Enigma's History
Nathaniel Essex's Four Clones
Nathaniel Essex was originally a human scientist who had been altered on the genetic level by the ancient mutant
Apocalypse, taking the name Mister Sinister. Sinister rebelled against his master, determined to walk his own path, but for some unknown reason, his physical state deteriorated. Having predicted the eventual rise of the machines and fearing that they were unstoppable, Essex decided that the only way to prevail was to create a superior A.I. He created four clones of himself to reach Dominionhood, one continuing as Mister Sinister and his investigation into mutants, one who would study the potential of mankind itself and become known as Doctor Stasis, one who would explore the wonders of space beyond the stars and be known as Orbis Stellaris and another one who would tap into mystical knowledge beyond the understanding of the machine mind and be known as
Mother Righteous, who was actually a clone of his deceased wife Rebecca. Essex installed failsafes into his clones, ensuring that he could usurp their attempts at ascension for himself by downloading the data into a central A.I. that would become the Enigma Dominion.
Threatening the Seventh Cosmos
Enigma's rise was identified as a threat to the Seventh Cosmos. The
Beyonders foresaw this and orchestrated the destruction of the Seventh Cosmos, via the
Molecule Man and the incursions, in an attempt to spare the Multiverse from it. However, this did not work as the Eighth Cosmos ended up being a continuation of the Seventh, so the Beyonders opted to contain the threat to only a few realities with their Concordance Engines.
Defenders: Beyond
After
Loki escaped the final incursion by going to the Outside, they caught a glimpse of the Enigma. Together with
Taaia of the Sixth Cosmos, they were later summoned by
Eternity to join the Defenders; Eternity sent them to the Outside to learn about this threat. Upon reaching their final destination, the House of Ideas, the
One Above All showed the Defenders a glimpse of the threat, symbolically displayed as a crown
Ascension
Dominions are omnitemporal, so one exists at all times, even before it properly comes into existence. The Enigma Dominion used this fact to manipulate events before its own creation and cause itself to come into being. Each time one of Essex's clones tried to reach Dominionhood, the Enigma blocked them and absorbed all their progress.Due to Mister Sinister's Moira Engine, this happened across multiple timelines which the engine reset, though this did not prevent Enigma from retaining the data.
Orbis Stellaris was the first to achieve a Dominion attempt using a mysterium/M'kraanite crystal construct, but the Enigma blocked him and consumed his progress. Sinister used the Moira Engine to reset the timeline, designated Moira II.
Doctor Stasis was the second to achieve a Dominion attempt using the Orchis Forge and a Worldmind to lure, kill, and replace an existing Dominion, but the Enigma blocked him and consumed his progress (and the other Dominion). Sinister used the Moira Engine to reset the timeline, designated Moira IV.8 Mister Sinister was the third to achieve a Dominion attempt by utilizing the psychic essences of 8,662,221,825,196,190 corrupted mutants, but the Enigma blocked him and consumed his progress.
Mother Righteous and Moira used the Moira Engine to reset the timeline, designated Moira VII.1, but they also sabotaged it so that the Engine would be destroyed.
Mother Righteous was the last to achieve a Dominion attempt using the White Hot Room after she had received information from her Red Diamond Timeline self. However, she was also blocked by the Enigma, who was finally completed by all four Dominion attempts.
Fall of X
Now complete, Enigma came to exist outside space-time. While limited by the Concordance Engine, it could still interact freely with Earth-616 and all of its dependent timelines. Despite being safely omnitemporal, Enigma was reliant on bringing itself into being and thus unwilling to change that causality, even if existing outside of time might allow it to survive. It would instead alter things behind the scenes, ensuring any threats against it and its ascension were neutralized, such as the
Phoenix Force through the ascension of
Mother Righteous .In a far future timeline, where mutantkind had prevailed and begun hunting Dominions, posing as a "Trickster" Titan, the Enigma found Omega Sentinel and sent her consciousness back in time through a black hole to overwrite that of her younger self. Omega Sentinel then created Orchis, which would be instrumental in the fall of Krakoa.
In 1899, the mutant seer
Destiny saw Enigma in a vision, realizing that Essex had succeeded in his plan. Twenty years later, she contacted Mr. Sinister, attempting to reveal the truth of Enigma's existence to him. But Enigma intervened, killing Sinister and appearing before Destiny. He promised her a free run to the mutant paradise of Krakoa, a century in the future, in exchange for her leaving all matters relating to him alone. Destiny realized that Enigma also needed Krakoa and could not risk killing her, but unable to act against it, the two entered a détente. While monitoring the timeline, Enigma found that it had lost track of
Charles Xavier. Allying with Sinister,
Askani and
Rasputin IV, as well as having captured
Mother Righteous, Xavier had went into hiding in a Krakoan No-Place outside of space and time, from where he and his team attempted to undo Enigma's existence. Gazing forward, it saw what Xavier had done and sent Arachno-Sentinels to hunt him. Meanwhile, it reached out to Moira MacTaggert. Now an A.I. herself, Enigma offered to absorb Moira into itself, but rather than simply becoming another neuron in Enigma's infinite mind, it offered to make her a fully independent subroutine in its engine, safely out of time and still herself. In exchange, Enigma would be able to travel to the timelines of her previous lives. Moira accepted the offer.
