# Cypher (Marvel Comics)

Cypher (Douglas "Doug" Aaron Ramsey) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appears usually in the X-Men family of books, in particular those featuring the New Mutants, of which Cypher has been a member. He is a mutant with the ability to easily understand any language, whether spoken or written.
The character is not related to the female cyborg of the same name who first appeared in Sabretooth and Mystique #1 and is a member of A.I.M.

## Publication history

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Sal Buscema, the character first appeared in The New Mutants #13 (March 1984). Initially used as a supporting cast member, he was assimilated into the titular superteam in The New Mutants #21 (1984). During his run as a member of the team, Cypher was the least popular of the New Mutants, as series writer Louise Simonson recounted: "He wasn't fun to draw. He just stood around and hid behind a tree during a fight... Every artist who ever did him said 'Can't we kill this guy?' We would get letters from fans about how much they hated him. We never got any letters from people saying they liked him until he was dead."
Cypher was killed in The New Mutants #60 (1988). The story was acclaimed as one of the most touching moments in the series, and sparked a surge in popularity for the character. Following his death, Cypher was frequently referenced and even had a solo story in The New Mutants Annual #6 (1990), appearing as a ghost. His tombstone appears as one of Magneto's most traumatic memories when psychically assaulted by Professor X and Jean Grey. After the events of the Phalanx Covenant, a techno-organic being known as "Douglock" takes Cypher's form in Excalibur #78 (1994), but this being turns out to be Warlock infused with Cypher's memories.
The character was brought back to life during the 2009-2010 "Necrosha" storyline and appeared regularly between The New Mutants (Vol. 3) #5 (2009) through The New Mutants (Vol. 3) #50 (2012) and again in All-New X-Factor (2014-2015).

## Fictional character biography

Doug Ramsey was born to Philip and Sheila Ramsey. Doug became friends with Kitty Pryde, whom he met after she moved to Westchester County to join Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and with whom he shared an interest in video games, computers and computer technology. Kitty's talent for building hardware complemented Doug's skill at writing software.
Professor X suspected Doug possessed a mutant power, probably connected with communications, but did not approach him to join the school, perhaps feeling a passive power might go unnoticed. Subsequently, Doug was offered a scholarship to attend Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy. He did not know at the time that Emma Frost was one of the X-Men's adversaries. When Kitty Pryde accompanied him on his first trip to the Massachusetts Academy, she was captured, and later rescued by the New Mutants. Though Doug's memory of the mutant related events was wiped by Frost, he did not accept the scholarship for reasons not elaborated on.
Doug became a member of the New Mutants after the arrival of the techno-organic alien Warlock, whose inability to communicate with the children requires them to seek out Doug to use his linguistic abilities. In so doing, it is revealed to Doug that both he and they are mutants, and superheroes. With Doug's predisposition for technology, and being more readily able to understand Warlock than most others, the two of them became fast friends. Whereas Warlock referred to his teammates with the prefix "selfriend", eventually, after Doug saves his life by offering to share some of his life energy with Warlock, Warlock gives Doug the unique identifier of "Selfsoulfriend".
Doug's mutant power is 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 is human, computer or even completely alien. His power is not related to his intellect, but it often allows him to make leaps of comprehension that he cannot explain to anyone else, but which are invariably accurate. He was, for instance, able to translate the language of a long-dead species, without any common terms of reference, within a matter of hours. An established hacker, he became the team's computer expert and researcher, writing programs for the X-Men's Danger Room.
Doug was the only one of the original New Mutants who never told his parents he was a mutant, as he feared rejection.
Despite being instrumental in many of his team's successful missions, including those involving saving lives, Doug suffered from occasional feelings of inadequacy. These feelings were driven by his lack of action-oriented powers and the way Warlock often encapsulated him to provide defense in times of danger. This was illustrated during a journey to Asgard, where he was defeated in combat by a serving maid.
Later, Warlock explained to Doug that they could perform a "self-merge" in which they merged the substance of their bodies to create a being with Doug's form but Warlock's techno-organic surface texture. This allowed them full access to both their powers, but ran a severe risk of irreversibly infecting Doug with the Transmode virus and turning him into a techno-organic being like Warlock.
Cypher used his abilities to discover a means of saving Lila Cheney's Dyson Sphere homebase from destruction.

### Romances and death

When introduced, Doug was already close friends with Kitty Pryde. Kitty was having issues both with the divorce of her parents and with her uncertain relationship with Piotr Rasputin, and Doug was there for her. He was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her as evidenced by the illusion Emma Frost created to distract him, but Kitty was uncertain and eventually they decided to remain friends.
Cypher helped rescue Betsy Braddock from Mojo. This involved venturing deep into Braddock's mind and rescuing her psyche from being torn apart by Spiral. The shared experience created a deep emotional bond between the two, though their different ages created awkward feelings between them. Later, Doug entered a relationship with teammate Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane, which was cut short by his death not long thereafter.
Alongside the other New Mutants, Doug temporarily joined the Hellions. When the Magus attacked, Doug reprogrammed the Magus into an infant state.
After the team rescued a humanoid bird creature named Bird-Brain, Doug was initially jealous of Rahne's affection for him, but after Doug managed to understand and translate the creature's language, he and Rahne bonded with Bird-Brain. When Bird-Brain set out to free the other mutants enslaved by the Ani-Mator, a geneticist working for Cameron Hodge, the New Mutants followed him. Though the Ani-Mator was defeated, he fatally shot Doug, who took a bullet intended for Rahne.
Magneto, leader of the New Mutants at the time, explained Doug's death to his parents as a 'hunting accident'. A grief-stricken Warlock tried to steal Doug's body in a confused attempt to reanimate it, but his teammates convinced him to return the body. Doug's ghost later appeared to Wolfsbane when she visited his grave in the cemetery. He later appeared in a fantasy staged by Captain Britain's patron Merlyn to aid Excalibur in exposing and battling the vengeful spirit of the late X-Men member Changeling.

### Douglock

Warlock was subsequently murdered by Cameron Hodge during the "X-Tinction Agenda" storyline, and his ashes were scattered on Doug's grave at the request of Wolfsbane. Later the alien Phalanx, a corrupt subset of the more powerful alien race known as the Technarchy (Warlock's species), resurrected Warlock with Doug's memories and appearance, intending to use him as a "Trojan horse" to infiltrate the X-Men. This gestalt entity, called Douglock, broke free of the Phalanx's programming, and joins Excalibur for a time. Unaware of his real identity as Warlock, "Douglock" believed himself to be a new entity based on the "genetic and mental engrams" of Cypher and Warlock. This new entity had another relationship with Wolfsbane. He became a valued part of Excalibur, and a mentor to Meggan, who needed further basic schooling.
After Excalibur disbanded, Warlock's personality resurfaced, but exhibited more human speech patterns and appearance. Warlock manifested Doug's translation powers and maintained a copy of Doug's memory, but his personality was not active.

### Necrosha and resurrection

Cypher was resurrected via the Transmode Virus by Selene and Eli Bard. After Selene tasked him to kill Magma, he clubbed Magma. He was confronted by his teammates, during which he displayed a greatly enhanced ability to read body language and anticipate actions, but was dispatched by his teammates. Warlock attempted to restore Cypher's true personality, but was incapacitated by a trojan programming code, after which Cypher decapitated him. Cypher was then kidnapped by the Hellions, who wished to reprogram him, but was rescued by his teammates, who severed his connection to Selene, restoring his original personality and free will.
The transmode virus which rebuilt his body was still present, but Cypher reprogrammed it to be in permanent remission.

### Second Coming

In the 2010 "Second Coming" storyline, Doug analyzed a fight between the New Mutants and Cameron Hodge and concluded the New Mutants would be killed. He therefore convinced Warlock to kill and absorb Hodge and several of his men. Later, Doug joined X-Force on a time-travelling mission to stop an invasion of advanced Sentinels from the future. Cable and Cypher infiltrate a Master Mold installation and attempt to hack into the grid, but Mold discovered Cypher and tried to assimilate him to add his linguistic skills to its own. However, in doing so, it allowed Cypher access to its programming. He subsequently overrode Mold and deactivated all the Nimrods invading Utopia.

### Regenesis

Following the schism of the X-Men, Cypher, with most of the New Mutants, decided to move to San Francisco. While maintaining a sense of independence from both Cyclops' and Wolverine's sides of the X-Men, they still reported to Cyclops, cleaning up "unfinished business."
Cypher played a key role in defeating a future version of himself called Truefriend, which had taken over the world by splicing Warlock's tech into people under the guise of helping them. With the help of Doctor Strange, Truefriend was prevented from coming into existence.

### All-New X-Factor

Cypher appeared as a regular member of All-New X-Factor, along with Gambit, Polaris, Danger, Quicksilver, and Warlock. He nearly died after having contact with a girl whose power was to drain life from living organisms. He also had sex with Danger, supposedly in an attempt to help the sentient female robot understand human behavior.

### Hunt for Wolverine

Cypher isolated himself to focus on decoding the entire Internet. However, his powers would not allow him to stop once he began, causing him to develop an addiction to Internet use. He became a hermit, living in a dilapidated shack in New Jersey. During the "Hunt for Wolverine" storyline, Cypher was approached by Daredevil, Misty Knight, and Nur for help in finding Wolverine after his corpse disappeared from his grave. Initially unresponsive and hostile when Nur cut off his Internet access, Cypher eventually calmed down and agreed to assist, though abstaining from Internet use affected him negatively. When the investigation took them to Saskatchewan, Cypher, while alone, was attacked by Wolverine's cyborg clone Albert, who slashed his throat. Cypher barely survived this injury and was healed by the medical suite on Nur's Inhuman ship. Following leads to a facility owned by a corporation named Soteria, Cypher was able to recover data that Soteria operatives had begun deleting. At the investigation's conclusion, Cypher admitted his addiction and turned to Daredevil for help. His Internet addiction subsequently stabilized.
Cypher also worked alongside Daredevil to bring down Kingpin, who had taken over from Matt Murdock as Mayor of New York.

### Dawn of X

As part of Moira MacTaggert's plan to safeguard the future of mutants, Cypher traveled to Krakoa with Professor Xavier and contacted the sentient island with his powers. He also helped to terraform the island and establish it as a mutant homeland. Cypher sat on the Quiet Council and acted as the voice of Krakoa. In addition to his Quiet Council duties, Cypher participated in the New Mutants' space mission to visit Cannonball, missions to help Nightcrawler and Storm, and was one of Krakoa's representatives in the X of Swords tournament.
At the banquet prior to the X of Swords tournament, Cypher was poisoned by War, who had intended to poison Wolverine. The White Sword healed Cypher, calling War's ploy cowardly.
During the tournament, Cypher was slated to face off with Bei the Blood Moon, a member of the opposing team from Arakko. However, rather than fight, Saturnyne forced the two to marry, earning each of their teams a point for completing the ceremony. Though they were largely strangers to each other, Cypher was fascinated by Bei due to his inability to understand her (a result of her psionic powers conflicting with his own). During Annihilation's invasion of Otherworld at the end of the tournament, Cypher convinced his new wife to betray her Arakkii comrades and help the Krakoans fight the forces of Amenth.
Despite the circumstances of their marriage and their communication barrier, Cypher and Bei remained married after the tournament and lived together happily on Krakoa.
After the Quiet Council was revealed to potentially be under the influence of Mister Sinister, the council voted to disband. Krakoa quickly swallowed Cypher into the ground and trapped him in its subterranean prison, the Pit. Hope Summers, using her powers to duplicate Cypher's, attempted to convince the island to release him to no avail. Distraught by the disappearance of her beloved husband, Bei employed numerous scent trackers and telepaths to locate him, but none could detect his presence on Krakoa.
Cypher was eventually released during the X-Men's counteroffensive against the terrorist group Orchis and helped deactivate Orchis' Sentinels. He later assisted in remerging the fractured Krakoa.

### Heir of Apocalypse

After the fall of Krakoa, Apocalypse conceded that his methods had become outdated and began to search for an heir. He held a tournament in which twelve chosen participants, including Cypher, would compete to be his successor. Ultimately, Cypher won the tournament. Transformed by Celestial technology into Revelation, he committed himself to evolving Apocalypse's legacy and protecting mutantkind on Earth.

## Powers and abilities

Cypher is a mutant who possesses a superhuman intuitive facility for translating languages, spoken or written, human or alien in origin. His superhuman skill is extended to his great facility in deciphering codes and computer languages, and he is also able to read inflection and body language which allows him to understand the vast subtext of a conversation. Rather than working the problem out step by step in his conscious mind, he instead subconsciously solves the problem. Hence, he can reach the correct solution by means that appear to be leaps of logic, and he himself may not be consciously aware of the entire process by which he reaches the right answer.
Since his resurrection by Selene's use of a modified techno-organic virus, Cypher's powers have evolved to the point where he can read all aspects of "language." He is able to read his opponents' body language and the patterns of their combat moves to counter the attacks of several opponents attacking him at once. By considering the exercise of combat skills to be a form of language, he proved a match for the entire New Mutant team. He is able to "read" architectural structure and integrity to ascertain a building's weaknesses. He also appears capable of "speaking" binary; giving verbal commands in machine code that can reprogram the machine.
Cypher is an expert in translating and designing computer software. He took university-level courses in languages and computer science. He can hack some of the most protected computers.
Cypher has been infected by techno-organic viruses on multiple occasions. The presence of the virus has allowed him at times to cheat death and to demonstrate techno-organic shapeshifting, transmode infection, and life-absorption abilities.
Cypher was taught by an imprisoned Magik how to cast a mystical teleportation spell which allows him to transport himself and others to either Hell or Hel.
Cypher is the only mutant who can communicate with the island Krakoa and interpret the island's sentiments.
Cypher's powers render him unable to understand any being who communicates without language. For example, Bei the Blood Moon's Doom Note is a sound and not a language, thus Cypher is incapable of understanding it, regardless of the Doom Note's psionic translation of itself to be understood by all who hear it.
Cypher gained additional powers after being greatly enhanced by Celestial technology and transformed into Revelation.

## Reception

In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Cypher 48th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.

## Other versions
### Fear the Future/Fight the Future

An alternate timeline variant of Cypher who took over Earth using Warlock's technology and became known as Truefriend appears in the "Fear the Future" storyline.

### Age of Apocalypse

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-295 appears in Age of Apocalypse. This version is the adopted son of Destiny and lives in Avalon. He is later killed protecting Destiny from the Shadow King.

### Age of X

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-11326 appears in "Age of X". This version is an ally of Magneto who was infected with an alien substance, giving him the ability to regenerate his body and control technology.

### Days of Future Present

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-811 appears in "Days of Future Present". This version was infected with the transmode virus and transformed into a cyborg.

### Exiles

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-8545 appears in the Exiles story arc "Legacy". This version was fused with Warlock after being infected with the Legacy Virus, creating a new virus called Vi-Lock that infects over half of Earth's population. Cypher is subsequently kept in stasis before being killed by one of the infected.

### Geshem

A medieval-themed alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-1991 appears in the graphic novel Rahne of Terra and its sequel, Knight of Terra.

### House of M

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-58163 appears in House of M. This version is a teacher at the New Mutant Leadership Institute.

### Marvel Zombies

A zombified alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-2149 appears in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth.

### Shattershot

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-84309 appears in X-Force Annual #1. This version is a member of X-Force who fused with Warlock while retaining his memories, becoming known as Cyberlock.

### Ultimate Marvel

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. This version is a human computer programmer and a student at Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow. During the "Ultimatum" storyline, he is killed by Jamie Madrox.

### What If?

An alternate universe variant of Cypher from Earth-904 appears in What If...? #12. This version is a scholar and Storm's vizier after she becomes queen of Asgard.