Tom Lennox

Real Name: Thomas Lennox

Identity/Class: Human psionicist, probably mutant.

Occupation: Fugitive, (former) agent of S.T.R.I.K.E. Psi Division

Affiliations: lover of Betsy Braddock, ally of Captain Britain and Captain U.K., member of the fugitive Psi Division of S.T.R.I.K.E., (former) agent of S.T.R.I.K.E.

Enemies: Mad Jim Jaspers (Earth-616), Slaymaster, S.T.R.I.K.E., Vixen

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Basement in unspecified part of London, (former) S.T.R.I.K.E. Psi Division Headquarters, (former) Braddock Manor

First Appearance: The Daredevils #3 (March 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Telepath, telekinetic - needs to be able to concentrate to use this ability, making it less than totally effective in combat situations.

History: Tom Lennox was a British telepath recruited to be a member of STRIKE's PSI Division. It was here that he met and became lovers with Betsy Braddock. When Vixen's forces infiltrated STRIKE, the PSI division were the one group within the organisation who knew it had been taken over. They went on the run, and Slaymaster was hired to hunt them down and eliminate them. He finally caught up with the survivors at Forbidden Planet Store in London. If it had not been for the intervention of Betsy Braddock's brother, the superhero Captain Britain, they would have all died. But even Britain could not defeat the assassin on his own; with the hero losing the fight, Lennox temporarily blinded the killer with a telekinetic hail of comic books. After finishing off the villain, the group fled to Braddock Manor.

Lennox stayed there for a while until the security of the mansion was compromised by the Fury. The group went into hiding as Sir James Jaspers took over the country and started rounding up all the superhumans into camps. Eventually they were trapped by the authorities, and Lennox was killed in a rain of bullets, defending Betsy.

Comments: Created by Alan Moore and Alan Davis.

As we discover years later in the Excalibur comic Fascination feeds off of strong emotions, particularly negative ones, which finally explained why she hovered around poor Tom in The Daredevils #8 and #9. She was feeding off his annoyance! Given the brief nature of his encounter with the Special Executive and his attitude towards them, I haven't counted them as an affiliation.

At first Tom comes across as a bit of a selfish character, trying to convince Betsy to leave with him and let her brother deal with the impending Jaspers situation on his own. In fact he is just a normal man (albeit a telekinetic one) unable to cope with the bizarre and stressful situation he has been thrown into, and he reacts to this with anger - much like Captain Britain. But his true nature shows through in his final stand against the Beetles; all along his priority has been Betsy, the woman he loves. Sadly his sacrifice has been forgotten by the writers who have handled her since; after Alans Moore and Davis stopped handling her, Betsy never spared another thought for the man who gave his life for hers.

The original write-up I did for this character can be found on the Appendix to the Marvel Universe site.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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