Blob

**Blob** is a character from *Marvel Comics*.

## Biography

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

## Origin

Blob is a mutant, which is a human who exhibits a genetic mutation, called the X-Gene, on the 23rd chromosome. The activation of this X-Gene leads to the production of an unspecified protein which produces chemical signals that induces mutations in other genes. Due to the nature of this specific mutation, mutants are capable of manifesting any type of abnormal powers or abilities.

## Powers

**Superhuman Durability:** Blob's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. The fat tissues that comprise Blob'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. It is virtually impervious to physical injury. Blob's skin cannot be punctured or lacerated by most known materials, frostbitten, 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 Blob's ability to absorb impacts. He can easily survive a head-on collision with a bus traveling at 100 miles per hour or even an highly ferrous meteorite 50 feet in diameter falling on top of him at terminal velocity.

* ***Pain Immunity:*** Blob'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.

Blob is able to capture anything that attacks him with his flesh, including limbs and projectiles. He is able to control how long he holds the object and can release it with or without recoil pressure. However, it takes Blob's full concentration and focus to trap an object or individual, and if he were to focus on something else or get distracted by an attack from another person, he would lose control of his muscles and release who or whatever he was holding with his body.

After Blob'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 Blob's body and, by flexing the muscles where the projectile hit him, he can cause the projectile to recoil with half the force of impact, reflecting it back at half speed. Blob can also recoil a punch thrown at him and throw the opponent back a good distance.

* ***Mass Shifting:*** Blob is also capable of manipulating his mass to mimic shapeshifting due to his training with Onslaught and Sledge. He can use this ability to enhance the size of his limbs and extend them. He demonstrating being able to make his fists the size of a human. This talent was further enhanced when he underwent a secondary mutation, granting him the ability to stretch his limbs to an undetermined extent. When he first manifested this ability, he quickly lost control and liquified into a puddle.