Neutralizer
| Item: Neutralizer | |
|---|---|
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| First Seen: | With Malice Aforethought |
The Neutralizer was a type of power inhibitor designed by Forge at the behest of Magneto. It was destroyed during the events of With Malice Aforethought.
History
While the unwilling hostage of Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants, Forge was asked to create a device that would remove a mutant's powers. Magneto wished to have this technology to act as a sort of detente between him and the X-Men, comparing it to the atom bomb - a technology that no one wished to have used, but needed to exist in order to provide a sort of Mutual Assured Destruction between two warring forces.
Using both the genetics knowledge he had gained from studying under Moira and Magneto's own research, Forge managed to create an inhibitor that would work at range by disrupting the x-gene's ability to express itself.
During the X-Men's raid on the Brotherhood's hideout to rescue Forge and Lorna Dane, Forge double-crossed Magneto and used the Neutralizer on Lorna, who was under the control of Malice at the time. The feedback from the Neutralizer also affected Forge, and left the two mutants temporarily powerless. In the process, the Neutralizer was completely destroyed.
Effects
The Neutralizer works by firing a pulse of energy that inhibits the x-gene's ability to express itself. It accomplishes this by 'paralyzing' enzyme production in cells with the x-gene, preventing a mutant from activating their powers. It does not remove a mutant's powers, merely their ability to activate them. As such, the Neutralizer has no effect on mutations that are completely passive, such as Kurt Wagner's blue skin and tail, or Lorna's green hair.
The effect is not permanent, although different types of mutants recover from it at different rates. Energy projectors tend to recover the fastest, while mutants with passive powers may take months or years to recover the use of their powers.
