Five free Nerd Points to anyone who can remember what Fabian Cortez's powers are before we tell you.
Fabian Cortez, once a founder of the Acolytes,
betrays Magneto and makes himself an enemy of both his former leader and the X-Men.
Born to a rich and influential family, Fabian Cortez was thrilled when he discovered he was a mutant, because it meant that at last he would be able to accomplish things on his own merit instead of just coasting on his family name... and then he found his only ability was to affect the powers of other mutants, meaning he was nothing by himself. Now, any smart person could find a dozen different ways to spin that into personal success, but Fabian's big idea was to try to manipulate Magneto, a man who is famously level-headed and rational, and who would certainly never seek revenge on someone who wronged him. Eventually it was revealed that his true goal was just to get close enough to Magneto to kill him, but that was a retcon that came later.
Fabian Cortez was one of the last new characters created by Chris Claremont before he was pushed out in favor of letting the artists control the writing (for like six months, before they all scampered off to form Image Comics), and the toy's head is one of the most perfect "Jim Lee" sculpts we've ever seen. The grimace, the squint, the way the hair waves... it's right on the mark.
The Acolytes all wore the same costume, which made them look like a team in a way the X-Men hadn't in years (brief jaunt to Shi'ar space aside). It's a blue suit with red boots and gloves, and a red V on the chest. You'd think, since they were The Acolytes,
it would be an A, or possibly even an M for "Magneto," but no. The yellow armor on the shoulders is a new piece, and surprisingly, the headset thing he wears is, as well: oh, it may be glued into place permanently, but it's not just part of the sculpt, and that's unexpected. He's also got a purple cape that's a new mold, designed to slip under his shoulder pads as well as plugging into the hole in his back. Because it was THE '90S!!!!!!!!!! he's got a big ponytail hanging down his back, though the sculpt has it waving in the wind dramatically. His gloves and boots are new molds, too: sculpted on the arms, slipped over the shins.
According to Marvel, Fabian Cortez is 6'5", which means that for once this same old body (new body, but you know what we mean) isn't too tall! How about that! We see here that in order to get something right, Hasbro just has to do it blatantly wrong in the first place, then wait for a character to come along who's freakishly tall to fit it. Perfect! The armor covers the pectoral hinges, slightly, but not enough to cause much of a problem. You'll have more trouble with the cape and ponytail, honestly.
It's hard to portray "boosts other people's powers" in toy form, so
Fabian gets two orange fireballs that can fit over his fists. They're a nice translucent orange/yellow, which means that seeing his red gloves inside them makes a really nice depth of color. There really isn't anything else the character would use, so this works. He's got a pair of fists, a left hand for holding accessories you might choose to give him, and a gesturing right hand. Those are all sculpted with seam lines on the gloves, which is how we know they're new.
He also comes with the left leg of this series' Build-A-Figure, quote/unquote "Nemesis."
Cortez was the prototypical member of the Acolytes: he used his own name instead of a supranym (in the Krakoa era he was referred to as "The Power," though that was more of a job description in a group setting than an actual codename) and he had ill-defined abilities that were too complex for their own good. He really only ever had two major story moments, but as someone who was always hanging around Magneto in the '90s, Fabian Cortez is at least semi-recognizable, so it's pretty wild that this is the first time he's had any action figure at all.
-- 07/21/25
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