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Stryfe
Super Name: Stryfe
Real Name: Nathaniel Summers
Nickname:
Universe: Earth-616
Origin

Stryfe was the clone of Nathan Christopher Summers, the son of Cyclops, of the X-Men, and Madelyne Pryor-Summers, the Goblin Queen.

In the late 37th-early 39th century, the aged mutant, Mother Askani, alias Rachel Summers, led the Askani Cult which opposed the rule of Earth by the long-lived mutant tyrant Apocalypse. In need of a powerful warrior who would oppose Apocalypse, Mother Askani sent Sister Askani, who sacrificed her physical body to become energy, back to the X-Men's own time period. At the time of Sister Askani's arrival, the Riders of the Storm were attempting to kidnap the infant Nathan Christopher Charles Summers for Apocalypse. After Nathan was captured and rescued by X-Factor, it was revealed that Apocalypse had infected the infant with the Techno-Organic Virus that was rapidly spreading through his body and, if not stopped, would kill him. Sister Askani persuaded Cyclops to let her take the infant to the far future, where advanced medical science could save his life, but they would never be able to see each other again.

Creation


The technicians who examined Nathan called for the Mother Askani and informed her that the only thing keeping the child alive was some sort of protective electromagnetic field and the remnants of a mechanical entity, X-Factor's Ship. Fearing that Nathan would not survive the virus, Mother Askani had him cloned. The clone's growth was greatly accelerated until he was the same age as Nathan himself. The Askani were also able to reduce the infection of the virus in the clone. Despite their original assessments, the Askani learned that the original child would live after all. Just then, the Canaanites attacked the base and Mother Askani ordered Boak to remove the children. Boak was only able to remove one of the children when the Canaanites blasted their way into the room and seemingly killed the Mother Askani. Soon after, Apocalypse himself entered the room and claimed the remaining child, whom he believed to be the original Nathaniel Summers that he infected, but was, in fact, the clone. Apocalypse decided to raise the infant clone himself, training him intensely. Apocalypse later revealed that he was actually making the clone powerful so that he could one day claim the boy's body for his own. At this point in Apocalypse's millennia-long existence, he had to transfer his consciousness and life forces from one body to another, to maintain his life. When his current body grew too old and feeble, Apocalypse intended to take over the powerful young body of the clone.

Stryfe

Apocalypse named the clone Stryfe and encouraged the boy's arrogance and cruelty as he grew into adolescence. Stryfe was watched over by Apocalypse's aide, Ch'vayre, who regarded the boy's malevolence with mixed feelings. While training in Apocalypse's citadel in Crestcoast at eight years old, Stryfe met young Nathan, now calling himself Dayspring, who was allied with the Clan Rebellion, who were attempting to destroy a virus of Apocalypse's. Surprised at their resemblance, Stryfe was defeated, by Nathan, and taken, by Ch'Vayre, to recover.

Years later, during the ritual of transferring Apocalypse's mind into Stryfe, Ch'vayre openly opposed and was restrained, while Stryfe was painfully, telekinetically held in stasis. "Redd Dayspring" and Ch'vayre attacked Apocalypse, stopping him from placing his essence into a teenage Stryfe, until Apocalypse beat them and realized that Stryfe was a clone and not the original. Deciding to go-through with it, until he could find another body, Stryfe began to mentally fight against Apocalypse's intrusion. After "Slym", Redd, and Nathan Dayspring attacked Apocalypse, the disillusioned Ch'vayre betrayed his master, distracting him, and Slym ordered Nathan to disrupt any telepathic links between Apocalypse and Stryfe. After Apocalypse was destroyed, Ch'Vayre took Stryfe into his care.

Stryfe went into hiding with Ch'vayre and eventually became the military leader of the new dictatorship that arose in Apocalypse's place, the New Canaanites and Scions of Apocalypse. The dismissal of Apocalypse drove Stryfe insane with rage. Stryfe insisted it was Nathan, and not him, who was the clone. At some point, Stryfe found the damaged A.D.A.M. Unit Zero. Stryfe reactivated Zero, but refused to repair its speech functions, leaving Zero mute. Zero simply stated that his prime directive was to resurrect the "High Lord". Zero functioned as Stryfe's most trusted ally, bodyguard, and, due to its ability to teleport, transportation. Zero's programming ensured complete obedience to Stryfe. After Stryfe attempted to build an army out of blood and flesh with his powers, Zero informed him of Madame Sanctity, the last surviving Clan Askani member. However, as Stryfe grew into a young adult, the now-elderly Ch'vayre found he could no longer oppose Stryfe's bloodthirsty desire for power. Later, Ch'Vyre attempting to kill Stryfe, believing that the boy had grown mad, but Stryfe used his powers to create an illusion and torment him. Only after Ch'Vyre attempted to warn the Askani of Stryfe's attack, did Stryfe fry his mind. After finding Madame Sanctity, Stryfe beamed her aboard his ship so she could tutor him and, sensing a similar psi-signature to Nathan's, Sanctity agreed. Stryfe began wearing his trademark armor and very rarely took off his mask. It was at this time that Stryfe gained the name "The Chaos-Bringer".

Present Day Terrorist

In the 20th century, Stryfe and Nathan came into conflict, when Nathan, calling himself Cable, headed the mercenary team, called the Wild Pack, later Six Pack, on a mission in Afghanistan. Stryfe was in charge of Mr. Tolliver's opium routes and Six Pack was contracted to take out the Soviet armored carriers that were in this route's way. After a brief battle, Stryfe and Zero teleported away. Around this time, Stryfe murdered Louis Richter, the father of Julio Richter, during an arms deal gone bad, in-front of Julio. Later in Uruguay, Six Pack decided to go after Stryfe. After entering an underground bunker, Six Pack battled their way into a control room, where Hammer began to download secret information from Stryfe onto a CD. While waiting for the disk to finish downloading, Stryfe teleported behind Kane and grabbed his neck, demanding Hammer to give him the CD. Before Hammer could give Stryfe the CD, Cable shot him from behind. Stryfe grabbed the disk telekinetically and set off a self-destruct on the bunker. Cable teleported away, leaving Six Pack to fend for themselves.

Mutant Liberation Front

Later, Stryfe gathered several young mutants like himself, who were displeased with the way mutants were treated and formed the terrorist organization, the Mutant Liberation Front. Stryfe's technology and Zero's teleportation made the MLF one of the most dangerous organizations in existence, but they were opposed by Cable and the New Mutants, whom he later reorganized into X-Force. At one point, Stryfe ordered the massacre of the Native Americans of the Camp Verde Reservation, the original home of X-Force member Warpath, in order to cover up secret, illegal genetic experimentation being conducted in its vicinity. Cable worked to stop Stryfe's plans and his terrorist group, making it the priority of his new group X-Force, and succeeded in destroying the Antarctica base of Mutant Liberation Front.

Attempting to sow doubt and mistrust, when Weapon X battled his way into Stryfe's base and defeated the MLF, Stryfe removed his mask and stated that maybe Cable was him, or that neither was what they seemed.

Stryfe later sent the MLF to a Parisian museum to gather an ancient sword, but Cable stopped them, killing Sumo. Later, in the Yucatan jungle, just outside of Cancun, Stryfe led Kane and Cable into a trap and grabbed Kane from behind again. Stryfe took off his mask, revealing his face to Cable, who was unaware of their resemblance. Stryfe demanded Cable's "Professor", as it belonged to Apocalypse, in exchange for Kane. Cable agreed to trade after Kane was released. After Stryfe released Kane, Cable showed him a CD and then burned it. After a brief battle, Cable grabbed Kane and they teleported away.

X-Cutioner's Song

Wishing to repay everyone who had ever wronged him, Stryfe posed as Cable himself and publicly made an assassination attempt on Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men. Stryfe's bullet infected Professor Xavier with the Techno-Organic Virus, which was still incurable at the current time. Stryfe also asked Mr. Sinister to kidnap Scott Summers and Jean Grey, in exchange for Summers' Family genetic material. Then, Stryfe traveled to Bani Maza, Egypt and awoke Apocalypse, who had never met Stryfe at this point, from his rejuvenation chamber and defeated him, stabbing him with a sword that he claimed that Apocalypse used to kill him at one point. Stryfe then seized control of his team of superhuman warriors, the Dark Riders. Believing himself to be the real Nathaniel Summers, Stryfe tortured Cyclops and Jean Grey, blaming them for abandoning him as an infant, on Apocalypse's moon base. After the arrival of members of the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force, Stryfe and Cable had a climactic battle on the moon and fell through a time vortex, created by a machine Cable created from pieces in his arm. Cable survived, while Stryfe's body was supposedly annihilated. However, even though Stryfe’s body had been lost, an electromagnetic flux combined within their genetic similarities resulted in Stryfe's continued existence in Cable’s body.

Legacy Virus

As a means of spreading further destruction, Stryfe had not given Sinister the Summers' genetic matrix, but the Legacy Virus, a disease genetically engineered to be lethal to mutants. This virus was similar to the one that the Clan Rebellion had attempted to destroy in the future and was far beyond even the best of scientists, biophysicists, and geneticists of the current time. The Legacy Virus infected a large number of mutants and killed many of them.

Powers and Abilities

Power Grid

Powers
-Stryfe is "the Omega Level clone" of the mutant Cable (in his clonal source's own words), and described himself as an Omega Level Mutant. As a result of that clonal relation, he possess all of Cable's natural mutant abilities, including being an Omega Level Telekinetic. Stryfe also possessed other abilities through genetic manipulation, similar to those that Cable achieved through cybernetic augmentation. His telepathy was stated to be far beyond Psylocke's, stated to be the third most powerful on Earth.

-Psionics: Just like Cable, Stryfe's primary mutant powers included vast telepathic and telekinetic capabilities. While he was alive, Stryfe's psionic powers were vastly superior to those of Cable's due to the fact that the vast majority of Cable's psionic powers were, unconsciously, being devoted to keep the Techno-Organic Virus, that had ravaged the left half of his body, from doing the same to the right side.

-Telepathy: Ability read minds and project the thoughts of others.

--Telepathic Illusion: Ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.
--Telepathic Cloak: Can mask his presence from being detected by others. Can extend these defenses to others around him as well. Stryfe's abilities can, at
times, go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths, depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities.
--Mind Link: Ability to develop a mental link with any person, which remains as a connection to that individual.
--Telepathic Camouflage: Ability to mask himself and other people's presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making his appearance
to those around his quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising).
--Mind Control: Ability to control the minds and even voluntary and involuntary bodily functions of sentient beings (such as other Humans).
--Mind Trap: Ability to take another person's mind from their body and effectively trapping that mind within his own.
--Mind Possession: Ability to possess the mind of another, and use that beings body as his own.
--Mind Alteration: Ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.
--Mental Amnesia: Ability to cause loss of particular memories and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.
--Psionic Shield: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of others minds. Stryfe has proven very difficult to psychically assail, as he is very
well skilled in shielding his own mind from mental-attacks (such as attempts to read, control or harm his own mind), and has been sufficient to protect himself
from other psychics.
--Psionic Blasts: Can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind, so as to cause the victim pain or
unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary.
--Astral Projection: Ability to astral travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will or through contact with the thoughts and memories of
others. In the Astral Plane, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. Stryfe has a mastery of astral projection, and is able to remain on his own
plane of existence or to traverse into any of the so-called "Astral Planes".
--Mental Detection: Can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of himself, by perceiving the distinctive
mental radiations emitted by such a being.
--Mind Transferal: Able to transfer both his mind and powers into other host bodies should his own physical body be somehow killed.
--Telekinesis: Capable of very fine control over objects, including himself. On larger levels, Stryfe can levitate great weights, into the hundreds of tons, but his
upper limit has remained undisclosed.
--Intuitive Aptitude: Can disassemble complex devices explosively (separating every last component, such as screws, nuts, circuit boards, etc.) and, just as
quickly, easily assemble complex devices. This also has enabled him to even attain awareness and control over objects as small as individual electrons in an
atom. For instance, Stryfe could detect if a seal was hermetic, or not, by checking for the presence of penetrating oxygen molecules. Can even detect and
discern individual oxygen molecules, and determine the atomic weight of molecules, by the amount of atoms present.
--Forcefields: Ability to create protective force shields that could deflect even the most powerful of attacks (even filter bacteria from the air). The upper limits of
this ability remain unknown, but it is believed that he could probably protect himself from harm at the ground zero detonation of a 1 kiloton nuclear warhead
(4.18 terajoules of energy from the heat, concussion and radiation effects). Stryfe has also displayed such control over the fields as to shape them precisely,
even to conform very closely to his body’s form. There does not appear to be any correlation between field strength and the thickness of the telekinetic fields.
--Concussive Blasts: Can project his telekinetic energies as powerful blast beams directed from his brain that could apparently affect matter with concussive
force.
--Telekinetic Flight: By levitating himself, he can “fly” at for very long distances and at varying speeds.
--Genetic Augmentation: Due to Apocalypse's methods, many of Stryfe's physical attributes were enhanced to superhuman levels.
--Superhuman Strength: Through genetic augmentation at Apocalypse's hands, Stryfe gained superhuman strength that was sufficient to lift about 10 tons.
However, Stryfe could temporarily augment his strength to higher, unknown levels with the use of his telekinetic powers.
--Superhuman Speed: Stryfe was able to run and move at speeds that were superior to those of the finest human athlete.
--Superhuman Stamina: Stryfe's enhanced musculature produced less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. Could
physically exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood began to impair him.
--Superhuman Durability: Stryfe's body was also rendered more resistant to certain types of injury than the body of a normal human. For instance, Stryfe's bodily
tissues could withstand great impact forces, such as being struck by a being with superhuman strength, that would either severely injure or kill a normal human
with little to no injury to show for it. However, Stryfe could use his psionic powers to generate a telekinetic force field around his body that further protected him
from all forms of energy. The field could repel high caliber bullets and powerful energy blasts without Stryfe being injured.
--Superhuman Agility: Stryfe's agility, balance, and bodily coordination were enhanced to levels that were beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human
athlete.
--Superhuman Reflexes: Stryfe's reflexes were also similarly enhanced and were superior to those of the finest human athlete.

Abilities

-Genius-Level Intellect: Stryfe possesses a genius level intellect with access to scientific technologies and techniques far beyond that of contemporary science.
He is especially knowledgeable of biology and genetics, all of which helped him to create the Legacy Virus.
-Master Combatant: Stryfe is also a formidable combatant, though his experience and skill in combat situations pale in comparison with Cable's.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

-Armor: Stryfe almost always wore a suit of armor constructed of an unnamed light, but highly durable, alloy from his time that helped render him even more resistant to physical forms of injury.

credit: marvel.fandom.com
1ST APPEARANCE
THE NEW MUTANTS #86
Volume 1 • February 1990
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