BIOHAZARD

 

BIOHAZARD

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #62, November 1990 (BTS); Deathlok (Vol. 1) #1, July 1990 (Brain); Deathlok (Vol. 2) #12, June 1992 (As Biohazard)

Powers: Biohazard is John Kelly’s electrocuted and discarded brain, mutated and gaining sentience after exposure to both nanotech machines and stasis fluids. After the brain was disposed of, it began manifesting self-mobilizing and organic assimilation traits. The brain absorbed organic materials from the surrounding garbage dump it was tossed in, eventually developing prehensile tentacles and a mouth. It then absorbed a cat, and finally a human in order to gain bipedal mobility. Kelly's brain, soon renamed "Biohazard", could read the DNA and genetically-encoded memories of anything it absorbed, causing it to grow not only in size and mass as it assimilated greater amounts of matter, but also increasing its overall intelligence and thinking ability.

Biohazard eventually developed self-awareness and began self-identifying as John Kelly, from the original memories left in its brain. Kelly, as Biohazard, was still essentially a self-motivating brain, surrounded by layers of non-vital organic tissue which it shaped and manipulated as necessary. The brain was the only vulnerable piece of Biohazard's anatomy, as other portions of Biohazard's mass could be torn or blasted off, yet would move on their own accord to reintegrate back into the main body. By absorbing enough organic matter, Biohazard could grow to gigantic size, with superhuman levels of strength. It could manifest claws, spikes, or prehensile tentacles from its body, or collapse into a liquid state to absorb impact, flow underneath a doorframe, or "pour" itself from the top of a building to the street below.

Biohazard's preferred method of absorbing organic matter was to create a telescoping mouth to piece an opponent's head and suck out their brain. Any time it absorbed a brain in this manner, Biohazard would gain full access to that person's memories. However it was sometimes difficult, especially during Biohazard's earlier stages of development, to separate out and understand a lifetime's experiences in order to get the information he was searching for Therefore, Biohazard used its power for quasi-reanimation: It could take the DNA engrams of anyone it assimilated and imprint them on a portion of its mass, then separate that mass from its main body. This secondary mass would "run" the victim's biological profile like a computer program, rewriting the organic matter into a duplicate of the person's body and reactivating their personality and memories inside that body. This way, Biohazard could get perspective on the memories it was trying to integrate. Although these bio-duplicates thought they were the original person, and generally acted like it, they were really extensions of Biohazard's body and will. As a result, they would compulsively reveal information to it or carry out pre-programmed actions without consciously understanding why. These duplicates can also be transformed into secondary bodies for Biohazard itself, with all of its regular capabilities. In the example, when Biohazard re-animated Billy Hansen, the scientist who experimented on the brain in the first place, "Billy" sought out Deathlok III to tell him about Biohazard without realizing that he had been programmed to do so by Biohazard. Once he found Collins, "Billy's" programming was completed and he transformed into another Biohazard in order to fight and assimilate Collins' memories.