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History

Trân Cao Mạnh was the son of a colonel in the South Vietnamese army. Tran and his twin sister Xuân Cao Mạnh were mutants, with the power to take mental possession of the minds of others.

While still a child, an enemy soldier threatened him. Not realizing she had a superhuman power, Xuân nevertheless, acting impulsively, took possession of the soldier's mind and stopped him from killing Tran. Tran then successfully attempted the same feat and forced the soldier to kill himself.

While Tran took great delight in this use of his new-found power, Xuân was frightened of her own power. Xuân kept their powers secret, but Tran told their uncle, Nguyen Ngoc Coy, a general in the Vietnamese army. General Coy later arranged for Xuân's family to leave Vietnam, which was now entirely under a Communist government, but only Tran was sent abroad. General Coy had become a powerful and prosperous criminal in the United States (although he was publicly known as a businessman), and Tran was using his powers in his uncle's employ, having become cold, calculating, and lacking any trace of humanity or compassion.

When General Coy kidnapped Leong and Nga, in an effort to blackmail Xuân into working for him, Tran attacked Spider-Man, releasing him from Karma's possession. Tran later used his powers to take control of the Fantastic Four and have them attack Spider-Man when they attempted to rescue the children again. To save Spider-Man, whom she now knew was no criminal, Xuân absorbed Tran's life essence into herself, seemingly killing her brother.[2]

Tran continued to share Xuân's body, eventually influencing her to weaponize magic on behalf of mutantkind and to profit the Hatchi Corporation. These explorations into magical artifacts eventually freed his soul from Karma's body, allowing him to enact revenge on his twin sister while searching for a mystical item that would allow him to return to a physical form. Magik and the New Mutants eventually trapped him in a spell barrier to question his motives, revealing that Karma's dark turn was just as much of her own volition as it was his influence. Realizing that her brother's soul completed her own, Karma possessed Magik to stab Tran with her Soulsword, forcing his life essence back into Karma's body.[3]

After his sister underwent the crucible, it was mentioned that he had been revived by the Five according to Rahne.[4]

Attributes

Powers

  • Telepathic Possession: Tran is a mutant with the power to telepathically possess the minds of others. His psyche has often inhabited the body of his sister Karma, whose mutant genes enable her the same abilities.

See Also

Links and References

References

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