Frederick Dukes

**Frederick "Fred" J. Dukes** (*Blob*) is a mutant whose latent superhuman powers manifested themselves when he reached puberty. His major weaknesses were his short temper, lack of foresight, lack of intelligence, and easily-manipulated self-esteem.. Thinking of himself as no more than, in his own words, "an extra-strong freak," Fred used his superhuman mutant powers as a performer in a carnival.

## Powers

**Superhuman Durability:** Fred's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. The fat tissues that comprise Fred's epidermis are able to absorb the impact of rifle bullets, cannonballs, bazooka blasts, and even torpedoes. The fat tissue of his epidermis is resilient enough to revert to its normal shape within seconds after deformation caused by impact. Fred's skin is virtually impervious to physical injury; it cannot be punctured or lacerated by most known materials, frostbite, or ravaged by any skin disease, due in part to the skin's great elasticity and toughness and in part to the highly accelerated rate at which his skin cells grow and replace themselves. It is not yet known if there is an upper limit to Fred's ability to absorb impacts; he easily survived a head-on collision with a bus traveling at a hundred miles per hour.

* ***Pain Immunity:*** Fred's nerve endings do not relay any tactile perception to his brain, which is near the threshold of pain, making it so that he is unable to feel pain.
* ***Trapping:*** Fred is able to capture anything that attacks him within his flesh, including limbs and projectiles. He is able to control how long he holds the object and releasing it with or without the recoil pressure. However, it takes Fred's full concentration to trap an object or individual. If he were to focus on something else or get distracted, he would lose control of his muscles and release whoever or whatever he was holding with his body.
* ***Projectile Redirection:*** After Fred's body absorbs the kinetic energy of a projectile's impact, he can expel the object back. For example, if a projectile was shot at him, it would be embedded within Fred's body and, by flexing the muscles where the projectile is at, he can cause the projectile to recoil with half of the force of impact, reflecting it back at half speed. Fred can also recoil a punch thrown at him and throw an opponent back a good distance.
* ***Mass Shifting:*** Through training, Fred is now able to manipulate his mass to mimic shape-shifting, using it to enhance the size of his limbs and extend them. He can make his fists the size of a human.

**Polymorphic Liquefaction:** After undergoing the Mothervine enhancement process, Fred developed a secondary mutation enabling him to transform his body into liquid.

## Abilities

**Hand-to-Hand Combat:** Fred is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Although he possesses no formal training, his great size coupled with his strength and resistance to injury render him a highly efficient and effective street fighter.

**Physical Attributes:** While not superhuman, Fred has higher speed, agility, and stamina than his size would indicate, which he often uses to surprise his opponents.

## Weaknesses

**Orifices:** Fred's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose are vulnerable to injury since they are open orifices.

**Mutant Growth Hormone:** Fred is dependent on mutant growth hormone to maintain his powers.