Murmur (Marvel Comics)
"Murmur" is the name of two distinct fictional mutant characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, a male related to a Hellions team and a female (Arlette Truffaut) related to Alpha Flight.
Murmur (Hellions)
| Murmur | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Generation X #12 (February, 1996) |
| Created by | Scott Lobdell Todd Dezago Tom Grummett |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Allan Rennie[1] |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Emplate's Hellions |
| Abilities | Teleportation |
Murmur (Allan Rennie) is a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics Universe who first appeared in Generation X #12.
Fictional character biography
Not much is known about Murmur, apart from that he was mutated into a pseudo-vampire form by Emplate. He joined a team that Emplate gathered to torment Generation X, including Bulwark, Vincente, and DOA. In an uncharacteristic move, Emplate not only recruited mutants for his team but a human as well: a woman named Gayle Edgerton, a Generation X member from the Chamber's past (Volume 11, Issue 1[2]).
When Chamber's powers first manifested, he unintentionally paralyzed Gayle. Emplate offered her [Gayle] a chance for vengeance, turning her into one of his vampire minions as well. They were successful in capturing the young mutants, while M telepathically called for help, a call which was answered by the X-Man Bishop. Vincente and Murmur collaborated to try to conquer him, but when Murmur realized he would soon be defeated, he fled along with Bulwark. With Penance's realignment of alliances, they were victorious in stopping the team.
He was de-powered after M-Day (Vol 11, Issue 14).
Powers and abilities
Murmur could open teleportation portals in space via his line of sight, had enhanced power, durability (like all of the Emplate minions) and had a large mouth in his torso.
Bibliography
- Generation X #11-12, 14
Murmur (Arlette Truffaut)
| Murmur | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Alpha Flight vol. 2 -1 (July, 1997) |
| Created by | Steven T. Seagle & Scott Clark |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arlette Truffaut |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Department H Beta Flight Alpha Flight |
| Abilities | Depowered, formerly: Mind Control, Teleportation |
Murmur (Arlette Truffaut) is a mutant character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She is a former member of the superhero team Alpha Flight, currently in Beta Flight.
Fictional character biography
Murmur became a member of Alpha Flight while the team was being heavily influenced by the Canadian government. One of her main duties is to mentally control the powerful beast known as Sasquatch, believed to be former Alpha Flight member Walter Langowski. During one of her first missions, against the criminal organization known as Zodiac, she lost control of Sasquatch. Murmur and some of her teammates were briefly mind controlled by Mesmero. Though she broke free, she couldn't take control of Sasquatch in time and he injured her. Manbot sedated Sasquatch.
Murmur joins the team to kidnap Wolverine for the supposed murder of the ex-Alpha Flight member Box.
The team meets up with Wolverine on a heavily forested road near an abandoned gas station. Murmur and Sasquatch, with Wolverine, investigate the hopping form of a man, who was the powerful mutant, Sauron.
Wolverine summons help and a fight break out between the two teams. It concludes on peaceful terms, due to the willingness of teammate Flex who wanted to talk instead of battle. Also, Alpha Flight is unsure of the motives behind the fight, as they have uncovered discrepancies.
The mind-controlling leader of Alpha Flight, Jeremey Clarke, died in a battle with the criminal organization known as Zodiac. Murmur was shot in the leg by Zodiac members and was sidelined from action for some time. She does not take this well, expressing a need for physical contact, even platonic.
Powers and abilities
She has been de-powered by Decimation.
Mind-control: Murmur's ability allows her to control the minds of other individuals. By touch, they are completely under her control and obey her verbal commands. Such as when she touched Puck and told him to sleep and he immediately fell asleep. She even had the power to calm the savage Sasquatch II, which was the actual Sasquatch of myth, not Walter the original Sasquatch on Alpha Flight. She also has been shown to free people that were under Mesmero's control. Two instances show there is more to Murmur than meets the eye. When Alpha Flight was battling Mesmero, she demonstrated that she could directly kill a person using her power, which is not typical for a mind-controller! Another incident came when Radius was under the control of Mesmero and to break his control Murmur had to make physical contact with him. His force field prevents physical contact so it's not known how she accomplished this. Of limited range, her psychic power can ignore clothing, armor, force fields and all alterations of form including phasing. An odd incident was when X-Men's Maggott ordered his own maggots to attack Murmur; they ran away without even touching her, that would be another limited form of mind control. When she touched Maggott she had a flashback to Hull House where she was getting attacked by bugs and monsters, this was never explained.
Teleportation: In Marvel X-Men Encyclopedia [Vol.2] they state Murmur has teleportation abilities. However, this was never fully explained. This comes from Alpha Flight's battle with the Zodiac, Murmur touched the Zodiac member named Virgo and said "Paris." Immediately Virgo vanished saying "Scorpio I'm fading away", (unusual given that someone under Murmur's control usually doesn't have independent thought). Virgo ended up in Paris, France with a type of amnesia. The Zodiac did have personal teleportation devices, but how Murmur would know this is a mystery. Also, how Virgo would activate it and teleport to Paris is another mystery since Taurus later had to retrieve her as her teleporter was broken. The range of Murmur's actual ability to teleport was never stated.
Bibliography
- Alpha Flight vol. 2 #1-20
- Uncanny X-Men #355
- Alpha Flight/Inhumans Annual 1998
- Wolverine vol. 2 #142
Connections to other stories
- There is a member of Hellbent known as Murmur. He had a completely black appearance and was very pliable. He first appeared and was killed in the same issue, Moon Knight vol. 3 #50 (May, 1993), after failing to capture bloodline, for Seth the Immortal. He was created by Terry Kavanagh and James Fry.
- In the early issues of the second series of Alpha Flight it was stated she was one of the non-mutants, the only mutants on the team being Flex and Radius, however, this has obviously been changed.
- Her last name coincides with the last name of La Nuit of X-Statix.
- In Generation X #57, a character with a similar mummified appearance—but vastly different powers—named Wrap is with an Emplate's gang. They attack the Massachusetts Academy to, once again, try and recapture Penance, but their attempts are foiled. In the process, a building blows up and the M Twins is knocked free from the Penance body.
Notes
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4 Hardcover
- "X-Men Prime Vol 1 1". Marvel Database. Retrieved 2017-12-17.