Sublime (Earth-616)

Origin[]

Sublime was the self-appointed name of a sentient bacterial life-form that came into being billions of years ago.^[4] It was created by the first ever mutant society Threshold, during their war against the Unbreathing. It alongside fellow bioweapon Arkea was set to parasite the bodies of the Thresholders to aid in the war, but eventually both of them turned on their creators, opting to infect endless other hosts and later on each other. Infecting the sea where new mutants were born, both Sublime and Arkea sought to bring down Thresholds, but the Marauders from the future came to intervene.

Despite Bishop's attempt to stop the bacteria, it was Cassandra Nova who succeeded by allowing Sublime and Arkea to infect her body which paved way for her to lobotomize each of their cells, neutralizing the bacterias' higher functions and memory, making them forget everything while also granting mutantkind an immunity to them. It would take millions of years for them to recover their consciousness, leading them to believe that they were the first lifeforms of Earth.^[5]

As mutantkind proved immune to Sublime, it was hinted that the very hatred and fear of mutants was caused by Sublime itself. But the bacteria took more direct actions in order to ensure that mutant population would be held in check, if not exterminated, in order to keep it from becoming the dominant species of the planet. Arkea and Sublime engaged in a microscopic battle to decide who would inherit the planet Earth and dictate the flow of life, with her sibling emerging victorious. Cast out into the abyss, she traveled to alien worlds and evolved separately over the coming millennia.^[4]

Across the Ages[]

For billions of years, the Sublime spread across the planet, flowing through the currents of existence, adapting, evolving, and spreading its influence among the myriad life forms that came to be. From the simplest single-celled organisms to the most complex creatures, it wove its unseen threads, whispering in the very essence of life itself. Among its countless hosts were Humans, creatures of intellect and ambition, who unknowingly bore within them the echoes of the Sublime's ancient presence. It watched as civilizations rose and fell, as empires clashed and crumbled, all the while weaving its subtle web of influence, shaping the course of history from the shadows. But then, a new phenomenon emerged: mutant. Beings born with powers beyond the ordinary, whose very existence defied the laws of nature. For the first time in its long existence, the Sublime found itself thwarted, unable to possess these beings as it had so effortlessly done with others. Faced with this new challenge, the Sublime's ancient schemes took on a new urgency. It sought to understand these mutants, to unravel the secrets of their powers, and to find a way to bend them to its will. Yet, for all its vast intellect and timeless cunning, it found itself locked in a struggle unlike any it had faced before.^[6]

Weapon Plus/Weapon X[]

Sublime's first step was to infiltrate the Weapon Plus Project. Sublime took over a human body, and took the name Dr. John Sublime and became the assistant to Dr. Abraham Cornelius who was recruited to join Weapon X. Under orders from the Professor they moved to the Weapon X Facility in Alberta, Canada and worked with Dr. Carol Hines and embarked on a ground-breaking mission: to perfect the process of infusing Adamantium, an virtually indestructible metal, into human subjects.^[7] They found the perfect candidate Logan a member of Team X. The Professor did not like Dr. Sublime, but Dr. Cornelius dismissed seeing him as harmless. He was not aware of Sublime's true intentions.^[8] Working with the scientists he put the brain-washed Logan through various training exercises such as pitting him against a formidable bear, which he dispatched with lethal efficiency. Logan escaped and attacked the scientists, but Sublime escaped as he had just been dismissed on a coffee break.^[9]

For many years, Sublime remained behind the scenes, manipulating the Weapon Plus Project and installing Malcolm Colcord as the Director of Weapon X. Together the oversaw the creation of The World, a facility that warped time to grow and develop an entire civilization solely for the production of Super-Soldiers. He would often speak with the Professor and taunt him about his old experiments on mutants believing that his work at the world was far superior.^[8] The result was to be a team called the "Super-Sentinels", products of a "mating" between their human "Mother" and a machine.^[10] They created Weapon XII, Huntsman, the first living weapon created (he was accidentally unleashed on the Channel Tunnel and fought X-Corporation, being eventually eliminated by Fantomex);^[11] Weapon XIII, Fantomex (he was created at the facility, but rebelled and escaped);^[12] and Weapon XV, Ultimaton, their "ultimate" creation.^[13]

U-Men[]

As millions of mutants were born worldwide, Sublime, still under the identity of John Sublime, took other steps to ensure the extermination of mutantkind. One of these steps was the creation of the TransSpecies Movement a.k.a. Homo Perfectus, outwardly a group of 'mutants born in human bodies', though actually a cult of humans that sought to empower themselves by grafting mutant body parts to their own bodies. The militant faction of this group, the U-Men, refused to have any sort of contact with the world, which they considered impure, for which they sealed themselves in containment suits.During a trip to Hong Kong's new office of the X-Corporation, the X-Men discovered Sublime's farm of mutant prisoners, who were being harvested for mutant body parts which could give the U-Men powers. Sublime, who was in the country on a book tour, thus became aware of the X-Men's immediate threat to his plans. Sublime also planted the mutant healer Xorn in one such prison in China.^[3]

Although Xorn was rescued by the X-Men, he was actually a mole. Xorn, who was revealed to apparently be Magneto, became addicted to the drug Kick (which was actually Sublime's bacterial body in concentrated doses high-enough to finally enable the infection and possession of a mutant). Xorn dealt the drug to Quentin Quire, thus placing Quire under Sublime's influence, which would cause the Open Day Riots made by the Omega Gang, and which led to the death of Sophie of the Stepford Cuckoos and Dummy, the body-less, gaseous-form student of Xorn.^[14]

Meanwhile, Sublime and the U-Men spread their influence to New York City, where they kidnapped the telepath Martha Johansson, harvested her still-living brain, and used it as a weapon against the X-Men. Johansson resisted, and forced Sublime to fall from Emma Frost's grip to his apparent death. The Sublime organism survived, regenerated its host body, and returned to actively overseeing Weapon Plus, as always, from the shadows.^[15]

Sublime suffered a setback in its plans with the destruction of two of Weapon Plus' Super-Sentinels (Huntsman/Weapon XII and Ultimaton/Weapon XV) and the defection of Fantomex (Weapon XIII). Sublime had envisioned a team of mutant-hunters with scripted actions operating from a space station (a section of Asteroid M) in order to make the genocide of mutantkind look like a "Saturday morning cartoon come to life". Weapon XII had already been destroyed during its test-drive; Fantomex, intended to be the smart, cool member of the team, refused to be anybody's weapon. Only Ultimaton remained, and even though he followed the direction of Weapon Plus operatives, he had began to question his role as a slaughter machine and was ultimately killed by Wolverine.^[16]

Under the influence of Sublime via Kick, and believing himself to be Magneto, Xorn assembled a new Brotherhood of Mutants to lay waste to the Xavier Institute and then New York City. They were defeated by the X-Men, but Xorn, under Sublime's influence, killed Jean Grey, who was manifesting the powers of the Phoenix Force. Unbeknownst to all, the Phoenix was the ultimate threat to Sublime's plan. In retaliation for Jean's murder, Xorn was beheaded by Wolverine.^[17]

Weapon X Retaliation[]

This would eventually lead to the so-called War of the Programs between Colcord's replacement, Agent Brent Jackson. Chamber, an X-Man who had infiltrated Colcord's Weapon X organization, was ordered to assassinate Sublime by Brent Jackson, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent turned Weapon X field leader.^[18] Chamber was captured but was saved by Wild Child and Chamber went to Sublime's office and incinerated him leaving him for dead on the floor.^[19] Sublime is revealed to be a live and well and over a monitor taunts Fantomex and Wolverine. He then set an army of U-Men to attack them. ^[20] At the same time, Sublime under the guise of Michael Grand head of Megacorp sent Sabretooth against Mister Sinister in order to obtain Sinister's latest creations, the Children.^[21]

Weapon XIV (Stepford Cuckoos)[]

Sublime was responsible for the birth of the Stepford Cuckoos, extracting thousands of eggs from the ovaries of Emma Frost and harvesting them into humanoid/nanite hybrids designed to be killing machines. The hub of his program, the five sisters, were sent to the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to be trained in the use of their telepathic legacy.^[22]

Arkea's Return[]

His sister Arkea made a dramatic return to Earth, riding meteors with a singular goal: vengeance against her brother and seizing what she deemed rightfully hers. She took control of the body of Omega Sentinel, Karima Shapandar. Sublime surrendered himself to the X-Men to ask for their help.^[4] Upon awakening, Arkea in Karima's body swiftly tapped into the Jean Grey School's extensive A.I. database, driven by her thirst for planetary conquest and retribution against her brother, who sought refuge with the X-Men. Engaging in conversation with Beast, she delved into the modifications of her host body. Chaos erupted when Rogue intervened, propelling the possessed Karima into the Danger Room amid Arkea's data theft. Sensing [Kitty Pryde's potential threat, Arkea recognized her brother's wisdom in seeking X-Men aid. As Kitty debated her next move with Storm, Arkea declared Karima dead, claiming only her collective remained. Faced with Kitty's ultimatum, Arkea hastily repaired circuitry, fleeing to Budapest using Omega Sentinel's Spatial Motion function.^[23] Detecting the X-Men and Sublime at the 'Szent Margit Institute', where many patients had undergone neuro-prosthetic surgery, Arkea readied for battle. She infected the inmates with her essence, preparing for the impending confrontation with her enemies and retrieving her scattered pieces from the nearby meteor crash site.^[24]

Recovering his sister[]

Despite Arkea's apparent demise, fragments of her bacterial being from the meteor she arrived on remained at large. Sublime, dedicated much of his attention and resources to tracking and sterilizing any such fragments he could find. However, it soon became clear that Sublime wasn't the only one interested in his sister. After hiring a skilled thief/leg breaker to steal an exorbitantly safeguarded bio-technical cache with all known files, notes and data on Arkea's remains from the X-Men's home base, the symbiotically-refitted Deathstrike sought out Sublime and to test her own theories on the alien entity.^[25] One of the pieces of his sister was discovered near a cottage in Norway by the Enchantress who had recently been banished to by Thor as punishment for past crimes. This fragment was taken to Dubai, where Deathstrike enlisted Reiko to build a new Body Shop. His sister took control of the Sisterhood of Mutants, Arkea became fully aware of the X-Men's impending intervention and that Sublime was still alive. Arkea further spread her viral influence over cadres of Sentinels, effectively declaring war on both the X-Men and the rest of mutantkind.^[26] Sublime and Rachel Summers found themselves drawn to each other through casual flirting aboard the X-Jet, with Rachel captivated by Sublime's charms. This dynamic deeply unsettled Rachel's fellow X-Men, although their interactions didn't escalate physically as Sublime would promptly return to his own duties while Rachel remained at the school.^[27] Storm broached the subject of their mutual attraction during an argument with Rachel, much to Rachel's disappointment and anger, viewing it as a low blow. Sublime later faced an attack from the Sisterhood and was rescued by Psylocke, as they needed his assistance to confront his genocidal sister.^[28] During his recovery, Sublime and Rachel found themselves alone together, a situation even Rachel considered ill-advised. Eventually, they acknowledged the shared moment they had on the X-Jet, with Sublime questioning if Rachel desired more. However, Rachel asserted that pursuing anything further would be unwise, and they both silently apologized to each other, the contents of which remained undisclosed. Following the death of Sublime's sister, he prepared to depart from the school. When questioned by Rachel about his departure, Sublime explained that it was a complex matter, emphasizing that Rachel's team had still been responsible for his sister's death, despite his cooperation in providing the means to defeat her. With a lingering glance at Rachel through his window, Sublime left. Alone afterward, Rachel revealed her knowledge that Sublime had killed her mother, expressing profound sadness that her own teammates had never discussed it with her.^[29]

Krakoa[]

Sublime returned to retrieve his old experimental subject Martha Johansson. He sent the U-Men after Martha and her friends the New Mutants.^[30] He wanted to return her to her jar and use her brain as a weapon once again. Escapade swapped places with her allowing her to escape and free her friends. Escapade then swapped places with a U-Man allowing her to get away much to Sublime's frustration.^[31] Wolfsbane confronted Sublime, sensing his nefarious intentions to infect Krakoa using her friends. In a bold move, she transformed into a pack of wolves and attacked him, but Sublime proved formidable, swiftly overpowering her. Martha and Morgan Red stumble upon them, and in a desperate bid to distract Sublime, Martha shattered an old brain jar, only to find Sublime unfazed, and he summoned his U-Men. As chaos ensued, Escapade and Leo Eng found themselves embroiled in their own battle against the U-Men. Despite Escapade's valiant efforts, she found herself outmatched until she resorted to a risky maneuver, swapping places with one of the U-Men, inadvertently leading to her own defeat. Sublime seized the opportunity to collar Escapade, manipulating her insecurities as a trans mutant to coerce her into compliance. Amidst the turmoil, Morgan's quick thinking neutralized Sublime's plan by transmuting his Kick into harmless chocolate. Sublime tried to escape with Escapade, but Leo used his telekinetic powers to rescue her from Sublime's clutches. A climactic showdown unfolded on the rooftop, culminating in Escapade's collar shattering. An explosion sent Morgan hurtling off the roof, yet Escapade's swift swap averted tragedy, with Leo ensuring her safe return.^[32]

Possession: Sublime can possess the body of most any known biotic organism. By dividing his own bacterial substance and transfusing it into any number of individual host forms he can achieve numerous potent effects being a sentient bacteria.

• Mental Manipulation: He can perform mass mind control on multiple hosts at once. Being able to not only control an individual's mind and body but also manipulate their emotions as well as their personalities i.e. increase aggression, shifting mannerisms.
• Biokinesis: Being a sentient living bacteria the Sublime entity can, as a whole manipulate the very cellular and genetic structure of whomever or whatever organic entities their host too.
  • Shapeshifting: Sublime's capable of manipulating his bacterial substance to alter their hosts very appearance to his liking.^[33] not unlike what Sinister or Courier are able to accomplish.
  • Regenerative Healing factor: After being attuned with each hosts biological matter Sublime is more than capable of healing any physiological trauma to their host body within moments. When Sublime is in his true form, he can regenerate from any potential damage to his very systems.
  • Power Enhancement: Another genetic practice shown via the use of its aerosol form of Kick not only allows Sublime to overshadow even mutant hosts but perform any number of power enhancements on those possessed.