- “Something tells me my reputation precedes me.”
- —Gabriel Ashlocke
Gabriel Ashlocke (played by Michael Easton) is a recurring character on the television show Mutant X. He was known as 'Patient Zero', the first New Mutant that Genomex ever created who was put into stasis due to his aggressive nature and unpredictable power set. He has shown to have abilities from all 4 New Mutant categories and strives for world domination.
Biography[]
The New Mutant psychopath Gabriel Ashlocke was the first and most powerful Child of Genomex ever created. He is also known as Patient Zero. Born without a conscience, little Gabriel's aggressive tendencies quickly spiraled out of control. On October 13th 1978, Gabriel's parents brought the 10-year-old Gabriel back to Genomex so that Adam could make him more human by reducing his abilities. But Adam had unfortunately overlooked a weakness in strand 19 of Gabriel's DNA, and his treatment only caused further fragmenting in Gabriel's genetic structure. Six months later, Gabriel murdered his parents. In order to protect the world from his malignant potential, Adam and Mason placed Gabriel in a stasis pod where he remained in a coma-like state for 25 years until he was released by ex-GS Agent Morgan Fortier. He and his group of loyal New Mutants, The Links, formed an organization bent on world domination called The Strand. With the aid of Dr. Kenneth Harrison, Genomex's headchief biogeneticist and head of Tricorp Botanicals, Gabriel placed Mason in a stasis pod and took over Genomex headquarters. He then turned his vengeance sights upon Adam and Mutant X, while searching in vain for methods of stabilizing his DNA. His dramatic cellular breakdown quickly led to his explosive death, but not before he had impregnated one of The Links, Kim. Prior to his death, he set into motion the eventual creation of his successor, The Child, by combining genetic samples from one New Mutant of each type.
Personality[]
Gabriel is a mass murdering psychopath and a would-be world conqueror. He is obsessed with Mutant X team member Shalimar Fox. He has pictures of her in his lair in The Strand headquarters. He entered her mind on a few occasions but Emma was able to expel him from her mind. Gabriel is more powerful and stronger than all New Mutants that Genomex ever created. Gabriel suffers from hacking cough which was the result of smoking cigarettes at an early age. Gabriel was the greatest threat to the world's existence. Gabriel can be aggressive as he has aggressive tendencies that swiftly spiraled out of control when he was little.
Powers and abilities[]
Gabriel Ashlocke himself possesses powers and abilities of all four New Mutant types, as well as being the most powerful and dangerous of them.
- Feral: He has Feline Physiology that grants him enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, senses, leaping ability, metabolism and the alteration of his eyes from human to yellow cat-like. Like all Feline Ferals, he is extremely territorial and has a heightened fear of fire and is prone to hypnosis.
- Molecular: Gabriel can lighten the mass of his molecular structure to the point where he can walk through solids. He can also manipulate density of air molecules to create impenetrable force field with his hands.
- Elemental: He can project destructive electrical energy pulses with his hands that are capable of killing his enemies upon impact at will.
- Psionic: Gabriel has both Telepathic and Telekinetic abilities able to Telepathically freeze people and take control of their minds, move objects/people with the power of his mind (which he channels through his hands). He can also fire a beam of pure psychic energy called Psionic Blasts from his forehead at his opponents which he can use to alter and erase memories, render enemies unconscious and kill enemies upon impact at will.
Weaknesses[]
- Strand 19: Adam had unfortunately overlooked a weakness in Strand 19 of Gabriel's DNA causing further fragmenting of his genetic structure which shortened his lifespan.
- Energy Fields: Gabriel is unable to walk through energy-based fields.
- Pyrophobia: Like all Feline Ferals, he has a heightened fear of fire.
- Hypnosis: As he is part animal, Gabriel is prone to the form of hypnosis.
Trivia[]
- Gabriel suffers from hacking cough which was the result of smoking cigarettes at an early age.
- Note on Gabriel's New Mutancy: Gabriel was the first New Mutant Genomex created. Though Mason Eckhart says in "A Breed Apart" that little Gabriel's New Mutant abilities were off the meter since birth, we learn in "Time Squared" that Adam did not first meet the boy until he was 10 years old, in 1978. Therefore Adam was not responsible for making Gabriel Ashlocke a New Mutant; the child already had "unlimited powers" before Adam came along. Adam was, however, responsible for further fragmenting his DNA, thus making him more dangerous and considerably shortening his lifespan. In Adam's words:
In October 1978, I arrived at Genomex to work on the Patient Zero project. I was the bright young star working at the hottest developmental facility in the world. And then, two weeks later, on October 13th, Gabriel Ashlocke’s parents brought him back into Genomex. They were convinced that Genomex was responsible for his extreme aggression. And they were right. Genomex had no idea what kind of a child he was until they’d given him unlimited powers. Look at this. He’s out of control. Nobody knew what to do. And then I came along, right? I was the savior. I designed a procedure, a procedure to make him more humane, give him a conscience. I had no idea that my procedure would cause his genes to mutate and make him into more of a monster. 6 months later, Gabriel Ashlocke killed both of his parents.
- More evidence that Gabriel was already a New Mutant before Adam's procedure:
1. In "Time Squared," Adam shows Emma a video of young Gabriel Ashlocke having a temper tantrum at the time his parents brought him back to Genomex. During the course of his rant, little Gabriel sends a scientist flying through the air to land on his face. A normal 10 year old boy wouldn't be able to do that; but Gabriel can because he has heightened Feral strength. Note that this is *before* Adam does his procedure.
2. The older Gabriel returns to his childhood house to pick up his younger self and take him to Genomex. When the younger Gabriel opens the door, the child's Feral eyes flash. This is *before* Adam does his procedure on young Gabriel, which is scheduled to occur later that day, but young Gabriel has already got some Feral abilities.
3. In the car on the way to Genomex, older Gabriel's talking to his younger self:
Gabriel: You know how you can walk through walls? Jump off the Hallian’s roof without ever getting hurt?
Young Gabriel: How’d you know about that?
Gabriel: You know about Genomex, what they did to you, right?
Young Gabriel: Just what I stole from my file. I’m supposed to have an appointment there today.
Gabriel: They’re gonna do this procedure. It’s supposed to make you nicer, give you a conscience. The whole thing backfires.
So before the procedure, young Gabriel also already had traits of a Molecular like being able to walk through walls. But if young Gabriel was already a New Mutant before the procedure, what exactly did Adam's procedure do? Dr. Aziza Deparis said in "Past as Prologue" that the reason that the adult Gabriel is dying is because his DNA is breaking down. This is a direct result of Adam's procedure. When Gabriel is speaking with young Adam at Genomex in "Time Squared," Gabriel explains why Adam's procedure didn't work: "You missed the weakness, Doc." Adam's procedure was designed to make young Gabriel nicer, but he missed a weakness in strand 19 of Gabriel's DNA structure. Instead of having the desired effect, Adam's experimental treatment triggered the very breakdown of Gabriel's genes that is slowly killing him. In fact, the entire reason Gabriel travels back to 1978 is to reverse the effects of Adam's experiment on his DNA. The blue serum he created will strengthen strand 19 in young Gabriel's DNA, so when young Adam does the procedure on young Gabriel, he will still maintain the powers he was born with, but he will no longer suffer from the broken DNA that Adam caused. No longer under the threat of dying before his time, Gabriel would be virtually invincible.