@spydey said:
I've seen several people mentioning how his misdirection is a form of telepathy but, now that it's been shown T'Challa has resisted two top tier telepaths, it's no longer telepathy. It's telepathy. Also, psychics aren't resistant to other forms of telepathy.
"Misdirection" has never been confirmed as telepathy. It has been intentionally left vague by most writers so they could mold its effects and boundaries to fit in the needs of whatever story they are working on. Most conjecture assumed it was a power akin to Lady Mastermind since it is reliant on concentration and it only worked on sentient organics. However, there are three main objections:
- He almost always requires his victims to be in the immediate vicinity or line of sight. Sensing and manipulating other minds outside of the standard five senses is a standard boon of telepathy, and it's quite bizarre that a telepath would show zero proficiency in other aspects of psionics regardless of form. Not to mention he lacks access to the Astral Plane.
- A doppleganger successfully tricked 616 Fantomex with his misdirection during the Deathlok Nation arc of Uncanny X-Force. That should be impossible as his ceramic psi-shields block all telepathic intrusion, and I mean all. Xavier, Jean Grey with the Phoenix Force, and the Shadow King have all attempted to probe his mind with no success. Just as relevant, neither of the first two recognized they were being misdirected when it was used on them. Telepaths of their caliber routinely detect any attempts to manipulate them mentally. Lastly, psi-shields traditionally block telepathic communication from both sides. If Fantomex was using any sort of telepathy or mental manipulation, he couldn't break through his own defenses (unless defense technology from the World was that advanced).
- In the same comic, a warped future version of Jamie Braddock broke his misdirection by undoing reality in the local area. If the ability was creating mental illusions or any form of TP, this wouldn't work.
My best guess is it's some weird quantum superposition state that is enacted when he targets other conscious minds, something like what Pythagoras Dupree used to confound Amadeus Cho in The Incredible Hercules. It's certainly not direct reality warping a la Franklin Richards, fine-tuned TK in the mold of Nate Grey/unrestrained Cable, or standard telepathy.
Long story short, Fantomex wins on virtue of this ability alone. I would give him a slight edge in physical attributes as well with KotD T'Challa having greater strength. However, Fantomex's redundancy systems would make a killing blow hard to accomplish e.g. he can function normally after getting shot in the head. Would have to specify tech if that's going to be a relevant factor.
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