Fantomex is heavily based on Diabolik, an Italian comic book anti-hero.

Origin

Fantomex is one of the more recent creations of the Weapon Plus program. Fantomex was born and artificially evolved in The World, an artificial world made for creating super-soldiers using Sentinel technology. He has gone by the alias of Jean-Phillipe, and he was designated the name “Charlie Cluster-7 in The World.

After "The World"

Fantomex first appeared seeking sanctuary in the X-Corporation while fleeing from the authorities, just after Professor X had announced to the world that any mutant could find such protection from them. He was able to break in unnoticed and sneak up on both Xavier as well as Jean Grey. Their telepathy was unable to detect anything in his mind except flowers due to the telepathic shielding he wore. He was badly injured from previous fighting and escape from the authorities, and the building was quickly becoming surrounded by an international task-force charged with hunting him down. Fantomex said that he was a master mutant thief. Besides being able to tell them their own intentions by reading their body language he demonstrated an ability that he referred to as misdirection, which made the authorities around the building see a cloud of smoke surrounding the floors around them. When he asks for asylum, is bleeding badly from a bullet wound, and Professor X grants it conditionally. He explains to Jean Grey and Professor X that he is one of the most wanted thieves in Europe. His mask stops them from reading his mind, and therefore from confirming his claims, but they agree to aid him.

After escaping the building once it was surrounded by soldiers, Fantomex introduced E.V.A., his biological ship, and they use her to escape. He then takes Jean and Professor Xavier to his “home” in France, where he introduces them to his “mother” and continues to tell them about his life as a thief. In a large loft surrounded by immense historical relics of museum quality he tells them that he stole information from Weapon Plus, and offers to sell it to them for one-billion dollars. Admitting he really didn't need the money, and understanding how bad the information he had was needed by the X-Men, he knew what Xavier's fortune was last valued at and was curious to see how he would act when given such a moral conundrum. He then puts himself into a state of auto-hypnosis, allowing him to perform self-surgery and removes the bullets he had received. He then offers a place for Professor X and Jean to accompany him to hunt down Weapon XII, and the three leave the house and the elderly woman.

At this point several members of X-Corporation were in danger. Weapon Plus had staged an accident in the Chunnel, releasing a mutant of unknown power. On the way Fantomex informs them of the true nature of the Weapon Plus program, including the Weapon X program. Until this point it was believed that the program that created Wolverine was named Weapon X. Fantomex told them that it wasn't 'X', but was the Roman Numeral for 10. Wolverine was created not as a single experiment in creating a living weapon, but was only the tenth generation of living weapons produced by the program. He described what he knew of the other stages of the program, including Huntsman who was Weapon XII. Huntsman was the mutant that was released into the Chunnel, and had a bacterial mind which allowed him to integrate any living being he touched as an extension of his body. This network could continue to infect others. He said that Huntsman was engineered using nanosentinel technology and artificially evolved in The World, a place where time could be artificially manipulated to speed up the evolutionary process.

They finally arrived at the site of the disaster where Huntsman has already turned hundreds of humans and animals into mindless slaves. Fantomex then proceeds to kill off those under Huntsman's control in order to get to the train wreckage, knowing that there is no escape for them. When Fantomex and Jean Grey get to the wreckage there are two open pods, one which formerly housed Weapon XII, and the other for Weapon XIII. Fantomex’s mask had come slightly open at the back, allowing Jean to get a glimpse of his true identity. It turns out that Fantomex is actually Weapon XIII, and had escaped from the Chunnel during the disaster. He assures Jean that, even though he is not the thief he told her he was, he was setting out to gain that reputation. He assures her that he intends to be no one’s soldier, and that despite everything she knew her posture told him that she found him too attractive to turn over to the authorities. Jean reluctantly allows him to escape as the authorities were arriving at the tunnel. While they were talking at the wreckage Professor X and Madrox were able to kill Huntsman.

He later travels to Afghanistan to steal a list of the richest mutant slave traders, planning on using it as blackmail. While there, he discovers an unconscious Dust, and gives her to Wolverine, who he also encountered. Fantomex later contacts Wolverine and offers him information on his past if he helped in the destruction of Weapon XV, the last Weapon created by Weapon Plus. Wolverine accepts the offer, and takes Cyclops with him. They go to The World. The three are defeated by Ultimaton (Weapon XV). They pursued him in E.V.A. to the Weapon Plus Space Station. Fantomex gives Wolverine the Weapon Plus Database, upholding his part of there deal, and Wolverine is shocked by what he did. He activated the self destruct mechanism on the space station before attacking (and killing) Ultimaton. Scott and Fantomex escape the space station before it explodes.

Fantomex then helps the X-Men fight Xorn and his newly gathered Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Fantomex later tracked down John Sublime, the director of the Weapon Plus project, but when he went to his grave, it was empty and only had the message Roanoke. He traveled, along with Wolverine and Agent Zero to Roanoke to search for answers. They are ambushed by Sublime’s men, and in an attempt to escape, Fantomex is shot down and presumed dead. He later reappears and helps Mystique against Quiet Man.

Powers and Abilities

It is important to note that Fantomex has a history of misleading others, although his intentions are not always obvious. As with his early history, he claims many things about his powers that are not necessarily substantiated by evidence.

Fantomex has exhibited a variety of mental powers, one of which is having the ability to enter himself into a state of "auto-hypnosis", effectively putting his body on auto-pilot in order to perform surgery and other delicate tasks on himself. He exhibited this ability once by inducing this state in order to remove several bullets from his body. He exhibits a form of telepathy he refers to as "misdirection", which allows him to create realistic and immersive illusions on a variety of scales. His misdirection is powerful enough to fool large numbers of people and even the most powerful and experienced telepaths, as evident when he showed Professor X and Jean Grey his home in the mountains complete with a variety of stolen goods and a woman he called his mother. He is also a master at reading body-language, able to discern up the intentions of those around him by simply observing posture, gestures, and facial movements.

Fantomex's has an external nervous system named E.V.A. He claims to have produced E.V.A. through his mouth one day when he lost his voice while still in The World. She later continued to grow and changed form into a flying saucer. EVA is capable of independent thought, but acts as Fantomex's primary external nervous system. They share each other's thoughts as well as emotions. His secondary nervous system is located in his body, but is not advanced. When using his secondary nervous system alone he is only able to see the world in black and white.

Aside from his more notable abilities, Fantomex possesses many other characteristics which are heightened beyond those of a normal human. He possesses superhuman agility, moving through fights and evading enemies better than most acrobats. He is an expert marksman, and is able to use this ability even when doing complicated acrobatic movements during a fight. He possesses enhanced strength, and is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant.

Fantomex is one of the most mysterious people in the Marvel Universe. He talks in a heavy French accent, which leads many people to believe that he is French, but he has revealed to some that he speaks with a French accent because he finds it distracts and annoys people. Regardless of the situation, Fantomex's plays his cards very close to the chest, with his true motivations often left unknown until the moment he decides to tip his hand.

Characteristics

Gender--Male

Height--5' 9"

Weight--174 lbs (79 kg)

Eyes--Blue

Hair--Black

Alternate Realities

Earth-5700

In this reality (Days of Future Now) Fantomex becomes the host of Sublime.

Earth-15104

In the Here Comes Tomorrow storyline Fantomex had become one of Sublime's U-Men and fought against the X-Men.