Copycat (Marvel Comics)

Copycat
Copycat as seen in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #4 (November 1993).
Art by Joe Madureira.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance As Domino:
The New Mutants #98 (February 1991)

As Herself:
X-Force #19 (February 1993)
Created by Fabian Nicieza
Greg Capullo
In-story information
Alter ego Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle
Species Human Mutant
Team affiliations Weapon X
Six Pack
X-Force
New Mutants
Partnerships Deadpool
Notable aliases Titania,[1] Garrison Kane, Domino, Nurse Veronica, Patricia Muggins, Christina Valentino,[2] Cheryl Marks, Debbie, Marguerite, Amy and numerous others
Abilities Shapeshifting
Power mimicry

Copycat (Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a former member of X-Force.

Actress Morena Baccarin portrays Vanessa Carlysle in the 2016 film Deadpool and the 2018 film Deadpool 2.

Publication history

Copycat first appeared in X-Force #19 (February 1993), where the character was retconned to the first appearance of Domino in The New Mutants #98 (February 1991), and was created by Fabian Nicieza and Greg Capullo.

Fictional character biography

As a young mutant shape-shifter, Vanessa Carlysle fell into a life of prostitution in Boston where she met and fell in love with a mercenary named Wade Wilson. Carlysle was soon saved from Wilson's vengeful employers by Zoe Culloden, a time-traveling agent of Landau, Luckman & Lake who had journeyed into the past to prevent Wilson's eventual self-destruction. That night, Wilson broke up with Carlysle after learning he had cancer, leaving her heartbroken. Carlysle became a mercenary herself, eventually employed by arms-dealer Tolliver.

Under his orders, Copycat infiltrated X-Force in the shape of Domino while the real Domino was a prisoner. Her mission was to blow up X-Force's headquarters in order to kill Cable, but she became attached to the team members, fell in love with Cable and didn't go through with her mission. Tolliver sent Deadpool to force her to set the bomb. Deadpool would be put in her place, if she refused. Deadpool revealed Copycat's cover to X-Force, and left them for dead by blowing up the complex (without knowing that X-Force had already escaped).

Vanessa briefly hid herself under the false identity (as a twin) of one of her friends; Tina Valentino. Deadpool and his associate, Sluggo, believing they killed her, killed Tina instead. She then moved in with Garrison Kane in San Francisco, until Cable found them.[3] She was subsequently captured by the emotion-manipulating Psycho-Man, who sought Kane's advanced technology, but was rescued from the Microverse by Kane, Cable, Domino and the Microverse's resident heroes, the Microns. Later, she broke up with Kane and came back to live with Deadpool. Deadpool's feelings towards Siryn grew, so she left him after having taken his appearance to attack her, in hopes of souring their potential relationship.

Some time later, Copycat was captured by Weapon X. The treatments of Weapon X destroyed her memory and she forgot her mission. Recruited by Sabretooth, Deadpool received an order to kill her. He tried to warn her, so Weapon X sent Kane to kill the both of them. The fight took them to a local zoo where Deadpool left her in a shapechanged-gorilla form among other gorillas to fight against Kane. When he returned, the other gorillas were dead and Copycat was dying from wounds inflicted by Sabretooth. She died shortly after in Deadpool's arms.[4]

However, Deadpool had poured an amount of his blood into Copycat's wounds, which, unknown to him, healed her. Vanessa then took up the identity of an owner of a chimichanga stand, and later cheated Deadpool out of one of his past marriages.[5]

Powers and abilities

Copycat is such a powerful and precise metamorph that she can duplicate another being down to the cellular level. Because of this, she is able to replicate superhuman powers, abilities, and even mental imprints so closely that telepaths have trouble identifying her. Copycat simply requires knowledge to duplicate someone's appearance, but needs physical contact to duplicate anything else. She is also capable of turning into animals, finding these forms easier to maintain than human shape.[6] Weapon X modified her powers by accelerating the rate at which she could duplicate others. However, as a side effect of this enhancement, Copycat began to lose her memory and was unable to hold any solid form for long periods of time.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

Copycat in the Age of Apocalypse. Amazing X-Men #1, art by Andy Kubert.

In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Copycat was a member of the Brotherhood of Chaos, an elite religious group affiliated to the Church of the Madri. She served alongside other members such as Madison Jeffries and Spyne. She was often referred to as Sister Vanessa or Sister Carlysle. Using her shape-shifting powers, Copycat was able to hide incognito amongst the humans who had hoped to flee North America and was able to discover the site of the Sentinel Evacuation while in their midst. Vanessa led the Brotherhood to an emigration site in Maine and there they clashed with the Amazing X-Men. In an attempt to elude the X-Man Quicksilver, Copycat posed as Scarlet Witch, but was forced to revert to her normal self by Dazzler. Both Copycat and Box were able to escape the X-Men and conceal themselves, posing as humans, and escaped to Europe. They were discovered at a checkpoint and provided a distraction for a group of Altered Humans to pass through, but were subsequently hunted down by Weapon X and Jean Grey, with the latter slaying Vanessa in the process.[7]

Age of X

In the Age of X reality, Copycat infiltrated Cannonball's X-Force when she worked for the Human Coalition. She was unmasked and killed by Husk. [8]

In other media

Television

Copycat appeared in the X-Men animated series. She is among the mutants on Asteroid M (in the episode "Sanctuary"). Copycat is later seen (in the episode "Secrets Not Long Buried") as one of the many residents of the mutant-dominated community of Skull Mesa. Copycat appeared in the episode 25 from Wolverine and the X-Men attacked by the sentinels

Film

  • Vanessa Carlysle appears in Deadpool, portrayed by Morena Baccarin. Though she sports a telltale streak of white hair and references are made to the "roles" she has played, Vanessa has not demonstrated any mutant powers as of yet that relate to her comic-book counterpart. This is due to writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick deciding the reveal would be too confusing, although they have expressed interest in exploring the idea in a future story.[9] She is in a relationship with Wade Wilson to the point of engagement prior to him becoming Deadpool. Because of his transformation, Deadpool stopped seeing Vanessa, as he's afraid of her reaction to his hideous mutation. Later on while working at a strip club, Vanessa is abducted in the alley by Ajax and Angel Dust in order to lure Deadpool to a decommissioned Helicarrier. At first, upon being rescued by Deadpool following Ajax's death, Vanessa was angry at him for abandoning her. After learning about his plight, Vanessa reconciles with Deadpool.
  • Morena Baccarin reprises her role in Deadpool 2. At the beginning of the film, Vanessa celebrates her anniversary with Wade Wilson. As they discuss starting a family together, she is killed by a drug lord that followed Wilson home after he failed to kill him earlier. She later appears as a vision in the afterlife and tells Wilson that he must protect Russell Collins from Cable. After Deadpool sacrifces himself to save Russell, she appears again as the two are seemingly reunited, but she tells him it's not his time yet. Telling him that he has found his family, he is sent back. In a mid-credits scene, Vanessa is saved from her death by Deadpool's use of Cable's time-travel device, repaired by Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio.

References

  1. ↑ Deadpool 38-45 (Mar. through Oct. 2000), Marvel Comics
  2. ↑ X-Force 20-24 (Mar. through Jul 1993), Marvel Comics
  3. ↑ Cable 37 (Nov. 1996), Marvel Comics
  4. ↑ Deadpool 59 (Dec. 2001), Marvel Comics
  5. ↑ Deadpool v3, 27 (2014), Marvel Comics
  6. ↑ Deadpool 59 (Dec. 2001), Marvel Comics
  7. ↑ Weapon X 2 (Apr. 1995), Marvel Comics
  8. ↑ Richards, Dave. "THE AGE OF X COMMUNIQUÉS: Cannonball, Gambit, Revenant". Comic Book Resources.
  9. ↑ Eisenberg, Eric. "Deadpool Decided Not To Turn This Character Into A Mutant, Here's Why". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
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