DOPPELGANGER
Real Name: Dr. Wolfgang Heinrich
Identity/Class: East German criminal scientist
Occupation:
formerly ran mutant vivisection laboratory in Germany and
later in Russia, currently unknown
Group Membership: None
Affiliations:
former agent of German and Russian governments, formerly employed
Crimson Dynamo (Dmitri Bukharin, although he did seem like it
could be a robot version of the armor) as a security guard at his
research installation
Known Relatives: father (Nazi scientist, presumably deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: formerly an unnamed research laboratory in USSR
Appearances: X-Factor Annual#1 (1986)
Powers: He is able to generate a "mental matrix for transference" which enables him to duplicate the appearance and abilities of others, including superhuman powers. It does not allow him to duplicate memories, nor does it remove the abilities from the host. Heinrich can also detect the presence of other mutants, as they generate within him a biological signal to begin transference.
History: Heinrich was the son of a Nazi scientist who was instrumental in Adolf Hitler's genetics program during World War II. Heinrich claimed to be a genetically engineered mutant. It is uncertain whether he was actually born with powers generated from in vitro manipulation, but it seems more likely that his powers are a result of experimentation performed after the time of birth. It is presumed that the powers were caused by his own experimentation, but it may have been his father's work.
He probably apprenticed under his own father in East Germany, but at some point he was recruited by the KGB and worked for them as a biological weapons scientist until recently. He came to head a Soviet installation designed to discover and replicate the biological information stored in mutant genes, so that they could reproduce at will the mutations of choice and create an army of mutant soldiers. His work towards this goal consisted primarily of rounding up of mutants and performing vivisection on them. Some mutants were also rendered brain-dead to allow continued experimentation on their bodies.
A CIA operative stationed in the USSR succeeded in sending photos of the installation and its activities to the USA, at the cost of his own life. US Senator Thompson contacted his ally Cameron Hodge, then posing as an employee of X-Factor I, who arranged a meeting with them. Thompson convinced X-Factor to travel to the USSR under the guise of sharing their mutant-tracking technology with the Soviets. Their true goal was to discover and dismantle Heinrich's research facility.
While the members of X-Factor were at a Soviet reception in their honor, Heinrich realized they were mutants. He then had his agents drug Bobby Drake into unconsciousness and used his powers to impersonate Drake, infiltrate X-Factor, and learn their plans. Father Alexi Garnoff and his followers, a band of underground mutants opposing government persecution, saved Drake from his planned murder.
Heinrich, as Iceman, accompanied X-Factor to his research installation, where he summoned his agent--the Crimson Dynamo. The two ambushed X-Factor and were gaining the upper hand until the real Iceman arrived, alongside Garnoff's followers.
Garnoff's followers freed the surviving subjects, Heinrich was seemingly crushed when the floor collapsed under the weight of the ice he had generated, and Iceman used a code the Beast had overheard to send Crimson Dynamo away.
With the facility shut down, X-Factor returned home, but Heinrich was seen on the same plane. He was apparently traveling to the USA either for revenge, or to begin a new plot (...or not, as he hasn't been seen in 14 years).
Comments: Created by Bob Layton & Brett Breeding
His date of birth is listed as 1932, although that is possible topical information.
Some sources refer to Garnoff under the name
Blind Faith, and his followers as the Exiles. They're briefly
mentioned (or hinted as such) in the Soviet Super Soldiers
one-shot, and can be considered as aliases, at least for the
purpose of clarification.
Thanks to TJ Burns for pointing out the above reference.
Clarifications:
Doppelganger is not to be confused with:
Last updated: 05/11/02
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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