Ink

Real Name
Eric Gitter 
 
Occupation
Adventurer
 
Citizenship
U.S.A.
 
Place of Birth
Unrevealed
 
Known Relatives
None 
 
Group Affiliation
Formerly X-Men, Young X-Men 

Education
Unrevealed

Height
5' 11"

Weight
180 lbs.

Eyes 
Blue

Hair
Brown (shaved bald)

Powers
Ink has no powers of his own. Instead, he had access to a mutant tattoo artist, Leon Nunez, with the power of granting superpowers to other beings by tattooing iconic "power symbols" on them, evocative of the power he wants to bestow. Ink has been shown with the following tattoos and powers: the tattoo on his right palm in the shape of a biohazard symbol which causes his victims to become extremely ill; the tattoo on his left hand gives him super strength. The lines look similar to the banding on Colossus' flesh when he transforms, indicating a toughening of Ink's flesh also; the two lightning bolt tattoos on his head give him telepathy, but this can be blocked by psi-shields; the tattoos of wings on his back grant him flight; the "explosive" symbol tattooed on his right bicep allows him to blow up objects and punch through walls; the Caduceus symbol on his left hand grants him the power of healing others; the Phoenix symbol over his eye allows him to produce energies similar to the Phoenix Force.

Abilities
None 

Other Info
Eric Gitter was one of the founding members of the "Young X-Men" team formed by Cyclops. He went by the codename, Ink, due to his many tattoos. Ink was a loud-mouthed and rude teenager who didn't care what others thought about him. In fact, when he was getting a tattoo at his tattoo parlor, two police officers came in and tried to arrest him; however, Ink fought back by using new bio-hazard tattoo, which made one of the police officer instantly throw up. Despite this, Eric was arrested anyway and taken to jail. Not in jail long, Ink was freed by a guard who turned out to by Cyclops using an image inducer to hide himself. (To learn about Cyclops, click on his highlighted name above. Note: Beware of the form-fitting outfit worn by Emma Frost on Cyclops' bio page.)

Cyclops began recruiting members to his New X-Men, with Ink was one of the recruits. Cyclops took his new team to their former training simulator, the Danger Cave, built by Prodigy. There he trained Ink and the other members of the New X-Men on their first mission--to assassinate the latest incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants (which consisted of former New Mutants who had gone rogue). Ink and Blindfold were assigned to the "Blue team" and were sent to apprehend Dani Moonstar. The two were successful in their mission; however, just after knocking Moonstar unconscious, Ink then knocked out his own partner. Ink was paid to deliver both Blindfold and Moonstar to Cyclops, which he did. However, it was later revealed that this "Cyclops" was actually Donald Pierce in disguise with an image inducer. Pierce was trying to trick the Young X-Men into killing the former New Mutants. Upon discovering Pierce's plan, Ink switched sides and started fighting alongside the former New Mutants and his team of Young X-Men. They all went to Pierce's hideout, and eventually were able to subdue him. Unfortunately, during their mission, Wolf Cub was killed. This left Ink dealing with his own feelings of guilt over his involvement. (To lean about the above highlighted teams and/or characters, just click on their names. Note: Beware of the revealing outfits worn by those on the New Mutants and Donald Pierce's bio pages.)

Soon after, during the team's next mission, it was discovered that Ink was not actually a mutant, but just gained powers through his tattoos by his mutant tattoo artist, Leon Nunez. Ink took this revelation hard and decided to quit the team.

Now, off on his own and depressed, Ink ended up getting drunk. He was then attacked by the Hellfire Cult--anti-mutant activists. However, Ink easily defeats them, and told them that they were wasting their time because he was not a mutant.

Not too long after this, Cipher showed up and told Ink that the X-Men were being attacked by the Y-Men (a group of gang members similarly empowered like Ink by his tattoo artist) and that they need his help. Ink was hesitant at first, but eventually decided to help, but goes to his tattoo artist first and forces him to give him two more tattoos--the caduceus symbol and a phoenix tattoo. Afterward, Ink arrived on the battlefield and healed Moonstar with the caduceus tattoo. He then defeated the Y-Men with his "Phoenix Force" tattoo by taking away the powers of all the Y-Men. (Click on the highlighted characters above to learn more about them.)

After this, the X-Men decided that even though he was not a mutant, Ink would stay and train with the X-Men (mostly because Cyclops was afraid of Eric running around unchecked with Phoenix-like powers). Soon after, Moonstar and Sunspot explained that inking powered tattoos sapped Nunez's willpower and that by adding the Phoenix Force tattoo to Ink, pushed Nunez too hard, leaving the tattoo artist in a coma. In this state, Nunez barely has enough conscious to maintain Ink's powers, because if he were to wakes up, Ink would revert to a normal tattooed human. (To learn about the X-Men and/or Sunspot, click on their highlighted names above.)

Recently, when Dust began dying from a hidden health condition, Ink attempted to heal her with his caduceus tattoo; however, it failed and she died. Her death upset him, causing the others to realize that Ink truly did care about the team. Ink even stated that Dust didn't deserve to die; therefore, despite knowing that his Phoenix tattoo was untested, Ink tapped in the his "Phoenix Force" and revived Dust from the dead. However, the immense strain left Ink comatose. Afterward, Beast, stated that Ink's mind still has activity, but it is subdued because it appeared to have been overcharged. 

There is nothing there, but here is the Marvel.com link to Ink's bio, http://marvel.com/universe/Ink.