DONALD PIERCE

 

DONALD PIERCE

Real Name: Donald Pierce

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #132, April 1980

Powers: Formerly the White King of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, Donald Pierce is a cyborg who has been rebuilt repeatedly throughout the years. Initially, he was a human injured by the mutant cyborg Cable, necessitating his four bionic limbs and requisite reinforcement to his spine. Now, Pierce is now clearly nothing more than a mechanical humanoid commanded by the still-organic brain built inside his metal skull casing. He employs synth-organic flesh to disguise himself as an outwardly normal human being. Initially, Pierce's powers were almost exclusively physical: Superhuman increases to his strength (Class 10), speed, endurance, reaction time, and ability to withstand punishment. He was also capable of conducting an electrical charge through his hands in order to incapacitate an opponent. He has been upgraded numerous times since then, though, especially after Trevor Fitzroy and his Sentinels devastated the Reavers.

Among his newer capabilities are flight jets in his boots and integrated electromagnetic plasma blasters due to Cable's technology he appropriated, and later still a morphing quality in his metallic hands that gave him multiple abilities, including firing mini-missiles filled with specially tailored combat nanites (to attack and disable particular mutants and their abilities) and extending his fingers into blades, charging them with electrical energy, or extending mono-molecular energy lashes from his fingertips which can cut through virtually anything.

Donald Pierce was born into a wealthy family who made their fortune decades ago by capitalizing on the trade of cotton, rum, and slaves during the 19th century. Investing his money in the mining industry, he created the Pierce-Consolidated Mining Company. As the company's CEO and principal shareholder, he generated even more revenue and wealth. He held graduate degrees in business administration and geological engineering and was an accomplished strategist and business administrator. Donald Pierce was also a genius with electronics, able to create deadly robots with personalities and offensive weaponry, and able to cybernetically enhance biological entities with electronic components.