VERMIN

 

VERMIN

Real Name: Edward Whelan

First Appearance: Captain America (Vol. 1) #272, August 1982

Powers: Originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers, Edward Whelan was sexually abused by his father, a prominent judge, during childhood and developed a dissociative identity disorder to cope with the trauma. As an adult, he was captured by Baron Zemo, who used psycho-genetic engineering to mutate Whelan into the cannibalistic were-rat named Vermin.

Vermin possesses superhuman strength (lifting 1 ton) and agility as well as an enhanced olfactory (smell) sense allowing him to sense any approaching being from well over 100 feet away. He can run at 35 mph for half an hour without tiring. His inch-long nails and teeth are razor sharp and able to rend wood, fibers and soft metals. Vermin can communicate with and command all rats and dogs within a two-mile radius, though it is unrevealed whether this ability is hypersonic or telepathic in nature. When provoked or threatened, Vermin's resistance to pain and fatigue are increased. In his mutated state, his intelligence is diminished with his thought processes limited to primal instincts, though he is still capable of speech. For a time Vermin could revert to his human form at will. His personality as Vermin is an external manifestation of his dissociative identity disorder.

Edward Whelan hold a Master of Science degree in genetics, he has both a gifted intellect and extensive genetics knowledge.

NOCTURNE I

 

NOCTURNE I

Real Name: Angela Cairn

First Appearance: The Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #190, July 1992 (as Angela Cairn); The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual (Vol. 1) #13, September 1993 (as Nocturne)

Powers: Nocturne was a human police officer named Angela Cairn, artificially mutated by Baron Zemo's Protoid engineering machine, blending her genetic code with that of a bat.

As Nocturne, Angela possesses slightly enhanced strength, razor sharp talons, and bat-like wings enabling her to fly. Her hair is also prehensile, animated by her mental commands to reach out and grab people or objects. She can still speak, but only with great difficulty. Nocturne communicates primarily through empathic perceptions. Her heightened sensitivity to emotion enables her to feel the presence of other emoting beings, and detect the form and intensity of their emotional state. She could also project emotional impressions at other people; these could either be raw emotions like rage, sorrow, or a calming serenity, or something more complex to convey a specific point or understanding. Just after being transformed, for instance, she was able to get Spider-Man to recognize her as Angela Cairn by projecting her identity as an empathic connection to him. She could also project memory images into people's minds, allowing them to experience feelings and sensory impressions from her past, or she could act as an emotional conduit transmitting empathic sensations between two different people. Also, Nocturne could draw the pain out of someone's body and into herself, a process that increased the physical and spiritual healing of that person.

Angela Cairn is an excellent marksman with conventional weapons, has superb investigative skills, and is a good athlete due to her police academy training.