INK

 

INK

Real Name: Eric Gitter

First Appearance: Young X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, June 2008

Powers: Ink is a baseline human with no superhuman powers of his own. The effects he generates are actually created by Leon Nunez.

Nunez was a tattoo artist and a mutant with an iconographic power which he focused through tattooing others. Nunez used his own will to grant Gitter superhuman powers by drawing iconic tattoos on his body with the properties or principles of the image they're based on. That principle is then controlled by the individual with the tattoo (Ink).

On the palms of Ink’s hands, he has a biohazard symbol that induces radiation-based sickness and vomiting on contact, and a caduceus which allows him to heal people from significant amounts of injury with a touch. One hand has a metallic design visible when he makes a fist, giving him a vise-like grip and the ability to throw superhumanly strong punches. The other arm has a nitro symbol on his forearm, giving him equally impressive explosive punches with that fist. Wings tattooed on his back give him the power of flight, while jagged bolts on his temples simulate telepathy, enabling him to send and receive thoughts from others.

Finally, he had a Phoenix design tattooed over his eye. This simulated the power of the Phoenix Force to an unknown degree. Leon Nunez's power imprinted concepts based on how he understands them, and he only heard about the Phoenix through Ink. Furthermore, the sheer amount of power the Phoenix tattoo needed to operate with appeared to be too much for Nunez, knocking him into a coma after it was finished. His Phoenix tattoo has since vanished, but through Nunez, he has gained a fast-healing factor and the ability to project energy blasts from his eyes.