Valentin CorreaRansom

The teenage mutant, boxer, and runaway, Ransom, absorbs energy and uses it, making him an effective fighter while defending himself and those he cares about.

Below-the-Belt Upbringing

Born in Argentina, Valentin Correa shocks the doctors when they cannot detect a heartbeat and the x-rays show that he does not in fact have a heart. In its place is a black hole. His wealthy, vain parents see this anomaly as an imperfection, and when he’s kidnapped as a young boy, his parents refuse to pay the ransom. So the kidnappers shoot Valentin 14 times, but the bullets go through him and make him strong. At 13, he runs away from home.

Some time later, he’s hunted by a mysterious monster and meets fellow mutants experiencing the same thing. The voice also said that the X-Men in Louisiana could save them. In joining them, Valentin and the others call themselves The Outliers. The group travels there and finds Anna Marie LeBeau, AKA Rogue, and her X-Men, a splinter group from the rest of the X-Men, arguing and without their leader Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, who was imprisoned after the fall of Krakoa. The young mutants desperately ask for help, but James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, can smell death on them and goes on the offensive. Remy LeBeau, AKA Gambit, sets off the Left Eye of Agamotto, a powerful artifact, and its energy goes straight into Valentin. Absorbing its power, he punches Wolverine and a fight between the teenage and adult mutants, until Jubilation Lee, AKA Jubilee’s sudden arrival, who calms everyone down. Luckily, this group of X-Men decides to take these mutant outliers into their protection. They ask them their mutant names and Valentin reveals that his name is Ransom, on account of his past experiences with his family.

Fighting with Fists

Ransom has a black hole in place of his heart and can absorb most any energy into his cells, whether from a weapon or magical energy, and convert it into superhuman strength. He also possesses superhuman durability and stamina. He is also an expert at boxing and known as an “olympic hopeful,” which makes him formidable in hand-to-hand combat.

On the Ropes

Even in his young years as a teenage mutant, Valentin faces many foes, including kidnappers, followers of a monstrous woman known as the Hag who desires to see the Outliers all dead, stealth Sentinels, and ghosts.

Saved by the Bell

Ransom’s first ally, though he may not be aware of it, is Harvey X. Before he dies, Harvey X psychically guides Ransom and his fellow Outlier mutants to Rogue’s team of X-Men, who become staunch allies while they’re being hunted by the Hag. Wolverine also chooses to mentor him. The St. Juniors offer their family home in Haven, LA, dubbed Haven House, to Valentin, the other mutants, and the X-Men while the Outliers are being hunted. 

Ransom is closest to his fellow mutants that form the Outliers, which includes Sofia Yong, AKA Jitter, from Singapore who can access talents and skills, but only for one minute, dubbing it her focus time; Hotoru, AKA Deathdream, from Kyoto who can choose a state of life or death at will, and has a deep connection to the spirit world, able to summon souls and power of the unliving; and Becca Constance Simon-Pinette, AKA Calico, from Virginia, who shares a powerful connection with her horse, Ember, who can transform into a variety of different horse-forms at her command.

Ransom is protective of his teammates, often standing up for them at every turn and coming to their aid. He also sees Hotoru as a little brother and calls him as such.

Blow-By-Blow

While under the protection of Rogue’s X-Men, Ransom and the others found out that the monster hunting them was Sarah Gaunt, AKA the Hag, who also sought to kill them all and sent a small army to do so. When the X-Men jumped to defend them, Ransom and the others couldn’t stand by and instead stood up to defend themselves as well. Meanwhile, Rogue battled the Hag and in defeating her, delivered her to Graymalkin Prison, formerly Xavier’s Institute, to be incarcerated. Ransom and the X-Men battle sent the Hag’s followers limping away. 

Part of staying at Haven House was that Valentin and the Outliers must attend school with the St. Juniors’ daughter Chelsea. Just before they all took a school bus there together, Sofia advised the group to avoid using their powers. On the bus, other students made fun of Sofia’s stutter, and when they called Valentin an orphan, he clenched his fist but Sofia prevented him from engaging. When Hotoru made a sarcastic remark, Valentin called him out for only thinking of himself. At school, they were reminded by the school’s principal to keep a low profile for everyone’s safety. However, later that day when Hotoru used his powers against the bus bullies, Valentin came to his aid and got into a fist fight with them, who ran off.

That same day, Val’s fellow Outlier, Calico, and instructor, Jubilee, were abducted and taken to Graymalkin, so he joined his fellow mutants to liberate them. Upon doing so, Calico embraced Ransom and Deathdream.

Later, Valentin overheard the X-Men talking about him and the Outliers, about trusting them. Feeling crushed, he decided to move on. He packed a bag and called a cousin to pick him up at a nearby bus stop, where Wolverine was there waiting for him. He offered to get him a sandwich for his trip and explained what the X-Men had been through, notably that they were skittish due to a precog (Harvey X) telling them that one of the kids at Haven House was going to be the end of all Mutantkind. Valentin felt further justified about leaving as he couldn’t stay where people thought he was a threat. Wolverine noticed how in every scrape, Valentin would come to his friends’ defense and said that they needed him. He also told him that he was his first draft pick to mentor. Surprised, Valentin contacted his cousin and called off his departure. Rejoining Haven House, Valentin told Wolverine that he had to loosen up and let the Outliers go into the city and it turned out, Jubilee already had a plan to send them to the mall for some normalcy. Valentin joined his fellow Outliers at the mall but they were attacked by a group of stealth Sentinels, deadly drones in the form of dogs. 

Ransom and the others fought them off, but Deathdream was gravely injured in the battle. Jitter used her focus time to channel the skills of a combat medic while Ransom and Calico continued to defend their friends. Once Jitter healed Deathdream, they were back in the fight only to be joined by the X-Men who soundly defeated the deadly dogs. To onlookers, they looked like heroes.

Valentin and the others continued to train with the X-Men but their tactics were getting rough. Whilst training, Hotoru asked Valentin if he would teach him how to box and he agreed but stated he’d need different duds. Hotoru returned in Valentin’s Ransom costume, which was too big for him. 

Later, Valentin was awoken in the middle of the night by Hotoru, Sofia and Becca with Hotoru insisting that they all follow him. He took them across the swampland by boat to the Dark Artery, a mysterious graveyard near Haven House that’s tied to a mutant from the distant past. Hotoru kept reminding the group not to show fear, which made sense when they encountered the monstrous Ted Sallis, AKA Man-Thing, who burns those that show fear. Man-Thing was also the protector of the Penumbra, a city of the dead, which had a mutant guardian of its own, Lady Henrietta. She revealed that she and those that dwell there had lured them there to take her place under the city’s eternal overlord Shuvahrak, and that Hotoru, given his connection to the unliving, was her obvious replacement. 

Hotoru saw a chance to take Lady Henrietta’s place as no one cared about him, but Valentin saw him as a little brother, so he and the others came to his defense. When the city of the dead attacked them, the Outliers stood their ground and fought them. Things looked dire when Jitter was out of juice having used her focus powers earlier, and Calico was without her horse Ember and was unsure if she could access her abilities. As such, Ransom told Hotoru that they were the line. When they were all caught by the dead, Man-Thing and the X-Men arrived to back them up.