Kevin Sydney

Morph
Morph from the Exiles. Art by Mike McKone.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel
First appearance	Exiles #1
Created by	Judd Winick Mike McKone
In-story information
Alter ego	Kevin Sydney/Currently: Kevin MacTaggert
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Exiles X-Men Avengers New Mutants
Notable aliases	Changeling
Abilities	Can shapeshift into anything, Able to reattach severed body parts, flight

Morph/Kevin Sydney is a founding member of the Exiles, and since Blink was pulled out between issue #22 and #42 and Mimic was killed in issue #73, Morph is the only one to be consistent throughout the series. He is currently the only original Exile still on the team.

Fictional character biography

Before the Exiles

Morph is a hero from a (Earth-1081) who was a member of the New Mutants, X-Men, and Avengers. He was a unique son of loving parents. Early on in life he managed to use his powers, and was able to give everyone what they wanted from him. Morph always used his power to joke around and keep everyone at ease with him, only comfortable to be himself around his parents.

His mother died of lung cancer and Morph tried in every way to cheer up his emotionally distraught father (often acting in a childish way whenever his father wanted him to act serious), who, unable to let his suffering go, chose to enroll his son in a boarding school; luckily, that school happened to be the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Promoted to the X-Men, Morph's sense of humor initially grated upon the much more serious team but eventually his humor and humility won them over. He was instrumental in many of the team's victories and was chosen to be part of a pilot program with the Avengers, along with the Beast, as a public representative of mutant-kind.

Morph would return to the X-Men because, in his own words, "he missed his freaky mutant brothers and sisters." On a subsequent mission, Morph and the rest of the X-Men were facing off against a threat known only as Stonehenge when Morph became unhinged from time.

With the Exiles

Then the mysterious Timebroker appeared to him, explaining to him that he had become unhinged from time as a chain of events had caused his reality as he knew it to change. In that new reality a wounded Morph is unable to maintain his form, and is in a coma, being only a white muddy substance in Beast's lab. Hoping to save his own future, he becomes a member, and comic relief, of the Exiles, a group of universe-hopping heroes trying to save realities from ripples and alteration.

He soon befriended the mutant Sunfire, although in a loving platonic relationship, accepting the lesbian nature of his friend. He always took care of her, and her death left him emotionally wrecked.

Mojo's World

The Exiles battled on, fixing reality after reality and struggling to keep it together. Following one of these missions the team was kidnapped by Mojo, the insane evil dictator of the Mojoverse. Mojo considered Morph the best entertainer he had ever seen and brought him back to entertain the masses. If he didn't, Mojo would kill his fellow Exile, Nocturne. Eventually, Nocturne was able to escape and set Morph free. Mojo went crazy and threatened to kill Morph's friends. An enraged Morph was on the verge of killing Mojo when the Timebroker stopped them. The Timebroker revealed Mojo had disrupted time but he was a necessary evil and could not be killed.

Against Weapon X

Morph continued to be the heart of the team until a mission in which Mimic was taken over by a Brood egg. During the battle, he killed Sunfire. Mimic was eventually cured but Morph was enraged. He was devastated by Sunfire's death and told Mimic he should have killed himself rather than let something like this happen. Morph stormed off and threatened to leave the team. Magik, an unlikely ally, followed and tried to calm him. The two connected and despite her past attitude during missions, Morph realized Illyana was just a scared girl trying to get home. He remained angry with Mimic but helped his team fight against the rogue reality-hopping team, Weapon X.

Before the battle began, Magik attempted to switch sides, believing her team was weaker. Hyperion, the self-appointed leader of Weapon X, snapped her neck and Morph was driven into a rage. He attacked Hyperion, who attempted to blast Morph with his eyebeams, but Mimic saved him. During the brawl with Weapon X, Morph fought against an evil Ms. Marvel. Their battle caused a building to fall in on them, killing Ms. Marvel but Morph was able to survive.

The Exiles were triumphant and the Timebroker told Morph he could finally go home. His mission was fulfilled. Morph considered the offer but asked if he could stay with his team. He realized they needed him and he couldn't leave them behind. The Timebroker agreed; Morph asked him not to tell the rest of the Exiles of his decision. Morph and Mimic reconciled since he realized that Sunfire's death was not Mimic's fault and that the Brood was controlling him. The team moved on.

Proteus

He recently helped the team take down Proteus by impersonating the Maestro and weakening Proteus with a steel strip in his head. Morph went to take down Proteus but Proteus knocked the steel plate out of his head and took over Morph's body in issue #80. When the Exiles tracked him to the "Heroes Reborn" world, cosmic entities "O" and "Kay" kidnapped him, saying his presence has tipped the balance of power. Using a tiara hooked to a brainwasher device, his teammate Blink managed if not to restore his consciousness, to brainwash Proteus, forcing him to act like Morph, and access to only Morph's memories, functionally "bringing him again to life". With Proteus trapped and believing he is Morph, he remained an Exile to continue fixing damaged realities. Considering Morph's body does not burn out like other hosts, Morph's consciousness is still active beneath Proteus. Also, Proteus is immune to metal while in Morph's body, since wearing a metal tiara during the "Heroes Reborn" world did not kill him. However, concerns about some discrepancies in "Morph's" behavior forced his teammates to plan regular brainwashings with the same device, and, eventually, put him in stasis whenever his behavior would change again.

Powers and abilities

Morph's mutation to shape-shift has also made it so that his body is a Play-doh-like substance and he can reattach limbs after they have been severed. It has been stated that his body is composed of unstable molecules. He has also stated that his mutation gives him a high metabolism and makes him very hormonal. In one issue, Sasquatch said she was never able to detect a scent on Morph; Sabretooth stated the same while hunting Proteus in Morph's body, noting how, in a crowd of "normal" people, Morph stands out like a sore thumb to Sabretooth's enhanced senses, whatever the form the shape-shifter takes. It also appears he has the ability to fly as demonstrated in Exiles #27. Due to his shapeshifting ability he does not wear any actual clothing, and he takes joy in pointing this out.

Even though Morph is a prankster and appears to be unintelligent, he actually is very smart. He has a Master's degree in computer engineering, which he earned at Xavier's Institute.

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse (AoA), Morph was, like his "regular Marvel Universe" counterpart Changeling, an early recruit of the X-Men. Changeling was killed shortly after joining the X-Men while assuming the guise of Professor X. In the AoA reality, Kevin Sydney did not die while impersonating Professor X, because in the Age of Apocalypse Xavier died before the X-Men were ever founded. The AoA Morph's personality and costume are largely the same as that of the Exiles version, based upon the latter's initial appearance.

In the AoA timeline, Morph often agitated his teammates with his off-the-wall sense of humour and inappropriate timing; he describes himself as wanting to die with a smile on his face when his time comes. Despite his happy-go-lucky attitude, Morph has displayed signs of a softer, more empathetic side several times. For example, he morphed into Sabretooth in an effort to comfort Blink while she doubted her abilities, and he later gave Rogue the strength to endure against the horseman Holocaust by acting as her son. Shortly after the defeat of Apocalypse, he accompanied fellow X-Men Iceman, Wildchild and Exodus on an unspecified mission, during which they disappeared. Their fate has yet to be revealed, except for Wildchild, who has since joined a new team of Exiles.

The Lost Generation

Main article: Marvel: The Lost Generation

A Morph is also seen as a member of First Line, set in Earth-616 but in the period after World War II.

In other media

X-Men: The Animated Series

Morph in the X-Men animated series

In the X-Men animated series, Morph (voiced by Ron Rubin in the English language version, and by Mitsuru Ogata in the Japanese dub) was a member of the X-Men and a close friend of Wolverine who was apparently killed in the second episode by Sentinels. Wolverine was distraught by his death (he claimed that Morph was the only one who made him laugh) and blamed Cyclops for leaving him behind, but later overcame it, as many friends have passed in front of his eyes.

He reappeared in the second season as a recurring villain who was driven steadily mad by memories of his death. Eventually, it was revealed that Mr. Sinister took his shattered body, brought him back to life, but significantly brainwashed him and put some implants in him. He was divided into two personalities: One who loved his X-teammates and one who hated them for leaving him behind. His best friend Wolverine was astonished to find out that Morph was alive, albeit he was fluctuating between "the good" and "the bad". Till the end of the season, through constant assurance from his teammates that "he was part of the team" and what Cyclops did "was in the name of the team", Morph helped in the final battle at the season finale - Reunion (Part 2) - where he temporarily destroyed Sinister and was taken into custody. Professor X finally removed his implants, but determined that the psychological damage needed much more rehabilitation than seemed obvious.

Morph appeared in two more episodes as a patient on Muir Island (Once on a hospital bed and once in a wheelchair as Cyclops and Wolverine were leaving the island.) before starring in the episode Courage,. There, Moira Mactaggert was curing his mental instability, which was provoked by the cruelty of Sinister and the overcoming of his guilt and fear of the Sentinels that nearly killed him. In the episode, he came back in the team, but when facing Sentinels again, Morph got a flashback memory and was terrified. This fear later caused the abduction of Professor X by Master Mold. Morph overcame his fear with great efforts and when he understood that the Professor was in danger, he rushed to save him, despite his teammates' warnings and concerns. However, he showed great fighting skill and battled single-handedly many of the Sentinels and destroyed Master Mold himself at the end, changing to Angel, Sasquatch, Longshot, and Omega Red. Although this was a great victory and his friends welcomed him back fully to the team, Morph was feeling unsure of himself and said that he had to work more on his mental health. He decided to go back to Dr. MacTaggert so that next time, he would return to the team in peak mental condition. He then makes a split second appearance in the episode Beyond Good and Evil (Part 1) during Scott and Jean's wedding, sitting next to Jubilee.

His last appearance was in the series finale Graduation Day, where he briefly appeared as Professor X, while the latter was sick and dying, due to an illness. He appeared to have more of his past snickering humor, probably suggesting that he was now mentally healthy and back on the team, this time permanently.

Behind the scenes

Morph was originally placed in the X-Men animated series simply because the writers wanted to have a character die in the opening story arc in order to show how serious the series was. Morph's death was, in fact, intended to stick, but due to his unexpected popularity, he was brought back.

Powers and abilities

Morph has been successful since his mutant abilities manifested in his early teens. Immediately able to control his powers, he hid his abilities from others. It was not until Professor Charles Xavier asked him to enter his mutant academy that Morph realized his own potential. Xavier made him a part of his young team of New Mutants. Morph quickly became a best friend to all of his teammates and, although he was not the group's official leader, he was looked upon as a trusted confidant. He even completed a degree in computer engineering during his time on the team.

Morph is an omni-morph. As such, he is capable of shapeshifting into basically anything, regardless of size, shape, color, mass, or density. Presumably he does this by tapping into an extra-dimensional source for the materials and mass needed. He can create objects out of his mass, including clothing and weaponry. Presumably he has a pseudo-healing factor due to the unstable nature of his molecular structure. Also due to his unique physiological makeup, he possesses no discernible scent, unlike other shape-shifters — a fact that made the Wolverine of his reality "uneasy". This was one of the ways Wolverine recognized him, when Morph pretended to be Charles Xavier in front of his team-mates, who have their own scents. Another power is the ability of unaided flight, although how he does this is as yet unknown.

Bibliography

• Exiles #1-98

External links

• Marvel database entry