Steady lah: Marvel introduces Singaporean mutant in new X-Men comic

Forget Deadpool or Wolverine, there's a new superhero in town.

Her superpower? Being able to do anything she sets her mind to.

While already a skill some Singaporeans claim to possess, what might interest many is that this mutant happens to share the same nationality as them.

Last Friday (Aug 9), Marvel Comics unveiled Singaporean Sofia Yong, or Jitter, along with three other characters, known collectively as the Outliers.

Jitter is set to make her first appearance in a new iteration of The Uncanny X-Men series that first ran in 1981. 

New X-Men mutant is Singaporean!
byu/swordbearerb1 insingapore

Gail Simone wrote the second issue of the latest series and mentioned that Jitter has difficulties concentrating or prioritising things.

Her "hyper-focus" powers gives her the ability to attain a given skill set, but only for a minute.

The Singaporean teen will immediately crash if she goes on longer.

Simone told pop culture website Popverse that Jitter has a stutter and is "very cool".

She added: "She can take one set of skills, like being the top martial artist in the world, or the best lockpicker that there ever was, for one minute.

"And she has a timer that she sets, and she can do that thing for one minute and then it’s gone."

On the day Jitter was unveiled, a photo of her Marvel character card was posted on sub-Reddit Singapore.

It generated interest among local Redditors, with many already having an affinity with Jitter.

One netizen questioned: "Is that really her mutant power or is that the result of years of training by her kiasu tiger mum under the Singapore academic system?"

Another commenter had no issues about Jitter being Singaporean, claiming there's no other nationality given that kind of description.

"Sounds like a normal Singaporean student to me!" another Reddit user commented.

According to her description, Jitter never has to slow down, not even to sleep.

A Reddit user found this rather debilitating, mentioning how even in a parallel universe, this Singaporean struggles to escape the rat race.

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amierul@asiaone.com