MICHAEL NOWLAN
Real Name: Michael Nowlan
First Appearance: X-Factor (Vol. 1) #5, June 1986
Powers: Also known as “The Source”, Michael Nowlan is a mutant with the ability to manipulate his own mutagenic aura.
The mutagenic aura is the radiant, but typically invisible energy signature produced as a by-product of the x-gene. This energy signature is unique to each mutant and is what Cerebro scans for when searching for mutants. This energy is also the biological power source that fuels a mutant's powers and abilities, whether they're energy-related or not. All mutants possess it and it surrounds them at all times. Nowlan radiates his aura as plumes of mutagenic energy that amplifies the power levels of other mutants when it makes contact with their auras.
This "boost" acts like a mutagenic super-fuel, providing any attributes derived from the x-gene with extraordinarily increased levels for a period of time until the boost runs out. The boost can be a controlled effect, giving allies an edge in battle, or an overcharge that leaves mutants unable to control their amplified abilities or even render them inoperative.
Possibly as a side effect of Michael's own heroin addiction, the boost was similarly addictive to other mutants. Repeated and prolonged exposure to Michael's powers caused mutants to experience withdrawal-like symptoms if cut off from his power booster effect for a period of time.
1 comment:
His power is similar to Fabian Cortez's, whose mutant ability was "weaponized" more than any other power booster. His power was far more inclined towards overcharging another mutant to the point of pain or incapacitation than to benefit them. His power worked through touch or bio-blast, so he targeted specific mutants instead of all nearby groups like Nowlan.
Some backstory: Michael Nowlan and his wife Susan were both heroin addicts before he was drafted into the U.S. Army for Vietnam War in his late teens. His mutant ability manifested itself during the war, but it was not until his detoxification in a military drug rehabilitation center that they became apparent. Upon meeting another former soldier, the man who would become Timeshadow, his power caused the man's temporal duplicate power to surface when they shook hands.
Years after this event, word spread about his ability to enhance mutant energies, and other mutants began to seek him out. Mutants became hooked on the power and used whatever means they could to force him to enhance their powers. Nowlan found that the only way to stop this was to stay high on heroin, which slowed the energy transfer. However, staying high caused him to lose his job, his health, and his wife, who had cleaned up her own act after the war and gotten a decent job. He and his wife died: Him via suicide, he after a blast from Stinger.
Nowlan was recently resurrected on Krakoa, but decided to leave since Susan Nowlan couldn't be resurrected. Him, Chance, and Fabian Cortez should be backups for Hope Summers.
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