Scramble (comics)

Scramble
Scramble. Art by Mike Mignola.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Alpha Flight Vol.1 #30
Created by	Bill Mantlo (story), Mike Mignola (art)
In-story information
Alter ego	Lionel Jeffries
Team affiliations	New Life Clinic Alpha Flight
Notable aliases	Scramble the Mixed-Up Man, Omega (amalgamated into him with Roger Bochs)
Abilities	Manipulate organic matter, includes healing

Scramble (Lionel Jeffries), also known as Scramble the Mixed-Up Man, was a Marvel Comics supervillain and Canadian mutant. Specifically, he was an enemy of Alpha Flight, but for a brief time he was alternately their ally. Scramble is the brother of Madison Jeffries.

Scramble first appeared in Alpha Flight #30 (February 1986) and was created by Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola.

Lionel Jeffries and his older brother Madison were mutants: Madison with the ability to alter metallic surfaces and Lionel able to manipulate organic matter. Lionel utilized his power to become a successful surgeon, and later both he and Madison were among the many thousands of Canadians to enlist in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Madison, who loathed being a mutant, served as a first class mechanic, whereas Lionel craved the opportunity to use his powers for good as a medic. However, Lionel's inability to resurrect many of his fellow soldiers after an explosion dismembered their squad caused him to go insane, and Madison had to use his own powers to assist in restraining him.

In the years following the war, Madison had his raving brother committed to Montreal General Hospital, where he was kept in restraints, before he himself joined the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight. Shortly afterwards, Alpha Flight leader Heather Hudson found Lionel, discovering his existence on the team's Alphanex computer system (only after bypassing a security lock on Madison's file). Since Madison never informed his teammates of Lionel's existence, Heather assumed the man was a doctor at the hospital, and travelled there in an effort to determine if he was a mutant, and if so recruit him into Alpha Flight. When she discovered Lionel was, in fact, a patient, she was further horrified to behold what she believed to be terrible mistreatment on behalf of the medics who restrained him. However, when Heather attempted to introduce herself as Madison's friend with a handshake, Lionel made physical contact with her and used his powers to brutally warp her body, freeing himself in the process and overtaking the hospital. He now went by the name of Scramble, the Mixed-Up Man, and soon went about altering the hospital staff and patients into hideously deformed zombies (unintentionally resurrecting Deadly Earnest, a deceased Alpha Flight foe, in the process). The insane Scramble believed himself to be little more than a doctor caring for his patients. Alpha Flight soon arrived on the scene to rescue Heather (after tracing her path via Alphanex), and wound up in a brawl with the mutates. Soon, the Jeffries brothers reunited in the hospital morgue, and there Madison fully realized the depth of Scramble's insanity, while also believing there was still good in him. The two brothers clashed, but eventually Madison manipulated Scramble into using his own organic-warping powers on himself, healing his brain from psychosis. The "cured" Scramble reverses much of the damage he did, including Heather's transformation, and vows to return to medicine after getting discharged from the hospital.