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    Warlock

    Character » Warlock appears in 1417 issues.

    Warlock is a member of the Technarchy race, and a New Mutant. He is considered a mutant because he can experience emotions.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Warlock last edited by Belmonte3 on 05/10/23 01:43AM View full history

    Origin

    Warlock is a member of the Technarchy, from the planet Kvch. The Technarchy itself is a dictatorship, led by the Magus. Due to an unknown mutation, he developed “emotions”, and feared his father, as it was the ritual in Kvch for the infant to fight his father to the death in order to demonstrate his right to live. However, Warlock fled, with the Magus in pursuit. He traveled in hyperspace in order to reach Earth but, upon returning to singular space, he crashed into Asteroid M, destroying it.

    Creation

    Warlock is a Marvel character created by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz and first appeared in The New Mutants Vol.1 issue 18 (1984).

    Character Evolution

    His arrival to Earth was initially regarded as a threat but Warlock's innocent and inquisitive nature soon won over the X-Men. His relationship with Doug Ramsay was extremely close, the former's death difficult for the alien to accept, leading to his resurrecting his friend once briefly, and a second time longer although Warlock was unaware he had retained Doug's memories and recreated his deceased friend with his shapeshifting ability. Warlock's ability to experience emotion led made him different from the rest of his race, lacking their drive to assimilate all those they would come in contact with. Warlock considered the New Mutants his "self-friends" and would prove his loyalty to them multiple times. His understanding of humanity grew, but the simplicity of his observations were poignant, making the New Mutants reflective and amazed that an alien would have a better grasp of humanity than humanity itself. In time however, Warlock's experiences reached a point where left with no alternative, he killed to save his loved ones.

    Major Story Arcs

    New Mutants

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    Warlock came to the Xavier Institute and was mistaken for a threat. The New Mutants thought he was a demon or a monster, and began attacking him. It was not until Mirage used her power on Warlock to pull out an image of his greatest fear (his father) that they realized Warlock was merely a frightened alien. In order to communicate with Warlock, the New Mutants had to get their friend Cypher to talk to him; they convinced Xavier to keep him as a New Mutant. Warlock joined the New Mutants and made many friends, giving them weird tag names.

    Warlock had a lot to learn about Earth, mainly through television. He also shocked his teammates by showing how he "fed": he would change an organic being into a techno-organic being, and then absorb its life force. After demonstrating this on a seagull, Warlock was scolded very harshly by Karma, and Warlock promised to never do that again without permission.

    When the sorcerer Kulan Gath turned New York into a medieval city-state under his rule, Warlock was one of the few people who were not affected by his spell. While Warlock was still a coward and fled before Kulan's greater power, he helped stop him by finding Storm. After the two were found by Selene, Storm was seriously injured; Warlock came up with a solution to save her life and, at the same time, stop Selene: he would transform her into a techno-organic being, thus rendering her immune to Selene's powers. Even though there was no way for Storm to turn back into a human afterwards, she agreed with his plan. As a techno-organic being, she was able to transform Selene into a techno-organic being and drain her energies. This reversed Kulan's spell, returning New York to normal. Even better, with Doctor Strange and Illyana Rasputin's help, Storm was able to turn human once more.

    With the X-Men

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    Shortly afterwards, Magus returned, looking for Warlock. Rogue, Colossus and Nightcrawler managed to physically hurt him, which amused him. Magus gave the X-Men an ultimatum: give up Warlock or he would destroy the Earth. Warlock was too useful to the X-Men and New Mutants, often helping them defeat villains to whose powers he was immune. For example, when Amahl Farouk took over the mind of Karma and defeated the New Mutants, only Warlock was able to escape. Warlock found Storm, and they joined forces with Danielle Moonstar and Magik (who also escaped). During one of their trips to Limbo, Warlock found out about the dead X-Men from the future. Believing that Illyana was a traitor to the X-Men, Warlock attacked her. He also broke his promise about not draining energy from anyone, and used this ability on demons summoned by Illyana. Realizing Warlock would do anything to stop her, Illyana surrendered, calming Warlock down. Warlock and Illyana then managed to save the rest of the New Mutants, driving Amahl Farouk to the astral plane.

    After this lengthy adventure, Storm and the New Mutants took a well-deserved vacation on the Greek island Kirinos. Unknown to the mutants, the Enchantress had made a deal with Loki to make them want to destroy the X-Men. Unfortunately, they mistook the New Mutants for the X-Men, and brought the New Mutants to Asgard. Illyana Rasputin's attempt to get the New Mutants home resulted in them being scattered throughout Asgard. Warlock was sent to Hel, where people who die a cowardly death go. Fleeing, Warlock found Karma and Cypher, and shifted himself into a battle armor form around Cypher, allowing Doug to help. The New Mutants were then able to stop Loki and go home.

    However, upon their return, the New Mutants found out that Magneto had taken over leadership of the X-Men whilst Xavier was gone. The immensely powerful Beyonder appeared, and showed his power by killing all of the New Mutants and resurrecting them. All of the New Mutants, except Warlock and Mirage, were turned into zombie-like creatures. Not knowing what to do, Magneto transferred his team to Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy. Only Warlock remained behind, not trusting her. Magneto then realized he had transferred the team because Emma Frost and the Hellion known as Empath had subliminally made him do so. Magneto and Warlock then went to get the team back. Unfortunately, they were opposed by the Avengers; during the fight, Warlock was badly hurt. To save him, Magneto surrendered. The New Mutants realized that Magneto was a good leader; they joined him and went back to Xavier's school.

    By the time Warlock recovered, Mojo had kidnapped most of the New Mutants and gotten them to join his Brat Pack. He had also seduced Psylocke and used her psychic powers to attack Warlock and Cypher, the only two New Mutants who had escaped. Since it looked like they had no chance of survival, Warlock suggested that he and Cypher merge, which would give Cypher enhanced senses: his linguistic skills would be able to decode the "programming" that made the New Mutants and Psylocke so easy to control. Cypher accepted the risk of merging with Warlock. Unfortunately, the longer they stayed merged, the higher chance there was of Cypher getting the transmode virus. Luckily, when Cypher and Warlock finally defeated Mojo and Spiral, Warlock stopped the merge, and Cypher was fine. Mojo tried to defeat the X-Men again, but the New Mutants donned their graduation uniforms and defeated Mojo.

    Warlock and Cypher
    Warlock and Cypher

    Shortly afterwards, the Morlocks were attacked by the Marauders; nearly all of them were killed. During the chaos, Warlock was distant, his sensors trying to find something. This proved fruitless, and Magus found him once more. Knowing full well his father's powers, Warlock grabbed the rest of the New Mutants and attempted to flee. Magus managed to confront the New Mutants anyway, so Magik teleported the New Mutants to Limbo, but this was not enough to stop Magus, who easily crossed the dimensions after them. He easily bested Limbo's defenses, joined forces with S'ym (one of Magik's chief demons) and infected many residents of Limbo with the transmode virus. The New Mutants attempted to flee to the past, but even that was not enough to save them.

    Overcoming his fears, Warlock went to Limbo to see if it was safe to teleport through. However, during the teleportation, something went wrong with Magik's spell and the team was scattered through time and space. Magik was with Professor X and the Starjammers; with the Professor's help, she managed to find and rescue her other teammates from the different realities they had gone to. When the Mutants were finally reunited and able to continue their battle against Magus, it seemed that Warlock's defeat was imminent, but he managed to defeat Magus by combining his form with Cypher once more, and "recoding" Magus' DNA to reduce him to infancy. The threat of Magus was seemingly over at last.

    With Magus gone, the team returned to Earth and attempted to continue life as the New Mutants once more. However, soon after their return, the Impossible Man came to Earth, seeking the X-Men. He had a score to settle with them, but instead found the New Mutants. When they refused to join him in his quest for fun, the Impossible Man accused them of being cowards. This triggered Warlock's sense of honor; he declared that anything the Impossible Man could do, he could do better. The two aliens chased each other across the Earth, matching their metamorphosing powers in different contests. Meanwhile, the New Mutants followed them, trying to minimize the damage they caused. Eventually, the New Mutants found a way to stop the contest: Warlock could change his color, unlike the Impossible Man. Warlock won the contest and the Impossible Man agreed never to do such a thing again.

    Fallen Angels

    When Sunspot left the school over a misunderstanding, he ventured to New York. Warlock went after him, concerned for his friend, but Sunspot refused to return to the school. Warlock stayed with Sunspot, where the two got caught up with the thief gang known as the Fallen Angels. During their adventures with the Fallen Angels, Warlock showed Sunspot the true meaning of friendship, and how to control his temper. Sunspot finally agreed to go back to the New Mutants, and Warlock went with him.

    Loosing a Friend

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    Returning to the school, the New Mutants were surprised to find no one there. Magneto told the two mutants to stay at the school, but Warlock and Sunspot left when they found a map leading to the island home of the New Mutants' latest ally, Bird Brain. By the time they reached it, the rest of the Mutants were facing a mad scientist called Anti-Mator, who was working for an anti-mutant group called the right. When Warlock and Sunspot arrived, the battle quickly turned in favor of the New Mutants. However, during the chaos, no one noticed that Cypher was shot in the chest until it was too late. Warlock became confused; on his world, it is normal to consume the body of a dead teammate. Also, he did not understand the concept of heaven; watching shows with zombies only confused him more. When no one was around, Warlock broke into the funeral home and stole Cypher's body. Nothing happened; Warlock thought Cypher needed to be reminded of what it was like to be alive. He used his shape-shifting powers to "animate" Cypher's body and took him to see Wolfsbane. Rahne was horrified at what he had done, but realized it was Warlock's way of getting his friend back. Eventually, she managed to convince Warlock to put Cypher's body in its rightful place.

    During the Inferno story line, demons from Limbo began invading Earth. During the various battles in the streets of New York, the New Mutants found out that Magneto was in league with the Hellfire Club and that he had made a deal with the chief demon responsible for Inferno, N'Astirh. After Inferno was over, the New Mutants confronted their headmaster, then ran away to X-Factor's sentient base, Ship.

    After a second lengthy adventure in Asgard, Warlock and the New Mutants met their new leader, a mysterious man named Cable. They came to his aid whilst he was fighting Freedom Force, a government-sponsored team. This put the team in hot water with the US government, so Cyclops suggested Cable and the New Mutants take up residence in the basement levels beneath the ruins of Xavier's mansion (which had been destroyed during Inferno). The team spent the next few weeks battling foes such as the Morlocks, who had survived the Mutant Massacre, and the Mutant Liberation Front. Eventually, the X-Men joined the New Mutants in Xavier's mansion, after using a ghost town in Australia as a base.

    Death

    Warlock's seeming Death
    Warlock's seeming Death

    Soon afterwards, the Genoshan government targeted the X-Men and the New Mutants, since they had allied themselves with Cameron Hodge, an enemy of X-Factor. Since the attack was without warning, Warlock, Boom Boom, Wolfsbane, Rictor and Storm were all successfully captured. The prisoners were "digitally transferred" to Genosha, which severely weakened Warlock. Still, he valiantly attempted to save his fellow prisoners after he learned that the Genoshan council planned to turn them into mindless mutant slaves. He knew that his friends would have no chance if they brought him along in his weakened state; Warlock insisted that they leave him were he was. They did so, but Warlock was easily defeated and recaptured by the Genoshans once more. Warlock was killed by Cameron Hodge, who was trying to steal his powers. When trying to do so, Warlock's body was reduced to ashes. Since the world thought Warlock was a regular mutant from Earth, his ashes were put on top of Doug Ramsey's grave.

    Douglock

    "Douglock"

    When the Phalanx came, they absorbed the remains of Warlock and Cypher. This created the being known as Douglock, who had all the memories of Doug Ramsey. He then joined Excalibur at Muir Island for a period of time. At that time, the team was based on Muir Island, which was owned and run by Moira MacTaggert. While his teammates were unnerved by his similarity to Doug, Douglock was eventually accepted as his own person. He acted as a tutor to Meggan and enjoyed a brief romance with fellow teammate Wolfsbane, foster daughter to Moira. This romance would cause him to react irrationally and dangerously at times, mainly destroying valuable scientific research because he did not understand it was more important than his budding relationship with Wolfsbane.

    In a bid to seize control of the UK, the covert intelligence operation Black Air allied itself with the London branch of the Hellfire Club in order to raise an ancient demon from its crypt below London and use the ensuing chaos to their advantage. Black Air kidnapped Douglock to use him as the conduit to the crypt. However, after being lost in the time stream, Captain Britain ended up in an alternate timeline, where Black Air was successful in its plans, leading to a dystopic future. Using this knowledge, he and Excalibur were able to defuse the Hellfire Club, enter Black Air's HQ, rescue Douglock and stop the demon's resurrection.

    Douglock would continue to mishandle other aspects of earthly life. Despite his believing he could handle it, Douglock became inebriated during Captain Britain's bachelor party and passed out; he later experienced temporary memory problems as a result of the episode.

    Return as Warlock

    Douglock eventually discovered he was a reanimated Warlock with all the memories of Cypher, and changed his name back to Warlock. After a very brief reflection period, he set out as a solo adventurer apart from the other mutants. In his travels, he met a girl immune to the techno-organic virus. Her name was Hope, and she possessed the power to infect others with any virus that had been implanted in her; she could also create inanimate techno-matter that could be turned into weapons. Later on, a novice member of the Psi-Cops, by the name of Psimon, joined the pair. Throughout their time together, they teamed up with Shadowcat, battled against Spider-Man, caused trouble for Iron Man and fought against Psycho-Man.

    The trio later headed back to Warlock's earthly home on Muir Island so that he may reacquaint himself with his past interest, Wolfsbane, and her adoptive mother, Moira MacTaggert. The peace did not last long, as an altered form of Bastion attacked the island, only to be confronted by Warlock's trio and their ally Wolfsbane. The four of them defeated Bastion, but learned that Warlock's father, Magus, was attacking New York City. The group traveled there to assist the Avengers in defeating Magus.

    After the battle with his father, a curiosity urged Warlock to travel home to Kvch. Upon his return, he discovered the planet was empty, with the exception of a young Technarch by the name of Tyro. In order to calm the unmutated Technarch, Warlock gave him an altered transmode virus that changed Tyro into a more peaceful version of himself.

    Nova and Annihilation: Conquest

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    During Annihilation: Conquest, Nova was infected with the transmode virus, which turned him into one of the Phalanx. Fortunately, with the help of Worldmind, he was able to fight it off and put it in remission, although it was not destroyed. To combat it, Nova decided to find the Technarchy to help him; he was able to locate Kvch at Knowhere.

    Upon Nova arriving at Kvch, he thought it abandoned, until he found Warlock and his young ward Tyro practicing combat in preparation for the return of Tyro's father to Kvch. Warlock was able to provide Nova with some of his "lifeglow", to help fight off the transmode virus (which had almost killed Nova), although he could not spare enough to cure him completely, otherwise he would die. Warlock wanted to turn the Technarchy into a peaceful race, and had started by giving Tyro his non-aggressive form of the transmode virus; to die now would mean his goal would never come to fruition. Although Nova was slightly annoyed with Warlock for refusing to fight in the war, he understood his point of view.

    Meanwhile, Gamora and Drax the Destroyer had also been turned into Phalanx Select, and had been pursuing Nova after he escaped from Kree space. Upon their reaching Kvch, the Transmode Virus in them reacted to the Technarchy's homeworld, turning them both into Babel Spires. This, in turn, summoned Tyro's father, known as the Siredam. Tyro had virtually no chance against it, so Warlock helped Tyro escape. Upon Nova claiming he could have beat it if not for the transmode virus, Warlock decided to cure Nova at the cost of his own life, asking him to use his full abilities to stop the Siredam and to help Tyro escape. Tyro was able to stop the Siredam by himself by "reprograming" it with his own version of the Transmode Virus, giving himself control of the Siredam's powerful body; he had enough "lifeglow" to bring Warlock back to life, and to cure Gamora and Drax. Afterwards, Warlock decided to help in the Annihilation: Conquest war.

    Return to New Mutants

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    Warlock was set to return to the X-Men team, New Mutants, with the relaunch of the series. Warlock returned to Earth only to be attacked by H.A.M.M.E.R. agents who launched missiles at him. He was able to stop them and go to his former home (the X-Mansion), but it was destroyed. Warlock went to Cypher's grave; to his shock, he found it dug up, and Doug's body was missing. Warlock was able to find his teammates fighting a resurrected Cypher.

    Upon seeing his old friend back, he tried to defragment his mind to enable him to remember his days with the New Mutants (since the techno-organic virus was controlling him). Unfortunately, Warlock had contracted the virus himself, which made him lose control. Cypher took advantage of the situation by throwing Warlock's head into the ocean; small crustaceans were drawn to it, draining their life energy and healing Warlock. In Second Coming, he and the New Mutants were pit against Cameron Hodge and his Right soldiers; he used his life absorption powers to absorb the life force of Hodge and his soldiers. After some more adventures with his former New Mutants friends, the team went up into the larger X-Men team. Warlock went his own way, but would not be far behind for an all new adventure.

    All-New X-Factor

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    Warlock was recruited by the All New X-Factor when his old Self-Friend Doug Ramsey asked him to join the team. Warlock joined the team and accompanied them on a number of missions, and even fell in love with female-robotic teammate "Danger". When Danger asked Warlock to sleep with him, Warlock panicked and refused to do so. Danger, feeling rejected, then sought out Doug Ramsey, whom was still half asleep when Danger offered herself to him, after which they had sex together. This caused Warlock to be jealous and very upset with Doug, causing a rift between the two best friends. In hopes of gaining Danger back, Warlock tried to act different, even starting to refer to himself in the first person and not in his known 'Self' and 'Self-Friend' style.

    Krakoa

    With an island nation for mutants, and only mutants, created, Warlock wasn't exactly welcome, but Cypher considered their connection important. Warlock would hide as a Technarchy armored sleeve on Cypher that everyone else just assumed was a Douglock bonding situation.

    Powers and Abilities

    As a member of the Technarchy, Warlock is a techno-organic being, without true form but constantly changing shape. His techno-organic body can be reconstructed into any organically or technologically-appearing shape imaginable. He has constructed energy projectors out of himself as well as sensory equipment; he increased his physical size and strength, merged with computer systems to download information and schematics, and deciphered protocols which allow him to speak and write binary languages. Warlock has a natural adaptability, which helps his systems reconfigure to deal with new threats or opponents. When "feeding," he injects a techno-organic virus, the transmode virus, into an object (organic or mechanical), converting it into a techno-organic form like himself, and absorbing its energy, or "lifeglow," into himself. Alternatively, he can absorb pure energy, such as electricity, from an outlet.

    His strain, a non-aggressive version of the virus, also is anathema to Phalanx and other techno-organic creatures, because it removes their inherent need to assimilate others. According to Ship, Warlock is a "mutant" of his species, in that he lacks the instinctive drive to conquer and assimilate that is common to all other Technarchs.

    Other Media

    Television

    X-Men: The Animated Series

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    Warlock appeared in his original incarnation on the X-Men storyline "The Phalanx Covenant." Unlike his comic counterpart, he came to Earth in order to escape his destiny of merging with the Phalanx. In the two episodes, Warlock teamed up with the X-Men, Forge, Polaris, Magneto and Mr. Sinister to save mutant and humankind.

    Merchandise

    Marvel Legends
    Marvel Legends
    • Warlock was featured in the New Mutants line from ToyBiz.
    • Diamond Select released a Warlock Minimate as part of the New Mutants box set.
    • Warlock was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
    • Warlock was the subject of a Marvel Legends Build-a-Figure wave from Hasbro. The wave consisted of Old Man Logan, Cyclops, Dazzler, Sunfire, Colossus and Polaris.
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