Warning: Contains spoilers for Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #19The Marvel Universe has some iconic energy absorbers like X-Men Rogue and Synch, but one of the newest Avengers students, the mutant known as Escapade, has just become a truly godlike superhuman by absorbing the powers of an entire team of his Avengers Academy colleagues. To save his passion, Bloodline, from the clutches of the villain Emplate, Escapade swaps powers with Kid Juggernaut, Red Goblin, Moon Girl, Bloodline and Railroad Captain Americaevolving beyond his original abilities with a power-up from the M’Kraan Crystal.
Shela Sexton, who debuted as Escapade in 2022 Marvel Voices: Pride anthology, is a fan-favorite trans X-Men hero introduced with the power to “trade” locations, skills, or possessions with anyone within 7 feetbut his recent feat has proven that this is just the beginning of his skill.
Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #19, by writer Anthony Oliviera and artist Bailie Rosenlund, see The Avengers Academy’s final showdown with the vampiric mutant called Emplatewith Escapade finally defeating Emplate and saving Bloodline by pushing her powers beyond any limit.
How Escapade’s mutation compares to other power thieves
Rogue, Synch and Emplate all “borrowed” powers
Sheila Sexton’s powers are unique, unlike any other “power thief” in Marvel history. When Escapade debuted, her ability was described as “switching places” with another person, allowing Sheila to physically switch places with anyone within a 7-foot radius, retaining whatever powers or possessions she switched for several hours at a time. That a fascinating power allowed Escapade to be a life-saving herogiving him a great advantage in any hand-to-hand battle and allowing him to rescue civilians from public battles.
Many Marvel heroes and villains steal, absorb or exchange powers through a variety of unique techniques, with many of the characters being mutants. Unlike the iconic Rogue, whose power absorption can injure or kill people, Sheila’s power does not cause any harm to the person she trades with. Synch, who has Rogue’s ability without her deathtouch or memory absorption, cannot absorb powers like Justin Jin’s Juggernaut armor or Aaron Fischer’s Captain America shield, which Sheila can easily do. Similarly to Rogue, Emplate and Carnage’s power absorption harms the person they are stealing from, and Moon Knight’s unique power theft came from Khonshu’s power, making Escapade’s relatively risk-free ability incredibly unique.
To save the bloodline, Escapade is fed by the entire Avengers Academy
Sheila refused to let Emplate hurt Brielle
From an early age Avengers Academy students at the reopened school spotted a fragment of the famous M’Kraan Crystal, manifesting as a living woman. The M’Kraan Crystal is a very powerful Nexus of All Realities that can restore or increase a mutant’s power. It seems that the M’Kraan fragment is protecting the students of the Avengers Academybecause just as the young heroes are about to lose to the vile Emplate, M’Kraan can be seen giving Escapade a power boost.
In a single moment, Sheila manages to exchange powers with all members of the Avengers Academysomething Reed Richards notes they didn’t think possible. She switched with five other super-powered heroes and astrally traveled to them to exchange their powers, surpassing her previous limit of 7 feet to absorb powers. Becoming an impressive divine entity, Escapade uses the Red Goblin’s Rascal symbiote, Aaron Fisher’s shield and force field, Justin Jin’s Juggernaut armor, Bloodline’s magic, and Moon Girl’s connection to Devil Dinosaur to easily defeat Emplate, sending him back to his hellish dimension.
Escapade has just earned a place as one of Marvel’s most ‘level’ heroes
Sometimes a mutant needs a push to evolve
At the end of Escapade’s battle with Emplate, after absorbing multiple powers and using them to defeat the villain, Sheila is trapped in a hospital room, recovering from the overexertion of her strength. Mutants are known to develop secondary mutations after traumatic eventslike Emma Frost’s diamond skin, so there’s a chance that Sheila’s expanded abilities will now be permanent or could be used in other battles. However, as Escapade received an upgrade from M’Kraan, there is also the possibility that Sheila will not be able to access the same amount of energy, making this a unique “level up”.
After Escapade recovers from her battle with Emplate, it becomes clear that the Avengers Academy students will be thrown into another adventure, hopefully one where Sheila can continue pushing the limits of her powers, proving to the Avengers how versatile and useful a hero she can be.
Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #19 from Marvel Comics is now available on the Marvel Unlimited app.