A Bit About The Stepford Cuckoos or Frost Sisters in Comics!
An avid comic collector and fan for nearly 20 years, Vic started collecting comics around eight years old. Comic investing since the 2000s.
I fully admit that I didn't know about the Stepford Cuckoos until I saw them as the Frost Sisters on The Gifted TV show played by Skyler Samuels. I named this my favorite comic book based TV show back in 2017, but since episodes 1 and 2 of season 2 has already aired, this has become one of my favorite shows period.
While I love all the characters and the actors who portray them on the show, one of my favorites is definitely Skyler Samuels as the daughters of Emma Frost or the "Frost Sisters" as they are known on the show.
The characters of Esme, Sophie and Phoebe are actually comic characters if you didn't yet know, and if you don't know much about their comic history, let's dive into that.
First a pretty quick video, and then I'll explain in more detail afterward. Let's have some fun.
As mentioned in the video, the Stepford Cuckoos debuted in a two panel cameo in New X-Men #118 and were created by Grant Morrison. As stated in the video and as seen on show and in the comics, the sisters do share a hive mind.
However, like the show is depicting, the sisters differing personalities are beginning to emerge, and in the comics, Esme was not seen as the first dominant personality between the Stepford Cuckoos. The comics had Sophie as the dominant personality until her death.
Also, the Stepford Cuckoos, originally called the Five-in-One, were students at the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning and not part of the Hellfire Club, although they could gain membership due to their biological mother, Emma Frost. In the comics, Esme was the most conniving out of the sisters, and it was revealed that she was, in fact, responsible for the death of Sophie.
Sophie apparently had the strongest desire to be a hero, and Phoebe exhibited quite ambitious behavior by often acting like a de facto leader after the death of Sophie. She also welcomed the power of the Phoenix force simply for the love of wielding it's destructive power.
Celeste is seen as the most compassionate of the sisters and the one most fearful of losing her connection with them. She is not power-hungry like Phoebe and was fearful of wielding he Phoenix Force.
While Phoebe exhibited behaviors of like or wanting power, it can be said that Esme was the most ambitious of the sisters. She was the first to split from the sisters and show individuality when she crushed on a student named Kato, much to her sisters disapproval.
Kato ended up being a Shi'ar Imperial Guard shape-shifter named Stuff, but this did not persuade Esme to further exhibit her own personal traits, especially in ambition. Not soon after, Esme tried to gain control of the hive mind by using the drug Kick to enhance her powers over Sophie.
As a result of her scheming and ambitions, Sophie ended up dying. Esme would also lose her life in later comics as well, and the remaining three would be Phoebe, Celeste and Irma (Mindee).
Irma or Mindee Cuckoo has an interesting story about her. Apparently, the first letters to names of the sisters were suppose to spell SPICE when put in the correct order.
The only thing was that Morrison never named Irma, so when Chuck Austen took over, he missed this completely and named the only unnamed Cuckoo Mindee. Matt Fraction would later correct this and have "Mindee" be a nickname for the character of Irma Cuckoo.
Skylar Samuels as the Stepford Cuckoos in FOX's The Gifted (2017).
The Gifted Season 1 Official Trailer
More Stepford Cuckoos Comic Issues
First named Stepford Cuckoos in this issue. Esme named in New X-Men #123 as well.
First time Sophie is named.
Phoebe is named in this issue.
Celeste Cuckoo is named in this issue.
Mindee is named in this issue.
So, there's a little bit about the Stepford Cuckoos in comics. In the actual comics, they were not portrayed as villains but young students and on the side of the X-Men. I do like how The Gifted TV show is handling these characters.
Skyler Samuels is wonderful in the role of the Frost Sisters. If you're a fan of the character on the show, I highly recommend you check out the comics. Check out the show as well if you're an X-Men fan, and here's another hub I did about Reeva Payge and her very short stint in the actual comics.
Thanks for reading and please share. Would really appreciate it!
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