MORPH: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

With Hyperion defeated and the Crystal Palace under their control, things were on the up for the team, who had decided to stay together after all. However, things took a tragic turn when the group returned their teammate Beak to his home reality. By happenstance, the reality had recently been transformed into a mutant-filled world ruled by Magneto and his House of M. In this altered state, some who had been deceased now lived again, such as the dangerous Proteus. When the team encountered him, Proteus tormented the Exiles with visions of their worst fears, which for Morph was the resurrected corpse of Sunfire. When Proteus possessed Mimic during the battle, he gained access to all of Mimic’s memories. Learning that there were thousands of other realities out there, the monster quickly escaped into the multiverse. [Exiles (1st series) #69-71]

Feeling responsible and wanting to rescue their possessed teammate, the Exiles tracked Proteus to a New Universe and tried to use the resources of the Panoptichron to form a plan. By intercepting Proteus’ intended target, Ken Connell, wielder of the Starbrand, the Exiles hoped to set a trap for the villain. Unfortunately, Connell was wary of the strangers and attacked Sabertooth, driving him into a berserker rage. Morph was forced to intervene, ensnaring Victor within his own body in order to calm the man down. While they still managed to pull their plan together, the Exiles failed in capturing Proteus, who abandoned Mimic’s desiccated corpse and fled to another reality. With Mimic dead, Morph and Blink were the only original members left on the Exiles. [Exiles (1st series) #72-74]

Before attacking Proteus again, Heather devised a plan to prevent any other member of the team from being possessed by the monster. For the rest of the team, metal strips were surgically implanted in their heads. As Morph had no real organs, however, he had to simply absorb the metal piece into his putty-like form and hold it there. Unfortunately for him, this would prove to be a liability rather than an asset.

A few short worlds later, Morph once against faced Proteus, who now possessed the massive body of Hulk 2099. During their battle, Proteus struck Morph so hard that his spongy body ejected the metal strip, leaving him vulnerable to the killer. Proteus seized the opportunity and possessed Morph, finding the malleable shapeshifter a surprisingly perfect fit. Morph's body showed no signs of breaking down at all, meaning Proteus had found a permanent home for his energy form. [Exiles (1st series) #75, 79-80]

The Exiles didn’t give up on their friend, though. By taking behavior modification technology from the Squadron Supreme's world, they were able to trick Proteus and reprogram his thoughts so that he could only access Morph's memories. Proteus' energy form was now trapped inside a body that would never break down, while Proteus's mind was convinced that he really WAS Morph. [Exiles (1st series) #81-82]

The Morph-that-was-really-Proteus went on the serve alongside the Exiles for some time without incident. This came to an end during a conflict between the Exiles and the Maker, an evolved Cosmic Cube manipulating people like puppets. During their battle, “Morph” had a full relapse into Proteus's personality. Despite the reversion, Proteus still felt the inexplicable urge to help his fellow Exiles stay alive and fight off the Maker's machinations. After some confusion, Proteus realized that the original Morph still existed within his mind and had not been assimilated like his other hosts of the past. The two souls reached an accord, as Proteus recognized that, through Morph, he had finally found a place where he belonged and Morph's compassion and empathy had affected him more than he realized. Working together, Morph and Proteus defeated the Maker and saved the Exiles. They began acting as a symbiotic mind, both personas seamlessly transitioning between one another while interacting with others. [New Exiles Annual #1] 

Sometime later, though, Proteus and Morph were completely separated by forces beyond their control. The crystalline structure of the Panoptichron reacted to the Exiles' continued presence in its walls by absorbing them into the crystal itself. The Crystal Palace somehow differentiated between Proteus and Morph, absorbing the former into the crystal walls while leaving the latter unscathed. [Exiles (2nd series) #6]

Soon after, Morph was reunited with teammates Blink, Heather and Nocturne, who were all drawn back to the Crystal Palace by mysterious forces. Reasoning that the Panoptichron wasn't letting them go for some reason, they decided to recreate the Exiles until they could unravel the mystery. Morph and the others recruited five new Exiles, pulling them from their home realities at the moment of their death. Rather than tell them the whole truth, Morph and the others presented them with the Timebroker scenario to explain the situation, with Morph acting as the Timebroker. 

Lying, it seems, did not come to Morph and Blink as well as it had to the Timebreakers and the new recruits soon saw through the ruse and confronted the older Exiles. Morph and the other original Exiles were forced to come clean with their recruits about the Panoptichron and the previous Exiles teams. Together, the two teams discovered the consciousness of a benevolent Kang hidden away in the structure of the Crystal Palace. They learned that spending too much time at the Crystal Palace inside The Eye of Time causes people to become one with the crystal involuntarily. Together, the old Exiles and new agreed to work together to continue repairing the multiverse. [Exiles (2nd series) #1-6]

Eventually, Blink retired from saving dimensions, but Morph and the other Exiles stayed on. During one mission to investigated a rift in timespace, Morph became separated from his teammates. While waiting at the meet-up point on a world full of hippie Atlanteans, the shapeshifter was surprised to see Blink there. His former teammate had been bound up with a new team of reality hoppers who were fighting to stop the enigmatic Timer-Eater. Unfortunately, neither were able to have much time to reconnect before the Time-Eater consumed that reality. [Exiles (3rd series) #3]

Fortunately, Morph survived the destruction of that world and escaped to a Wild West world at the last second. There, he reconnected with his teammate Nocturne, but unfortunately both were almost immediately placed under the mental control of the corrupt Pastor Xavier. Coincidently, Blink and her new Exiles soon arrived on that that world and came into conflict with Xavier and his mind-controlled Brotherhood. Blink was able to help free Morph and Nocturne from Xavier’s control and Morph helped distract the madman long enough for Blink to kill him. Unfortunately, the Pastor was able to let out one last vengeful mind blast which killed Morph. The original Exile died in his old friend Blink’s arms. [Exiles (3rd series) #7]