The Stepford Cuckoos made their live action debut as the Frost Sisters; Esme, Sophie, and Phoebe in the television series The Gifted (2017 - 2019), portrayed by Skyler Samuels.

In April 2024, it was announced that Sophie would have a starring role in the second volume of NYX, set for a July 2024 release as part of the "X-Men: From the Ashes" relaunch.

[2][3][4] As revealed in the first issue of X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong, the sisters are grown from ova cells harvested from telepath Emma Frost while she lay comatose after a Sentinel attack that killed her students, the original Hellions, and are only five of many cloned daughters.

Wary of having a part of themselves missing, they tested to see if their powers still functioned well by contacting Jean Grey telepathically and informing her that Emma Frost was attempting to conduct an affair with her husband, Scott Summers.

Taking control of the Cuckoos' group mind, she telepathically forced Angel Salvadore to attack Emma Frost, completely shattering her diamond body into fragments.

Jean Grey managed to telekinetically reassemble Frost and return her to life, whereupon Emma revealed Esme's involvement in the attack.

[volume & issue needed] Frost and Summers divided the older students into several six-person training squads, each taught by a staff member.

It is revealed that the Phoenix fragment has manifested in order to destroy the Cuckoos and all of their clones to prevent them from being activated as a weapon and killing all mutants.

Now referring to themselves as the Thousand-in-One and under Sublime's control, the cosmically empowered psychics proceed to enact their programmed destiny of mutant destruction.

However, the Phoenix goes on to destroy the thousand clones, despite their newfound freedom and desire to experience life, by shattering their newly manifested diamond forms as well as Esme and Sophie.

[16] They then help Prodigy access all his forgotten knowledge and abilities to compensate for his power loss as thanks for saving them when anti-mutant terrorists known as the Purifiers attacked the school.

[22] During a pitched battle between the X-Men and a pack of genetically altered versions of Predator X, the Phoenix fragments that were contained in the Cuckoos' diamond hearts leave them and depart into space for reasons unknown.

[23] During their time on Utopia, the Cuckoos begin to experience boredom and start sneaking off the island to buy DVDs of horror films.

[volume & issue needed] When Cyclops and his team came to confront Beast about bringing the original X-Men forward in time the Cuckoos left with them.

[29] The remaining Cuckoos, feeling empty without their sisters, opted to seek out and employ a genetic regeneration specialist who did work at The Facility behind Laura Kinney's genesis.

Through the mental manipulation of one Dr. Helen Marks by Phoebe, Irma and Celeste, the professor was able to fabricate clone bodies from D.N.A templates identical to the trio's fallen siblings, whilst the Cuckoo's beckoned the wayward consciousnesses of Sophie and Esme from the afterlife to inhabit them.

[31] In order to properly preserve their dying matriarchs, Esme — carrying an ailing Sophie by her side — demanded they go through with an alternative plan: securing the healthy body of an X-23 program subject, Gabby.

Subtly pushing her three living relatives into mind controlling several biophysical manipulation experts to giving herself a new lease on life, as well as having Helen create a cellular degeneration compound with which she used to murder her sister Sophie behind everyone's backs again.

A chase would ensue after the three-in-one managed to send out a false text to call Gabby to their location at an abandoned church, wherein they put Laura under psychic hallucination as the three made off with their prize.

After some harsh coercion by the former and more nuanced explanations by her deceased sibling, Mindee is appalled at the discovery Esme had schemed, lied and killed her only kin once more after returning from beyond the grave.

As Esme and the other Cuckoo's make their way to the Xavier Institute, they are intercepted by a bazooka packing Beast riding a helicopter while their leader rants about how the X-Men wasted their time and their lives protecting worthless humans.

All these efforts were towards the purpose of excising their deranged number from Gabby's body, where afterwards the equally disembodied Sophie would bury her twisted psyche so deep she would never resurface again.

These powers allow them the psychic standards of broadcasting/receiving thoughts, mind control, planting illusions, force blasts of pure psionic energy, astral projection, etc.

[41] Like their mother, Emma Frost, each Cuckoo sister also possesses the ability to transform into an organic diamond body, and as such gains invulnerability, durability, and super strength.

Showing she felt extreme amounts of guilt over her siblings actions which nearly cost Laura her own sister due to the deranged Cuckoo's machinations.

[45] During the events of Warsong, Celeste Cuckoo expressed fears of losing touch with her sisters, changing personalities, and wielding the Phoenix Force.

[volume & issue needed] When Irma decides to change her hair style and act more like an individual, Celeste is horrified at the thought of losing her connection to her sister.

[52] In a reality shown in Exiles, where after the Hulk was jettisoned into space and discovered by Annihilus, killing him and taking the Annihilation Wave to Earth, Sophie, Esme and Mindee appear as some of the few remaining superhumans.

[53] In the "Here Comes Tomorrow" timeline, 150 years from now, Celeste, Mindee and Phoebe are members of the X-Men and operators of Cerebra, having merged with the machine, and calling themselves the "Three-in-One."

Sophie joined Prodigy, Surge and the rest of the New Mutants on their trip to Japan to find Seiji Ashida, while Celeste, Esme, Mindee, and Phoebe remained in New York, though they agreed to maintain the secret.