Cypher (comics)
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Cypher is a fictional mutant character, a superhero from Marvel Comics. He first appeared in New Mutants (volume 1) #13.
Characteristics
Height: 5'9Weight: 150lbs
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Blue
Occupation: Adventurer
Place of Birth: Unknown
Identity: Secret
Biography
Doug Ramsey was a teenage friend of Kitty Pryde. Professor X discovered Doug's mutant power of deciphering languages. Doug became a member of the New Mutants after the arrival of Warlock, and the two became fast friends.Whereas Warlock referred to his teammates with the prefix "selffriend", eventually, after saving his life by offering to share some of his own life energy with Warlock, Warlock gave Doug the unique identifier of "Selfsoulfriend".
Doug's inborn mutant power was the ability to intuitively understand and translate any form of communication, be it written, spoken or non-verbal, and regardless of whether the origin of the language was human, computer or even completely alien. His power was not related to his intellect, but allowed him to make leaps of comprehension that he could probably not explain to anyone else, but which were invariably accurate. He was able to translate the language of a long dead species, without any common terms of reference, within a matter of hours.
His power made him a master of computer languages, since any software language was effectively instantly within his grasp. An established hacker before joining the team, he wrote many programs for use in the X-Men's training area, the Danger Room.
He and Warlock found that they could merge their physicality to create a being which looked like Doug but was composed of Warlock's substance and their personae were merged. This allowed full access to both their powers, but meant Doug ran a severe risk of irreversible infection with an alien virus which would have turned him into a being like Warlock.
Though he flirted with Kitty Pryde and may indeed have loved her, it was not reciprocated and they remained close friends. He was involved in the rescue of Betsy Braddock -- Psylocke of the X-Men, for whom he had deep feelings -- from the clutches of Mojo. Though she was several years his senior she may have had similar feelings, but never acted upon them, uncertain of how appropriate it might have been. After that, he started a relationship with teammate Rahne Sinclair, Wolfsbane, which lasted until his death.
Whilst assisting the New Mutants liberate the enslaved "animal people" of the genetically engineered being "Bird-Brain", Doug was shot and killed by the Ani-Mator, a minion of Cameron Hodge, whilst saving Rahne Sinclair's life.
Later, Warlock died, and his ashes were scattered upon Doug's grave. Eventually the alien Phalanx, a corrupt subset of the more powerful alien race known as the Technarchy, resurrected Warlock with Doug's memories, powers, and appearances intending to use him as a "Trojan horse" to infiltrate the X-men. This gestalt entity, called Douglock, joined Excalibur for a time, soon breaking free of the "shell program" but unaware of his real identity as Warlock, he believed himself to be a new entity with both sets of memories.
After Excalibur disbanded, Warlock's personality resurfaced, but he found that he has changed. He speaks more normally than he originally did, and mantains a more traditionally humanoid form, possibly as a side effect of having Doug's DNA, and so his powers permanently fused with his own. Warlock maintains a copy of Doug's memory, but his personality is not active.
During the Shattershot series, an alternate reality is shown, where Warlock renamed himself Cyberlock. He retained all his memories but had a very serious, no-emotion personality. He was part of an X-force team that helped Shatterstar back to his home dimension and then helped him become a sort of benevolent dictator, replacing Mojo V as Cable wished. To this end, a new X force team, consisting of Cannonball, Siryn, Warlock, Darkchild (Illyana Rasputin), Sunspot, and Powerpax (Francine Power) returned to Shatterstar's dimension. Assisted by the spineless ones and the geneticist ,Arize, they overthrow Shatterstar, who had begun doing what Mojo's I through V had done, creating a world based off the entertainment of killing the opposite race. Shatterstar, who'd been having doubts concerning his leadership joined in the overthrowing of his own dimension, and, apparently, joined the bipeds and spineless ones in peace. X-Force apparently returned to Earth.
Alternate Versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse miniseries, Doug Ramsey is the adopted son of Destiny and lives in Avalon. His "translation field" allows everyone in Avalon to understand each other, no matter what language they speak. He is killed when he jumps in front of Destiny to protect her from the Shadow King's last desperate attack.Ultimate X-Men
The Ultimate X-Men version of Doug Ramsey is explicitly based partially on famed Latter-day Saint Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings. When "Ultimate Cypher" was introduced, he was (like Jennings) a slightly geeky but amiable computer programmer who gained national prominence by winning over 100 consecutive games on the TV gameshow Jeopardy.
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