There are countless planets in the cosmos, and we are most certainly not alone, with extraterrestrial life found in other galaxies throughout the vastness of space. For as long as anybody can remember, the Marvel Universe has introduced readers to a variety of alien races, and now we are going to look at something from another world.
Today’s video is about the last survivor of an extraterrestrial race and his quest for a safe sanctuary for the species’ final remaining eggs. What is more intriguing is this alien’s signature superpower, which has the potential to make it one of the most powerful entities to have ever lived and visited Earth.
The extraterrestrial we will be looking at today is called ‘Xum,’ and he is one of the villains who has battled the Green Lantern Corps, as well as the Man of Steel himself! Let us get this party started!
The Dangers of the Replikon: first comic appearance explored
Replicon’s debut appearance is chronicled in the comic – Green Lantern 1960 #108. It starts off by telling the story of Replikon’s search for an ideal world and then shows us how after simply observing Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash, he is able to transform himself into a mish-mash of all three.
The outfit definitely looks quite funny but the powers he gains make up for it. We then see Replikon gets into a brawl with Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. It is in this fight that we get a small glimpse of the power that Replikon holds. Green Lantern’s beams have no effect on him and he easily throws Hal around, smashing him into a wall. However, he doesn’t harm him further and makes his way to Star City where he meets Green Arrow and Black Canary.
The alien lashes out for quite practically, no reason at all and has Green Arrow on the ground in a couple of seconds using Judo, an ability he gained from the superheroes. Green Arrow was also unable to retaliate since his arrow simply bounced off of Replikon.
During the ongoing fight, Green Lantern appears out of nowhere and joins the battle against him, the duo. Replikon is then hit by both Green Lantern and Green Arrow and the trio defeats him through ingenuity as Black Canary realizes that if they all attack him at once using different moves, he would not be able to mimic them all. When they think it is over and they have him in their grasp, Replikon rockets into the sky and dissolves back into the mist. Green Arrow tries to hold on, but Replikon transforms back into mist completely, throwing the archer to the ground.
Hal then tries to cheer himself up later that night by paying a visit to his girlfriend Carol at her hotel. However, he is in for a major disappointment. When he discovers she’s already choosing to spend the night with a dapper gentleman named Andre, his plans for the evening are shattered. Carol Ferris remarking on how Andre’s foreign allure makes her feel like a teenage girl in his presence makes him feel worse and he chooses to leave a swooning Carol Ferris at her door. At the very end of the issue, we see that Andre is soon on the hotel’s roof, where he transforms into mist and solidifies… as Replikon.
This issue exemplifies that an alien-like Replikon can be a significant threat to all the superheroes because it can steal the one thing that they hold dear, their superpowers.
Xum’s Struggle and Replikon as a species
Xum and his entire species suffered a lot due to an event of mass extinction. Xum was the sole survivor of a major catastrophe that wiped out his entire species thus, the struggle was definitely real. However, what made his journey more meaningful was the fact that as the sole survivor, it became his duty to protect the only remaining eggs of his race to protect them from extinction. His entire planet was destroyed, wiping out the entirety of his race and he then set his base of operations in Asteroid Field 7” ‘0” so that he could secure a future for his species.
Xum finally discovered the ideal world in which his two unborn children would able to take birth in, thus ensuring the survival of his race. He had spent a long, long time guarding the eggs and looking for a planet with a conducive environment and finally, after millions of years of searching, he finally found the perfect planet that would facilitate the birth of his children.
Alas, that world he chose turned out to be Earth, and the only way of making it an appropriate environment was to eviscerate the ozone layer, which would force all other life on the planet into extinction. To plan out how he would create the ideal environment for his children, he decided to scope out life on Earth and see how he could bring his plan to fruition. Xum dubbed himself Replikon after transforming from his natural gaseous state into a humanoid form, as he came to live on Earth.
His name is Replikon for good reason and it is because he could not only imitate the appearance of several Justice League members, but he could also imitate their abilities perfectly– which was an incredible feat in itself. Replikon also assumed a human identity and took on the name Andre, after which he went on to learn all that he could about Earth from Carol Ferris, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan’s one-time love. Jordan, Green Arrow, and Black Canary eventually defeated Replikon and returned him to his asteroid belt where his home planet was, making it another defeat that Replikon would have to get past.
However, things were not always bad and later, he met Green Lanterns John Stewart and Katma Tui, who recognised the alien’s plight and created a world for him inside the asteroid belt itself. Replikon gave birth to Sachi and Yukinori, and the three of them lived happily ever after, fulfilling his duty of carrying on his race – until, things went horribly wrong once again. We all know that things are not quite that simple when it comes to superheroes and the aliens they encounter and Replikon has an ugly run in with Superman soon after.
The alien in his last ever comic book appearance returned to Earth, fought Superman in Metropolis, and then mysteriously died moments after defeating him. Then Superman had to deal with Xum’s son. Evidence suggests that the Replikons were commanded by an unseen force that had a fascination with Superman. Xum’s return, as well as his son’s attack on the Man of Steel, were later revealed to be the work of the villain Ruin who was then revealed to be none other than Emil Hamilton.
When he fought the Justice League – Explored in detail
The one time he came face to face with the Justice League was when he tried to destroy the ozone layer, killing all life on Earth in the process. The story unfolded in the following manner.
He was tasked with keeping an eye on his children, who were at the time trapped inside their egg-like shells, and unable to be birthed into a world without life or hope. It was this way until a mysterious object appeared out of nowhere. It became obvious to Xum that this strange object was a product of civilization. Xum then entered into the picture, using skills he’d almost forgotten about, and set a chain of events in motion that, at the time could have potentially spelled the end of the Green Lantern Corps.
He came within a hair’s breadth of the Justice League of America. He was able to see inside the satellite thanks to his incredible abilities. He took a look at Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash. Then he gradually began to imitate what he had seen.
Replikon then began carrying out his goal of destroying the ozone layer in order to allow radiation into the world so that he could raise his unborn children on his home planet in the asteroid belt. He started gathering information and understanding ways in which he could take down the ozone layer. In the meanwhile, Hal or Green Lantern intercepted a distress signal from the Star City Chemical Plant as he was driving his rig out of town, and he learned this distress signal to be Replikon’s work. He further gets to know that Replikon is none other than Carol’s new love interest, Andre.
He becomes extremely disheartened and while trying to mask his defeat, approaches Ollie and Dinah for help because he is unable to deal with the enormous shock of what he had just learned, on his own. When Carol is informed about this new development, she is heartbroken when she learns that her new boyfriend Andre is none other than the alien Replikon, and reluctantly agrees to help them save the Earth and send the alien back wherever he came from.
Carol then leads the unwitting Andre to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town, keeping her promise. However, she tears up as she tells him to go into the building in which the heroes are waiting as she did truly love him. And Replikon is then forced to confront the trio of Justice Leaguers once inside the building.
They don’t give Replikon time to devise a fighting strategy because they attack him right away, trying to catch him off guard. When they finally have him pinned to the ground, Green Lantern sets the trap for him: a massive lead container. Before the flustered alien could react, Green Lantern had completely closed the cylinder, enclosing Replikon in the airtight improvised prison. After capturing him, they sent him home back to his home planet.
Why is Xum such a serious threat?
Xum is a major threat because not only does he have superhuman abilities that you would expect an alien to have but also, he has a trademark power that makes him tough to forget. As far as his basic powers go, he possesses superhuman strength, stamina, and speed along with being invulnerable to most things.
He could also fly without any extra armor or gadget along with being able to project energy and generate thermal blasts with which he could attack his opponents. However, he had an extremely tricky power up his sleeve, which was the fact that he could replicate absolutely anyone – which was a result of his alien physiology that allowed him to do so. What is most interesting is that the replication did not stop at physical appearance and instead, the powers and abilities of those he was replicating.
Imagine this, in his fight against Superman or any of the other heroes he fought against, he was fighting against them not only while looking exactly like them but also making them face off against their very own powers which is bound to throw off even the best of heroes. Making it tough to defeat him. There is no limit to his replication ability which means that he can take on the powers of any superhero he wishes, making him a formidable threat to all the people he wants to destroy.
Thus, Replikon is such a DC villain who can largely be called a victim of his circumstances because all he wanted to do was make sure his children were born safely and save his race from extinction. It is also precisely this reason why he had a driving factor that made him formidable, coupled with his insane power replicating abilities. Do you think Replikon is an underrated DC villain? Let us know in the comments section below!