Noriko Ashida was a student at the Xavier Institute until it was blown up. Surge absorbs electricity at all times: from static in the air, electrical appliances, outlets, etc. (often causing lights to flicker, etc.). She can't control the absorption, and thus must wear specially designed gauntlets at all times to regulate it. She can discharge the energy through powerful lightning-like blasts or channel it into bursts of superhuman speed. If she takes in too much energy, it causes mental overloads which cause her to speak too fast, scatters her thinking, and worsens her control over the blasts. Her blue hair is not related to her mutation. According to Nori, it came in a bottle labeled "electric blue" (and, indeed, she debuted with black hair).

Surge has shared rooms with Dust and X-23 and having a forceful personality has clashed with both, though she is dedicated to those she considers friends.