Mimic

As a child, a nosey and curious Calvin Rankin accidentally exposed himself to one of his father's experiments. Altering his body and triggering his powers, Calvin soon discovered he was able to mimic the abilities of others who were in his close proximity. Calvin's new-found powers made him reckless and arrogant, attributes which meant he had no friends, although he believed everyone was jealous of him.

Calvin's father soon discovered his son's powers and wished to cure his son before everyone would turn on his son. Relocating to a cave, Calvin's father developed a machine that would remove Calvin's powers. Calvin, however, didn't want to part ways with his parents and his father had to lie claiming the machine would help his mimicked powers remain permanently. However, before anything could be done, Calvin and his father were attacked by an angry mob. Calvin's father died saving his son and Calvin swore revenge.

Calvin's first appearance saw him hitting on Vera Cantor, unbeknownst to him, she was actually dating Beast. After discovering this, the arrogant Calvin wound up fighting Beast, and soon Iceman, in the process mimicking their powers. Realizing the two were actually members of the X-Men, Calvin wished to and began a quest to acquire and mimic the powers of all 5 members of the X-Men.

Calvin found the X-Men's Mansion by following Jean Grey there and was surprised when Xavier welcomed him. Although, Xavier was aware of Calvin's intentions to acquire the X-Men's powers, he didn't stop Calvin who began battling the X-Men. Eventually defeated by their teamwork, Calvin ran off taking Jean captive and took her to the location where the machine his father had built years ago remained. Hoping that Jean would act as bait to entice the other X-Men to track him down so he could permanently copy their powers with the use of his father's machine, the X-Men showed up and after a fight, Calvin discovered the true nature of his father's invention as it robbed him of his powers.

No longer having any of his mimicking abilities, Professor X thought it would be best to remove Calvin's memories of the events and let him live a normal life.

The Sixth X-Man Calvin's "normal life" wasn't to last, however, as his memories came screaming back to him following an explosion at the college he was enrolled at (where he coincidentally also met Jean Grey who was a fellow student). Professor X was looking to recruit new members for his X-Men to battle Factor-Three and after the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Spider-Man declined membership, Calvin proposed he join the team.

Mimic can copy powers, abilities, and skills of anyone within close range. Also, he often takes on the unique physical characteristics, and to some degree the appearance of those he copies.

Mimic's ability to copy abilities however is limited to 5 different powers at a time and they are only half as powerful as the original power. He is best known for copying the abilities of the five original X-Men seemingly permanently, and his appearance generally involves Cyclops' head and facial characteristics, Angel's wings, and Beast's figure (body, hands, and feet). While copying their powers, he has access to Beast's agility and strength (and because of his altered body structure Beast's prehensile feet), Iceman's ice manipulation, Jean Grey's telekinesis and telepathy (he has also mimicked Professor Xavier's telepathy), Cyclops' optic blasts, and Angel's ability to fly. Other powers he has copied include Hulk, 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, and numerous others.