Morph Does Impressions of All Your Favorite X-Men
With the ability to morph into anyone or anything, Morph from the X-Men is an infinite number of super-beings stuffed into one silly goose.
Unlike so many of their teammates, the X-Man Morph didn’t step onto the screen with a huge history in comic books. But in the first episode of the iconic animated series, their story took a dark turn for a kid’s TV show. The 90s—what a time to be a kid!
From being a Changeling to Sinister’s puppet—wait, didn’t Morph die? Their reappearance and new look in X-Men 97 has a lot of fans curious. Who exactly is Morph from the X-Men?
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Morph, Changeling, and Professor X’s Substitute
Kevin Sydney first appeared in the pages of X-Men comics in 1967. They used their mutant shapeshifting abilities to engage in some evil shenanigans. Eventually, they learned that they had a terminal disease and came to Xavier looking for a redemption arc.
Sydney, who was known at the time as Changeling, got right to work using their powers to impersonate Professor Xavier—at the Professor’s behest – and take command of Cerebro. He needed to go prepare to fight a big bad in solitude. And we all know how Charles likes to take his famous breaks from the X-Men without telling any of them. Men will literally employ a mutant shapeshifter to pretend to be them instead of asking for a mental health leave, amirite?
Sadly, at the end of this storyline, Morph dies. In future comics, their appearances have been limited. They got turned into a zombie and fought She-Hulk once. Merlyn uses their image in a dark illusion, but otherwise, Changeling (now Morph) is a pretty scarce appearance on Earth-616 (the main Marvel comics storyline).
X-Men: The Animated Series
The character was given new life in the iconic X-Men: The Animated Series—or rather, a death. The showrunners had decided they needed a character to act as an early sacrifice and ultimately landed on Changeling. There was only one problem: DC Comics owned the name. That’s how Kevin Sydney became Morph.
In the show, Morph is a real kidder. They provide levity, and from the go, it’s clear that they’re a beloved member of the team.
Wait, Didn’t Morph Die?
If you remember Morph dying in the 1992 animated classic X-Men series, you’re not wrong. In the first episode of the show, the cackling shapeshifter is presumed dead after the team runs into a group of Sentinels. Wolverine, notorious tsundere, takes his death incredibly hard.
But it’s comics, and no one is ever really dead except for Uncle Ben. Thankfully, Morph comes back. Except at first, they’re under the control of the mutant-obsessed hyper-surgeon Sinister.
But he got better.
Once freed from Sinister’s, err, sinister grasp, Morph comes back to the X-Men. They rejoin the X-Men, and their subsequent story arc explores their recovery from the trauma they experienced, ultimately leaving the team to spend more time recovering.
X-Men ’97
Marvel’s newest animated X-Men series picks up in the Animated Series universe in 1997, one year after Morph left the team. Professor X has died (spoiler alert: he’s on another one of his “vacations”), and the team is doing their best to pick up the pieces.
Morph is once again a full-time member of the team. They’re seen doing their usual—using their abilities to try to get a laugh out of their grieving teammates. The season also sees Morph facing more of their trauma and helping their teammates fight Sinister.
Morph is Nonbinary, and They’re Gay for Wolverine. Deal With It.
Morph looks different in X-Men 97. We’re left to assume that part of their recovery process was taking on a form that suited them better. We love that for them.
And if you watched the show and saw Wolverine and Morph and thought, “Woah, is anyone else feeling this?” The answer is yes, we’re feeling it. Later, we see the clawed and cranky hero unconscious in a hospital bed. Morph turns into Jean Grey and says, “I love you, Logan.”
Morph totally wants to be Logan’s Bub. Don’t believe me? The showrunner said so.
This isn’t the place to lay out the “X-Men (and all comic books, really) have always been progressive-leaning” argument. But for a person who can shapeshift into anybody, there are fascinating discussions to be had about Morph’s gender. And as a nonbinary person, I’m thrilled to have this goober in our camp.
Powers and Abilities
Morph’s mutant abilities allow them to shapeshift into anyone, including their voicebox, allowing them to speak in the person’s voice. They can mimic powers that are physical, like strength, durability, and flight. Everything they shapeshift into is made of Morph’s own body. If they were to shift into Wolverine, for example, their claws wouldn’t be as hardcore as Logan’s real adamantium claws.
