Mimic (comics) - Powers and Abilities

Powers and Abilities

Mimic is able to copy the knowledge, skills, and powers (if any) of every individual within a certain range of him; different sources list this as anywhere from several feet to a mile radius. This applies to both superpowered and "normal" abilities, as shown when he duplicated Kitty Pryde's ninja training. He has shown the capacity to manifest numerous powers at the same time, and since he also absorbs knowledge, he can immediately use copied powers with the same skill level as the original owner. However, he occasionally shows difficulty in juggling multiple powers, and his body can be overloaded by absorbing too many at once. Usually the Mimic loses his duplicated abilities once out of range of the owner, but due to the length of time spent with them, his body permanently retains the powers of the original five X-Men: Angel, The Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl. (The High Evolutionary's temporary elimination of the mutant gene once erased these powers from the Mimic's genetic template, but they appear to have returned since.) Thus, he has the powers of flight (granted by angelic wings) of Angel, the increased strength and agility of Beast (complete with enlarged hands and feet), the optic blasts of Cyclops (because he lacks Cyclops' brain damage, Mimic is able to control them), the temperature manipulation of Iceman, and the telekinesis of Jean Grey. He partly retains Professor X's telepathic powers, which once caused his telepathic signature to be mistaken for that of Charles Xavier, although he was not shown to be located during more recent searches for Xavier. He may also retain Wolverine's recuperative abilities. Among the characters his powers have temporarily copied are Banshee, Marrow, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Feron, Meggan, Kylun, Micromax, Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers), Wolfsbane, Pete Wisdom, Psylocke, Risque, Siryn, Warpath, Sunspot, Cable, Caliban, Domino, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Cannonball, Shatterstar, Post, Blob, Mystique, Toad, members of the Crazy Gang, Weapon Omega, and numerous others.

The original Mimic as created by Stan Lee and Werner Roth was not a mutant, but received his powers after breathing in some gas during an explosion in his father's laboratory. Later X-Men writer Scott Lobdell claimed it merely awakened and enhanced Mimic's latent mutant powers, but this point is never made in the comics themselves and remains a point of discussion.