PARADIGM
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutant (Hong Kong)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: Hellions (Bedlam/Christopher
Aaronson, Feral/Maria Callasantos, Magma/Amara Aquilla, Switch/Devon
Alamar, Tarot/Marie-Ange Colbert)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Armageddon Man, Koga, X-Force
(Jesse Aaronson, Boomer/Tabita Smith, Cannonball/Sam Guthrie,
Domino/Neena Thurman, Danielle Moonstar, Sunspot/Roberto DaCosta,
Syrin/Theresa Rourke, Warpath/James Proudstar)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Mister Machine" (nickname used by Jesse
Aaronson)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Koga's attack
vessel,
formerly a ranch house in
Santa Lucia, California,
formerly a lab in Hong Kong
First Appearance: X-Force
I#87 (March, 1999)
Powers/Abilities: Paradigm was born a mutant who
possessed a powerful form of technokinesis. He could manipulate
machinery with his mind. When he was 13, he was injected with a sample
of alien techno-organic material that turned his body into living metal
and circuitry. In this new form, his abilities expanded exponentially.
Now no longer human, he went on a constant drive for self improvement,
studying mutant DNA to look for ways to upgrade his capabilities. He
could "infect" others with his techno-organic matter, either covering
them with the matter to restrain them or use it to force them into doing
his bidding. Those "infected" by Paradigm's techno-organic tendrils
temporarily gained his immunity to radiation and temperature extremes.
Paradigm was vulnerable to EMP attacks and Jesse Aaronson's powers,
though he had an effective internal repair sequence. Paradigm could fly.
Even in death, his enhanced brain could be used as a powerful CPU to
operate machinery, control dozens of cybernetic operatives and pilot at
least one advanced attack vessel.
Height: 6'1"(by approximation)
Weight: 200 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: None
History:
(X-Force I#89 (fb) ) - The mutant who would become known as Paradigm was
recognized as a technokinetic at a young age. Forced to live in a Hong
Kong laboratory where he endured years of painful, invasive testing, his
only friends were his electronic toys. When he was 13 years old, the
scientists tending to him injected the boy with alien, techno-organic
material. His entire body was transformed into living metal, and thanks
to his mutant powers he was able to gain control over his newly mutated
form. Now powerful enough to escape, he fled the facility to search the
world for new biological and technological systems to integrate into his
being.
(X-Force I#87 (fb) - BTS) - At an unrevealed moment in time, he
encountered Christopher Aaronson and accepted his offer to join his new
Hellions as Paradigm. He moved to Aaronson's ranch in Santa Lucia,
California, while they prepared to revive the Armageddon Man.
(X-Force I#87) - Paradigm and his teammate Magma tried to stop Domino
and Jesse Aaronson, who had come to the ranch hoping to find his long-lost
brother. However, the electronics manipulating Jesse caused
Paradigm to malfunction and lose control over his form, inadvertently
knocking out Magma with a stray strand of techno-organic matter. Before
Domino and Jesse could flee, they were incapacitated by King Bedlam who
introduced them to Paradigm and the other Hellions. He then stunned
the heroes by offering them membership.
(X-Force I#88 - BTS) - Paradigm waited while Jesse contacted the other
members of X-Force to come to the ranch to discuss Bedlam's offer.
(X-Force I#88) - As soon as X-Force arrived, Paradigm began to quietly
study and analyze them. Starting with their physical characteristics,
though he was eager to acquire DNA samples. This disturbed Moonstar and
Sunspot who felt they were being studied as lab specimens under a
microscope. King Bedlam offered the team to stay over for the night and
mull over his offer, which the team agreed to. Some time later, Paradigm
was standing guard outside of Bedlam's quarters and refused to allow
Jesse to see his brother until Christopher explicity okayed his
presence. Inside, the two brothers discussed Paradigm, with Bedlam
describing his teammate as "an unclassifiable hybrid of man and machine
in a constant state of growth and transformation." Some time later,
X-Force discovered that Domino had been possessed by the mind swapping
Switch, causing them to attack the Hellions. Before they could carry out
their threat, Paradigm was ordered by Bedlam to intervene. He covered
the heroes in his techno-organic filaments, which not only incapacitated
them but also put the mutants under his control. Bedlam told Paradigm to
use X-Force to help them transport the Armageddon Man to the Summerfield
Canyon nuclear power facility where they would awaken the powerful
mutant. It also allowed Paradigm to conduct further tests on their
individual genetic curiosities.
(X-Force I#89) - Paradigm guided X-Force as they mindlessly helped
transport the Armageddon Man from Santa Lucia to the Summerfield Canyon
plant where Bedlam planned to wake up the mutant by dunking him into the
reactor coolant vat. All the while, he studied the team's genetic
structure and was particularly fascinated by Danielle Moonstar's unique
powers. For a brief moment, Moonstar connected with Paradigm and relived
his tragic early years through his eyes. A little while later, with
everything at the ready, Hellions member Tarot had a change of heart.
Her precognitive abilities had shown her reviving the Armageddon Man
would lead to nothing but destruction. She approached Paradigm and
touched him, thereby releasing the magic infused characters from her
tarot deck into his system. Paradigm became overwhelmed by the new
entities introduced into his mainframe, entities that immediately
emerged from him and caused the techno-organic hybrid great distress.
This gave Dani Moonstar the chance to free herself and attack the
techno-hybrid with the quantum energies she controlled at the time. So
overwhelmed by the sudden influx of uncontrollable power, Paradigm
temporarily returned to a fetal state while he tried to reconfigure his
external and internal biology. As a result, X-Force was freed. They
opposed the Hellions, but were unable to stop the resurrection of the
Armageddon Man.
(X-Force I#90) - Paradigm didn't involve himself in X-Force and the
Hellions' attempts to restrain and defeat the Armageddon Man. After the
young mutant heroes proved victorious, he briefly appeared before them
to announce he didn't wish to fight and was moving on to continue his
journey of self exploration.
(Astonishing X-Men III#33 (fb) - BTS) - At an unrevealed point in time,
Paradigm was kidnapped and killed by the brilliant, twisted mutant
inventor Koga. He decapitated Paradigm and used his head to infiltrate
the X-Men's computer systems, stealing data on the DNA of their enemies
like the alien Brood and Krakoa. Koga used the information to clone a
small army of the X-Men's foes that he sent out to kill the team.
Paradigm's head was then installed as the CPU of Koga's ionospheric
cruiser carrier that he used as a base of operations.
(Astonishing X-Men III#33 - BTS) - Eventually, the X-Men and their ally
Abigail Brand boarded the Paradigm-controlled carrier and located his
head at the core of the ship. Emma Frost was the only one to recognize
him, regretting the fact she never got to teach him. Beast correctly
analyzed it was Paradigm's brain that had been responsible for the hacks
into the mansion's mainframe.
(Astonishing X-Men III#34 - BTS) - The X-Men left Paradigm's
head be while they moved their attention to finding and defeating the
man responsible for his death.
Comments: Created by John Francis Moore (writer), Jim Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales (inks)
In his earliest appearances, the name of the
techno-organic race that infected Paradigm wasn't mentioned. In Astonishing
X-Men III#33, Warren Ellis has Abigail Brand confirm it was
indeed the Phalanx.
Poor Paradigm, not only was he a barely second-rate copy of Douglock and
Prosh, even in death he wasn't used in any truly original way. Back in Excalibur I#99, the Hellfire Club
was using the head of Douglock to reanimate and control a demon that
slumbered under London. I'm sure it's purely coincidental Warren Ellis
penned both those issues.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Paradigm should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
X-Force I#89, p3, pan1 (main image)
X-Force I#89, p9, pan3 (infected by the Phalanx as a child)
X-Force I#89, p19, pans3,4,5 (reverts to fetal stage)
X-Force I#90, p18, pans5&6 (up for next level of evolution)
Astonishing X-Men III#33, p23, pans1&3 (discovered by the X-Men)
Appearances:
X-Force I#87 (March, 1999) - John Francis Moore
(writer), Jim Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Bobbie Chase
(editor)
X-Force I#88 (April, 1999) - John Francis Moore
(writer), Jim Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales & Rob Stull (inks),
Bobbie Chase (editor)
X-Force I#89 (May, 1999) - John Francis Moore
(writer), Terry Shoemaker (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Bobbie Chase
(editor)
X-Force I#90 (June, 1999) - John Francis Moore (writer),
Jim Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales, Scott Koblish, Derek Mei & Rob
Stull (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Astonishing X-Men III#33 (February, 2010) - Warren Ellis (writer), Phil
Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Axel Alonso & Daniel Ketchum
(editors)
Astonishing X-Men III#34 (March, 2010)
- Warren Ellis (writer), Phil Jiminez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks),
Axel Alonso & Daniel Ketchum (editors)
Last updated: 06/29/15
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