"The Mysterons: sworn enemies of Earth, possessing the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or a person. But first, they must destroy..." - Captain Blue's opening narration to Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
The Mysterons are an enigmatic and devious alien race from Gerry Anderson's classic science fiction TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Very little is known about this race, except that they originate from Mars and possess an incredible ability to replicate any physical matter, whether it be an inanimate object or a life-form. This replication only works, however, with objects that have been previously destroyed or life-forms that have been killed.
The Mysterons do not have corporeal bodies (at least none that have ever been witnessed) and are believed to exist as entities of pure energy or even a computer-based group consciousness. Whenever addressing the people of Earth or creating a replicant, they "present" themselves as a pair of light green rings projected from an indeterminable source.
History
Humanity made first contact with the Mysterons in 2068 when Captain Black, an agent of the global peacekeeping organisation Spectrum, led the Zero-X expedition to Mars in search for the source of an unknown radio signal. The expedition discovered an alien complex on the planet that was believed to be the signal's source, but when a surveillance device observed the expedition approaching, Black panicked, suspecting that the camera was actually a weapon, and struck first. A barrage of missiles (intended for blasting rock only) was launched upon the complex, destroying it. However, an aura of blue light enveloped the ruins and the complex was reconstructed before the explorers' eyes.
The Mysterons then seize control of Captain Black and his accomplice Captain Scarlet before addressing the citizens of Earth, threatening retaliation for the unprovoked attack upon their complex. Their first act of retaliation is the attempted assassination of the World President, but this attack fails and results in the replicant of Captain Scarlet regaining his original personality and free will, thus rejoining Spectrum and leading the fight against the Mysterons. Since then, the Mysterons have engaged in a "war of nerves" against Earth, committing countless atrocities in the name of vengeance for an attack that ultimately had little to no effect on them to begin with.
Abilities
- Retrometabolism - The Mysterons' most remarkable ability is the power to create exact duplicates of people or objects that have been destroyed. This is how they reconstructed their Martian complex immediately after its destruction and their main method of recruiting human agents. Human replicants are capable of rapid healing and are virtually indestructible. However, for some unknown reason, their replicant of Captain Scarlet was freed from their control.
- Telepathy - The Mysterons are capable of exerting psychic control over humans, even non-replicant humans. This ability seems to be limited in some way as the Mysterons have only been known to subject small numbers of humans to mind control at any given time.
- Teleportation - The Mysterons have also demonstrated the power to teleport subjects across vast distances. On numerous occasions when Mysteron agents have been pursued by Earth authorities, they have inexplicably vanished into thin air to escape capture. This teleportation ability seems to work only with retrometabolised subjects.