Hi everyone I’m Jim Trabold. Welcome back to another edition of the Handbook.
Hey Daron how’s it going?
Not too bad, kinda sleepy”¦trying to wake up.
Good here too. We’ve got a nice steady column here. Well steady in that we have a good amount of column here, just not as big as last weeks.
Let’s start this up.
Blake asked
How many times has Matt Murdock been outed as DareDevil?
If there is one distinct characteristic about Daredevil, it’s his poor record with his secret identity. As you know he seems to tell his girlfriends rather easily. He also seems to be found out by other heroes and the like rather easily. Now the real question you ask is total outment, I suppose not just to one person.
Outment? That’s not even close to being a real word.
So let’s cover this:
DD 55 (He faked his death for first time to avoid blackmail by Starr Saxon)
DD 92 (San Francisco TV station reports he’s DD. He has Black Panther dress as DD to help him out. This was also the whole Mike Murdock thing. Mike Murdock was the original DD as he says. He killed off Mike Murdock in the end.)
Fall From Grace (He was outed and faked his death by using the body of his doppleganger from the Infinity War to make it seem Matt wasn’t DD)
Outed (One of the New York papers got a hold of Daredevil’s identity and outed him to everyone. He’s denied it up to this point)
Murdock Files (current arc has Kingpin telling Ben Urich everything for the Daily Bugle.)
As I stated as well many heroes, villains, girlfriends, and others know as well.
Heroes:
Batman
Black Cat
Black Panther
Captain America
Captain Marvel I
Chaste
Doctor Strange
Falcon
Iron Fist
Jessica Jones
Luke Cage
Mister Fantastic
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Scarlet Spider
Spider-Man
Stick
Watcher
Wolverine
Girlfriends:
Black Widow
Echo
Elektra
Heather Glenn
Karen Page
Milla Donovan
Moondragon
Typhoid Mary
Others:
Ben Urich
Dr. Van Eyck
Foggy Nelson
Gwyneth
Johnny Squarejohn
Mary Jane Parker
Micah Synn
Nathanial Taggart
Sister Maggie
Tarkington Brown
Voodoo Priest Mambo
Villains:
Beyonder
Bullseye
Crossbones
Deathstalker
Eddie Passim
Erynys
Hand
John Garrett
Kingpin
Machinesmith
Masked Marauder
Mastermind
Mephisto
Mister Fear III
Mysterio I
Nameless One
Purple Man
Rose
Silke
Snakeroot
Vanessa Fisk
Yakuza
There might be others that I just can’t remember.
Jason emails
Jamie, Fun to read your column and the other articles on comicsnexus, as always.
Just some comments on Iron Man versus the X-Men:
1) Angel would be fairly useless against Iron Man, since he doesn’t have the razor sharp wings anymore.
Yep I agree with this one. Archangel with Horseman wings would be able to help a lot more in this fight.
2) Iceman wouldn’t be very effective against Iron Man…Shellhead has his very own cold-producing archenemy, Blizzard, and has beaten Blizzard many times. I don’t think Iceman would fare much better.
Yep good comparison. Iceman is out.
3) The X-Men would only win if they used teamwork. That is usually the key to the X-Men’s victories against powerful enemies.
Yep team work is the key. If Tony is smart he separates them.
4) Shadowcat disrupted Iron Man’ armor before by phasing through it (In an old X-Men annual when the X-Men were chasing the Impossible Man around New York City) but that was an older model suit. I have no idea if Tony’s proofed the armor against such attacks since then.
He likely knows of the flaw now and would have armor ready for this again.
Just some thoughts I had upon reading this debate. With teamwork, the X-Men have a chance, in my opinion. Otherwise, Iron Man takes them down.
Very good deducing.
I haven’t been arguing against this at all. This in fact what I’ve been saying. Iron Man probably wouldn’t have too much trouble against any of the X-Men individually, but as a team (and we are talking about the X-Men as a team) I don’t really see Tony having much of a chance.
He emailed again as well on the latest column:
Liked the latest column. Not to nitpick (and you did admit you probably missed some) but I thought of a couple of other ice-generating Marvel guys.
Mandarin (He has an “ice ring” among his ten rings)
Equinox (That guy who is half ice, half fire)
How I left these two out is beyond me. I love Mandarin as a villain. One of my top ten even.
By the way, wasn’t Icemaster originally just a Hostess Fruit Pies advertisement villain? Did he somehow make his way into the Marvel Universe?
Yep Icemaster was just a Hostess Pie villain at first. You see I think it was Kurt Busiek’s way of introducing a new character that wasn’t a new character. He first came into continuity in Thunderbolts#24-25. Icemaster was one of 25 villains who joined the second Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil.
Abdul emails
Jim, Daron que pasa?
Hey Abdul.
I was curious about Rocket Racoon who is he exactly.
Yes Rocket Raccoon is cannon.
Rocket Raccoon:
Real Name: Rocket Raccoon
Occupation: Interplanetary explorer
Other Aliases: None
Place Of Birth: Halfworld (alien planet)
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: None
Source Of Powers: None
Abilities: Above norml intelligence, more acute senses of smell and eyesight than that of a human, excellent hand-to-hand combatant
Ranger Rocket Raccoon is the chief law enforcement officer in the Keystone Quadrant. His duty is to protect the loonies and make sure that they are happy. When not on duty he enjoys academic pursuits.
Lady Lylla is Rocket Raccoon’s girlfriend and heiress to the largest toymaking fortune on Halfworld.
Rocket Raccoon’s sidekick, Wal Rus, is a skilled engineer and Lylla’s uncle. Though peaceful by nature, he is an able fighter when the need arises.
He first appeared in a abandonned colony for the mentally ill where the animal companions were genetically manipulated to grant them human level intelligent and bipedal body construction for many to become caretakers of the inmates. Rocket was a guard who protected the colony against various threats.
He starred in a mini-series where his friends later cured the inmates of their mental illnesses and then took off into space for their own adventures.
During Peter David’s run on the Hulk series, the title character went into space and David address reader requests for Rocket’s reappearance (he disliked the character) by showing he was killed and skinned by one of the story’s villains.
Likely the character is not dead but will likely never appear again in comics
For more check out http://www.scott-shaver.com/rocket-raccoon/
Also I read your in depth history on Sinister and one thing I sometimes wonder about is motivations that villians have particularly Apocalypse. I understand that he believes in survival of the fittest etc etc but really why does it matter so much to him? Were there key moments in his life or some defining point where he decided that the weak must die? Does any of it have any real justification or is he just simply some crazed genocidal maniac with too much power and too much time on his hands due to his immortality.
Alright here we go indepth coverage of Apocalypse:
Real Name: En Sabah Nur
Occupation: Conqueror
Other Aliases: Set, Sauru, Huizilopochti, Kali-Ma, Eternal One
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Apocalypse’s existence.
Legal Status: None
Place of Birth: Egypt
Marital Status: Unrevealed, presumed unmarried at present
Known Relatives: Stryfe (adopted son, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Employer of Alliance Of Evil, The Horsemen, Sandstormers, Riders of the Storm, Dark Riders
Powers: Apocalypse was one of the most physically powerful beings on Earth. Thanks to the Celestial technology’s modifications to his body, he could alter the molecular structure of his body at will in order to change his form. Using this he could alter his appearance or the size of his body; transform his arms and fists into various melee weapons and grant himself superhuman strength. He also can generate energy, thanks to a combination of his mutant power and the Celestial technology in his body. He can use this energy to levitate himself and others, create force fields, and project bursts of concussive force, and can augment himself further by drawing on various outside energy sources. Apocalypse has demonstrated the ability to teleport himself and other beings.
Finally, he was unaging. Even before being modified by the Celestial ship, he lived for thousands of years and was highly resistant to injury. With the Celestial modifications, this resistance to harm was amplified, although it is still possible, albeit highly difficult, to cause him injury that would not be immediately regenerated by his power. Should he suffer massive injuries that prove potentially fatal, he can enter a coma-like state of suspended animation during which he may recover from his wounds with the assistance of his Celestial technology.
In the future timeline from which Cable hails, Apocalypse’s physical form had grown too aged and enfeebled to contain his vast superhuman energies. Hence, he transferred his consciousness and powers into a succession of host bodies, abandoning each one when it too grew too old to contain his power. This alternate future version of Apocalypse was ultimately defeated in transit from a depreciated body into a potential host body. Shortly before he transferred himself into Cyclops, he revealed that he was in a host body in the present day – it is not entirely clear when this happened, but the most likely time is when he appeared to die on the moon.
Aside from his superhuman powers, Apocalypse was also extraordinarily intelligent, with knowledge of science and technology centuries ahead of conventional science. This was not merely a result of his exposure to alien technology, as he was able to make significant new advances beyond the alien materials he was exposed to.
History: Apocalypse was born in the mid-30th century BC in ancient Egypt during the First Dynasty.
He was born disfigured in the settlement of Akkaba and abandoned in the desert to die. He was the last child born in the settlement, as nomadic raiders known as the Sandstormers slaughtered the population of Akkaba shortly after his birth. Their leader, Baal, found the child and considered it to have the potential of a god. He raised the child as his own.
He named the child En Sabah Nur (the First One) in anticipation of others like him born. The tribe lived and died by the simple rule and philosophy of survival of the fittest. En Sabah Nur earned the right to adulthood at the age of seventeen. He and Baal were the only Sandstormers fit to survive when general Ozymandias attacked their camp. They found refuge in nearby caves, but Baal was killed when one of the caves collapsed. En Sabah Nur made his way to the surface only to be made a slave .
There, he came into the attentions of the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, actually the time traveller who later became known as Kang the Conqueror. En Sabah Nur was beaten for daring to rebel and was left to die; he survived, due to the sudden emergence of his mutant gift of immortality, and came to a position of power once Rama-Tut had been forced to depart for his native time by the time-travelling Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers.
Centuries later, En Sabah Nur discovered a starship created by the alien Celestials in Mongolia, and used the technology therein to gain control over the molecules of his body. Becoming one of the most powerful mutants who has ever lived, he took the name “Apocalypse”, and came to believe in a philosophy that would later be erroneously identified with Darwinism. He then entered a state of suspended animation until mutants like him were populous enough to rule the Earth. He emerged briefly in Victorian England to see if the world was ready for him. During that time he turned Nathaniel Essex into the being known as Mister Sinister. However, Sinister rebelled against him and Apocalypse was forced to re-enter his slumber.
Upon re-awakening in full, Apocalypse came into conflict with the original X-Men (then organized as the superhero team X-Factor) on repeated occasions. When one of their number, the Angel, lost his wings, Apocalypse granted him an artificial pair in exchange for his servitude; Angel accepted, becoming Apocalypse’s Angel of Death, but eventually he rebelled. Later, Apocalypse infected Cyclops’s son Nathan with a “techno-organic virus” derived from the alien technology that gave him his powers; as a result, Nathan was sent to the future for a cure, where he became the time-travelling superhero known as Cable.
Apocalypse again came into conflict with the X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force when Cable’s clone, Stryfe, travelled to the present and attempted to assassinate Professor X and frame Cable for the crime. At the end of this conflict, Apocalypse was presumed deceased after a battle on the Moon with his former servants, the Dark Riders, and being left for dead by Archangel.
How he survived, and returned to Earth is unclear – it is most likely that this was the point at which he began to use host bodies within a robot resembling his prior self, as his future self had done in Cable’s time, and it would be revealed that the present-day Apocalypse now did in the Twelve storyline. It is unlikely that he began to use host bodies earlier, as he was shown to be fully organic before he “died” in this story.
Later, the storyline of The Twelve unfolded. Supposedly lost diaries of the mutant seer Destiny surfaced, telling of twelve beings of fantastic power that could defeat Apocalypse once and for all. These diaries, however, were forgeries created by Apocalypse – once the Twelve were assembled, he planned to use them to transform himself into a godlike entity on par with the Celestials. The Twelve — chosen not only for their Mutant powers but also for the Jungian quasi-archetypes they represented — consisted of:
Magneto and Polaris, representing opposing magnetic poles
Storm, Sunfire and Iceman, representing elementals
Cyclops, Phoenix and Cable, representing family as Father, Mother and Son
Bishop and Mikhail Rasputin, representing Time and Space, respectively
Professor X, representing the mind with the Living Monolith as the core.
Apocalypse planned to funnel the powers of the rest of the Twelve into The Living Monolith, then from the Monolith into Nate Grey. As the power flowed into Nate, Apocalypse would possess Nate’s body, since his current physical body was being rapidly worn out by his power, thus achieving godhood. Magneto had been weakened in some previous battles, however, so he could not supply enough energy to “complete the circuit,” thus shorting it out.
The Twelve broke out, and confronted Apocalypse as he was preparing to transfer his essence into Nate. Cyclops jumped in the way of the transfer though, saving Nate, but Apocalypse merged with Cyclops instead, giving birth to a whole new horror (unofficially dubbed by some fans as “Cyclopalypse”). Although he did not achieve the godhood he wished, Apocalypse managed to escape in Cyclops’ body, with Jean Grey the only one who believed her husband still survived within the form.
After teleporting away, an amnesiac and powerless Cyclops regained control of the merged form. As Apocalypse began to re-emerge, however, Jean and Cable were alerted to his location, and she finally managed to free Cyclops by telepathically forcing Apocalypse’s spirit out of her husband’s body. Apocalypse was rendered an incorporeal astral form, and Cable took advantage of the opportunity to apparently destroy him, sundering his spirit with his Psimitar.
Bets are he comes back as well.
TherCanBeOnly1 emails
Greetings again. You guys are the crack of the Nexus. Not the butt crack, but the addictive substance. Although I suppose theoretically there could be people out there addicted to butt cracks? Anyway, you guys are good and keep me coming back for more.
Um thanks I think.
I second that Um, and raise you a huh”¦
Before I let loose my rejoinder about that IM vs XM battle raging across these pages, I have to qualify something from my last letter. When I said big time super heroes I meant really powerful ones. I don’t think Daredevil, the Punisher, or even Wolverine as big time powerhouses. I’m talking Thor and Surfer levels of power. Juggernaut is a good one. I’m still going thru back issues catching up on the X universe, so to me he’s still a villain. The Hulk is an obvious choice, but the versions I’ve seen are mostly savage or he has the cunning but isn’t as powerful. And something about Namor. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the wings on his feet. I just never think of him among the heavy hitters. How scary would it be though, to have a vastly powered super hero with the Punisher’s scruples? Think about Thor with an edge.
Now, I have to rebut some of the things Daron said. And I don’t feel he was harsh at all. He has his opinion and is entitled to it. He makes a good point about disqualifying my qualification regarding making Tony more bloodthirsy. He’s right, if there’s going to be a fight, then the characters should stay in character. So we’re going for knockouts here instead of kills.
I don’t discount Alex Summers’ powers. In fact, I think he’s the biggest threat to the armor on the team. He could severely damage it. But, that’s at the proper levels. If I remember correctly, Havok’s power generates heat. The IM armor can absorb energy. So, for Alex to make the kind of blast he’d need to damage the armor, he’s going to have to get pretty hot. What happens to all his teammates standing around next to him? Is he going to have the freedom to let loose with his power, knowing it probably kills some of the other members of the X-Men?
Plus, you’re ignoring a vital point. How is Alex or Scott going to hit IM? The armor is fast as hell. I say there’s no way they can track him to get a clean shot in. He’s not going to be standing still. As soon as the fight starts he takes to the air. And this is the advantage he has. While he’s moving so fast none of the X-Men with energy projection can hit him, he has targeting computers so Tony doesn’t have to aim at all. Again, Scott and Alex are both regular humans when it comes to their defenses. That’s something I’ve complained about in the past, how there’s an annoying unreality when it comes to taking a beating, ie Luke Cage pounding the $h!t out of the purple man and not killing him, when even a normal non super human would’ve killed him after hitting him like that.
I direct you to IM 231. That’s the end of the first Armor Wars. Tony builds the first new red and yellow suit again after the silver and red armor. His tracking computers hit 8 missiles fired at him in 3 seconds. How many suits has he had since then, plus just the regular improvements he makes with each. In fact, his red and silver armor was hit by a nuclear missile, and wasn’t vaporized. So again, even if someone gets in a lucky shot at him, he can take a hit whereas anyone on the X-Men save Colossus and Rogue can’t.
I will say this, and don’t mean it to sound harsh. But the premise of Colossus throwing Wolverine at IM doing their fastball special bit is silly. The armor has plenty of sensors and Tony would know he was coming in plenty of time. Wolverine can’t direct himself once he’s thrown. So you’re telling me IM is just going to hover there in the air while Wolverine gets tossed at him? I don’t think so. I think he zips right out of the way and Wolvie splats. And don’t try and say he’d be thrown so fast IM wouldn’t have time to get out of the way. Again, that’s not giving the armor credit for speed and maneuverability. Look in the same issue with the old armor. He’s able to dodge a full spread of lasers and missiles fired at point blank range. As far as Colossus himself goes, IM can generate magnetic fields, as evidenced in the New Avengers. So, Colossus is totally out of the fight.
I know, you’re going to say again how I’m running down each X-Man individually, when they’ll all be attacking at once. But again, look at IM’s targeting systems. He can take down the majority of the team all at once, because he’s not going to miss, and he’s blasting people who have no defensive powers. If IM shoots a repulsor ray at Storm, what does she do? How does she block it? He can have the entire team targeted and blasted in less than 10 seconds, and that’s even with him on the move. Again, it’s a lot different for IM to have targeting computers aiming his blasts than Cyclops tracking someone with his eyes, and someone even who might be flying faster than he can even see.
I guess the problem that I have in this argument is that not many writers seem to realize the potential of the armor. And by writers I mean the comic book writers. In fact, I think that’s one of the reasons they’ve given Tony so many personal problems over the years, especially his health problems. First it was his heart, then his spine. I can understand the source. For instance, Tony fights Dr. Doom in issue 150. Now say you’re up to issue 400, or wherever they’re at. He’s had how many suits of armor in between? 5? More? And each suit is more powerful than the last. So how can someone he beat with less powerful armor be a threat to his now much more powerful armor?
But I’ve gone on long enough. Probably too long. Daron will undoubtedly always disagree with me about the IM vs XM issue, but that’s cool. I mean, it’s not like IM is on the same cosmic power level as…oh… say, the Wasp.
Sorry. Had to get that in there.
Wow that was great. That’s a lot to take in. Good arguments as well on this fight. I really think you covered a little of everything in that. All that information should help a ton in this debate to. I’ll let Daron handle your email though.
First off I’m not really sure about the whole Wasp thing. I’ve never read this story so I really can’t comment on it. Second, I’ve never seen any of Havok’s teammates melted when he uses his blasts even when standing right next to him, so I don’t know why this would start now. Third, it’s again unfair to call the Fast Ball Special “unrealistic” since we’re talking about a comic book, and one in which these characters do it all the time. It’s like saying Tony can’t use his repulsors because the technology doesn’t “really” exist.
You were right about one thing, we could argue this round and round and we’d never get anywhere, so I’m not going to argue each point, but I will say a few things. You pointed out that Tony wouldn’t be going for the kill in this fight”¦in fact does Tony ever go for the kill? He’s not a murder is he? With that being the case do you think he’d honestly use missiles against as you say a defenseless person? Somehow I seriously doubt it. I’m not saying he wouldn’t fight them at all just that he wouldn’t use lethal force against them.
I do have some problems with your comments on Alex and the other energy projectors not being able to hit Tony because he’s flying. Without pointing out specific issues, I know every team member with projectile powers has hit flying targets, I’m also fairly certain Tony has been hit before while he was flying. If it’s never happened in the history of the character I’m sure someone will point it out, but somehow I seriously doubt he’s never been hit when flying.
As I said before I don’t want to go through all your points because we could literally go back and forth eternally, but I’d like to add the Sage element to this argument. Arguably, I’m not a big fan of this character, but she has been written as the team’s (excuse the pun) X-Factor. She’s always prepared for every contingency and always seems to have the technology to back her up. If we’re saying Tony is completely prepared for this battle, it’s fair to say that Sage could outfit the entire team with”¦say her special sunglasses that not only help coordinate the team but have at times shown tracking abilities, and would go a great distance in helping say the energy projectors hit a fast moving target.
Back at ya :)
Sly Reference posted
I was at another message board, and someone was saying that most of Marvel seems to have been either an Avenger or an X-Man at some point in time. A couple of big names were tossed in like Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer, but they had been Defenders. Then I realized that a lot of characters have wound up on one team or another. Who is the biggest character (or biggest five) who have never been on a team? And I mean a formal, has its own monthly title team, even if it was just the Champions.
This one is hard but heck let’s do it.
I personally like Beadle’s list on the board but heck here’s mine
1. Captain Marvel I (I know he’s an Avenger but it was after death so he counts)
2. Punisher (He was a Secret Defender but I won’t count them in this)
3. Elektra (although I wonder more with the Ronin thing in New Avengers)
4. Werewolf By Night (not part of any teams that had a series)
5. Deadpool (He’s to fun to leave off. He joined the X-Men unofficially, He also joined the Secret Defenders. There’s also his Heroes for Hire status.)
I know there’s a few in question there but heck it’s a good list.
Some others to mention:
Beta Ray Bill
Deathlok (other then SHIELD and Secret Defenders)
New Scorpion (AIM but they don’t have a series)
Gravity
Sleepwalker (FF II and Secret Defenders)
Black Cat
Ka-Zar
Doc Samson
Nomad (other then Secret Defenders)
I mean I can go on with this list but heck It would be too long.
A_Faceless_Name posted:
Another X-Villiany question!
Two parter.
First some info on Omega Red. I have no idea what has gone on with him in years, and have always liked the powers and design, oh and the sick bloodlust.
Real name: Arkady (rest of name unrevealed)
Other aliases: None known
Identity: Secret
Occupation:(current) Warrior serving Matsuo Tsurayaba, (former) Special “super-soldier” operative of Soviet intelligence
Citizenship: Russia (formerly USSR) with no known criminal record
Place of birth: Unrevealed location in Russia
Marital status: Unrevealed
Known relatives: None
Base of operations: (current) Unrevealed, presumably bases used by Matsuo Tsurayaba, (former) Moscow, former USSR; East Berlin, former East Germany
Group affiliation: (current) Operative of Matsuo Tsurayaba’s renegade faction of the Hand, (former) KGB operative
Powers: Omega Red is a mutant with superhuman strength and the ability to emit lethal pheromones from his body (death spores). These spores result in the weakness or death of humans in his near vicinity. The severity of the effect is based on the endurance, health, and relative proximity of the victims. Normal humans would be killed in a matter of seconds of exposure, while beings with heightened endurance can withstand it for minutes or hours.
He has tendrils made of carbonadium, an alloy only slightly less durable than adamantium. His skeleton is also laced with carbonadium, rendering it nearly indestructible. Even damaging carbonadium with adamantium would require enormous pressure. He also wears a suit of red retro-Russian carbonadium armor. This armor is sufficient to enable him to withstand being assaulted by Wolverine’s Adamantium claws without injury.
His durability is superhuman and he possesses a regenerative healing ability as well. Omega Red is able to withstand extreme temperature and pressures, practically all toxins, corrosives, punctures, and concussions while sustaining little, if any, injury. He is able to regenerate injured or missing brain cells, tissue, limbs or organs. His carbonadium armor and natural durability make him very difficult to kill, but he is not immortal; he could not survive the detonation of a multi-megaton, ground-zero nuclear blast, for example, and could be stopped if he was cryogenically frozen. His mind is also vulnerable to telepathic attacks.
Omega Red has the ability to drain the life force of other humans to sustain his own. At one time the carbonadium in his body had the effect of slowly poisoning him which caused him to need to drain life forces frequently. This is no longer necessary but he still retains the ability to drain life forces.
Omega Red is also an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and military tactician, having defeated foes such as Iron Man and Cable. He was trained in various forms of armed and unarmed combat by both the Soviet government and various organizations throughout the Japanese underworld. Highly intelligent, he has quickly become highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations.
History: Little is known about the past of Arkady Rossovich except that he was a serial killer. He was captured by the Interpol agent Banshee and turned over to the KGB, which wanted to created a super soldier similar to Captain America. Omega Red is the end result.
Omega Red possesses a variety of superhuman attributes as a part of both genetic mutation and artificial enhancements granted to him by the Soviet government. Omega Red possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and a high degree of resistance to physical injury and radioactivity. He has a superhuman regenerative healing factor similar to that of Wolverine and Sabretooth.
He also possesses the ability to secrete an odorless pheromone that weakens anybody within his immediate vicinity. The pheromone has never been given an official name, but has often times been called his “Death Factor” in opposition to Wolverine and Sabretooth’s “Healing factor”. The pheromone (or “Death Factor”) is sufficient enough to render his targets unconscious, or even kill them, if exposed to the pheromone for a long enough period.
The Soviet government implanted one retractable carbonadium tentacle within each of Omega Red’s arms. Carbonadium was the Soviets’ attempt to recreate the artificial alloy known as adamantium. He uses them as weapons and as grappling appendages. He is able to a wrap a victim in his coils to literally drain them of their life energy. This vampiric tendency was once essential to Omega Red’s survival; the carbonadium implants, while great offensive weapons, slowly poisoned him and he was required to regularly drain the life energy of a person, or perhaps taking small amounts from larger numbers of individuals, in order to temporarily sustain his immune system.
In order to stabilize his condition, Omega Red requires the “carbonadium synthesizer,” a device that was stolen by Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth during their final mission together as “Team X” sometime during the 1960s. It is because of his need for the carbonadium synthesizer that Omega Red has continuously sought out these three individuals over the years, believing they may know of its whereabouts.
At some time in the past the Soviet government decided that Omega Red was too unpredictable and treacherous to be relied upon, and so needed to be put in cryogenic suspended animation until a method could be found to control him. After the fall of Communism in Russia he was released by the clan of ninja known as the Hand. He was led to believe that Wolverine knew the whereabouts of the carbonadium synthesizer which could save his life, and sought him out in an effort to find this device. In doing so, he came into conflict with the X-Men many times. Later, Omega Red battled and fell under the mental control of the Soul Skinner in Siberia. The Soul Skinner then used him to battle Wolverine and the X-Men. Omega Red captured Wolverine and Jubilee, but escaped after the Soul Skinner’s death. He has also fought against Chamber of Generation X, but suffered a humiliating defeat. Ultimately, Omega Red failed to eliminate Wolverine and proved to be no more loyal to the Hand than he was to the Soviet government.
He has worked for Neocommunist organizations and tried to kill a member of the Americomp organization, but was stopped by Daredevil and Black Widow.
Omega Red was later employed by Russian gangster Ivan Pushkin to incite a war between the subversive terrorist organization HYDRA and the technology suppliers A. I. M..
Most recently, whilst working for the drug lord known as the General, Omega Red was recruited by Sabretooth to attack Wolverine’s friends and family alongside Lady Deathstrike. Sabretooth had promised both Omega Red and Deathstrike information on almost every mutant on Earth, but betrayed his new henchmen by teleporting away with Wolverine, his ward Amiko, and the information.
Eventually Omega Red found a means of eliminating his need to drain living beings of their life forces to survive. He is currently a crime lord (head of the Red Mafia) who poses as a legitimate business man, much like Wilson Fisk does in the U.S. At present he seems to have lost interest in Wolverine and is more focused on activities that indulge his greed and lust for power.
Next which X-villian do you think had the most wasted potential. it jsut seems like they can’t pull the trigger and end up back at Magneto all the time.
Alright how about a top 5
1. Sinister (He should be used a ton more. Although I like that fact of him in Colossus and Weapon X right now as well as X-Men the End he needs to be used more
2. Sebastian Shaw (He needs to be used so much more. I like his work with the Hellfire Club and want to see them to but he could be worse and more like Luthor)
3. Exodus (By himself. I think they could make him into a great threat to the team. If you remember Bloodlines he moved Genosha with his powers. He could be a great villain if used more)
4. Selene (Bring her back into this and either put her with Shaw again with the Hellfire Club or just leave her to her own big threat. If you recall she took out all the Externals alone.)
5. Holocaust (Yep I bring him back to. I think he’d be great to have as a powerhouse villain. He never really got used to much after being brought over from AOA)
Jeremy wins
Question about a specific X-Men graphic novel. When X-2 came out, I remember reading that it was based loosely on an X-Men graphic novel. Something to do with a religious fanatic that sought to (gasp!) destroy all mutants! I remember hearing that this particular graphic novel was very good, but at the time I never found it. I just remembered about it the other day while perusing the graph novel section of a Barnes/Noble and was curious if you guys might be able to help me figure this one out. Thanks.
Actually the Graphic Novel and the movie are different. But the main villain in X-2 Stryker is taken from the Graphic Novel.
The Graphic Novel is called X-Men God Loves, Man Kills.
No House of M this week so I guess that’s all for this week. Very good column. Good amount of emails and questions to really fill this baby up. I personally had fun. Daron how about you?
Yup, good stuff all around.
Very good partner. You can sign off first.
Later peeps!
Alrighty my turn
Notes
1. Marvel.com question of the week: Which of the following Ultimate Marvel titles are you most looking forward to?
2. Superherohype poll: Both “Fantastic Four 2” & “Transformers” are scheduled for July 4, ’07 – do you think one will move?
3. Wizard poll: Marvel’s released some great new video games lately, which one do you think is the best?
That’s it from my end. Reporting from my corner of the Marvel Universe I’m Jim Trabold. Have a great week and see you at the comic shop.
