Pete Wisdom

Pete Wisdom is a recurring character in Marvel Comics, largely in Excalibur and currently in the various X-Men comics. He is a former English spy, hard-drinking and rough-mannered, who dresses almost entirely in black suits with a white shirt and a loosely-knotted black tie. His mutant power is to project plasma from his fingertips, which he calls "hot knives". He was a popular character for fanfic in the late 1990s/early 2000s, almost entirely due to the work of Luba Kmetyk and her Fonts of Wisdom archive.
== Canon ==
Pete appeared in Excalibur (Vol 1) #186 in 1985, a co-creation by Warren Ellis and Ken Lashley. Born in London to a Scotland Yard detective and his wife, he has an older sister, Romany, who is involved in the occult; his mother was killed by mass murderer Michael Robert Ryan while waiting for Pete to visit, a visit he had blown off after an argument with her and as a result he and his father both blame him for her death. He joined MI-6 and then transferred to Black Air, where he was predominantly an assassin for the British government. He met (and fell in love with) Kitty Pryde during an assignment to Excalibur and joined the team after destroying a Black Air facility called "Dream Nails". Since then, he has been the leader of an X-Force team and an employee of MI-13, the British government's "weird happenings" division. As of June 2023, he is living on Krakoa, unable to access England as a result of events in Excalibur (Vol. 4) #22.Peter Wisdom (Earth-616) Marvel Database
== Fandom==
Pete's height of fandom popularity was largely in the 1990s and 2000s when Luba Kmetyk created her fanfiction archive devoted to him and his relationship with Kitty Pryde called Fonts of Pryde and Wisdom. His popularity took off from there, with Luba creating his own section in her archive called "Pearls of Wisdom". Luba's influence in Pete's popularity at that time is best summed up in this quote by Alara Rogers:
 
Since the decline of comics fandom of the 2000s, Pete's popularity as a character has also waned - there are only 90-odd stories on AO3 in which he appears. 
Pete has often been compared (and paired with) John Constantine of DC's Vertigo comic Hellblazer - both are scruffy, hard-drinking smokers, who are involved in the occult (Pete via his sister and job, rather than being a magus himself), wear suits all the time and who are considered self-appointed 'guardians' of England and especially London. Both stand up for the "little man" and are ruthless in what they will do to protect their people. For this reason, Pete is somewhat out of place with the regular X-teams, especially given his tendency to mock "the spandex brigade". He is a popular crossover character, often appearing in crossovers involving magic (Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, Hellblazer), strange goings-on (The X-Files, Supernatural, Grimm) or spy-related properties (Get Smart, The Avengers (TV)) based on his canon history of investigating "weird shite" for the English Government and his skills as a spymaster and assassin.
==Common Pairings==
=== Het ===
Canonically, Pete is notoriously unlucky in his relationships, partly because of his job, partly because of his self-loathing and ruthlessness. His relationship with Kitty is considered the most positive thing in his life by fans, who were unhappy when it was ended during Ben Raab's run on Excalibur:
Considering his other canon relationships were a forced marriage (and then divorce) to the fairy daughter of Oberon literally named Tinkerbell and an affair with a co-worker who he was later forced to kill to prevent an invasion of Earth, it's no surprise the popular canon het pairing is Kitty Pryde/Pete Wisdom. There were also a number of "I can fix him" type fics with female OCs, but otherwise, m/m pairings are preferred for him. 
===Slash===
Taken from AO3's pairing list, these are the common slash pairings. There is a tendency to pair Pete with fellow scruffy, hard bitten types:
* Brian Braddock/Pete Wisdom
* Bobby Drake/Pete Wisdom
* Remy LeBeau/Pete Wisdom
* John Constantine/Pete Wisdom
* Dane Whitman/Pete Wisdom
* Jono Starsmore/Pete Wisdom
* Steve Rogers/Pete Wisdom
* Samuel Vines/Pete Wisdom 
==Fanon and Common Tropes in Fanworks==
*Darkfic - stories exploring Pete's darker side and the unpleasant things he had to do with Black Air.
*BDSM AU - particularly Luba's Idylls of the Cat series, which has both positive and negative portrayals.
*Forced Marriage - appears with the BDSM AU trope.
*Casefic - per various crossovers, especially with The X-Files and Supernatural
*In Vino Veritas (trope) - Pete drinks a lot, and as a result, there's a tendency for him to wind up making... interesting decisions. 
*Age Difference - particularly with Kitty/Pete stories, as she was considered to be only eighteen when she met him.
==Example Fanworks ==
===Fanfic ===
*Pulling Their Fat Out of the Fire by Luba Kmetyk (Hellblazer/Excalibur crossover) Luba's classic first offering to the shrine of Pryde & Wisdom. With a demon loose in London, Excalibur could use some expert help, and they get it in the form of Pete Wisdom's old pub mate, John Constantine. Part of the larger "Idylls of the Cat" series focussing on Kitty and Pete's relationship.
*X-Writers: Pete Wisdom Limited Series by Alasdair W. (1998) (Hellblazer crossover)
**Issue #1
**Issue #2
**Issue #3
**Issue #4
*Sunrise by Alestar (1998) (Remy LeBeau/Pete Wisdom) Soon after his breakup with Kitty, Pete Wisdom encounters a certain Cajun when the X-Men visit Muir (slash - explicit)
*Love Affairs Are Horrible by Dandelion (1998) (Remy LeBeau and Pete Wisdom) In Casablanca trying to forget his failed romance with Kitty Pryde, Pete Wisdom runs into a fellow victim of love gone wrong.
*Con Job by Dr. Benway (2000) (Hellblazer crossover) Wisdom looks up John Constantine for some 'help' right before he and Kitty head for Dream Nails.
*The Getting of Wisdom by Amanda Sichter (2000) (Get Smart/Hellblazer crossover) CONTROL has discovered that one of their foes has teamed with Black Air, so it's only common sense to team CONTROL agent Maxwell Smart with former Black Air agent Pete Wisdom... right?
*Wisdom of Ages by Paradoqz (2001) A somewhat disconcerted Pete Wisdom finds out that life and its demands don't stop just because you're dead.
*Last Call by Dex (2001) (X-Men/Preacher/Hellblazer/Authority crossover) Four friends out for a night of drinking.
*A Brilliant Mistake by RhiannonAmaris (2002) A teenaged Pete Wisdom fic written for Luba's birthday a couple of years back. Another take on 'One Of Those Days'.
*Poppets by Ana Lyssie Cotton (2003) (Touching Evil and Second Sight crossover) Someone needs to save a bunch of Albanian children from a fate worse than death. Surprisingly, Pete Wisdom is elected.
*Stranger Things by wintergrey (2005) Samuel Vines/Pete Wisdom (Discworld crossover) If Discworld collided with the X-Men... Sam and Pete meet on a plane and have far more in common than they expect. (slash)
*Small Favors by Tangerine (2011) (Remy LeBeau/Pete Wisdom) - Gambit and Pete Wisdom are on a mission, though it may not be the same one. (slash - explicit)
*In Vino Veritas by Ana Lyssie Cotton (Kitty Pryde/Pete Wisdom) They're on a balcony and maybe drunk. And maybe too much has gone on before and will come after, but right now, they have this. (het, explicit)
*The Guiness is Never Enough by Gabby (John Constantine/Pete Wisdom) (Hellblazer crossover) It's the morning after and Pete has a surprise in store. (slash)
===Fanart ===
*Pete Wisdom by 70merc
*Pete Wisdom sketch by Kosmeyer
*Pete Wisdom by Ralloonx
*Before & After fanart by kilograph
*My type? The hot mess by blithefool
*Speculum Mundi - Fonts of Wisdom fanart archive
=== Meta ===
* WMQ Comics - Pete Wisdom tag
==Archives and Communities==
*stories featuring Pete Wisdom on Fanfiction.net
*"Pete Wisdom" tag on AO3
*"Pete Wisdom" tag on Tumblr
*"Pete Wisdom" tag on Twitter
*The Dangerous Sports Club (2003-2011) Pryde/Wisdom LJ community
*The Dangerous Sports Club (2003-2011) Pryde/Wisdom fanlisting 
*Fonts of Wisdom (1997-2009)
*The Pete Wisdom Rehabilitation Brigade Page (2001-2004) fanpage
*Wisdom's Web (1999-2003) fansite
*Locked and Loaded - Pete Wisdom (?-2004) fansite
== Links and Resources==
* Pete Wisdom at Wikipedia 
*Pete Wisdom at Marvel Database 
==References==
Category:X-Men Characters