Merlyn was born on an alternate earth as a member of a race of immortal, powerful beings. He became the student of Necrom, his world's Sorcerer Supreme. Necrom asked Merlyn and his fellow-student Feron to assist him in a magical ritual. Feron contacted the cosmic Phoenix Force on Earth-616 and using the Phoenix an alignment was created between parallel universes. This assignment was marked with a tower in the same place on every Earth in the Omniverse. According to magical principles, such an alignment would create a matrix of nearly endless magical energy. Necrom desired the power of the Phoenix for himself and he attacked Feron. Feron, his powers enhanced by the Phoenix, battled his master and Merlyn used the opportunity to jump into the Matrix, taking its power for his own. Necrom wounded the Phoenix and escaped with a small part of it. The Phoenix left Feron and Feron stayed behind on Earth-616, dedicating his life to asking the Phoenix for forgiveness.

Merlyn travelled to Otherworld and established himself as Omniversal Guardian, safeguarding the total of all universes in existence. With the powers of the Matrix, Merlyn dedicated himself to protecting the universe and finding Necrom. Necrom hid and planned for the next few centuries, changing the part of the Phoenix Force that he had stolen into the Anti-Phoenix. Merlyn founded the Captain Britain Corps, a group of matrix-powered superheroes based on each Earth in the omniverse. Merlyn sent his best agent, Sir James Braddock, to Earth-616 to father a hero. James' first son, Jamie Braddock, was unsuitable for Merlyn's purposes, but the twins Elisabeth and Brian both were. Merlyn chose Brian to become Earth-616's Captain Britain and he would be pivotal to Merlyn's plans.

Over the years, Merlyn manipulated Brian to become a stronger and wiser hero. He partnered Brian with the Black Knight (another of Merlyn's champions, like the bizarrely named Kilgore Slaughter) to teach him more about magic. Merlyn used Brian to stop Mad Jim Jaspers, a reality warping mutant who threatened the fabric of the multiverse itself. Merlyn seemingly died in the battle between Jaspers and the cyborg monstrosity called The Fury. Merlyn was buried and his daughter Roma took over as Omniversal Guardian.

Merlyn faked his death though and hid, even from his daughter. In secret he manipulated his daughter and Captain Britain to form Excalibur, a team of superheroes, who would become his weapon against Necrom. Excalibur would take the tower that was part of the Matrix as their base, not knowing the true meaning of this building. Necrom resurfaced and fought Excalibur. In the battle, Rachel Summers killed Necrom and Merlyn appeared to congratulate Excalibur. Excalibur were furious at Merlyn for manipulating them and endangering them all. Roma, also disappointed in her father's callous behavior, assisted Excalibur in destroying their tower and by extension the Matrix. Merlyn left in a rage at losing his source of power.

Merlyn and Roma both met occasionally on Otherworld, but Merlyn didn't retake his position as Omniversal Guardian, trusting his daughter to protect the Omniverse. He was nowhere to be seen when Mastermind took over Otherworld or during the House of M event.

With the recent return of Mad Jim Jaspers, Merlyn has shown up as his ally, helping him return the Fury to life. Later, following Merlyn's defeat by Excalibur, another version of him-claiming to be 'Merlyn the wise' and referring to his 'evil' self as 'Merlyn the mad'-was released from imprisonment by Pete Wisdom of MI13 and seemingly resurrected the apparently dead Captain Britain.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Merlyn has many magical powers, possibly related to his immortality, and has also trained himself so that he as developed other powers. He is possibly multiversal, though he can make duplicates of himself. He can create illusions, change his shape, observe other realities, raise the dead and manipulate energy. Sometimes he uses advanced technology to help him. He has claimed in the past to be the Merlin who aided King Arthur at Camelot, and there is evidence to support this, though it is not really possible to separate the truth about Merlyn from the web of half truths he has woven around himself.

Power Grid ^[1]

* Teleporter