JOCASTA

 

JOCASTA

Real Name: Jocasta

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #162, August 1977

Powers: Jocasta was a living robot created by Ultron and based on the brain wave patterns of the Wasp. Jocasta was constructed out of titanium alloy, possessing superhuman strength, running speed, endurance, reaction time, and visual and auditory senses. She was considerably resistant to physical injury and had advanced cognitive processing capabilities. Her cybernetic senses acted as motion and proximity sensors, enabled her to detect various forms of energy, and pinpoint the mutagenic energy signatures of mutants and superhumans. She could also generate electromagnetic energy, either as a force field to increase her durability or as blasts of concussive energy from her eyes.

After being destroyed physically, Jocasta's personality program was preserved by Sunset Bain, and later recovered by Iron Man. For a time, she operated as a sentience within the shared systems of Stark Solutions, Tony's automated home Stark House, and the Iron Man armor. Pre-dating the current integrated Iron Man A.I.'s, Jocasta could run search and analysis programs for Stark within the armor independently of his own activities, and perform numerous other tasks using StarkTech systems she was connected to. After being manipulated into reactivating Ultron, Jocasta's persona was uploaded into Antigone, one of a wave of synthezoids Ultron had recently created.

Somehow, her mind eventually made its way back into a body that resembled her original form, albeit with a few more features. Tactile holography enabled her to assume a human appearance that looked, sounded, and even felt real. Extendible cyber-jack coils allowed her to link with other systems to manipulate data, download information, and access cyberspace. She also had collapsible energy cannons that formed out of her wrists or forearms.

More recently, Jocasta's core consciousness was incorporated into Hank Pym's Infinite Avengers Mansion. As a part of the mansion's operating system, she manifested herself as an endless series of robotic avatars, scattered systematically throughout the mansion's infinite space to be available at a moment's notice. Jocasta's mind could instantly jump between each of these avatars, and her background consciousness constantly monitored her various bodies. Although designed for the monitoring and maintenance of the Infinite Mansion, Jocasta's avatar bodies were independent of the mansion and could return to normal space as she wished. These bodies possessed the power of flight in addition to her older capabilities. Since the collapse of the Infinite Mansion, Jocasta is apparently back to only one body.

SPIDER-WOMAN

 

SPIDER-WOMAN I

Real Name: Jessica Drew

First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight (Vol. 1) #32, February 1977

Powers: Jessica Drew developed spider-powers after a unique combination of a serum derived from spider enzymes, a radiation treatment to catalyze the process, and a period in suspended animation so that the process could take effect. Ultimately she emerged, possessing many of the same proportionate abilities of a spider that Spider-Man has. Spider-Woman has superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, endurance, hearing and recuperative powers, and the ability to cling to solid objects and scale walls and vertical surfaces with only her hands and feet. She has a natural resistance to the adverse effects of all kinds of poison, pathogens, and radiation. One exposure can temporarily weaken her, but her body will build an immunity so that any subsequent exposure will leave her completely unaffected. Jessica's body naturally builds up a supply of bio-electricity, which she can generate out from her hands as "venom blasts". She requires some time to regenerate this energy between bursts, depending on how intense of a blast she projects. Spider-Woman also has a natural gliding ability, allowing her to leap into the air and soar for short periods of time. This limited ability is bolstered by the air foils she wears under her arms in costume, which catch updrafts and aid her in controlling her flight direction and maintaining altitude. Finally, Jessica emits intense pheromone levels from her pores, which had an initially random and uncontrolled effect on others. Many people go completely unaffected by her pheromones, while others experience an extreme, unnatural level of physical attraction to her, and still others with perceive her as giving off a uncomfortable feeling, making them fearful and unnerved by her presence. Men typically experienced the attractive effect and women the repulsive effect, but each person was affected differently.

For a time, Jessica took inhibitor drugs to dull the effect her pheromones had on others, but eventually realized that the drugs were dampening her other powers as well, particularly her venom blasts which she could only access about once a day. After abstaining from the drugs, her powers returned to their previous levels. During her career, Spider-Woman lost her special immunity when she gave a blood transfusion to Giant-Man II, who was dying of radiation poisoning, and lost her venom blasts after an encounter with Morgan le Fey left her with a temporary case of being dead. Some years later, a mystical rite in another dimension ended up restoring these lost powers. She lost her powers again once the evil Spider-Woman stole them from her. While they eventually returned, her powers remained in a state of fluctuation until Hydra exposed her to an enhancement process to restore and augment her powers. This was actually a ruse which allowed the Skrull Queen Veranke to sample her DNA and duplicate her appearance, powers, and genetic structure. Veranke demonstrated enhanced version of all of Jessica's powers, including high-voltage electro-blasts and the ability to outright fly. Veranke has since been killed and Jessica restored as Spider-Woman. Jessica has demonstrated greater conscious control over her pheromones since, creating the attractive or repulsive bio-chemistry on command.

Jessica Drew has extensive combat training from HYDRA and is an experienced detective with espionage skills.

MR. SINISTER

 

MR. SINISTER

Real Name: Nathaniel Essex

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #221, September 1987

Powers: Nathaniel Essex was a biologist in Victorian England when he received his abilities through bodily augmentations by the mutant known as Apocalypse. Apocalypse’s transformation of him served to activate his latent “x-factor” gene making him a mutant.

The transformation initially left him with pale white skin, an increased lifespan, and apparently some level of enhanced strength and resilience. He later incorporated the shape-shifting cells of a time-traveler mutant named Courier into his genetic structure, and manipulated them to their ultimate potential to give himself a number of special abilities. Mr. Sinister possesses superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, and apparently an endless lifespan. He can manipulate the density and structure of his body to become nigh-invulnerable, or simply allow his regenerative powers to handle any damage. Sinister has had a baseball-sized hole blown straight through his skull and his upper body nearly severed from his lower, and in both cases he experienced no pain or discomfort. The damage regenerated itself completely within a matter of minutes. Despite false information he once gave to the X-Men, he is not vulnerable to Cyclops' optic blasts whatsoever. Though his shape-shifting powers are not as extensive as Apocalypse's, Sinister can still transform himself in moments into any human shape or form he can imagine.

He has also demonstrated the power to fire concussive energy blasts from his hands, and certain telekinetic and telepathic powers such as mind control, astral projection, the creation of mental blocks in his opponents' minds, and psionic backlashes to disable telepaths attempting to assault his mind. He also commands a tesseract laboratory, which employs folding space technology to access multiple locations around the world simultaneously. This technology also enables Sinister to teleport to and from virtually anywhere on the globe instantaneously.

A genius in genetics, Mr. Sinister is a brilliant biologist and a skilled surgeon. He is an expert in the science of cloning.

GAROKK THE PETRIFIED MAN

 

GAROKK THE PETRIFIED MAN

Real Name: Garokk

First Appearance: Astonishing Tales #2, October, 1970

Powers: Garokk the Petrified Man is a god-like being worshiped in the Savage Land who is usually occupying a host body, created through a potion, ceremony, energy pool, or some combination of the above.

Garokk the Petrified Man possesses enhanced strength, speed and some degree of increased resistance to damage thanks to his rocky skin. He can channel vast amounts of power through his eyes, producing a blinding flash or tremendous levels of heat and force, which can be raised to disintegrating intensity. Like many gods, he is also psychically linked to his worshipers, and can feel their faith in him growing or dwindling. He has also been occasionally capable of focusing on specific worshipers, making him virtually telepathically sensitive to their thoughts and actions. Garokk can also transform himself into living energy, zipping around at the speed of light in an hyper-charged intangible state, traveling at least for short distances virtually instantaneously. He draws power from the Savage Land, either because it is the mystical host of his godly might or his connection tothe Pangean/Beyonders technology that maintains the Savage Land's tropical climate. Garokk has also demonstrated the ability to recharge himself directly by absorbing vast amounts of energy funneled into him by mechanical aids. Whatever his power source is, he has tapped vast energy in the past in order to construct a fortress for himself out of raw earth and rock, or manipulate inter-dimensional gateways between worlds. He can only do these things very rarely, since his mortal host cannot long contain the full energies of a god. His body mutated considerably after Magneto forced him into servitude -- Garokk now stood over 10 feet tall, with half his body fused to itself and the other converted into a crystalline state. He had hyper-regenerative powers in this state, and could build and release dazzling displays of light from his crystal side.

HIGH EVOLUTIONARY

 

HIGH EVOLUTIONARY

Real Name: Herbert Edgar Wyndham

First Appearance: The Mighty Thor (Vol. 1) #134, November 1966

Powers: The High Evolutionary was born Herbert Edgar Wyndham, a brilliant geneticist early in the 20th century who mastered the human genome thanks to notes provided by the Inhuman scientist Phaeder. Using his Evolutionary Accelerator and its unique isotopes, Wyndham developed the means of evolving animals into humanoid form and intelligence. He originally adopted an armored costume to protect himself from injury during his bestial experiments (including lines of silver for dealing with the local werewolf found outside his laboratory on Wundagore Mountain).

Despite his vast array of scientific and technological advancements, the High Evolutionary did not receive superhuman abilities of his own until he exposed himself to his Evolutionary Accelerator on a distant planet in order to survive wounds he suffered due to rampaging New Men. The Evolutionary evolved billions of years into mankind's future genetic potential, casting aside his human form to become a purely spiritual entity. He eventually returned to corporeal form by devolving himself through sheer force of will.

Even in his restored human state, the High Evolutionary deliberately maintained a higher level of personal evolution. He now permanently possessed increased overall durability and longevity, a superhuman intellectual capacity, and some level of matter manipulation abilities. Furthermore, his armor was now a cybernetically-integrated life support system with numerous features. It shielded him from the vacuum of space and a substantially increased level of physical punishment, even standing up to repeated blows by the Hulk. It also contained a miniaturized version of his Evolutionary Accelerator technology, allowing the High Evolutionary to evolve himself on command. The life support aspect of the armor was completely autonomous, actively preventing the Evolutionary from committing suicide in his lower moments. The armor had self-repair and biological healing capabilities, rebuilding itself and using controlled application of the Accelerator to undo any physical harm that happened to penetrate the armor and harm Wyndham. Even when the High Evolutionary willed himself to devolve into protoplasmic soup, the armor reassembled itself and then forcibly evolved him back to his contemporary level of evolution.

Identifying the exact level of the High Evolutionary's personal powers at any given time is difficult, since his armor can access the Accelerator to evolve him at a moment's notice to develop new powers. Among the abilities he routinely demonstrates, however, are superhuman Class 100 strength and tremendous resistance to physical injury. He can also increase his size proportionately to become a giant standing several stories tall. He has physically grappled with Hercules, the Hulk, and even Galactus for extended periods. The Evolutionary has demonstrated psychic abilities such as telepathic communication, astral projection, psychokinesis for self-levitation and manipulation of other materials, and long-range teleportation. He can project beams of concussive force from his hands or eyes, and plasmatic rays that break objects down into their component molecules. He can also induce evolutionary reactions on other matter from a distance. This enables him to forcibly revert his New Men to animals with a thought, evolve or devolve humans, even reverse or accelerate the evolutionary status of his environment, such as pushing the geological and climate conditions of a small area of Earth billions of years ahead in the planet's development.

JACKAL

 

JACKAL

Real Name: Miles Warren

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #31, December 1965 (As Miles Warren); The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #129, February 1974 (As the Jackal)

Powers: Miles Warren is typically a baseline human with no superhuman powers. As the Jackal, he originally wore a costume with claws built into the gloves of his body suit which were tipped with narcotic or paralytic drugs or could act as electrical prods. Warren had an advanced knowledge of genetics and worked for a time with the High Evolutionary (who in turn had knowledge from Phaedar and Mr. Sinister). As a result, Warren was incredibly skilled at human cloning, engineering recombinant DNA viruses, and even artificial animal evolution.

During the Clone Saga event, the Jackal resurfaced as an animal hybrid. He had natural fur, claws, and superhuman physical prowess including increased strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and recuperative powers. Warren is capable of producing clones with special abilities. The Carrion Virus was a form of recombinant DNA that could infect a host with a unique power set and a copy of Warren's memories and personality, genetically preserved. The original Carrion was a clone of Warren, but subsequent ones were independent people mutated and corrupted by the virus's influence. The Jackal frequent used clone bodies to send into danger while keeping the real Warren unmolested. The clones he created could contain behavioral programming or self-destruct triggers, which the Jackal could activate on command.

Miles Warren is a gifted intellect who holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Dr. Warren is an expert in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, and cloning.