PANDEMIC

 

PANDEMIC

Real Name: Richard Palance

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 2) #194, February 2007

Powers: Dr. Richard Palance is a baseline human who gained his superhuman ability through an infectious agent.

Pandemic obtained a DNA sample from Rogue, synthesized her power into a virus called Strain 87 and then injected himself with it, hoping to replicate her absorption ability for himself. Instead, it gave him the ability to duplicate and permanently retain the powers of any mutant he came into contact with. Unlike Rogue, he wasn't absorbing powers, only copying. Moreover, he couldn't absorb life energy, memories, and personalities. Also, his power didn't require solely skin-to-skin contact, he could activate it through contact with a mere DNA sample.

Although he claimed to possess 300 superhuman mutant powers (including 17 different forms of invulnerability), the powers he did demonstrate were readily identifiable as those of (in order of usage): Nightcrawler, Lady Mastermind, Chamber, Cyclops, Havok, Storm, Bishop, Iceman, Husk, Alchemy, Sunfire, Jean Grey, Shadowcat, Cannonball, and finally Sabretooth.

Dr. Richard Palance holds a Ph.D. in genetics and is a recognized geneticist. He also holds an M.D. and specializes in infectious diseases.

CASSANDRA NOVA

 

CASSANDRA NOVA

Real Name: Cassandra Nova Xavier

First Appearance: New X-Men (Vol. 1) #114, July 2001

Powers: Cassandra Nova is the fraternal twin sister of Charles Xavier, having been stillborn. Existing as pure psionic energy for decades, she eventually was able to build a body for herself based on her brother's DNA, giving her full access to both active and latent abilities in Xavier's mutant genome. As such, Cassandra possesses telepathic and telekinetic abilities of the highest order, giving her considerable power and finesse when it comes to manipulating the mind and body. She can use her power to manipulate molecular activity in order to produce heat and flame, and can produce psi-armor that physically protects her from attack.

She is also capable of analyzing and "absorbing" genetic material from others, a process accomplished by physically reaching into their body and assimilating their genetic signature in the process. When she did this to Donald Trask, Nova did not change outwardly in any way, but could now command the Wild Sentinels which only recognized commands from someone with Trask DNA. Mental control over her body also gave her hyper-regenerative powers to recover from any number of massive assaults to her person, and become physically intangible to move between the molecules of another object.

FANTOMEX

FANTOMEX

Real Name: Charlie Cluster-7

First Appearance: New X-Men (Vol. 1) #128, August 2002

Powers: Charlie Cluster-7 was created within the Weapon Plus Program's time-variant experimental laboratory, the World, to become Weapon XIII. He was created to fulfill a particular archetype as a "stylish stealth fighter" for the intended team of Super-Sentinels, mutant hunters who won the public affection while eliminating mutantkind at the same time. Charlie Cluster-7 escaped from Weapon Plus and established his own identity as Jean-Philippe Charles, the French international jewel thief called Fantomex.

Fantomex has a nano-cybernetic and genetically-engineered physiology that gives him enhanced levels of strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and recuperative powers. His senses are extra-keen to a certain degree, making him an excellent marksman and capable of hearing ranges of sound above and below human detection. Fantomex possesses nano-active blood that protects him from various pathogens and multiple independently processing minds which increase his cognitive abilities, letting him think several different streams of thought at once. He has an intuitive ability to recognize and interpret body language and visual cues. This allows Fantomex to instantly identify shape-shifters like Mystique regardless of their current form, and effectively predict the mood and intentions of other people through simple observation. He has an elaborate power of "misdirection", letting him plant thoughts in the minds of other people. This allows him to give people ideas which they instantly accept as uncontested truth, such as when he convinced War to fall in love with Psylocke. Frequently, his misdirection power is used to create illusions, disguising his appearance or the appearances of others, and making his victims perceive radically different versions of perceptual reality than what is actually taking place around them.

Although he was designed with multiple brains for parallel processing, Fantomex's most notable (and radical) mutation is his detachable nervous system. He can expel a tiny flying saucer from his throat cavity, which rapidly grows to full size. Known as EVA, the saucer is somehow the external representation of Fantomex's nervous system. When EVA is separated from his body, Fantomex cannot experience pain or suffer under neurological assaults. EVA is guided by a self-motivated consciousness which is a feminized extension of Fantomex's own mind. Fantomex and EVA can communicate telepathically over a distance with one another. Fantomex can also plug into EVA during flight to directly guide her movements. EVA's bio-mechanical construction allows her to modify herself to create a variety of features, including supersonic flight, space travel, vertical take-off and landing capabilities, retractable landing struts and entrance ramps, bio-laser weapons, ranged scanning and audio-video display equipment, and seating for at least five people. EVA has shielding to protect herself from harm, and self-repair capabilities to regenerate her structure when damaged. A sufficient amount of damage on EVA can feedback on Fantomex, however, causing him to experience sympathetic pain and pass out. If EVA is significantly damaged and goes off-line, Fantomex can continue to function using a redundant secondary nervous system within his own body. This back-up system is not as effective as a regular nervous system, however, particularly, he is rendered colorblind when relying on the back-up.

Fantomex relies on different kinds of special equipment, depending on his mission. He often employs ceramic plating in his mask designed to prevent telepaths from reading or manipulating his thoughts. He has used special mutant-killing bullets, created in part of James Braddock Sr. using the sentient skin of a mutant named Pizer.

Fantomex was killed when the Skinless Man ripped out his heart. He was cloned and reborn at the White Sky Facility, but his three brains were separated into three different bodies, as Fantomex, Weapon XIII, and Cluster. Fantomex resembled the original Fantomex; Weapon XIII (or “Jean-Philippe”) also resembled the original Fantomex, but dressed in black; Cluster is a female Fantomex. Fantomex retained access to EVA, but the misdirection power rested with Weapon XIII. How his other abilities may be divided is unknown. Fantomex eventually developed mental instability with his brains separated as they were. EVA, as his "maintenance program", was amorally pragmatic in helping him repair himself, and only ended up driving him to further insanity. He was later cured, but what exactly became of EVA, Cluster, and Weapon XIII is unrevealed.

Fantomex's mind was later cast into the astral plane. While there, a disembodied Charles Xavier convinced Fantomex to trade places with him. This allowed Xavier to rewrite the nano-technology in Fantomex's body to make it a young duplicate of his original form, reborn in corporeal form as "X". Fantomex’s final fate remains uncertain.

ONSLAUGHT

 

ONSLAUGHT

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 2) #53, June 1996

Powers: Onslaught is a composite psionic entity spawned out of portions of Charles Xavier and Magneto's minds. Initially, "he" existed only as a second personality within Professor X's mind, capable of influencing his actions and actually possessing their shared body at times. After Nate Grey pulled Xavier's astral form into the physical plane, however, Onslaught learned how to manifest itself tangible as a living psi-armor (though this doesn't really explain how he battled Juggernaut and assaulted Blaquesmith's yacht beforehand).

As living psi-armor, Onslaught initially manifested himself around his host, Charles Xavier, but later operated independently of an organic body. Composed out of tangible psionic energy, Onslaught was capable of increasing the physical size, strength, and durability of his armored form at will and, after separating from Xavier, morph his physical appearance to look like whatever he wished. He possessed telepathic, telekinetic, and electromagnetic powers on a grand scale, as well as the ability to assimilate other sources of mutant power into himself at will. Not only did this make him virtually immune to assault by other mutants, but it also enabled him to amplify his power dramatically by incorporating Nate Grey and Franklin Richards into his "self", physically encaging them within the dimension of his own mind to feed off of them. He began manifesting reality-altering powers to tremendous degree as his personal evolution continued.

AMELIA VOGHT

 

AMELIA VOGHT

Real Name: Amelia C. Voght

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #300, May 1993

Powers: Amelia Voght’s mutant power is the ability to transubstantiate matter on a molecular level, enabling her to convert matter into a psionically-resonant vapor at will. This mist became Amelia's own natural state after her powers manifested, and she is capable of transforming herself or any person or object in her line-of-sight into this state. Loose mist is virtually insubstantial, and so Amelia can use this power to avoid injury. She can control the flow of the vapor through the air, allowing her to fly, squeeze herself through tight passages, or move objects about: She can protect a person out from under attack by dispersing and reforming them nearby, or steal her opponents' weapons by vaporizing them in their hands and bringing them into her own.

Amelia’s mist can also be transported through the astral plane, allowing her to employ her powers for long range teleportation. She is able to transport herself and anything else she transubstantiates across the surface of the globe in an instant, or to and from orbit around the planet. She can teleport with cargo, or send objects to a new location within traveling with them, providing she can visualize the new location in her mind. On certain occasions, she even demonstrated the ability to summon distant people to herself by teleportation, visualizing wherever the person is at the moment, seeing them converted into mist, and then bringing that mist into her presence to be reformed. As stated, her default physical state is as a mist and, as such, it is only through intense concentration and exertion can she maintain her corporeal human form.

Amelia Voght is a registered nurse specializing in physical therapy, able to immediately observe and acutely assess trauma, injury, and acute-onset symptoms in patients.

HAZARD

 

HAZARD

Real Name: Carter Alexander Ryking

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 2) #12, September 1992

Powers: Hazard's mutant ability was to generate plasma energy. In its unharnessed state, the energy flickered around his body in a super-heated state, agitating molecular structures on contact to create explosive reactions. Anything in his immediate area ran the risk of being destroyed by his power, but Hazard had no means of directing his mutant power towards specific targets.

Later, he learned to focus his powers through electrical wires, and crafted a cybernetic suit to facilitate this. This costume provided him with retractable metal cables in his gauntlets, which allowed him to contain his plasma energy and release it along guided paths. These cables could wrap around his targets, channeling enough plasma energy to incinerate a human being in seconds. They could also lash outwards at his direction, releasing an explosive charge on impact to blast his way through barriers.

Hazard's plasma effect also enabled him to levitate in his natural state (and controlled levitation of others). His cybernetic suit helped focus this power as well, with rocket boots granting him the power of controlled flight.

LILANDRA

 

LILANDRA

Real Name: Lilandra Neramani

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #97, February 1976

Powers: Lilandra was a member of the extraterrestrial race known as the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar have both avian and mammalian characteristics: Although the Shi'ar are outwardly humanoid and mammalian in form, they have feathers instead of hair. At an earlier point in their evolution, the Shi'ar had fully-developed wings attached to their arms, enabling them to fly. Shi'ar females have mammary glands and are oviparous.

Lilandra possessed the conventional attributes of a Shi'ar, which give her enhanced strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and durability. The average Shi'ar possesses strength level in the 800 lbs. to 2 ton range and 20 times better endurance than a human. Lilandra also may have possessed minor telepathic powers, but these mostly seem to be the inexplicable psychic link that has always existed between her and Charles Xavier.

Lilandra was an excellent starship pilot and, as Empress Majestrix of the Shi'ar, she wore Shi'ar Imperial armor, employed various Shi'ar weaponry and a ceremonial staff. She was also an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, trained in Shi'ar methods of armed and unarmed combat.

MOIRA X

 

MOIRA X

Real Name: Moira Ann Kinross MacTaggert

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #96, December 1975

Powers: Moira MacTaggert possesses the mutant power of reincarnation. Upon her physical death, the sum total of knowledge and life experiences Moira has undergone is transmitted backwards in time, entering her still developing mind in the womb. She then relives the same period of time repeatedly from birth until the next time she dies by natural causes or other means. Moira reportedly has an eidetic memory, perfect recall of everything she has ever learned or experienced across ten lifetimes of activity. Through trial and error, Moira determined that her life would instinctively play out the same way unless she intentionally acted differently, causing new events to unfold.

It’s been presumed that Moira's power doesn’t create new timelines with each iteration, but rather annihilates the old timeline in place of the next one. However, this would mean that the progression of all of time and space is suspended indefinitely until Moira becomes immortal or her power is blocked somehow, which seems counter-intuitive. Furthermore, it has been speculated that Moira's x-gene still activates at puberty like a normal mutant. And so, while she always is born with her prior knowledge, the ability to cast her knowledge back in time does not activate until she's thirteen. Consequently, it’s presumed if Moira died in her lifetime before puberty, she would presumably die permanently.

Some form of secondary mutation linked to Moira's mutant power is a form of passive invisibility that conceals her mutation from others. Telepaths can scan Moira's mind without noticing her true nature, and Moira may even be able to actively block telepathic intrusion from someone who knows what she is. Similarly, during her third life, the precognitive mutant named Destiny confessed that Moira was difficult to read or predict at first, although after she learned Moira was a mutant her senses seemed to recalibrate, allowing her to perceive even reincarnated lives that Moira had not reached yet (although, given the circumstances, Destiny could have been lying). Finally, it seems implicit that mutant-detection technology like Cerebro has also proven incapable of detecting Moira.

Dr. Moira MacTaggert is of genius-level intelligence and was a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist. She earned a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Oxford and is one of the world's leading geneticists, with special expertise in the study of superhumanly powerful mutants. Her 10 lifetimes (over 1,000 years) have armed her with significant experience, including expertise in the fields of anthropology and genetics, firearms mastery, and leading various mutant survival movements until their eventual downfall.

SHADOW KING

 

SHADOW KING

Real Name: Amahl Farouk

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #117, January 1979

Powers: The Shadow King is a mutant telepath who exists as a disembodied astral form. His corporeal body was killed after a devastating blast of mental force destroyed his brain, forcing his consciousness to reside on the astral plane. He has to use the bodies of others as hosts to interface with the physical plane.

As a telepath, the Shadow King is extremely powerful and can perform any mental feat including reading minds, communicating with others mentally, and projecting bolts of psionic force that can stun or cause severe psychic shock to an opponent's mind to cause physical injury or death. He can take mental control over the minds of others. His particular specialty is astral combat. Having spent years existing only on the astral plane, he has become quite advanced in manipulating that realm's environment to suit his whims.

When it comes to controlling others, the Shadow King employs a method of unleashing his victims' darker sides, making them corrupted and less inhibited so that they are more inclined to accept his domination willingly. This form of control gives his subjects far more independence and creative thought than if he constantly manipulated their every action. He has also stripped people entirely of their humanity, making them nothing but animals responding to his will.

The Shadow King also once demonstrated the ability to repair physical damage to his host body using his powers, something that doesn't quite fit with his telepathic power. Apparently, he discovered how to direct massive amounts of psychic energy into the physical world to reform matter many years before Onslaught and Nate Grey began employing that tactic.

PROFESSOR X

 

PROFESSOR X

Real Name: Charles Francis Xavier

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, September 1963

Powers: Professor X was born with the mutant power of telepathy. His telepathy easily enables him to read and manipulate between upwards of 40 minds at once. He can project his thoughts into the minds of others and can communicate mentally. Professor X is adept at astral projection and can traverse the astral plane. He can create mental illusions within the minds of others as well as project bolts of psionic force that can stun the minds of others. He can erase and manipulate the memories others and can exert mental control over a person’s mind and bodily processes. Because of his indomitable willpower and sheer skill with his power, he is considered to be the Earth's strongest telepathic mind.

Charles Xavier is genius-level intellect who holds Ph.D.'s in biophysics, genetics, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology. A leading authority on genetics, mutation, and psionic powers, he has considerable expertise in life sciences and devising equipment for utilizing and enhancing psionic powers.