Morph

Publication History

There are a few different versions of the character known as Morph. In the 616 universe, Morph is actually known as Changeling, where he first appeared as a member of the X-Men. He died some time later, posing as professor Xavier. For more information on this version, see Changeling. Morph first appeared as Morph in the 1990's X-Men animated series before he appeared in the X-Men Adventures comics, accompanying the X-Men cartoon series. A second, very popular, version of Morph first appeared in X-Men Alpha during the Age of Apocalypse story-line.

But the most popular version of Morph, as well as the most published one, is the Morph who first appeared in Exiles number 1 and joined the Exiles team. As such, the majority of this page is dedicated to the "Exiles" Morph, while other versions can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Origin

In his original reality, Earth-1081, Morph was a mutant hero and member of his world's New Mutants, X-Men, and, later, the Avengers. He liked to make people happy and, being a shape shifter, he could always be what his friends wanted. After losing his mother, Morph became the character we know now, the comic relief, always trying to make others laugh.

Mayor Story Arcs

Exiles

Morph as an Exile

In his home reality, Morph was one of the first X-Men and one of the most respected ones as well. He had worked with various X-Men related groups and had teamed up with other superhero-groups more then just once. During one of his missions with the X-Men, Morph was teleported away from the battlefield and suddenly found himself in a strange looking desert. He soon learned that he was not alone, though. A girl named Blink rushed up to him and closed her arms around him. Although Morph did appreciate the warm welcome, he had no idea who the girl was. It later turned out that Blink had a close friend in her home reality, the Age of Apocalypse, an alternate version of Morph with the same name and whom looked just like him. Not soon afterwords more mutants began to appear in the desert, such as Mimic, Nocturne, Thunderbird and Magnus. While wondering what they where doing there, a strange man walked up to them. He called himself the Timebroker and told the mutants that they had all become unhinged from there reality and time. He then told them that the mutants where gathered to become a team that corrected realities that had been 'broken'. Realities where things turned out just a bit different then how it was supposed to happen, with disastrous results. In order to assure there cooperation, the Timebroker told them that if they would fail, something horrible would happen to each of them--in Morph's case, he wouldn't be able to maintain a solid form and would have to be contained in a jar. This was not a thread, but their future if they could not alter the broken realities. So, somewhat forced, Morph and the other mutants became founding member of the Exiles.

He soon became one of the most prominent members of the Exiles. Even though he was a "funny-man" whom was constantly joking, he knew when to act and when to help his teammates out. On various times, Morph helped his teammates with emotional problems. After the death of teammate Magnus, on their first mission, a new member was brought in by the Timebroker, it was Mariko Yashida, a girl known in her reality as Sunfire. After a mission that resulted in the team spending their time on the beach, Morph came forward about his feelings for her. Mariko was honored, but she told Morph that nothing could come from it, because she was a lesbian. He even turned down an opportunity to leave the team and go back to his reality. Morph and his team members had various other missions, but a few stood out. Such as the mission they had when in a reality where the Phalanx had consumed almost everything. In this reality Morph came to the rescue due to clever thinking. He had seen that in almost all realities, the Asgardian Gods where nowhere to be found. That most likely meant that the Gods where still on Asgard and not effected by the Phalanx's techno organic virus. He soon found them and asked for their help, witch they accepted. Although all turned out okay, team-member and good friend Blink was teleported home. Blink's replacement was Earth 4210's version of Magik a team-member nobody liked because of her non-ethical approach to missions. Morph was the only person whom tried to reach out to her. With effort, the two become closer allies for some time.

Morph, Mariko and Nocturne

However, disaster struck when teammate Mimic, while possessed by a Brood creature, was responsible for actions that led to the death of Mariko, Morph's love interest. Morph was furious at Mimic (even though Mimic was as much a victim of the Brood as she was) and threatened him. The two whom had been friends for so long soon became uneasy allies and Morph wanted as little to do with Mimic as possible. After some time, everybody was surprised when teammate Blink returned to the team. Team-members came and went, Nocturne was left behind in the 616 (or main Marvel universe) during a mission there and team-members named Beak and Namora joined the team. During a mission in which they had to stop a mad super-villain known as Hyperion, the team almost lost the battle. Various superheroes where killed, including most of the members of the Exiles counterpart team, Weapon X (not to be mistaken with Wolverine's Weapon X program). During the battle, team member Magik turned against her Exiles teammates. Before this, Morph learned out why Magik was so hard in her judgments and did whatever was necessary to complete the mission, her parents and brother would die by her hands if she would not succeed in her missions. Soon after this revelation, Magik turned on her teammates, but was killed by Hyperion. Morph was both angry at her, but mostly devastated with yet another murder of a teammate. The team eventually defeated Hyperion and resumed their missions. Morph began to like his spot on the team and his teammates even turned down an opportunity to leave the team and go back to his reality.

Proteus

After that, Morph and his team gained control over the Panoptichron, one of the first things they did was to return the X-Man known as Beak to his home reality, Earth 616 (better known as the Main Marvel universe). However when they arrived at Earth-616 it had strangely been altered into a different reality, Earth-58163 (see House of M for details) and, as a result Proteus, the body-stealing, reality-warping, evil mutant son of Moira MacTaggert had been brought back to life.

The Exiles confronted Proteus and nearly succeeded in killing him, destroying his physical form. Mimic went in for the kill, but he hesitated just long enough for Proteus to take over his body and started fighting the Exiles through their old teammate's body. He escaped through various realities, with the Exiles chasing after him. However, Proteus consumed Mimic's body very fast, which killed him in the process and took him searching for another body. Blink was devastated when they found Mimic's body. And even Morph, whom had hold a grudge towards Mimic after the death of Mariko, couldn't help but grieve. The team then went on searching for, and finding Proteus. The fought once more, but disaster seemed to strike once more when Proteus took over Morph's body, taking total control over him. At first the team thought Morph would suffer the same fate, being killed by the energies Proteus took from the body. However, luckily, Morph's body-morphing mutant ability's made that Morph had an unlimited supply of energy for Proteus. Making him the perfect host, but keeping Morph's mind hostage to the mind of Proteus.

Proteus did however gain all the memories and abilities of the person he possesses and so did he with Morph's. Spider-Man 2099, another member of the Exiles whom had joined during the team's trip in finding Proteus, came up with the idea to use a mind-altering device to make Proteus/Morph only have access to Morph's memories and personality, so he would think he was the real Morph, The team fought Proteus and managed to put the device on Morph's head. Luckily, the device worked immediately, returning Morph's personality in the process. He was still baffled with what happened. His team-members, however, did not tell him that Proteus was still very much a part of him now, his mind just couldn't reach it. Thankfully, Morph resumed his part as a member of the Exiles

During a fight with a powerful enemy, the Exiles were starting to lose and Morph's Proteus persona began to reappear. Morph luckily got the upper hand quite quickly after he learned that Proteus was still inside him. Morph's spirit was way stronger and so he made a pact with Proteus. He could still reside inside his being, but Morph would always have the upper-hand. Proteus, feeling his powers fading, agreed, and is now just a minor part of Morph. Morph is, after a small vacation, back with teammate Blink, fighting the good fight with a new team of Exiles members.

Powers

• Omnimorph

Morph is an amazing shape-shifter, He is an omnimorph, one of the most powerful shape-shifters in the Marvel universe, capable of altering his shape, size, color, and even reattaching severed limbs. His body is composed of unstable molecules. He often uses his shapeshifting as comedic relief or as annoyance/distraction for his enemies.

• High Resistance and Amorphous Recovery

He is very hard to injure physically and impervious to most physical attacks. He possesses a healing factor and has healed from severe burns by making a sort of cocoon. He can survive for weeks without food and water and is immune to poisons and diseases.

• Super Strength

Morph is capable of temporarily enhance his strength to super-human levels, able to lift twenty tons.

• Flight

Morph is also capable of flight of speeds of around 40mph. This ability is said to be psionic although no further explanation has been given.

• Scentless

Morph also has no scent, which greatly annoyed the Wolverine of his reality, however Wolf Cub of Earth-616 managed to track him on his scent one time...

With Proteus in his body, he uses the same powers. Proteus' own powers are blocked.

It is possible that Morph may survive being possessed by Proteus due to the fact that he has a unique physiology, allowing his body to not burn out. However his status is listed as 'Presumed Deceased' in various handbooks.

Characteristics

Height--5'10" (Variable)

Weight--175 lbs (80 kg)(Variable)

Eyes--Pupil/Iris-less

Hair--None

Skin--White

Unusual Features--No pupils, No apparent nose

Alternate Realities

Earth-295 (Age of Apocalypse)

Earth-295 (AoA)

Morph in the Age of Apocalypse

The Morph of Earth-295 (Age of Apocalypse) is very similar to the Morph of Exiles, so much so that Blink thought it was the AoA Morph of her reality when she first met Exiles Morph. AoA Morph was a member of Magneto's X-Men. He was a good soldier whom fought alongside Rogue and her Astonishing X-men team against the likes of Holocaust and Apocalypse. Just like his Exiles counterpart, Morph tried to cheer his teammates up in the most dire of circumstances. He once posed as Magneto; telling 'his' son Quicksilver to "never stop flossing". He also posed as Holocaust once during a mission when they tried to free humans from an enslavement camp. During this mission, teammate and team leader Rogue was struck down in battle. She was ready to give up the fight, until Morph walked up to her and changed his appearance to that of her and Magneto's son Charles. He told her not to give up and think about the future. Rogue then stood up and finished the advisory. After that, Rogue vowed too end the Age of Apocalypse, even if it was the last thing they'd do. Morph and his team where present during the final battle against Apocalypse. Apocalypse was killed and the reality known as "The Age of Apocalypse" seemed to vanish, reverting back to the 'main' 616 Marvel Universe. However, later it turned out that the reality had survived. Morph however went missing after the events that took place in the original Age of Apocalypse series, and was never seen in any of the later comics that took place in Earth-295. He has many of the same powers as Exiles Morph, but is unable to fly.

Appearance

Although AoA Morph is usually seen with a white 'ghots like' face, there are a few panels in witch Morph is seen with an actual normal looking face. It is slim and he has brown hair, much like the Morph from the X-men animated series.

Earth-33629

There is also a Morph on Earth-33629, part of an alternate team of the original Exiles.

Other Media

X-men Animated Series

In the Animated show, Morph is an X-Man who loves spreading pranks. In the pilot episode, he also confesses to have been morphing into their school principal in times of trouble during his school days. He is a best friend to Wolverine as he is the only man who makes him laugh. He has been apparently killed by the Sentinels. This caused a misunderstanding between Wolverine and Cyclops with Scott being blamed for leaving Morph during the battle.

Mr. Sinister then had his body resurrected by bringing his body back to life but his memories are brainwashed. He had two personalities. One that loves his team mates and one that blames them for his death. Later on, Morph helped the X-Men in defeating Mr. Sinister. His implants were destroyed by Professor X but this was not enough to return the old Morph and he still needed time for rehabilitation.

Morph was brought to Moira McTaggert for further healing. She was the one that cured his mental problems. After this, he once again joined the X-men on a try-out mission. Wolverine was overjoyed of his old friend being back on the team. However, trouble where rising very soon. During Morph's tryout-mission, the X-men once again encountered the mutant killing robots, the Sentinels. During the fight against the Sentinels, Morph starts reliving everything before his death and becomes terrified. Morph eventually overcame his fear and saved his fellow X-men and professor Xavier. The battle however proved Morph that he was not ready to join the team again. As Morph once again left, professor Xavier told a sadenned Wolverine that Morph would return when he was ready, but that he would always be an X-man.

Some months later, Morph joined the group again as he disguised himself as Professor X while the original was sick and almost dying. Stating to be mentally healthy once again, Morph joined the team for good.

Another version of Morph in his non-human 'white face' form and Age of Apocalypse costume is seen in different episodes of the animated series when the X-men timetravel.