ABOMINATION

 

ABOMINATION

Real Name: Emil Blonsky

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish (Vol. 1) #90, April 1967

Powers: Emil Blonsky bombarded himself with a more concentrated and intense dosage of gamma radiation than Bruce Banner himself had received from the nuclear explosion that had first turned him into the Hulk. Like Banner, Blonsky had some unknown genetic factor in his body that saved him from being killed by a great dose of gamma radiation. Instead, the radiation had an immediate mutagenic effect upon Blonsky, transforming him into the monster whom General Ross's daughter dubbed the Abomination.

The Abomination has two toes on each foot, webbed ears, and a ridged brow. He was once doused in toxic waste, giving his skin a melted appearance. He possesses Superhuman Class 100 strength that surpasses that of the Hulk at the Hulk's normal "calm" functional level. But whereas the Hulk has a specially adapted adrenal gland whose secretions trigger the release of far greater amounts of physical strength than that of the Hulk's normal level to correspond to his heightened emotional states, the Abomination does not. Hence, the Abomination's strength does not fluctuate like the Hulk's. The gamma radiation that mutated Blonsky's body fortified his cellular structure and added, from some as yet unknown source, over 800 pounds of bone marrow and tissue to his body. Unlike the Hulk, the Abomination is a standard gamma mutate possessing a single form and intelligence, rather than switching between an original and altered form and personality like the Hulk.

In addition to great strength, the Abomination's body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury, pain, and disease. The Abomination's skin is capable of withstanding great heat without blistering (up to 3,500° Fahrenheit), great cold without freezing (down to -175° Fahrenheit), and great impacts without injury (he can survive direct hits by field artillery cannon shells). It is possible to injure him, however: for example, the Abomination could not survive the detonation of a nuclear warhead from ten feet away. The Abomination's highly efficient physiology renders him immune to all terrestrial disease. The Abomination can hold his breath for long periods, the limits of which have yet to be defined. Extreme pain or cold (beneath the limit mentioned above) or extended lack of oxygen can cause him to enter a coma-like state of suspended animation, in which he can survive, perhaps indefinitely. Like the Hulk, the Abomination can use his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Abomination has been observed to cover 2 miles in a single bound.

It's noteworthy to mention that in comparing the mutated forms of gamma-irradiated subjects such as the Hulk, the Abomination, Doc Samson, the She-Hulk, Patchwork, and the Leader, different frequencies of gamma radiation affect different human beings in different ways. The effect that intensive gamma radiation has on most people is cellular deterioration and eventual death, but there are others whose genetic constitution enables them to mutate so as to gain superhuman powers. The type and extent of mutation is determined by four factors: The frequency of the gamma rays, the amount of the gamma rays, the subject's latent mutant potential, and the subject's psychological make-up. The subject's potential for mutation is dictated by certain mysterious "interstitial" segments of DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid), the molecules which carry a living organism's genetic code. Under the action of mutagenic influences, such as gamma rays, the segments can trigger many body wide restructuring events. As for the subject's psychological make-up, it has been theorized that the gamma radiation somehow acts to mold the subject's mutated form according to repressed desires within his subconscious.

Hence, Emil Blonsky's mutated form is the physical embodiment of his own self-loathing. Hence, these four factors contributed to the extremely non-human appearance of the Abomination, the neanderthalic appearances of the Hulk, and the relatively normal appearance of Doc Samson, whose only aberration is his hair color. Why gamma radiation tends to produce mutate forms of a greenish hue is not yet known. Also, Doc Samson's strength is at least partially governed by the length of his hair, but that governing itself is at least partially psychological in nature.