Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Monday, June 18, 2012
4481. Wolverine in bike
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
4190. Giant Man
Scientific genius Hank Pym has lived a life of highs and lows, both tied to his wife Janet. College sweethearts, they married despite the insecure and emotionally unstable Hank's occasional physical abuse. The couple worked as scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Super-Soldier Research Facility under Bruce Banner, in whose scientific shadow Hank lived uneasily. Fearful of anti-mutant prejudice, the self-shrinking, insect-powered Jan concealed her mutant nature, eventually allowing Hank to take credit for creating her powers by scientific means. Pym's genetic studies of Jan helped him make new scientific breakthroughs in the areas of size changing and entomology. The Pyms were later promoted to head the research and development wing of the government's new superhuman strike force, the Ultimates, with Banner as their deputy. The Pyms also became two of the program's founding super-operatives as the Wasp and Giant-Man (Hank used his new growth formula). Humiliated and injured in battle by a rampaging Hulk (a transformed Banner), Pym physically recovered, but his shaken confidence sparked a vicious domestic fight with Jan, during which Hank nearly killed her. Pym fled, but he was caught and beaten into traction by Captain America, who soon began dating Jan.
Pym was dismissed from the field team, and his former assistant Eamonn Brankin took over their R&D operations; however, Hank remained on staff. He formed an unlikely friendship and fertile scientific collaboration with fellow outcast Bruce Banner, while trying unsuccessfully to rejoin the Ultimates field team as the self-shrinking "Ant-Man". When Banner was sentenced to die for the Hulk's crimes, Pym covertly sabotaged the execution, facilitating Banner's secret escape. Finally fired from the Ultimates altogether, a desperate Pym was willing to work for free, even offering them his new Ultron and Vision robot designs;he was rejected. Pym joined a new amateur super-team, the Defenders, romancing his teammate Valkyrie, but the group's ineptitude soon drove Hank away. Weary of her new boyfriend, Jan secretly struck up a platonic friendship with Hank; but by this time, the desperate Pym had secretly allied himself with a traitor within the Ultimates to plot the team's downfall.
4188. Brood Queen
The Brood are insectoid aliens who on average are 8' long. Their weight is variable and the average eye color is either yellow or red. There are different appearances and abilities for the different types of Brood. Drones are the lowest type of Brood who mostly take orders from the Queens and Empress. Drones are brown and are usually warriors. The Queens are brown, usually larger and stronger than the drones, and can expel a paralyzing liquid from their mouths. Queens may inject eggs into a host. As the eggs hatch the host becomes a Brood retaining all of the hosts knowledge and abilities. The Brood Empress is also brown and is the most powerful of the Brood. She is massive and is believed to be unable to move from her lair on the Brood's central nest world. The Empress is able to reproduce asexually by laying eggs. These eggs hatch into Firstborn. The Firstborn are green, usually larger than Queens, and are covered in super-durable bony armored plates. The Firstborn are also able to teleport, apparently through technological means and Firstborn are fierce warriors. All Brood have a psychic link to the Brood Empress.
One of the Brood's earliest known conflicts was against the Eidolon Host; warriors clad in intelligent "warwear" body sheaths. Subsequently, the Brood made enemies of both the Shi'ar and the Kree. Capturing Kree Admiral Devros, the Brood infected him with a royal embryo. Devros then came to perceive himself as the Brood King, a perfect synthesis of blue-skinned Kree military facility and Brood physical prowess, and sought to similarly convert the other blue-skinned Kree while transforming the pink-skinned Kree into drones. Devros and the Brood were opposed by pink-skinned Kree Captain Mar-Vell. Though he slew both the Brood Queen and Devros, Mar-Vell himself had been infected and began transforming into a Brood King before he was saved by Medic Una, who used a modified Omni-Wave Projector to destroy the embryo within him.
The Brood have since repeatedly clashed with Earth's X-Men. The Brood had allied with the rebel Shi'ar warrior Deathbird, who was seeking to gain control of the Shi'ar Empire from her sister, Lilandra Neramani. Following Corsair, leader of the space pirates the Starjammers, to Earth; the Brood were opposed by the X-Men. During the encounter, the Brood Warrior-Prime, Skur'Kll, was slain by Wolverine, beginning a long-standing mutual hatred between the feral X-Man and the Brood. The Brood later returned, led by the Imperiatrix herself, and captured the mutant heroes, implanting each with a Queen embryo. Wolverine's mutant healing factor was able to purge the embryo from his system; however, Storm began transforming into a Brood. Swept out of an airlock before the change could be completed, she was saved by an infant member of the Acanti who was destined to be a Prophet-Singer, its race's new leader. Bonded physically and psychically to the baby Acanti, Storm and the X-Men agreed to help liberate the Acanti from the Brood's enslavement and located the Acanti's racial soul in the corpse of the Acanti's former Prophet-Singer on the Brood's homeworld. After a pitched battle, the energy of the soul purged the embryos from within the X-Men and crystallized the Imperiatrix as it destabilized the planet, causing it to explode.
Returning to Earth, the X-Men discovered that the Brood had implanted their founder Professor Charles Xavier, with a Queen egg. Under its control, he had formed a team of trainees called the New Mutants, which the Queen intended to be Brood hosts. The Queen transformed Xavier's body, but the X-Men and New Mutants were able to delay it long enough for Xavier's mind to reassert control. Xavier ultimately survived after his mind was transferred into a cloned body created by Sikorsky of the Starjammers. Later, one of the surviving Brood Queens encountered the New Mutants' Magik and her ally Lockheed, an alien dragon whose race, the Flock, are long-standing enemies of the Brood.
Seeking revenge on the X-Men, the Brood again attempted to invade Earth. Implanting paramedic Harry Palmer with a Queen egg, the Brood sent him out to infect mutants, hoping to create a Brood force with abilities to rival those of the X-Men. Attempting to ambush the mutant heroes, the Brood-infected mutants - Blindslide, Brickbat, Dive-Bomber, Lockup, Spitball, Temptress, Tension, and Whiphand - gained the upper hand initially; but after realizing that the hosts were beyond saving, the X-Men slew the Brood mutants in pitched battle. During the fight, Palmer's medic partner Josey Thomas, also Brood, implanted Hannah Conover, wife of Reverand William Conover, with a Queen egg, hoping to establish a beachhead on Earth. Under the guise of faith healing, Conover began to create a force of Broodlings loyal to her.
During this time, the Brood infiltrated the New Orleans Assassins Guild, but were defeated by the combined forces of the X-Men, the Ghost Rider, and assassin Bella Donna Boudreaux. Following this, another Brood Queen sought to make hosts of both Ghost Rider and the X-Men Gambit, and sent out drones disguised as policemen to find them. Teaming up, Ghost Rider, Gambit, and Wolverine located the Brood Queen's nest in New York City and destroyed it. Soon after, Conover began to reject the Brood Queen embryo growing within her, and so the Brood Empress dispatched a squad of Firstborn to kill Conover and those she had transformed. Though Conover's Broodlings were all killed, the X-Men were able to place Conover in cryogenic stasis, thus severing her link with the Brood collective. Believing Conover to be dead, the remaining Firstborn killed each other. In the future timeline of the X-Men Bishop (Earth-1191), a faction of benign Brood are known to exist, though it is unknown whether Conover was the originator of this group. Soon after, the Brood attempted another invasion of Earth, sending a Queen to build a hive in the jungles of the Indonesian archipelago near Madripoor. They attacked a team of naturalists, but one escaped and alerted the X-Men. The Queen was soon confronted and slain by Wolverine, who had become akin to folklore in the Brood community.
The supposedly destroyed Imperiatrix returned, planning to implant Earth's most powerful superhumans with eggs to create an army of super Brood. Allying herself with the Brotherhood of Badoon, the Imperiatrix traveled to Earth and, with the Badoon's technological aid, teleported many of Earth's heroes onboard her craft. Using holo- and nano-technology, the Badoon posed as the Coterie, a fictitious race of alien gamesmasters that offered knowledge in exchange for the heroes entertaining them in a "contest of champions." Earth's heroes ultimately discovered the truth and banded together to rout the Badoon and the Brood. Defeated, the Badoon fled, but not before the Brood Imperiatrix was able to stow away onboard their escape craft. She subsequently slew the Badoon's Brother Royal for his failure, and infected the remaining Badoon to serve as hosts.
After an intergalactic council deemed Earth a threat and sought to transform it into a penal colony, a group of Brood sought to use the ensuing chaos to establish a foothold on Earth. A Brood bounty hunter named Tyrus Krill, whose family had been infected by the Brood he was tracking, arrived on Earth and enlisted the aid of Wolverine in destroying them. However, Krill himself had been infected and, after the Queen was killed, he transformed into Brood, forcing Wolverine to slay him.
Trying to invade Earth yet again, the Brood intercepted NASA's Mar's Lander and used it to infiltrate the space station Simulacra. Receiving a distress call, the X-Men teamed up with the Fantastic Four to investigate, bringing them into conflict with the Brood. The situation escalated with the arrival of a Brood invasion fleet in Earth's orbit; however, the heroes were able to repel them after Mister Fantastic had the X-Men's Emma Frost project a mass hallucination into the Brood's minds that Earth was being attacked by both Galactus and the Phoenix Force.
Recently, a cadre of Brood warriors arrived on Earth in Spaulding, Georgia where they were opposed by Ms. Marvel. Meanwhile on the planet Sakaar a batch of Brood warriors were freed from the crystallization that caused their homeworld to explode. There the Brood warriors fought as gladiators and all but one Brood were killed in the fight. As the Hulk arrived on Sakaar the Brood joined his forces and helped liberate Sakaar from the Red King's control. After a few moments of peace a bomb sent with the Hulk exploded killing a great percentage of the planet's population as well as the Hulks wife, Caiera the Oldstrong. Enraged the Hulk and his warrior friends left Sakaar and are now terrorizing the Illuminati members and the Earth.
4185. Firebrand
Firebrand is the codename of three fictional supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. All three were normal humans inside powered armor and relied on fire-based weapons. The first and third Firebrands, Gilbert and Dennison, both of whom were enemies of Iron Man, are much better known than the second Firebrand, Broxtel, who made only a handful of appearances.
Gary Gilbert was born in Detroit, Michigan. A superpowered enforcer for corrupt industrialist Justin Hammer, as Firebrand he is a former radical activist saboteur who turned to violence after believing peaceful protest produced no results.
Firebrand accidentally killed his own father.[volume & issue needed] He also won the Black Lama's "war of the supervillains".[volume & issue needed] He fell to alcoholism and gave up political activism only to work for other villains because he "needed the work".[volume & issue needed] He later gave up his costumed identity and became a "supervillain agent", brokering employment for other costumed villains.
When news of the Scourge of the Underworld's initial wave of supervillain murders spread among the criminal community, Gilbert took it upon himself to gather several costumed criminals for a meeting to determine what should be done about this menace. The meeting, held at an abandoned tavern in Medina County, Ohio, known among the criminal underworld as "The Bar With No Name", turned out to be a massacre, as Scourge infiltrated the event disguised as a bartender; a few minutes into the meeting, Scourge slaughtered every criminal present, including Gilbert, with machine gun fire.
Firebrand was later among the seventeen criminals, all murdered by the Scourge, to be resurrected by Hood using the power of Dormammu as part of a squad assembled to eliminate the Punisher.His fire powers are augmented, and he can melt through concrete or metal. After the Punisher is captured, he is present at the ritual where the Hood intends to resurrect the Punisher's family. Microchip shoots G. W. Bridge in the head, which activates the ritual using Bridge's life force to resurrect Microchip and Punisher's families. The Punisher refuses to accept this, and forces Firebrand to burn them alive, and then shoots Firebrand in the back of the head.
Gary Gilbert wore a suit with an armored exoskeleton that gave him superhuman strength and resistance to fire. It also housed flamethrowers (which allowed him to fire thermal blasts from his hands), one mounted on each wrist, and flying jets that gave him the ability to fly. Broxtel uses a modified version of the Firebrand suit. Dennison was actually a mutated human being whose body temperature was up in the high hundreds; he could project heat rays of thousands of degrees. He was equipped with a cybernetic harness which could reconfigure itself into different modes if he mentally commanded it to do so.
4184. Fixer
Roscoe Sweeny used his status as a mob boss to fix boxing matches, thus gaining the name “Fixer”. The Fixer gave Jack Murdock a chance of a comeback in the world of boxing and in order to build up a reputation for Murdock he paid his opponents to lose their matches. The Fixer told Murdock to throw a fight against "Dynamite" Dave. Murdock refused and instead won the fight. Furious over Murdock both disobeying and doubled-crossing him, the Fixer had Slade, one of his henchmen, kill Murdock. Jack Murdock’s son, Matt Murdock, became enraged when the legal system failed and became the costumed vigilante known as Daredevil in order to capture those responsible for his father's death. Daredevil tracked down the Fixer and Slade, but the Fixer managed to escape while Daredevil was savagely beating Slade. Daredevil chased the Fixer into a subway station and terrified the Fixer so much he ended up having a heart attack and dying.
Roscoe Sweeney
The first Fixer, aka Roscoe Sweeney was a gangster and crooked fight promoter who was involved in extortion and illegal gambling. He paid boxer "Battling Jack" Murdock to take a fall and lose a fight. Murdock accepted the money, but when he saw his son, Matthew, in the audience, he became determined to continue the fight and eventually won by a knockout.
The Fixer's right-hand man, Slade, killed Jack Murdock after the fight in retaliation. Matthew Murdock, learning of his father's murder, vowed to bring men like the Fixer to justice. Matt Murdock became a lawyer, and also the superhero Daredevil to do so. The Fixer had a fatal heart attack when confronted by Daredevil. Slade was arrested and executed. All of this occurred in the course of Daredevil #1 and was revisited years later in the Daredevil: Yellow miniseries.
Paul Norbert Ebersol
The second Fixer was a long-time supervillain who later became a member of the Thunderbolts.
Paul Norbert Ebersol was born in Dayton, Ohio. He was a scientist who held a number of odd jobs, including auto mechanic, television repairman, and electronics laboratory assistant. He then became the second and more prominent Fixer, a supervillain and genius-level criminal inventor who has often worked for criminal cartels like HYDRA.
In his first appearance he escaped from prison, and teamed with his partner Mentallo in an attempted takeover of the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, and even captured Nick Fury.[2] Fixer and Mentallo were defeated by Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. troops. His connection with THEM was revealed; and THEM was later revealed as part of HYDRA.[4] Behind the scenes, he was even revealed as the chief of the HYDRA Science Division.
With Mentallo, the Fixer later escaped prison again. They invaded the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and captured the Thing. They then invaded the Baxter Building, battled the Thing and Nick Fury, and used Doctor Doom's time machine to bring Deathlok from his alternate future.[6] Mentallo then mind-controlled Deathlok in an attempted assassination of the U.S. President, but Fixer and Mentallo were defeated by the Fantastic Four and taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. The pair was freed from prison by a HYDRA force controlled by Baron Karza. Fixer created the living machine-intelligence Computrex, which was destroyed by the Micronauts, who then defeated Fixer and Mentallo.
Fixer and Mentallo then aided Professor Power in his attempt to add Professor X's powers to Mentallo's, but they were defeated by Spider-Man. Fixer attempted to loot Northwind Observatory of Bruce Banner's inventions, but was captured by Captain America. Fixer then invaded the West Coast Avengers Compound in an attempt to steal Iron Man's armor, but was defeated by Iron Man and Ka-Zar.
When Baron Helmut Zemo formed the fourth incarnation of the Masters of Evil, Fixer served as his right-hand man. When the Masters of Evil invaded Avengers Mansion, Fixer created a device enabling Baron Zemo to control Blackout. Fixer helped engineer the capture of Captain America, Black Knight, and Edwin Jarvis. Fixer was apprehended by Ant-Man. Behind the scenes, Fixer was overpowered by the Super-Adaptoid, who changed places with him. The Super-Adaptoid disguised as the Fixer later escaped prison. The real Fixer was discovered by the Avengers in the Adaptoid's former confinement tube at Avengers Island. Fixer later escaped prison with Yellowjacket, who then spurned his romantic advances. The Fixer followed her and battled her and the Black Knight before escaping.
In Zemo's second incarnation of the Masters of Evil, the team changed their identity to the Thunderbolts, while Fixer adopted the alias of Techno. He was then apparently killed when his neck was broken by Iron, one of the Elements of Doom, and he transferred his mind into a robotic body, and this Techno sided, alone among the Thunderbolts, with Zemo when he went ahead with his scheme to conquer the planet.
Zemo and Techno decamped to one of Zemo's bases, where Techno began to experiment with cloning, offering to clone Zemo an unscarred body, and even cloning Kevin Costner for fun at one point. After the two fell out, Techno infiltrated the Thunderbolts by replacing Ogre, while continuing his experiments behind-the-scenes, including recovering Jolt's body when she was killed and placing it in a healing tube.
Techno's impersonation of Ogre ended when Scourge stowed away inside him, shrunken, and destroyed his body from the inside, while he refused to kill Jolt again to allow him to construct a new body. However, his backup plan worked, and his consciousness was returned to his original human body—mostly healed, although the nerve damage in his neck meant he required his tech-pac to bypass the damage—and the human Ebersol, initially amnesiac of the robot's exploits, returned to calling himself the Fixer.
Fixer then became one of the Redeemers, a government-backed team whereby criminals could use it to accelerate their sentences and clear their record, until most of that team was slaughtered by Graviton. He joined with the reunited Thunderbolts to stop Graviton, and he was one of the team members exiled to Counter-Earth. By a complicated series of events, at the end of the trip to Counter-Earth, Zemo's consciousness ended up in Fixer's tech-pac. By threatening to disable it and leave him quadriplegic, Zemo managed to force Fixer to transfer the Baron's consciousness to his Counter-Earth counterpart's body.
The team remained on Counter-Earth for some time, until, in sealing a rift, they returned home, leaving Jolt (whom Fixer saved from burning out in helping to seal the rift) behind. Finally, after Moonstone went insane, Fixer furnished a device that could give the combined Avengers and Thunderbolts a couple of seconds to make their move; he then left.
Later, Deadpool visited Fixer at his holiday home enlist his help in saving Cable. After a brief fight, Fixer accepted the challenge (and Deadpool's monetary inducement), and successfully bonded new, benign, techno-organic mesh to Cable. Some time after this, Fixer suddenly reappeared to save MACH-IV, his former teammate, from a fall. Fixer recruited MACH-IV to join a secretive group headed by Zemo to combat and destroy Genis-Vell, a member of the Thunderbolts whom Zemo had brought back to life. The process was flawed, however, and Genis' existence now threatened the universe.
After Genis was destroyed, Fixer remained with the Thunderbolts, who were now helmed by Zemo. He helped the team recruit supervillains to the pro-registration cause during the Civil War. He also helped Zemo save the Wellspring of Power from the Grandmaster. After Zemo was betrayed and the Thunderbolts were placed under S.H.I.E.L.D. control, Fixer and MACH-IV were offered jobs with the Commission on Superhuman Activities.
Ebersol has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book.
During the Heroic Age storyline, Fixer works at the Raft supervising its section for male supervillains when Captain Steve Rogers and Luke Cage arrive to recruit Ghost.
As well as working with the Thunderbolts, Fixer has also been seen working with Baron Zemo.
During the Fear Itself storyline, Fixer was seen working on a forcefield to secure the rounded up prisoners that escaped from the Raft after Juggernaut in the form of Kuurth: Breaker of Stone leveled it.
Powers and abilities
The second Fixer is an intuitive genius at invention of weapons and other electrical and mechanical devices. He has designed numerous devices and paraphernalia for himself, including his body armor. As weaponry, he has used various devices including bombs, electronic jamming devices, guided missiles, sonic amplifiers, brain-wave scanners, and mind-control pods. He has also built anti-gravity discs which are affixed to his feet and allow flight at the speed of sound, as well as a special mask which contains a three hour air supply and acts as an air pressure reduction valve, together enabling flight at high velocity and high altitude.
4183. Aurora
Jeanne-Marie Beaubier’s parents died in a car crash when she was an infant. Separated from her twin brother Jean-Paul after he was adopted by the Martins, she was sent to Madame DuPont’s School for Girls in LaVelle, Quebec. Unhappy there, the introverted Beaubier attempted suicide at age thirteen by throwing herself off a roof; however, instead of falling to her death, she began to fly. Unaware of her true mutant nature, the deeply religious Beaubier believed that her flying was a divine miracle. The School’s headmistress, Soeur Anne, considered it blasphemy and had Beaubier severely disciplined. The resulting corporal punishment triggered a dissociative identity disorder in Beaubier, and a second, extroverted persona emerged. Beaubier secretly left the school that night, returning three days later with no memory of where she had been or what she had done. Subsequent discipline forced Beaubier to repress her second personality, and eventually she became a teacher at the school. Her second personality later returned, and while partying in Montreal she faced a pair of muggers. She super-swiftly subdued one while the other was defeated by the feral mutant Wolverine. He invited Beaubier to meet James MacDonald Hudson, who was forming a team of superhuman agents for the Canadian government’s Department H. Hudson accepted her as a recruit under the codename Aurora, and soon tracked down her brother, inviting him to join as Northstar. The siblings’ reunion surprised everyone: when the twins shook hands, they released a flash of intense light.
As a member of Alpha Flight, Aurora fought such opponents as the X-Men, Machine Man, the Great Beast Tundra and the ancient mystic Ranark the Ravager. Beaubier’s dual personality persisted, with each persona regarding the other as an entirely different person. As the prim and proper Jeanne-Marie, Beaubier had little memory of her activities while under the control of the uninhibited Aurora persona. Later, Aurora accompanied Northstar to visit his old mentor Belmonde, but the reunion turned to tragedy after Belmonde was killed by Ernest St. Ives (Deadly Ernest). Mistakenly believing Aurora to be Belmonde’s daughter, St. Ives kidnapped her. With the help of the enigmatic Nemesis, Northstar managed to rescue his sister and St. Ives was seemingly killed. The siblings later argued over Northstar’s mistaken assumption that Aurora had romanced St. Ives to prevent him from harming her. Shocked at her brother’s arrogance and insolence, Aurora angrily told him she never wanted to see him again. She ultimately sought to break her ties with Northstar completely, by having her teammate and then-lover Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski) alter her cellular structure to change her superhuman powers to be different from her brother’s. She could now generate brilliant light on her own, no longer requiring contact with Northstar. The experiment also rendered her mutant nature undetectable.
Aurora then teamed with Sasquatch against ancient alchemist Gilded Lily, and with Northstar against terrorist Pink Pearl. Alongside Alpha Flight, Aurora battled the Great Beasts, the robotic Macro System, and Omega Flight. Ultimately reconciling their differences following the apparent death of Langkowski, the twins helped Alpha Flight oppose the rampaging Hulk in Vancouver. During the battle, they discovered that Aurora’s altered powers prevented them from touching without temporarily negating their powers. After facing the return of Deadly Ernest, Aurora battled Pestilence alongside Alpha Flight, teamed up with the Avengers to oppose Attuma’s Atlantean army, and battled Scramble, the Mixed-Up Man. During this time, she briefly flirted with her teammate Box (Roger Bochs) before cruelly rejecting him. Shortly thereafter, Northstar grew severely ill, and while Alpha Flight sought a cure, the Norse trickster god Loki appeared to Aurora and Northstar, convincing them that they were not mutants but rather the offspring of an Asgardian elf, and that Northstar was dying because he could not exist without the light that the twins had once shared. Aurora willingly expended her power to bathe Northstar in her light, curing him. She was then captured by demons and became trapped in the Asgardian netherworld, while Northstar was welcomed into Asgard by his supposed brethren. Loki was summoned before the higher gods They Who Sit Above in Shadow and berated for his actions.
In attempted atonement, he transported Aurora from the netherworld to the Sainte-Anne de Beaupré monastery in Quebec, but was sent to the netherworld himself as punishment. Aurora became a nun and avoided contacting Alpha Flight until summoned by the mystic Talisman (Elizabeth Twoyoungmen) to rescue Northstar from Asgard. After returning to Earth, the twins rejoined Alpha Flight in time to oppose Llan the Sorcerer. During the battle, Northstar restored Aurora’s light, and the twins proved instrumental in Llan’s defeat. After encountering the telepathic Headlok, Aurora realized that the alteration of her cellular structure had begun to alter her powers further, and that her evolved abilities allowed her to transform into a being of pure light.
Becoming a more pacifistic adventurer devoted to spiritual healing, Aurora resigned from active duty with Alpha Flight and joined the Gamma Flight support team in the psychiatric counseling unit to work on rehabilitating Alpha Flight’s incarcerated prisoners. She was later captured by Headlok, who mentally tortured her for weeks. Ultimately, Headlok’s mental tampering restored her original dual personality, allowing the Jeanne-Marie persona to resurface and defeat Headlok by expending the last of Aurora’s healing powers. During the “Infinity Crusade,” Jeanne-Marie’s religious beliefs made her a pawn of the Goddess, and her trip to the Goddess’ Paradise Omega Base revealed its existence to the heroes. Aurora regained her free will following the Goddess’ defeat. Aurora continued with Alpha Flight, battling foes such as the Hand, Wyre, the Wrecking Crew, the Hardliners and a new Omega Flight until Alpha disbanded once more. Aurora briefly romanced her former teammate Wild Child, who had joined the government-sponsored X-Factor team. When a new, more militaristic Department H arose, they deemed Aurora a threat and had her committed to a psychiatric ward. She was released by the terrorist organization the Brotherhood, led by Havok (Alex Summers), and remained with them until the group was dissolved. Aurora later reunited with the other Alpha Flight founders to investigate a new Department H, assisting its new Alpha Flight team against the latest Weapon X, carrier of the virulent bacterium Thetagen-24.
Rejoining Alpha Flight, Aurora was injured in battle by the cannibalistic sorcerer Mauvais, who forced her Jeanne-Marie personality to assume control. She was subsequently admitted to the Manitoba Psychiatric Hospital for Women, but was soon liberated by Wild Child, then an agent for the subversive Weapon X Project. The Project’s Director had her damaged mind repaired and her superhuman abilities altered in exchange for her services as an agent. She rejected Wild Child’s romantic advances before embarking with him on her first mission to recapture rogue Weapon X agent Sabretooth. During the encounter, Sabretooth savagely attacked her, severely scarring her face. As her wounds healed, Aurora romanced the Project’s Director; however, his anti-mutant sentiments eventually came to the fore, and he brutally beat her. When a rogue faction took control of the Project, the Director and Madison Jeffries were forced to flee, so the Director coerced Aurora into making good their escape.
4179. Jack O' Lantern
Jack O'Lantern is the name of four fictional supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. Later incarnations of the character were also referred to as Mad Jack.
Levins modeled his costume and equipment after those created by Jason Philip Macendale, Jr.—the first Jack O'Lantern. Levins wore a complete body armor made of metal-mesh covered in multi-segmented Kevlar panels, incorporating a rigid, articulated shell which can resist a 7-pound bazooka anti-tank warhead. He wore a bulletproof helmet with an internal three hour, compressed air supply. The helmet is equipped with a telescopic infrared image-intensifier for seeing in the dark and 360 degree scanning device for seeing all around himself. The base of the helmet is equipped with a fine network of pinholes which maintain a low temperature, low density flame ("stage-fire") that rings the helmet at all times. The air supply cools the helmet's interior. The helmet is padded to protect his head from injury.
Levins is armed with wrist-blasters which can deliver an electrical shock within a range of 35 feet (11 m). He also used various types of grenades, including anesthetic, lachrymatory (tear gas), hallucinogenic, and regurgitant gas grenades, smoke grenades, and concussion grenades. The grenades are shaped like spheres or pumpkins. He can fire small grenades from wrist devices. He can also release "ghost-grabbers," which are thick, semi-transparent films which adhere to a victim.
Levins rides atop a one-man hovercraft with an electric motor powered by a high density lithium rechargeable battery.
Berkhart used the same weapons as the previous incarnations of Jack O'Lantern, along with chemical weapons that cause psychedelic and mind-bending hallucinations. His accomplice Maguire was an expert designer of special effects devices and stage illusions, a master hypnotist, and skilled in chemistry and robotics, including a life-like robotic black cat. She has used her advanced knowledge of computer imaging and virtual reality to improve upon Mysterio's techniques, allowing for her to pretend to be Mad Jack via proxies while safely hidden in her secret lair.
4178. Beetle
The Beetle is the name of two comic book characters owned by Marvel Comics who exist within the fictional Marvel Universe. It is also the name of the three versions of high tech armor used by five separate characters.
Abner Jenkins
An ex-master mechanic, Abe Jenkins left his career to pursue life as an adventurer seeking wealth and fame under the name, the Beetle. A defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four sent him into the direction of a life of crime. Years later he joined a group named the Thunderbolts, a choice that eventually took him on a more heroic pathway in life.
Leila Davis
The widow of the minor supervillain the Ringer, Leila began her criminal career as a driver for the super villain team the Sinister Syndicate. After the Ringer's death Leila would go on to have her own costumed career, first as Hardshell, and finally as the Beetle. She was killed when Graviton crushed the Beetle armor with her still inside.
The three Beetles
Three college students stole the previous incarnations of the Beetle armor during Marvel's Civil War event. The individual piloting the first version was called Joaquim and the person in the second version was revealed to be female. No other information was revealed about them in their subsequent appearances in Thunderbolts. No individual code names were given to them either. In those issues which made up a storyline named the "Guardian Protocols", they defend the city of Dallas against a plot by the Grandmaster as members of an enlarged Thunderbolts team recruited by Baron Zemo and consisting of numerous supervillains. When the Overmind lets the full power of the Wellspring (the source of power the Grandmaster is using) loose when he attempts to revive Baron Zemo, the defenders of Sydney and Dallas are overrun, with the three Beetles presumably among them.
In 2007, the three Beetles were identified among the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1.
Unnamed successor
A new female Beetle attacks Captain America and Black Widow. The two managed to defeat her and remand her to The Raft.
Other versions
Marvel UK
The name Beetle was used by an armored S.T.R.I.K.E. superhuman restraint squad in the Jaspers' Warp story arc[6] published by the Marvel UK imprint.
Ultimate Beetle
The Ultimate Marvel version of Beetle debuts in Ultimate Spider-Man #124. Spider-Man first finds him robbing a sample of the Venom symbiote from the Roxxon company. After the brief confrontation, Nick Fury tells Peter Parker not to get involved with the S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation. Beetle breaks into the building that Venom is held in and Venom chases after him. Upon cornering Beetle, Venom is attacked by Spider-Man. When Venom seizes Beetle with his tentacles, Spider-Man saves Beetle who escapes. After Eddie Brock becomes Venom again, Beetle captures him and ships him to Latveria.
4158. Killer Shrike
Killer Shrike (Simon Maddicks) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain. He first appeared in Rampaging Hulk #1 (January 1977) and was created by John Warner and John Buscema.
Simon Maddicks was born in Williamsburg, Virginia. He began his career as a soldier in the United States Army. However, after that, not even Maddicks recalls much about his own past for some reason. When he was selected to be a special agent of the Roxxon Oil Company, Maddicks became a mercenary and professional criminal, more specifically a special agent in covert operations. He was sent to the Mutagenics Laboratory of the Brand Corporation, where he underwent extensive conditioning which increased his human abilities. He also underwent surgery which implanted a miniature anti-gravity generator in his spine. Roxxon later gave Maddicks his super-villain costume and the codename "Killer Shrike".
For his first mission, Roxxon sent him to infiltrate the subversive organization called the Conspiracy, which Roxxon learned about through major purchases of technology from the Brand Corporation. The Conspiracy sent Killer Shrike to capture a monster known as Goram. Unfortunately for Killer Shrike, the plan was thwarted by the super-hero known as Ulysses Bloodstone who short-circuited the villain's electrical weapons, badly injuring him. Feeling sorry for Killer Shrike's condition, Bloodstone's agents sent the villain to a New York hospital, where he lay comatose for several weeks.
Upon awakening from the coma, Maddicks was contacted once again by Brand scientists, led by Dr. Stephen Weems. Weems, better known as the villain Modular Man, sought revenge against his enemies Spider-Man and Beast. In return, the Modular Man promised Shrike information about his past. In battle with Spider-Man and the Beast, Weems was killed before he could uphold his end of the bargain.Shrike escaped and was soon contacted by agents of the Brand Corporation. They helped restore his memory, and assigned him to undercover work as bodyguard to Brand president James Melvin. His costume became controlled by the Will-o'-the-Wisp, and he was forced to abduct Dr. Marla Madison to reconstitute the immaterial Wisp. In the end, he was defeated by Spider-Man. With Brand's public dissolution, Killer Shrike became a free agent.
With other superhuman adventurers and criminals, Killer Shrike was later captured and imprisoned by the Locksmith. He was freed by Spider-Woman.[5] He later robbed a bank, but was defeated by Spider-Man. He then attempted a theft of a power booster from the Tinkerer after commissioning him to build it for him, but was again defeated both by Spider-Man and a failsafe function the Tinkerer installs in his products to deal with such situations.
During the events of the "Acts of Vengeance," Killer Shrike attacked Moon Knight, alongside the second Ringer and Coachwhip. He shot down the Mooncopter, seriously injuring Moon Knight's pilot Frenchie and then escaped. Killer Shrike was later hired by Surge, and battled the She-Hulk alongside Grey Gargoyle and Dragon Man but was defeated.
Ever since, Killer Shrike was most often seen getting beaten up by several super-heroes, most often the Hulk. Killer Shrike was briefly a member of the Cardinal's team of flying super villains known as Air Force. Killer Shrike was oddly absent when the team was blackmailed by Night Thrasher into providing relief for Rwandan refugees. In New Warriors #54 Killer Shrike appears to have been murdered by the Soldiers of Misfortune. This was probably an art error as Oriole not Killer Shrike was with the team when blackmailed by Night Thrasher.
In the Secret War miniseries, Killer Shrike's powers got updated by the Tinkerer. Unfortunately, this still wasn't enough for Maddicks to gain a victory, as he was soon afterward defeated by the Avengers, and apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D..
Killer Shrike was later apprehended by Baron Zemo and forced to join the Thunderbolts, for so far unclear reasons.
Killer Shrike later made a cameo at the Bar With No Name.
Killer Shrike was beat up by Moon Knight and killed in the hospital by the Black Spectre.
Extensive conditioning and surgery by Brand Corporation scientists enhanced Simon Maddicks's strength and other physical abilities. He is capable of flight by means of a surgically-implanted anti-gravity generator at the base of his spine, activated by a neural link. Besides that, he has extensive training and experience in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, and proficiency with hand weapons including guns and knives.
Killer Shrike wears body armor, an armored suit made of an insulated steel alloy mesh capable of protecting him from flight turbulence and small caliber weapons fire. His major weapons system is the twin power-blasters worn on his wrists, with titanium talons capable of slashing flesh, wood, cinderblock, and light metals, and of discharging high-frequency electrical bolts.
4156. Tabitha Smith a.k.a. Boom Boom
Tabitha Smith, also known by the codename Boom Boom, is a mutant. She is a former member of both the New Mutants, a subgroup of the X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Tabitha had a troubled past with her criminal father. He took advantage of her mutant abilities to commit crimes.
She found her way out with Charles Xavier as a member of the New Mutants, a younger generation of mutants who would be trained to help and possibly replace the X-Men.
Tabitha took a flirty and friendly relationship with Nightcrawler. Later, when her father appeared on the scene she tricked Kurt into going to the Bayville High School Fair. There, her criminal father manipulated her into to breaking into the school vault. Avalanche caught wind of the scheme and told Blob and Toad. The three were also after the school's money. A set of events alerted Nightcrawler, Jean Grey and Spyke. After a short scuffle, Tabitha and her father where arrested.
This and her time at the mansion proved to be difficult for her. She eventually left to join the Brotherhood of Mutants for a seemingly easier life.
She broke into Mystique's room using her powers and moved in. She then played pranks on the other members. She eventually left when Mystique returned. She tried to warn the X-Men of Mystique's plans but failed.
Created by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom, the character first appeared in Secret Wars II #5 (November 1985). She next appears as a main character in the Fallen Angels limited series. This leads to her becoming a supporting character in the X-Factor series beginning with issue #11, which then leads to her becoming a member of the short-lived X-Terminators team in the X-Terminators limited series. Following this series, she appears as a member of the New Mutants for the remainder of the New Mutants title; the team then became X-Force and she remained a member of the team for most of the X-Force series. Some time later, she appears as a member of Nextwave throughout the Nextwave series.
4152. Ghost
The man known only as the Ghost is an industrial saboteur who claims to have once been a business executive. Under unexplained circumstances, he came to despise corporations and began to use the identity of the Ghost so that he could destroy them. He believes that corporations destroyed his life, and has no ultimate concern for what a company's actual goals might be, nor how humanitarian their cause, caring only for their destruction. Although he presents the front of a mercenary, receiving most of his targets from employers who wish to see their competitors ruined, the Ghost will forgo payment simply for the opportunity to perform acts of sabotage. The Ghost will travel anywhere in the world to pursue his objectives.
The Ghost's existence remained unknown to all save his employers. Carrington Pax of the Roxxon Oil Corporation hired him to destroy Accutech Research & Development. The Ghost was charged to drive Accutech into bankruptcy so that Roxxon could acquire a beta particle generator, which the company had refused to sell them. The Ghost's tactics included starting a brush fire on Accutech property. Believing the Ghost was behind these incidents, Accutech technician Abraham Zimmer shared his suspicions with Tony Stark, who was in the process of purchasing Accutech himself. As Iron Man, Stark discovered the Ghost while he was in the midst of another act of sabotage, but the Ghost escaped, leaving a warning that he would now target Tony Stark in retaliation. Unimpressed with the Ghost's personal vendetta, Pax fired him and hired Spymaster to complete the job, but the Ghost kept trying to kill Tony Stark. Invading Stark Enterprises' facilities, the Ghost assaulted what appeared to be Stark but proved to be Spymaster, making his own attempt on Stark's life. Spymaster managed to get the Ghost within his power, but Tony Stark arrived and prevented him from killing the Ghost. Switching to his Iron Man armor, Stark fought Spymaster and the Ghost simultaneously. During the battle, the Ghost lent one of his intangibility devices to Spymaster, seemingly so that he could escape; however, the Ghost removed the device while Spymaster was halfway through
a wall, solidifying Spymaster inside the wall and killing him. Iron Man subsequently set a trap for the Ghost at Accutech, using a holographic generator to project an image of Stark to draw the Ghost out. When the Ghost attempted to destroy the beta particle generator, Iron Man activated the device; the electrical charges began to disrupt the Ghost’s battlesuit, and prolonged exposure threatened to kill him. Heedless of the danger to himself, the Ghost continued to move in close to the generator until the heat of his battlesuit caused him to melt through the floor. Iron Man could find no trace of the Ghost afterward.
The Ghost survived his collapse and escaped, then resumed his career of sabotage. When he began to target the Italian company Electronica Fabrizzi, a property of Stark's rival Justin Hammer, Hammer's agents Blacklash (Mark Scarlotti), Blizzard (Donald Gill) and Boomerang attacked the Ghost, but were unable to harm him. Hammer made a deal with Stark for his help against the Ghost, and Iron Man was nearly killed when the Ghost attached an intangibility device to his armor, intending to leave him unable to obtain food or drink, but Iron Man deactivated the device using an electromagnetic pulse. The Ghost threatened Hammer in person that he would complete his mission against his company, so Blacklash, Blizzard, Boomerang, Iron Man and Jim Rhodes joined forces to fight the Ghost when he came to sabotage Electronica Fabrizzi again; however, the Ghost still succeeded in bombing the property. When he went after Hammer to gloat and attempt to kill him, Hammer temporarily confined him within a room surrounded with a synthetic material he could not phase through. The Ghost vowed that he would eventually destroy Stark and Hammer.
In his next known assignment, the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) hired the Ghost to investigate Roxxon, who were then developing a synthetic Vibranium that the Kingpin wished to acquire. Fisk charged the Ghost to steal their data and destroy their facilities so that they could not continue their experiments. Eager for another opportunity to interfere with Roxxon, the Ghost was hampered in his mission by the Black Panther, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Roxxon's own Sunturion (Arthur Dearborn). When the killer robot Ultron became involved, the Ghost abandoned his assignment and alerted the Kingpin to Ultron's presence. The Kingpin ultimately made an alliance with Ultron to further his interest in the synthetic Vibranium. In another of his assignments, the Ghost targeted energy research company Tricorp. Attempting to sabotage one of the company's energy tests, the Ghost ran afoul of Spider-Man and the time-traveling historian Cassandra Locke. Locke shut down the Ghost's bomb and temporarily shorted out his intangibility devices, enabling Spider-Man to strike him down. The Ghost was taken into police custody.
Later, the Ghost was hired by A.I.M.'s leader MODOK to commit various acts of sabotage using a bombing strategy where the receipt of a "You da man" e-mail at a targeted company would activate the bombs the Ghost had planted within the computers at the building site. A.I.M.'s ultimate goal was to eliminate rivals for their new corporation, Omnitech. The Ghost adopted false identities so that he could pose as an employee of the targeted companies while planting his bombs. He successfully demolished the company Microwear using this plot. In the guise of John Morley, he infiltrated the company Askew Electronics, where Iron Man had assumed the identity of "Hogan Potts" in a brief attempt to escape his life as Tony Stark. Unaware of each other's true identities, "Morley" and "Potts" became friends. The Ghost led Iron Man away from Askew, making him think that the bomb was planted within his own armor so that he would not be present when the bomb detonated. Iron Man eventually tracked the source of the bombings to Omnitech and fought MODOK and the Ghost. During their clash, the
Ghost accidentally drove his hand inside MODOK's head, incapacitating him. The Ghost then ran his hand into Iron Man's heart, paralyzing him long enough for him to escape. Afterward, Iron Man resumed his identity as Tony Stark, acquired what remained of Askew, and set a trap for "Morley". Confronting him with the knowledge of his true identity, the Ghost attacked Iron Man again and once more plunged his hand into Iron Man's heart, but Stark had anticipated this action and rigged his armor to cause a feedback that rendered the Ghost unconscious. The Ghost was taken into police custody.
Recently, the latest Spymaster (Sinclair Abbott) learned that the Living Laser was in Tony Stark's custody and sought to capture him so that he could be turned into a terrorist weapon. Contacting the Ghost, Spymaster tried to persuade him that, as super-villains, they were part of a brotherhood and should seek Iron Man's destruction, but the Ghost was unmoved and interested only in the acts of sabotage which he would have an opportunity to commit while kidnapping the Living Laser. In his first attempt, the Ghost fought Iron Man and incapacitated him with explosives, incorrectly believing that he had killed him. Furious that the Ghost did not complete his assignment, Spymaster used a device that could overload the Ghost's battlesuit in order to force him back to complete the mission. When the Ghost came back for another attempt, he found that Iron Man had set up a new security system using disruptors that would render his intangibility useless. The Ghost barely managed to escape Iron Man and fled, abandoning the assignment.
4150. Awesome Android
The Awesome Android, (also briefly known as Awesome Andy), is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby.
Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has made appearances in Marvel titles for over four decades, and also appeared in Marvel-related products including animated television series and trading cards.
The villain Mad Thinker creates an artificial lifeform based on the research notes of Fantastic Four leader Mister Fantastic. A synthesis of ape DNA and unstable molecules incorporated into an almost indestructible body with a microcomputer and a solar-power source, the newly christened Awesome Android is directed against the Fantastic Four, although the superhero team defeats both the Android and the Thinker. The Awesome Android, still as a pawn of the Thinker, returns to battle the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four and the mutant team the X-Men before being deactivated by X-Men leader Professor X.
The Thinker directs the Android to kidnap industrialist Tony Stark, which eventually leads to a battle with Stark's alter ego Iron Man. After an appearance during the "War of the Super Villains" storyline the Android is absent from Marvel continuity until directed by the Thinker to capture the Galadorian spaceknight Rom for further study. After a brief battle, Rom successfully deactivates the Android. The Android battles Captain America, having been repaired by then abandoned by the Thinker. Fellow artificial creation the Super Adaptoid, posing as villain the Fixer, reprograms the Android and uses it as part of an assault team of advanced robots called Heavy Metal, consisting of the Awesome Android; Machine Man; the Sentry 459, and TESS-One. The group is eventually defeated by the superhero team the Avengers with Namor the Sub-Mariner deactivating the Android.
The Android reappears during the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, being repaired by the robot Machinesmith and used to distract the Avengers while several villains escape confinement in the prison facility the Vault. The Android is neutralized by Captain Marvel. After battles with the superhero teams the Thunderbolts, and the Heroes for Hire, and two more encounters with the Fantastic Four, the Android is reclaimed by the Thinker.
The Thinker upgrades the Android to absorb additional abilities, such as musical talent and animal traits. Acquiring sentience, the Android rebels against the Thinker and seeks legal aid from law firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway (the firm that employs Jennifer Walters, the alter ego of heroine She-Hulk). The Android is legally emancipated from the Thinker, with a court recognizing the being as a male with a new name, "Awesome Andy." Andy becomes a general office worker for the firm; lacking speech, he communicates via hand-gestures, body language, and a message board around his neck. The board, originally depicted as a chalk board, was retconned into a digital display screen with a Wi-Fi connection to his CPU.
After a brief fight with a member of the Eternals, Starfox, Andy inadvertently absorbs Starfox's pheromone-like abilities, causing Andy to gain the affections of his coworker Mallory Book. Upon realizing she does not actually reciprocate these feelings, the character deactivates his powers, and, after being rejected by her, leaves the law firm. Andy reappears as the Awesome Android in the employ of the Thinker, having reset its system with no trace of the previous personality.
The Android also encounters the parallel universe team the Exiles.
The Awesome Android is created when the Mad Thinker steals and uses a technique invented by Mister Fantastic, involving splicing unstable molecules into the DNA patterns of an ape. The character has limited artificial intelligence and no capacity for self-motivated activity, and is totally dependent on its programming or on the spoken commands of its programmer, and usually deactivates itself when not active.
The Android has super strength and durability, and can also mimic an ability (one at a time) after touching an opponent, such as the strength and epidermis of the Thing or the frost coating of Iceman. The character can also emit close-range blasts of gale-force wind from its mouth. The Android is given one weakness by the Thinker: a collection of nerve ganglia underneath the left armpit that if struck will cause the Android to shut down.
4149. Marrina Smallwood
Marrina Smallwood is a fictional character of the Marvel Universe. She was a member of the Alpha Flight and an honorary member of the Avengers. John Byrne created the character in Alpha Flight vol. 1 #1 (August 1983).
Marrina was a member of the alien species known as the Plodex, a species which sends its eggs to various planets. When the eggs hatch, young Plodex are born and take the forms of the native species they encounter.
The egg which would become Marrina was unlucky by Plodex standards. The egg landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 40,000 years ago, at the turn between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic and remained dormant for thousands of years. The egg, containing the genetic material that would become Marrina, became water-permeable; this permeability was responsible for her adaptations to aquatic environments.
The egg was found by fisherman Tom Smallwood as he was drowning during a storm. He was drawn to its glowing nature and compelled to free it from the ocean floor and it proved to be buoyant enough to bring him to the surface and thus save his life. Tom took it home to Newfoundland, Canada. The egg was opened prematurely by his wife Gladys Smallwood, causing Marrina to imprint a human female form. The genetic code of the human beings who touched it were added to the Plodex DNA, giving Marrina her female humanoid appearance. She was but an infant who needed raising like any other of her age. The childless Smallwoods accepted her as their own daughter and she matured well in the small town who were equally welcoming.
She left home as an adolescent of sixteen years of age to join Beta Flight, a team of super-heroes trained and funded by the Canadian government. After performing well in Beta Flight, Marrina was promoted to Alpha Flight, although her field duties only began after the team went freelance. She then learned of her alien origin when captured by the Master, and was rescued by Alpha Flight and Namor the Sub-Mariner. After being a member of Alpha Flight for a time, Marrina was captured by Attuma, and reverted to savagery for the first time but overcame it. Marrina left Alpha Flight to marry her lover, Namor. She served alongside him on Avengers missions and received honorary membership, and also served as the queen of Deluvia.
When she became pregnant, the Plodex DNA reacted to her condition by turning her into a savage beast in the North Atlantic Ocean, a Leviathan. Namor was forced to slay her, impaling her with the Black Knight's enchanted Ebony Blade.
However, Llan the Sorcerer later told the self-proclaimed Master of the World that, "Now she sleeps a false death under the waves." This fact was revisited later when Warbird broke into the Master's lair where (unseen by Warbird) Marrina's body floated in a watery tank.
During the Dark Reign storyline, Marrina resurfaces in Norman Osborn's custody and he uses her as an endgame plan against Namor (who had recently betrayed him and allied with the X-Men). How she came to be his prisoner is unknown, however Osborn reveals that he had her D.N.A. spliced and modified, making her a snake-like leviathan, driven by a hunger that can only be satiated with Atlantean blood. Once released, Marrina wreaks havoc in the undersea kingdom, injuring many and killing even more. Namor and the X-Men devise a plan: using Magik's and Pixie's teleportational powers they transport all of the Atlanteans across the globe leaving Namor as the sole bait. Once she approaches the X-Men's new base, Utopia, Namor realizes who she is. The Stepford Cuckoos scan her mind revealing that there is nothing but rage, hunger and hate. Having no choice, they engage her. Eventually Namor drags a weakened Marrina underwater, where he performs a mercy killing, ending Marrina's life. Namor then flew her corpse to Avengers tower and threw her through the window of Norman Osborn's office.
During the Chaos War storyline, Marrina Smallwood (alongside Alpha Flight members Guardian, Vindicator, and Shaman) returns from the dead following what happened to the death realms. She joins up with the still-living Alpha Flight members in order to fight the Great Beasts. Marrina remains among the living after the defeat of the Chaos King.
Powers and abilities
Thanks to her genetic structure that was a hybrid combination of Plodex and Earth DNA, Marrina was totally amphibious, and had pale yellow skin, large fish-like eyes, and webbed hands and feet. Possessing both lungs and gills, she could breathe and exist indefinitely on land or under the sea. She could withstand any freezing temperatures without harm. Her hydrodynamic proportions, sleek skin, webbed extremities, and superhuman strength aided in her swimming. She could accelerate herself through the water for short periods far faster than any known human-sized organism by shedding outer layers of her skin, exposing a nearly frictionless inner skin layer. She could survive in the ocean depths or on land indefinitely, and breathe in both environments. In order to survive the crushing depths of the ocean, her physiology was specially enhanced. Her strength, endurance, vision, and stamina were all heightened beyond levels attainable by humans.
To travel, she could swim with considerable speed underwater, and also create massive waterspouts to propel herself into the air that stretch several kilometers inland and can also be made to strike a target with considerable force. On dry land, she could run at tremendous speeds. She could also brace her body to withstand the full impact of a semi truck, completely stopping the vehicle dead in its tracks, while completely remaining unharmed herself.
Although Marrina had a friendly personality, thanks to her upbringing by her foster parents, her mental programming by the Plodex with a savage lust for conquest repeatedly emerged from her subconscious mind. Her savage instincts could be triggered by chemical stimuli given off by other Plodex. When Marrina became enraged and her Plodex DNA took over, she would take on a more beast-like appearance. Her hands would turn into talons that easily cut through most material, and her skin secreted an oil which worked like a contact poison and could cause extreme constriction of the pupils of a member of another species, blinding him or her temporarily. Marrina could change shape to an unknown degree under the influence of her savage instincts. During her pregnancy she grew to gigantic size as the Leviathan. In this form, Marrina resembled a sea serpent and was over a mile in length.
Monday, December 26, 2011
3979-3980. Goliath and the clone of the thunder god, Thor
William Foster spent his childhood in the Watts ghetto. His natural intelligence and the influence of several good people helped him leave the ghetto and attend California Technical Institute, but not before enlisting in the military. He saw combat in southeast Asia, where he made an enemy of CIA operative Geoffrey Ballard, later the rogue super-agent known as the Centurion. As a student, Foster worked toward a degree in biochemistry and met and married Claire Temple, a medical student. Upon graduation, he worked his way up the corporate ladder at Stark Industries, but his drive for success strained their marriage to the point of divorce.
When the scientific adventurer Henry Pym was trapped at a minimum of ten feet in height, Tony Stark recommended that Foster assist Pym in finding a cure. For several months they worked together in Pym's laboratories in New Jersey and the Avengers Mansion, although Foster often became embroiled in the Avengers’s cases, such as surviving attacks by the Sons of the Serpent and helping to thwart Whirlwind’s attempt to kill Pym and the Wasp in order to claim their estate. The two scientists eventually found a cure.
Foster returned to Stark Industries, where he was promoted to head of the biochemistry division at Stark Industries' Los Angeles plant. Fascinated by Pym's research, Foster synthesized the growth compound, hoping to eliminate any side effects. Eventually Foster tested the formula on himself and found he had successfully duplicated Pym's growth powers. Taking a vacation from his duties at Stark Industries, Foster devised a plan by which he might win back the affection of his ex-wife, Claire Temple. He wrote her about how he had worked with Pym and duplicated his powers but deceived her into believing that, like Pym, he was also trapped at giant stature. She agreed to meet him to see what help she could provide. They met at a traveling circus where he said he had to work in order to earn money to continue his research. Foster had outfitted himself in a costume and billed himself as "Black Goliath." Claire's current boyfriend, Luke Cage (then known as the hero Power Man), had followed her, and the two men fought over her. They settled their differences long enough to join forces against the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime, which Foster had unwittingly joined. Ultimately, however, Claire chose to remain with Cage rather than her ex-husband. Ashamed, Foster returned to Los Angeles.
Although he had fashioned a costumed identity for himself, Foster was uncertain whether he should use it to fight crime, considering the circumstances in which he fashioned it. With the encouragement of Henry Pym, he decided to try. On his first outing, Foster encountered the criminal Atom-Smasher (Ronald English), who bombarded him with deadly radiation. This bombardment immediately produced painful side effects, making his size transformations difficult and causing him to occasionally black out. Before Foster was able to defeat the Atom-Smasher, his foe was killed by a mysterious assassin that later turned out to be Atom-Smasher's brother, the second Atom-Smasher. Ignoring the symptoms of radiation poisoning, he continued his career, battling such menaces as Vulcan, the Stilt-Man, and the Hijacker, and aiding the Champions and the Thing. After some time, Foster changed his code-name to Giant-Man.
When it became difficult to ignore his illness, Foster took a leave of absence from Stark International to come a consultant at Project: PEGASUS, an upstate New York energy research installation facility. There to do research on the corpse of the Atom-Smasher, he nearly sacrificed his life to stop the mad scheme of the Nth Man. Following the attack, a team of top radiologists were assigned to help cure his condition, including Reed Richards and Walter Langkowski. After their treatments failed, Foster returned to Los Angeles to finish his life's work with Stark Industries, only to be attacked by the new Atom-Smasher (Michael English). The Thing, Spider-Woman, and himself defeated Atom-Smasher. Spider-Woman saved his life with a transfusion of her blood, at the expense of losing her own power of immunity to radiation. However, Foster believed his cell structure had deteriorated to a point that he could never become Giant-Man again. He retired and became a full time researcher. During this time, he became a consultant to the Avengers when they opened their West Coast base.
Eventually, Foster found himself working as technician for the High Evolutionary at his Antarctic strong hold. Learning the High Evolutionary's plan to mutate everyone on earth, he managed to release a warning to the West Coast Avengers, who tracked him to the stronghold. But as the Avengers were being defeated, Foster swallowed a chemical that again transformed him into Giant-Man, and he learned that his cellular disintegration had been cured. He then defeated the High Evolutionary in combat. Foster declined joining the Avengers full time, returning to research.
Foster renewed his research partnership with Henry Pym for a time, and with it, his occasional association with the Avengers (for instance, he assisted Pym in saving the life of the second Swordsman who was residing at the Avengers Mansion). Later, he and Pym learned of a potential invasion from the dimension of Kosmos, from which their growth powers derived. After thwarting the attempt, Foster found himself powerless once more, and he once again returned to scientific research.
Goliath fighting Thor
Restoring his growth powers and resuming his Black Goliath identity, Foster aided Black Panther, Falcon, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist against a gang of criminals; later, as Foster, he assisted the Avengers during the Red Zone crisis. Modifying his costume and adopting a new alias of Goliath, Foster teamed with the Thing to defeat Cauldron the Scalding Man. Subsequently, Foster was one of many heroes who opposed the U.S. government's Superhuman Registration Act and joined Captain America's Secret Avengers team. During a clash with Iron Man's squad of Registration Act supporters, Foster was killed by a clone of the thunder god Thor.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
2895. Punisher
The Punisher was conceived of by Gerry Conway, writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, who helped design the character's distinctive costume:
“In the '70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters — heroes and villains — which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing the image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel.”
Conway had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr., took the basic design, blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest, and added a cartridge bandolier that formed the skull's teeth. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication.
Appearing for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), the Punisher was initially an antagonist of the titular hero. He was a bloodthirsty vigilante who had no qualms about killing gangsters, something that most superheroes of the time refrained from doing. J. Jonah Jameson described him as "the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed." In this appearance, the Punisher was determined to kill Spider-Man, who was wanted for the apparent murder of Norman Osborn. This version of the Punisher was shown as an athletic fighter, a master marksman, and an able strategist. All he would reveal about himself was that he was a former U.S. Marine. He had a fierce temper but also showed signs of considerable frustration over his self-appointed role of killer vigilante. In particular, he was engaged in extensive soul-searching as to what was the right thing to do: although he had few qualms about killing he was outraged when his then-associate, the Jackal, apparently killed Spider-Man by treacherous means rather than in honorable combat. Spider-Man, who was himself no stranger to such torment, concluded that the Punisher's problems made his own seem like a "birthday party."
The character was a hit with readers and started to appear on a regular basis, teaming up with both Spider-Man and other heroes such as Captain America and Nightcrawler throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. During his acclaimed run on Daredevil, writer and artist Frank Miller made use of the character, contrasting his attitudes and version of vigilante action to that of the more liberal Man Without Fear.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
2703-2704. Wonder Man and Giant Man
Simon Williams is the son of rich industrialist Sanford Williams, owner of Williams Innovations. Simon inherits the munitions factory after his father's death, but the company's profits fall due to its biggest competitor, Tony Stark. On the advice of his brother Eric, Simon tries to embezzle funds from his company but is caught and incarcerated. Simon blames Stark for this and accepts the proposition of master villain Baron Heinrich Zemo after the Enchantress pays his bail, as a pawn is required to infiltrate the Avengers. The desperate Simon Williams agrees and is transformed into an ion-powered being with superhuman powers. His powers are tested, and he is shown to have great superhuman strength and durability, even defeating the Executioner. Called Wonder Man by Zemo, he is then sent to meet and join the Avengers, with instructions to betray them at a critical moment so that Zemo's Masters of Evil can destroy the Avengers. Zemo ensures Wonder Man's loyalty by advising him that as a result of the treatment his body now requires periodic doses of a serum to survive — a serum that only Zemo can provide.
The Avengers were lured into a trap and captured. The plan fails when Wonder Man decides to save the Avengers and aid them against Zemo, apparently at the cost of his own life. Iron Man (Tony Stark) records Wonder Man's brain patterns in the hope that one day he can be revived. Unbeknown to the Avengers, Wonder Man's body has simply entered a catatonic state as it adjusts to the effects of the treatment.[volume & issue needed] Eric Williams becomes distraught over the apparent death of his sibling and, blaming the Avengers, assumes the identity of the Grim Reaper in an effort to destroy them. The Grim Reaper steals Simon's body at one point, and attacks the Avengers three times before Wonder Man finally returns.
Wonder Man remains in suspended animation for years, and it is during this period that Ultron, the evil robot creation of Henry Pym, steals the brain patterns recorded by the Avengers for use as a template for the synthezoid Vision). It is later revealed that Vision is built from the original Human Torch, an android created by Professor Phineas Horton. This, however, only happened in mainstream continuity and other origins were possible courtesy of the Forever Crystal of Immortus.
During this vulnerable time, Wonder Man is used as a pawn on three occasions. Wonder Man is briefly revived by Kang the Conqueror to battle the Avengers as part of his Legion of the Unliving, and later "resurrected" as a zombie by Black Talon and the Grim Reaper to attack the Avengers once more. On the final occasion, the Living Laser hypnotizes a now-awake but still very weak Wonder Man, in an unsuccessful attack on the Avengers. After this encounter, Wonder Man was restored to true life and chooses to remain with the Avengers, aiding them against Attuma and Doctor Doom. He also fought the Vision, and helped the Avengers battle Graviton. He soon after defeats the Grim Reaper, who was intent on destroying the Vision as he was "artificial" and a "mockery" of his brother; Wonder Man at this point is revealed to have become a being of ionic energy.
Monday, July 11, 2011
2639. Mary Jane
In spite of Peter and Mary Jane's mutual worry that they were marrying too early, Peter's concern for her safety, and her unwillingness to give up her "party girl" lifestyle, they married in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987). She attached Peter's surname to her own, making her Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Spider-Man wore his black costume around this time, but after Mary Jane was frightened by a stalking Venom, she convinced him to change back to his old costume in The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #300 (May 1988).
Mary Jane continued to model after her marriage, but was stalked by her wealthy landlord, Jonathan Caesar. When she rejected his advances, he had her blacklisted as a model. She got a role on the soap opera "Secret Hospital," but was unhappy with her character's air-headed and mean personality. Although she successfully petitioned her boss to adjust her character's personality, a deranged fan tried to kill Mary Jane out of hatred for the actions of her soap opera character. Mary Jane quit her job out of fear for her own safety and returned to modeling. This, alongside with Peter's role as Spiderman, triggered a growing divide and she briefly flirted with an actor called Jason Jermome, which almost tempted her into a secret affair after he kissed her twice, but she eventually rejected his advances.
Due to this stress, the recent death of Harry Osborn, and the seeming return of her husband's parents, Mary Jane began smoking (a habit she had quit in high school), only increasing the tension between her and Peter. Peter ultimately convinced her to stop smoking when he tricked her into visiting Nick Katzenberg suffering heavily from lung cancer (he presumably died; Peter encountered his ghost in an out of body experience). When his parents were discovered to be fakes, Peter was unable to cope with the knowledge and disappeared for a time. Mary Jane visited her sister Gayle and her father for the first time in years, and finally reconciled with them. Meanwhile, Peter overcame his problems on his own. When she and Peter reunited, both were happier than they had been in a long time.
2638 Invisible Woman
Susan "Sue" Storm Richards (also known as Invisible Girl and later, Invisible Woman) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, and was the first female superhero created by Marvel in the Silver Age of Comics. Like the other founding members of the Fantastic Four, Sue received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm. Her primary power deals with light waves, allowing her to render herself and others invisible. However, she can also project powerful fields of invisible psionic energy which she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her brother, her husband, her children (Franklin Richards and Val Richards), and her friend, Ben Grimm.
An object of infatuation for Doctor Doom, and, most notably, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Sue's passive invisibility power translated into her frequent deployment as a damsel in distress during the team's early adventures. However, upon developing the ability to project powerful fields of energy, Sue Storm became a more powerful member of the Fantastic Four, and the team's second-in-command. While Sue operated somewhat in the shadow of her hot-headed brother, Johnny Storm, and her brilliant husband Reed Richards in the early years, she is now the soul of the Fantastic Four and one of the premiere heroes in the Marvel Universe.
The Invisible Woman is portrayed by Jessica Alba in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Monday, July 4, 2011
2501. The Hood
The Hood (Parker Robbins) is a fictional character, a supervillain, and a crime boss in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell, the character first appeared in The Hood #1 (July 2002).
Robbins' father works closely with the Kingpin and is around while Parker is growing up. As a child, he witnesses a battle between Daredevil and Electro, which has a profound effect on Robbins' young adulthood.
Parker's father dies, and his mother eventually enters a near-vegetative state and is hospitalized. Parker visits his mother, telling her stories of jobs he's acquired and how he's making himself into a better person, while actually carrying out the life of a criminal. Parker's well-meaning nature is juxtaposed with his philandering and thieving ways, such as taking care of his pregnant girlfriend Sara, while visiting a prostitute on the side.
Parker's cousin and best friend, John King, is a recovering alcoholic and thief who approaches Robbins over a job in a warehouse said to be housing valuable goods. Robbins takes the job. Inside the abandoned warehouse, the two encounter an abandoned mystic ritual which results in an encounter with a creature, the Nisanti.
Robbins shoots and apparently kills the demon, and steals its hood and boots rather than leave empty-handed. Disposing of the gun in a dumpster, Robbins encounters a gang who wants the boots he had stolen off a HYDRA agent before going to the warehouse. Throwing the boots at the gang, he flees and puts on the demon's boots, learning of their levitation powers.
2493. Imortus
Immortus (Nathaniel Richards) is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. He is the future (and later, alternate) self of Kang the Conqueror, and first appeared in Avengers #10, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
At some point in his personal timeline, Kang became weary of battle, due to frustration and the loss of his son Marcus and consort Ravonna in several timelines. He was approached by the alien Time-Keepers — time travelers from the end of the universe, the last living creatures in existence — to become their agent, preserving timelines rather than conquering them in exchange for immortality. He accepted and reinvented himself again, this time as Immortus, the lord of the other-dimensional realm of Limbo.
He again came into conflict with the Avengers, but under different circumstances. In his first encounter with the Avengers as Immortus, he attempted the destruction of the Avengers through the use of mythological figures as combatants after trying to join the Masters of Evil. The Masters attacked the Avengers after Captain America had been taken to 1760 the Tower of London where Rick Jones was imprisoned. But when he rescued Rick he was returned to his own time and with his help the Masters were defeated at a near-win. This event was apparently erased after the Enchantress turns back time to prevent the Avengers capturing the Masters. He was partially responsible for the creation of the Vision, allegedly creating a temporal copy of the original Human Torch that the android Ultron used to create the Vision.
Later, he even allied with Kang the Conqueror in one of Kang's schemes against the Avengers. However, he was betrayed by Kang, and imprisoned while Kang utilized Immortus's advanced technology to create the first Legion of the Unliving, made up of now-dead characters taken milliseconds before their death. He was subsequently freed by the Avengers, and revealed to be the future persona of Pharaoh Rama-Tut and Kang the Conqueror. He offered to aid the Vision in learning his past. The Legion of the Unliving were defeated and sent back to their own times, and Kang fled.
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