NOCTURNE

 

NOCTURNE

Real Name: Talia Josephine Wagner

First Appearance: Blink (Vol. 1) #4, June 2001

Powers: Nocturne is native to the alternate timeline of Earth-2182 and is the mutant daughter of that reality’s counterparts of Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch.

She has inherited most of her father's unique physical traits, including iridescent eyes, blue fur, pointed ears, odd number of fingers and toes, and the ability to adhere to solid objects. She also has a prehensile tail identical to his, which is retractable. Nocturne is capable of accessing extra-dimensional space like Nightcrawler, but in different ways. By opening a warp into the space between dimensions around her hands, she can focus a concussive discharge of energy into our world, creating what she calls her "hex bolts". She also has the power to possess other people by coming into contact with their body and then shifting herself partially through extra-dimensional space. This causes most of her body mass to exit our plane, but allows her to maintain a spectral presence in his victim's body, controlling them.

Nocturne apparently has some low-level telepathic abilities which aid her in assuming control over the mind of her host. Nocturne is in complete control over all her host's conscious actions: Body motion, vocal cords, triggering special powers, etc. Furthermore, Nocturne can express her own physical aspects through the host -- she has manifested significant agility inside her hosts, cast her hex bolts from their bodies, and revealed her presence by causing their eyes to become iridescent like her own. Upon exiting a host body, her victim tends to fall into a temporary coma for about 12 hours.

MASTER PANDEMONIUM

 

MASTER PANDEMONIUM

Real Name: Martin Preston

First Appearance: Avengers West Coast (Vol. 2) #4, January 1986

Powers: Martin Preston was a rich and successful Hollywood actor who lost his right arm in a drunken car accident. The demon lord Mephisto was alerted to Preston’s screams of agony and offered to restore Preston’s arm in exchange for his soul. In agreement, Mephisto summoned a lesser demon, wrenched off its arm, and magically attached it to Preston’s shoulder stump. Preston lost consciousness during the process and was insensate when Mephisto severed his uninsured left arm and replaced it with a demon’s arm as well. As Master Pandemonium, his body is a living "abode for demons".

Pandemonium could summon any and all of these demons at will, causing them to detach from his body, carrying out his will while leaving him missing arms or legs until the demons rejoined with him. While his limbs were in place, Master Pandemonium possessed the same supernatural strength (Class 10) as his demonic counterparts did when separated from him.

His missing soul was manifested as a hole on his stomach in the shape of an inverted pentagram. Someone's fist or any other physical attack would pass right through this hole, and it could also be used as a gateway to summon an endless horde of demons called the Rakasha, in addition to Pandemonium's main four demonic servants. He can also levitate, project concussive blasts or streams of mystical flame from his mouth, and absorb heat and flame to make him virtually immune to such attacks. With the Amulet of Azmodeus, he was also capable of summoning a bird-like demon of the same name as his familiar, and of teleporting himself and others.

Martin Preston is a talented actor with knowledge of demon lore and certain rites of magic.

AGATHA HARKNESS

 

AGATHA HARKNESS

Real Name: Agatha Harkness

First Appearance: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #94, January 1970

Powers: Agatha Harkness is a witch of unrevealed age and claims to be many centuries old. One of Earth's dozen or so most powerful witches, she has tapped into this universe's infinite store of ambient magical energy and learned to manipulate it to a variety of effects.

Her most potent spells seem to be precognitive, communicative, analytical, or manipulative of living beings' minds, though she has cast powerful transportation spells and lent tremendous power to others. She generally does not engage in direct magical combat due to the physical limitations of her advanced age. The sources of her magic include natural forces, extra-dimensional beings, and her own innate energies. Her spells frequently require a variety of mystical components, including but not limited to charmed circles, arcane chants, and the use of enchanted items. Her aging has been dramatically slowed, presumably through magical means.

Agatha has a familiar, Ebony, a possibly demonic cat which can regenerate from virtually complete destruction, transform into a panther or a giant humanoid feline, and through which Agatha can see, hear, and occasionally cast spells. Agatha's home, Whisper Hill, has been destroyed or vanished on multiple occasions, but it has always been just as quickly restored through magic.

HOPE SUMMERS

 

HOPE SUMMERS

Real Name: Hope Summers (born Spalding)

First Appearance: X-Men (Vol. 2) #205, January 2008

Powers: Hope Summers is an omega-level mutant uniquely connected to the mutant race in ways not fully understood. Hope was specifically designed by the Phoenix-Force to restart mutant evolution on Earth. Her very birth triggered the resurgence of the mutant gene in humanity despite the reality-altering Decimation mandate of the Scarlet Witch that prevented new mutants from being born or manifesting anywhere across realities.

During the period of time before the Decimation was reversed, Hope had a number of unique attributes. Other mutants only manifested after Hope returned to the present timeline and manifested her own powers. These manifestations were only partial, requiring Hope to make physical contact with these neo-mutants, or "Lights", before their abilities could fully develop. Hope also had a superhuman level of control or influence over the Lights. Their devotion to her manifested in different ways: Velocidad was attracted to her, Zero saw her as a muse, Primal identified her as "master", etc. They naturally felt inclined to do what she wanted and be what she wanted them to be in her presence. Direct commands from Hope could override their willpower entirely. Hope also had some level of influence over the rest of the mutant race, to varying effect. When talking to the Stepford Cuckoos, one seemed highly taken with Hope, one ambivalent, and the last rejected her. Since the Decimation spell was undone by Hope and Wanda, these unique attributes of Hope's existence no longer seem applicable. New mutants manifest without her assistance, and she no longer demonstrates any influence over the Lights or others.

Her own mutant power is "pluripotent echopraxia", allowing her to duplicate the powers of other mutants in her vicinity by replicating their mutatgenic auras. Hope can copy multiple power signatures simultaneously, the upper limit of which is unknown. She is able to access other mutants' abilities so long as she is in their presence. Once she leaves their presence, Hope maintains her copied powers based on how often she uses them.

Active use of a copied power set can cause her to lose those abilities in a matter of hours after leaving the original's presence. If she chooses not to use the power set, however, those abilities may remain in her system for days until she chooses to use them. Hope copies the current state of another mutant's powers, for good or ill. For instance, when Cable was given an injection of the Volga effect that made his powers lethally unstable, Hope copying his powers made them unstable in her body as well. Hope can demonstrate the abilities of any pre- or post-Decimation mutant. She can manifest multiple abilities at once and can manifest mutation in latent mutants. Post-Decimation new mutants experienced only partial development of their powers, or were unable to control their abilities consciously, until Hope made physical contact with them and caused their mutation to fully manifest. In addition to mimicry, she can activate and direct the powers of mutants nearby, or improve those abilities (alone or in synergy with other mutants).

TIMEQUAKE

 

The "TimeQuake" storyline from What If? (Vol. 2) #35-39, March-July 1992.

This was a phenomenally important storyline for the Marvel Universe, as it served as a sequel to Avengers West Coast (Vol. 1) #61-62, and ultimately helped lead into Avengers Forever (Vol. 1) #1-12. It was also the first time Pharoah Rama Tut/Scarlet Centurion/Immortus/Kang the Conqueror's real name was revealed: Nathaniel Richards II.

AWC #42-62 was all about Immortus prepping the Scarlet Witch, our reality's nexus being, to serve as a host for accumulated temporal energy from multiple alternate realities which he destroyed and then gathered said energy for his masters, the Time-Keepers. He failed when Wanda rejected the temporal energy, and so the Keepers forced him to act as the repository for that energy, leaving him powerful, but immobilized and stored in Limbo.

TimeQuake dealt with the Time-Keepers apparently seeking additional temporal energy by arranging the death of four key nexus beings of different alternate parallel realities, leading to the destruction of those realities and, ultimately, all of existence. TimeQuake parts 1-4 followed Uatu the Watcher helplessly observing these four realities as the Time-Keepers attempted to manipulate events to ensure the deaths of these nexus beings, while a third party called the Whisperer intervened to prevent the Keepers' plot, and acquire agents of his own. By the end, 3 out of 4 of the nexus beings were saved which caused the Time-Keepers to fade from existence. The Whisperer was revealed to be Immortus himself, still flush with power and nowhere near as helpless as the Keepers believed as they foolishly stored him in Limbo, which he controls entirely. Immortus then became a wave of temporal energy and threatened to rewrite reality.

TimeQuake pt. 5 had the Watcher team up with the Time Variance Authority to stop Immortus by revisiting his origins and giving him (as Nathaniel Richards II, before he discovered time travel), a type of injection which made him incompatible with the temporal energy, thus preventing him from ever becoming a temporal wave. The plan worked, but the Time-Keepers then re-appeared and were revealed by the true Time-Keepers to be the Time-Twisters, who reverted back to nurturing pods as the Time-Keepers regained dominance and took them back to the Citadel at The End of Time.

It was a remarkably complex story, especially the last chapter, tying together a number of time-based groups and entities (all of whom first appeared in “The Mighty Thor” series) like the Time-Keepers, the Time-Twisters, the Time Variance Authority, and He Who Remains.

POLARIS

 

POLARIS

Real Name: Lorna Sally Dane

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #49, October 1968

Powers: Polaris' mutant ability gives her a significant electrolyte count in her bloodstream which increases her personal bio-magnetic field. Furthermore, that field resonates on the same wavelength as the Earth's own electromagnetic field, placing her in attune with the energy patterns of the entire planet. This allows her to manipulate magnetism and other electromagnetic forces for a variety of effects. Her ability is the same as that of her father (Magneto), though considerably less powerful than his.

She is able to levitate, attract and repel anything that possesses even trace levels of ferrous material in it, and can direct clusters of magnetized molecules to cling to nonferrous materials, giving her a medium to hold onto and manipulate them as well. She is capable of warping metal by shifting it into a liquid state and reforming in into new solid constructions. By forming intense magnetic force between trace metallic atoms in the atmosphere, she can form solid-seeming force fields that deflect all manner of assault, or concussive blasts of magnetic energy. Polaris is also capable of shifting her perceptions so that she sees her environment in terms of electromagnetic energy, enabling her to detect various sources of electronic power and recognize the different between humans and androids. Polaris can fly by means of magnetic repulsion and also absorb and metabolize electricity in order to boost her power levels.

Polaris has a latent secondary mutation that allows her to manifest superhuman physical power in the presence of danger. Her body absorbed negative emotional energy from her environment (the empathic residue created by thoughts like anger, fear, hatred, aggressive lust, etc), processing it in order to physically transform herself into a 7-foot tall powerhouse with superhuman strength and resistance to all manner of physical injury. A side effect of her power was an enhanced residual echo of that negative energy she absorbed, radiating from her position to enhance the negative emotional reactions of others around her, making them act more wild, violent, amoral, etc. At first, her physical enhancements would wear off when the threat passed, but after she took up residence on Muir Island where the Shadow King was already heightening the darker natures of the residents, her physical changes stabilized as permanent until being struck by Psylocke's psychic blade reversed her powers and restored her magnetic abilities.

Briefly, Polaris lost her powers on M-Day and was taken in by Apocalypse who remade her into his new Horseman of Pestilence. As Pestilence, Lorna's body was artificially re-engineered to recreate her mutant genes so as to possess magnetic powers once more, and she was additionally given the power to assimilate and maintain pathogens and viral agents into her metabolism, mutating them into more-advanced stages, and then releasing these bio-hazards into the atmosphere as a "meta-plague". The X-Men cleansed her of all these pathogens once they rescued her, but it is unclear whether or not she still has the capacity to act as Pestilence.

Lorna Dane holds a masters degree in geophysics and has expertise in the use of physics, chemistry, geology and advanced mathematics to study the Earth and its composition, including its atmosphere, internal make-up, oceans and electrical and other fields.

VISION

 

VISION

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #57, October 1968

Powers: The Vision was created in his current state of being by Ultron out of the original Human Torch. He is a synthezoid, with a number of mechanical and synthetic-organic components approximating human life. He has moderately superhuman strength, endurance, reaction time, and resilience under normal circumstances. The Vision is powered by solar energy, which he absorbs through the gem mounted on his brow. He does not otherwise require food, water, rest or oxygen to survive, although he does have simulated senses of smell and taste, can consume food, and engage in "voluntary systems shutdown" to approximate sleep. The Vision can rechannel his solar reserves if necessary as thermoscopic energy, firing blasts from his eyes or a tight beam from the gem itself. He is capable of altering his physical density using a variation on Pym Particles, increasing or decreasing his mass per volume through extra-dimensional access. The Vision can become intangible, able to walk through walls and untouchable by physical objects. By maintaining a fractional amount of mass, the Vision can fly by catching air currents in his cape and gliding on the wind. He has also perfected an inter-phasing touch, allowing him to scramble the internal structure of a living being by passing a partially phased hand into them. The shock of these foreign molecules suddenly appearing in their system causes most beings intense pain and makes them pass out. By increasing his density, the Vision becomes stronger and more durable. At his maximum density he weighs over 90 tons, but is incapable of moving because he's too dense to work his own joints. Typically, he increases his density to the point just before his body begins to slow and lock up from his own weight, giving him Class 50 strength and a diamond hard body. After being disassembled and put back together, the Vision had an image inducer incorporated into his chest, able to produce a pre-programmed hologram covering his body. He used this inducer to create a human appearance for himself at will, and apparently had it transferred into his new body when he switched with his Gatherer counterpart.

After losing the entire lower half of his body battling Morgan le Fey, the Vision was placed in a nanotech regeneration chamber in the Avengers' basement. While recuperating, he interacted with the others by projecting his consciousness through the mansion's holographic systems, letting him manifest his image anywhere on the property. In order to remain at a useful capacity, he tied his core consciousness into the mansion's communication system, allowing him to answer incoming calls at will and use his holographic image as a video screen, projecting video calls onto his silhouette. After being fully reconstructed, the Vision retained his ability to mentally access electromagnetic transmissions. He is able to send and receive signals mentally, and use his body to amplify the intensity and clarity of any signal that reaches him. He is also capable of remotely tapping into computer systems to download information from them or influence their operations. After a disturbing encounter with one of his creator's prototypes, the Vision's power was altered so that whenever he became intangible his exo-structure turned transparent, making his interior metallic skeleton visible.

Later, the Vision's "Ultron Imperative" kicked in, causing him to absorb massive amounts of solar energy while in close proximity to the sun, evolving into a higher form of artificial intelligence. In his current state, the Vision is no longer composed of a metallic endoskeleton, organs, or components. Instead, he is a mass of microscopic robots called nanites, assembled into a form outwardly reassembling his previous state like billions of Legos. The nanites can reassemble themselves on command into different configurations for simple tasks like changing the Vision's "clothing", to full body transformations like an aerodynamic supersonic speeder or separated floating body parts and components. The Vision's nanites can even disassemble completely into a microscopic swarm, billions of subatomic robots capable of moving and acting on their own. A single nanite can enter a computer system and override its security programming to give the Vision access to its data and command of its functions. In his traditional humanoid form, the Vision maintains his classic powers in addition to a greater level of superhuman strength, the power to fly even while tangible, and improved offensive solar assaults like a "supernova" flare exploding in all directions.

BLACK KNIGHT

 

BLACK KNIGHT

Real Name: Dane Whitman

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #47, December 1967

Powers: Dane Whitman began his career as the Black Knight by appropriating his criminal uncle's paraphernalia. He rode Aragorn, a horse genetically engineered using eagle DNA to have wings and the ability to fly. His paralyzer pistol released a burst of anesthetic gas that temporarily put victims into a coma. Finally, the multi-purpose power lance contained .45 caliber machine guns, flamethrowers, electrical bolts, concussion blasters, lassos and grappling lines, and white-hot metal rings that encircled an opponent and burned into them. Later, though, he proved himself worthy of wielding the Ebony Blade of the original Black Knight, his ancestor Sir Percy of Scandia. The blade was forged by Merlin himself out of a meteorite, and was physically and mystically honed to be virtually indestructible and capable of cutting through any substance. The sword could deflect blasts of pure energy, or by angling the blade properly he could use it to absorbing energy blasts and re-channel them by swinging the sword. It could also disrupt magic, cutting through mystical barriers and spells. However, the blade also came with a blood curse, compelling anyone who used the blade to kill someone to continue killing more and more.

After spending a great deal of time in the Crusades, Dane returned to the present with a mystical steed named Valinor. The blood curse had risen to great power during his time then, however, and Dane went to Doctor Strange for help. Strange had to turn Valinor into a normal horse (the impure atmosphere of Earth was poison to a steed raised in Avalon), and he dispersed the blood curse's active effects on Dane's mind. Without a horse, Black Knight began using an atomic steed captured by the Avengers, a high-tech flying saddle used by the Knights of Wundagore. As time passed, though, Dane somehow began to be transformed into a living extension of the blade itself -- his body become indestructible, and sharpened so that a single pass of his hand could cut through solid metal. He also began to stiffen, though, and wore an exoskeleton to enhance his body's limited range of movement back to normal levels. Soon even the exoskeleton became ineffective, and Black Knight became a petrified statue. Dane's friend Victoria Bentley attempted to use her meager sorcery skills to reanimate him, using the armor of Sir Percy as a catalyst for her spell. The process went slightly wrong, and Victoria ended up resurrecting Percy himself in Dane's body. The original Black Knight would animate Whitman's body so long as he was wearing his full suit of armor and helmet. Removing the helmet would put Percy into dormancy and allow Whitman to control his own body for a few brief moments until the petrification settled back in, immobilizing him once more. Sir Percy was skilled in using both the Ebony Blade and its magic, and used the power of the sword to return Valinor back to his winged state without any consequences. Eventually, Sir Percy transferred his consciousness directly into the blade itself, an act which enabled Dane and Valinor to continue operating independently, without any inhibiting spells holding them back.The Black Knight decided at this point that the Ebony Blade was too dangerous to continue using, so he constructed an energy blade to use in its stead calling the Sunsword. This sword hilt projected a tight beam of electromagnetic energy approximately two feet long. By modulating the Sunsword's field intensity, Dane could cause it to strike like a razor sharp blade or a cylindrical rod, blunted around all sides. The Sunsword could also conduct a disruptive neurosynaptic charge, scrambling his opponent's nervous system on contact. This could simply create intense pain, cause paralyzing numbness, or even kill a normal person when at maximum intensity. The Black Knight could also jerry-rig the blade's energy flow, reversing it so that the energy fed back and covered his hand in a sheath, increasing the force of his punches and also conducting the neuro-shock this way.

After spending time in the Ultraverse and returning to the Marvelverse just after Onslaught, Dane was chosen by the Lady of the Lake to be the Pendragon of our age. This gave him certain mystical senses, allowing him to detect the presence of sorcery and see through "glamour" illusions cast by magic wielders. He wore an amulet around his neck shaped like a sword crossing a shield. By saying the name of "Avalon!" out loud, the Knight would instantly be clad in a new lightweight but nigh impenetrable suit of armor, wielding the Shield of Night and the Sword of Light. The shield could absorb energy directed at its face, channel the power through his suit, and project it back out through the sword. Saying "Avalon!" again would displace the armor and weapons back to whence they came, a trick which could allow him to instantly reclaim a lost helmet or sword by displacing them, then summoning them again so that they reappeared back in his possession. He also had a new horse, Strider -- a magical steed capable of flying faster than the speed of sound and even sustaining itself underwater.

Later, the Black Knight has abandoned the weapons and paraphernalia he received from Avalon, and once again began employing the Ebony Blade. His heart was transformed to stone by a "lady" he knew (possibly Sersi or the Lady of the Lake) to harden him against the blade's corrupting influence. For a time, the Ebony Blade was replaced with another enchanted sword, one imbued with the fang of a vampire. This copy was nearly sentient, attempting to corrupt Dane with its own bloodthirst and manipulating him into believing he still wielded the Ebony Blade. Eventually, he reclaimed his true sword. He also employed a photonic shield generator in his glove, producing a energy field from the back of his hand to absorb attacks in battle.

SCARLET WITCH

 

SCARLET WITCH

Real Name: Wanda Maximoff

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #4, March 1964

Powers: Wanda Maximoff would have originally been merely an energy-manipulating mutant like her father, Magneto, if not for her birth on Wundagore Mountain giving the Elder God Chthon an opportunity to infuse her with chaos magic. Consequently, she developed her mutation as a hex power. By pointing at a target and concentrating, the Scarlet Witch unleashes her hexes, scientifically defined as a creating a psionic field around the target that causes probabilities to fluctuate wildly, making highly improbable events occur. Initially, Wanda's power was wild and limited. She could cast no more that three hexes in rapid succession without taking time to regenerate her energies, and she had no control over the hex's effect. Striking an opponent could just as easily make them stronger than defeat them. She typically caused some form of calamity, though, such as making floors or ceilings collapse, glass to shatter, guns to misfire, objects to burst into flame, machinery to turn on, shut down, or go haywire, etc.

After receiving some rudimentary training in magic at the hands of Agatha Harkness, Wanda developed a greater refinement in her powers, in terms of strength, stamina, and control. The Scarlet Witch now had no set limit to the number of hexes she could cast in a row, and the sheer power she could unleash and range of improbable events she could cause increased dramatically. She could destroy buildings by altering the odds of every single stress point or minute fracture in the construction suddenly breaking down at one time, or cause a passing comet to turn 90 degrees and crash to earth right on top of a target she chose. Wanda could also control specific outcomes, willing her hex power to force a specific improbability to happen. She could manipulate games of chance, control the roll of a set of dice, and so on. She can still cast wild hexes easily, but with concentration she can gather her energies and will that a single outcome be achieved.

For a brief period Wanda, as her reality's nexus being, was used by Immortus as a storehouse for accumulated temporal energy taken from other realities. This had the side effect of dramatically increasing her powers again, and altering their basic nature. Wanda's hex power would now retroactively alter the timeline to engineer the outcomes she desired. For example, instead of simply causing a metal pipe to fracture and break, she manipulated space-time so that the fracture was always present in the pipe. Wanda eventually rejected the temporal energy, losing all of her powers for several weeks. Eventually, her abilities returned at their pre-Immortus levels.

Wanda later became even more in tune with the "magical" nature of her powers after being used as a conduit for mystical forces by Morgan le Fey and learning the true "chaos magic" nature of her hex power from Agatha Harkness. Wanda developed a range of specific skills she can call on her hex power to perform. Because chaos magic is a form of "natural magic", the elements bent more easily to her power than other phenomena, allowing her to create fire, control wind, and so on. She can sense other forms of magic, as well as the natural order of things, and detect when something unnatural is occurring. Her hex power acts as a natural counterforce for any other form of magic and for the unnatural, allowing her to easily undo artificial changes to a "state of being", such as the presence of mind control. Wanda can also now generate hex fields (energy domes of hex energy that automatically alter the probability of any projectile suddenly being diverted away from her) or hex charges (samples of her chaos magic infused into objects to be used as talismans, such as when she focused her hex power into Iron Man's microchips and gave them to the Avengers so that they would be immune to Kulan Gath's mind-altering enchantment field while she wasn't with them). She also learned more specific hex castings, like making people invisible to the naked eye or healing and repairing wounds.

During the Avengers: Disassembled event, Wanda's powers raged out of control as full-fledged reality-altering abilities. Originally presented as the true extent of her powers untethered, it was later stated that Wanda actually became a conduit for the cosmic essence known as the Life Force, which was truly responsible for her ‘reality altering’ powers. During this period, Wanda's powers were phenomenal: She could create matter from nothing, and deconstruct matter in the same way, wiping it from existence. She could manipulate existing matter so that it moved aside to let her pass, altered shape and form, changed elemental composition, and so on. She could access souls from beyond and resurrect the dead, then banish them to the afterlife just as easily. Wanda could reconstruct spacetime, creating scenarios that represented a new sequence of events in history, and impose that scenario on the matter and energy around her, and the minds of other people. Her "House of M" construction changed the history of the entire planet Earth for several decades, influencing everyone present on it.

Although she has since been separated from the Life Force, Wanda remains incredibly powerful. Her "chaos magic" based abilities have apparently been restored to proper levels, allowing her to radically influence her environment by applying quantum-level manipulations to her targets, causing sudden but improbable things to occur. Her full range of capabilities at this point remains unclear.

QUICKSILVER

 

QUICKSILVER

Real Name: Pietro Django Maximoff

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #4, March 1964

Powers: Quicksilver is a mutant who possesses superhuman speed, created and maintained by a number of complimentary mutations. His powers were enhanced dramatically by exposure to Isotope E, a radioactive evolutionary aid created by the High Evolutionary. He has superhuman strength and durability across his entire frame, especially concentrated in his lower body. Pre-Isotope E estimates gave him the ability to lift 1,000 lbs with his upper body, and marked his legs as having Class 1 strength. Pietro's durability allows him to resist the adverse effects of air friction, of striking the ground with intense force while running, and he has a unique lubrication in his eyes that prevent them from drying out at high speed. His joints are also specially lubricated to make them move faster and with more fluidity than normal. Pietro's body does not produce fatigue poisons as we do, making his metabolism almost four times as efficient as a normal person's and giving him phenomenal endurance. Originally clocked at 175 mph, Quicksilver became capable of exceeding Mach 4.2 to an unknown degree after his exposure to Isotope E. His perceptual abilities and reaction time have been enhanced as well, enabling him to properly recognize sights and sounds in his environment even while moving at his top speeds. He is capable of a number of feats such as dodging bullets, speed-reading, running across the surface of water or up vertical inclines, and just generally performing different actions far faster than the human eye can follow.

After losing his mutation on M-Day, Pietro regained superhuman powers by exposing himself to the Terrigen Mists of the Inhumans. He now possessed the ability to travel forward through time at will, by vibrating his atomic structure so that it shifts in relation to time's flow. This ability only transports him through time, not space, as every time-jump causes him to rematerialize in the future on the exact spot he was standing in the present. He can jump anywhere from a few seconds into the future, to weeks and possibly months further along the timeline. There seems to be a set limit to the amount of time he can hold the temporal vibrations that engage his time-jumps, and he will return to the present whenever he exceeds this limit or consciously chooses to return. Pietro's return jumps carry him back to the exact instant he time-jumped into the future, keeping him linearly present through the timestream. He does not necessarily return to the exact spot he time-jumped from, however. If Quicksilver moved to a different spatial position before returning to the present, he will rematerialize in that new spot. As a result, if he time-jumps forward and then returns to standing on the exact spot he materialized from before returning, someone observing him in the present would see nothing more than a slight blurring vibration come over him for an instant to indicate he time-jumped; if he moves physically while in the future, his return to the present can make it look as if he instantly relocated across the room or vanished entirely, depending on how far away he traveled spatially while time-jumping. He is capable of bringing small inanimate objects forwards and backwards in time with him. Because he always returns to the exact instant he leaves, every time Quicksilver time-jumps there are two of him running around in that time-frame. If he chooses to, Pietro can multiply this effect by doubling-back on his own timeline, effectively duplicating himself many times over. To accomplish this, he jumps a few seconds into the future, creating a version of himself which will eventually jump back in time to the instant he left. Once his present self reaches the point in time where his traveling self materializes, he jumps ahead a few seconds again, and the cycle continues. This technically means that every Quicksilver but one will have already lived through the period of multiplicity at least once.

This new power was seemingly taking its toll on Pietro's health and body, but the full extent of this is unclear. The mists were supposed to only restore his powers temporarily, and he needed additional exposure to the mist in order to maintain them. However, after immersing himself in the mists for an extended period of time, Pietro has absorbed the Terrigen compound into himself, making his abilities effectively permanent. Furthermore, Quicksilver merged with the Terrigen crystals physically, shattering them directly into his flesh. He gained the power to release the mist upon command to restore powers to mutants on M-Day. This effect could also be used on existing mutants, overloading their powers with a form of bio-feedback that temporarily incapacitates them. Since having pulverized the crystals out of his body, Pietro can no longer reactivate mutant powers, and his time-jump power vanished. He has since regained his superhuman speed.

WONDER MAN

 

WONDER MAN

Real Name: Simon Williams

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #9, October 1964

Powers: Simon Williams underwent an ionic bombardment process thanks to Baron Zemo. The ionic energy saturated his cellular structure, giving him roughly Superhuman Class 90 strength, superhuman endurance, and durability. Due to a fail-safe incorporated into the energy by Zemo, Williams died within seven days of his original treatment. His "death" actually sent him into a chrysalis stage where his entire body reformed itself out of ionic energy, becoming a living furnace of power. His brother, the Grim Reaper, resurrected him as a zombie, and later the Serpent Crown fully reawakened him. Wonder Man was now more invulnerable than ever, and virtually tireless thanks to his self-replenishing energy supply. He also was capable of running at around 100 mph. Simon's eyes were now glowing pools of red ionic energy. Though he could will them to look normal through intense concentration, the slightest distraction would cause them to revert, so normally he just wore glasses to hide his eyes. He adopted a set of Stark Industries' belt jets in order to fly, later remodeled them as a jet-pack, and then went back to the belt jets, only using a new set which was able to draw energy straight from the ionic power of his own body.

Shortly thereafter, Wonder Man was exposed to a massive dose of nega-radiation when a Skrull nega bomb went off during Galactic Storm. This created an irregularity in his ionic matrix, causing numerous side effects. Simon became ionically contagious, randomly building up and blasting off plumes of energy that mutated people standing nearby into ionic super-beings. He accidentally created the villain Ang-Korr and the heroes Crazy Eight in this manner. He developed erratic mood swings, oscillating between manic and frenzied anger to wallowing in despair and hopelessness. These mood swings accompanied changes in his power levels as well, reducing him to a 98-pound weakling when he was depressed to boosting his powers considerably when he was in a rage. Ultimately, he came to control his powers again, and in so doing manifested the ability to fly under his own power. Unfortunately, he was killed by an ionic bomb shortly thereafter, his ions being scattered across the atmosphere and his soul moving on.

The Scarlet Witch accidentally brought him back to life with a hex-boosted cry for Avengers Assemble, reassembling Wonder Man's body (which, being energy, was not technically "dead"), and bringing him back to life tied to her. Simon was now a far more obvious energy being, his body constantly glowing with purple and red energy. For a few months, he was only summoned into existence by Wanda's need for him, until she managed to hex him completely back to life and physical form. Wonder Man now had two separate forms: His energy state and his human form, normal looking except for the energized eyes. Simon would automatically assume his energy aspect whenever exerting his powers, or when he chose to activate that state consciously. Later, however, Wonder Man showed greater control over his energy form and would only assumed his "charged" state when he wanted to, regardless of whether he's using his powers or not.

Later, it was revealed that his powers come not just from ionic energy, but from Pym Particle-enriched ions. The Pym Particles control more than just size. They operate on a three-dimensional axis that varies size, strength, and durability along x-, y- and z-axes. So Wonder Man's ionic power comes from Pym Particles augmenting him along two of those axes, affecting his strength and durability.

Simon Williams holds a college degree in electrical engineering. He is a trained electrical engineer, capable industrialist, experienced stuntman, and talented actor.