OVERLAY
Real Name: Zach Halliwell
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Student
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Jeffrey Garrett, Gloom/Jordan Lewis, Rubber Maid/Andrea Margulies, Saurus/Jorge Lukas, Silicon/Stan Finch, Tantra/ Reuben O'Hara, other unidentified students), X-Men (Emma Frost), X-Treme X-Men (Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Sage/"Tessa", Storm/Ororo Munroe)
Enemies: Elias Bogan, X-Treme X-Men (Bishop/Lucas Bishop, Sage/"Tessa")
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men I#20 (March, 2003)
Powers/Abilities: Overlay possessed the mutant ability to overlays the essential characteristics of one mind with another. As such he kept a rat as a pet, the animal he would use to overlay it's mind with that of any human. It's been unrevealed if Overlay's could overlay the mind of a human with that of another human. Beside his mutant abilities his face also resembled that of a rat.
Height: 5' (by approximation)
Weight: 90 lbs. (by approximation
Eyes: Red
Hair: Brown
History:
(X-Treme X-Men I#20) - When seven naked people were found frozen to death on Alaska's McKenn glacier, all evidence pointed to a mutant murderer. This got X-Treme
X-Men members Bishop & Sage involved in the investigation. The duo decided to pay a visit to the Xavier Institute, figuring it would be an ideal hiding place for a mutant on the run. However, headmistress Emma Frost wasn't thrilled at the notion of opening her school up for a crime scene investigation and motivated some of her students to play with the
X-Men a little. After Gloom and Tantra had their way it was Overlay's turn who eagerly used his powers to overlay the mind of his pet rat unto that of Sage, making the X-Man believe she was a rat. However, they were mostly playing along as they revealed when Frost actually wanted the students to remove them from the grounds.
(House of M#8 - BTS) - Overlay was one of the many millions mutants who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 300 worldwide.
(New Avengers I#17 - BTS) - Overlay's mutant energies joined with those of the other de-powered mutants, creating the Collective, a massive force presence that ended up killing, among others, most of the members of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.
(New Avengers I#18 - BTS) - SHIELD analyzed The Collective's multiple energy signatures and managed to identify Overlay's pattern, along with 50+ other victims of M-Day.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont & Salvador Larroca
Overlay's codename and real name have been revealed in the Xavier's Institute entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe HC#13.
As all students of the Xavier Institute were selected to join special training squads mentored by members of the X-Men, Gloom could have been a part of the Excelsiors (Iceman's squad), the Exemplars (Beast's squad) or the Paladins (Shadowcat's squad) whose rosters have never been revealed.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Overlay has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
X-Treme X-Men I#20, p20, pan1 (main image)
X-Treme X-Men I#20, p20, pan4,5,6 (using his powers)
Appearances:
X-Treme X-Men I#20 (March, 2003) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Mike Raicht, Andrew Lis (editors)
New Avengers I#18 (June, 2006) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils), Joe Pimentel (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 7/30/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!