To reiterate
I distinguish composite super beings from "power mimics"
like the Super Adaptoid or Amazo who gain their powers from being
exposed to other super beings because they only have the specific
power sets of a specific group of super beings and cannot just
acquire more like the two androids mentioned can.
For me the appeal of a composite super beings is similar to the
appeal of power mimics. When you have the combined powers of a super
team you can use it in ways that individual team members can't no
matter how cooperative they are. Like the Super Skrull combining Mr.
Fantastic's stretching with the Thing's superhuman strength to use
the super strength in places where it's difficult to reach. Something
the two can't do as individuals. Mr. Fantastic can reach but he lacks
the super strength. The Thing has the strength but lacks the reach.
As a composite super being you can mix and match the powers of the
composing super beings or use only individual's power sets at a time
or none at all.
Background
The original New Mutants were a team of adolescent mutants brought
together by Charles Xavier (Professor X) who was under control of the
Brood Queen at the time. However before his possession he had
contemplated creating a new team of young mutants not for combat
purposes like the X-Men but strictly as just students learning to use
their powers. His choice of recruits were Sam Guthrie (Cannonball),
Danielle Moonstar (Mirage all though originally Psyche), Roberto da
Costa (Sunspot), Xi'an Coy Mahn (Karma), Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane).
They were primarily chosen because they were being targeted by the
White King of the Hellfire Club Donald Pierce who actually had Sam
Guthrie already working for him.
They went on a number of adventures before Charles Xavier was
freed of the control of the Brood Queen. After his release he decided
to keep the team together and forbidding them to go on missions and
into combat until they graduated. Of course that never stopped them
from going on adventures.
Description
The New Mutants originally wore the standard X-Men uniform. A
black body suit with a broad yellow vertical stripe on the chest and
yellow trunks. It was accessorized with yellow gauntlets, yellow
boots with folded cuffs and a red belt with the X-Men symbol for a
buckle consisting of a red circle with a large black “X” in it
against a yellow back ground.
Cannonball
As described in If I Was Cannonball Sam Guthrie is a tall, thin,
blond haired, blue eyed, male. They went out of there way to play up
that he was a hillbilly there fore they originally drew him as
awkward and not quite handsome as super beings are usually drawn..
Mirage
Danielle Moonstar is originally drawn as a coltish, tallish,
native-american girl (Cheyenne I believe) with long dark hair and
dark eyes. She personalized her uniform with hide boots and a
headdress with feathers. She eventually evolved into the teams “Hot
Girl”.
Sunspot
Roberto is a short, although athletic, Brazilian boy with dark
skin, hair and eyes. His hair is naturally curly/wavy and he keeps
short but not severely short so you can see the natural wave or curl
to it.
Karma
Xi'an Coy Mahn is an averaged height (for a North American anyway)
Vietnamese female with short dark hair and dark eyes. She was often
portrayed as severe looking. Of course given the troubles that dogged
her, her whole early life it makes sense to portray her that way.
Wolfsbane
Rahne Sinclair is a short, petite (5'2”, 110lbs) Scottish girl
with red hair and green eyes. Her hair is originally portrayed as
very short, almost fuzzy, similar to the length of wolf fur. This
apparently a consequence of her mutant power. She has often
complained that it wouldn't grow any longer than that. In her lupin
and transitional form her fur was a reddish-brown color. Her costume
was made of “unstable molecules” and would transform into a
collar when she transformed into her “beastly” forms.
Powers
I am going with their powers as they were originally, before they
underwent various modifications by either further forced mutation,
magical enchantment or plain old had to be made more powerful to
carry a comic book.
Cannonball
Cannonball possesses the power to project himself in flight via a
“thermal chemical” propulsion method leaving behind him a
“contrail” similar to a rocket. His max speed (at this time
anyway) was 150 miles per hour and could generate enough thrust to
carry at least over a ton of weight in flight. He flew with Sunspot
who was carrying a small van or covered truck. I would say he could
fly with greater weights since he didn't seem to stressed by it and
frankly a vehicle that size would way more than a ton but then when a
weight is bothered to be stated in a story it is because they are
implying that it is the actual weight of the object. It's not
specified how long he can fly for but it does quickly become his
primary mode of transportation permitting him to fly across a city
the size of Brazil while carrying a small truck or van.
When he activates his thrust and for up to possibly a minute after
his thrust is turned off he generates a “blast field” that
protects him and whomever he is carrying if he so chooses from the
damage of a collision or the general damage that would normally be
incurred in flight. It protected him from such things as a collision
that destroyed a full grown tree, blasting through stone to free
trapped minors and multiple shots from energy based weapons used by
Hellfire Club security. Not to mention the strain of carrying over a
ton of weight with him in flight using only one arm.
Mirage
Mirage's primary power is to draw the image of a subjects worse
fear or greatest desire from their mind and manifest them as animated
three dimensional holograms. She doesn't know what the images are
going to be before they appear. She can't just probe a mind. These
images are clearly holograms to those that they aren't drawn from but
for those they are drawn from they are very, very real. The full
range of the power isn't know but she can at least do it within line
of site and has used it to draw her flying horse to her.
She possesses a secondary power that permits her to telepathically
communicate with animals and understand them. She uses this most
often to communicate with her teammate Wolfsbane while in her wolf
forms. Once again the full range of the power isn't know but it does
function as a handy communication device when they are separated on
missions in large compounds so I'm going go with it is at least
possible within line of sight. I will say that it does not extend
into the hundreds of miles since she couldn't find Rahne when they
were separated in different parts of the Asgardian continent.
Sunspot
Sunspot has the power to grant himself super human strength by
drawing power from solar energy. In his earliest appearances he is
strong enough to split a large boulder in two with one blow and is
capable of toppling a sentinel (a giant mutant hunting robot). He is
said to be able to lift 25 tons at arms length over his head at this
period in his career. However his strength level is dependent on the
amount of solar energy he is exposed to. Under normal conditions on
Earth he has the above listed strength but in a setting with a
greater sun or more suns he would be stronger.
A consequence of his elevation in strength is an equal elevation
in his resistance to injury if for nothing else but to permit him to
function with superhuman strength without damaging himself. He has of
course survived blows from super strong opponents and falls from
great heights and even being hit by an eighteen wheeler at one
hundred miles per hour. He was even trampled by horse without
suffering harm. However this does not necessarily translate into a
greater resistance to temperature extremes, diseases or toxins. He
would still require aid to survive in hostile environments such as a
scuba tank for breathing while underwater and a spacesuit for
surviving outside of the atmosphere.
There is no specific information on how long he can manifest his
solar powered strength. It is of course based on how much solar
energy he has stored. I'd wager initially he could store enough
energy to function in super strength mode for as long as he could
function in normal strength mode. Of course when he runs out of solar
energy he has to be exposed to sunlight to recharge his strength.
Instead of just resting and letting his strength rebuild by his body
processing more “food based fuel”. This would basically mean that
after a few minutes of full exertion he would run out of stored
energy. However this soon grew into at least tens of minutes of full
exertion giving him something resembling superhuman stamina.
He is constantly absorbing solar energy even at night without it
being apparent. However when he activates his super strength this
process accelerates and his skin and hair no longer reflects light
making him appear to be completely black except his eyes and the
inside of his mouth which seem to become luminescent. Dust particles
that pass close to his body also become darkened making him seem to
be surrounded by a corona of black spots from which he derives his
name Sunspot. His exact rate of absorption isn't really specified but
it doesn't really seem to take him long to recharge his strength in
day light. In fact in day light one could assume he could remain in
super strength mode for extended periods of time.
Karma
Karma has the ability to take over one or more subjects' bodies
(usually people) by psionic means. Sort of how you control a video
game character or a puppet. More a remote control capacity then an
actual possession. She isn't left defenceless as she would be if she
actually left her body and took over her target's body. She can
however see through the subjects eyes as well as experience their
other sensory input. This permits her control a subject she has
caused to leave her sight.
The consciousness of the subjects themselves are repressed while
controlled. They enter a dreamlike sleep and have no memory of being
controlled. If she retains control of a subject for too long their
personality begins to overwhelm hers. The time is not specified but I
would imagine it is long enough for her to be useful. She is still in
control but she starts to act according to their personality instead
of hers. The more subjects she controls at once the harder it is to
keep them all under control.
Because of how her power works the subject of her control can
function clumsily at first as she gets accustomed to how their body
works. Also given that there is no specifications about the range of
the power one can assume it is at least as far as visual range.
Wolfsbane
Simply put Wolfsbane can transform into a wolf. The wolf form
itself is not super wolfish (it will be eventually due to forced
mutation). It has the same abilities and limits of a similar sized
wolf except for two exception. The first is that as a wolf she
retains her human intelligence and self awareness. She does however
act more “wolfish” in wolf form. I would assume because although
she has human intelligence the wolf form has wolf instincts instead
of human ones. The second exception is that her wolf form can see
into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum even though real wolves
cannot.
A second element of her wolf transformation power is that she can
adopt a “transitional” form where she possesses both the
advantages of her human and wolf forms. As an example she can use
human speech in transitional form even though she can't in wolf form.
Her wolf form is larger than her human and consequently she is also
larger in her transitional form. She is ten inches taller in this
form. This has the advantage of giving her more muscle mass making
her stronger and more durable although not super humanly so.
How long she can remain in each form isn't stated but one would
assume the longer she is in wolf form the more she will act like a
wolf because she will grow more accustom to functioning with wolf
instincts.
If I was an original New Mutants powered composite super being
With Cannonball's powers
Once again for this power set I'd become a sky writer and play
“Rocket Man”. However there's a different thing I would do.
Thrust being a big component of the power set I'd build myself a
“flying shell” that I could use as a cargo carrier or even a
passenger carrier. I'd supply the thrust and the shell would provide
the lift. Even if it wasn't perfectly secure the blast field should
theoretically protect the shell while I'm flying it.
With Mirage's powers
It's funny that I would get more out of her secondary power than
her primary power. I would become an animal trainer or at least a pet
psychiatrist. I would use the primary power as a reward/punishment
tool. Also I would get a pet and between the pet and this power set I
would have my own personal security system.
With Sunspot's powers
I think with this power set you go into the entertainment
industry. Most likely entertaining at kids parties. Lifting the
parents cars and tying metal things into knots. Doing all this
combined with the appearance the power set provides will make you a
lot of money I'm sure.
With Karma's powers
In a lot of ways this power set isn't my cup of tea. I don't like
to force people to do things against their will. Then on the other
hand it's right up my alley as well. The ability to stop someone
without hurting them does appeal to me and the dark side of me would
love to be able to order people around like puppets. Of course being
me I would use this power set for “non-violent” conflict
resolution. “Stop punching yourself” of course would have a whole
new appeal to me as I make someone hit themselves to subdue them.
Then it dawns on me. Synchronized sports or at least personal
training. Get certified as a personal trainer and offer people a work
out while they zone out. I would make the body go through the work
out and their minds would be free. This would build their “muscle
memory” even if not their conscious memory. They could acquire some
new skills without even knowing it. I would definitely do that. My
slogan would be “Do you find exercise too tedious? Let me do it for
you while you relax.”
With Wolfsbane's powers
This is my “take back the night” power set. I spend a lot of
time at night in wolf form running around exploring. Using my
transitional form to get me into places I couldn't because of the
limitations of the wolf form. I'm not saying I'd go running out into
the forest but rather in urban settings. It would be my excuse to
exercise more. Running through the darkened cityscape, able to see
into the shadows, the cool breeze blowing through my fur. I would
love that. I'd do much like a real wolf would. I'd get to know the
town I live in by smell as well as the cities I regularly visit. If
nothing else it would be my excuse to find new places to visit during
the day with friends.
In Combination
Combining all of the powers I might even play at being a “demon”
werewolf. I'd live in an old abandoned building and use Mirage and
Karma's powers to show I have power over souls. Wolfsbane's powers
would govern my wolfish appearance. Cannonball's powers would show I
have power over “hellfire” and Sunspot's powers would show that
my true power lies in darkness.
Combining Wolfsbane, Mirage and Sunspot's powers I would do as I
would as Ursa Major. I would accompany people hunting. Probably track
down the prey and carry it out if it got stuck in otherwise
inaccessible areas. Of course it would be easier to track then with
Ursa Major since aside from enhanced senses the “animal telepathy”
also helps. This would also help me steer those hunting towards the
old and sick deer rather than the healthy ones. Of course given that
I could sense the animals thoughts I would have those asking me to
help them hunt take the time and give thanks to their potential prey
before letting them actually hunt them.
Combining Sunspot and Cannonball's powers I would use them haul
freight in short hauls. As long as it didn't exceed my ability to
carry it, I would be a great delivery service.
Combining Karma and Mirage's powers I would hire myself out to
help people get over their greatest fears. Mirage's main power would
of course permit me to determine what there fear is Karma's power
would let me “sedate” the person if they couldn't deal with what
was happening in the therapy. I would take them over and send their
consciousness into a dream like state while I kept them from hurting
anyone accidentally should they panic and become dangerous.
Thanks for reading
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