Douglas "Doug" Aaron RamseyCypher

Possessing the intuitive ability to translate all languages, Douglas Ramsey masters his mutant talent and joins Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X’s younger team of heroes, the New Mutants.

From Douglas Ramsey to Cypher

The teenage Douglas “Doug” Ramsey becomes a close friend of Katherine “Kitty” Pryde, AKA Kate Pryde, of the X-Men, sharing an interest in computers and video games. Ramsey also befriends the New Mutants and remains unaware that he and they are mutants. He even gets tricked by Emma Frost, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, into thinking he and Kitty are in love and together as she captures Kitty and holds her against her will for nefarious means.

When the techno-organic alien Technarch, AKA Warlock, arrives on Earth, confused and terrified, he finds himself battling the New Mutants. Seeking to communicate with the alien, the New Mutants summon Ramsey and reveal their costumed identities to him. Ramsey succeeds in initiating communications with Warlock, and both join the New Mutants. Ramsey receives the codename Cypher, after his ability to decipher languages.

Omni-Linguist

Cypher is a master at translating languages, spoken or written, human or alien in origin, including deciphering codes and computer languages. Cypher can make great headway in translating the written language of an extraterrestrial race in a matter of minutes.

Cypher’s mutant talent for translating differs from the translating ability of a human who is a genius in this field, even though both might achieve the same results with any given translation problem. Cypher’s mutant talent is an intuitive one that works on a subconscious level, and may in part be related to telepathy. A non-mutant human, even a genius, would have to work out a translation consciously, step by step. Cypher, however, can subconsciously solve the problem. Hence, Cypher can reach the correct solution by means that appear to be leaps of logic, and he himself may not be consciously aware of the entire process by which he reaches the right answer.

Cypher is an expert in the translating and design of computer software. As a member of the New Mutants, Cypher receives a good deal of athletic training, and is a fair hand-to-hand combatant.

Mutant Allies and Deadly Enemies

Douglas becomes close friends with Kitty Pryde of the X-Men, and joins the New Mutants as a language translator using his omni-linguistic powers. He also forms a close bond with Warlock, and merges with the techno-organic alien to form a gestalt—an organized whole made up of its parts. While adventuring with the New Mutants, he faces many enemies including that of Warlock’s father, the Magus, and the Ani-Mator who ends up killing him as Douglas saves his New Mutants teammate, Rahne Sinclair, AKA Wolfsbane. Douglas is then resurrected by Selene, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, and her servants who use the Transmode Virus to control him, forcing him to go against his teammates, until Warlock comes to his rescue.

History, Translated

Cypher became close with Warlock, who aided Ramsey in battle situations by merging with him, creating a single being that operated as a gestalt. When they merged, they took the form of Ramsey’s human body covered with Warlock’s “living circuitry,” allowing Ramsey to perceive his environment in the same way Warlock did. At first, Ramsey’s and Warlock’s consciousnesses remained separate within the single body; the more the pair merged, the more their personalities rapidly began to resemble one another’s. Cypher also aided Warlock in his fight against his father, the Magus, by reprogramming the Magus to an infant state.

Following the capture of the New Mutants by the mad scientist Frederick Animus, Ani-Mator, on the island known as “Paradise” in the Atlantic Ocean, Cypher was killed when he dove in front of a bullet fired by the Ani-Mator at Wolfsbane. After Warlock’s destruction, Sentinel creator Steven Lang, transformed into a Phalanx by the Transmode Virus, later resurrected Warlock and infected him with Phalanx material. He then overwrote Warlock’s mind with the fragmentary brain patterns of Doug Ramsey, causing Warlock to adopt the alias of Douglock for a time before learning the truth. Douglock joined the British hero team Excalibur and takes on Doug’s appearance, going on many adventures with them. 

Later, Selene’s servant Eli Bard with Caliban’s help resurrected Douglas and the Hellions team using the Transmode Virus. Following Selene’s commands, Douglas attacked his former allies Amara Aquilla, AKA Magma, and the New Mutants on Utopia. It wasn’t until Warlock using Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik’s Soulsword was Douglas freed from Bard’s control. Rejoining the New Mutants, the team goes up against William Stryker and his Purifiers. 

When the mutant exterminator Sebastion Gilberti, AKA Bastion, attacked Utopia by placing it in an impenetrable dome and eliminating all the X-men’s teleporters, he used this opportunity to open a portal to an alternate timeline where Sentinels ruled. This portal let in a massive influx of Nimrod-Series Sentinels and as such, Douglas joined X-Force and Nathan Summers, AKA Cable, in to the timestream to stop those controlling the Nimrod-Sentinels, the Master Mold Sentinels. Cypher interfaced with the Sentinels successfully and Cable sacrificed himself to return them all to their timeline.

After being influenced by the manipulative Trista, surviving an attack in Limbo, and monitoring police feeds for crimes only heroes could tackle, Cypher lived as a hermit while attempting to decode the Internet. It was here in his isolation that Matt Murdoch, AKA Daredevil, Frank McGee, and Misty Knight sought him out to help investigate the disappearance of Wolverine’s body from his grave. He resisted at first but came to and assisted them in their hunt for his body. On their journey, they encountered Albert, Wolverine’s cyborg clone, who slashed Cypher’s throat. Cypher survived thanks to the Inhuman McGee healing him on his ship. The team then infiltrated Soteria, a corporation that held information that could help them. They found Wolverine’s location, and then Cypher admitted to Daredevil he was addicted to the internet and asked for help. His addiction seemed to have stabilized after that.

Later, Professor X contacted Cypher for help with a communication issue. Taking him to an island, Krakoa, he explained that the island was a sentient entity but the telepathic connection he had with it wasn’t enough and asked Cypher to translate. Cypher quickly helped translate Krakoa’s true origins to Xavier. After learning Krakoa’s language, he creates a manufactured and autochthonous language known as Krakoan, but not native to Krakoa, for all mutant who are telepathically imprinted with it when they arrive to Krakoa. With fellow mutant Tessa, AKA Sage, Cypher developed an interface system on Krakoa, using light instead of electricity, for mutants to live on the island. The interface included transit through Krakoa’s flower-generated gateways, monitoring, defense, and observation. 

At the first meeting of the Quiet Council of Krakoa, Cypher translated for Krakoa and represented the entity itself and the needs of the land. With the council, they established the new society’s three laws.