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By Lia Brown
Originally written 2005; updated May 2007
Were some members of Mystique's Brotherhood named or patterned after existing fictional characters or famous people..? It's often noted that Destiny bears the same name as Arthur Conan Doyle's character Irene Adler from “A Scandal in Bohemia”, and there have been hints that Mystique might have been Sherlock Holmes himself (or perhaps she modeled herself after him, or was the inspiration for him). The literary references for the two women are the most overt, but they may not have been the only members of the Brotherhood to have been inspired by literature.
Pyro
To the best of my knowledge, there are no existing references (except perhaps tangential ones) for Pyro's real name of St. John Allerdyce. However, there's good reason to believe that his background was inspired by a novel which was later made into a popular movie. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, which lists his birthplace as Sydney, Australia, also states: “Eventually, he became a journalist for an Australian wire service and covered Viet Nam and Indonesia. What he saw and experienced in his travels became the basis for novels he began writing.” In the novel (and movie) The Year of Living Dangerously, Sydney wire-service reporter Guy Hamilton is sent to Indonesia to cover events for the Australian Broadcasting Service. The parallels are fairly obvious. The film, which was released in 1982, starred a young Mel Gibson, and was quite popular (the novel was written by Christopher Koch in 1979). The first Handbook to describe Pyro's origin was published in 1983, so the film could have very plausibly inspired it. (Since Pyro wrote books based on his experiences in Asia, one wonders if, from a metafictional perspective within the Marvel Universe, he is supposed to have written this novel himself!)
As an aside, Pyro's first name, St. John, is probably supposed to be pronounced as Sinjin. This may or may not be a deliberate fire-related pun, due to its similarity with the word singein' (as in singeing).
Avalanche
The argument for Avalanche having a literary-inspired background is a bit more tenuous, but no less interesting. What little we know about his background is given in the Official Handbook, and essentially boils down to this: his name is Dominic Petros, his wife's name is Helen, he was born in Crete, and eventually emigrated to the United States. We then need to study Crete itself for some clues; a fair-sized Greek island, it's been subjugated by foreign powers for much of its history, and has been somewhat isolated as a result. However, Crete has produced two particularly famous men: Dominikos Theotokopoulos, the painter known as El Greco (1541-1614), and Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957), writer of such novels (later made into films) as Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ.
The names Dominikos and Nikos bear obvious resemblances to Dominic, and certainly the latter name seems as though it's been anglicized, perhaps when he immigrated to the United States. I think it's very likely that Avalanche's name would actually have once been Dominikos (assuming he didn't make it up from something once totally different). Both real-life Cretans left the island and had the more famous parts of their careers outside of Greece, just like Avalanche. And interestingly, Nikos Kazantzakis had a wife named Helen. It's these similarities to the few known details of Avalanche's life that make me think his background may have been inspired by one or both famous Cretans. And if his origin wasn't inspired by them, there are certainly some interesting parallels!
Incidentally, Avalanche's given surname, Petros, is both a pun and a name unlikely to be found on Crete. Petros is Greek for 'rock' or 'stone', which is very apt when you consider what he often uses his powers on. But Cretan surnames often end with the suffix of –akis, a tradition which goes back a few centuries during the island's occupation by Turks. The surname Petrakis does exist on Crete, and I suspect it may have once been part of Avalanche's real name (again, assuming he didn't just completely make up Petros, which is almost too coincidental to be real. However, the Marvel Universe has plenty of pun names that seem too coincidental to be real --- such as Otto Octavius accidentally getting tentacle arms and calling himself Doctor Octopus, or Julio Richter developing earthquake powers --- so Avalanche wouldn't be the first). Petrakis is a patronymic of the name Petros, and is the version used when it's a surname in Crete (Petros can also be a first name, the equivalent of Peter, and Petrakis can also be used as an affectionate nickname for him). The –akis suffix is actually a diminutive, so aside from meaning 'Son of Petros', Petrakis can also be something cutesy to the effect of 'Little Stone' or 'Stoneykins'.
So if you're wondering, yes, I think it's likely that Avalanche's name would have originally been Dominikos Petrakis, and that he must have anglicized it when he came to America.
Update: I am pleased to report that his real name is now officially 'Dominikos Ioannis Petrakis', as per the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A - Z Update #2, out in May 2007. I made a case for the change, Marvel agreed, and now his name is more Cretan-accurate!
Mystique and Destiny
Not only does Destiny share the same name as a Sherlock Holmes character, she too had ties to a detective over a century ago. Mystique says in X-Men #93, “That's how Destiny and I first met. She was a damsel in distress…and I, her consulting detective. Afterwards, we became…partners.”
In X-Treme X-Men #1, Sage says of Destiny “To aid in her quest, she enlisted the services of a consulting detective named Raven Darkholme.”
The similarity between the surnames Darkholme and Holmes is obvious, though I don't know if her creator (Chris Claremont) intended that. Is Claremont hinting that Sherlock Holmes was actually Mystique in disguise? Or did she and Destiny perhaps inspire Conan Doyle's stories? (all of this within the metafictional context of the Marvel universe, of course). Or perhaps Mystique styled herself after the famous fictional detective (it's worth noting that 'Raven Darkholme' is not the name she was given at birth; we don't know what it was). It's true that Conan Doyle's characters didn't have the same relationship or interaction as did Mystique and Destiny; Holmes and Irene Adler were on opposing sides. However, Holmes was always intrigued by Adler, and seemed to have great respect for her.
Another difference between the two characters is that Irene Adler of Marvel was born in Austria, and Conan Doyle's Irene is American. This could indicate that Destiny was merely supposed to be the inspiration for Conan Doyle, rather than actually being the character. However, the Official Handbook implied that Destiny had lived in England (by stating that she had British citizenship), so she could well have 'met' Conan Doyle.
Update: There's an interesting interview with Claremont in the booklet that comes with the Mystique figurine from the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection (Eaglemoss, 2006). Referring to Mystique and Destiny, Claremont states "They've been in love and lovers from the beginning, but the beginning is back in the 1870s...at least my beginning. And they were good friends with Conan Doyle: Destiny was the model for her namesake, Irene Adler, while Mystique was the model for Holmes. That was only hinted at, but that was what I was thinking."
I think this pretty much settles the question.
And as a totally obscure aside, there are a couple of Holmesian references that might possibly indicate an origin for Pyro's first name: for instance, Irene Adler lived in “St. John's Wood” (which is a real place in London). Somewhat less likely, but still amusingly coincidental, the actor most associated with playing Holmes in early films was Basil Rathbone – whose full name was Philip St. John Basil Rathbone.
It's possible that Marvel's writers (or writer – I don't know if all of this was invented by Claremont, though he did create all of the characters) were having some intellectual fun when they named these characters and described their backgrounds. I certainly think it's likely that Pyro's history comes from The Year of Living Dangerously, and it's clear that there's supposed to be some kind of link between Mystique and Sherlock Holmes. Some of the other references I've suggested may be apocryphal, but there's no denying that there are at least some very interesting coincidences.
