Copycat (Marvel Comics)

Copycat
Copycat in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #4 (November 1993). Art by Joe Madureira.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	As Domino: The New Mutants #98 (February 1991) As Copycat: X-Force #19 (February 1993)
Created by	Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld
In-story information
Alter ego	Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Weapon X Six Pack X-Force New Mutants
Notable aliases	Titania, Garrison Kane, Domino, Nurse Veronica, Patricia Muggins, Christina Valentino, Cheryl Marks, Debbie, Marguerite, Amy and numerous others
Abilities	Shapeshifting Power mimicry

Copycat (Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a former member of X-Force.

Fictional character biography

Young mutant shape-shifter Vanessa Carlysle fell into a life of prostitution in Boston where she met and fell in love with mercenary Deadpool, (real name Wade Wilson). Carlysle was soon saved from Wilson’s vengeful employers by Zoe Culloden, a time-traveling agent of Landau, Luckman & Lake who had journeyed into the past to prevent Wilson’s eventual self-destruction. That night, Wilson broke up with Carlysle after learning he had cancer, leaving her heartbroken. Carlysle became a mercenary herself, eventually employed by arms dealer Tolliver.

Under his orders, Copycat infiltrated X-Force in the shape of Domino, while she was a prisoner. Her mission was to blow up X-Force's headquarters in order to kill Cable, but she became attached to the team members and failed her mission. Tolliver sent Deadpool to force her to set the bomb. Deadpool would be put in her place, if she refused. Deadpool blew Copycat's cover to X-Force and left them for dead after blowing up the complex without knowing that X-Force had already escaped.

Vanessa briefly hid herself under the false identity of a twin of one of her friends, Tina Valentino. Deadpool and his associate Sluggo finished by meeting with her, but they killed Tina instead, thinking they had killed her. She moved in with Garrison Kane in San Francisco, until Cable found them. She was subsequently captured by the emotion-manipulating Psycho-Man, who sought Kane’s advanced technology, but was rescued from the Microverse by Kane, Cable, Domino and the Microverse’s resident heroes, the Microns. Later, she broke up with Kane and came back to live with Deadpool. Deadpool's feelings towards Siryn grew, so she left him after having taken his appearance to attack her, in hopes of souring their potential relationship.

Some time later, Copycat was captured by Weapon X. The treatments of Weapon X destroyed her memory and she forgot her mission. Recruited by Sabretooth, Deadpool received an order to kill her. He tried to warn her, so Weapon X sent Kane to kill the both of them. The fight took them to a local zoo where Deadpool left her in a shapechanged gorilla form among other gorillas to fight against Kane. When he returned the other gorillas were dead and Copycat was dying from wounds inflicted by Sabertooth. She died shortly after in Deadpool's arms.

However, Deadpool had poured an amount of his blood in Copycat's wounds, which unknown to him healed her. Vanessa then took up the identity of an owner of a chimichanga stand, and later cheated Deadpool out of one of his past marriages.

Powers and abilities

Copycat is such a powerful and precise metamorph that she can duplicate another being down to the cellular level. Because of this she is able to replicate superhuman powers, abilities, and even mental imprints so closely that telepaths have trouble identifying her. Copycat simply requires knowledge to duplicate someone's appearance, but needs physical contact to duplicate anything else. She is also capable of turning into animals, finding these forms easier to maintain than human shape. Weapon X modified her powers by accelerating the rate at which she could duplicate others. However, as a side effect of this enhancement, Copycat began to lose her memory and was unable to hold any solid form for long periods of time.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

Copycat in the Age of Apocalypse. Amazing X-Men #1, art by Andy Kubert.

In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Copycat was a member of the Brotherhood of Chaos, an elite religious group affiliated to the Church of the Madri. She served alongside other members such as Madison Jeffries and Spyne. She was often referred to as Sister Vanessa or Sister Carlysle. Using her shape shifting powers, Copycat was able to hide incognito amongst the humans who had hoped to flee North America and was able to discover the site of the Sentinel Evacuation while in their midst. Vanessa led the Brotherhood to emigration site in Maine and there they clashed with the Amazing X-Men. In an attempt to elude the X-Man Quicksilver, Copycat posed as Scarlet Witch, but was forced to revert to her normal self by Dazzler. Both Copycat and Box were able to escape the X-Men and conceal themselves, posing as humans, and escaped to Europe. They were discovered at a checkpoint and provided a distraction for a group of Altered Humans to pass through, but were subsequently hunted down by Weapon X and Jean Grey, with the latter slaying Vanessa in the process.

Age of X

In the Age of X reality, Copycat infiltrated Cannonball's X-Force when she worked for the Human Coalition. She was unmasked and killed by Husk.

In other media

Television

• Copycat appeared in the X-Men episode "Sanctuary". She appears amongst the mutants on Asteroid M. Copycat later appears in "Secrets Not Long Buried", where she is one of the many residents of the mutant-dominated community of Skull Mesa.

Film

• In X2: X-Men United, Copycat's name appears when Mystique was going through the files on William Stryker's computer.
• Vanessa will appear in Deadpool, portrayed by Morena Baccarin. She is shown to be in a relationship with Wade Wilson prior to his becoming Deadpool.

External links

• Copycat at the Marvel Universe wiki
• MarvelDatabase:Copycat
• UncannyXmen.net Spotlight On Copycat