Bishop, a superhuman mutant, is a police officer from the future who became stranded in the present after pursuing the supervillain Fitzroy through a time portal. Bishop is associated with the wider X-Men franchise and his stories are usually set in the shared Marvel Universe.
Introduced in a 1991 Uncanny X-Men story, Bishop almost immediately became a member of that team, and other X-Men tend to co-star or play significant roles in his own comics.
Bishop's powers allow him to absorb and redirect energy, but much of the time he'll Fight Like a Normal, relying on big guns, fists and boots rather than powers. Unlike many mutant heroes, he has no code against killing his foes.
Unusually, Marvel has avoided Recycled Titles for their Bishop series - the first was simply Bishop, but subsequent series use variations, usually adding a subtitle.
Bishop has starred in the following comics
- Bishop (1994)
- X.S.E.
- Bishop Xaviers Security Enforcers
- Gambit And Bishop Sons Of The Atom
- Bishop The Last X Man (1999)
- X Men The Times And Life Of Lucas Bishop (2009)
- Bishop: War College (2023)
Tropes:
- Bad Future: As the stories go on, it becomes increasingly clear that Bishop's future is a grim dystopia. Eventually, in X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop, this drives a grim attempt to Set Right What Once Went Wrong and a Face–Heel Turn, which sticks for quite some time.
- Fights Like a Normal: Bishop's powerful, but his powers are reactive. If he can't absorb energy, he can't throw energy bolts. In battles against foes with laser guns or energy blasts, he'll turn their own attacks back on them. Against other enemies, he tends to rely on big guns and combat training from his career as an X.S.E. police officer.
- Spin-Off: Bishop was introduced in the Uncanny X-Men series (#282), in November 1991. He almost immediately became a member of that team, eventually leading to his first spin-off limited series in 1994. The character retained his links to the wider X-Men franchise, and his subsequent solo comics have generally emphasized their connection to other X-Men characters or plotlines.
- Superhero Packing Heat: Bishop's powers let him absorb, store and project energy, but he mostly relies on a very large gun. If anyone is foolish enough to shoot at him with energy weapons, his powers then come into play as well.
