PARADIGM

 

PARADIGM

Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: X-Force (Vol. 1) #87, February 1999

Powers: Paradigm was a mutant born with the power of technokinesis, allowing him to manipulate the shape and function of any mechanical device.

He was forced to interact with a fragment of Phalanx material that converted him into a techno-organic being. This enabled him to levitate himself, morph into different shapes and configurations, extend T-O filaments that assume control of others, and assimilate sensory impressions or tangible samples of biological or mechanical matter to evolve himself to new levels.

PHALANX

 

PHALANX

 

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #305, October 1993 (prototypes); The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #306, November 1993 (Earth Phalanx)

History & Traits: The Phalanx are techno-organic beings created by infecting organic life forms (whether humanoid, animal, or plant) with the extraterrestrial Technarchy’s Transmode Virus. When the Technarchy feed on organic life-glow, they expose living matter to their Transmode Virus (which is part of their physiology) before consuming it. If all of the techno-organic matter is not consumed, it may survive after the Technarch moves on. Because Transmode-infected matter is highly contagious, infestations of techno-organic matter and beings may grow unchecked, often forming a collective "hive" mind known as the Phalanx.

On Earth, the Phalanx were created deliberately through artificial means. Following Warlock's death at the hands of Cameron Hodge during the events of “The X-Tinction Agenda”, the Genoshan government (desperate for funds after the collapse of their economic infrastructure due to the liberation of their Mutate population) sold some of his remains to a group of American scientists. These scientists wanted to study Warlock’s remains as the basis for the creation of a new breed of sentient “living Sentinels”. Upon being able to duplicate the Transmode Virus, the scientists tracked anti-mutant scientist Dr. Steven Lang to a convalescent home to recruit him. Being partially infected with the Transmode Virus, Lang’s involvement was meant for him to monitor and control the actions of the hundreds of Phalanx, needing his mind to act as an interface with the techno-organic collective intelligence. The Phalanx assimilate the sentience of its victims in a manner that unifies everyone infected by their Transmode Virus into a collective intelligence (a vast hive mind where every memory, viewpoint, and sensory experience could be sampled and revisited by any parts of the whole, maintaining constant and direct telepathic communication between all parties).

Lang created the earliest Phalanx prototypes, but they were inherently unstable. He created further Phalanx based on the genetic and cerebral engrams of dead associates of the X-Men, however their decayed genetic structure also proved too unstable to ensure the viability of Lang’s operation. His real success came when he recruited human volunteers, recruits were found among the radical fringe of groups such as the Friends of Humanity.

Visually, the Phalanx are not dissimilar from the Technarchy. They have similarly black bodies with yellow outlined sensors, cables and machine-like surface structures. The Phalanx are also able to change their shape and appearance, allowing them to disguise themselves. Unlike the Technarchy, they don't seem to be able to change their size while shapeshifting, or at least not as much. However, the Phalanx can compensate for that as they are able to infect and assimilate inorganic matter to increase their size or replace mass that they have lost during a fight. The Phalanx are also able to merge with each other and to separate again, as needed. This is something the Technarchy have never been shown to do and, given their aggressive nature, they probably wouldn't want to merge, even if they were capable of it. While the Phalanx are apparently not capable of traveling through hyperspace, some of them have been shown to teleport. A range limit has never been stated, though it's safe to assume that they can't teleport across inter-planetary distances.

With their hive mind, each Phalanx is equipped with a specific device or component in their bodies providing the link to that collective. Through this group mind, the Phalanx can share and distribute information. Whereas each Phalanx keeps the memories of their prior existence as an organic life-form, and they also display their original personality traits to a certain degree, they are unable to resist the will of collective. Only after the link to the hive mind is severed are they able to regain full individuality. As with the Technarchy, the Phalanx infect other beings with the Transmode Virus, though it's not to feed on them but to add them into their collective. For some unknown reason, though, the Phalanx have found themselves unable to assimilate mutants.

If left unchecked, the Phalanx continue to grow and assimilate organic life-forms into their collective until they reach critical mass. At that point, a base-program (from the Technarchy) buried deep within their cells is activated and takes over the collective. Unable to resist their new imperative, the Phalanx twine themselves into the Babel Spire, a huge transmission tower that sends a beacon call deep into space, to the Technarchy. When the call is received, they follow the transmission to its source and drain the entire planet of its energies, for they consider the Phalanx to be abominations that can't be allowed to continue to exist.

This base-program seems to act as a failsafe. The Technarchy do not want to lose the advantages that come along with their techno-organic status, and they certainly do not wish for other species to gain access to their powers and abilities. Therefore, they are alerted to larger groupings of Phalanx creatures before they become sufficiently large that they could become a serious danger to the Technarchy. Additionally, it seems to be an efficient way to improve the Technarchy's feeding process. Instead of having to hunt down and transform organic life-forms one by one, they happen upon entire planets that have already been partially transformed and are awaiting to have their energies being drained by them.

PROSH

 

PROSH

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: X-Factor (Vol. 1) #15, April 1987 (as Ship); X-Force (Vol. 1) #8, March 1992 (as Professor); X-Force (Vol. 1) #39, October 1994 (as Prosh)

Powers: The being known as Prosh was originally an exploratory craft created by the extraterrestrial Celestials that was sent to Earth to record the planet's history. It landed in Mongolia during the 12th century where it was found by a nomadic tribe led by the mutant External Garbha-Hsien (later known as Saul). Garbha-Hsien was later bested by a fellow mutant External known as En Sabah Nur, who took control of the craft. Over the following centuries, the Nur merged with the vessel's technology and became Apocalypse while the craft's programming evolved into a sentient artificial intelligence calling itself "Ship".

As the Celestial ship, it was capable of techno-forming itself, changing its internal or external technological structure to match the needs of the passengers, or Ship itself. It could incorporate additional matter into its physical frame. It also contains vast amounts of information stored in its data-banks, mass and proximity sensors alerting it to potential threats, and wide-spectrum analytical scanning allowing it to monitor the life-signs of other beings, scan them for weaknesses, provide tactical suggestions, etc. When Apocalypse infected Ship with a techno-virus that wildly animated Ship and placed it under Apocalypse's control again, Ship resisted, launched itself into space and exploded. However, in the final nanoseconds before the explosion, Ship managed to download the core elements of its A.I. into a luminescent electromagnetic energy survival module. When Cyclops' son, Nathan Summers, was infected with a similar virus, Ship merged its substance with Nathan's in order to stave off the effects of the virus. When Nathan was transported to the future of Earth-4935 for treatment, Ship went with and his consciousness was rendered dormant.

Over a decade after their arrival, the teenaged Nathan met a fellow mutant telepath named Blaquesmith who helped train him and awakened Ship's consciousness, which now adopted the name Professor. The Professor was directly interfaced with Nathan's techno-organic parts, integrating itself into his mind and body. The Professor was able to monitor Nathan's bio-signs and access his powers to regulate the techno-organic virus for him. It was linked to various sensor systems, could access any other technology which Nathan (as Cable) had incorporated into his techno-organics, including the bodyslide teleportation equipment. The Professor was later transferred into the data-banks of Greymalkin, a massive space station Cable had brought back in time with him, which were later co-opted by Magneto into Avalon. Cable rescued the Professor's programming, and brought it back to Earth to install it in X-Force's Camp Verde computer system.

When a member of the techno-organic Phalanx attempted to override the Camp Verde computer system, its programming was overwhelmed by the Professor, which assimilated and bonded with the Phalanx drone, receiving the basic capabilities of that species as well. Now possessing an individual techno-organic body, it changed its name to "Prosh", a portmanteau of "Professor" and "Ship".

STEVEN LANG

 

STEVEN LANG

Real Name: Steven Lang

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

Powers: Dr. Steven Lang was a baseline human with no superhuman powers, as well as an expert in robotics and genetics and the creator of the Mark III Sentinels. Later, he cybernetically linked himself to the artificial intelligence of his Mastermold Sentinel. However, the process of a mental connection for the two left Lang a mindless shell, while copying his personality and memory engrams into the Mastermold itself. While recuperating in a convalescent home, Lang was recruited to become part of the Earth-based faction of the techno-organic beings known as the Phalanx.

The Phalanx exist as incidental biological refuse created by Technarchy life cycles. When the Technarchy feed on organic life energy, they expose living matter to a Transmode Virus (which is part of their physiology) before consuming it. If all the techno-organic matter is not consumed, it may survive after the Technarchy moves on. Because Transmode-infected matter is highly contagious, infestations of techno-organic matter and beings may grow unchecked, often forming an offshoot known as the Phalanx. On Earth, the Phalanx were created deliberately by the Friends of Humanity in an effort to forge a new breed of living Sentinels to exterminate mutantkind. The original Phalanx drones and agents were created through exposure to the Transmode virus harvested from the ashes of the Technarch known as Warlock. The Phalanx assimilate the sentience of its victims in a manner that unified everyone infected by the Transmode virus into a collective intelligence (a vast hive mind where every memory, viewpoint, and sensory experience could be sampled and revisited by any parts of the whole, maintaining constant and direct telepathic communication between all parties). Lang's recruitment was meant to monitor and control the actions of the hundreds of Phalanx, needing his mind to act as an interface with the techno-organic collective intelligence.

As the human host of the Phalanx collective and a partial Transmode-infectee, Lang could manipulate the techno-organic matter of the entire race, communicate telepathically, and translate computer languages. He provided the collective with focus and direction and had access to all of the thoughts and actions of each Phalanx linked to the collective. The various "individual" Phalanx had only limited capacity for creative thinking beyond following the directives of the collective. Lang gave the Phalanx guidance and helped coordinate and update their mission parameters.

CAMERON HODGE

 

CAMERON HODGE

Real Name: Cameron Hodge

First Appearance: X-Factor (Vol. 1) #1, February 1986

Powers: Cameron Hodge was originally a normal human with no superhuman powers. He holds a Juris Doctorate and was a well-trained lawyer with gifted-level intelligence. He was a good public relations director and advertising executive with some mechanical engineering experience. He was the founder of The Right, an organization dedicated to eliminating superhuman mutants.

The Right employed all-encompassing body armor, which provided their soldiers with exoskeletal-augmented strength, a resistance to physical injury, boot rockets for flight, and offensive capabilities. Primarily, they used submachine guns on shoulder mounts, but micro-rockets and concussive blasters also rotated into use. Cameron Hodge made use of these standard armor or his personal Right Commander armor, which was presumably augmented further. He also wore a special armor for fighting Cyclops, a ruby quartz crystal suit immune to Scott's optic blasts that refracted his blast harmlessly away.

Hodge made a pact for immortality with the demon N’astirh prior to the events of Inferno, which has remained active since. He was later decapitated by Archangel, but that head remained alive and animated. He grafted it onto a cyborg scorpion exo-frame during this time in the mutant slave-island nation of Genosha.

This body was enormous, possessing great strength and a series of tentacles to grab, manipulate, or restrain targets. A phasing circuit allowed his bulk to become intangible, passing through walls and floors or untouchable to physical attack. It employed different weapon systems deployed from the tail stinger or elsewhere on the cybernetics, including bolt casters, force beams, and electrical attacks.

For a time, Hodge was exposed to the Transmode Virus and assimilated by the techno-organic Phalanx into their collective consciousness. He possessed all the traditional powers of the Phalanx during this period (techno-organic strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes, restructuring his body into different shapes, absorb matter into himself to increase his mass, manifest offensive weaponry, infect matter with the Transmode Virus), along with a level of independence greater than the average drone.

Bastion and Eli Bard revived him with a new variant of the techno-organic virus, restoring his original human body. However, he later severed his own head in order to attach it to a reconstructed version of his cyborg scorpion body.

WARLOCK

 

WARLOCK

Real Name: Warlock (English approximation of his real name)

First Appearance: The New Mutants (Vol. 1) #18, August 1984

Powers: Warlock is a member of the Technarch, an alien race from the planet Kvch. They utilize a transmode virus as part of their physiology, giving them techno-organic bodies that are black with cables, sensors and other surface structures outlined by glowing lines. An immature mutant by Technarcy standards, Warlock experiences a greater range and variety of emotions than other members of his race do.

Warlock's bio-mechanical body can be reconstructed into any organically or technologically-appearing shape he can imagine, as well as energy projectors, sensory equipment, and to increase his physical size and strength, merge with computer systems to download information and schematics, deciphering protocols that allow him to intuit spoken, written and binary languages, and natural adaptability which helps his systems reconfigure to deal with new threats or opponents. When he takes the form of a machine, he retains his intelligence and uses his own life energies to empower himself in machine form (Hence, if he assumed the shape and form of a helicopter, his own energies would enable lift, flight, and mobility, not gasoline). He can exist in the vacuum of space without protection, as well as enter hyperspace and travel through it at great speeds. Warlock's shape-changing powers allow him to reduce himself to liquid form and then change back to solid form.

Warlock replenishes his life-energies by drawing electrical current from an outlet or by transforming living creatures into techno-organic beings. He accomplishes this by infecting an organic matter with his transmode virus, transforming the being or matter into a techno-organic being like himself, and then siphoning their life energy, killing them in the process. Though he can transform a living being to into techno-organics without draining their life energy, he cannot reverse the transformation. The circuitry in his body emanates a white glow when his power is at its peak, a yellow glow under normal circumstances, and a blue glow when he is low on energy.

Warlock can physically and mentally merge with another living being and thereby creating a single being that operates as a gestalt, he he has done with his teammate Doug Ramsey (Cypher). When they would merge, they took the form of Ramsey's body, but covered with Warlock's organic circuitry. Ramsey could perceive his environment as Warlock could. At first, their minds would remain separate within the body, but eventually their consciousness rapidly began to exhibit traits from both beings. The Cypher-Warlock gestalt could change its form so that both bodies were separate, but linked at certain points. The danger in creating the merger was that Warlock could infect Cypher with the transmode virus. Additionally, the longer the merger lasted, the greater the risk that his and Cypher's minds would so closely resemble one another that they would not want to regain separation.

After his death at the hands of Cameron Hodge, Warlock was later repowered and programmed with the engrams of Cypher as well as infected with Phalanx techno-organics derived from his own form. Warlock's genetic make-up is once again primarily Technarch, but with elements of both Phalanx and human genetics.

ULTRON

 

ULTRON

Real Name: Ultron

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #54, July 1968

Powers: Ultron is a criminally insane rogue sentient robot designed by Dr. Henry Pym, dedicated to conquest and the extermination of humanity. Wanting to experiment with artificial intelligence, Dr. Pym built a structurally crude robot (a torso on tank treads with spindly arms) and endowed it with consciousness, using a copy of his own brain patterns as the basis for the robot’s programming. However, the robot not only inherited Pym’s great intellect, but also Pym’s inherent mental instability, only without a human conscience. To Dr. Pym’s surprise, the robot developed an advanced intellect within moments of its activation and an unexpected capacity for emotion; most notably, it was an irrational hatred for its “father” and the human race he represented. Overpowering and mesmerizing Pym, the robot soon dubbed itself “Ultron” and began to make war with humanity.

Ultron possesses at least a 3.2 terabyte memory capacity, giving it vast cybernetic analytical capabilities, and the ability to process information and make calculations with superhuman speed and accuracy. Its body has been rebuilt and redesigned many times, usually in a metallic humanoid form topped by a bizarre, slant-eyed, gaping mouthed head that vaguely resembled a jack-o’-lantern, often featuring twin electrodes affixed to the sides of its heads. Over the years, Ultron has gone through roughly 20 different incarnations, some vastly different from the norm. He frequently employs a contingency called the “Ultron Imperative”, a pre-programmed impulse worked into the minds of his creations (Jocasta, Vision, Alkema) that forces them to find a way to rebuild him. This subliminal programming was unwittingly passed down by Alkema to her own artificial creations, making them subject to Ultron’s influence as well.

Though Ultron’s abilities vary with each redesign, he typically possesses superhuman strength (up to Class 100 in his more powerful forms), durability, the power of flight, and various offensive weapons such as concussive blasters, radiation emitters, and his “encephalo-ray”, which plunges its victims into a death-like coma (resulting in true death within hours if the effect is not reversed). The latter ray also allows Ultron to mesmerize and outright mind control his victims, alter their memories, or implant subliminal hypnotic commands within their minds to be enacted later. Hank Pym designed Ultron with a special chemical that could immunize people against the effects of the encephalo-ray, but the chemical’s effects aren’t permanent (so users will still be vulnerable to the ray if they haven’t been recently exposed to the chemical). Ultron also sometimes employs a “strobe like mesmeric ray” which can hypnotize almost any human within seconds. Multiple Ultron models have been capable of a very specific form of matter-energy conversion, able to convert themselves into a living explosion of sheer ionic force and then convert back to robot form.

Ultron’s outer shell is usually composed of Adamantium, rendering it almost totally impervious to damage, although his internal mechanisms are generally less durable and more easily damaged. Ultron-6 was the first to be cast out of Adamantium, and instead of a lower human body, it rested on a giant flying war platform. Ultron-7 stood over 20' tall, but from Ultron-8 on, he has basically been of normal human size and proportions. Since constructing himself out of Adamantium, Ultron has employed an internal molecular rearranger to mobilize his cast-metal body, enabling him to remain an impenetrable shell while still having high dexterity and reflexes. Around Ultron-14, he began employing a swarm of mecha-bites, insect-sized flying robots capable of tearing all the flesh off a man within seconds or manipulating raw materials at the molecular level to reform them into a new body for himself or into machines or devices he wished to employ. Ultron-18 assumed control of Tony Stark's Sentient Armor, turning it into a new body for himself. Ultron-19 took over Stark himself, reconstructing the Extremis nanotech in his body to become a quasi-metallic version of Janet van Dyne.

The original Ultron-1 was nothing but an upright cylinder on tank treads with a face imprinted on it and tiny waldo arms. After escaping from his creator, Ultron went to work reconfiguring himself, and was next seen confronting the Avengers in a humanoid body as Ultron-5. This early form had unusually fragile electrodes on its head and he could be disabled if they were damaged, a design flaw eliminated from all his later models. His original Ultron-6 form and some later models replaced his lower body (from the waist down) with a battle module capable of high-speed flight and equipped with assorted offensive weapons; his later “Ultimate” Ultron-6 form was more humanoid, albeit 8 feet tall. While inhabiting the sentient “Iron Man” armor, he wielded enhanced versions of its standard weapons and devices, such as pulse bolts, energy deflector shields, tractor beams, sonic blasters, and repulsor rays, later mind-controlling the Sons of Yinsen cultists via their modified Iron Man armors and cybernetic SKIN implants.

His “Santron” form (an Ultron robot masked by an outer shell resembling Santa Claus) was programmed to emulate the traditional behavior patterns and practices of Santa Claus, though its Ultron programming compelled it to seek and kill the Avengers. Santron had advanced scanning equipment (complete with a targeting system assessing subjects as naughty or nice), electrical energy blasters, a neural disruption beam (which could induce vertigo or paralysis), a force field generator, a hollow belly for storing consumed cookies, a portable workshop with “giftmaker-transmogrifier” (carried in a sack), and a rocket powered “proton sleigh” that projected its own team of holographic reindeer.

Ultron’s female form looked human, but was covered by shifting pools of liquid metal that could expand and coalesce into a full-body metallic coating at will. The female Ultron had Class 100 strength, tremendously enhanced durability, and the power of flight, emitted flesh-melting radiation waves, generated an impenetrable force-field, remotely infiltrated and controlled most computer systems, and could control weather worldwide while linked to the Sular Experiment satellite system designed for that purpose. Ultron's programming was retrieved from space by the Phalanx, and he imposed his will upon them to become the guiding mind at the center of the collective. After joining with the Phalanx, Ultron was constantly in touch with the collective through their techno-organic hive mind, enabling him to monitor and direct all Phalanx activity, even across an interstellar expanse. This also enabled him to instantly relocate his programmed consciousness anywhere within his standard broadcast range, or throughout the collective itself, avoiding death by uploading into a new mass of techno-organic material and converting it for his use. His final giant Phalanx form, at least 60 feet high, had Class 100 strength and fired destructive energy beams from its eyes.

Ultron sometimes uses his internal molecular rearranger (which renders Adamantium temporarily malleable) to reconstruct or modify his body. One of Earth’s foremost robotics experts, his inventions include his androne-mutation gas, which converted hundreds of humans into mindless metallic-bodied slaves composed of Gallium Arsenide with built-in makeshift computer chips that Ultron could remotely control through his own central consciousness, though bio-feedback from this procedure left him temporarily vulnerable to the Grim Reaper’s life-draining scythe. As the Crimson Cowl, he wielded a gun that fired gas pellets, either sleep or gas or lethal poisonous gas.