Marrow

**Marrow** is a character from Marvel Comics.

## History

As a child, Sarah Rushman was one of the underground-dwelling Morlocks. During the Mutant Massacre that devastated the Morlock community, she witnessed the mauling of Angel by the Marauders. She was saved by Gambit, who was then not yet known by the X-Men. Years later, most of the surviving Morlocks (including Sarah) were apparently killed by Mikhail Rasputin, although they were actually brought to another dimension. There, Mikhail had established a citadel for himself on the top of a massive hill. The Social Darwinist philosophy of "survival of the fittest" was the only thing which governed the society. If someone could reach the summit of the hill, they were considered fit and worthy of being part of Gene Nation.

The former Morlock leader Callisto cared for Marrow during this period and displayed a maternal attitude towards the young mutant, although the two are not known to be biologically related. When her powers fully manifested, she was forced to "up the hill", becoming more savage and killing her opponents to survive. When she managed to reach the top, Mikhail considered her fit to join his team, which eventually became a terrorist group whose mission was to punish humans for their hatred towards mutants.

## Origins

*Main articles: Inherent and Acquired*
Mutants are living beings that possess a genetic trait called the X-gene. The X-gene causes the mutant to develop superhuman powers that typically manifest at puberty. Human mutants are sometimes referred to as a human subspecies Homo sapiens superior or simply Homo superior. Mutants are the evolutionary progeny of Homo sapiens and are generally assumed to be the next stage in human evolution.

Whether or not mutants are the next stage of human evolution is a source of much debate, with many humans harboring anti-mutant views and beliefs.

Marrow has undergone several artificial enhancements, although they have all partially failed over time. She was enhanced at a Skrull medical facility and later by the Weapon X Program.

## Powers

*Main article: Bone Manipulation*
**Bone Manipulation:** Marrow has a hyper-accelerated metabolism that grants her the ability to control the growth, shape, and toughness of her bone structure. Initially, she had no control over this power as bone structures constantly protruded from her skin at an uncontrollable rate. Ever since getting her enhancements, she became able to maintain a more clean semblance despite each enhancement administered having partially failed over time.

Marrow's body can generate bony protrusions which she can remove, though not without pain, and wield as weapons. Her bone constructs can even act as a form of protective shielding or armor by covering herself with it. She has utilized this power in multiple ways, including the creation of knuckle guards, spears, blades, rigid tendrils, claws, and even projectile spikes. While with Weapon X, Marrow had greater control over her protrusions. She could hide them to appear as a normal human and form more complex shapes and of a higher quality.

* ***Superhuman Durability:*** Marrow's skeletal structure seems to be more durable than normal, as she has easily survived heavy hits on several body parts. For example, Flag-Smasher hit her twice with his mace on the head without causing much damage to Marrow. She also jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge twice without any major damage, being able to walk normally afterwards.
* ***Regenerative Healing Factor:*** Marrow is able to heal from the wounds she gives herself while removing her bony protrusions from her body. Her healing factor also grows her bones quickly and regenerates her bones when they need to be replaced.
	+ ***Superhuman Strength:*** Her ability to manipulate her bone structure combined with her healing factor enables her to exert more physical force than average humans can. Her exact level of superhuman strength is unknown.
	+ ***Superhuman Agility:*** Her bone manipulation and regenerative powers allow her to be more agile than the finest human athlete.
	+ ***Superhuman Reflexes:*** Her bone manipulation and regenerative powers allow her to have quicker and sharper reflexes than the finest human athlete.
* ***Abnormal Physiology:*** She possesses two hearts to compensate for her random bone growth, so when Storm ripped out one she was able to survive. It is possible that the first heart could have regrown due to her healing factor.