Biography[]
Early Life[]
Emplate was born Marius St. Croix, the brother of Generation X's M (Monet) and the M-Twins (Nicole & Claudette). When his mutant powers first manifested, his sisters were disgusted, especially Monet. In retaliation, Marius somehow turned Monet into the mute and diamond-skinned Penance. With their sister missing, Nicole and Claudette turned to Marius for answers, blaming him for her supposed death. They opened a dimensional portal to imprison Marius; afterwards, he called after Penance to join him, saying that only he could cure her. She followed after him and became his slave and "dinner" until the events of Generation X #1. The twins panicked and decided that they would pose as their missing sister so that their parents wouldn't be angry (as they thought that Monet was their favorite child). It was in these roles that the characters would be introduced to readers.
Encounters with Generation X[]
In this other dimension, Marius was under extreme torture by some unknown beings, and traversing between dimensions was characterized as a thousand hands ripping at his flesh. Due to this torture, Marius had to acquire a respirator to aid in his breathing. Still he had to feed, and, fueled on by the marrow of the captive Penance, Emplate would periodically travel to our plane of reality. In one of these trips he encountered Chamber and tried to feed off of his powerful energy signature, but Generation X arrived in time to save him. When they returned to the Massachusetts Academy, the team found Penance passed out on their lawn. She had been shuttled by the enigmatic Aborigine mutant Gateway, whose only word to the confused team was "Penance". Emplate attacked the Academy and transformed Synch into an Emplate. He transported Synch to his home of St. Louis and the girls of Generation X followed him. With their help Synch was able to remember his humanity and fight the hunger within him, releasing him from Emplate's thrall. Emplate later assembled a team to torment Generation X that included Murmur, Bulwark, Vincente, and D.O.A.. In an uncharacteristic move, Emplate not only recruited mutants for his team but a human as well: a woman named Gayle Edgerton fromChamber's past. Chamber had unintentionally paralyzed Gayle when his powers first manifested and Emplate offered her a chance for revenge, turning her into one of his vampiric minions. They were successful in capturing the young mutants, but with the help of Bishop and Penance's realigment of alliances they were successful in stopping the team.
M-Plate[]
Changing the roster a bit, Emplate attempted to harm the team again. His timing was very inopportune, as Monet had been knocked unconscious and had split back into the twins. They awoke from their comas to see their brother standing over them, and, recognizing that he was in pain, attempted to help him. The twins rejoined into their M form and then grabbed a hold of their brother and joined with him also, forming an amalgamated being calling itself M-Plate. This form had aspects of both forms, but also displayed new powers and new malevolent plans. M-Plate traveled to a place on the edge of Time called the Citadel of the Universal Amalgamator, which was a weapon of vast power that could merge every individual consciousness into a giant "godhead". Wishing to control every conscious being, M-Plate set to use the weapon, but failed in her/his attempts. The being was split apart when the mutant rat Dirtnap swallowed her/him and began to digest him/her. The digestion process forced the three beings to separate and attempt to escape (individually and in pairs). The stress of the escape attempt caused Dirtnap to explode but also freed the girls from their brother's evil influence.
Emplate's Hellions[]
Emplate once again tried to capture Penance, this time with a new group of "Hellions". Their ranks consisted of Wrap another mummified mutant whose body was made of raw energy which increased his strength, Vincente who now had the ability to change the chemical composition of his vaporous form, a female named Ebon who could release psionic bolts of energy which disrupt the central nervous system of her targets or destabilize molecular bonds in inorganic materials, and the ubiquitous D.O.A. Despite their new roster, their attempts failed. In the process, Emplate and his minions battled Generation X. Jubilee blew up Proudstar Hall which caused the M-Twins to be knocked free from the Penance body, and Emplate to be knocked unconscious.
Feeding Time[]
Emplate reappears on the former site of the Xavier Institute, where he kills a few construction workers currently working on the site. Later reappears on Utopia and after watching Madison Jeffries and Danger, he attacks them and after taking out Danger he manages to sample Jeffries. The X-Men arrive and after defeating them he fades back to his reality. There he reveals to D.O.A. that Penance is no longer with them but from the information he gathered from Jeffries, he sets his sights on Bling. Emplate captures Bling! and brings her to his dimension. After a brief struggle with Bling!, Emplate proceeds to feed upon her, causing her to passout. After talking to D.O.A. and feeling his tormentors approaching, Emplate prepares to feed again so he may survive his next encounter with them. He enter's Bling's prison and after Bling manages to get a bit of his backstory, he feeds on her again and goes to his tormentors telling them to feast and be damned. When Rogue comes after Emplate trying to rescue Bling, D.O.A. sends some vicious creatures to attack and kill her. He informs Emplate of Rogue's rescue attempt and he decides to kill Bling! in case the X-Men are tracking him through her. Rogue escapes the creatures and teams up with Bling! in a surprise attack on him when he tries to feed on her one last time. During the fight, Rogue and Emplate absorb each other's powers and continue to fight until Rogue returns to her body. Emplate's house is brought to the X-Men's Utopia where, thanks to the X-Club, he becomes trapped. He attempts a final time to kill Bling but she, together with Rogue, knock him out and send him back to his dimension where he is tormented by the beasts in the Glass Moon.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Energy Siphoning: ability to siphon mutant energy from the bone marrow of mutants, by way of the feeder mouths on his hands. If he siphons a person’s entire energy force from him or her, the victim dies. It is unknown how often Emplate must siphon energy force from another mutant to survive. When feeding from a victim he cancels out their powers. He is also capable of using the powers he has siphoned, in doing so he takes on some of their attributes. After multiple feedings he gains the power permanently.
Diamond Skin: due to siphoning power from penance for so long, Emplate possesses skin that is almost diamond hard though it makes him highly resilient to injury.
Energy Vampire: If Emplate drains only part of a victims energy, Emplate achieves a measure of psychic control over his victim’s mind. Through unknown means, Emplate can cause a mutant to become an energy vampire like himself, but is subordinate to Emplate’s own will.
Psionic Detection: ability to know various details about a mutants powers and their surface thoughts and memories. This ability also makes him an excellent tracker allowing him to locate individuals by innate knowledge and seeing their psionic aura.
Dimensional Shifting: ability to shift slightly outside of this dimension, into the space between dimensions. This gives him invisibility and phasing power on a somewhat limited scale.
Weaknesses[]
Extra-dimensional Teleportation: Lack of feeding transports him to an extra-dimension. Though this dimension is a place of extreme torture to him, only when he has fed is he capable of escaping the pull of the dimension, but when he hasn’t he is automatically transported here and subject to abuse that brings him to near death.(it is due to this torture that Emplate cannot survive without the use of his respirator).
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment[]
Specially designed respirator
Notes[]
- Bishop once stated that in his future there were a group called the Emplates, who resembled Emplate and preyed on mutants. Since later it was discovered that Emplate can "infect" another individual with his powers, it makes sense that Emplate would be the progenitor of the group from Bishop's timeline.
- Emplate's group of lackeys were without name, for advertising purposes, they were called the Hellions, but this name was never used by either Emplate or his followers.