Origin

Virus was originally known as Lyle Doorne, a child born with a horrible physical appearance due to his mutation. His mother blamed his father for their child's appearance due to working with radioactive materials, while his father blamed his mother for exposing herself to x-rays as a hospital worker, and they both not so secretly blamed Lyle for having been born. Shunned, Lyle was forced to live in the attic where his developing powers let him amuse himself by having mice perform tricks for him, until they inadvertently died because of his influence. One day though, his mother brought him down from the attic and showered him with the love and affection he'd always yearned for, until she too died just like the mice. Doctors believed it was due to a virus, but Lyle's father knew it could only have been his accursed excuse for a son and tried to kill him. Lyle retaliated however with his fully-manifested tendrils which he used to take complete control of his father.

In his father's mind, Lyle discovered he worked in weapons research for the government, and so he had his father carry him to the facility where he worked. Lyle volunteered to serve his nation by taking part in a government program to deal with the growing mutant threat. Mutants would be enlisted to work for the government, and those that didn't comply could be brainwashed by Lyle. This was seen as a more humane solution than Bolivar Trask's Sentinel program, and so government officials saw promise in it. Taking the name "Virus" Lyle became a vital asset to "Project Chimera" and helped the program kidnap countless mutants. He eventually took the super-strong Forrest Goldendawn to serve as his personal mount, having Forrest carry him wherever he pleased.

Creation

Virus was created by Christos N. Gage and Neal Adams for their The First X-Men mini-series. He first appeared in 2012's issue #2 and served as the main antagonist for much of the series.

Powers & Abilities

Virus' main power is his ability to control others; he can do so either by directly controlling a person's every action by implanting his tendrils into them, or he can subtly influence people to a degree even without using his tendrils. Once he has injected his tendrils into someone, they are completely under his power until he chooses to release them, even if his tendrils are no longer in them as he has already "infected" them with himself. His tendrils can also be used to simply stab people. Whatever method he uses to control someone however, it rapidly leeches energy from them and ultimately kills them.

Virus also has rather large clawed hands that he could use offensively, but he prefers to have others act in his stead. His physical mutation also seems to have left his legs physically weak though, as he often forces someone to act as his mount and carry him around.