataclysm, which occurred in 8000 B.C. and reshaped all Earth's continents.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can transform into a dragon, presumably via magic rather than his mutant abilities.
Water Torture: Inflicted this on Warpath, Siryn, and Boomer by shackling them to the cliffs of his coastal home and letting the tide almost drown them over and over.
White Hair, Black Heart: His hair's long since gone completely white and while not flagrantly evil, he's still not one of the good guys.
Yellow Peril: He has a distinctly Fu Manchu look, giving him the appearance of a poor man's Mandarin.

Crule

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7f2a0958_09c2_43d5_8fd2_1b668240ec83.jpeg

Nationality: Ancient northern Africa

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Force #12 (1992)

A External who has lived since the mid-Hyborian Age. By far the most violent and openly malevolent of the Externals, even when compared with Selene, but is thankfully not clever enough to scheme on his own and typically serves as muscle for his fellow High Lords or other villains.

Amazing Technicolor Population: His mutation comes with dark purple skin.
Asshole Victim: His death at the hands of Rictor and the use of his bones to power the External Gate won't draw tears from anyone.
Ax-Crazy: He's one of the Externals and also by far the least sane. During World War II, he joined up with the Nazis to happily operate gas chambers in concentration camps.
Boisterous Weakling: He can send ordinary people running for cover but no one with powers has any trouble with him. Gideon easily beats him after absorbing his powers (even though Crule has centuries more experience in battle), the X-Force team contains him without too much trouble, Selene kills him with a casual gesture, and Rictor later does the same, cooking him alive in lava.
Blood Knight: He apparently has this encoded in his DNA. When Gideon absorbs his mutant powers, he becomes hyper-aggressive and beats Sunspot nearly to death for no real reason. When he shakes it off, he sounds almost embarrassed with himself.
Crule: Ah, you replicate my spirit as well as my flesh, External!
Gideon: I — I merely — am trying to make amends for my mistakes...
The Brute: All he's good for is breaking things and killing people. And he's not even very good at the latter.
Dumb Muscle: The Externals know he's this, and use him accordingly.
Early-Installment Weirdness: His name was spelled 'Krule' in his first appearance and on the box of his action figure.
Establishing Character Moment: When Gideon goes to retrieve him, he finds Crule tearing apart a Madripoor bar because he thought someone cheated him in a card game.
The Fog of Ages: He has no real idea how to function in society as anything but a Psycho for Hire. Being older than most of the other Externals probably has something to do with that.
Humiliation Conga: Crule's encounters with X-Force. The first time he met them, they fought and the team put him in a body cast. The second time they met was when X-Force kidnapped him out of a hospital — still in that body cast. After talking him into ratting out his fellow Externals, well...
Cannonball: What did you do with him, guys?
Sunspot: Well, the fiberglass cast he was wearin' floats, so we kind of — uhm — dumped him... in the Pacific Ocean.
Killed Off for Real: His bones and lifeforce were drained by Apocalypse to create the External Gate on Krakoa, which prevents him from ever resurrecting again.
Obviously Evil: The fact that he wears human skulls on his belt is a pretty significant indicator of his moral stance.
Psycho for Hire: His day job in the periods of history when he isn't being put to work by the Externals.
Psycho Supporter: To the other Externals, who (rightly) considered him a mad dog only fit for killing.
Purple Is Powerful: His whole body is colored like a bruise, and indeed he's quite strong — just so long as he's the one dishing it out.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Like Mystique, he likes wearing a skull belt. Unlike Mystique, he wears real skulls.
Super-Strength: His mutant ability. In a rare variation, he doesn't have any form of Nigh-Invulnerability, making him quite the Glass Cannon.
Sycophantic Servant: Played with, as he frequently expresses contempt for his masters but does their bidding anyway and seems incapable of doing anything on his own.
Those Wacky Nazis: Apparently lent his support to them in World War II, even though their attitudes on race would seem to preclude accepting the support of a purple-skinned man of supposedly African descent (but then again , he may be ancient Aryan instead).
Time Abyss: His Hyborian origins make him older than Apocalypse and at least 10,000 Years old.
Took a Level in Badass: In the Age of Apocalypse, if the being called Wolverine there is in fact him (it's definitely not Logan).

Candra

Candra / Red Death

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: Gambit #1 (1993)

"I'm the goddess of thieves. I don't need luck."

The benefactress of both the Thieves Guild that Gambit belongs to and their rivals the Assassins Guild, Candra is a former lover and bitter enemy of Remy, who has often thwarted her plans. Although she is one of the more prominent Externals, Candra rarely works with her fellow High Lords, preferring instead to pursue her own schemes. She's notably hard to kill even by External standards, due to her Voldemort-esque use of a Soul Jar.

Ambiguously Bi: Candra's had relationships with men, including Gambit, and a 2023 Marvel's Voices story also shows the Black Cat making a pass at her. Candra's response isn't shown, and the Black Cat refuses to comment about what happened next... but certainly doesn't seem unhappy.
Arch-Enemy: To Gambit, having repeatedly fought him for control and influence over the Thieves' and Assassins' Guilds. She was also this on a lesser level to Storm, who stole her heartstone during her young thieving days.
Bad Boss: In Scarlet Spider, once Logan and Kaine manage to get a few hits in, Candra starts murdering and absorbing members of the Assassin's Guild to heal and repower herself.
Came Back Wrong: Her latest resurrection left her in the body of a teenager, a form she was very unhappy with. She tried to orchestrate a Human Sacrifice of either Rogue or Belladonna to fix herself, but playing mind games with Gambit led to it being stopped.
Combo Platter Powers: She's more powerful than the High Lords and comparable to Selene in abilities, boasting telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to activate the X-gene in latent mutants, Nigh-Invulnerability, psionic vampirism, and an extensive knowledge of alchemy.
The Dog Bites Back: After manipulating and tormenting Gambit for years, he finally gets a chance at revenge when Apocalypse puts her in the crosshairs for his External gateway ritual and takes it, throwing Candra's heartstone over to Big Blue to be rid of her once and for all.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Her name was also spelled as 'Kandra' early on. Clearly the success of Mortal Kombat had an influence on early '90s Marvel's character naming conventions.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Her character arc in the mini-series Night Man / Gambit. She considers migrating the Ultraverse to start a new life, and tries to rekindle her past romance with Gambit. Gambit openly distrusts her, and Candra also finds out that the characters of the Ultraverse struggle with the same circle of pain and betrayal which she was trying to escape. She gives up on trying to either reform or to improve her life.
Lady in Red: In life she favored this look. After her last resurrection she graduated to Red and Black and Evil All Over, although she eventually returned to red.
Life Drinker: She displayed this tendency in Scarlet Spider, using it to a power a Healing Factor strong enough to deal with repeated murder attempts from Kaine and Logan.
Loners Are Freaks: She has always been among the more solitary members of the Externals, often ignoring what the rest of her fellows are doing in favor of her own schemes and interests. In a stark deviation from almost every other character with an X-gene, Candra did not sign up with the fledgling mutant nation of Krakoa in House of X, opting instead to return to New Orleans and reconsolidate her power over the Assassins' and Thieves Guilds.
Killed Off for Real: Her bones and lifeforce were drained by Apocalypse to create the External Gate on Krakoa, which prevents her from ever resurrecting again. She nearly avoided this fate thanks to hiding her heartstone in Otherworld's Starlight Citadel, but Gambit found it and threw it through the Krakoan portal to her bones in order to finally be rid of her.
Longevity Treatment: The Elixir of Life, an alchemic concoction Candra provides to her servants to extend their lifespans.
The Magnificent: Candra likes to refer to herself as 'Candra of the Floating Spires'. Since her 2013 resurrection, she has taken a new and more badass title: the Red Death.
The Man Behind the Man: Well, Woman Behind: Candra is this for the Thieves Guild and Assassins Guild of New Orleans.
Manipulative Bitch: So much so that she represents Guile within the External pantheon.
Mind over Matter: Candra is an accomplished telekinetic who can levitate herself, erect TK shields, hold victims in mid-air, and even bring down a building with thought alone.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Her outfits usually have a plunging neckline that leaves her cleavage and midriff exposed.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: As of 2013 Candra is now an "immortal death-powered telekinetic zombie".
Rogues' Gallery Transplant: In her last (as of 2017) appearance Candra was imported as a villain for Scarlet Spider. Not only had she never interacted with the new Scarlet Spider Kaine, neither she nor any other External every interacted with anyone from Spidey's corner of the Marvel Universe (unless you count that time Gideon captured the New Warriors). However, Kaine's series established him as having bad blood with the Assassin's Guild who were working on resurrecting her—she was effectively a Diabolus ex Nihilo to him while he was trying to kill Belladonna.
Really 700 Years Old: Her exact origins are unknown, but she's at least 1000 years old, stating once that "nearly a millennium ago" a mortal gained possession of an External heart and it cost her dearly.
Signature Headgear: Her headpiece is the most consistent part of her outfit.
Smug Snake: She is one of these in the Gambit miniseries, manipulating Clan LeBeau out of a very mistaken belief that she is capable of outmaneuvering both her fellow Externals and Apocalypse himself.
Soul Jar: At one point Candra stored the totality of her essence in a 'heart stone' which granted her true, perfect immortality. It was believed that the destruction of the stone was the only way to kill her, and indeed she vanished for a long time after Cyclops ultimately pulled it off, but eventually returned in 2013's Scarlet Spider.
Start of Darkness: While her origins are unknown, she was a whole lot less bloodthirsty when a time-traveling Gambit met her in the 1890s. Then she got subjected to Eviler than Thou by Mr. Sinister.
Statuesque Stunner: She's 5'9"/175cm tall, making her barely shorter than Selene.
Super-Empowering: She is known to the New Orleans guilds as 'the Benefactress' because of her habit of granting boons to their members in exchange for oaths of service; the 'power and the life' to the Assassins and Thieves guilds respectively.
Took a Level in Badass: In 2013 it was revealed that even destroying her heartstone can't kill her, suggesting it might be truly impossible to permanently kill her. At least until her heartstone was reunited with her bones and used by Apocalypse to create and power the External Gate to Otherworld, using all of her power in the process.
Took a Level in Jerkass: According to an origin story in the first Gambit series, Candra took the then-recently exiled Gambit as her lover and treated him rather well. After he abandoned her, she became bitter and vindictive. Several of her plans against Gambit and his loved ones are apparently due to the Woman Scorned effect rather than the self-interest which otherwise motivates her.
Villain Team-Up: She teams up with Hydra's Baron Strucker in the 1930s, an ironic choice of allies considering that her fellow External Gideon would oppose Strucker and Hydra alongside Nick Fury 60 years later.
Weaksauce Weakness: During a battle between Candra, Wolverine, and Scarlet Spider, Scarlet Spider used his powers to make a spider land on her face, which caused her to freak out.
The Worf Effect: She is subjected to this in the 2017 Cable run, being the first External killed off by Gideon to emphasize how dangerously capable the temporal assassin hunting them is.

Selene

Selene Gallio / The Black Queen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a1888899_151f_4473_ad67_ec9fd1517aec.jpeg

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: New Mutants #9 (1983)

"Gideon was right... This is External business."

Possibly the Eldest of the Externals, Selene is an energy vampire mutant born over 17,000 years ago during the Hyborian Age. Like Candra, she is more aptly described as an associate of the group rather than a full-time member, allying herself with them when it serves her ends but otherwise acting independently of the High Lords. She was even responsible for killing most of them off in the so-called "Great External Purge", a massacre it took the Externals decades to return from.

See Selene's entry on the X-Men: Hellfire Club page for her tropes.

Apocalypse

En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7075438_rco001_1568811166.jpg

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: X-Factor #6 (1986)

"You are not obsolete. You are useful. We have a community to feed, and you are the fuel."

As Selene is the eldest of the Externals, Apocalypse is the most powerful of their number. Born in the days of Ancient Egypt, a series of unfortunate events (and a lot of meddling from various Time Travellers) led this former desert raider and slave to embrace his "destiny" and become one of the world's greatest threats. After a clash with Saul in the 12th century, the High Lords accepted his superiority, swearing an oath never to meddle in his affairs. Like Candra and Selene, Apocalypse only associates with his External brethren when it suits him.

See Apocalypse's own page for his tropes.

Characters / X-Men: Externals

The Externals