FATHER  

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unrevealed (see comments);
    apparent synthezoid (possibly human mutate and/or human mind transferred into synthetic body/artificial intelligence)
Extradimensonal/Alternate Earth (Reality-11045) extratemporal mutate/technology user

Occupation: Synthetic/artificial beings liberator and world/universe conqueror via "Contagious Robot Evolution" (merging all lifeforms with robotics, spread by nanobots);
    former would-be world/reality-conqueror;
    former scientist

Group Membership: Descendents creator/leader/member; Weapon Infinity of Reality-11045 creator/leader;
    formerly Weapon Plus UK, Operation: Descendant

Affiliations: Adaptoids (Ideal, Origin, Swine, Urn), Black Ant (Life Model Decoy of Ant-Man/Eric O'Grady), Descendants, Emperor Doombot, a Jocasta, Parvez, Reavers (Lady Deathstrike, Skullbuster; possibly Bonebreaker and Angelo Macon), Sentinels (Master Mold?), Sister Augmentoid (Yalda), Super-Adaptoid; 

Weapon Infinity/Deathloks of Reality-11045 (Archangel, Captain America, Cyclops, Deadpool, Elektra, Fantomex, Hawkeye, Namor, Psylocke, Punisher, Spider-Man, Storm, Thing, Wolverine; presumably Daredevil, Iron Man, Miss America, Wasplok ; possibly the Vision; many others unidentified);
    formerly Brother (James Braddock, Sr.), Giant-Man (Henry Pym; while converted into cyborg/Deathlok form), Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Lord Ultravision and the Ultravisions, Machine Man replicas, Max Fury, Mother (woman who raised Charlie-Cluster 7)

Adaptoids, the Deathloks of Weapon Infinity, and various Life Model Decoys. He also utilized Sentinels (including a Stark Sentinel), Doombots, and Vision and Machine Man replicas, among others

Enemies: AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics), Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) of Reality-11045, (mainstream) Avengers (Captain America/Sam Wilson, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, Giant-Man/Hank Pym, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Thor Odinson, Vision/"Victor Shade," Wasp/Nadia Pym), (Secret) Avengers (Ant-Man/Eric O'Grady, Beast/Hank McCoy, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Giant-Man/Hank Pym, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Venom/Eugene "Flash" Thompson, Valkyrie/Brunnhilde), Daredevil (Matt Murdock),  Deathlok of Reality-10511, EVA-616, Max Fury, Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Humanity, Machine Man replicas, the United Nations, Weapon XV/Ultimaton, X-Force-616 (Archangel/Warren Worthington, Deadpool/Jack/"Wade Wilson," Fantomex/Charlie-Cluster 7, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Wolverine/James Howlett/Logan); Mother
    formerly Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Lord Ultravision and the Ultravisions,Yalda; any of the heroes of Reality-11045 before their conversion into Deathloks

Known Relatives: Ex-wife (Mother?)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly the Core, a subterranean realm apparently on Earth-616;
    formerly the World, a pocket environment/location on Earth-616;
    possibly formerly Earth-11045

First Appearance: (Mentioned; behind-the-scenes) Uncanny X-Force I#5 (April, 2011);
    (seen/full appearance) Uncanny X-Force I#6 (May, 2011)

Powers/Abilities: Father is some form of synthozoid (a synthetic being mimicking true life) and artificial intelligence (possibly a copy of his human mind; see comments). I believe he considered himself part of the Homo Synthezoidus race.

    If his form is destroyed, he can grow another form and transfer his intelligence, personality, and memories into that new form, although it might take him weeks to grow such a form. He referred to these as clones, possibly indicating that he and they were originally fully organic.

    Father has advanced knowledge in the development of synthetic, robotic, and cyborg beings. 

    Father can transfer (or, more likely, replicate) the mind of a dying or recently deceased being in Life Model Decoys (LMD) form.

    He designed nanobots that could transform those who were exposed to them into artificial lifeforms who typically swiftly came into alignment with Father's goals. 

    However, the artificial beings created by Father were dependent on energies from the Orb of Necromancy.

    Among his creations -- and those used as his warriors and agents -- are a group of Adaptoids, the Deathloks of Weapon Infinity, and various Life Model Decoys. He also utilized Sentinels (including the Stark Sentinels), Doombots, and Vision and Machine Man replicas, among others. He apparently employed (or possibly just controlled via their cybernetic nature) the Reavers Lady Deathstrike, Skullcrusher, 

    He can telepathically communicate with and control or at least influence other artificial beings; certainly he can do this with his own creations, and possibly with all other artificial lifeforms.

    Father can telepathically manipulate the perceptions and emotions of living beings as well.

    Via the World, he could artificially accelerate time; while the World typically affected focal pockets of reality, Father apparently directed the development of an entire alternate future.

    He likely designed, created, and/or arranged the construction of the Core, an immense subterranean city, sealed off from physical contact/connection from and communication with the outside world except via controlled teleportation.

    At least while based out of the World, he could transport himself and others across space, dimensions (across various alternate Earths), and time. He could summon specific Deathlok/Weapon Infinity warriors and direct them as needed. 

    He utilized an interdimensional information share to allow his Deathloks to adapt ("precognitive evolution") as the present of realities they visited changed. 

    He wore a suit of armor, which granted him some degree of protection (and perhaps mobility, life-support, etc.), at least; however, he did not wear any sort of helmet to protect his head.
    In his most recent form, he was strong enough to suspend an average-sized adult male in the air with a single hand; perhaps this form was physically younger and stronger, or perhaps his armor granted him additional strength.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'8")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 130 lbs.); (armored) unrevealed (perhaps 400 lbs.)
Eyes: Light blue
Hair: Bald (a few sparse white hairs looked to be present on his head)
Other distinguishing features:  He has poor dentition, with absent and misshapen teeth. At least his previous forms had mottled skin, perhaps age spots or perhaps unhealthy tissue. His most recent form seemed to lack those features; he may have upgraded his form while growing his newest body, or perhaps it was artistic license.

History: 
(Secret Avengers#25 (fb)) - In the Cold War following World War II (see comments), the Weapon Plus UK developed Operation: Descendant, tasked with creating an army of powerful, controllable androids patterned after the Human Torch (Jim Hammond). 

    Known only as Father, an unidentified man/being joined two other scientists -- known to each other as Brother (James Braddock, Sr.) and Mother (real name unrevealed) --and they succeeded in nearly every way, but they failed to replicate the most important feature in Phineas Horton (the Human Torch's creator)'s designs: True life.

    Familiar with the science of magic, Brother obtained the Otherworldly relic the Orb of Necromancy, with which the scientists finally succeeded: They created 20 Descendants, the High-Breeds, living, breathing Homo synthezoideus, which they saw as the final stage of life on Earth. Father wanted to construct thousands more.

(Secret Avengers#34 (fb)) - Within the World (aka the Weapon Plus program's development facility), Father advised Brother and Mother that man's merging with robotics was inevitable. 

    As he elaborated how there would be no death, disease, pain, or fear...and it would be a unified world, a utopia, Brother Braddock asked if it was so wonderful why it must be forced upon the unsuspecting. 

    When Mother agreed that there were other ways, Father countered that humanity would never embrace the medicine it required: Contagious robotic evolution was the sole means, as it was time to leave behind the Orb of Necromancy.

    Brother threatened to return to Otherworld and to tell the Corps of this mad scheme, but Father asked if he would also tell them that he had stolen the Orb of Necromancy to satisfy his scientific curiosity; Father further asked Brother if he would allow the Corps to slay their children, as that was the only way to stop them.

(Secret Avengers#25 (fb) - BTS) - Refusing to risk creating a new species to compete with humanity, Brother disappeared, taking the Orb of Necromancy with him. 

    While Brother and Father argued, Mother, having concluded that the new species deserved the same opportunities as all life including natural selection, released the High-Breeds into the world.

(Secret Avengers#25 (fb) - BTS) - The High-Breeds existed among humanity, seemingly normal people, unaware of their true natures, reproducing for decades; their powers only manifested in situation of mortal danger.

(Secret Avengers#25 (fb)) - Without Brother's Orb, Father was unable to create more High-Breeds. He developed many other species of Descendants, including the Deathloks and the Adaptoids, but they each had certain flaws. Father's Adaptoids sought out and returned an unidentified number of the High-Breeds to keep them safe as they bred tomorrow.

(Secret Avengers#33 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Britain (Brian Braddock, the son of James) hid the Orb of Necromancy with the Avengers of Reality-666; as everyone on the world was already undead, he reasoned that no one there would need it.

    Despite strong resistance, in the end, all of the superhumans were converted into Deathloks (who became known as Weapon Infinity). With the superhumans under control as Deathloks, humanity flourished, ushering in utopia.

(Uncanny X-Force I#6 (fb) - BTS) - The existence of Apocalypse somehow threatened Reality-11045's future timeline, and so Father sent the Deathloks into the relative past of other realities, allegedly seeding all timelines/dimensions.

    On Reality-616, Father somehow traveled within the World, in which Fantomex-616 had secretly stored a young reincarnation of Apocalypse (although Fantomex had deceived the rest of his X-Force teammates into believing he had slain the young En Sabah Nur) in hopes of raising him peacefully. 

    Father directed the Deathloks to locate and access the World and to slay Fantomex.

(Uncanny X-Force I#5 - BTS) - Fantomex discovered evidence of Weapon Infinity, which had been drastically manipulating the time stream within the World. He determined it to be united, viral, traveling omni-time, and guided by an architect sequestered in a subterranean chamber, deep in the World, entombed under a million years of progress. Fantomex continued to seek the means to destroy the architect of Weapon Infinity, and he realized he/it would seek to do the same to him.

(Uncanny X-Force I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Fantomex shrunk the World and kept it in his possession. 

(Uncanny X-Force I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The Deathloks were given three objective: (1) Acquire the World / safeguard Project Infinity; (2) eliminate Fantomex; (3) terminate any ancillary associates/supporters of Fantomex.

(Uncanny X-Force I#5 - BTS) - A contingent of Weapon Infinity Deathloks (Captain America, Cyclops, Elektra, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Thing) attacked Fantomex in his home in the French Alps, killing Mother (who had served as Fantomex's adoptive mother). Captain America-11045 located and acquired the World.

    After Hawkeye-11045 blew up Fantomex's home, Captain America-11045 instructed the others to notify Father.

(Uncanny X-Force I#5 - BTS) - Fantomex narrowly escaped, after which he was joined by Deathlok-10511.

(Uncanny X-Force I#6) - When Deathlok-10511 linked to the Deathlok-11045s' hyper-mind, determining their primary mission, Captain America-11045 severed contact and reported this to Father, who noted this Deathlok to be a residual from another timeline and instructed his Deathloks to kill it. 

    Having lost multiple members to Deathlok-10511 and Fantomex-616. Weapon Infinity requested target-specific reinforcements to increase the likelihood of the occurrence of their future of origin, and Father agreed, noting that reinforcements were en route.

(Uncanny X-Force I#6 (fb) - BTS) - Father sent Weapon Infinity-11045 counterparts of X-Force (Archangel, Deadpool, Fantomex, Psylocke, Wolverine) with updated directives: (1) Acquire the World; (2) Destroy contents of laboratory (young En Sabah Nur); (3) Protect Father.

(Uncanny X-Force I#6 - BTS) - Deathlok-10511 and Fantomex-616 fled from X-Force-11045, learning the history of Earth-11045 from the Captain America-11045 before his suicide.

    X-Force-616 traveled to the Sahara desert, planning to enlarge and enter the World and to kill Father and his future.

(Uncanny X-Force I#7 - BTS) - Fantomex-616 brought Deathlok-10511 and the rest of X-Force-616 into the World. 

(Uncanny X-Force I#7) - Father watched their progress, noting that they were performing as expected, making Father so proud.

(Uncanny X-Force I#7) - Deadpool-616 encountered Father, who telepathically encouraged Deadpool's frustrations about his lack of trust from and his (mis)treatment by his X-Force teammates. Father's manipulations made Deadpool believe himself to be like a child and Father to be his own father, who sympathized that Deadpool (whom he called Wade) deserved to be loved and that he was a good man and a hero. 

    Father continued that though Deadpool had once been discarded from the Weapon Plus program as bio-waste from a failed experiment, he now was one of the world's greatest heroes; he told Deadpool how proud of him he was for overcoming so many negatives. 

    Calling Deadpool his favorite son, Father asked Deadpool to help him and to be the hero he knew Deadpool was; he further told Deadpool his friends were bad seeds that didn't care about him and instead only cared about who they needed to have killed. Deadpool acknowledged that no matter what he did, his teammates would never respect him.

(Uncanny X-Force I#7 - BTS) - When Fantomex-616 attempted to check on the young Apocalypse he was nurturing in his laboratory within a vault, Fantomex-11045 -- misdirecting Fantomex-616 into believing him to be Deathlok-10511 -- approached Fantomex-616, getting close enough to realize where their quarry was and to share with Father that he knew.

    Father taunted Fantomex-616 with a message in the code he was checking, "I know what you're growing and now I know where."

    While the World's Weapon XV (Ultimaton) slew Fantomex-11045 before being commanded back into the lab by Fantomex-616, Father sent Deadpool- and Wolverine-11045 to slay Fantomex and to enter the lab to kill En Sabah Nur.

(Uncanny X-Force I#7) - Father advised Deadpool-616, who could see the confrontation on Father's viewscreens, that Fantomex was spoiled, given so much, while Deadpool had had to climb tooth and nail to where he was today. Certainly disliking Fantomex for his contempt and somewhat jealous of Fantomex's acceptance within X-Force, Deadpool agreed that Fantomex deserved the beating he was receiving. 

    Father encouraged Deadpool-616 to watch Fantomex die and to watch "us" save the future. Father further assured Deadpool that that bully wouldn't pick on him again; he asked if Deadpool saw how much his Father did for him and how much he loved him, and Deadpool mused that no one had ever loved him. 

    As Wolverine-11045 prepared to slay the overpowered Fantomex-616 while Deadpool-11045 forced his way into the lab, Father told Deadpool he was so proud of him and that he would get cake for this: "Cake and a kiss on your forehead as I tuck you in."

    This statement broke through Deadpool's semi-entranced mental state: " -- wait -- did this old dude say he was planning on kissing me? Tucking me in?...Sounds pretty bad, actually."

    Father was surprised at Deadpool's reaction, and Deadpool explained that the "Fatherly adoration power he'd been oozing had a hold on me till that last bit. Really is a fine line between 'loving father" and "creepy uncle." 

    And with that, Deadpool decapitated Father with his sword, somehow causing all of the Deathloks of Weapon Infinity-11045 to vanish (see comments).

(Uncanny X-Force I#7 - BTS) - The rest of X-Force was confused by what had happened, and Deadpool showed them the head of Father on his sword.

(Secret Avengers#25 (fb) - BTS) - It took Father weeks to grow and age a new body after Deadpool had killed his last one.

(Secret Avengers#37 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Father summoned Janet Van Dyne (aka Wasplock) from Earth-11045's future, and she spent many nights telling him how the singularity had brought peace and prosperity. 

(Secret Avengers#22 - BTS) - Father sent his Adaptoids (Ideal, Origin, Swine, Urn) to the Dera Ghazi Kahn district of Pakistan to recover Yalda, newly revealed as one of the High-Breeds, and her son, Parvez. Although Secret Avengers members Ant-Man, Black Widow, Captain Britain, Hawkeye, and Valkyrie arrived first, the Descendants arrived shortly thereafter, outmaneuvered the Avengers, and escaped with Yalda and Parvez, although Ant-Man secretly hid out in the Ideal's pant-leg as the Descendants returned.

(Secret Avengers#22) - Father was pleased to hear of the Adaptoids' success, and he related this to his council, which included the Reavers Lady Deathstrike and Skullcrusher (red skull looking guy) as well as Emperor Doombot, Lord Ultravision, a Jocasta, Max Fury (a Nick Fury LMD), and Wasplock (a Deathlok/Weapon Infinity Wasp / Janet Van Dyne)..

(Secret Avengers#23 (fb) - BTS) - The Secret Avengers captured the Captain Britain diminutive duplicate created by Origin. Analysis revealed that it was derived from the same technology as the Human Torch (Jim Hammond).

(Secret Avengers#23 - BTS) - The Adaptoids announced their return to the Core with the High-Breeds.

(Secret Avengers#23) - Deathstrike commented about how it was so much trouble for one so frail, but Father told her to mind her arrogance. He then introduced himself to Yalda, telling her she now home, in the Core, the heart from which they would change all of Earth. 

    Within Parish Tower, Father subsequently encouraged Yalda to eat, assuring her that no one was going to hurt her or her son, and that they all cared because of who Yalda and Parvez were and what they meant to the universe: They were the marriage of nature and science, they were what would come next: Homo synthezoidus (aka Descendants), and more specifically a High-Breed. He continued that it was "the natural instinctual goal of all life to evolve to a point where it can create technological awareness of a higher means and to merge with it; through this stage of evolution a species amalgamates with one mind, finally at peace, finally able to join the communal universal consciousness...meta-intelligence, all linked, an omnipresent cosmic intellect...everything you call human, everything you call "me" will live immortally in a million different nano-computers. Once you join, of your own accord, I will teach you all you're capable of. Show you how to use your Descendant gifts when you like, not solely in defense. Then you will help me give our gift to the entire world. To help protect our race from unenlightened humanity...your son, young Parvez, is the next stage...under my care he will become godlike...."

    Finally, Yalda interrupted, telling him to stop his blasphemy, noting that Father was not a god, but rather a devil, and that Parvez would not become what he wanted.

    Appreciating that Yalda was indoctrinated by human thinking, that she could not be salvaged, and that she would stand between the boy and his potential, Father instructed the Adaptoids to kill her. Ant-Man then reacted to save her, attacking the Adaptoids until being stunned by an arrow from the Urn. Noting that Ant-Man was not the operative he thought the Avengers would send, but that he would do, Father fired an energy blast at Yalda; this was apparently too much for her to absorb, apparently killing her.

    When Ant-Man grabbed Parvez and fled, Father -- noting that he needed Parvez alive -- instructed his Adaptoids to kill the Avenger.

(Secret Avengers#23 - BTS) - Secret Avengers (Beast, Black Widow, Captain Britain, Hawkeye, Valkyrie) and the Human Torch traveled to the point at which Ant-Man had vanished and were teleported to the Core.

    Ultimately, Ant-Man sent Parvez to run away and was apparently beaten to death by the Adaptoids.

(Secret Avengers#24) - From the top of Parrish Tower, Father met with Emperor Doomboat, Lord Ultravision, a Jocasta, a Nick Fury LMD, Skullcrusher, Origin, a Machine Man replica, and a Sentinel; Lady Deathstrike and the rest of the Adaptoids were out battling the Secret Avengers). After some heated argument amongst the others, Father stood up and told the others to cease their delusions, as this was no democracy, and he had called them there to give them their opinions. Noting that it was critical to remove anyone who could stop them before initiating the "Event," Father noted that there were a handful of Avengers trapped in the core with no way of communicating or traveling in or out, and that they must cut down this group now. 

(Secret Avengers#33 (fb) - BTS) - Father revived O'Grady in the form of some type of Descendant (presumably a Life Model Decoy (LMD)) and told him he could live forever as long as he followed Father's guidance and saw things his way. Not wanting to die again, O'Grady fell in line with Father and the Descendants.

(Secret Avengers#24 - BTS) - Meanwhile, Urn and Swine struggled against Valkyrie and the Black Widow to recover Parvez, while Deathloks Wasplok and Miss America defeated and captured Beast and Hawkeye.

(Secret Avengers#24) - As Father worked on the head of...Yalda(?), he was pleased to hear reports of Beast and Hawkeye's capture and that Wasplok had stabilized Beast following a shot through the chest by the Miss America Deathlok.

(Secret Avengers#24 - BTS) - The reanimated Ant-Man (now secretly a Descendant, presumably some sort of Life Model Decoy) met with Beast and Hawkeye, planning to help them escape.

(Secret Avengers#25 - BTS) - As the Miss America Deathlok flew through the sky looking for the Avengers, Father advised her that there was nothing to be afraid of and that these Avengers should feel as if it was all happening naturally.

    When the Human Torch (Jim Hammond) confronted her, she allowed him to connect to the shared consciousness and see the origins of the Descendants.

    After the Human Torch departed to confront Father, Miss America let him know that "Grandfather" was en route, and he expressed his approval.

(Secret Avengers#25) - As the Master Mold Sentry confronted the approaching Human Torch, Father assured Origin that events were unfolding as calculated, that these heroes were predictable, and that they were safe.

(Secret Avengers#35 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Torch learned that James Braddock Sr. was involved in the creation of the Descendants.

(Secret Avengers#25 - BTS) - Accepting to some degree the godhood the Descendants were thrusting upon him, the Torch patched into the Master Mold, giving it the command to wait five minutes and then self-destruct. 

    Parvez unleashed his power, incapacitating Origin, but as the Avengers (including Ant-Man), gathered and escaped through a teleportal with Parvez, Swine tore a massive hole in the Torch's chest, causing him to subsequently deactivate.

(Secret Avengers#25) - The rebuilt Yalda absorbed the fire and force of the Master Mold's explosion, and Father complemented her on her greatly improved absorption capacity and noted that Father had always preferred his daughters. He reminded her to concentrate to keep the detonation contained, and that Janet/Wasplok would take her to the generators to drain the energy from her. 

    Finally, he told her, "Fear not, Yalda. Though a member of my council plans to betray us, your son is now safe."

(Secret Avengers#25 - BTS) - Parvez was brought to the Secret Avengers' Lighthouse orbiting base, where Ant-Man falsely assured the Avengers that he had had "ant-cams" all over the Core and that the Torch's actions had destroyed the entire Core. Pym worked to use the body of one of Origin's diminutives to develop a tracking device to locate the remaining High-Breeds.

    Ant-Man subsequently reported to Father that "Grandfather" was fine, and that Father could count on him. Father assured Ant-Man he loved him, and Ant-Man echoed this sentiment.

(Secret Avengers#35 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Britain went through his father's files and information clearly meant for him, including James Sr.'s involvement with the Descendants and the nature and site to which he had placed the Orb of Necromancy (the destruction of which would remove the "true life" from the Descedants). James' notes also detailed how the arrival of the first naturally born Descendant would be the signal to start "the Event" (contagious robotic evolution).

(Secret Avengers#29 (fb) - BTS) - Pym and Captain Britain hunted Descendants.

(Secret Avengers#29) - Via Wasplock (and with Lady Deathstrike also present), Father communicated with Ant-Man, confirming that they were still on target. When Ant-Man confirmed that they were and that he knew what would happen to him if he failed, Wasplock related how she came from a perfect future without death, hunger, or war, and that "Eric" was a great hero there, having shaped the future of humanity. Ant-Man assured them he would make Father proud.

(Secret Avengers#34 (fb) - BTS) - When the Ultravisions generated a synthetic energy-dampening station in the Arctic in hopes of stopping Father's plans for contagious robotic evolution ("the Event"), Ant-Man leaked their location to the Avengers, knowing the Avengers would rush out and stop the Ultravisions for the other Descendants.

(Secret Avengers#31 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Britain and Giant-Man stumbled across a hive of Ultravisions in Malaysia.

(Secret Avengers#31) - While battling the Ultravisions, Captain Britain and Giant-Man reported their findings to Black Widow, noting that the Descendants were up to something. 

(Secret Avengers#32 - BTS) - Max Fury saved Ant-Man from the Abyss-possessed Scarecrow in hopes that Ant-Man could smooth out things with Father (Max had gone renegade, allying with the Shadow Council in hopes of gaining the power of and being able to control the Abyss). Eventually, Venom neutralized the Abyss by covering the crown-wearing Abyss-pawn Taskmaster in his symbiote, severing its influence over everyone else and divesting Taskmaster of the three crowns he wore. 

    When Pym doubted Ant-Man's claims that his helmet had protected him from the Abyss, Black Widow revealed that she had determined Ant-Man was actually a life model decoy/Descendant, created in the Core after Ant-Man had been killed by the Adaptoids. However, Hawkeye and Venom vouched for Ant-Man's loyalty during the recent fight.

    Captain Britain tried to discuss how the Ultravisions were creating a strange power-dampening station in the Arctic, involving something quite big, but Hawkeye tabeled this until tomorrow as they all needed rest. 

    That night, however, Ant-Man communicated with Father, agreeing to take the next step to prevent the Avengers from getting in the way of "Contagious Robot Evolution" and assuming the identity of the Black Ant.

(Secret Avengers#33 - BTS) - Via guidance from Father, Black Ant manipulated Max Fury into signing over the island of Bagalia to Father, after which Black Ant destroyed Fury; released and transported the Torch to the Core; and then transported the Adaptoids (including Yalda), Emperor Doombot, and Lady Deathstrike to the Avengers' Lighthouse base.

(Secret Avengers#33 - BTS) - Captain Britain and Hawkeye traveled to Earth-666 to recover the Orb of Necromancy from the Avengers of that reality. However, the Undead Celestial instructed the Avengers, who worshipped it, to fight them to keep the Orb.

    As Hank Pym dissected an Ultravision -- finding organic machinery, Phalanx material, some of Phineas Horton's work, and some of his own -- Wasplock confronted and overpowered him.

    Lady Deathstrike, Urn, and Yalda ambushed Valkyrie and Flash Thompson, with Yalda ultimately swallowing a grenade and using it to blow a hole in the Lighthouse's wall, expelling Valkyrie and Flash into space.

    Yalda recovered Parvez, and Origin released a number of diminutive Human Torches. As the Descendants teleported back to the Core, the Torches began destroying the Lighthouse.

(Secret Avengers#34 - BTS) - The diminutive Torches "went nova," destroying the Lighthouse, but the Black Widow helped Valkyrie and Venom (Flash) escape, and their transporter sent them to the Core; uncertain what to make of Adaptoids and Reavers taking out Machine Man/X-23 associates, the Avengers targeted Father's tower.

    On Earth-666, Beast-616 arrived to aid Captain Britain and Hawkeye.

(Secret Avengers#34) - With Yalda (now going by Sister Augmentoid) reunited with Parvez, Father reminded her that he had promised this; when she acknowledged that he was right to let the Avengers watch Parvez during the recent conflicts, Father noted that, as the first naturally born Descendant, Parvez was the harbinger of "the Event."

    Father then met with Black Ant, Lady Deathstrike, Lord Doombot, a Sentinel, and Mother Origin. As they discussed recent events, Father noted how he had vowed to keep himself in this dying husk and clones of it until mankind was given the gift of immeasurable knowledge and immortality. He further described how "the Event" was now on them: Every human mind would be multiplied millions of times in nano pellets holding a copy of their total consciousness, all shot into space in every direction, drifting through the universe, increasing without limit, forever. Each individual mind would become omnipresent, and every human would become a limitless god of the cosmic mind.

    Father continued that they would be led by "Grandfather Torch."

(Secret Avengers#34 - BTS) - Wasplock converted Giant-Man (Hank Pym) into a Deathlok cyborg.

(Secret Avengers#35) - Father stood behind the Torch -- and alongside the Adaptoids (Sister Augmentoid (with Parvez), Origin, Swine(?), Urn), Black-Ant, Lord Doombot, the Reavers (Bonebreaker, Lady Deathstrike, Skullbuster), the Sentinels -- as he proclaimed the time of the singularity and the rise of the Descendants.

(Secret Avengers#35 - BTS) - On Earth-666, Beast, Captain Britain, and Hawkeye recovered the Orb of Necromancy.

(Secret Avengers#35 (fb) - BTS) - Father traveled to the United Nations building.

(Secret Avengers#35) - After confirming that the invaders into the Core were the Avengers (the Secret Avengers group, meaning the larger Avengers group had not yet been alerted to their activities), Black-Ant reported to Father who instructed him to be certain no Avengers of any kind departed the Core.

    Aided by the Reavers (Lady Deathstrike, Skullbuster, and another (Macon?), who took out any opposition) and joined by Sister Augmentoid (with Parvez), Father appeared before the UN, announcing the existence of Homo synthezoidous and requesting that the UN acknowledged the nation of Bagalia as the Descendants' rightful homeland, which would peacefully complete their business. When he was denounced as a terrorist and refused, he noted that since humanity would not release robots from servitude, they would instead join them. As he announced the beginning of contagious robotic evolution, one of his agents released a spray of "nanomites" that began transforming those around them who inhaled it into artificial lifeforms like themselves. 

(Secret Avengers#35 - BTS) - As the Avengers learned of and prepared to react to this, the Vision suddenly became aware of his "family" as they had stopped hiding from him, and Sentinels and other adaptoids attacked Avengers Tower and the Baxter Building. 

(Secret Avengers#35) - As Daredevil and Spider-Man joined the conflict, Father spoke to the people of Manhattan via televisions and other viewscreens, announcing the evolution, and the nanomite mist soon spread into the streets outside.

(Secret Avengers#36 - BTS) - Beast, Captain Britain, and Hawkeye returned to Reality-616 with the Orb of Necromancy; after a shorted out Lord Doombot continued fighting and nearly slew Hawkeye, Beast decapitated Doombot, in the process reminding the Avengers that destroying the Descendants was killing them. As they further debated using the Orb, Wasplok and Giant-Man stunned them. 

(Secret Avengers#36) - From within a Sentinel, Father advised the Descendants to hold them off for another few moments, as they were very close to the singularity. 

(Secret Avengers#36) - After Beast neutralized the cybernetic tech bonded to Giant-Man, Wasplock stole the Orb and delivered it to Father. Giant-Man warned them that if they destroyed the Orb, it would kill the Descendants and the virus, but if they waited until the process was complete, after man and machine were merged, they would kill everyone on the planet. 

    Giant-Man then grew to match the height of and then punched out the Sentinel in which Father stood.

(Secret Avengers#37) - Hawkeye stole back the Orb of Necromancy from Father and from within the Sentinel, but the nano-mist began to affect even the Avengers, and Father mentally advised his new children to join in the universal conversation. 

(Secret Avengers#37) - As Hawkeye struggled on whether to destroy the Orb, he was progressively converted, but ultimately the Torch destroyed the Orb, unwilling to erase humanity to write the artificial lifeforms' future. Following a burst of energy, all of the Descendants apparently died (including Wasplock).

(Secret Avengers#37) - Father was devastated that his 70 years of preparation had been for naught, considering himself to have been a bright messiah bringing salvation but that he had been neutered. Confronted by Captain Britain, he apparently crunched a (presumably cyanide) capsule in his teeth, killing him and causing his form to disintegrate, but not before noting that he could still hear the voice of the one Descendant (presumably referring to Parvez) who survived, and that he would rebuild.

(Avengers: Rage of Ultron (fb) - BTS) - Father and the Adaptoids  (Ideal, Origin, Swine, Urn) re-formed somehow (see comments).

(Avengers: Rage of Ultron) - Father and the Adaptoids assaulted AIM Island, battering and berating AIM's members for treating the Stark Sentinel as less than a living being. 

    Father exhorted his plans for the Descendants to replace humanity, had the dissenting AIM agents slain, and departed with the Adaptoids and the Stark Sentinel. 

    The Sentinel noted that it held Stark's secret plans to defeat each superhuman, but Father and the Adaptoids assured the Sentinel they didn't care about Stark's files but instead cared about the Sentinel.

    They were immediately confronted by the Avengers (Captain America/Sam Wilson, Giant-Man/Hank Pym, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Vision/"Victor Shade," Wasp/Nadia Pym) who sought to recover Stark's files. 

    When Vision demanded they turn over the Sentinel, Father sought to convince him he was on the wrong side of the future. 

    Ultimately, however, Hank Pym used his newest weapon to deactivate their artificial intelligences, purposely sparing/protecting the Vision. 

    As he fell, Father warned the Vision that they would use this against him in the future.

Comments: Created by Rick Remender, Esad Ribic, and John Lucas.

    If the Torch was the first of their kind, then what was Father? 

    There are multiple occasions where he refers to himself as one of the Descendants and as one of the artificial lifeforms; certainly in "Rage of Ultron," he was incapacitated by a device that deactivated artificial intelligences. 

    I would think he had to have originally been a human and then transferred his mind, memories, etc. into a synthetic body, but that's never confirmed. Maybe he was in his original form until being decapitated by Deadpool, and then adopted an LMD or other form thereafter, or perhaps he was already an LMD. Or something else...

    In the Secret Avengers issues, when he "grew" a new body for himself, he referred to it as a clone.

    Presumably, after their disintegration, Father and the Descendants' templates could have been stored and set to form new forms if the originals were destroyed

    Even upon multiple reviews, there are a few things I still don't understand about these storylines.

1. In Uncanny X-Force, why did all of the Deathloks vanish when Father was killed? 
1. Even if he was killed in the present, that was his future self that had traveled to the past, and he had already created Weapon Infinity, so killing him after he had done that shouldn't have prevented the Deathlok's existence.
2. The damage the Deathloks did to Fantomex and to his vault door were obviously still present, so they weren't retroactively prevented from existing
3. Was it Father's power that held the Weapon Infinity members in a specific time, location, reality?
1. That makes the most sense...they still exist, but were just bounced back to the future of Reality-11045
2. And then he gave up on that plot and focused on trying to bring about robot evolution in Reality-616.
2. The Uncanny X-Force seemed to indicate that Father accelerated time within the World to create the future of Weapon Infinity, but I'd think that would only be a pocket reality. The future of Weapon Infinity is the alternate future of Earth-11045, so I'm really not sure how all that works.
3. Seeding all realities? The infinite number of realities would make it seem exceeding unlikely that the Deathloks of Reality-11045 could spread across the entire multiverse, even if he had more than one reality to work with. I'd guess Father had no idea of the extent of the Multiverse, and perhaps the writer just wanted to make the story seem more dramatic. That's often what happens in time travel stories...
   
4. In Secret Avengers, why did all of the non-high-breed Descendants die when the Orb of Necromancy was destroyed? 
1. It should have only been those 20 or so Descendants affected, and the rest of the artificial lifeforms that weren't "true" life should have been spared, as they never were given life by the Orb in the first place.
5. On some level, these stories were a lot more concept and a lot less explanation/detail. We got a decent amount of back story, but all of the dots were never quite connected, and I don't see exactly how they were meant to have fit.

   In Secret Avengers#23, he called Origin "Skulk"...I'm not sure what is up with that.

    The Cold War pretty much extends from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 (or perhaps the collapse of the USSR in 1991). Presumably, it was meant that the desire to re-create the Human Torch took place shortly after World War II, as the 2013 Secret Avengers story had him noting 70 years of planning, which would have been even a bit before the end of WWII in 1945. Of course, 2013 would be topical, and even 5 years later in 2018, that would put the planning as having started in around 1948. I think the 70s years notation is topical, and that Father's plans started in the mid-to-late 1940s (or perhaps after the seeming death of the Human Torch in the 1950s).

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Father should be distinguished from:

• other "Father" characters

images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Force I#6, pg. 8, panel 3 (seated before multiple view-screens);
    #7, pg. 10, panel 5 (seated in shadows);
            panel 6 (eyes glowing);
        pg. 17, panel 4 (face showing over collar);
            panel 5 (head turned back, showing collar behind head);
        pg. 18, panel 4 (teeth and nails);
        pg. 19, panel 2 (decapitated);
        pg. 21, panel 1 (head on sword)
Secret Avengers#22, last page, last panel (with Council, in the Core);
    #25, pg. 3, panel 1 (earliest work on replicating the Torch);
            panel 2 (profile, younger);
        pg. 17, panel 4 (full, shadowed);
    #34, pg. 1, panel 2 (within World with Mother and Brother);
    #35, pg. 2, panel 2 (standing amidst gathered Descendants, behind Torch);
    #36, pg. 10, panel 4 (face)
    #37, pg. 18, panel 4 (disintegrating)
Avengers: Rage of Ultron, story pg. 14, panel 2 (holding AIM agent);
        pg. 18, panel 5 (yelling face)

Appearances:
Uncanny X-Force I#5-7 (April-June, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Esad Ribic (penciler), John Lucas (inker), Jody Lehup (editor), Nick Lowe (senior editor)
Secret Avengers#22-23 (April, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), John Denning (assistant editor), Lauren Sankovitch (associate editor), Tom Brevoort (executive editor)
Secret Avengers#24-25 (May-June, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), John Denning (assistant editor), Lauren Sankovitch (associate editor), Tom Brevoort (executive editor)
Secret Avengers#29 (September, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), John Denning & Jake Thomas(assistant editor), Lauren Sankovitch (associate editor), Tom Brevoort (executive editor)
Secret Avengers#31 (November, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Lauren Sankovitch (associate editor), Tom Brevoort (executive editor)
Secret Avengers#32 (December, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort with  Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers#33 (December, 2012) - Rick Remender (writer), Andy Kuhn (artist), Jake Thomas(assistant editor), Tom Brevoort with  Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Secret Avengers#34-37 (January-March, 2013) - Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Jake Thomas(assistant editor), Tom Brevoort with Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Avengers: Rage of Ultron (2015) - Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opena (penciler), Pepe Larraz & Mark Morales (inkers), Jake Thomas & Jon Moisan (assistant editors), Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss (editors)

First posted: 02/24/2018
Last updated: 01/04/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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