Living members
Although there is a core group of family members, Alan Davis has stated there are an unknown number of other family members who usually keep to themselves.[3][4] For this reason, the following family members are listed here in approximate order of age, based on the family tree given in the 2008 The ClanDestine miniseries, and other sources. Rik Destine, whose birth order is unknown, is placed before Rory and Pandora Destine, because the latter are known to be the youngest members of the family. All of the Destines, especially Adam, have a mental link to their family, allowing them to sometimes feel when other family members are in danger.
Adam Destine – Adam was born Adam of Ravenscroft in 1168. While fighting in the Third Crusade, he rescued a Djinn named Elalyth that he first saw in a vision when he was sixteen. She made him immortal and invulnerable, and bore him numerous children. In 1374, Adam and his son Thaddeus were escorting his other son Albert to the Shalu Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, when they were attacked by the Geong Si, an army of zombies controlled by the Inhuman Tral. During the battle, Thaddeus was knocked off a cliff, and the otherwise pacifistic Albert, in his grief, lashed out at their attackers, discovering that his healing ability could be manifested as a weapon, and killed them all, much to his subsequent regret. Other Inhumans then appeared, explaining that Tral was a criminal who escaped their hidden city.[26] Adam traveled to Russia in 1612 to help establish the Romanov Dynasty. While horseback riding through the Sayan Mountains in 1615 en route to Japan to aid Albert and Grace, he encountered a trio of armored insectoid extraterrestrials attempting to construct a teleportational portal through which to bring an army to claim the Earth. The aliens attacked Adam, but none of their weapons could harm him, and believing that his invulnerability was representative of the entire human race, they departed, fearing they could not conquer Earth.[16] In the 1950s, he consulted Albert Einstein for help explaining Vincent's behavior, as Adam did not initially believe Vincent's claim that he could travel through time.[23]
Adam is immune to any injury, and cannot be harmed by any weapon or attack,[13][16] including psychic attack.[13] Attempts by his daughter Kay to read his mind, in fact, result in pain for her, because of the "clairvoyant insight" he has developed due to his advanced age. He almost never feels pain, with two exceptions: When he senses when one of his children has died or is led to believe by his precognitive abilities that one of his children's death is imminent,[6] and when Vincent, under the possession of an interdimensional demon, attacked him with mystical energy.[23] He does not require nourishment, can survive in the vacuum of outer space,[12] and does not need to sleep.[14] While he is visible in the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
Elalyth – a green-skinned being called a Djinn, similar to a genie,[8] that met Adam in the 12th century, after she first appeared to him in a dream. She gave him the gift of immortality. After Adam killed Vincent, she left him, and returned to the mystical realm of Yden. Aside from flashbacks, Elalyth did not appear, nor was her name revealed, until ClanDestine (Vol. 2) #5, in which she is reunited with Adam, who goes to live with her in Yden. A sketch of Adam and the core Destine characters on the first page of the sketchbook section in the 1994 ClanDestine Preview issue bears the caption, "She left and he got custody of the kids".[3]
Jasmine Destine, also known as Kay Cera and as Cuckoo – the first born of Adam and Elalyth's children,[14] Jasmine is an 800-year-old[5] telepath who has the ability to transfer her consciousness to mortally wounded host bodies when the one she inhabits is destroyed, and having her brother Albert heal the body's injuries, for which she is known as Cuckoo.[10] In 1519 she was in the newly discovered Mexico, exploring the territory with Hernán Cortés's conquistadores while inhabiting the body of a Spanish nobleman, with her sister Grace posing as her valet. At this point Cuckoo had begun to study magic, and learned to channel eldritch forces to enhance her powers. When the conquistadores attacked the Aztecs, Grace, whose emerging psychic gifts were too immature to use as weapons, fled with Cuckoo and some of the Aztecs that they had befriended, but the two were separated.[28] In 1526 she was in Peru, and at some point during or prior to this, learned a Mayan dialect.[5] In the 1860s, she inhabited the body of Natsume Masako, the wife of Prince Sakai Masaaki. During this time, she was attacked by the vampire Marietta Borgezia, and reacted by killing Borgezia's spirit with her own consciousness, which resulted in the vampire becoming Jasmine's new host.
Cuckoo can read the minds of others, project telepathic illusions,[12] project her astral body, bring the astral bodies of other people to her location,[10] and when mortally wounded, transfer her mind to the bodies of other humans and even animals in order to prolong her life.[12] She can also put someone into a coma in order to protect them from psychic attack, or use that person as a conduit through which she can psychically attack someone else. She is unable to read the minds of Lenz's creatures (though she was able to sense enough of their minds to be frightened of them[10]), nor is she any match for Lenz himself.[13] She is also unable to read her father's mind, as it causes her great pain,[6] and is not as powerful a telepath as Charles Xavier, who easily repelled her unwanted telepathic advances.[18]
She is a hedonist, and will use her powers for her own benefit, casually reading or manipulating the minds of others without their permission, out of curiosity, personal gain or anger, much to the disapproval of others.[30] Walter does not approve of how she indulges the twins' superhero fantasies, or how she visits only when her lifestyle permits it, buying the twins' affections with gifts.[5][13][14] Unlike Dominic, Kay supports Adam's killing of Vincent, saying that he was a "bad seed".[6]
Alan Davis designed her out of his love of drawing "impossibly beautiful" women. He originally called her Mosaic (describing her fractured psyche), but DC had just published a book with "Mosaic" in the title, so her codename was to be Kimera, but Namorita's name was changed to Kymera just before the series was published, forcing Davis to again change her name. He describes her as "Confident. Non-conformist. Practical but stylish."[31] Cuckoo's current body is sometimes depicted as a Caucasian, and other times with brown skin of varying darkness.
Albert Destine – a monk in the Seventh Moon temple in Nepal,[4] who has the ability to heal others. Albert suffered terribly when he attempted to use his powers to stem the Black Death that had swept through Europe, though the details of this part of his life have not been specified. In the winter of 1374, he was being escorted to the Shalu Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet by Adam and his brother Thaddeus, and when Thaddeus was knocked over a cliff by an army of zombies led by the Inhuman Tral, the normally pacifistic Albert lashed out, discovering his healing ability could be used as a weapon, and killed Tral, much to his subsequent regret.[26] In 1615 Albert and Grace were in Japan protecting the Shogun Tokugawa during a coup.[16] On many occasions he has healed a mortally wounded human body that Cuckoo acquired as a host. After healing the fatal stab wounds incurred by her current host, he informed her that this would be the very last time he would do so, vowing that when she lost this host, she would die.[10] Like Kay, Gracie and Nathaniel, he is a practitioner of the mystic arts, but has never been adept as they in using them.
Grace "Gracie" Destine – born in 1503, Grace is an archeologist with strong telepathic and telekinetic powers. In 1519, when she and Cuckoo (inhabiting the body of a Spanish nobleman) were in the newly discovered Mexico, exploring the territory with Hernán Cortés's conquistadores, sixteen-year-old Grace, who easily passed for a boy, posed as his valet. When the conquistadores attacked the Aztecs, Grace, whose emerging psychic gifts were too immature to use as weapons, left with Cuckoo and some of the Aztecs that they had befriended, but the two were separated. Grace followed Cuckoo's example, and learned to channel eldritch forces to enhance her powers. In doing this, she accidentally unleashed a demon called the Synraith. She managed to seal the dimensional rift from which it came, but as it now knew where our dimension was, it would eventually return.[18] In 1615 Grace and Albert were in Japan protecting the Shogun Tokugawa during a coup.[16] At some point in her travels she became acquainted with the young sorcerer who in his old age would become known as the Ancient One, the mentor to Doctor Strange, and Strange's predecessor as Sorcerer Supreme of Earth.[23] She later fought the Synraith a second time centuries later with Cuckoo (now in the body of a Native American woman) and a young Charles Xavier. They finally managed to destroy the creature during their third encounter with it, with the help of Adam and the X-Men, during the 1996 ClanDestine and X-Men miniseries.[28]
Newton Destine – a superhuman genius whose talents include mechanical engineering, chemistry, medicine and surgery.[18] He built the ClanDestine's advanced technology and set up the Relative Strangers Protocol. He vanished to Etherea, an alternate Earth in another dimension, during Rory and Pandora's infancy, but teleports back to Earth whenever Dominic calls him, using a special signal watch. While Warlord of the planet Ethera, he had another body engineered on Narcissus 4, one that is taller and far more muscular, and therefore more suited to the lifestyle of a leader, and when using this body, he keeps his original body in suspended animation,[12][26] as he prefers that more meek body for intellectual pursuits.[13] In addition to teleportational devices, he has also built sophisticated powered armor suits and weapons. Newton wears a device called a "psi-shield" to prevent Kay from probing his mind. Time moves faster on Etherea than on Earth. Three Etherean days are equivalent to nine Earth hours, which often allows Newton to respond to the signal watch and build devices apparently quickly.[26] Despite his genius, he is not a theoretician, as his science is practical and instinctive.[23]
Walter "Wallop" Destine – Walter is a writer of romance novels under the pseudonym Sabrina Bentley, who has the ability to transform into a large, hulking blue creature with immense strength and invulnerability. He usually maintains his personality and intelligence in this state, but when pushing his ability to transform larger and larger, his hair becomes aflame,[4][14][28] and he is prone to losing his temper, and going berserk. He can also inadvertently transform if he loses his temper or if it is triggered by psychic attack. Transforming back to human form takes a long time,[13] and is often not complete, as sometimes his ears or feet will remain in their monstrous state.[5]
Walter is at least 200 years old, and has experienced conflict in numerous wars. He was in Shanghai during the Opium War, in Balaclava during the Crimean War, in Delhi during the Sepoy Mutiny, in Passchendaele during World War I, and in El Alamein during World War II,[27] during which he served with military intelligence. In 1944 his station was attacked by the Nazis with a large robotic war machine. The war machine was confronted by the Invaders (Captain America, the Submariner and the Human Torch), but rendered them unconscious. Walter then transformed and destroyed the robot before fleeing from Allied soldiers, who happened on the scene and thought him in league with the Nazis.[16] As part of the Relative Stranger Protocol, he is known today to outsiders as the son of the Walter Destine who served in WWII. He is the guardian of Rory and Pandora, who were led to believe for years that he was their uncle. They gave him the codename Wallop, though he refuses to accept this name.[10] As the twins' primary guardian, he is generally strict, and resents the appearance of the other siblings in the children's lives when it suits them,
William "Oz" Chance – an actor who plays the role of Cap'n Oz in action movies. He has peak human strength and acrobatic agility. He first appeared in The ClanDestine (Vol. 1) #2.[29] He was present at the 1969 Woodstock festival with Dominic and the adolescent Vincent.[23]
Dominic "Hex" Destine – as a child, Dominic, who has bright red hair and pale green skin, felt neglected by Adam, whom he saw as aloof. After developing his super senses in adulthood, he became an illusionist and escapologist named Hex. His costume is the one he used as a performer. Prior to Vincent's death, during one performance in New York City's Greenwich Village, an encounter with a Chinese puzzle box caused him to fall into an occult dimensional realm, from which he was rescued by Doctor Strange.[16] After Adam killed Vincent, and because Walter allowed him to, Dominic, who harbored resentment towards them, retreated to a remote island for eleven years, in part because his enhanced senses are overwhelmed in more urban areas.[12] Although Dominic moved to the Destine family estate following Adam's return to Earth, he refused a reconciliation with Adam, saying that he would never forgive him for killing Vincent.[14] He went to live on Etherea with Newton at the end of ClanDestine (Vol. 2) #5.[27]
Walter describes Dominic as quite brilliant, with a capacity for flawless deductive reasoning. This, and his enhanced senses, make him the ultimate sleuth. He is an expert hand-to-hand fighter with a slim, athletic build, and his knowledge of pressure points and nerve clusters[12] makes him one of the few people who can hurt or subdue Walter in his transformed state.[5][12][14] His sense of hearing allows him to hear through concrete and steel walls. His sense of smell is so acute that he can detect the scent of someone who has handled an object that he examines.[12] He can also identify the specific food ingredients that someone has handled, even after they have washed their hands, and can smell the traces of other people that person has been near.[6] When scouting the Griffin Technologies Complex from a nearby hill, he was able to ascertain that the complex included a large underground structure three levels deeps, which housed large amounts of machinery, but no life forms, though it was not specified which senses he utilized to discern this.
Samantha "Sam" Destine – an artist who has the power to generate and shape a metallic ectoplasmic[5] armor and weapons around her. The design of the armor is an unconscious expression of her artistic mind, as it reacts to her thoughts. The shape and hardness of her metal forms are varied, as she can also generate a set of wings like a hang glider.[10][12] The armor's beauty and strength can make flesh seem repulsive to her, and as a result, she has grown apart from ordinary people. The armor acts as a second skin, with a sense of touch similar to her own flesh.[12] She is the youngest of the known Destine adults. She was born in the early 1950s, and was about the twins' current age in 1963.[12] She graduated from college in 1972, and as part of the Relative Stranger Protocol, goes by the name Samantha Hassard of Perpignan, France.[6] Alan Davis, who describes her as "aloof, brooding [and] exotic", explained that he originally designed the character, nicknamed Argent, in 1991 for a series that he and
Rik Destine – nothing is known of Rik other than his name, and the fact that he is alive, as Kay mentions in ClanDestine (Vol. 2) #3.[29]
Rory and Pandora Destine – whereas Adam's other children manifested their abilities in adulthood,[14] 11-year-old twins Rory and Pandora manifested their abilities six months prior to The ClanDestine (Vol.1) #1 because as twins, their powers stimulate each other when in close proximity,[5] and only manifest themselves as such. The exact maximum distance they can be separated and still use their powers is unknown, but they can be separated by a number of rooms and corridors and still use them.[13]
Rory has the ability to manipulate gravity. This allows him to fly, to make objects extremely heavy, or light enough to float or throw them, to create forcefields that can protect him from bullets, and to crush small objects. He can crush a live grenade whose pin has been pulled, and keep it from harming others when it explodes.[4][15] Since he is a child, the full potential of his powers is unknown. He can, for example, lift up Dominic and a transformed Walter,[12] but during the X-Men encounter, when Walter loses control of his transformations and turns into a much larger incarnation of himself, Rory can only lift him up slightly by his feet.[18] Rory fights crime under the superhero codename the Crimson Crusader, and loves following all the superhero clichés.
Pandora has the ability to manipulate light. She can project beams of light powerful enough to pulverize boulders[12] or focus them to create laser beams that can instantly cut through objects.[15] She can bend light around her and other objects in order to make them invisible.[27] Although she joins Rory on his superhero jaunts, during which she uses the codename Imp, she is not as obsessed with being a superhero as Rory is.
