Morph

Origin

Not much is known about Changeling’s past. It is known that he was reluctant at what life had given him and eventually allied himself with a shady organization known as Factor Three. This organization was bent on making mutants the dominant species instead of humanity, and was bent on world-domination. This brought him and Factor Three into contact with the mutant-superhero team known as the X-men. The members fought each other on some occasion, but Changeling eventually fled the organization when he realized that the leader of his band was actually an alien. He was not heard from for some time.

Creation

Morph first appeared as Changeling and was created by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth and first appeared in The X-Men #35 (1967). A more popular version of Morph was introduced in the pages of X-Men Alpha (1995) as part of the Age of Apocalypse storyline but the most well known and well liked version of Morph was from Earth 1080 where he joined the dimension-hoping team of heroes known as the Exiles. This version of Morph first appeared in Exiles issue 1 (2001).

Major Story Arcs

Xavier’s Double

When Changeling found out he was dying from a rare disease, he wanted to atone for his past sins and he sought out Charles Xavier in hope of making the last of his days worthy ones. Charles Xavier asks Changeling to impersonate him while he secretly prepares a defense against alien invaders called the Z’nox. This is because Xavier knows he is being monitored by this alien race, and that the earth won’t stand a chance if the Z’nox find out Xavier is preparing a defense. And so it came to be that Changeling became a member of the team, although the rest of the X-Men were unaware of it. Changeling posed as Xavier on a few missions, but he died heroically stopping Grotesk from destroying the planet. Wearing a face that is not his own, Changeling finds redemption.

X-Humed

She-Hulk and her friend Blonde Phantom encounter Black Talon, who uses his powers to call a group of revived zombie mutants. Changeling is one of these mutants, and he helps form the group named X-Humed. Changeling also confesses the trials that he faced before he died. Though She-Hulk has a hard time fighting Changeling, she is able to defeat him. After his defeat, he is then reburied like his zombie teammates.

Powers and Abilities

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 and/or distraction for his enemies.

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.

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

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

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…

Other Versions

Earth-295 (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 is a member of Magneto‘s X-Men. He is a good soldier who fights alongside Rogue and her Astonishing X-Men team against the likes of Holocaust and Apocalypse. Just like his Exiles counterpart, Morph tries to cheer up his teammates in the most dire of circumstances. He poses as Magneto, telling “his” son Quicksilver to “never stop flossing.” He also poses as Holocaust once during a mission when they try to free humans from an enslavement camp. During this mission, team leader Rogue is struck down in battle. She is ready to give up the fight, until Morph walks up to her and changes his appearance to that of her and Magneto’s son Charles. He tells her to think about the future and not to give up. Rogue then stands up and finishes the advisory. After that, Rogue vows to end the Age of Apocalypse, even if it is the last thing she does. Morph and his team are present during the final battle against Apocalypse. Apocalypse is killed and the reality known as “The Age of Apocalypse” seems to vanish, reverting back to the main 616 Marvel Universe. It later turns out that the reality survived. Morph goes missing after the events that take place in the original Age of Apocalypse series, and is 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.

Earth-1080 (Exiles)

Kevin Sidney, or Morph, liked to make people happy all his life. He was the class-clown when he was in high school. When his mutant powers manifested itself, he became able to shape-shift into other persons, he could always be what his friends wanted him to be. After losing his mother, Morph became the character we know now, the comic relief, always trying to make others laugh. This while there was also a great sadness inside of him. His father could not stand Morph’s constant humor, especially after the death of their mother and wife. Morph was later recruited by the X-Men and fought alongside his versions’ New Mutants before becoming a full on X-Men member. He also became a well known face in the superhero community and eventually became a member of his reality’s Avengers as well.

Morph is teleported away and suddenly finds himself in a strange looking desert. He soon learns that he is not alone, though. A girl named Blink rushes up to him and throws her arms around him. Although Morph appreciates the warm welcome, he has no idea who the girl is. It later turns 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 looks. Not soon afterwords, more mutants begin to appear in the desert such as Mimic, Nocturne, Thunderbird and Magnus. While wondering what they are doing there, a strange man walks up to them. He calls himself The Timebroker and tells the mutants that they have all become unhinged from their reality and time. He then tells them that the mutants were gathered to become a team to correct “broken” realities. Realities in which things turn out just a bit different from how they are supposed to happen, with disastrous results. In order to ensure their cooperation, Timebroker tells them that if they 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 is not necessarily a threat, but rather his future if they can not alter the broken realities. So, somewhat forced, Morph and the other mutants become founding members of the Exiles.

He soon becomes one of the most prominent members of the Exiles. Even though he is a “funny-man” constantly making jokes, he knows when to act and when to help his teammates out. At various times, Morph helps his teammates with emotional problems. After the death of teammate Magnus, on their first mission, a new member is brought in by Timebroker: Mariko Yashida, a girl known in her reality as Sunfire. After a mission that results in the team spending their time on the beach, Morph comes forward with his feelings for her. Mariko is honored, but she tells Morph that nothing could come from it, because she is a lesbian. He even turns down an opportunity to leave the team and go back to his reality.

Morph and his team have various other missions, but a few stand out, like the mission they have in a reality where the Phalanx consume almost everything. In this reality, Morph comes to the rescue due to clever thinking. He sees that in almost all realities, the Asgardian Gods are nowhere to be found. That most likely means that the Gods are still on Asgard and not effected by the Phalanx’s techno-organic virus. He soon finds them and asks for their help, which they accept. Although everything turns out okay, team member and good friend Blink is teleported home. Blink’s replacement is Earth 4210’s version of Magik, a team member nobody likes because of her unethical approach to missions. Morph is the only person who tries to reach out to her. With effort, the two become close allies for some time.

However, disaster struck when teammate Mimic, while possessed by a Brood creature, is responsible for actions that lead to the death of Mariko, Morph’s love interest. Morph is furious at Mimic (even though Mimic was as much a victim of the Brood as she was) and threatens him. The two who had been friends for so long soon become uneasy allies and Morph wants as little to do with Mimic as possible. After some time, everyone is surprised when Blink returns to the team. Other team members come and go as well. Nocturne is left behind in Earth-616 (the main Marvel universe) during a mission there, and Beak and Namora join the team. During a mission in which they have to stop a mad super villain known as Hyperion, the team almost lose the battle. Various superheroes are killed, including most of the members of the Exiles counterpart team, Weapon X (not to be mistaken with Wolverine’sWeapon X program). During the battle, Magik turns against her Exiles teammates. Before this, Morph had learned why Magik was so hard in her judgments and did whatever was necessary to complete the mission: her parents and brother will die by her hands if she does not succeed in her missions. Soon after this revelation, Magik turns on her teammates, but is killed by Hyperion. Morph is angry with her, but even more devastated with yet another teammate’s death. The team eventually defeats Hyperion and resume their missions. Morph begins to like his spot on the team and his teammates, and even turns down an opportunity to leave the team and go back to his reality.

Morph and his team then gain control over the Panoptichron. One of the first things they do is to return Beak to his home reality of Earth-616. When they arrive at Earth-616 however, it has been strangely altered into a different reality, Earth-58163 (see House of M for details). As a result, Proteus, the body-stealing, reality-warping, evil mutant son of Moira MacTaggert has been brought back to life.

The Exiles confront Proteus and nearly succeed in killing him and destroying his physical form. Mimic goes in for the kill, but hesitates just long enough for Proteus to take over his body and start fighting the Exiles through their old teammate’s body. He escapes through various realities with the Exiles in hot pursuit. Proteus consumes Mimic’s body very quickly however, and leaves him dead in search of another body. Blink is devastated when they find Mimic’s body. Even Morph, who had held a grudge towards Mimic after the death of Mariko, can’t help but grieve. The team then continues to search for Proteus until they find him. They fight once more, but disaster seems to strike once more when Proteus takes over Morph’s body. At first, the team thinks Morph will suffer the same fate as everyone else and be killed by the energy Proteus takes from his body. Luckily, however, Morph’s body-morphing mutant ability means that Morph has an unlimited supply of energy for Proteus, making him the perfect host. But Morph’s mind is held hostage to the mind of Proteus.

Proteus gains all the memories and abilities of each person he possesses, and so he does with Morph’s.Spider-Man 2099, who had joined the team during the trip to find Proteus, comes up with the idea of using 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 fight Proteus and manage to put the device on his head. Luckily, the device works immediately, returning Morph’s personality in the process. He is still baffled by what happened. His team members do not tell him that Proteus is still a part of his mind–albeit unaccessible. Morph resumes his place as a member of the Exiles.

During a fight with a powerful enemy sometime later, the Exiles start to lose and Morph’s Proteus persona begins to reappear. Morph quickly got the upper hand when he realizes that Proteus is still inside him. Morph’s spirit is much stronger, so he makes a pact with Proteus. Proteus can continue to reside inside his body, but Morph would always have the upper hand. Proteus, feeling his powers fading, agrees 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.

Earth-33629

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

Other Media

Television

X-Men Animated Series

In X-Men: The Animated Series, Morph is an X-Man who loves 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 of Wolverine as he is the only man who makes him laugh. He is apparently killed by Sentinels. This causes a misunderstanding between Wolverine and Cyclops with Scott being blamed for leaving Morph during the battle.

Mr. Sinister then brings Morph’s body back to life but wipes his memories. He has two personalities; one that loves his teammates and one that blames them for his death. Later on, Morph helps the X-Men to defeat Mr. Sinister. His implants are destroyed by Professor X, but this is not enough to return the old Morph and he still needs time for rehabilitation.

Morph is brought to Moira McTaggert for further healing. She is the one who cures him of his mental problems. After this, he once again joins the X-Men on a tryout mission. Wolverine is overjoyed with his old friend being back on the team. However, trouble came soon. During Morph’s initial return mission, the X-Men once again encounter the mutant killing Sentinels robots. During the fight against the Sentinels, Morph starts reliving everything before his death and becomes terrified. Morph eventually overcomes his fear and saves his fellow X-Men and Professor X. The battle proves Morph is not ready to join the team yet, however. As Morph leaves once again, Professor X tells a saddened Wolverine that Morph will return when he is ready, and that he will always be an X-Man.

Some months later, Morph joins the group again when he disguises himself as Professor X while the original is in his bed near death. He is deemed mentally healthy once again and Morph rejoins 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 time travel.

He was voiced by Ron Rubin.

Video Games

• Morph appears as an NPC in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Tom Kenny. This version of the character is a vendor at the Xavier Institute, and provides the player with items. He also displays his more humorous nature, such as singing the song “Cuban Pete” as an homage to the Jim Carrey movie The Mask.

Merchandise

• Morph was featured in ToyBiz’s action figure line for X-Men: The Animated Series. To simulate Morph’s shapeshifting powers, the figure came with alternate Wolverine, Cyclops and Gambit heads.
• The animated version of Morph was featured in ToyBiz’s X-Men: Steel Mutants line as part of a two-pack with Beast.
• The animated version of Morph was featured in ToyBiz’s X-Men: Shape Shifters line, and could transform into a missile.
• ToyBiz produced a figure of the Age of Apocalypse version of Morph as a ToyFare exclusive.
• The Age of Apocalypse version of Morph was featured in Diamond Select’s Minimates line as part of a two-pack with Holocaust.
• The Age of Apocalypse version of Morph was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Sugar Man Build-a-Figure wave.