Emplate

Emplate
250px Emplate. Art by Chris Bachalo
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Generation X #1 (1994)
Created by	Scott Lobdell Chris Bachalo
In-story information
Alter ego	Marius St. Croix
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Hellions
Partnerships	D.O.A.
Notable aliases	M-Plate
Abilities	Interdimensional travel, Invisibility, Intangibility, Fanged mouths in the palms of hands, Ability to see and "read" mutant auras, Ability to duplicate a mutant's abilities once he has sampled their marrow Able to transform others into beings like himself

Emplate (Marius St. Croix) is a fictional character, a mutant supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Generation X #1, and was created by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo. Emplate would serve as one of the major antagonists to the Generation X comic book series during its run.

Fictional character biography

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 from Chamber'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 switching sides 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

Monet, Cartier, and Marius taken from Generation X #58 written by Jay Farber and Darrick Robertson

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 Nocturne 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.

Beyond M-Day

Since the events of M-Day, where the Scarlet Witch depowered 90% of the mutant population, Emplate has retained his powers.

Emplate reappears on the former site of the Xavier Institute, where he kills a few construction workers currently working on the site. He later reappears on Utopia and after watching Madison Jeffries and Danger, he attacks them; 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.^[1]

Emplate captures Bling! and brings her to his dimension. After a brief struggle with Bling!, Emplate proceeds to feed upon her, causing her to pass out. 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 enters 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.^[2]

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.^[3] 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 Bling!, together with Rogue, knock him out and send him back to his dimension where he is tormented by the beasts in the Glass Moon.^[4]

Powers and abilities

In order to remain on this physical plane, Emplate must suck on the bone marrow of other mutants. He does so with the aid of vampiric mouths in the palms of his hands. Once he has sampled a mutant's marrow, he can duplicate their powers. While in this plane of existence, he can remain unsynched with our reality so as to be invisible. He can also see a mutant's "aura" and tell various things about him or her by that. If he is unable to receive enough marrow, he is thrown into a pocket dimension where he is tortured (it is due to this torture that Emplate cannot survive without the use of his respirator). Like true vampires, he can somehow turn others into "Emplates" like himself.

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 had a group of lackeys that were not named in the comic book series. For advertising purposes, they were called the Hellions, but this name was never used by either Emplate or his followers.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Emplate was a member of Sinister's Elite Mutant Force, alongside his sisters, the Monet Twins who were under Emplate's control. He was killed by Cyclops' father, Christopher Summers.

Footnotes

1. ^ X-Men: Legacy Annual #1 (2009)
2. ^ X-Men: Legacy #228
3. ^ X-Men: Legacy #229
4. ^ X-Men: Legacy #230

External links

• Emplate at Uncannyxmen.net