Emma Frost

"Scott was trying to be sweet and all I felt was cold and alone because so many wonderful lights have gone out and I'm so tired from fighting against all this darkness. And I thought, I'll name them Jean and Kurt. I'll name my gray hairs after dead friends. Dead friends and X-Men."

- Emma Frost

Emma Frost is a character from the X-Men franchise. At first she is a villainess called the White Queen, but later she becomes a heroine.

History
Emma Frost was born into a wealthy old Boston mercantile family that arrived from England in the 1600s. The second of three daughters, Emma also had an older brother named Christian who had turned to substance abuse as an escape from the drudgery of his life. Unknown to their family or themselves, the three Frost sisters were mutants whose telepathic abilities matured upon reaching puberty.

When it came time for their father to choose a worthy heir to the family fortune, Christian was automatically dismissed due to his drug problem. Whilst the older sister Adrienne seemed the most obvious choice, the father chose Emma. Surprisingly, she refused, choosing to make her own way through life.

Emma ultimately inherited a good deal of wealth, but most of her large fortune resulted from her professional success. She ascended rapidly to the upper echelon of the business world on the strength of her intelligence, drive, and personal charm, as well as the secret use of her mental powers. Also, at some point, the Dark Beast met Emma, and helped her rise to wealth and power.

Eventually, Emma became majority stockholder of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate principally involved in electronics and transportation - both the building of ships and aircraft, and their use for freight and passenger conveyance. Despite her relative youth, she was named chairwoman of the board and chief executive officer of the rechristened Frost International. She also became headmistress and chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Academy - a college preparatory school for students in grades seven through twelve located in the Berkshire Mountains in Snow Valley, Massachusetts.

Emma's success caught the attention of the Hellfire Club, an elite social organization consisting of the world's wealthiest and most powerful figures. When she learned that the club was hiring dancers, she promptly auditioned and used her telepathic talents to enhance her performance in their eyes. Unlike the other females in the Club, Emma was never uncomfortable with the strict dress code that required female members to wear lingerie at all times. She believed her revealing wardrobe to be one of many weapons in her arsenal, one that gave her an instant advantage over men.

Frost quickly became an ally of Sebastian Shaw, a member of the club's Council of the Chosen who were secretly conspiring to achieve world domination through economic and political means. At the time, the leaders of the club and council - its foremost Lords Cardinal, whose titles corresponded to the names of chess pieces - were White King Edward Buckman and White Queen Paris Seville.

Buckman threw the council's support behind Project: Armageddon, scientist Steven Lang's program to construct mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. Aware of Shaw's genetic disposition, Buckman told him the initiative's intent was to capture mutants as a means of helping the council attain power. Using her psionic powers, Emma learned that the project's actual purpose was the annihilation of all genetic deviants. After Shaw's lover, Lourdes Chantel, was murdered by one of the Sentinels, Shaw and Frost staged a coup that saw them seize control of the Council of the Chosen, which they renamed the Inner Circle. Shaw took the title of Black King, and Frost became the new White Queen.

Under Shaw and Frost's leadership, mutants dominated the Inner Circle. To strengthen the Club's power base, Emma recruited genetically gifted youngsters and helped them hone their abilities at her school. Most of these students were members of the Hellions, Emma's first mutant super-team. She initially encountered the outlaw band of heroic mutant adventurers known as the X-Men when she unsuccessfully attempted to recruit young Kitty Pryde, the phase-shifting mutant then known as Shadowcat. Subsequently, Emma crossed paths with the X-Men - and their protégés, the New Mutants - on a number of occasions, often as their adversary. Later, the X-Men joined with the Hellions to protect the White Queen from the time-traveling terrorist named Trevor Fitzroy. However, the madman's brutal assault plunged Emma into a deep coma and brought about the Hellions' untimely demise.

Whilst Emma's consciousness still active on the material plane, her body was kept in the med-lab at the X-Men's mansion. Seeking to ensure her students' welfare and the school's future, Emma had willed responsibility for the Massachusetts Academy to Professor Charles Xavier, the X-Men's telepathic founder. During her psychic incapacitation, the school was added to the rapidly expanding Xavier Institute. While Emma’s corporeal form was in stasis, a short-circuit in the mansion inadvertently caused her psyche to possess the X-Man named Iceman, whilst his mind was transferred into her body.

Coerced by Professor X, Emma eventually reclaimed her own form. After making a full recovery, she resumed her role as headmistress of the academy. Ably assisted by Sean Cassidy, the sonically empowered former X-Man known as Banshee, she set out to train a new crop of young mutants: Generation X. When the sinking stock market dealt Frost International a major blow, Emma swallowed her pride and sought the help of her older sister, Adrienne, who agreed to support her sibling's flagging financial interests only if she were named co-headmaster. But Adrienne's power play did not wind down when Emma acceded to her request, nor did it end when she supplanted her sister as the Hellfire Club's White Queen. Only after Adrienne telepathically incited a riot at the school did Emma find a way to upset her ascension: the way of the gun. Emma shot and killed her sister, thereby laying claim to Adrienne's inheritance.

Following the dissolution of Generation X and the closure of the Massachusetts Academy, Emma moved to the island nation of Genosha where she began teaching mutant children again. Soon after, a Sentinel attack wiped out Genosha's entire mutant population. Emma was found by the X-Men alive in the rubble, having undergone a secondary mutagenic change that allowed her to survive the onslaught. Following this incident, Emma came to teach at the Xavier Institute, and soon took on the responsibility of personally mentoring the telepathic quintuplets known as the Stepford Cuckoos.

Emma later counseled her teammate Cyclops following his possession by the eternal mutant warlord Apocalypse. This soon turned into a telepathic affair between the two which was short-lived after Summers' wife, Jean Grey, discovered what was happening.

During the riot at the Xavier Institute, Sophie of the telepathic sisters the Stepford Cuckoos died. The remaining sisters blamed Emma for this and told Jean Grey-Summers of Emma's affair with her husband. When Emma was confronted by Jean, she was forced to relive various moments of her past. Following this confrontation, Emma was shot with a diamond bullet whilst in her diamond form, shattering it. Though she was believed to be dead at first, Emma's consciousness was trapped in her shattered remains. Phoenix discovered this and telekinetically fused Emma's body back together. Upon being reassembled, Emma identified Esme of the Cuckoos as the culprit behind her assassination. However, Esme was working with the X-Man Xorn, who believed himself to be Magneto at the time, and it was he who shot Emma as she had learned of his dual identity.

Following the death of Jean Grey, Emma has assumed the position of co-headmaster of the Xavier Institute alongside Cyclops.

When a band of Shi'ar reconstituted the Phoenix Force in order to destroy it, they ended up shattering it and driving it insane. It went to earth and forcefully resurrected Jean Grey, believing it needed Scott Summers when what it needed was the energy from his optic blasts. Emma attempted to shield Scott with her mind, but was stopped by Quentin Quire, who sought to use the Phoenix Force to resurrect Sophie of the Cuckoos. Emma offered herself as a host for the Phoenix Force so it could be contained but was quickly overpowered and her body was completely taken over by the Force. After temporarily resurrecting Sophie, who rejected Quentin, the Phoenix proceeded to burn the planet. Jean Grey separated Emma and remerged with the Force, only to fall into insanity. Emma used her powers to contact every X-Man in the world and their love for Jean restored the Phoenix's sanity, who became the White Phoenix and returned to the White Hot Room to find her missing pieces.

Powers and Abilities
Emma Frost possesses telepathy abilities matching those of Charles Xavier. Frost has been cited as a World-class telepath, Omega Class Telepath and a Psi of the Highest Order capable of extraordinary telepathic feats.

Telepathy: Since her introduction, Frost has displayed the telepathic standards of broadcasting and receiving thoughts, mind-control, altering perceptions and memories, projection of offensive blasts of psionic energy causing mental pain or unconsciousness, astral projection, mind switching, brain engram modification, mental sedation of unconscious victims, induction of mental pain by touch, and limited psychometry. Frost is also very adept at performing 'psychic surgery': the utilization of pin-pointed psionic energy to exert absolute control over individual brain functions such that the physical form can be manipulated (i.e., injuries healed, disabilities repaired, the nervous system, etc), a sub-skill of telepathy unusual for even the most powerful of telepaths, but one that Emma is keen to utilize whenever the occasion benefits her. Frost's abilities rival that of Charles Xavier, her incredible power and conniving ways are evident in her first appearance whereby she manages to capture and sedate him. Frost has been cited as a "World-class telepath" and a "Psi of the Highest Order" capable of extraordinary telepathic feats.

Latent Telekinesis: Emma was also stated to be a potential telekinetic. During the Onslaught Saga, Emma unintentionally levitated some utensils while facing a nightmare. Synch then used this ability to telekinetically levitate objects. After further clarifications, it was stated that this phenomenon is one of Frost's powers that potentially lies within her mutation.
 * Psychic Surgery: the utilization of pin-pointed psionic energy to exert absolute control over individual brain functions such that the physical form can be manipulated (i.e., injuries healed, disabilities repaired, the nervous system, etc), a sub-skill of telepathy unusual for even the most powerful of telepaths, but one that Emma is keen to utilize whenever the occasion benefits her.
 * Limited psychometry

Organic Diamond Form: As a result of undergoing a body-wide secondary mutation, Frost now possesses the ability to transform her body into a flexible organic diamond form. In many ways, this is similar to Colossus's organic steel form. She must transform all parts of her body, rather than selectively transforming certain areas and can remain in this form for an undetermined amount of time. If she is rendered unconscious, Frost's body will automatically transform into its normal state. This transformation also alters Frost's personality, causing her to become rather cold hearted and to lose her empathy for others. Emma does not have access to her telepathy while in her diamond form.


 * Superhuman Strength: In her diamond form, Frost's physical strength is increased to superhuman levels. At her peak, she is able to lift approximately 2 tons.
 * Superhuman Stamina: While transformed, Frost's muscle tissue becomes infinitely more efficient than the organic musculature of normal humans, or most other organic beings for that matter. Her muscles produce almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity, granting her almost limitless superhuman stamina, or at least until or unless she is forced to resume her normal state.
 * Superhuman Durability: Frost's diamond form renders her highly resistant to most forms of physical injury. She is able to resist great impact forces, such as being repeatedly struck with superhuman force, without being injured. Her body is also resistant to temperature extremes, able to withstand temperatures as cold as -320 degrees Fahrenheit or as hot as approximately 7,362 degrees Fahrenheit before her form begins to melt. Frost is also self contained while transformed, requiring no food, water or oxygen.

As a member of X-Men, Emma deals with her emotions from murdering her sister and travels to the mutant haven island of Genosha where she teaches at a mutant school until a genocidal Sentinel attack kills most of the island's population including all of her students; Emma survives due to the sudden manifestation of her secondary mutation: the power to transform herself into a flexible, near-invulnerable, diamond-like substance. Emma then joins the X-Men after they rescue her from Genosha, and takes on a teaching position after the Xavier Institute reforms into a regular school. She starts to look after and train a group of telepathic quintuplets, the Stepford Cuckoos, who quickly become her prized pupils. Frost and the Cuckoos prove themselves when they help fight and defeat Charles Xavier's evil twin sister Cassandra Nova. As a member of the X-Men, Frost begins a psychic, non-physical, sexual relationship with Cyclops, who had become distant from his wife Jean as a result of his temporary physical and mental merger with the ancient mutant Apocalypse and added disconnection from Jean "remanifesting" the Phoenix Force. Emma and Cyclops' psychic meetings begin in the form of therapy, but soon turn into a telepathic romantic affair.


 * For Emma Frost's incarnation in the animated series Wolverine and the X-men, check here.