CYPHER

 

CYPHER

Real Name: Douglas Aaron Ramsey

First Appearance: The New Mutants (Vol. 1) #13, March 1984

Powers: Cypher’s mutant power is an intuitive capacity for interpreting the context and subtext of behavior and activity to read the intent behind it. The most commonly seen aspect of this power is his ability to translate and internalize languages. His power generated a field of psionic energy that classified the syntax and meaning of language into a manner understandable to an individual mind. Using his power, he could understand and decipher any language or code, be it written or spoken, human or alien in nature. He could even read body language and gestures to instinctively understand what they mean within the context of that culture or the individual person using them. This makes him an excellent poker player, as he can instinctively recognize and understand “tells” his opponents make. His skill with computer languages makes him an excellent intuitive programmer and hacker. Only a small amount of exposure was necessary for him to completely and permanently internalize the language in his linguistic center.

Originally, he couldn’t extend his translation field beyond the limits of his own mind. An alternate reality’s version of Cypher showed that he could expand his power over an area of miles, allowing everyone within range to process languages into a form they can personally understand. This version of Cypher could sense all the minds affected by his field effect, including disembodied astral forms.

The scope of his power expanded much further after his resurrection using a techno-organic virus. His ability now enables him to read subtle cues in body language, tone, and other behavior to identify the true feelings and meaning behind anything someone says or does. Naturally, this makes him an innate lie detector, but it also allows him to anticipate movement and fighting styles as they're being put into motion. The more ingrained those particular movements are for a person, the easier it is for Cypher to recognize the cues their body gives off. On the other hand, his power fails him when dealing with people possessed by an outside source, like mind control, as they now move and act under the direction of a mind whose "language" is completely foreign to that body.

Cypher can not only read people, he can also read the intent behind things people have done. This could be something simple such as divining an artist's intent for a painting, or something more complex like translating the scope of a building's architecture. By looking at the X-Men’s Utopia headquarters' design aesthetic above ground, he was able to read the manner in which the rest of the structure was built outside his line-of-sight, and located an access-way into a former space station underwater. He can understand and decipher geography, quantum cryptography, pheromones, numeric systems, force-field harmonics, binary, hieroglyphs, micro-expressions, and he can even determine recipes by sampling food.

He can create new languages, teach himself to speak in a subconscious dream language, and can read magical skills, though the constant shifting of syntax presents him with great difficulty. He has detected shifts in reality and, when in contact with sentient alien technology, can decipher cosmic-level languages such as dimensions and genetics. To avoid missing information, Cypher barely blinks. He is vulnerable to being mentally overwhelmed by input (such as when he tried to decipher the entire Internet), and mutated languages (such as magical tomes) can control his mind.

Additionally, Cypher’s teammate Warlock often takes the form of sophisticated battlesuits or armor in order to protect Doug during combat. To which extent this remains true after Cypher's T-O virus resurrection remains to be seen.