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History

Early Years[]

Calvin Rankin, aka Mimic, was born a mutant who could mimic other superhuman abilities. His father, Ronald Rankin, was a brilliant scientist, but a terrible businessman. All of his discoveries and creations were stolen from him. Calvin grew up poor and under the thumb of a bitter, dejected man.[2]

After he discovered the identities of the original X-Men by mimicking their powers, the angry Calvin decided to use his powers for evil and joined the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Following his first fight with the X-Men, the other members of the Brotherhood abandoned him, leaving him to be arrested. While in prison, Calvin was visited by Professor Charles Xavier who offered him a position in the X-Men. Calvin accepted the offer and soon became one of his world's many champions. Eventually, Calvin even outshined the more reserved Cyclops and became the team's leader.[2]

Exiles Vol 1 45 Textless

The Exiles' Mimic

Exiles[]

Some time later, Mimic was plucked from his native reality by the Timebroker to join his inter-dimensional team of mutants, the Exiles, in order to repair damage done to various realities in existence. Mimic was told that his reality was affected by these events and that if he did not repair the damage done, his reality would change to one where he would have killed forty-seven innocent people trying to kidnap Senator Robert Kelly as a member of the Brotherhood and ended up on death row upon capture.[3] (As the Timebroker has since been revealed to be a facsimile and the true reason for the Exiles to have been revealed, it is unknown if there is any validity to this warning, or if the insectoids residing inside the "Crystal Palace" manufactured the story in order to coax Mimic into joining their cause.[4])

On a world where all super-humans had been confined to prisons, the Exiles' first mission was to find "the one who would lead them". They erroneously believed it was the Charles Xavier from this reality who was destined to lead them. Freeing Xavier, they found that he was an evil mutant who was bent on exterminating the human race in revenge for his imprisonment. Due to their error an entire town was mind wiped by this evil Xavier. Mimic was forced to kill the evil Xavier by extracting his claws into the evil mutant's head, or face his own death. This action profoundly affected Mimic who couldn't work past the fact that he was forced to kill his own mentor, even if it was an alternate reality version of him that was evil.[5]

Mimic developed a romantic relationship with team leader Blink.[6] Missions never got easier for Mimic as they were forced to battle -- and often kill -- people who (in his own reality) were friends or people he looked up to. It started to weigh on Mimic, his relationship with Blink, and his desire to return home to his own reality.[2]

Another mission found them on a nightmare world where the Sentinels had killed or imprisoned all super beings. There they met another group of reality jumpers called Weapon X led by Sabretooth of Blink's home reality. The two groups worked together to save David Richards (The son of Rachel Summers and Franklin Richards of that reality), however Weapon X's mission was to kill the boy as he was destined to become a madman and rule the Earth. During the battle, Mimic was slightly jealous of Sabretooth's relationship with Blink, however when Sabretooth stayed behind at the mission's end this would have no bearing on his and Blink's relationship until much later.[7]

On the next world, Mimic played a key role in stopping a version of Namor, who had taken over Latveria and disposed its monarch Dr. Doom and threatened to kill the human race with a device that would make Atlanteans breathe on the surface while humans would suffocate. During the battle, Mimic single-handedly defeated an entire army of Doombots and beat Namor to death. After this experience he resolved that he was sick of killing and resolved to get back home no matter what it took.[2] His attitude after this mission continued to strain his and Blink's relationship, and endangered them in missions when he refused to kill. They saved the remaining survivors of a world plagued by infectious Vi-Locks, who were infected with a combination of the Legacy Virus and Warlock's Transmode Virus. On this world, Calvin was about to sacrifice his own life in order to destroy the Vi-Lock's main base and destroy their leader, the mutant formerly known as Forge. When it was discovered the blood of the gods of Asgard could cure the disease he had to be rescued by Blink.[8]

Upon completion of this mission, the Timebroker appeared and declared that Blink was being returned home and she was replaced by Magik. Mimic was assigned team leader and was given the Tallus and the group was sent on their next mission. Mimic, depressed with the fact that the woman he loved has been taken from him, now had to deal with the pressures of leadership, and the addition of the cold and emotionless Magik did not improve matters.[9]

Following a mission to stop a group of vampire Avengers the group was blasted with a bolt of magic by the evil vampire wizard Union Jack which sent each Exile to a different reality.[10] Mimic found himself on a world that had been taken over by the Brood and battled them there for four years. He was infected many times with Brood-eggs, but he was always able to rely on his healing factor to destroy it. When he was saved from this reality by the Timebroker and reunited with his teammates, he lied about the amount of time he spent there and kept secret that his healing factor was currently in the process of eliminating another Brood egg, this one an egg that would birth a queen.[11]

Their next mission had the Exiles ensuring that a reality's Fantastic Four survived their rocket crash and that nobody in New York was killed by the now rampaging Thing. During the battle Mimic was severely injured which allowed the Brood-egg to gain the upper hand over his healing factor and began hatching. The queen dominated Mimic's mind before Mimic could convince Sasquatch to kill him, and attacked both the Exiles and newly formed Fantastic Four. The Brood queen was able to nullify the limitations of Mimic's abilities allowing it to mimic more than just five abilities. During the battle, Exile member Sunfire was smothered under a pile of rubble before the Brood-egg could be destroyed to save Mimic. This devastated team member Morph and put a rift between the two long standing teammates for a time.[11]

The death of Sunfire brought the return of Blink to the team and restored as leader. She rekindled her romance with the now distraught Mimic. Their relationship continued to have troubles due to Blink's experience on the world with Sabretooth, and Mimic's guilt over Sunfire's death and failure as a leader.[12]

The next mission found the group battling Weapon X, led by the murderous Hyperion who had gone rogue and sought to dominate any world they were brought to. The Timebroker decided that both teams should be merged into one and the excess members be liquidated. Mimic fought alongside his fellow Exiles against Hyperion, winning the battle with only the loss of Magik.[13]

The next mission found them back on Earth-616 where the group gained Namora, a female version of Namor from another reality, as a new member. Due to their explosive tempers and desire to get back home the Exiles found themselves in battle with the Fantastic Four and Namor until things were sorted out. The group later learned that they had to leave their teammate Nocturne behind to make room for their newest edition, the student of Xavier's school named Beak.[14]

On Earth-5423, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were ready for the Exiles thanks to the clairvoyance of member Destiny. The shapeshifter Mystique secretly replaced Blink and led them to believe their mission was to rescue the "Big-M" from prison. They soon learned that the Big-M was that reality's Mimic, who was that world's worst criminal. Both Mimics clashed and the evil Mimic probed the mind of his alternate reality counterpart and learned that the moment their lives deviated was when the good Mimic said yes to Xavier's offer to join the X-Men. Seeing the memories of where Mimic's life could have gone, the "Big-M" decided to return to his cell and reform and later became a great hero and teacher to mutants in his own reality.[15]

The Exiles found themselves back on the world where they had left Sabretooth. Much time had passed and the nightmare reality that was deemed to occur had happened. It was learned that both Sabretooth and Blink had to murder David Richards. The Timebroker demanded that the group kill Sabretooth and attempted to goad Mimic into doing so. However, when this plan failed and the group refused to kill Sabretooth, so the Timebroker transported them to the Age of Apocalypse and added Holocaust, another mutant originating from this reality, to the Exiles to increase tensions.[16]

Instead, Holocaust aided the Exiles in using the M'kraan Crystal of this reality to travel to the Panoptichron, or the "Crystal Palace" as it was later dubbed by the group, home of the Timebroker. There they found that the Broker himself had never been real, but instead was controlled by a group of dimensional traveling insects who had accidentally caused the cataclysm that the Exiles have been charged with fixing. All of their fallen members were in stasis in this realm. Worse, the evil Hyperion had survived their last encounter and freed himself, taking control of the facility. During the battle, Mimic was severely injured by Hyperion and was forced to remain in his iron form and placed into stasis. Hyperion was finally defeated with the aid of two Hyperions from other realities who were recruited by Beak.[4]

Calvin Rankin (Earth-12) vs Kevin MacTaggert (Earth-58163) from Exiles Vol 1 71 0001

Mimic Vs Proteus

The group's next mission found them trying to find a way to heal the injured who were in stasis. They sought the aid of one reality's Dr. Strange who was a specialist in super-human medicine. Strange discovered that one former Weapon X member, Deadpool, had a phenomenal healing factor and revived him. Deadpool promptly murdered the doctor and sought to free his Weapon X friends. Heather Hudson freed Mimic and allowed him to mimic Deadpool's abilities while the Weapon X member Hulk (Jen Walters) killed Deadpool. Mimic was saved by Deadpool's amazing healing factor, however was left with severe body scarring as a side effect.[17]

Before finding a way to cure his skin condition, the group gave into Beak's demands to return to his home reality. When the group returned to Earth-616 they found that reality greatly changed due to the effects of the Scarlet Witch's reality warp. This new version of reality found Beak's girlfriend, Angel being stalked by the mass murdering Mutant-X, also known as Proteus. Proteus managed to scan the Tallus and the memory banks of the Panoptichron and learned how to reality jump. Fearing the worst, Mimic attacked but held back long enough for Proteus to use his reality warping powers to revert Calvin back to his normal state and possess his body.[18]

Calvin Rankin (Earth-12) and Clarice Ferguson (Earth-295) from Exiles Vol 1 73 0001

(Death)

In Mimic's body, Proteus jumped to a new reality, using his knowledge to try and find one of the most powerful bodies to sustain him. Proteus traveled to Earth-15731, a world chronologically in the year 1986 and at its dawn of a modern super-powered era (called Paranormals). Here Proteus planned on possessing the body of Ken Connell who had possession of the Star Brand. Proteus ended up battling the vigilante called Justice and noticed that Calvin's mind also resisted his control. Unfortunately, since Mimic's healing factor was focused on slowing the deterioration caused by Proteus's possession, his body become vulnerable to external damage. Mimic was hit by Justice's energy blast and, since he could not heal properly, his body was reduced to a walking skeleton; forcing Proteus to leave Mimic's body and possess Justice.[19]

Mimic's remains were recovered by the Exiles and placed in stasis, his memories merged with the mind of Proteus. Blink first "buried" Calvin in a crystalline shard planted in the "infinite desert" within one of Panoptichron's rooms. However, she later decided she was being selfish and decided to return his body to his home world, Earth-12, for proper burial. While there, she shared the story of their experiences with his fellow X-Men. Professor X was so taken with her that he offered her the chance to stay on as a member of the team. No sooner had the offer been extended than another reality needed saving, and she had to decline and depart.[20]

Attributes

Power Grid[24]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Master: All Forms of Combat:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Experienced Fighter:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Virtually Unlimited:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/On Contact:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (25-75 ton):Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Super-Genius:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Powers

Calvin Rankin (Earth-12) from Exiles Vol 1 4 0001

Cal loses his wings and gains the Phoenix Power[21]

Power Mimicry: Mimic had the mutant ability to mimic the abilities of five different superhumans at one time. He also seemed capable of mimicking non-mutant superpowers, like those of the Fantastic Four. Mimic could change by conscious choice any of the mutants abilities that he came in contact with for an extended period of time. Mimic had exhibited "residual traces" of previous mutant abilities in the past however the extent of these residual abilities and their duration are unclear. When Mimic was infected with a Brood egg, the hatching queen was somehow able to override the limitations of his mutant abilities allowing him to mimic an unlimited amount of abilities from others, making him close to his 616 counterpart in power. However, once the Brood embryo was destroyed, Mimic returned to his original state. There was one negative aspect to Mimic's abilities, and it was that if he was in the proximity of a mutate whose powers derived from or utilize gamma rays (i.e., the Hulk) he became vulnerable to those gamma rays making him violently ill and could have led to death if he remained near the being for an extended period of time although he was still able to mimic their abilities, Mimic's current power template at the time of his death are the half powers of: Colossus, Wolverine, Cyclops, Deadpool, and Northstar.

Seemingly among other Calvin's, Mimic has mimicked at one point or another (not each at the same time) the genetic abilities of

Abilities

Similarly to the Calvin Rankin of Earth-616 and Calvin Rankin of Earth-11052 but to a lesser extent, Mimic was able to mimic the skills of those whose powers he attained but just how much was never seen nor is it known of this affects normal humans as well. This with his years of training with his reality's X-Men has led him to be a proficient hand to hand combatant, enough so to render an alternate version of Wolverine unconscious. He could also use powers in combination with each other (e.g. Using Colossus's Organic Steel Transformation to enhance the effectiveness of Wolverine's bone claws).

Weaknesses

Mimic could copy any superhuman abilities within seconds of being near the host; however, if they traveled far enough their powers were instantly lost unless he had spent one hour close to them in which case he kept their abilities. When he took on an other's powers he would lose one of the five he already had but he was able to select which abilities he would lose. Also the powers he copied were only half as powerful as the source of them (e.g. If he copied Wolverine's healing factor, it would only be half as potent).

Paraphernalia

Equipment

For a time Mimic wore a special ruby quartz visor which assisted him in using the optic blast he mimicked from Cyclops, Mimic also once wore the Tallus, the communicator between the Exiles and their base at the "Crystal Palace", this device would transmit them information on their missions and important facts about the reality they are currently in, it also served as a transporter between realities. After visiting a reality in which they had to deal with the Hulk, Mimic (probably with the aid of that reality's Alpha Flight) was given a device that would shield him from gamma rays. Since it has seldom been used, its properties are unrecorded.

Trivia

  • According to Morph, Mimic was a fan of ice skating.[22]
  • Mimic had a love of foreign culture and beer; he also possessed an excellent singing voice (which he kept quiet about): these were all traits he shared with his reality's Logan.[23]

See Also

Links and References

References

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