Early life Bishop was born about 80 years in the future of the Marvel Universe. He was raised in a mutant
concentration camp in the aftermath of the Summers Rebellion, an uprising in which mutants and humans joined forces to destroy the
Sentinels. Bishop has a distinctive M
brand over his right eye, used to identify
mutants in his era. After his parents were killed, Bishop was taken in by a man named LeBeau, also called
Witness, who was reportedly the last man to see the legendary X-Men alive. According to LeBeau, Bishop's adoptive grandmother took Bishop away from him. Bishop and his younger sister,
Shard, were then subsequently raised by his grandmother within the same mutant concentration camp in
Brooklyn. Bishop's grandmother taught him many legends of the X-Men, who were old allies of hers. Depowered by unknown means, she had entered the camps in secret to raise her grandchildren. Upon her deathbed, she made Bishop swear to protect Shard. After the Rebellion, the mutants were "emancipated" and sent out of the camps to fend for themselves. Bishop and Shard, who were only children, were left alone. They lived on the streets, stealing to survive until coming under the care of a family friend, a war veteran named Hancock. Slightly blind, Hancock nevertheless took on the task of raising the two. One day, Bishop encountered an anti-human group of mutants called the Exhumes, who took Shard hostage just before the XSE arrived. Until that time, Bishop had admired the Exhumes, attributing to them his proud, idealized notion of the legendary X-Men. It wasn't until the XSE defeated the Exhume and saved his sister that Bishop knew he wanted to join the XSE. When Bishop was 15, Hancock was murdered by criminals who were promptly arrested by the XSE, and he and Shard enlisted in their ranks. Shard soon surpassed Bishop to become the youngest XSE officer. During a training class, Bishop's instructors and some of his fellow students were attacked and killed. Bishop rallied the survivors and led the struggle against the assailants until reinforcements arrived. Bishop gradually climbs the ranks of the XSE until finally becoming their commander. While on a mission to wipe out a nest of
Emplates, mutant
vampires that feed on
bone marrow, Shard was critically injured. Bishop went to Witness for help. Witness, then imprisoned at the New York Stark Fujikawa building, agreed to transfer Shard's essence into a holographic matrix if Bishop would work for him for one year. Bishop agreed, leaving the XSE for a time. The details of Bishop's work during this period are unknown; Bishop appears reticent on the subject, later refusing to tell Shard of his actions. Immediately upon his re-installment as a commander in the XSE, Bishop and his XSE group the "Omega Squad" captured
Trevor Fitzroy, a murderous ex-XSE trainee in the ruins of the
Xavier Institute War Room. While there, Bishop discovered a damaged recording of
Jean Grey, in which she spoke of a traitor destroying the X-Men from inside. Haunted by his discovery, Bishop confronts Witness for details, but receives only a vague, ambiguous response, leaving him to suspect his former master of being more than simply a witness to the downfall of the X-Men.
Joining the X-Men Fitzroy escaped from prison and used a large amount of mutant life-force to open a time portal and break out 93 mutant criminal "Lifers" in the process. Bishop found himself in the past in the time of his heroes, the X-Men. Bishop and the Omega Squad eventually "sanctioned" the Lifers, but did not get Fitzroy. Bishop encountered the X-Men for the first time but did not believe that they were really the X-Men. He then battled them but later allied with the X-Men in trying to stop Fitzroy. Malcolm and Randall, the two members of his Omega Squad, died in the process.
Professor Charles Xavier offered him a place in the X-Men, and he was placed under
Storm's tutelage. He fought and defeated Styglut. When he met Gambit, Bishop recognized him as possibly a younger version of the Witness and fought him. He soon met
Mystique for the first time, and alongside the X-Men he battled the
Morlocks and the Death Sponsors. Bishop assigned himself the role of Xavier's personal bodyguard, which he failed at when Stryfe, the evil double of
Cable, critically wounded Xavier. Initially, the X-Men believed that Cable was the would-be assassin, so
Wolverine and Bishop tracked down Cable, but then travelled to Cable's "Graymalkin" space station and joined with him in finding Stryfe. Citing his failure to protect Professor X, Bishop offered to resign from the X-Men. His resignation was rejected by Xavier, and then alongside the X-Men he battled the
Acolytes.
Age of Apocalypse When Professor Xavier's insane son, the mutant
Legion, went back in time to assassinate
Magneto, Bishop was one of the X-Men sent to stop him. When they failed and Legion accidentally killed Professor Xavier, Bishop was the only time-traveler to remain when history was altered and became the
Age of Apocalypse. He eventually convinced the Magneto of that era that the existence of this reality was wrong, and with a great amount of sacrifice, managed to correct the error and stop Legion. After the timeline reset itself, Bishop received some of his counterpart's unsettling memories of the Age of Apocalypse. The traitor in the X-Men was eventually revealed to be Professor X in the form of
Onslaught. Bishop's knowledge of the future was the only thing that stopped Onslaught from killing the X-Men. As Onslaught fired a massive blast of psionic energy at the distracted X-Men, Bishop threw himself in front of them and absorbed the blast that would have killed them. Onslaught, winded from such a massive attack, said that his blast was enough to kill a thousand mutants and "Another time, another place, I would have been proud". Bishop lost consciousness after absorbing the blast but soon recovered, although it was not enough to prevent Onslaught from nearly destroying all of humanity. He made peace with Gambit, who was not the traitor after all. Following this, Bishop was captured by Trevor Fitzroy's henchmen and taken to a distant possible future, detailed in the
Bishop: The Last X-Man series. He again faced Fitzroy, with Bishop eventually killing him. He was temporarily returned to the present by
Apocalypse who needed him as one of
The Twelve, before finally returning permanently during the
Maximum Security crossover.
X-Treme X-Men Bishop was a founding member of Storm's splinter team of X-Men, whose mission was to search for the Books of Truth, the diaries of the precognitive mutant
Destiny. They left against the will and knowledge of the main team, as the splinter group did not trust in Xavier or the others to use the diaries for the benefit of humanity.
District X Bishop joined the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
District X, or 'Mutant Town', had a high-population density. It was also a poverty-stricken area with high crime rates. Bishop was assigned to the area to resolve mutant-related crimes.
Civil War In the
Civil War: X-Men miniseries, Bishop sides with the
Office of National Emergency to bring in the X-Men and
the 198. He argues with
Cyclops over allowing their escape and states his fear of what the future might hold.
Valerie Cooper and
Tony Stark let Bishop lead
Micromax and
Sabra into action against
Domino,
Shatterstar, and the rest of the 198. Bishop led them to the base where the 198 was hiding and told the X-Men to stand down upon their arrival. General
Demetrius Lazer betrayed him by ensuring that Cyclops attacked Bishop. Though at first he simply absorbed it, the power was too much for him to control and he was overwhelmed. Bishop was forced to direct the energy he had absorbed upwards in a powerful blast that destroyed an O*N*E* Sentinel. He later teamed up with the X-Men to save the 198 from a bomb explosion and then went his own way, leaving the X-Men. Bishop was among Iron Man's pro-registration forces that guarded the
Negative Zone prison. When
Captain America's team breaks in, a fight ensues, putting Bishop at odds with his former teammates Storm and Cable.
Messiah Complex In
Messiah Complex, an event revitalized Bishop's timeline as a viable future: the birth of the first mutant child since
M-Day. As the
Marauders, on
Mister Sinister's orders, try to gather anyone and anything with knowledge of the future, Bishop is the only target they were unable to locate and terminate. It is revealed that he had betrayed the X-Men and he attempted to kill the baby. Before he could succeed, he was thwarted by the Marauders, who escaped with the baby. As X-Men arrive on the scene, Bishop pretends to have attempted to retrieve the baby. As
Multiple Man's duplicate and
Layla Miller find out in their mission to one of the planet's possible futures (80 years in the future) that the birth of the child created, the child apparently kills a million people in an event dubbed the Six-Minute War, and the U.S. government incarcerates all the mutants into concentration camps, where Bishop is born, grows up, and sees his parents killed. As Multiple Man's dupe and Layla find out, Bishop wishes at a young age to have had the opportunity to kill the baby, so that while he would not be born, he would also not have to see his parents die, and to endure the horrors of life in the concentration camps. Layla kills the dupe so that the information conveyed to them by young Bishop can return to the present, to the Multiple Man prime, who conveys Bishop's treachery to the X-Men. The X-Men then attempted to alert
X-Force of Bishop's betrayal, but he managed to block all of their communication channels. After arriving on
Muir Island and fighting past the Marauders, Bishop found Cable attempting to escape with the baby and the two fight. Both mutants are then attacked by
Predator X, who viciously rips off Bishop's right arm. Bishop cauterizes his torn shoulder on an unconscious Sunfire and in an attempt to shoot down a teleporting Cable, he misses and hits Professor X instead.
Chasing the Mutant Messiah Bishop managed to escape the X-Men after he seemingly killed their mentor, and stole a nuclear powered bionic arm from Forge equipped with a timeslide device, which he uses to track down Cable and the newborn mutant. Upon finding them, he shoots Cable twice before being hindered by a local gang. With Cable severely weakened by blood loss, he makes a risky attack before the gang can find heavier weapons. He later manages to track down Cable, slaying several mutated beasts in the process, and shoot the Mutant Messiah. He also finds that in the future generated by his choice, Cable will be always revered as a messianic figure who tried his best to protect the child and saved humanity from the very beasts that Bishop unwillingly saved Cable from. It has been revealed that the Messiah child is still alive and Bishop has been captured by the X-Men. In his efforts to kill the child, Bishop has left several traps for Cable throughout the timestream, killing millions in the process, though he does not see them as people who actually exist but as people who would not exist or come back to life if he kills
Hope.
Messiah War After multiple failings at killing Hope, Bishop locates and enlists the aid of Stryfe, promising him that he would aid him in killing Apocalypse and Cable. Stryfe and Bishop travel to a point in the future where Apocalypse is at his weakest and manage to defeat him. Stryfe builds an empire using Celestial technology and Bishop becomes his right-hand man, waiting for Cable and Hope to re-emerge. When they do appear along with X-Force, Hope is kidnapped. Bishop betrays Stryfe and his plot to kill Hope is foiled by Stryfe, who wants to make her his heir. Both attempts are foiled by Apocalypse, X-Force, and Cable. Cable manages to rescue Hope and escape yet again. Bishop escapes into the "near future" of the 21st century, reconstructing his arm, vowing to find Hope once again.
Homecoming After several years of running from Bishop, Hope finally decides that it is time to return to the present. During a battle, Bishop manages to knock out Cable. In a fit of rage, Hope's powers awaken and render Bishop unconscious. Hope then attempts to kill Bishop, but is stopped by Cable. They take Bishop's time machine and leave him stranded. Bishop is somehow transported with them and begins chasing them through time, in an attempt to kill Hope before they reach the present. In
Cable vol. 2 #24, Hope and Cable return to the present time but Bishop follows them. He attacks them, running Cable through with a sword. As Cable is incapacitated, Hope rushes to his aid but is ultimately overpowered by Bishop. Cable takes out Bishop's time-traveling device from his techno-organic arm, performs some alterations on it, and places it in Bishop's robotic arm. Cable recovers enough to toss Bishop into the subway. As Bishop attempts to kill Hope one last time, he is transported to a barren and dead Earth (as a result of his efforts to limit Cable and Hope's attempts to find allies and shelter through different time periods) with a red sun in the sky (cause unknown). Bishop, being overconfident, attempts to travel back to the present time to continue his quest to kill Cable and Hope Summers, but due to Cable sabotaging Bishop's time-traveling device, this attempt causes his robotic arm to explode. This leaves him stranded in the year 6700 A.D. Bishop is last shown thinking to himself concerning Cable and Hope, "I was as much a father to that girl as you were. Whatever she becomes, it's because of me. I was doing the right thing. Wasn't I?"
Return to the Present In
Uncanny X-Force vol. 2 #1, Bishop makes his first appearance since being stranded in the future. He is shown arriving in 2013 Los Angeles and announcing "I'm baaack!" He battles the members of the new
X-Force before it is revealed that his mind is apparently being possessed by the
Demon Bear that once terrorized
Danielle Moonstar. After a lengthy conflict,
Psylocke manages to pull the Bear out of Bishop's mind. Storm also uses the opportunity to disrupt the part of Bishop's mind holding his memories of his hunt for Hope, in the hopes that she will thus restore her old friend. Bishop is later shown comatose as a result of his ordeal. He eventually regains his memories of Hope. Bishop is shown carrying out research in a library in London, preparing himself for the next 'scheduled' threat he recalls from his future history, when he becomes caught up in the latest attack by the Shadow King, which results in Charles Xavier being reborn in Fantomex's body. After the reborn Proteus and Shadow King are defeated, Xavier—now calling himself 'X'—erases the memories of his resurrection from most of the X-Men who worked with him, but he grants each of them a gift, stating that his gift to Bishop is the ability to put his quest to protect the future to the side at times and allow himself to enjoy his life in the present. Under the illusionary world, every type of human intimate interaction is forbidden, although this does not stop Bishop and Jean Grey from starting a relationship. This leads to the events of mini-series
Prisoner X, where Bishop is taken to be "reconditioned".
Dawn of X and Krakoa In the new status quo for the X-Men (
Dawn of X), helmed by writer
Jonathan Hickman, Bishop is part of the crew of the
Marauders, led by
Kitty Pryde, and becomes Red Bishop of the
Hellfire Club. He is also one of
Krakoa's Great Captains—alongside Cyclops,
Magik, and
Gorgon—before becoming Captain Commander when Cyclops steps aside to lead the X-Men. During
King in Black, Beast was able to convince Bishop to ignore his orders from Pryde and shoot to kill the
symbiote-infected Cyclops and Storm, hinting that he is fine with being used by different organizations against one another. He also suggested the idea of fusing mutant DNA into new forms—inadvertently arguing for chimeras, which became a major part of
Moira MacTaggert's previous failed timelines. ==Powers and abilities==