Phalanx
The Phalanx. Art byMike Perkins.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Uncanny X-Men #311 (April1994)
Created by	Chris Claremont Bill Sienkiewicz
Characteristics
Notable members	Douglock Ultron Cameron Hodge Stephen Lang
Inherent abilities	Transforms sentient beings into techno-organic lifeforms and assimilates them into its collective. Superhumanly strong, also possess ability to teleport and shapeshift - molding their limbs into weapons or mimicking the appearance of others.

ThePhalanx are a fictionalcybernetic species in theMarvel Comicsuniverse. They have come in conflict with theX-Men and related groups on several occasions. They form ahive mind, linking each member by atelepathy-like system.

The Phalanx were created by writerScott Lobdell and given definitive design by artistJoe Madureira. They owe much in concept and appearance to the originalTechnarchy (by writerChris Claremont and artistBill Sienkiewicz). Although appearing inprototype variations in earlier issues, the Phalanx first appeared in their full form inUncanny X-Men #312 (May 1994).

The termphalanx (Greek: φάλλαγα, phālanga) (plural phalanxes or phalanges (Greek: φάλλαγες, phālanges)) is a rectangular military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, or similar weapons, particularly in Ancient Greek warfare. The term can also refer more generally to a wall of separate parts which forms a whole unit, and it is in this sense that it fits the fictional alien race.

Phalanx are formed when organic lifeforms are infected with theTechnarchy's techno-organic transmode virus. They pass through a lifecycle attempting to infect others before reaching critical mass. At that time, byhard-wired instruction, they build a "Babel Spire" to contact the Technarchy. The Technarchy, however, consider Phalanx to beabominations. They invariably destroy the Phalanx "nest", usually by converting the entire planet into techno-organic matter and draining its energy.

The Phalanx on Earth were initially formed by a group of human mutant-haters who voluntarily infected themselves with the transmode virus, taken from the ashes ofWarlock, a renegade Technarch who had joined theNew Mutants, in an attempt to turn themselves into "livingSentinels".Steven Lang, the man who had used theSentinels against theX-Men many years before, was recruited from amental hospital to become an "interface" - not actually infected with the transmode virus himself, he was intended as a buffer to keep the Phalanx "on track" for their intended purpose. He was assisted byCameron Hodge, a traitorous former friend ofArchangel who had obtained immortality from the demonN'astirh, who did infect himself, and who had been the one to kill Warlock some years before in a prior attempt to infect himself with the virus.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Initially, the aim of these Phalanx was to simply assimilate mutants into their collective. When this proved impossible, as mutants possessed a resistance to the virus, they organized an attack on the X-Mansion, kidnapping most of the X-Men and replacing them with Phalanx members in disguise, in an attempt to use the X-Men'sknowledge base on the mutant genome to solve the problem.Banshee, absent during the kidnapping, returned and suspected something. Discovering the ruse when the impostors failed to realize Professor X was currently unable to walk, Banshee recruitedSabretooth from a cell in the complex. He then aided Banshee in savingEmma Frost andJubilee from the beings. Banshee, after discovering that the Phalanx had accessed the location of several young mutants for use in further study, then destroyed the knowledge base in an attempt to prevent the Phalanx accessing any further information.^{[volume & issue needed]}

While Banshee and his group scrambled to save the young mutants, he sent messages toWolverine andCable on the location of the X-Men, and who in turn recruitedCyclops andJean Grey to aid them in recovering the X-Men; and toProfessor X,Excalibur,X-Factor andX-Force on the location of a third, unknown, group of Phalanx.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Banshee's group were followed closely by the Phalanx, who impersonated several beings, notably police officers. The group was joined by the mutantSynch, who could copy powers which proved helpful as Banshee's screams easily subdued many Phalanx entities. The rest of the targeted mutants were being held in an old, decommissioned battleship. One of the Phalanx disguised itself as an imprisoned mutant, a farm-boy type. This disguise was suspected by some of the prisoners. Eventually, the group saved all the targeted new mutants but one -Blink, who sacrificed herself to save the rest. One of the original Phalanx entities was destroyed in this attempt, parts of his physical body detached from the rest. He was unable to survive the trauma.^{[volume & issue needed]}

The rest of these young mutants went on to become the core ofGeneration X, tutored by Banshee and Frost. Meanwhile, the other mutant teams found a group of Phalanx attempting to follow their genetic instruction to construct a Babel Spire to contact the Technarchy. Douglock, a resurrected Warlock withCypher's memories, led a small team, Forge, Wolfsbane and Cannonball in destroying the spire. Cyclops' group assaulted the core Phalanx base onMount Everest, where the X-Men were held. They were covertly assisted by Lang, who realised the Phalanx had grown beyond his ability to manipulate and were threatening the general human population. The smaller Phalanx nests around the world were destroyed as a result of this confrontation.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Another group of Phalanx later decimated theShi'ar throneworld in the absence of theImperial Guard. These Phalanx considered themselves as the pure Phalanx and hadn't any reservations about infecting mutants with the transmode virus and almost transformed Rogue. HoweverBeast, with the assistance of other X-Men andTrish Tilby, devised a way to discorporate many of them. The rest of this group later conquered another planet, but were destroyed by the Magus after the construction of aBabel Spire.

Given the powerful nature of the Phalanx, different individuals and governments attempted to experiment with the alien race.

• British intelligence groupBlack Air acquired several Phalanx specimens, and determined how to control them. They used at least one Phalanx (which had aBrood as its template) as a guardian "warliquid" at their London headquarters, the Blackwall. They kidnapped and manipulatedDouglock as part of a plot to gain outright dominion over the earth by the channeling of demonic energy.

• Another such attempt was conducted by theChinese government on a young boy who hadtechnokinesis—the manipulation of and communication with technological devices. The government scientists purposefully implanted the young boy with theTechno-Organic Virus to see what would happen and the T-O virus had an interesting reaction with the young boy. Both the boy and the part of the Phalanx became transformed into a new being calling himselfParadigm, who not only had the Phalanx's penchant forshapeshifting but was able to control the minds of people that he covered with his techno-matter. Somehow Paradigm found himself allied withKing Bedlam's group ofHellions only with the purpose of discovering himself. After the Hellions were defeated byX-Force, Paradigm was not seen for years, until he, or rather his head re-emerged recently. He was killed and his abilities used to control a new fleet of 'bio-sentinels" by Simon Trask.

• After a battle with theSilver Surfer,Cable was partiallylobotomized in order to save his life from the angryherald ofGalactus. Now trying to save him,Deadpool tracked down theFixer to save Cable. Deadpool was in possession of a Phalanxfetus, having taken it from anAIM facility, which Fixersurgically grafted onto his body. After a brief scuffle for control, Cable's mind overwhelmed that of the fetal alien and made it subservient to him so that it would not try to "assimilate" him into the collective.

InAnnihilation: Conquest, the sequel to theAnnihilation crossover, a new breed of Phalanx serves as the primary villain. They tried to begin where Annihilus left off. When the Kree began the test of their new defensive network, the Phalanx managed to corrupt the system directly through the Kree homeworld of Hala, surrounding the entire Kree Empire in an inescapable energy barrier. They also spread their Transmode Virus, turning all organic life forms into Phalanx, fully under their control and members of their single minded matrix. High powered beings such as Ronan the Accuser were made into their group Select, used to cut off any attempts to stop the spread and control of the Phalanx.

The Kree not under control fought back against their oppressors, as well as Quasar (Phyla Vell), Moondragon, Adam Warlock, and Starlord and his Dirty Half Dozen only to discover that the Phalanx were under Ultron’s guidance.

The Phalanx will return for a special one-shot issue of UNCANNY X-MEN.^[1]

Unlike the savagely individualistic Technarchy, Phalanx form an insect-likehive mind. While each member retains his/her/its memories from prior to assimilation and a degree of their personality, generally each member cannot perform actions against the wishes of the group mind without first being severed from the collective consciousness, as Douglock was.

Phalanx, like the Technarchy, can infect other organisms with the transmode virus with any physical contact - the only known exception being Earthmutants, who possess a degree of immunity to the transmode virus. This seems to be a limitation of the Phalanx which their Technarchy progenitors do not have, as Warlock had no problems infecting his future teammate Magik (accidentally) when they first met and repeatedly infecting Cypher to form the Douglock entity on multiple occasions (In Cypher's case the effect was reversed without apparent incident, though Warlock was constantly worried that a time would come when the reversal would not take).

Any organism infected by the Phalanx is automatically inducted into the group mind. Recently, however, through Ultron's guidance, they have allowed certain individuals with exceptional powers and/or abilities to become the "Selects"; beings whom are connected to the Phalanx hive mind, but retain their individual identities.

Phalanx also possess the Technarchs' abilities to shapeshift and teleport, but, unlike the Technarchs, cannot grow in size and mass without absorbing external matter. Over time, they can adapt to attack from inherent biological powers, but only to the specific frequencies/levels/etc already used against them.

In the possible future known as 2099, the Phalanx invaded Earth. Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara) forms an uneasy alliance with Dr. Doom to prevent Earth from being converted by the Transmode Virus. All the storylines except for Strange's eventually converge in the climax of The Phalanx War. Eventually, Dr. Doom sacrifices his life to destroy the Phalanx on Earth, while Twilight brings reinforcements of aboriginal Martians to destroy the Phalanx in orbit.

In theExiles series, the dimension-hopping team visited a world infested by a mutated version of the Phalanx. On this world,Cypher fell ill with theLegacy Virus and in an act of desperation Warlock infected him with thetransmode virus to try and save his life. Unfortunately the two diseases combined and mutated into something far worse. Within the year, almost all of the world's population were transformed into Phalanx drones, calling themselves theVi-Locks. The group was led byForge whose innate understanding of machinery made him a prime candidate for leadership. In the course of the team's mission,Blink was infected and slowly started succumbing to the virus. On a hunch,Morph was able to contact theAsgardians whose divine blood was able to heal the victims after they received atransfusion.

In yet another alternate reality, the Phalanx has overrun Earth, assimilating every lifeform. The mutantCable serves as its central consciousness.

The Phalanx was the major villain in the Sega Genesis video gameX-Men 2: Clone Wars.

They also appeared in the opening two-part episode of the final season of theX-Men animated series, "Phalanx Covenant". The series Phalanx is an amalgamation of the comics Phalanx and theTechnarchy; they are a voracious alien life-form that can assume the guise of anything or anyone. Before long, the X-Men are all captured, except for Beast, who must find a way to stop the alien horror from assimilating every single lifeform on Earth.Cameron Hodge is allied with the Phalanx, whileWarlock seeks to stop it.

• Phalanx Covenant
• Uncanny X-Men #343-344
• Warlock (M-Tech) #7
• Annihilation Conquest Prologue

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