- "The thing you've got to understand is this is a perfectly evolved world-conquering organism. For all we know, there are millions of those asteroids floating around in the cosmos like a virus. They're just waiting to crash-land into a world with just the right conditions."
- ―Dr. Carter
Mimics are a species of extraterrestrial life forms which came to Earth in an asteroid to claim the planet, waging war against Humans. They operate in a hive mind and are notable for their ability to rewind time when they're killed, creating temporal loops.
Biology[]
Mimics are extremely fast and agile creatures with numerous tentacles, which can be used for moving on land, climbing, or digging through the soil to emerge and ambush unsuspecting prey. They are all part of a single hive mind, which consists of three castes: the common Drones, the commanding Alphas, and a single gigantic Omega, which acts as the colony's central brain.
It's not known how many of them are in the universe, but it's been speculated that there might be numerous asteroids carrying Mimic hives, waiting to land on suitable planets for them to colonize.
Drones[]
The Drones are by far the most common. and lack the chronokenetic abilites of the Alpha and Omega and serve as primary soldiers for the Mimic. They can be identifed by their small size standing only around 4 feet tall and their bright orange bioluminescence. As their name implies, Mimics' primary tactic is to charge the enemy in massive swarms and utilize their ability to move at rapid speeds, being able to alter their very physiology to from massive tendrils and the ability to fire missile like projectiles known as Mimic javelins add to their danger in combat.
Alphas[]
Alphas, in contrast, are extremely rare. Dr. Carter estimated that just 1 in every 6.18 million Mimics is an Alpha. They are larger than Drones, and have light blue luminescence, rather than orange; but are most notable for acting like the hive's nervous system, connecting the Drones to the Omega (which is the brain). Whenever an Alpha is killed, it triggers the Omega's chronokinetic response to reset time to one day before that occurrence, while retaining memories of it. In this way, the Mimics learn about the enemy's strategy and have a chance of responding preemptively, as well as resetting time continuously until reaching a favorable outcome.
Being in contact with the blood of an Alpha Mimic may cause a Human being to enter this same loop as well. From that point on, every time the Human is killed, time will be reset to the day before they were killed originally. However, this ability will not last if the Human's own blood is replaced later, such as in the occurrence of an accident that leads to a medical transfusion.
Omega[]
The Omega is the core of the Mimic superorganism, and acts as its central intelligence, as well as the source of its temporal abilities. It is telepathically connected to all Mimics, and may also establish psychic links to other creatures who have been in contact with Alpha blood. The Omega itself is a massive spherical organism and seemingly needs to be contained in water. Destroying the Omega results in the loss of the hive mind itself, leaving the rest of the Mimics vulnerable and easy to take down.
History[]
Origin[]
Mimics came to Earth from interstellar space utilizing asteroids- which dropped all around Europe. Few days after landing in Europe, they started the invasion.
Operation Downfall[]
For 5 years, humanity has been at war with an alien species called Mimics. NATO militaries have federated to create the United Defense Forces (UDF), with defeats escalating as the war continues. As the Mimics tighten their grip on Continental Europe, the introduction of armed mechanized exoskeletons called Jackets allows the UDF to achieve a decisive victory at Verdun. Major William Cage, a UDF spokesman and officer in the United States military, is summoned to London to meet with General Brigham, commander of the UDF. The UDF, inspired by the victory at Verdun, intends to launch Operation Downfall, a multi-front invasion of Mimic-controlled Europe which will relieve pressure on Russian and Chinese forces in Eastern Europe. Brigham orders Cage to cover combat on the beaches of Northwestern France, to which Cage objects, stating that he is not a soldier. When Cage tries to blackmail the General, he is arrested and stripped of rank. Cage is sent to the invasion base at Heathrow Airport, from where he is to deploy with airborne troops the following morning.
The next morning, Cage is dropped in with the first wave. To his horror, the Mimics have anticipated the attack, and annihilate the invasion force. Cage manages to kill an unusually large Mimic, but dies and is doused with its blood. Cage wakes up the previous morning at Heathrow, and is debriefed in the same manner. Cage discovers he is stuck in a time loop, and that every time he dies, he "resets" to the day prior to the invasion. Cage tries to convince soldiers at the base that the invasion will fail, to no avail. Cage loops several times, trying to save as many soldiers as he can. In one such loop, he saves the life of Rita Vrataski, the "Angel of Verdun" (or "Full Metal Bitch" behind her back), who, seeing Cage's ability to anticipate events of the battle, tells him to find her when he "wakes up." Both of them are then killed by an exploding drop ship.
At the base, Cage finds Rita, and tells her that they know each other from the following day's invasion. Rita confides in Cage that she too possessed the ability to "reset", which allowed her to kill hundreds of Mimics at Verdun singlehandedly, earning herself celebrity status. Rita tells Cage that the Mimics are controlled by a singular consciousness called the "Omega", which has the ability to reset time. Cage killed an Alpha Mimic and was doused in its blood, thereby gaining the ability to reset time. Rita gained that ability the same way, and lost it after receiving a blood transfusion. She also tells Cage that as the Mimics try to locate his consciousness, he will experience visions of the location of the Omega. Rita trains Cage in combat, and with each subsequent loop, Cage increases in proficiency. Rita and Cage team up during the invasion, and after dozens of loops, are finally able to make their way inland. Cage, in the meantime, has grown attached to Rita, and is finding it harder to see her being killed. The tension reaches a head when Cage tries to stop Rita from continuing, knowing that at their current location, Rita will be killed regardless. Rita ignores him and is mortally wounded trying to lift off in a helicopter. Cage comforts her as she dies, before he too is killed by the Mimics.
During his next loop, Cage, knowing that the Omega is in the Bavarian Alps, goes to kill the Omega himself. When he arrives at the dam from his visions, he is ambushed by an Alpha, who tries to steal his reset ability by killing him through exsanguination. Cage manages to die by drowning, preserving his ability. During his next loop, Cage tells Rita that the visions are just a hoax to corner him and steal his ability. Rita takes Cage to see Dr. Carter, a former government scientist and expert in Mimic biology. Carter explains to Cage that during his time working at Whitehall, he constructed a prototype transponder device, which can theoretically ascertain the location of the Omega if injected into an Alpha or someone with the "reset" ability. General Brigham supervised the construction of the device but declared it rubbish and had Carter dismissed. Rita and Cage infiltrate the Ministry of Defense, and threaten to kill Brigham unless he gives them the transponder. After several failed loops, Brigham relents and gives them the transponder.
Fleeing Whitehall with soldiers in hot pursuit, Rita stabs Cage with the transponder, and he concludes that the Omega is located under the Louvre. Cage removes the transponder, but Rita crashes into an armored soldier, knocking them both unconscious. Cage awakens hooked up to an IV, and realizes that the transfusion has taken away his power. Rita breaks Cage out, and they decide to try and kill the Omega that same night. To do so, Cage convinces soldiers from his squad to join them, already knowing the intimate details of their lives from his loops. The team flies to Paris, but are attacked by Mimics and forced into a crash-landing. Rita and Cage are the only ones to make it beneath the Louvre, where they find themselves being hunted by an Alpha. Rita gives Cage a grenade belt to kill the Omega, then kisses him, telling him "I wish I had the chance to know you better." Rita distracts the Alpha while Cage dives down to kill the Omega. The Alpha kills Rita, then dives down after Cage. The Alpha kills him, but not before he primes the grenade belt, which falls on the Omega, killing it, thereby crippling the Mimics.
As the Omega disintegrates, Cage's body absorbs its blood. Cage wakes up en route to his meeting with Brigham, and he attends a press conference where Brigham announces that the Mimics have seemingly given up and that the UDF is poised to liberate Europe.
Appearances[]
- Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- Although they're based on the original Mimics from Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need Is Kill, they differ considerably from that race.