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MIRAGE

Real Name: Mirage

Identity/Class: Extradimensional creation of Oblivion

Occupation: None

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Iceman (Bobby Drake)

Enemies: Idiot, White Light;
formerly Oblivion

Known Relatives: Oblivion (creator), Smith Family (creations), Deathurge, Idiot, Kali, Kid Reaper, White Light (fellow "offspring/creations" of Oblivion)

Aliases: Marge Smith, Margaret

Base of Operations: Oblivion's dimension;
   briefly England ca. 1892;
   briefly Port Jefferson, Long Island

First Appearance: Iceman I#1 (December, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Mirage was a creation of Oblivion, the embodiment of non-existence. Essentially a fragment of Oblivion's own self Mirage proved to be exceptionally strong-willed and turned away from her father and destiny. Mirage had the ability to will an entire family into existence, each of them with a distinct personality. As time went on Mirage's powers continued to grow, allowing her to create even bigger creations such as an entire, stereotypical, "All American" town, where everyone was always nice and friendly. Over time as her powers grew Mirage was unable to contain her father's full power and lost control over her powers and emotions. Mirage snapped and erased both the town and her family, reverting to her original form, dressed in garb similar to that of Oblivion. Mirage eventually assumed her father's form, finally accepting to merge with Oblivion. The two forms combined to become one.

Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Variable; (as Marge) Blue
Hair: Variable; (as Marge) Strawberry Blonde

History:

(Iceman I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Paradoxically craving life, compassion and fullness, the cosmic entity Oblivion created an entire kingdom with countless servants. However, this still did not bring him fulfillment, because he longed for a special soul that would be closer to him than any mere servant ever could. From the deepest part of his infinite being, Oblivion drew a fragment of his own self and birthed it as a child who he named Mirage. The "child" however, proved exceptionally strong-willed and turned away from him, fleeing into the world of time. Afraid Mirage would someday rise to challenge him, Oblivion made plans to get her back.

(Iceman I#1 - BTS) - Mirage took human form, calling herself Marge Smith and settling down in the quiet community of Port Jefferson, Long Island. To gain a semblance of normalcy, she willed an entire family into existence. Each of them had a distinct personality, though they were aware of their origins as creations of Mirage.

(Iceman I#1 - BTS) - Oblivion sent two of his subjects, White Light and Idiot, to retrieve his daughter.

(Iceman I#1) - While taking a stroll around the neighborhood with her "family", Mirage was noticed by Iceman (Bobby Drake). He was in town visiting his parents, but was so taken by Mirage's beauty he simply had to introduce himself. However, Mirage mistook the strange looking man for one of Oblivion's pawns and used her abilities to crumble Iceman's ice pillar, causing the hero to fall to the ground while Mirage and her "family" fled the scene. Sometime later, Bobby ran into Marge and her "family" again when he had accidentally ran her over. He apologized and, unaware Drake was Iceman, Marge accepted his apology and introduced her family to him before taking off again. Bobby was stunned to find the Smiths lived next door to his folks, incredulous he actually fell for the girl-next-door.

(Iceman I#1) - Later that night Marge brought over a large platter of brownies to the Drakes, where she bumped into Bobby again who left the house after a heated family discussion about his adventuring. Marge and Bobby sat down on the porch of her place to talk, but just when Bobby told her he really liked her Oblivion's agents White Light and Idiot arrived. Springing into action, Bobby ordered Marge to call the police and while she ran inside the house Bobby quickly transformed into Iceman to fight off the attackers. Fearing her imminent capture, Marge used her abilities to teleport herself and her "family" to another place and time. The fight, caused the Smith residence to collapse, which led Bobby to believe Marge and her family were buried under the rubble.

(Iceman I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Mirage sought refuge in 1892, living in a quaint village in England with her family and going by the name Margaret.

(Iceman I#2) - Taking a walk in the village, Mirage greeted her neighbor Mrs. Bronte and returned home where she suggested her entire family should go for a walk too. They naturally loved their wonderful girl's latest idea and prepared to follow when suddenly a mysterious machine went off. Not instantly recognizing it, Mirage asked her "brother" Walter what it was. He explained that he was using it to monitor the timeline they'd left behind to see if anyone would come looking for them. Walter went on to say someone had activated their bounce-boxes, that would send the person flying to another timeline. Seconds later they saw it was Bobby Drake. Shocked, the family tried to persuade Mirage to act, all asking different things at the same time. Not able to deal with her creations Mirage snapped, angrily ordering them to be quiet or be bounced out of existence. Reluctantly, the family fell silent.

   Later that day, Mirage and her family watched the video screen, witnessing how Iceman fought Kali, another one of Oblivion's warriors. The family pleaded with Mirage to go and help Iceman, although she was still too afraid to face her father's warriors. However, when Kali's actions caused Iceman's father to die, she decided to intervene. Appearing as an illusion in the sky, Mirage challenged Kali to come through the portal and face her. Kali, of course, accepted. Mirage was unaware that because Iceman's father died, the hero was also erased from existence.

(Iceman I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Mirage fought and defeated Kali, sending her back to Oblivion's realm.

(Iceman I#3 - BTS) - Erased from existence, Iceman was welcomed into Oblivion's realm. The entity offered the hero the rest and peace his soul so craved but went on to reveal his true purpose in the universe and the origin of his "daughter" Mirage. Finally, he offered to return Iceman's father back to life if Bobby would return Mirage to his realm. Fed up with paying the price for Mirage's fight with her "father", Iceman accepted the offer and was returned to what he presumed was Earth.

   Mirage's power continued to grow. She created an entire, stereotypical, "All American" town out of thin air, where everyone was always nice and friendly.

(Iceman I#3) - When Iceman visited the town, he ran into "Walter" who was excited to see the hero again. He took him home, where Mirage was thrilled too to find Bobby was alive again. Feeling everyone was perfect now, she was overjoyed. Not wanting to upset her, Bobby decided to wait until after dinner to bring up the true purpose of his visit. Later that night while the two sat down on the porch, Iceman tried to get through to Mirage, hoping to persuade her to return to Oblivion so he could go home and save his father. Mirage refused to deal with the problems at hand and became upset at the thought of facing Oblivion. Suddenly Mirage's family appeared, persuading her to stop running and deal with her problems head on. As the family droned on, Mirage's irritation grew to the point she lost control over her growing powers and emotions. She snapped, erasing both the town and her family from daring to disagree with her. Mirage faced Iceman in the barren wasteland that remained. She had also reverted to her original form, dressed in garb similar to that of Oblivion. Tired of the girl's madness and paying the price for her daddy-issues, Iceman engaged Mirage. After a brief fight, Mirage defeated the hero and decided the time had come to test her powers against Oblivion. Mirage and the unconscious Iceman were suddenly teleported to Oblivion's realm.

(Iceman I#4) - While Mirage rebelled against her father, Iceman felt he was being played by Oblivion and figured he was to blame for all this. Using all of his powers, Iceman pulled off a surprise attack on Oblivion, defeating his opponent with a giant landslide made of ice. However, seeing her father defeated made Mirage realize how much she loved him. Mirage assumed his form, finally accepting to merge with Oblivion. As the two forms combined to become one, Oblivion kept his promise. He resurrected Iceman's father and returned him and Bobby home, making all the events leading up to it feel like little more than an illusion.

Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks).

Profile by MarvellousLuke

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mirage has no known connections to

Smith Family

Longing for a "normal" life and unwilling to accept her true heritage, Mirage willed an entire family into existence. The Smiths consisted of a mother, father, grandfather and a brother she named Walter. While Mirage was still in the early stages of discovering her abilities, the entire family would agree with her and follow her every command. Over time, as her powers grew unstable, her control over them slipped and they began to play at her morals. When Mirage was finally unable to contain her growing powers and emotions, she erased the Smiths from existence when they dared to disagree with her.

--Iceman I#1 (Iceman I#1-3

images: (without ads)
Iceman I#4, p6, pan1 (main image)
Iceman I#1, p11, pan 5,6,7 (stumbling into Bobby Drake)
Iceman I#2, p9, pan5 (upset with the family)
Iceman I#3, p22, pan1 (fighting Iceman)
Iceman I#4, p20, pan1 (merging with Oblivion)
Iceman I#1, p7, pan3 (Smith Family)
Iceman I#3, p16, pan1,2,3 (Smith Family no more)

Appearances:
Iceman I#1 (December, 1984) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
Iceman I#2 (February, 1985) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
Iceman I#3 (April, 1985) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Janice Chiang (editor)
Iceman I#4 (June, 1985) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)

First Posted: 07/28/2017
Last Updated: 03/13/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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