MADISON JEFFRIES

 

MADISON JEFFRIES

Real Name: Madison Jeffries

First Appearance: Alpha Flight (Vol. 1) #16, November 1984

Powers: Madison Jeffries is a mutant with the power to psionically affect metal, plastic, and glass. He can levitate anything made of or containing these materials and manipulate them with considerable finesse. Jeffries can completely disassemble complex machinery in instants without breaking or damaging a single part. His abilities can be used to fix broken parts or tear machines to pieces. Madison possesses a techno-forming capacity, the ability to create working machines and devices by taking raw materials and modifying them to fit the design. Jeffries has a talent for mechanically duplicating human physiology in that he can take a random collection of spare parts and form them into a giant animatronic hand or a fully automated android mimicking the form and range of movement of a real person.

Before now, Madison was not an inventor by nature. While his power was capable, he himself could not direct it to form state-of-the-art technology. He relied on a normal accumulation of mechanical skill and knowledge to guide what he created. One aspect of his power that allowed him to offset this limitation is a mind-tap ability. By having someone mentally focus on the blueprints and design of some high-tech machine, Madison can act as a conduit, unleashing his power guided by the information he was tapping from that person and then creating whatever the construct was to the proper specifications. Given the level of technical sophistication Madison would display in later years, it is possible that he retained knowledge of each device he created through a mind-tap, allowing him to recreate the process on his own at a later date if he wished. As his knowledge and skill levels progressed, Madison began conceiving of his own designs and inventions.

Madison eventually took control of the Box armor and created the Box Mark IV armor. Reconstructing the Box armor into a modular robot enabled him to make better use of his transmuting power. Box armors II-IV were created from "living metal", a uniquely constructed alloy somehow capable of physically interfacing with organic beings. By touching the suit, Jeffries could "phase in" with the metal, mingling his molecules with the structure of the suit itself and placing his mind directly inside the suit's control circuitry, essentially “becoming” the robot. The “living metal” could also be programmed to recognize individual genetic codes, allowing Jeffries to ensure that only he could "phase in" or "phase out" in order to control the suit and allow certain individuals access. Madison could alter the molecular structure of metals to create "living metal" out of any scrap available to him, so he wasn't dependent on always having just one unique suit to use. However, while "phased in" to the suit, Jeffries' transmutating power was limited to only affecting the suit, not other exterior objects. He could, however, absorb additional materials into the armor on contact, increasing his mass, size, and strength accordingly. By mentally modifying his suit, Box IV could reshape all or parts of his mechanical body into different features: extending wings from his back to aid in flight, turning his arms into machine guns or laser weapons, converting his entire body into a giant wheel, sled, miniature fighter jet, etc. By this point in his life, Jeffries was a skilled enough engineer to convert himself into a living transport ship for all of Alpha Flight. In ship form, he was capable of artificial gravity, atmospheric stabilizers and hyperspace travel. He later re-modified his armor's appearance to create the Box Mark V, but only briefly employed this version of the suit.

Upon rejoining Alpha Flight, Madison Jeffries had quit using the Box identity. He was kidnapped by Zodiac on his first mission and later turned up again as one of their Gemini twins. The Gemini described themselves as "The Gemini of metal and the Gemini of flesh", which could be interpreted two ways: One is that Madison was the Gemini of flesh, and his "twin" was a metallic doppelganger created and animated by his powers. The other is that Madison was the Gemini of metal and his partner was his older brother, Scramble the Mixed-Up Man (Lionel Jeffries), back from the death. In life, Lionel had transmutative power over flesh and organic matter as a mirror image of his brother's power over metal and inanimate material. In any case, the entire Zodiac team was apparently slaughtered by Weapon X, leaving only Madison. Additionally, he shared a psychic link to Lionel, allowing each to detect the other's presence.

Since joining the X-Men, his power has expanded to include a form of machine telepathy. He can now sense the presence of mechanical systems and psychically interpret information about them from a distance. Madison often receives this information as if the machines are actually "talking" to him. He can sense the function and capabilities of machines, determine whether they are operating properly or suffering from some sort of hardware or software malfunction, and so forth. When interacting with computer systems, Madison can mentally read their programming and stored files, and can now modify this information as an intricate extension of his techno-forming ability. At his present skill level, Madison Jeffries is now a mathematical and engineering savant, and has developed new forms of quantum mechanics and inter-dimensional interfaces.

Madison Jeffries received training in hand-to-hand combat and the use of firearms during his time in the United States Army, where he achieved the rank of Specialist and was a highly-skilled mechanic.