MANNEQUIN race
Classification: Extraterrestrial creatures
Location/Base of Operations: Presumably mobile
Known Members: None identified
Affiliations: Ronan the Accuser
Enemies: Invisible Woman (Sue Richards); indirectly Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Det. Charlotte Jones, Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), S.H.I.E.L.D., Thing (Ben Grimm)
First Appearance: Fantastic Four III#14 (February, 1999)
Powers/Abilities: Mannequins existed as parasites that attached to a host and derived sustenance from the host’s life essence. They were capable of boring through nearly any obstacle, even able to break through frequencies of an energy barrier. When covering a potential target host, Mannequins could grow in size as needed to cover a victim’s face. Once attached, the Mannequins permanently bonded to their hosts on a micro-cellular level, consuming every cell of their host until the host was of no longer use to them. If the host was injured while the Mannequin was still attached, the Mannequin itself would form chitinous membranes over the injured parts of the host, causing it to become “alien” in appearance. While the Mannequins consumed their host, the host’s mind remained their own but their bodies could be manipulated by outside sources by manipulating the Mannequin itself.
Traits: Mannequins were instinctively predatory and aggressive, tenaciously but slowly consuming their closest host.
Type:
Amoeboid, resembling small, soft, pink amorphous blobs covered in tentacles
Eyes: None
Fingers:
Mannequins did not possess actual fingers but had multiple tentacles on
sides of their bodies.
Toes:
Mannequins did not possess actual toes but were covered in tentacled
appendages.
Skin Color:
Pink
Average Height:
3"-4" though they were capable of growing up to around 7"-8" as they
enveloped a target.
History:
(Fantastic Four III#14) - While battling the Fantastic Four, Ronan the Accuser unleashed a Mannequin against the Invisible Woman. Pulling up an invisible force field did not help the Invisible Woman as the Mannequin bored right through her field, covering her face and eventually bonding to her. Explaining the Mannequins’ abilities and uses, Ronan the Accuser announced that the Invisible Woman’s body was under his control despite her mind remaining. Ronan then ordered Invisible Woman to assume the posture of a slave and revealed that she would be helping to liberate the Kree for their ultimate triumph. Ronan later led the Mannequin-controlled Invisible Woman to the Watcher’s headquarters on the Blue Area of the Moon and ordered her to gain him entrance.
(Fantastic Four III#15 – BTS) – Ronan added his power to the Mannequin-bonded Invisible Woman’s force fields in an attempt to gain entrance into the Watcher’s headquarters. When their attack caused a feedback explosion, Invisible Woman was seriously injured by the blast, but the Mannequin inside her formed chitinous scabs over each injury, causing her body to become more “alien” in appearance. When S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from Earth arrived on the moon to halt Ronan, the Mannequin-bonded Invisible Woman erected an invisible force field to protect Ronan and was forced to watch as Ronan slaughtered the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Ronan and Invisible Woman then continued their attack on the Watcher’s headquarters and eventually succeeded in breaking through the barrier to gain entrance inside.
(Iron Man III#14 – BTS) – Iron Man arrived on the moon, having learned of the situation. Rescuing the Invisible Woman just as Ronan entered the Watcher’s headquarters, Iron Man noticed that she was not very responsive. The rest of the Fantastic Four arrived shortly thereafter with Det. Charlotte Jones, and Mr. Fantastic immediately noticed the Mannequin-bonded Invisible Woman’s chitinous eyes. Asking what Ronan had done to his wife, Mr. Fantastic also found her to not be very responsive and Iron Man commented that whatever Ronan had done to her, the Invisible Woman was apparently under Ronan’s control. Ronan soon emerged, having reclaimed the universal power core of a Psyche-Magnitron from the Watcher’s base for the Kree. Mr. Fantastic grabbed up the non-responsive Invisible Woman and the heroes attempted to dodge Ronan’s attacks. During the battle against Ronan, Mr. Fantastic promised that the Fantastic Four would free the Invisible Woman somehow and told her that he loved her, causing the Invisible Woman to cry. After Iron Man destroyed some of the Ronan-controlled sentry robots, the Invisible Woman managed to create an invisible force field to protect Mr. Fantastic and Charlotte Jones. Realizing that he had broken through some of the Mannequin’s control, Mr. Fantastic continued his attempts to reach the Invisible Woman. She soon began fighting against the Mannequin’s control and helped save the Human Torch from one of Ronan’s robots on Iron Man’s orders. Iron Man then explained that the Invisible Woman, while under the Mannequin’s influence, would follow anyone’s orders and that Mr. Fantastic had attached a microchip to the Invisible Woman’s skull that filtered all voices except those of the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Det. Jones. While the Invisible Woman continued to follow Iron Man’s orders and help defend her friends, Mr. Fantastic jerry-rigged a device from Kree circuitry that could disable the Psyche-Magnitron’s universal power core. Attaching the device to his armor, Iron Man used it to disable the power core, causing an energy discharge that triggered Mr. Fantastic’s fold-space interceptor device, teleporting the Fantastic Four (with the Mannequin-bonded Invisible Woman) away.
(Fantastic Four III#16 – BTS) – Having unknowingly arrived on Earth-99315 via Mr. Fantastic’s fold-space interceptor, Invisible Woman (now even more “alien”-looking after being injured from the power core’s energy discharge) and the rest of the Fantastic Four stood confused at the sight of the world around them. Shortly thereafter, Earth-99315’s Kree Avengers attacked them but the Fantastic Four escaped via a shuttle found by the Human Torch. The Kree Avengers pursued and Invisible Woman, whose mind had returned to normal despite the Mannequin-bonding, helped repel the Kree Iron Man. Landing their craft on a nearby skyscraper, the Fantastic Four were met by the heroic Lucas and Redwing, who helped defeat an attacking alien bug queen. Mr. Fantastic’s fold-space interceptor once more activated and transported the team away.
(Fantastic Four III#17 (fb) - BTS) – The Mannequin continued to mutate the Invisible Woman’s body as the team was deposited inside a cold laboratory-like room. Once the team had their bearings, the Thing and the Human Torch left to find out where they were, leaving Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic to be alone. Invisible Woman then admitted that not only was the Mannequin forcing her body to metamorphose but she explained that it was also attempting to manipulate her mind to act as a predator with the other Fantastic Four members as prey. Mr. Fantastic reminded her that he would not stop searching for a cure to the Mannequin’s metamorphosis of Sue and that whatever happened, they would face it together. A short time later, Invisible Woman attempted to mend her damaged unstable molecule uniform, only to find that her new claws could rend the unstable molecules. She wondered what the Mannequin was transforming her into after she began to wonder what her claws would do to flesh. After Thing and Human Torch didn’t check back in, Invisible Woman went looking for them and was eventually captured and placed in the virtual world of Shadow City.
(Fantastic Four III#18 – BTS) – While trapped inside the virtual Shadow City world, Reed Richards had the Invisible Woman visualize her true form and when she did, she began remembering her transformed state caused by the Mannequin. Surrounding herself with an invisible force field to force her Shadow City form into the form of her choosing, Invisible Woman chose to force herself into her normal, non-mutated form. When the Fantastic Four were transported back to reality, Invisible Woman’s form was restored to that prior to the Mannequin’s mutations. What became of the Mannequin inside was not clear.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca and Art Thibert.
While it wasn’t definitively stated, it seems that when Invisible Woman surrounded herself in an invisible force field shaped like her original body and was then teleported, she possibly killed the Mannequin inside her by teleporting herself while leaving the parts of her body outside of the force field within Shadow City, severing the Mannequin’s control of her body. Either that, or the Mannequin was not teleported within the Invisible Woman's field and it was simply left behind to die on its own inside Shadow City. It wasn't exactly clear what had happened, other than she surrounded herself as she remembered herself and was restored upon arriving in the real world outside Shadow City.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Mannequin race has no known connections to
images:
(without ads)
Fantastic Four III#14, p7, pan4 (Mannequin attacking Invisible Woman,
main image)
Fantastic Four III#14, p7, pan2 (Mannequin closeup)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four III#14 (February, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer),
Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#15 (March, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer),
Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Iron Man III#14 (March, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (co-plotter), Roger Stern
(co-plotter, script), Sean Chen (pencils), Larry Stucker, Eric Cannon
(inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#16 (April, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer),
Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert, Eric Benson (inks), Bobbie
Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#17 (May, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#18 (June, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Last updated: 03/23/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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