Emplate
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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.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Emplate grew up Marius St. Croix, the brother of Generation X's M and Penance. When his mutant powers first manifested, his sisters were disgusted, especially the aloof Monet. In retaliation Emplate somehow turned Monet into the mute and diamond-skinned Penance. Finding their sister missing, Claudette and Nicolette thought Monet was dead and that Marius was to blame. They opened a dimensional portal to sentence Marius to and 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 portray their 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.
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 your 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 decided that he would attack the Academy and in the process 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.
Later Emplate assembled a team to torment Generation X, including Murmur, Bulwark, Vincente, and DOA. 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. When Chamber's powers first manifested he had unintentionally paralyzed Gayle 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.
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 ahold 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.
In Generation X #57, Emplate once again tried to capture Penance, this time with a new group of "Hellions". Their ranks consisted of Wrap another mummified mutant who 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 DOA. Despite their new roster, their attempts failed. In the process, a building blows up and the M Twins are knocked free from the Penance body.
Since the events of M-Day, where the Scarlet Witch undid the mutations of 90-95% of the mutant population, It has not been revealed whether Emplate retained his powers.
[edit] Powers
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.
[edit] 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 without name inside of the comic book series. For advertising purposes, they were called the Hellions, but this name was never used by either Emplate or his followers.
[edit] Alternate Versions
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Emplate was a member of Sinister's Elite Mutant Force, alognside his sisters, the Monet Twins. He was killed by Cyclops' father, Christopher Summers.
