Gideon (comics)
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Gideon is a fictional character, a Mutant supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. Gideon was a member of the Externals, a unique type of immortal mutant, and an adversary of the X-Men spin-off group X-Force.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Before Gideon's mutant powers emerged, he was a sailor with the Spanish armada sailing for the Americas several hundred years ago. On one journey, he succumbed to scurvy and was buried when the ship reached land. He awoke a few hours later, discovering his immortality.
Over several centuries, Gideon was able to amass a vast personal wealth. He also encountered and allied himself with several other Externals. At the end of the 20th century, the group began to seeking out their newest member, whom Gideon erroneously believed to be Roberto da Costa, a young mutant who had joined the New Mutants, the junior division of the X-Men, and taken the codename Sunspot. Gideon had known Roberto from a young age, having business relations with his father, a wealthy Brazilian businessman. Gideon had Roberto's father killed, and approached the boy, telling him he needed to take over his family's business. He took the young boy in under his wing and began to mentor him for a short while, until it was discovered that not Sunspot but his New Mutants teammate and best friend, Samuel Guthrie (a.k.a. Cannonball) was the new External they had been seeking. Gideon subsequently gave Sunspot over to one of his scientific labs, where they experimented on him and augmented his powers (at the great risk of killing him). Gideon also clashed with the group of young superheroes known as the New Warriors.
In X-Force #52, all of the Externals were killed (except for Selene and Apocalypse). Gideon was not spared and was killed by Selene, an energy vampire.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Gideon has the ability to mimic any nearby skill, talent, or power possessed by a person or mechanical being (such as an android or a battle suit) and then reapply or redirect that ability back to the attacker. Also, since he was an External, he was granted with limited immortality, only ended by an extremely mortal wound such as decapitation, by the Legacy Virus (two Externals died by this method) or, in the case of his death, by a draining of the life energies.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the alternate reality known as the Age of Apocalypse, Gideon was drafted to be one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. Gideon, alongside Sabretooth, Candra, Death and War, planned to fire nuclear missiles at Cape Citadel (in a similar manner to Magneto in Uncanny X-Men #1). Gideon was selected to hack the computer system and fire the missiles. He was interrupted by Magneto, who he nearly defeated, until Magneto drew upon the Earth's Magnetic Field to overload Gideon's powers, apparently killing him.
