NEOPHYTE
Real Name: Simon Hall
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #300, May 1993
Powers: The Neophyte possesses a phase-morphing mutant ability that enables him to travel distances through mass by breaking down his physical structure and entering a solid material. When in contact with matter, Neophyte relaxes the molecular bonding forces in his body so that his molecules merge with the object he's touching in a non-substantial state. He can then cause the mass of his body to reform itself at a different angle or position to emerge from the object. When the Acolytes were based in a large French castle, he could merge his mass with one stone wall of the castle and reform himself a moment later out of any of the connecting stone surfaces. Later, on the rocky hillside of Wundagore, Neophyte could almost instantly relocate himself across the landscape by merging with the uniform earth and rock of the area. He could also separate his mass into multiple smaller masses, such as when he jumped off a balcony and disappeared into a rainstorm by dividing his mass up into the rain, only to reform later as the rain hit the ground below.
He can also extend this power to anything he touches and both absorb and expel projectiles to simulate intangibility.
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The youngest of the Acolytes, he was recruited by them in Switzerland. He instantly became disillusioned with them after learning of Cortez’s lies and the hypocritical bloodlust of some of his teammates. He was put on ‘trial’ by the Acolytes, Exodus sentenced him to banishment. Some of you might be thinking he’s a Kitty Pryde rip-off, but not so. Here’s the difference in their powers:
The Neophyte has the power to "travel distances through mass", an ability you could call phase-morphing instead of Shadowcat's typical phasing ability.
When Shadowcat phases through walls, her body retains its normal shape and construction -- all she does is merely cause her molecules to "sidestep" those of the wall, passing through the gaps found in even solid molecular structures.
Neophyte, however, abandons molecular cohesion when he enters a solid object, becoming loose and excess mass inside the object's structure. His body reforms itself as he exits the object. The "mass-traveling" aspect of his ability works like kids' Play-Doh machines a bit.
Some of you may recall these toys from your childhoods, but for those who don’t, these are the simple machines where you push Play-Doh in from the top of a press, and it compresses Play-Doh out from the bottom in the shape of a tube, a star, or whatever. Neophyte can enter a block of stone from one side, "pushing" mass from the block out from another side. The block retains the same mass overall, more-or-less, but the original mass of Neophyte's body assumed the properties of the block and stayed behind, while a new body was created for him out of the mass of the block closest to where he exited it.
The practical difference between Neophyte and Shadowcat is, if Kitty wants to phase through a 50x50x50 foot stone block, she still has to walk 50 feet (while phased) to get from one side to another. Neophyte, on the other hand, can move from one side of the block to another almost instantaneously, as his body enters on one side and almost immediately reforms from the other. This is why his power was so effective in the ancient castle the Acolytes were based out of in UXM #300 -- he could leap into any wall and, because the architecture was all interconnected, instantly emerge through any other wall in the whole castle.
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