DROM THE BACKWARDS MAN

 

DROM THE BACKWARDS MAN

Real Name: Drom

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #31, December 1974

Powers: Drom's infant form was, by unknown means, exchanged through time with his future elder self minutes after his birth. For 45 years, he lived in seclusion and growing younger with a vampiric need for energy.

Drom lived, aged, spoke, and metabolized food in reverse. He created conversion machines to make food edible and his speech comprehensible, though he still understood and perceived the present flow of time normally. His body could absorb physical energy from a distance or energy from organic matter by touch, causing immediate decay. His metabolic disruptor could break down and siphon cellular energy. His chronal gun decayed obiects, created a four-armed sand creature and knocked Spider-Man unconscious. He used high- powered binoculars and a mirror that helped hold him in time.

MAN-KILLER

 

MAN-KILLER

Real Name: Katrina Luisa Van Horn

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #8, January 1973 (As Man-Killer); Thunderbolts (Vol. 1) #67, September 2002 (As Amazon)

Powers: Katrina Van Horn was a German Olympic skier who was crippled and left horribly scarred during a skiing challenge against a male chauvinistic competitor. Becoming a fanatical misandrist with financial support from a wealthy militant feminist group (which itself was technologically and financially supported by the male-dominated subversive terrorist science organization known as the Advanced Idea Mechanics), Katrina underwent a physical rehabilitation program to regain her mobility and was outfitted with an exoskeleton which augmented her strength and hid her scars, she became the terrorist known as the Man-Killer.

The Man-Killer is superhumanly strong (she can lift up to 75 tons) with enhanced durability. These traits originally stemmed from her strength-enhancing exoskeleton, but the power now seems to rest in her own body. How she eliminated the need for her exoskeleton remains unknown, as does how she removed the extensive scarring that had previously disfigured her body. Shortly before and during her Ultimate Brawling League stint, she wore an armored harness, claiming it was a life-support mechanism that she could not remove, but this may have been a deception since she has not worn the harness before or since that brief period. Van Horn has some ability as an organizer and strategist, is a formidable but savage unarmed combatant, and has cultivated a certain degree of acting ability during her time spent working under various cover identities.

She is an experienced bartender. Van Horn has worn a gauntlet that generates Pym Particles, enabling her to assume gigantic size (apparently up to twenty-five feet tall), further enhancing her already superhuman strength, though this may have been a temporary ability. She formerly carried razor-edged discs that she could throw with great force and accuracy. While working with her feminist army, Man-Killer employed a flying, armored hovercraft outfitted with a powerful front-mounted battering ram and a roof-mounted energy cannon.

AMADEUS CHO

 

AMADEUS CHO

Real Name: Amadeus Cho

First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy (Vol. 2) #15, November 2005 (As Amadeus Cho); Totally Awesome Hulk (Vol. 1) #1, December 2015 (As Hulk); Champions (Vol. 2) #22, July 2018 (As Brawn)

Powers: Amadeus Cho is a hypermind, possessing a reoccurring form of superhuman intelligence that manifests from time to time in humanity. His mind is capable of simultaneously performing infinite calculations, allowing him to observe and assimilate virtually all available data in his environment. This form of "light-speed mathematics" allows Amadeus to instantly compute highly complex equations for things like triangulation and trajectory. For instance, Amadeus was once inside a ship while the villain Artume stood out of sight on top of it, while Hercules and his allies charged at her. A quick glance out the window allowed Amadeus to plot Hercules' line-of-sight to Artume, letting him calculate exactly where to shoot upwards through the ship to hit the villain. He can also compute vectors for any projectile, letting him throw objects or otherwise set them into motion for a series of coordinated bounces and ricochets, like Cap's shield or Daredevil's club, and also enabling him to dodge bullets, shrapnel and other assaults by predicting their flight path.

For more advanced pattern recognition, Amadeus can also observe and catalogue behaviorisms and reactions in others, predicting how they will react in different situations to certain stimuli. This enables him to anticipate the actions of other people (he can do so to a substantially greater degree the more familiar he is with them), and even influence their behavior by knowingly introducing stimuli that he knows will guide them towards performing certain actions. Cho's intelligence has allowed him to absorb and store vast amounts of information in his young life, giving him encyclopediac knowledge on multiple subjects and skill sets.

The ultimate expression of Amadeus's hypermind, however, is his ability to read and measure the quantum probability acting upon the universe. By recognizing the outcomes of any given situation, Cho can choose from the potential quantum states available and engineer the outcome most favorable to him. Although quantum mechanics would technically define this as the observation and manipulation of reality, Amadeus cannot influence probability or events simply by willing it -- his hypermind only allows him to calculate the infinite of possible actions he could take at any given time, read the outcome of each of his actions, and then actually carry out the most favorable action in reality. For some reason, Amadeus Cho's hypermind is dependent on saturated fats and sugar to function. Excess calculation can drain his intelligence, giving him normal mental abilities until he manages to "recharge" by eating more junk food.

Amadeus was known for using different forms of technology to supplement his intelligence and activities. He carried a specially-modified GameBoy able to hack into virtually any nearby system, allowing him to monitor security systems, access encrypted information, or remotely seize control of various forms of computers or technology. He employed modified versions of BannerTech and LeaderTech teleportation and personal force field equipment. Amadeus also carried a version of Hercules's Adamantine mace capable of absorbing energy from attacks striking his force field and rechanneling the energy as blasts from the mace's head. For a time, Amadeus incorporated some of his technology into a Calvin Klein business suit. The on-board A.I., "Calvin", was capable of performing environmental scans to identify and analyze threats, detect energy surges, provide encyclopediac information, etc. It also controlled his force field, minimal self-levitation, and other features.

After absorbing gamma radiation from Bruce Banner, Amadeus became capable of achieving his own Hulk form. In this state he seemingly possesses Class 100 strength as well as superhuman endurance, long-distance leaping ability, regenerative powers, and is nearly invulnerable to physical harm. Like previous Hulks, he gains increased strength and physical power from his rage. The gamma radiation heightens his natural personality and emotions, which in Amadeus's case means increased egotism, cockiness, and libido in either form, but especially as the Hulk. Typically, Amadeus and the Hulk share the same mind and personality between forms. However, a second aspect of Amadeus's mind exists, "his Hulk", which he metaphorically keeps locked up and under control.

MANIFOLD

 

MANIFOLD

Real Name: Eden Fesi

First Appearance: Secret Avengers (Vol. 1) #4, May 2009 (As Fesi); Avengers (Vol. 5) #1, February 2013 (As Manifold)

Powers: Manifold is a mutant and a universal shaper under the tutelage of Gateway. His power is essentially teleportation, allowing him to bend folds of space to connect distant locations with one another. This creates a shimmering portal of energy which people and objects can travel down to instantly move between points. Eden can mentally choose who and what travels with him, preventing undesirables from following him through the portal. Mystical beings can disrupt his control. He can also move people and objects without traveling with them. Eden's ability to pinpoint his jumps requires a conscious, but intuitive grasp of mathematics and fourth-dimensional space. Manifold uses binary code and mathematics for portal generation, but must have positional awareness and know where the endpoint is. His range seems virtually limitless, but is confined to his own universe/dimension.

By understanding the variables affecting his present location (distance above sea level, significant gravitational influences, etc), Eden compensates for those variables while mentally computing the distance to his destination. If he is knocked unconscious or otherwise moved without being able to maintain his positional awareness, Eden cannot accurately construct the spatial folds he needs in order to teleport. Eden is a combat-grade teleporter able to use his powers with increasing finesse and tactical deployment. He can move starships inside each other or cause projectiles or beam weapons to be redirected back in the direction they came. He can shape light around his body to become invisible, or open a portal directly into a star to summon forth devastating solar plasma. As a Manifold, his power also has a subliminal quality for moving things "where they need to go". Far more intuitive than the conscious application of his power, Eden can sidestep any and all limitations on his ability to reposition people and objects based on a mercurial or metaphysical "need" to move or reunite. The full ramifications of his powers being employed like this has never been explained.

A "manifold" like Eden is a multiversal constant seeded into realities by the Molecule Man as part of the Rabum Alal scheme he hatched with Doctor Doom to prevent the early death of the universe.

He is trained in hand-to-hand and firearm combat, and skilled at accurately throwing a spear. He meditates and has basic medical and excellent wilderness survival skills.

LACTUCA THE KNOWER

 

LACTUCA THE KNOWER

Real Name: Lactuca

First Appearance: Planet Size X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, June 2021

Powers: Lactuca is an omega-level mutant who physically appears as a robed figure resembling the night sky. He possesses a form of unlimited knowledge along with the mutant power to know the exact position of all people and objects in known space, and can trace changes in their position in real time to comprehend movement and trajectories. It is unknown whether his awareness applies solely to the universe or the entire omniverse.

XILO THE FIRST DEFENDER

 

 

XILO THE FIRST DEFENDER

Real Name: Xilo

First Appearance: Planet Size X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, June 2021

Powers: Xilo the First Defender is an omega-level mutant with large-sized earthworm characteristics. His mutant power is to disassemble into mutant earthworms, burrowing down into the soil. He is able to integrate with the soil, at which point he can sample the molecular and chemical content of the land, make small adjustments to its aspects such as pH levels and micro-organisms, or massive changes like carving enormous statues from mountainsides. Using his power to terraform the planet Mars, he supplied nutrients and minerals, created bacteria, and such for the planet to be able to support life. He also produced plant growth on Mars to support a breathable atmosphere.

SOBUNAR OF THE DEPTHS

 

SOBUNAR OF THE DEPTHS

Real Name: Sobunar

First Appearance: Planet Size X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, June 2021

Powers: Sobunar of the Depths is an omega-level mutant whose physical mutation grants him a the appearance of a bidpedal axolotl. He possesses amphibious characteristics and stands three times the average human height.

His mutant power is that his bloodstream contains an entire oceanic ecosystem. Instead of blood, his body fluid is a complex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and smaller amounts of other substances, including dissolved inorganic and organic materials, particulates, and a few atmospheric gases. When his power is enhanced, his oxygenated blood can create oceans on planetary scales.