Origin

Following the aftermath of the Avenger's vs. X-Men, and later their team-up against the Phoenix Force and its subsequent "destruction", new mutants began to appear all across the world. This was largely due in part to the efforts of both Hope Summers and the recently resurfaced Scarlet Witch, with Wanda desiring to undo the damage she had caused by triggering the mass depowering of a majority of Earth's mutant population, known as both "M-Day" and "Decimation."

With new mutants awakening across the globe, a renewed mutant rights sentiment spread like wildfire, primarily among the youth of America, who identified with them on some level. One such movement was taking place at the University of Texas, where a mass demonstration was being held by the student body to show their support for the mutant community. Benjamin was present for this event, but tried to stay detached from the situation, not wanting to be caught up in the hype caused by recent events, even though one of his friends was persistent that they were making an impact by letting their voices be heard. It was during his conversation with her that his powers first manifested themselves, and he shapeshifted into her form without warning. When he saw what he had become in the reflection of the girl's cell-phone, he had an... "understandable" reaction (i.e., he fainted on the spot).

Needless to say, this caused quite the stir among the other demonstrators, not to mention his peers at the University. They saw his powers as something incredibly cool, and for a while, he was the talk of the campus. Even the local media got involved in covering the emergence of his abilities. However, Benjamin wasn't too keen on all the attention he was getting. He didn't even know if being a part of something as big as the X-Men or the Avengers was something he wanted for himself yet. He didn't even know if he could call himself a mutant because he believed mutants were extinct for the most part, after the events of M-Day.

That night, at a party on campus, his life came crashing down around him when Cyclops and Magneto appeared to try and recruit him for their newly reformed Exctinction team, saying that he was indeed a new mutant, and that the new mutant revolution was beginning. Their attempts were cut short, however, by the arrival of the time-displaced original X-Men, brought to the future by Beast to try and talk some sense into Scott. This wasn't received well by either party, and a battle between them broke out, decimating a large portion of the campus. The fact that such a fuss was being made over him only made Benjamin even more famous, much to his chagrin.

The next day, Benjamin was expelled from the University of Texas, due to his status as a new mutant having brought "the wrong kind of attention" upon the school. His parents refused to answer his calls, and he had nowhere to go. His friend from the rally tried to console him, but he would have none of it, claiming her talk of mutant equality was all good in theory, but that none of them were willing to practice what they preached when a mutant was staring them in the face.

Creation

Benjamin Deeds was created by Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Stuart Immonen. He first appeared in All-New X-Men #4 (Feb. 2013).

Major Story Arcs

The Mutant Revolution

Benjamin left the campus to try and figure out what to do now, only to run into Cyclops, who admitted he was responsible for the damage Ben's life had suffered in the wake of his battle with the original X-Men. Angry, Ben wanted to know why Scott had gone after him in the first place, and was told it was because he was a new mutant, and that Scott was trying to create a team to protect people like them, as well as offer them a place where they could grow and come into their powers of their own volition. He offered his services to Ben again, and the young man hesitantly decided to see what the X-Man had to give him. The two were then teleported to the site of what was once Weapon-X, but now the new Charles Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, the headquarters of the Extinction X-Men, and the new mutant revolution.

After joining Cyclops' team, Benjamin becomes acquainted with the other students and his professors a little more. The group then receives new students in the form of the Stepford Cuckoos and the young Angel. The team is then forced into Limbo and are forced to fight for their lives against Dormammu and his mindless ones. Benjamin stands in the back of the group so they can fight as his powers aren't useful yet in a battle setting. A rock falls and hits his head and he is nearly killed and is only saved when Magik casts them out of Limbo and while Benjamin has stopped breathing and his mind has no activity, Triage heals him and he comes to.

Emma Frost recently took him on a training mission to Atlantic City to teach him how to control his powers, which are mainly passive and more subtle than some of his fellow students like Tempus and Hijack. While there, Emma had him infiltrate a S.H.I.E.L.D. building and deliver a letter to Dum Dum Dugan regarding their secret Sentinel program. He was almost captured, but Magik teleported him to safety.

End of the Revolution

After Cyclops had disbanded the New Xavier School, the students, rather than joining the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, band together to form an unaffiliated team of super heroes. In their first outting the team once again faced off against one of their first threats, a young mutant named Animax. In an outburst against her abusive father Animax had psychically summoned an army of monsters to terrorize a highschool where he worked as a football coach. As the team arrived in a jet controlled by Hijack, the mutants quickly set out to stop her. With Morph (Deeds) talking her down and the Stepford Cuckoos holding back her assault, Goldballs used his ability to knock her out. All of this was captured via cellphone camera and blew up overnight as the mutants quickly became famous. Fabio was called by his parents who proudly spoke about their son on live TV, but the fame didn't stop there. From talk-shows to magazine covers, the team became more loved with every villain they fought, which ranged to even the likes of defeating Klaw.

It wasn't until the world learned from Fabio's parents that he was a mutant, that things would quickly change. After defeating yet another villain, Goldballs expected praise from the onlooking crowd only for a glass bottle to be thrown at the young hero, leaving shards of broken glass stuck in his neck. While the Cuckoos drove off their attackers psychically, Triage and Morph went on to help heal Fabio's near fatal injury before they fled. Learning the hard way that despite their good intentions that their mutant gene would still be hated, Hijack brought them to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, knowing that they would have a lot to learn still about being accepted.

Generation X

Discussing feelings

After the Jean Grey School was renamed the Xavier institute and relocated to New York City's Central Park, Benjamin Deeds joined a group of mutants that was unofficially dubbed as the new Generation X; a group of mutants whom would not become X-Men, but instead tried to learn how to live in the 'normal' world with their supernatural powers. While in this class, the developed fealings for another student, the male mutant named Hindsight.

Powers and Abilities.

Benjamin's mutation grants him a form of shapeshifting wherein he takes on a similar physical appearance of someone in close proximity to himself. When he takes on someone's appearance he does not completely become them, but rather a hybrid form of their appearance and his own. This power is limited to a singular person and he does not acquire any meta-human abilities from this, as is shown when he takes on Cyclops' appearance but not his optic blasts.

Additionally, Benjamin is also capable of producing pheromones and chemicals, although whether he needs to be in a transformed state to do so is unclear. The pheromones he produces are limited in that, so far, they are only capable of making people trust and like Benjamin. The chemicals he can make have a disruptive effect on technology and have been shown to render surveillance equipment inoperable.