Cypher (Marvel)
Cypher is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Douglas Ramsey
New Mutants
Douglock
Return
All-New X-Factor
House of X
The returned Professor Xavier came to take Cypher to the living island of Krakoa where he stated it was no longer their enemy. In fact, it was going to be the foundation of a Mutant nation and asked Douglas to develop a rapport with the island so that they could work together. Seeing this as an ambitious task, he agreed and started to work in developing the ability to communicate with Krakoa thus becoming a bridge to working with it. Cypher was tasked with building an interface system on Krakoa to allow the mutants to inhabit the island. Also, Cypher helped creating four different systems, involving transit, monitoring, defense and observation. (Powers of X v1 #4) He was invaluable in developing the Krakoan language using the aid of Sage and Krakoa itself. (House of X v1 #1) Moira and Charles Xavier then tasked several technopath mutants such as Cypher, Sage, and Trinary, with creating a system called 'Sleeping Giant' to monitor for Nimrod technological thresholds being reached and/or the attempted creation of a 'Mother Mold', a replicating, adaptive Sentinel factory that was self-aware and capable of creating other Sentinels. (House of X v1 #3) Distrustful of Xavier, Cypher partially fused with Warlock. Convincing everyone the fusion was permanent, he had Warlock terraform the planet for him while also fusing with Krakoa and becoming its biosphere, allowing him to hear everything in the island and eavesdrop on Xavier. Cypher also created a secret flower for Xavier used to build Moira's No-Space, a secret place for Moira MacTaggert to live and she, Xavier, and Magneto could talk in private without even Krakoa hearing, but it was secretly accessible to Warlock. (Inferno v2 #3) Douglas was later seen amongst the other Quiet Council members at the assembly's initial gathering. Both Cypher and Krakoa represented the interests of the entity itself and the needs of the nation as a whole. The Council established three new core laws of Krakoa, one of which forbids the murder of humans. (House of X v1 #6)
From Saturnyne's prophecy, they came to determine that Doug was chosen to be one of the champions of Krakoa to participate in the Contest of Swords. This saw Warlock taking the form of a blade where he underwent training under Magik though some were opposed to him participating in the tournament. This included Krakoa who felt Ramsey was too valuable to fight in the contest whilst those like Magik and Exodus felt he was not a fighter. Despite Magik's training, she felt that he would die in the match in Otherworld which had the danger that his demise might be permanent due to the nature of that inter-dimensional realm that affected the ability of the Resurrection Protocols to bring someone back to life. (New Mutants v4 #13)
During the dinner, Doug wanted to try some of the food Logan's plate whilst his attention was diverted but quickly found that it was poisoned by the Arraki group with War admitting she had intended to kill the Wolverine. Unable to breath, Isca came to open an airway in Doug's throat and the White Sword decided to heal Ramsey after being disgusted at the underhanded tactic of War. (Marauders v1 #15) Afterwards, the tournament began with the first match being between Betsy Braddock and Isca the Unbeaten where Captain Britain lost against her Arrako foe where she was shattered into pieces. The next match was between Cypher and Bei the Blood Moon though this was not an actual battle but instead a wedding arranged between the pair. The match was determined by the wedding vows of the two where Doug became smitten with Bei after becoming fascinated by her means of communication. The match ended with a draw where both earned a point for their respective factions as the two became officially married as a result. (Excalibur v4 #14) When Annihilation went forward with her plan to invade Krakoa he convinced Bei to betray Arakko and help them fight of the invasion. (Excalibur v4 #15) After Arrako was defeated, Doug returned to Krakoa with his new wife. (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
Krakoa and Doug started to wonder if he was judged to harshly, so he made mental contact with him in the pit through Krakoa. They had several meetings that all ended with Victor trying to kill him and Krakoa erasing his memories, eventually Victor agreed to his offer and was given his own mental world. (Sabretooth v4 #1) After spying on her for some time, Doug and Warlock found out Mystique and Destiny were planning on attacking Moira in her secret home, depowering her so she couldn't resurrect and then killing her. Since he knew she was plotting against mutant-kind, he allowed them to depower her but before they could kill her, he, Warlock and Bei broke in and stopped them, siting the fact that now that she's depowered the first law of Krakoa 'Murder No Man' falls into effect. They then forced Mystique and Destiny to give Moira a chance to escape before making good on their threat to hunt her down (Inferno v2 #4) Warlock would later start sitting in with Cypher at council meetings. (Legion of X v1 #1)
After the events of the Sins of Sinister timeline, the majority of the Quiet Council was revealed to be possibly under the influence of Mr. Sinister. They voted to dismantle the current council and the Five until a solution could be found. For so-far unknown reasons, Krakoa acted quickly and used its vines to trap Cypher into the prison Pit, possibly to protected him from upcoming danger. Hope Summers tried to use her powers to copy Cypher's powers to try to talk to Krakoa and convince him to release Cypher, but without luck. (Immortal X-Men v1 #13)
Revelation
Overview
Personality and attributes
After being chosen as Apocalypse's successor, he came to take the name Revelation for himself. (X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse v1 #4)
Despite the communication barrier, Cypher appears to be enjoying the marriage. (New Mutants v4 #15)
Powers and abilities
He also had the ability to 'read' architectural structure and integrity to ascertain a building's weaknesses. (X-Necrosha v1 #1)
Warlock was able to take the qualities of a weapon such as a sword that could be wielded by Ramsey. (New Mutants v4 #13)
Notes
- Cypher was created by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema where he made his first appearance in New Mutants v1 #13 (March, 1984).
Alternate Versions
- In New Mutants Annual v1 #6 (1990), an alternate version of Cypher appeared in the setting of the Days of Future's Past reality that was designated as Earth-811 in the Multiverse. Douglas Ramsey was infected with the Transmode Virus, adopting the identity of Magus. Dangerous and mentally unstable, he had few memories of his former life, and was prone to uncontrollable rages. He was part of that Earth's New Mutants, alongside Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, prior to the Sentinel takeover.
- In X-Calibre v1 #2 (1995), an alternate version of Cypher appeared in the setting of the Age of Apocalypse reality that was designated as Earth-295 in the Multiverse. Doug Ramsey relocated to Avalon, a safe haven for those wishing to escape Apocalypse's rule and live in peace located in the a temperate zone of Antarctica. The young boy was taken in by Avalon's leader Destiny as though he was her own son where he became known as Douglas Adler. Cypher provided a field that allowed everybody to understand each other despite speaking different languages. Eventually, Nightcrawler and Mystique came to Avalon seeking to bring Destiny back to America so that she could aid the X-Men in restoring the fractured timeline. They were introduced to young Doug. Shortly after the sanctuary was attacked by Apocalypse's Pale Riders. Doug blamed Nightcrawler and Mystique for leading Apocalypse's forces to their home. In the ensuing battle the Shadow King took control of Mystique and attempted to kill Destiny. Doug jumped in the path of the bullets fired, sacrificing himself to save Destiny's life. The heroes destroyed the Shadow King, and with Avalon in flames Destiny agreed to accompany them back to America.
- In Ultimate X-Men v1 #62 (2005), an alternate version of Cypher appeared in the Ultimate Marvel reality that was designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse. Cypher was a super-intelligent, slightly geeky but amicable computer programmer who gained international prominence by winning over 100 consecutive games on the American TV game show Jeopardy.
- In New X-Men v2 #16 (2005), an alternate version of Cypher appeared in the House of M reality that was designated as Earth-58163 in the Multiverse.
- In X-Men: Legacy v1 #245 (2011), an alternate version of Cypher appeared in the Age of X reality that was designated as Earth-11326 in the Multiverse.
In other media
Films
Appearances
- New Mutants v1: (1984)
- All-New X-Factor v1:
- House of X v1:
- Powers of X v1:
- New Mutants v4:
- Marauders v1:
- Excalibur v4:
- X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse v1: (2024)
External Links
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