Early Life[]

In his early years, Graydon Creed's life was shrouded in a web of deception and intrigue, all orchestrated by his enigmatic mother, Mystique. Born as the result of a clandestine affair between Mystique and the notorious freelance assassin Victor Creed, Graydon entered the world under the guise of normalcy, unaware of his true heritage.^[11] Mystique, assuming the identity of "Leni Zauber", a German spy, seduced Creed during his mission in Germany. Despite both being mutants, Mystique's subsequent pregnancy resulted in the birth of a seemingly ordinary human child, Graydon. Mystique, unwilling to raise a non-mutant child herself, opted to give him up for adoption, albeit keeping a discreet watch over him from afar.^[11][12] However, Mystique's plans were soon complicated by the need to eliminate any loose ends. She orchestrated the death of the real Leni Zauber to prevent Creed from seeking vengeance, ensuring her own safety and secrecy.^[11]

As Graydon grew, his mother struggled to reconcile her maternal instincts with the reality of her son's humanity and the challenges it presented. Mystique, concealing her mutant nature and blue skin, found herself overwhelmed by Graydon's constant crying as an infant, contemplating relinquishing him for adoption.^[13] Throughout his upbringing, Mystique maintained the façade of a normal life for Graydon, weaving tales of a father who was a stock trader, shielding him from the truth of his parentage and her own identity. However, Graydon's curiosity eventually led him to a startling revelation: his mother's true nature as a shapeshifter with azure skin.^[14] Taunted by this revelation and cryptic hints about his father's darker nature, Graydon's childhood was fraught with uncertainty and confusion. Mystique, realizing that Graydon would never manifest mutant abilities, ultimately abandoned him when he was twelve, leaving him to fend for himself in poverty-stricken Europe.^[14] Despite the abandonment and deception that marked his early years, Graydon persevered, driven by a fierce determination to carve out his own path in the world. Through sheer grit and resilience, he clawed his way out of poverty, laying the foundation for the formidable figure he would later become.^[15]

Friends of Humanity[]

Creed established the Friends of Humanity, a grassroots anti-mutant organization known for its frequent public demonstrations against mutants, exploiting the right to free speech to propagate their hateful ideologies.^[16] In a controversial move, Creed struck a deal with General Armond Gaudier from the Office of Genetic Purity, supplying assault weapons to bolster the Friends of Humanity's militant efforts.^[15]

Creed willingly aligned himself with the Upstarts, a consortium primarily comprising mutants vying for points and resources garnered from mutant assassination assignments overseen by the telepathic Gamesmaster As the Friends of Humanity gained national prominence, Creed received an invitation to participate in a televised debate on mutant rights hosted by ABC News, alongside Professor Charles Xavier and Senator Robert Kelly. Conducted by Elton Cayer via satellite, Creed found himself embroiled in a contentious exchange, with the recent atrocities committed by the Acolytes and the assassination attempt on Xavier by Stryfe dominating the discussion. Defending his organization, Creed asserted that the Friends of Humanity aimed to safeguard the rights of humans, countering Kelly's accusations of civil rights violations. In a confrontational turn, Creed accused Xavier of pandering to mutant interests, while publicly probing Kelly about his wife's demise in a "mutant incident." Annoyed by the sudden intervention of Beast, Creed faced further scrutiny as McCoy likened his actions to those of a Nazi. The tension escalated as McCoy taunted Creed, culminating in a defiant gesture as the cameras ceased rolling.^[16]

Death[]

At a rally for Graydon's hopeful presidential candidacy, an assassin shot and killed him.^[3][13] A future version of Mystique had fired the shot, having sworn to kill Graydon for his part in the Friends of Humanity's brutal attack on Trevor Chase, the grandson of her lover Destiny.

First Resurrection[]

A group of Purifiers later dug up the corpse of Graydon Creed and took his body to their base where it was re-animated by Bastion using the Techno-Organic Virus taken from an "offspring" of Magus. This resulted in Graydon being resurrected and gaining abilities that Cable had when he was infected by a techno organic virus. Later he died again in the battle against the X-Men.^[5]

Second Resurrection[]

He was later brought back again as a zombie and sent after Sabretooth, Daken, and Lady Deathstrike. He engaged in a brief fight with his father, even managing to gain the upper-hand shortly. He was killed again when the soldiers finally blew up the town of Maybelle.^[17]

A Hell of a Family Reunion[]

Graydon was shown in Hell, strapped to a hospital bed and screaming in agony. Having grown tired of the yelling, Sabretooth came to his room and found him. Graydon lashed out at his father for abandoning him and wanted Victor to end his pain by killing him, but Victor refused. Instead, he decided to take Graydon with him so he could return home with the rest of Weapon X-Force once their business in Hell was finished. Mystique argued that Graydon belonged in Hell, but Sabretooth, whose moral compass had been supernaturally inverted, wasn't willing to leave him.^[18] Due to Sabretooth's effort, Graydon was freed from Hell and resurrected.^[8]

Creed Vs. Creed[]

Still filled with hatred for his father and mutants, Graydon joined the anti-mutant organisation Orchis and began traveling the Multiverse to hunt down every single version of Sabretooth, using the Barrington Coils to deny their healing factor, while keeping some versions of him imprisoned. After Sabretooth and the Exiles broke out Orphan-Maker from Orchis, Graydon got hold of his father and brought him to his station. Graydon revealed to his father what he had been doing all this time and intended to kill the last remaining Sabretooth in the multiverse.^[19]

However, as he tortured his father, the other Sabretooths managed to free themselves and attacked Graydon, forcing him to flee. When the alternate versions attempted to use the interdimensional device to return home, they were prevented by Graydon controlling the headless corpses of the Sabretooths he had killed. Luckily for them, Graydon's father recovered himself just in time to join the fight, resulting in Graydon being pushed through a portal to another universe.^[20]

Sabretooth War[]

While Graydon was trapped in the alternate universe he was forced to graft his suit onto his flesh to survive, repurposing himself as a cyborg. Graydon was eventually brought back to his home universe by Savage Sabretooth and Camo Sabretooth, who had secretly turned against Victor due to his obsession with killing Wolverine, and used the opportunity to summon Graydon to Station Five while Victor was preoccupied with Logan on Krakoa. Graydon, now calling himself "Bad Seed", gathered the remaining Sabretooth Army to take down his father, and encountered Laura Kinney who had sent a distress signal to X-Force to rescue her and her father.^[1] Laura disabled Station Five's cloaking mechanism before jumping out, causing the Stark Sentinels patrolling Krakoa to detect and attack Graydon and the Army. During the aerial assault Graydon used his cybernetic implants to reprogram one of the Sentinels and piloted it to destroy the other Sentinels attacking Station Five.^[21] When Graydon still expressed his desire to kill Sabretooth, Camo argued that his obsession with his father was no different that Sabretooth's own obsession with Wolverine, which infuriated Graydon who then used his Sentinel to destroy Station Five, killing Camo and the rest of the Sabretooth Army. Graydon self-destructed his Sentinel to destroy the other Sentinels and landed on Krakoa's shores just as Wolverine arrived, clad in the Adamantium Armor and wielding Muramasa Blade to fight the Army. Graydon then engaged Wolverine in battle to finish what his father failed to do: killing Wolverine.^[22] Graydon used his powers to reanimate the destroyed Sentinels to keep X-Force and the Exiles preoccupied but before he could fight Wolverine, Sabretooth snuck up behind him and ripped his heart out, killing him.^[9]

Cybernetic Enhanced Physiology: While trapped in an alternate universe by his father, Graydon grated his own suit onto his body along with technology from that dimension, turning himself into a cyborg.^[1]

• Technopathy: Graydon's cyborg body allows him to communicate with and manipulate machines and technology.^[21] Machines activated by his powers still remain active after his death.^[9]

Graydon is a charismatic and intelligent man, hindered somewhat by his bigotry, but is still a highly influential and well-connected figure. He has basic military training but only modest hand-to-hand combat skills.

Tribune Suit: an armored battle suit which gave him much greater strength.

• Scott Lobdell had originally planned for the Askani Sisterhood to be responsible for Creed's assassination, and even hinted that there were members of the Askani who infiltrated Creed's campaign.^[23]
• After Krakoa became a sovereign nation state for mutants, Graydon Creed was considered to be the seventh most deadly threat to mutants, responsible for 147 mutant deaths.^[24][4]