Warlock (New Mutants)
Warlock is a
fictional character, a
cybernetic alien superhero in the
Marvel Comics universe, affiliated with the original
New Mutants, a
mutant superhero team. He was created by writer
Chris Claremont and artist
Bill Sienkewicz, and first appeared in
New Mutants #21 (November 1984).
Warlock is a member of the alien
Technarchy, a race of mechanical organisms that survive by infecting living creatures with the "techno-organic" transmode virus, before draining the life energy ("lifeglow") of the infected organism. Warlock, unlike others of his race, possesses a distinctive degree of compassion, and as a result has been described as a mutant himself. He is the son of the Technarch ruler,
Magus, who has battled the New Mutants and the
X-Men. Warlock served as a member of the original New Mutants for much of that group's existence, and became the best friend of his teammate Doug Ramsey, alias
Cypher, until Doug's death at the hands of the
Ani-Mator. Warlock was subsequently killed on the island nation of
Genosha during the "
X-Tinction Agenda"
crossover.
Warlock had a distinctive way of talking during his stint in the New Mutants comics, frequently referring to himself with the personal
pronoun "self", and to his teammates as "selffriends". Doug, thanks to selflessly offering his life energy to keep Warlock alive during a dangerous mission earned the unique honorific title of "selfsoulfriend" or "selfsoulfriendcypherdoug".
Later, a group of humans called the
Phalanx appeared. This group had been mutated into techno-organic forms via the transmode virus, which had been extracted from Warlock's corpse. One of the Phalanx was "
Douglock", a lookalike of Doug Ramsey who possessed all of Doug's memories and believed himself to actually be Doug Ramsey. Douglock joined the
European mutant team
Excalibur.
It was later revealed that Douglock was a reanimated Warlock who had been given Doug's memories. He then reverted to the name of Warlock and began a career as a solo adventurer, briefly starring in his own title,
Warlock, written by
Louise Simonson (who had previously been responsible for killing both Doug and the original Technarchy Warlock off) and drawn by
Paschalis Ferry. During his adventures, Warlock was joined by a young girl named Hope who he had unwittingly infected with the Techo-organic virus along with her pet monkey and a novice
psychic named Psimon.
A version of Warlock appeared in a two-part episode in the
X-Men animated series.
In the Ultimate X-Men
Magnetic North storyline, Doug Ramsey appears. Whether or not this will lead into the Technarchy storyline is to be determined. In this universe, the Doug Ramsey is based on
Ken Jennings of
Jeopardy fame and is not a mutant, simple a staggeringly intelligent human being. Warlock made a cameo in one issue where he was seen fighting the X-Men in a gigantic form. But this served primarily as an in-joke.
