X-Men: Lockheed's Greatest Hits

Long before mutant icons like Psylocke and Gambit joined the X-Men, Lockheed—a small alien dragon—accompanied the team and their allies on dozens of missions and formed a lifelong bond with Kitty Pryde. Although he may look like a simple creature on the outside, the tiny dragon is a deceptively powerful warrior and experienced fighter who has saved the day numerous times. 

Now, let's take a closer look at some of Lockheed's most memorable moments to celebrate the debut of his new solo series: THE LOVABLE LOCKHEED INFINITY COMIC (2024) by Nathan Stockman. From his adventures with the X-Men to his secret battle with Thanos alongside the Pet Avengers, these moments prove that Lockheed is much more than Kitty Pryde's pet dragon. 

LOCKHEED MEETS THE X-MEN

Lockheed met Kitty Pryde and the X-Men for the first time in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #166 by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith. While fighting a race of parasitic aliens called the Brood, Pryde and the rest of the X-Men were captured and taken to the Brood's adopted homeworld, a planet called Sleazeworld. After the X-Men became infected with Brood embryos, several Brood separated Pryde from her teammates. Just as the aliens cornered Pryde, Lockheed flew in from the shadows and torched the terrified Brood with his flame breath. 

After the X-Men defeated the Brood, Lockheed secretly stowed away with the team as they returned to the X-Mansion. When an alien Sidri hunter attacked the X-Men, the dragon revealed himself by saving Pryde again and destroying the Sidri's nest in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #168 by Claremont and Smith. Noting the alien's resemblance to a dragon she once imagined in a fairy tale, Pryde named her new friend Lockheed. Although he remained largely silent, Professor X noted the alien was intelligent and had some natural resistance to his telepathic power.

LOCKHEED AND PUFF

Despite his feisty temperament, Lockheed accompanied the X-Men on numerous missions, even when they took him to an alien planet called Battleworld in the original SECRET WARS (1984). After flying away from the action, Lockheed encountered another alien dragon named Puff, and the two accompanied the X-Men back to Earth. Somewhere along the way, Puff transformed into a giant-size dragon, and she attacked Tokyo in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #181 by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. 

Despite the best efforts of the X-Men, their ally Sunfire, and the Japanese military, Puff continued collecting materials to build her nest, flapping her wings with such force that even Storm struggled to control the hurricane-force winds. With a blast of fiery breath, Lockheed finally got Puff's attention and shocked her by turning down her romantic advances. The spurned dragon disappeared in a burst of energy. However, this story got a happy epilogue years later, as Lockheed and Puff eventually reunited, paired off, and had kids together. 

EXCALIBUR

When Kitty Pryde left the X-Men to join a British team of mutants called Excalibur, Lockheed followed her and stayed with the team throughout their zany, reality-hopping adventures. After he was seriously injured in a battle between the team and Doctor Doom, Lockheed was abducted and put on trial by the Flock, his old alien civilization, in EXCALIBUR (1988) #40 by Scott Lobdell and Dave Hoover. 

This issue revealed Lockheed was engaged to be married to the daughter of one of the Flock's leaders due to his vital role in a war against the Brood. But in a sharp violation of the Flock's community-minded behavior, he ran away the night before the wedding and bumped into the X-Men.

Lockheed unsuccessfully tried to defend himself by recounting his heroic actions with Excalibur and the X-Men. Eventually, he won the Flock over by stopping their spaceship from crashing into the Earth. The Flock spared Lockheed's life for those heroic actions, but they permanently exiled him. The dragon returned to Earth and stayed by Pryde's side, even during her brief stint as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

LOCKHEED FLIES SOLO

Once Excalibur broke up and Kitty Pryde returned to the X-Men, Lockheed was separated from her and believed her to be dead. With an injured wing that limited his mobility, the dragon took center stage in a X-MEN UNLIMITED (1993) #43 story by Steven Grant and Paul Smith. Two teenage girls, the Wolcroft sisters, found Lockheed and rescued him from some hunters chasing him throughout North England. 

Despite that initial kindness, the Wolcrofts turned out to be witches who used magic to terrorize their community. As he slowly recovered, Lockheed realized something was odd as he spent more time around the girls. When the Wolcrofts turned a bushel of apples into a pack of rats at a neighborhood market, another magic user named Thorne confronted them. In turn, the Walcrofts ordered Lockheed to attack. 

Immediately, Lockheed recognized the empathy in Thorne, who instinctively knew his name. After the dragon gently burned the Wolcrofts, Thorne healed his wing and told him Pryde was alive and waiting for him in Chicago.

LOCKHEED JOINS S.W.O.R.D.

Despite his long history with the X-Men, Lockheed spied on the team for S.W.O.R.D. and Abigail Brand, the space-based intelligence operation's endlessly conniving leader. In exchange for help with an issue on his homeworld, Kitty Pryde's pet dragon kept tabs on the X-Men's alien encounters for S.W.O.R.D. 

When Pryde was trapped in a bullet hurtling through space, Lockheed became a full-time agent of S.W.O.R.D., where he served alongside Beast. Over time, he grew wracked by guilt for betraying his friends on the X-Men. When Henry Gyrich took over S.W.O.R.D., the dragon was one of the few aliens to escape the xenophobic bureaucrat's forces in S.W.O.R.D. (2009) #3 by Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders. 

Although Gyrich's heavily armed strike team cornered him, Lockheed disoriented them by using his flame breath to create smoke. As they fired their weapons aimlessly, he escaped into a nearby vent. He eventually tracked down Abigail and Beast and helped them in their fight against Gyrich and S.W.O.R.D.'s enemies.

LOCKHEED AND THE PET AVENGERS

Although he still felt devastated by his betrayal of the X-Men, Lockheed joined a new team of heroes, the Pet Avengers, in LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS (2009) #1 by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara. After finding the Mind Stone, the Inhumans' Lockjaw assembled a team of animal heroes like Throg, Falcon's bird Redwing, and Zabu, Ka-Zar's tiger, to collect the Infinity Stones and keep them safe.  

After some convincing, Lockheed joined the Pet Avengers to honor Kitty, and he received the Time Stone. Drawing on his experiences with Excalibur, the dragon helped the group navigate the prehistoric past without altering the timeline. With his recent betrayals in mind, Lockheed also made sure the team did not leave any members behind. After assembling the Infinity Stones and defeating Thanos, he found a new sense of purpose and decided to remain with the Pet Avengers.

LOCKHEED AND FIN FANG FOOM

After a few more adventures with the Pet Avengers, Lockheed took center stage when the team faced another alien dragon, Fin Fang Foom, in AVENGERS VS. PET AVENGERS (2010) #1 by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara. The giant-size Makluan dragon and his allies swallowed the Pet Avengers whole but spared Lockheed, who he saw as a fellow dragon. 

When Fin Fang Foom explained he was trying to recover some dragon eggs, Lockheed agreed to help him, and the other Pet Avengers joined their mission. The Avengers saw their animal allies working with their enemies and assumed the worst, leading Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Pet Avengers to fight each other. Meanwhile, the Makulans transported the eggs into space, where they could safely hatch. 

Eventually, the human Avengers understood that the animals were trying to save innocent lives. Lockheed felt he had betrayed another team, only to be reassured he had done the right thing.

LOCKHEED AND KRAKOA

Lockheed and Kitty Pryde reunited and made peace with each other before the X-Men established a mutant nation on the island of Krakoa. As the Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Company and captain of the sea-faring Marauders, Pryde was one of the island's most influential leaders, and the dragon stayed by her side. When Sebastian Shaw drowned Pryde and left Lockheed for dead in the ocean, the dragon emerged as the key witness to her murder in MARAUDERS (2019) #11 by Gerry Duggan and Stefano Caselli.

Lockheed returned to Krakoa after a kind family found him and nursed him back to health. When Emma Frost read his mind, the White Queen began plotting her revenge against Shaw. Meanwhile, the X-Men resurrected Pryde through a complex process that involved placing a copy of her mind in a cloned body. Once she had been resurrected, Pryde embraced Lockheed, who draped his body around his old friend.

Catch more of Lockheed's adventures in THE LOVABLE LOCKHEED #1, now available on Marvel Unlimited!

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