Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 120. Who is Escapade in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 120. Who is Escapade in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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  Hi guys, it's Megan with vigilante vibes and today I'm
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  here with another character breakdown and it is going to be
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  matching the pride theme of this month.
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  And today I want to focus on Sheila Sexton, otherwise known
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  as Escapade. Escapade first appeared in
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  Marvel's Voices Pride number One in 2022.
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  She's a transgender mutant created by Charlie Jane Anders,
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  Rose Stein, and Ted Brandt. Escapade also appeared in
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  subsequent issues of New Mutants Volume 4 #31 to 33 and New
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  Mutants Lethal Legion number One through 5.
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  But I will have more comics for you at the end so stick around.
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  Sheila Sexton first found out she had powers in 9th grade at
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  Ransom High when she accidentally swapped places with
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  the principal. She came out as a mutant to her
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  parents who were totally like fine with it, they were cool.
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  But then she came out as transgender and that's what they
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  had a problem with, not the powers.
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  Her being trans. It's it's sad, but Escapade can
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  instantly swap places with someone else, or trade any
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  physical or even abstract things like stuff they own, their rank,
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  their skills, their superpowers. But she has to be within about 7
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  feet of the person to do it. When she switches, she can even
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  swap health, like trading a broken arm for a heeled one.
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  But once the swap ends, everything goes back to normal.
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  She can end the swap whenever she wants, but so far she can
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  only keep it going for about a few hours.
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  She found this out when she became the principal of her high
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  school. Like I said, the more
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  complicated the swab, the more likely something will go wrong
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  and she will lose control. Got to think she's a very young
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  mutant. Besides her powers she lives
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  pretty clever and a very very skilled thief.
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  As Escapade she rocks a tool belt full of gadgets like
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  goggles with a heads up display, lock picks, dice that mess with
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  gravity, a flashlight tech disrupting glitter bombs.
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  She talks to her tech support Morgan and I will get into who
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  Morgan is through a headset and can fly using repulsive devices
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  in her boots and gloves. Also she wears a heart-shaped
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  ring that says she her on it which is cute.
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  Speaking of Morgan, like I said I will come back to her.
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  She's very, very big in Escapades life.
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  Before turning 19, Sheila, who's Escapade moved in with her long
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  time classmate Morgan Redd and Hibbert, A genetically
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  engineered flying turtle. The three of them joined a
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  support group for transgender mutants led by D Man at the Matt
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  Baker House LGBTQIA Plus Youth Center in Queens, NY.
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  Eventually, she became a thief, targeting corrupt people and
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  organizations, with Morgan helping her out On the tech
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  side, Even though Sheila's a thief, she goes after way bigger
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  fish, stealing from the rich, powerful criminals that often
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  puts her up against their security, including a tough
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  costume baddie called Skull Crusher.
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  With the New Mutants on her side, she also takes on threats
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  like Sublime and the Human humans who want to steal mutant
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  powers to become physically superior.
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  Back to her bestie Morgan Red has been Sheila's best friend
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  since 5th grade. They bonded over both being
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  transmutants. After Sheila's parents rejected
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  her for coming out as trans, Morgan and her family took her
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  in. The two of them decided to be
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  good super villains, people who help the others only mess with
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  those who deserve it. So vigilantes I guess maybe?
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  No, nevermind. Morgan was the first person to
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  really affirm Sheila's gender and help her feel confident.
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  Together they joined a transmutant support group and
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  built the sort of chosen family. As they got older, Morgan used
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  his hacking skills to help with their heist, which ranged from
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  labs and Expos to banks and even a Bachelorette party.
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  He's super protective of Sheila and always pushes her to use her
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  mutant powers. One night, Sheila was approached
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  by Destiny, a mutant seer, and Emma Frost, a powerful telepath.
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  They showed her a future where she swaps places with her best
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  friend Morgan, and it ends with Morgan dying.
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  Destiny warned that this was a fixed future unless Sheila found
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  a different path. Determined to change things,
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  Sheila decided to try. A few weeks later, Sheila heard
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  about an Onyx needle that could somehow stop that fate, so she
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  sneaked into a helicarrier owned by a tech billionaire and cult
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  leader. Hawthorne ran, thinking the
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  needle was there. With Morgan's help hacking the
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  security from afar, she managed to get in.
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  When a guard caught her. She used her gravity device to
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  knock him out, and when Killer Robot showed up, she tossed
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  rainbow dust to mess with them. But then Skullbuster, the real
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  super villain, showed up. Morgan told her to use her
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  mutant power, but Sheila wanted to fight Skullbuster on her own,
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  dodging attacks to tire her out. That didn't last long though.
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  Sheila got hurt badly and finally swapped places with
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  Skullbuster, trading their situations now free.
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  She asked Skullbuster where the needle was, but it had already
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  been sold to someone in Madrapore.
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  She grabbed some other stuff from the Helicarrier and made
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  her escape. Just then, Emma Frost showed up
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  in a flying convertible, offering Sheila a spot with the
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  X-Men on Krakowa and training for her powers.
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  Sheila wasn't having it, though. She called the X-Men a eugenics
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  army and flew off on her repulsor boots.
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  Later, when she got back to Morgan, he was worried and
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  upset. She'd gone silent on the comms
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  before the fight. Turns out Sheila was really,
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  really hurt, but Morgan helped patch her up.
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  They went to a support group for empowered trans folks, where
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  Sheila admitted she sometimes shuts down when she's scared,
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  which is fair. Still desperate to stop Morgan's
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  death, Sheila met with Emma again, who asked her to swap
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  places with the President of the United States.
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  Shocked and nervous, Sheila agreed to train with Emma and
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  told Morgan everything about the future she'd seen.
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  Morgan didn't like the idea of her joining the mutants on
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  Krakowa, but promised she'd always have a home with him.
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  When training on Krakowa, Sheila made new friends like Martha AKA
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  Cerebella. They all went to a welcome event
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  in Washington Square Park, NYC and convinced Morgan to come
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  too. But in the middle of the speech
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  by Wolfsbane, mutant hunters called EU Men attacked and
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  kidnapped everyone. Sheila and Morgan were locked up
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  but started planning an escape when Sublime took Martha away.
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  Sheila swapped places with AU Man to follow.
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  She found Martha about to be experimented on and begged
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  Sheila to kill her so she could come back on Krakoa.
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  She couldn't do it, so instead swapped places with Martha.
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  Just as Sublime was about to start, Sheila swapped again and
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  escaped, freeing the others. Eventually, Sheila's double
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  swaps wore off and she ended up back in the cage with Morgan.
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  The rest escaped, but Sheila and Morgan got separated and found
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  themselves back where Sheila's vision said Morgan would die.
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  Sheila jumped from where they were, and as Sheila was falling
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  from the building, she couldn't swap places with Morgan in time.
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  Leo Inc stepped in with her telekinesis to stop Sheila
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  midair, and Wolfsbane caught her just in time.
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  Everyone got out safely, which proved Destiny's prediction
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  very, very wrong. Later on, after helping the New
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  Mutants rescue some prisoners from the human, Sheila teamed up
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  with Cerebella and Gabby to take down Count Nefaria and rob his
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  mansion. Since Nefaria was recruiting for
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  a new version of the Lethal Legion, the trio decided to go
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  undercover as wannabe super villains.
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  Sheila even gave herself the code name Blaster Dame during
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  the tryouts. Nefaria made everyone fight in
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  the tournament to earn a spot on his team.
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  Sheila had to go up against Cyborg and Sweet William and won
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  both matches. So go for her, go, go her.
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  Good for her. I matched those two together.
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  That shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry.
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  Things went sideways later when she got drunk at the post fight
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  dinner and accidentally swapped places with Scout, who was
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  supposed to fight Nefaria next. Luckily, the New Mutants crashed
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  the place at just the right time and the whole crew, including
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  Morgan, escaped with something called the Weird Engine.
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  While on the run, Sheila and Morgan argued about how she'd
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  been distant since moving to Kurkowa.
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  The miscommunication got them evicted from their apartment.
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  Sheila encouraged Morgan to roll with the changes, but before
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  they could settle things, the Legion showed up and stole the
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  Weird Engine back. Teaming up again, the New
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  Mutants and the Lost Club pulled off.
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  Another heist managed to defeat the Legion for good.
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  Back on Krakowa, Sheila made amends with Morgan and
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  officially started dating Martha.
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  Later, Sheila joined Bishop's response team to help out on
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  Milford after a disaster. She used her powers to swap
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  places with people trapped under debris, helping them get to
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  safety. Sheila joined a backup team led
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  by Mirage to stop Celine from becoming a literal goddess.
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  Celine needed Tempo's powers to make it happen, so Sheila just
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  swapped places with her and shut the whole thing down.
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  Not long after, Sheila was on a commercial flight when HYDRA
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  agents hijacked the plane. She almost got killed trying to
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  save the hostages, but the X-Men saved her just in time.
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  While she was literally falling from the sky, Emma Frost showed
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  up and offered her a spot at Avengers Academy.
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  The New Avengers Academy at that.
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  Around this time, Sheila and Martha broke up, but they stayed
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  close friends 'cause that's what they all say is going to happen.
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  We're very, we're still very close.
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  At the Academy, Sheila started classes alongside Moon Girl,
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  Captain America, Bloodline, Red Goblin, and kid Juggernaut.
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  She roomed with Bloodline and the two became really tight.
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  If you don't know who Bloodline is, Bloodline is Blade's
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  daughter. She's a really cool character.
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  Meanwhile, her parents reported her missing to a bunch of East
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  Coast police departments. But Captain Marvel who runs the
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  Academy made sure Sheila was stay was safe and allowed to
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  stay. Which is crazy that her parents
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  reported her but they like kicked her out for being trans
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  but OK with her classmates. Sheila went up against Squid
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  Kids version of the Sinister 6. Her mission was to rescue
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  Stanley Osbourne, Red Goblin's little brother who had been
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  kidnapped. She convinced his warden Billy
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  Connors to help, then swap places with Stanley to free him
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  and got rescued herself by Kid Juggernaut.
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  She and Moon Girl also helped a hero named Mysterion leak all
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  the shady info. Squid Kid is stolen.
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  That ruined Squid Kids big plans and LED to a Sinister 6 breakup.
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  During a field trip to Van Dyne Designs, the students of
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  Avengers Academy had their costumes reviewed.
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  Janet Van Dyne didn't change much about Sheila's outfit.
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  She actually really liked Jumbo Carnation's original design, but
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  she did upgrade Sheila's tech. She added repulsors, tractor
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  beams and a port in her gloves for launching nano glitter
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  bombs. Sheila also asked for a first
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  date outfit because she was finally planning to ask Brielle
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  out. Brielle is bloodline.
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  Janet gifted her a yellow dress just for the occasion.
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  Encouraged by Martha and Morgan, Sheila went out on the date.
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  Things were going well until they kissed and Brielle seemed
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  to flinch. Panicking, Sheila ran off.
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  Back at the Academy, she was crying in bed when she suddenly
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  was ambushed by M Plate. He pulled her into the same
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  creepy dimension he was trapped in, forced her to wear one of
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  his former victims dresses, and made her sit through a weird
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  dinner. He ended up stealing her powers
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  which let him escape back to the real world once out and Plate
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  started taking over the rest of the team.
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  Just as Brielle was about to stake him, he pulled a fast 1
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  and swapped places with her and then stabbed her with the stake
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  instead. Sheila, even weakened, managed
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  to swap places with her injured teammates and absorb their
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  wounds herself. The strain caused her to pass
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  out. Reed Richards later looked after
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  her and said that she'd recover in time.
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  He also noted something interesting.
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  Sheila might not just be able to swap with people near her
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  physically, but also those she's emotionally close to.
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  So that is escapade Sheila Sexton.
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  She's she's a very fun character.
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  She's a young character that I think should get more attention.
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  She's just she's dealing with a lot of things that people and
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  LGBTQ plus communities are dealing with.
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  So I think representation of her is very much needed.
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  But whatever, she's a cool character.
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  I think you guys really dig her. But like always, I have some
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  comics for you to get to know Escapade even better, starting
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  with Marvel Voices pride #1 Marvel voices Infinity comic
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  number 97. You can start with New mutants
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  #31 New Mutants Lethal Legion number one through 5, Marvel
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  voices X-Men and Avengers Academy.
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  Marvel voices Infinity Comics, so I hope you enjoyed this
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  breakdown, I hope you got to know Escapade a little better,
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  and I hope you have a great Pride month.
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  Have a marvelous day.