FUSION

 

FUSION

Real Name: Hubert and Pinky Fusser 

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #208, September 1980

Powers: Originally baseline humans with no superhuman powers, diminutive identical twins Hubert and Pinky Husser were employed at the New Jersey Experimental Physics Laboratory when the former activated a self-designed sub-atomic particle accelerator without performing any safety checks. Engulfed in raw energy, Hubert was rescued by his brother and then physically merged with him. With Hubert's mind in control, they became the energy-absorbing being known as Fusion.

Fusion's glowing, pulsating body absorbs energy from anything he makes physical contact with, be it electricity from lights, momentum from subway trains, automobiles, a six story fall, or the chemical reaction in Spider-Man's webbing fluid. Fusion's size and strength increase with each assimilation. He can release a tiny portion of energy to repel an attacker and create a chemical reaction to walk on water. While Hubert's mind controls the body, Pinky can separate it, restoring their normal human forms.

Hubert Fusser holds a Ph.D. in physics and was the research director of the New Jersey Experimental Physics Laboratory.

SAPPHIRE STYX

 

SAPPHIRE STYX

 

Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #1, September 1988

Powers: Sapphire Styx is a centuries-old mutant whose power is to feed off of spiritual psychic energy. Her touch allows her to absorb energy from victims, draining away their strength and vigor. In exchange, she can accelerate her own recuperation and has maintained her youth and beauty well past her natural prime. It was suggested that she became supernaturally beautiful after feeding, but whether this was literal or metaphorical isn't exactly clear. Her touch can drain people to the point of death and rapid organic disintegration. Some of her victims' psychic energy remains a part of Sapphire indefinitely.

MAGMA I

 

MAGMA I

 

Real Name: Jonathan Darque

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #110, October 1976

Powers: Jonathan Darque was the chief executive officer of a mining company investigating new and cheap sources of energy. His investigations were opposed by environmental activists, who held demonstrations at his trial bore sites. His wife died in a car crash when attempting to evade the activists' blockade. Soon, a class action lawsuit forced Darque to shut down operations entirely. He designed a costume with weaponry to allow him to take revenge.

His costume grants him superhuman strength and durability (especially resistance against heat); his power glove further enhances his striking force. His magma projector fires streams of molten lava or red hot lava rocks faster than the speed of sound, enabling them to pass through a 2-foot thick block of titanium steel. He's used a specially-designed miner's ax, large tank-like weapons able to tunnel through rock or molten lava, and devices able to activate and release dormant tension within the Earth. His visor fires blasts of geothermal energy. His pod fired energy blasts, had limbs able to resist Iron Man, and could resist a liquid nitrogen tank explosion. His agents wore protective armor with gas masks and used energy blasters and anesthetic gas weapons.

Jonathan Darque is a gifted intellect and was the CEO and principal shareholder of a mining company. He holds masters degrees in business administration and mechanical engineering and was an accomplished engineer, strategist, and business administrator.

S.H.O.C.

 

S.H.O.C. 

 

Real Name: Todd Fields 

First Appearance: Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #76, November 1996 

 

Powers: Todd Fields is the son of a scientist who worked for HYDRA in developing Project S.H.O.C. (Sub-dimensional Human-based Occultechnic Conduit) over two decades ago as a means of accessing the extradimensional energy of the Darkforce dimension via bonding to a special armor, a procedure which eventually kills the user.

The scientist wore the armor as the superhuman operative S.H.O.C. alongside a man that would come to be known as Crown, but absconded with the armor after learning of HYDRA's true purpose, building a new life for himself as Empire State University professor "Dr. William Fields", getting married and fathering a son, Todd. However, Crown tracked down and killed Dr. Fields along with many other Hydra agents and was planning to use the S.H.O.C.s technology to conquer the world. Todd was a young boy when he witnessed the death of his father, witch traumatized him greatly. His father however left Todd with key components for Todd to track and use another S.H.O.C. armor and bond with it. Todd then became S.H.O.C. and swore revenge on Crown for murdering his father.

S.H.O.C. was bonded with a bio-mechanical armor charged by a mysterious power source. By combining his father's research work with the S.H.O.C. armor, Todd physically bonded with the armor and could use it to channel Darkforce energy for various purposes. His arch-nemesis Crown was apparently empowered by an earlier version of S.H.O.C.'s technology. He was covered by a tangible black energy suit at all times, apparently could not revert to human, and claimed to be dying as a result of the experiment. Whether S.H.O.C. was also dying because of his powers, or if his father's notes improved enough upon the earlier tech to preserve his life, is unknown.

As S.H.O.C., Todd could mentally generate black energy in order to summon the armor at will, changing identities with a thought. Once the armor was active and helping him channel Darkforce energy, S.H.O.C. possessed superhuman strength, stamina, and resistance to physical injury, as well as flight. The S.H.O.C. armor was mildly customizable -- it showcased heavy armor plating on the outer surface during combat situations, but on the rare occasions S.H.O.C. appeared in a relaxed setting, those armor plates smoothed out to resemble a flat design pattern on the suit. S.H.O.C. could produce Darkforce energy for transmogrifying blasts. The most basic form of blast would deconstruct matter, causing concussive or disintegrating effects where it struck. However, the black energy could also cause more elaborate effects like reshaping the floor into defensive barrier or charging Spider-Man's webbing with energy so that it could absorb additional force as a web net. S.H.O.C. could also transmogrify himself while inside the armor. He could increase his overall mass, growing to at least twice his normal size. He could also stretch his arms or fingers like Mister Fantastic, and expand his fists into massive pile-drivers. He could shape and disconnect portions of his armored mass from the whole, and remain in mental contact with these pieces even after they separated from him. S.H.O.C. was sensitive to other sources of Darkforce energy in use in his vicinity, and could absorb and redirect those energies when exposed to them. Whether he could sense and manipulate other forms of energy is unknown.

DRAGONFLY

 

DRAGONFLY

Real Name: Veronica Dultry 

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #94, August 1975

Powers: Originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers, Veronica Dultry was hired by Count Luchino Nefaria to be a specimen for genetic engineer Kenneth Sturdy, who mutated her into a semi-humanoid being with insect-like features and hypnotic powers.

As Dragonfly, she has fly-like wings enabling her to fly at speeds up 45 miles per hour. She can release a hypnotizing ray through her forehead's antennae, rendering a single victim within 5 feet susceptible to all her commands. Due to her unstable genetic structure, her body absorbs radiation and uses it to further mutate her into a 12' long insect form with the power to control every insect within 200-foot radius. Excess radiation is slowly released (this is expedited in immersion in water), reversing any radiation-inducing mutations. The Consultant's battle armor rendered her bulletproof.

SLYDE

 

SLYDE

Real Name: Jalome Beacher

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #272, January 1986

Powers: A baseline human with no superhuman powers, Jalome Beacher was a chemical engineer for Beemont Manufacturing R&D who developed a completely frictionless chemical coating to revolutionize the non-stick frying pan industry. Fired from the company before he could announce his discovery, Beacher sought to raise cash to create his own company. Seeing no other option, he donned a speed skater costume treated with his miracle coating and became the bank robber Slyde.

Slyde's costume and boots are coated in a friction-eliminating chemical that allows him to skate rapidly over any surface. He can move at up to 30 miles per hour and is highly maneuverable, able to turn swiftly by shifting his weight or grabbing a stationary object to twist around. His costume also prevents others from grasping him, and stops Spider-Man's webbing from sticking. His gloves have uncoated pads, allowing him to grasp objects. His boots' tips are sharpened, allowing him to slice objects. He briefly carried a sword and shuriken, but demonstrated no skill in using them.

Jalome Beacher is a talented chemical engineer with a masters degree in chemical engineering.

BASILISK

 

BASILISK

Real Name: Basil Elks

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #16, December 1973

Powers: Basil Elks was a career criminal who drew his power from the Alpha-Stone and Omega-Stone, two fragments of the Kree Lifestones from the Hellfire Helix which somehow made their way to Earth. He was transformed when the Alpha-Stone was shattered by a bullet while in his hand, and later sought out power from the Omega-Stone as well. As Basil Elks became the Basilisk, he turned into a green-skinned form with augmented levels of strength, endurance, resilience, and intelligence. He could lift over 800 lbs, and his enhanced intellect presumably came from the lingering consciousness of the gem's previous wielder, much like the experience Moonstone had years later with her Lifestone fragment.

Basilisk's primary power, however, was in his eyes -- he could project beams of pure force, intense heat to melt objects or make them burst into flames, or freezing beams which rapidly slowed molecular activity to coat his target with a layer of ice. He could direct his force eye-beams downwards as a makeshift form of propulsion, launching himself into the air and flying for short distances. Besides augmenting his existing abilities, the Omega-Stone also gave Basilisk new powers. He became capable of influencing geothermal activity, setting off eruptions in existing volcanoes or causing new ones to sprout forth from the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth around the formation site. Basilisk could also generate a teleportation effect, transporting him and anything in close proximity as far as halfway across the globe instantaneously. This teleporting built energy slowly, and produced considerable radiant heat in the process, enough to melt a nearby block of ice while he was transmitting himself.