SPEAKING OF EMMAS AND AVENGERS
The famed British spy show The Avengers (not those Avengers) was a heavy influence on the era of X-Men where the Club was born, and in this case, the X-Men owe their lore to the episode “A Touch of Brimstone.” In it, superspies Emma Peel (played by Dame Diana “Tell Cersei” Rigg) and John Steed infiltrate a secret society full of people in bondage gear participating in a variety of debauchery, from excessive drunkenness to planning a coup.
Peel spends much of the episode’s run time in a black corset with a spiked collar, and the rest of the Club hangs out in period costumes. Chris Claremont and John Byrne apparently really dug this, and thus was born the Hellfire Club.
HELLFIRE CLUB MEMBERSHIP PERKS
Some people join because of the opportunity to rub elbows with the rich and powerful. It’s not just mutants who have joined: Marvel Universe luminaries like Howard Stark (Iron Man’s dad), Warren Worthington II (Angel’s dad), and John Braddock (Captain Britain’s dad) have all been counted among club members.
But it’s mostly the power. At one point, Xavier Institute Headmaster Magneto joined the club at Storm’s behest following the Mutant Massacre, in an effort to better protect his students. And he’s just one good(ish) guy who’s been a part of the Club: Sunspot, Phoenix, and even Kate Pryde have all held leadership roles in the club.
Membership has expanded somewhat since the mutants moved to their united island sanctuary, Krakoa. When Krakoa was founded, Emma Frost was brought in by Professor X and Magneto to reconstitute the Club, only with the responsibility of distributing mutant drugs that cured disease and prolonged life to the human world, both legally (through the newly created Hellfire Trading Company) and illicitly (via the mutant rescuing smugglers the Marauders). Emma took her seat as White Queen, while Shaw was given the Black King seat. Kate Pryde was made the Red Queen (a previously nonexistent branch, but an essential one as the boss of the smuggling operation). And the new structure meant new members: Callisto, the leader of the Morlocks, as Emma’s White Knight; Emma’s brother Christian as White Bishop; Lucas Bishop as Kate’s Red…Bishop…that’s a lot of bishops…
Anyway, as the Dawn of the Krakoan Age moved into its next phase, the leaders of the Hellfire Trading Company moved on and opened space for new blood, like Shaw’s (adopted) son Shinobi as the new Black King, and Emma’s (clone) daughters the Stepford Cuckoos as the new White Queen.
