Spyke (Evan Daniels) is a fictional character created by writer Robert N. Skir and artist Steven E. Gordon for the WB animated superhero series X-Men: Evolution, which is based on American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Voiced by Neil Denis, the character is a high school student with the mutant ability to project spikes out of his body. Originally, Spyke was intended to be called Armadillo and have cornrows. He was created as a way to diversify the series' X-Men roster and include an African-American character among the main cast. Spyke has similar powers to Marrow, a pre-existing character, though Boyd Kirkland stated that this was not intentional.

Fictional character biography

Evan Daniels was born in New York City, New York to an unnamed father and Vivian Daniels. His mutant abilities are first noticed at his high school basketball game by his aunt Ororo Munroe (aka Storm, a longtime member of the X-Men), and his teammate Pietro. The following night, Storm, along with Cyclops and Jean Grey, approach Evan's parents about his mutant powers and his attending the Xavier Institute. Evan angrily declines on his own behalf and leaves.

He goes to his school to catch the thief who keeps breaking into his locker. It is revealed that Pietro is not only the thief, but a mutant with super speed powers. Pietro, who renames himself Quicksilver, breaks into all the lockers in the school and lets Evan take the heat while he escapes prosecution. Only when Charles Xavier uses his pull to help Evan get out of prison does he join the X-Men and the school under the code name Spyke. Spyke settles the score with Quicksilver when he, Cyclops, and Jean defeat the speedy mutant. Spyke is cleared of all charges when he catches Quicksilver's confession on tape.

During his tenure with the X-Men, Spyke forgoes receiving special treatment from anyone at the school due to being Storm's nephew. Though he likes being an X-Man and thought of them as his family, Spyke at times acts selfishly and inconsiderate of others.

After he and the X-Men are publicly revealed as mutants in the third season, Spyke grows angry at how they are being treated. After drinking Pow-R8, an energy drink that is toxic to mutants, Spyke loses control of his powers, becoming unable to retract or control his spikes. After seeing how cruelly he is treated because of his condition, Spyke joins the Morlocks, a group of mutants who cannot "pass" for human and are forced to live underground. Storm tries to convince Spyke to come back to the X-Men, but he refuses.

Another character named Darian Elliott, otherwise known as Spike, was introduced in X-Force #124. His appearance, name and powers were also loosely based on Spyke.

A clone of Spyke created by Mojo appears in X-Babies Stars Reborn.

See also

  • List of X-Men: Evolution characters
  • List of Marvel Comics characters

References

  • Spyke's Profile at Marvel Animation Age