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Adamantium

An artificially created alloy of iron that is the most impervious substance known on Earth, with the exception of the unknown Steel-Vibranium alloy of which Captain America's Shield is composed.
(See Also: Adamantium)
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Adrenaline

(aka Epinephrine) is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It is secreted by the adrenal medulla. When released into the bloodstream it increases heart rate and stroke volume, dilates the pupils, and constricts arterioles in the skin and gut while dilating arterioles in leg muscles. Often listed as being the source of abnormal feats of strength or agility, or the trigger of super-human powers.

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Alien

(1.) A being who originates elsewhere than Earth.
(2.) Of or having to do with a place other than Earth.

Further Information
An alien (or "extraterrestrial") is a being that originates outside of Earth. The universe is teeming with alien life forms, the number of which is incalculable. Because the denizens of Earth have not yet perfected a practical faster-than-light stardrive enabling interstellar travel, the majority of the alien races encountered by Earth people are those races who have mastered interstellar travel themselves and have visited Earth. Due to the fact that the Earth's solar system is near a natural warp-space access point, there has been a high incidence of alien visitation since before human life first appeared. Indeed, numerous advanced civilizations left outposts on Earth during prehistory, including the Kree, the Lumina, the Arcturans and the Celestials. In the 20th Century, alien visitation reached epidemic proportions with well over eighty different alien races dispatching exploratory parties and, in some cases, armadas to Earth. The Earth has been of particular interest to the warring Kree and Skrull Empires, since the Earth would be a strategic military outpost from which to launch attacks on the other. One of the main factors accounting for the increase in the extraterrestrial investigation of Earth is the explosive growth of Earth beings who through mutation or transformation have demonstrated superhuman capacities. No other races of beings have manifested such a vast variety of powers as Earth people, and many races are curious to determine why. (The human race's capacity for benevolent mutation is a legacy of the alien Celestials who examined the genetic material of human beings at the dawn of man.) It is these superhuman beings who have been so phenomenally successful thwarting the selfish designs of the scores of alien invaders. Virtually every superhuman champion on Earth has had at least one extraterrestrial encounter. The majority of the alien races documented here have humanoid configurations (bilaterally symmetrical, upright posture, two arms, two legs, brain located in head). Some are astonishingly similar to the human race, being virtually indistinguishable until the cellular level. Other races resemble humanoid versions of other Earthly animals, such as lizards, skunks, insects, fish, and so on. The reason for this staggering similarity in phenotypes among races evolving on countless worlds separated by millions of light years is not known. A being called "Xorr the God-Jewel" once claimed that the "seeds" of all humanoid faces were contained within Xorri, the now-extinct race that formed the jewel. The validity of this claim is questionable, but it is also unlikely that the vast similarities among certain races can be attributed to parallel evolution. There must something to account for so many coincidences among these alien races, but as yet there is no indication what it is. It is possible that humanoid races do not dominate the universe as it would appear, and that it is mere happenstance that the majority of the alien races Earth has encountered are humanoid.

Further Information

An alien (or "extraterrestrial") is a being that originates outside of Earth. The universe is teeming with alien life forms, the number of which is incalculable.

Because the denizens of Earth have not yet perfected a practical faster-than-light stardrive enabling interstellar travel, the majority of the alien races encountered by Earth people are those races who have mastered interstellar travel themselves and have visited Earth. Due to the fact that the Earth's solar system is near a natural warp-space access point, there has been a high incidence of alien visitation since before human life first appeared. Indeed, numerous advanced civilizations left outposts on Earth during prehistory, including the Kree, the Lumina, the Arcturans and the Celestials. In the 20th Century, alien visitation reached epidemic proportions with well over eighty different alien races dispatching exploratory parties and, in some cases, armadas to Earth. The Earth has been of particular interest to the warring Kree and Skrull Empires, since the Earth would be a strategic military outpost from which to launch attacks on the other. One of the main factors accounting for the increase in the extraterrestrial investigation of Earth is the explosive growth of Earth beings who through mutation or transformation have demonstrated superhuman capacities. No other races of beings have manifested such a vast variety of powers as Earth people, and many races are curious to determine why. (The human race's capacity for benevolent mutation is a legacy of the alien Celestials who examined the genetic material of human beings at the dawn of man.) It is these superhuman beings who have been so phenomenally successful thwarting the selfish designs of the scores of alien invaders. Virtually every superhuman champion on Earth has had at least one extraterrestrial encounter.

The majority of the alien races documented here have humanoid configurations (bilaterally symmetrical, upright posture, two arms, two legs, brain located in head). Some are astonishingly similar to the human race, being virtually indistinguishable until the cellular level. Other races resemble humanoid versions of other Earthly animals, such as lizards, skunks, insects, fish, and so on. The reason for this staggering similarity in phenotypes among races evolving on countless worlds separated by millions of light years is not known. A being called "Xorr the God-Jewel" once claimed that the "seeds" of all humanoid faces were contained within Xorri, the now-extinct race that formed the jewel. The validity of this claim is questionable, but it is also unlikely that the vast similarities among certain races can be attributed to parallel evolution. There must something to account for so many coincidences among these alien races, but as yet there is no indication what it is. It is possible that humanoid races do not dominate the universe as it would appear, and that it is mere happenstance that the majority of the alien races Earth has encountered are humanoid.

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Alter ego

An alter ego (from Latin, "other I") is another self, a second personality or persona within a person. The term is commonly used in comic books, for the secret identity of a superheros and supervillains.

An alter ego is usually used by superheroes to conceal their identities in order to protect their friends and family from harm at the hands of their enemies, whereas supervillians usually have an alter ego to make sure they don't get arrested.

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Alternate Earth

A world resembling Earth in physical characteristics, natural phenomena, life forms, and, to some extent, history, which exists in the equivalent space to Earth's in another dimension. An alternate Earth may either be a divergent Earth or a parallel Earth.

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Alternate Future

One of the possible future realities deriving from the present reality through a specific sequence of events. One cannot tell which alternate future will become one's present reality until the point of divergence has been passed. At that point, one's reality diverges into more than one, and versions of one's self will exist in each resulting alternate future. Hence, one's divergent self will experience one of the alternate futures as his present reality, while another of his divergent selves will experience a different alternate future as his.

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Alternate World

A world in another dimension which exists in the equivalent space to a world in this dimension. Some alternate worlds which are not alternate Earths may exist in the equivalent space to Earth's in other dimensions.

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American

A person who was born in America.

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Amphibious

Capable of breathing and existing in air or in water.

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Android

An artificial being designed to resemble a human being in as many ways as possible, and whose physiology and life functions replicate and mimic those of human beings as closely as possible. An android has all the same organs, tissue, bone, flesh, and blood as a human being, except they are synthetic. Compare with clone, cyborg, robot, and synthozoid.

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Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan becomes fixed as they develop, usually early on in their development as embryos, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile - they can move spontaneously and independently. Animals are heterotrophs - they are dependent on other organisms (e.g. plants) for sustenance.
(See Also: Animal)
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Anti-hero

An anti-hero has widely come to mean a character who has some characteristics that are antithetical to those of the traditional hero. An anti-hero in today's comic books will perform acts generally deemed "heroic," but will do so with methods, manners, or intentions that may not be heroic.
(See Also: Superhero, Supervillain)
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Anti-Graviton

A theoretical particle carrying a force that repels gravity.

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Anti-Matter

Matter composed of particles that are the counterparts of the particles composing positive matter (the matter of which this universe is composed), but have opposite charges; e.g., anti-protons instead of protons, and positrons instead of electrons. Should positive matter come in contact with an equal amount of antimatter, both will be annihilated and converted to energy.

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Anti-Matter Universe

A universe composed of anti-matter rather than matter (as in our universe) existing in another dimension. The only one known to date is the Negative Zone.

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Anti-Mutant

Any type of being who holds prejudice towards mutants.

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Artistic License

Simply put, artistic license means an artist is accorded leeway in his or her interpretation of something, and is not held strictly accountable for accuracy.

For example, the director of your local theater group might decide it's high time Shakespeare's Hamlet was staged with the entire cast walking on stilts. Obviously, this was not how they did things back at the old Globe, but the director has been seized with an artistic vision and must be indulged.

A poet is granted artistic license to rhyme something with the word "orange", even though "orange" has no rhyming word in English.

Music sampling is a relatively new discipline, in which bits and pieces of other works are taken and compiled into a new piece. The sampler has taken (sometimes wild) artistic license with other musicians' works. In many cases, the sampling community will rate new pieces, and one of the judging criteria is entitled "Artistic License".

Writers of fiction are allowed to take all sorts of liberties with facts, in the interest of crafting a good story. It should go without saying that "fiction" is the operative word here.

This means it either should be noted or not used at all since the 90% of the time the character does not exhibit that ability very often. For example the Hulk during the Secret Wars broke his leg, Spider-Man once defeated Firelord, the Black Panther put the Silver Surfer in a hammer lock. All of this was done with artistic license from the writer and are not considered typical of the characters.

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Astral Body

The sheath or form that contains a living being's life essence, consciousness, spirit or soul. The astral body is a manifestation of the life essence composed of ectoplasm, an invisible, intangible substance whose source and properties remain unknown. While all living beings have astral bodies, certain adepts using psychic, psionic, or magical means, can separate their astral bodies from their physical bodies without harm. The astral body is also sometimes called astral form, astral self, and spirit form.

The astral form is the non-corporeal manifestation of beings that have the ability of astral projection. The majority of people capable of creating an astral form are psychics, and they usually appear on the Astral Plane. The astral form enables beings to exist within the mind, without a body and transcend through space and time as pure mental energy.

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Astral Projection

Astral projection (or astral travel) is a paranormal interpretation of an out-of-body experience achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. The concept of astral projection assumes the existence of another body, separate from the physical body and capable of traveling to non-physical planes of existence. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane. Often a form of telepathy or magic.

Examples

For a list of characters who use astral projection, see Category:Astral Projection

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Atmokinesis

Atmokinesis is the ability to control or mentally affect the weather.