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Kitty Pryde

Character » Kitty Pryde appears in 3240 issues.

Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat, is a mutant gifted with the ability to become intangible and phase her body through solid material. A talented prodigy, she became the "poster child" of the X-Men. Kitty became co-headmistress of the Jean Grey School alongside Wolverine, and now mentors the time-displaced original X-Men.

What Affects Her While Phased?

#1 Posted by honeybunch (5 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

I know she's resistant to psychic abilities while phased.  I also know that she's immune to physical attacks and most energy attacks. 

She also seems to be unaffected by gravity while phasing, or else the "walking on air" she can do would be impossible. 

However, I'm not sure about things like magnetism.  If she was carrying something metallic, like a sword or electronic device, would Magneto be able to take control of it? 

She's obviously also affected by light (seeing as she's visible, so the light's reflecting off her).  Does that mean that lasers could hurt her?  How about Cyclop's eyebeams?  Granted, they're beams of kinetic force, but they seem to have light-like properties.  For instance, he can bounce them off reflective surfaces. 

The reason I'm asking this is because I'm going to be playing this character in a sort of role playing game in the future, and these sorts of issues might come up.  I'm wondering if anyone here with more comic knowledge than I have might know the answers to these questions. 

Thanks. 

#2 Posted by pixelized (62859 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

She's resistant to Psychic attacks???? In Astonishing, Emma had her under the illusion that someone was trying to take the baby she and Colossus never had away

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#3 Posted by Zoom (14636 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

Kitty has been electrocuted and hit by Magneto (magnetism?  more electrocution?) while phased.

She's also vulnerable to radiation.

I always thought the psi resistance while phased was dumb.  I wouldn't be surprised if somebody handwaved it.

#4 Posted by Fluke-buddha (644 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

Way back in Age of Apocalypse Husk turned into an acid that could hurt her. 

 I believe electro magnetism can effect her as well.   Since magnetism isn't a physical attack, I don't think her power protects her from this. 

I don't think lasers effect her though, since they are used in the Danger Room and she has phased through them in the past.  Though they are many types of lasers, so some of them may work on her.


#5 Posted by honeybunch (5 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

Huh. 

The resistance to physic powers makes perfect sense to me.  She phases through lots of energy attacks, so why would she not be able to phase through "psychic energy"?  Magneto has a helmet that can block it.  I see no reason why Kitty shouldn't be able to phase through it. 

But a lot of her powers don't make a lot of sense to me. 

She can be electrocuted, but she phases through (and shorts out) electrical systems all the time with no ill effects.  That's a little weird, considering that there must be a lot of power going through those Sentinels. 

As for lasers not affecting her, that really doesn't make sense either.  She reflects all the colors the human eye can see, so obviously she doesn't phase through visible light.  Therefore, any laser that would be visible should affect her.   If she can phase herself through light, then she should have the power to turn invisible. 

Oh well.  I guess I'll just have to attribute this to comic book science and the differing interpretations of the different writers who have written the comics she was in over the years.  Still, I wish the books were a little more consistent. 

#6 Posted by SUNMAN (6662 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

extreme heats and stuff should affect her as well

#7 Posted by Zoom (14636 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

@honeybunch

Because there isn't such a thing as psychic energy?  If Professor X wants in her head, I don't see why the physical attributes of it have anything to do with the matter.

I agree that the electricution thing is odd, considering her whole disrupt machines shtick but I've seen her get electrocuted.

#8 Posted by White Mage (18691 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
@honeybunchBecause there isn't such a thing as psychic energy?  If Professor X wants in her head, I don't see why ... [more]
If she has been electrocuted by PEOPLE, that makes sense.  If it was by machines, then it was PIS
#9 Posted by honeybunch (5 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
@honeybunchBecause there isn't such a thing as psychic energy?  If Professor X wants in her head, I don't see why ... [more]
White Mage said:
Zoom said: @honeybunchBecause there isn't such a thing as psychic energy?  If Professor X wants in her head, I don't ... [more]

Really, I don't think it makes much sense either way.  She disrupts circuitry.  That means she disrupts the flow of electrons through the circuitry.  That means she disrupts the flow of electricity. 

When lightning zaps through the air?  Electrons are flowing from air molecule to air molecule.  Kitty Pryde should disrupt that flow.  It makes absolutely no sense that she could be electrocuted. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Pryde#Powers_and_abilities

"The use of her abilities also interferes with any electrical systems (including, in some stories, the bio-electric systems of the human body), as she passes through by disrupting the flow of electrons from atom to atom."

And, really, she should always screw up the brain and nervous system of the human body, too.  It's just a different kind of circuitry. 

That's yet another aspect of her power that doesn't make sense, unless she can turn her "electronic disruption" on and off. 
#10 Posted by SUNMAN (6662 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

yea her powers don't make perfect sense, it all depends on what the writer wants to do and how they tweak her powers.

#11 Posted by Zoom (14636 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

It was a person using an electro sword.  I don't know your stance on that, WM. XD

#12 Posted by MrMiracle77 (1583 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

She can suffocate while walking through solid or liquid matter.

As for her ability to walk normally while phased, I'd suspect that she can 'unphase' the thinnest bottom layer of her feet subconsciously.  So her feet stick in place as she walks.

#13 Posted by pixelized (62859 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
MrMiracle77 said:
She can suffocate while walking through solid or liquid matter.As for her ability to walk normally while phased, I'd suspect ... [more]
wouldn't that hurt her if someone ran through her [literally], or she walked through a wall?
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#14 Posted by Paragon (7293 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

She also as trouble with Adamantium, since one time when she tried to phase through Wolverine, it really hurt her.

#15 Posted by White Mage (18691 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
It was a person using an electro sword.  I don't know your stance on that, WM. XD
....................I'm really not sure. lol

At first, I sorta thought of it like Polaris.  Energies that she can take on directly can harm her if they are manipulated in an unnatural fashion.
#16 Posted by Zoom (14636 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

Nah, it was Deathverine.

#17 Posted by White Mage (18691 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
Nah, it was Deathverine.
BULL................SH*T
#18 Posted by Push (1552 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio

A naked male?

#19 Posted by honeybunch (5 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
@honeybunchBecause there isn't such a thing as psychic energy?  If Professor X wants in her head, I don't see why ... [more]

Huh.  I thought I'd replied to this earlier, but I guess I screwed it up somehow. 

Anyhow, psychic abilities in the Marvel universe can be affected by a number of physical factors.  Magneto's helmet is purely physical, but it blocks psychic interference.  Additionally, Magneto has been able to disrupt psychic communication on a global scale by screwing around with the earth's magnetic field. 

I don't care whether you call it "psychic energy" or not, but there's obviously something there that can be interfered with. 

It's not such a leap from there to assume that Kitty Pryde's phasing can also interfere with psychic abilities directed at her. 
#20 Posted by MrMiracle77 (1583 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
pixelized said:
MrMiracle77 said: She can suffocate while walking through solid or liquid matter.As for her ability to walk normally while phased, ... [more]

It could.  She's been shown as holding her breath as she phases, which means the air in her lungs is phased with the rest of her.
#21 Posted by John_Feaster (341 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
Zoom said:
Kitty has been electrocuted and hit by Magneto (magnetism?  more electrocution?) while phased.She's also vulnerable to radiation.I always thought the ... [more]


    The electrocution was a special case, I think. But yeah...it's possible it was a once in a life time thing.

   Now, the psi resistance evolved over time. While phased she was hard to mentaly detect as far back as Excalibur, and later she was somewhat resistant to (but not immune to) such attacks. The fight with Emma Frost went her way because her attack was so brutal it took her by suprise, and when she dragged her into the ground and held her half-in and half-out of the cave wall, she told Emma that if she even imagined Emma was in her head...she let her go inside the wall.

   It's best to assume that if Kitty's phased, she's immune to attack or detection from minor mentalists like Mindwave or Magneto (does he still have his low-level telepathy, or was that ret-conned out of existance?), but not Karma, pre-M-Day Mirage or Emma Frost...who detected her even though she was phased and out of sight. When phased, it's harder (but not impossible) for a mentalist or psychic to get a hold of her mind. When Emma took control of her and made her think she'd had a child and been betrayed by the X-Men, she wasn't phased.

   Charles Xavier, Mastermind and the Shadow King wouldn't have much trouble, no matter what.

#22 Posted by AngelFrost (2833 posts) - 3 years, 11 months ago - Show Bio
pixelized said:
She's resistant to Psychic attacks???? In Astonishing, Emma had her under the illusion that someone was trying to take the ... [more]
She's only resistant to psychic attacks when she's in her phasing state,  but she can be affected when in her normal form.
- Because technically, theres no brain to manipulate while in her phased state.
#23 Posted by curly82 (11 posts) - 3 years, 8 months ago - Show Bio

OMG i have just finnished reading Essential X-Men 182 and our Shaddow cat is gone - trapped inside a massive bullet (which she bonded with - so would appear she is vulnerable to something) made from the metal that she freed Colossus from Ord of the Breakworld.
#24 Posted by pixelized (62859 posts) - 3 years, 8 months ago - Show Bio
@curly82 said:
" OMG i have just finnished reading Essential X-Men 182 and our Shaddow cat is gone - trapped inside a massive bullet (which she bonded with - so would appear she is vulnerable to something) made from the metal that she freed Colossus from Ord of the Breakworld. "
yes she said it drains her to phase through, it's too dense or something, i don't remember
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#25 Posted by yang777 (7 posts) - 3 years, 1 month ago - Show Bio
@pixelized said:

" She's resistant to Psychic attacks???? In Astonishing, Emma had her under the illusion that someone was trying to take the baby she and Colossus never had away "

I believe that was Cassandra Nova actually.  I was hoping it was Emma though, because then she would have been evil again.
 
  @SUNMAN said:

" extreme heats and stuff should affect her as well "

hmm, I seem to remember her phasing underground past some magma in Whedon's run, but I can't recall exactly...
#26 Posted by yang777 (7 posts) - 2 years, 10 months ago - Show Bio

I read a description once that said she phases by magnetically vibrating her molecules to fit in between the spaces of other molecules with the "magnetic" part causing the side effect of disrupting electronics (it's in a comic book so it doesn't have to make scientific sense I guess). So she doesn't necessarily turn all intangible or parts of herself intangible and leave other parts tangible. With this description she merely chooses whether she wants to vibrate her molecules through something or not as she comes in contact with it. So she can phase through a bullet by vibrating her molecules through the spaces between the bullet's molecules, but still stand on the floor because she didn't try to slip into the spaces of the floor's molecules with her molecular vibrations. 
 
That sounds really confusing, but every writer seems to imagine her power's implementation in their own way.

#27 Posted by ComicMan24 (146836 posts) - 2 years, 10 months ago - Show Bio

She can be hit by magic. If I remember well, she has been hit by a demon while phased.

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