SHANG-CHI

 

SHANG-CHI

Real Name: Shang-Chi

First Appearance: Special Marvel Edition (Vol. 1) #15, December 1973

Powers: Shang-Chi is a baseline human with no superhuman powers. The son of the internationally powerful criminal mastermind Fu Manchi, he was raised and educated in his father’s retreat. By the time he was 19 years of age, Shang Chi had become master of the mental and martial arts in which he was rigorously trained, both by his father and his father’s instructors.

Considered the greatest living practitioner of Kung Fu and an expert in various related mental and physical disciplines, Shagn-Chi is also proficient in the art of meditation, which he uses to focus his chi -- the mysterious energy martial-arts masters channel to strengthen their skills. While meditating, he has occasionally received portents of the future. As a master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi is well-versed in the use of many hand-held martial-arts implements, including the bo staff, nunchukas and double-edged sword.

Despite being a baseline human, Shang-Chi can match superhuman opponents in physical battle and, at maximum exertion, can withstand a blow delivered from a superhumanly strong attacker. A former fisherman, he is an expert in the use of equipment in capturing, handling, and preparing fish; and operating a fishing vessel.

SIEGE

SIEGE

Real Name: John Kelly
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #62, November 1990 (As Kelly); Deathlok (Vol. 1) #18, December 1992 (As Siege)

Powers: The Cyberwarriors were an extension of the previous Deathlok project, with a lobotomized brain serving as wetware for a cybernetic body. They typically possess Class 90 strength, superhuman endurance, reflexes, and tremendous resistance to physical injury. A Cyberwarrior’s body most likely maintains the basic design specifications of a Deathlok, with molecularly-molded Adamantium bones and Adamantium-derived synthetic tissue and muscles. The body is no longer constructed exactly like a normal human, as it can spin around 180 degrees at the waist. It is also equipped with a pair of pulse cannons built into its forearms. The left cannon's twin barrels can project sustained energy beams or bursts, while the right arm assembly is a collapsible Gatling cylinder capable of firing off a rapid stream of energy projectiles that can penetrate tungsten steel. It is also capable of flight, and can neutralize some forms of sustained energy assaults by absorbing and re-routing that power through its systems. Although it lacks the same fully interactive computer as Deathlok, a Cyberwarrior’s computer system is capable of scanning his environment for targeting and identification, and has different features such as radar, radio transmission interception, and life-sign monitoring. Each Cyberwarrior was covered in black and red armor and had wires running throughout their bodies.

The above Cyberwarrior is operated by the mental patterns of Col. John Kelly and is called "Siege". Before Kelly's brain was electrocuted to death, a digital copy of his personality and memories (up to the point of his brain being destroyed) was stored on-file inside the Deathlok cyborg's CPU. Biohazard attacked Deathlok III (Michael Collins) for this very reason: Absorbing Deathlok III into itself would complete its fractured memories as John Kelly. While mentally researching information on his predecessor, Collins accidentally activated Kelly's personality as an independent artificial intelligence. From that point on, Kelly operated within cyberspace along with the CPU, much to Collins' annoyance. When confronting a group of Cyberwarriors, Deathlok III attempted to jack into the cyborg to override its programming. Kelly's personality program used this as an escape route and uploaded himself into the Cyberwarrior, becoming Siege. As Kelly's personality has been encoded into the Cyberwarrior in programming language, Siege is impervious to mental scans. Also, the Cyberwarrior's body has a simplified digestive system that can only absorb a liquid nutrient formula. Also, possibly because the organic portions of his body are not his own, or possibly because the brain he inhabits was lobotomized, Siege has no tactile sensation and has a very limited emotional range. Siege has described the way he experiences his pseudo-life as being akin to playing a video game.

BIOHAZARD

 

BIOHAZARD

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #62, November 1990 (BTS); Deathlok (Vol. 1) #1, July 1990 (Brain); Deathlok (Vol. 2) #12, June 1992 (As Biohazard)

Powers: Biohazard is John Kelly’s electrocuted and discarded brain, mutated and gaining sentience after exposure to both nanotech machines and stasis fluids. After the brain was disposed of, it began manifesting self-mobilizing and organic assimilation traits. The brain absorbed organic materials from the surrounding garbage dump it was tossed in, eventually developing prehensile tentacles and a mouth. It then absorbed a cat, and finally a human in order to gain bipedal mobility. Kelly's brain, soon renamed "Biohazard", could read the DNA and genetically-encoded memories of anything it absorbed, causing it to grow not only in size and mass as it assimilated greater amounts of matter, but also increasing its overall intelligence and thinking ability.

Biohazard eventually developed self-awareness and began self-identifying as John Kelly, from the original memories left in its brain. Kelly, as Biohazard, was still essentially a self-motivating brain, surrounded by layers of non-vital organic tissue which it shaped and manipulated as necessary. The brain was the only vulnerable piece of Biohazard's anatomy, as other portions of Biohazard's mass could be torn or blasted off, yet would move on their own accord to reintegrate back into the main body. By absorbing enough organic matter, Biohazard could grow to gigantic size, with superhuman levels of strength. It could manifest claws, spikes, or prehensile tentacles from its body, or collapse into a liquid state to absorb impact, flow underneath a doorframe, or "pour" itself from the top of a building to the street below.

Biohazard's preferred method of absorbing organic matter was to create a telescoping mouth to piece an opponent's head and suck out their brain. Any time it absorbed a brain in this manner, Biohazard would gain full access to that person's memories. However it was sometimes difficult, especially during Biohazard's earlier stages of development, to separate out and understand a lifetime's experiences in order to get the information he was searching for Therefore, Biohazard used its power for quasi-reanimation: It could take the DNA engrams of anyone it assimilated and imprint them on a portion of its mass, then separate that mass from its main body. This secondary mass would "run" the victim's biological profile like a computer program, rewriting the organic matter into a duplicate of the person's body and reactivating their personality and memories inside that body. This way, Biohazard could get perspective on the memories it was trying to integrate. Although these bio-duplicates thought they were the original person, and generally acted like it, they were really extensions of Biohazard's body and will. As a result, they would compulsively reveal information to it or carry out pre-programmed actions without consciously understanding why. These duplicates can also be transformed into secondary bodies for Biohazard itself, with all of its regular capabilities. In the example, when Biohazard re-animated Billy Hansen, the scientist who experimented on the brain in the first place, "Billy" sought out Deathlok III to tell him about Biohazard without realizing that he had been programmed to do so by Biohazard. Once he found Collins, "Billy's" programming was completed and he transformed into another Biohazard in order to fight and assimilate Collins' memories.

DEATHLOK III

 

DEATHLOK III

Real Name: Michael Collins

First Appearance: Deathlok (Vol. 1) #1, July 1990

Powers: John Kelly was Deathlok II and the first Deathlok of the modern era. His brain was electrocuted to death on his first test-run due to a programming flaw in the Deathlok cyborg's onboard CPU. After extensive programmatic revisions to the CPU, Kelly's unwilling replacement was the brain of one of the Deathlok computer programmers and department head of the Computer Software Systems Unit at Cybertek Systems, Michael Collins. However, Collins' mind eventually asserted itself and operated the cyborg as Deathlok III from that point on, essentially with his brain occupying John Kelly's modified body.

Deathlok, while resembling its alternate-timeline counterpart, and benefiting somewhat from that “future’s” technology, is an entirely new weapons system several orders of magnitude more efficient and effective than its predecessor. The most crucial component in its success as the most versatile weapon in history is the new encephalonic reading and writing technology. Encephalonics allow the use of an organic brain to store information that can be accessed by Deathlok's main computer and operating system. The human brain has a storage capability which is, at this point, literally incalculable. Deathlok’s computer system contains downloaded contents in excess of 17 Cray mainframe computers and can provide detailed information of a wide variety of subjects (historical, technical, trivial, biographical, etc.) The onboard CPU is also a tactical computer capable of providing sensory analyses of targets and situations. It can compute and modify the amount of force Deathlok or any weapon he carries applies in order to achieve different results (stun, kill, ventilate), compute “battle plans”, assessing variables and parameters to conceive of the best possible course of action to survive a situation or achieve a goal. The computer can then automatically guide the body’s reflexes, sharpshooting, and any other actions through a situation without the human brain consciously exerting any effort.

The system's brain is supported by organic human lungs to supply it with oxygen and a simplified organic stomach to process nourishment. Dissolved nutrients are pumped by an artificial heart through an artificial circulatory system in a synthetic blood-like substance that also carries oxygen from the lungs. For the sake of convenience, most of the original, biological head remains intact to allow use of the natural naso-laryngeal construction for speech. Nanotech assemblers routinely repair minor damage to the organic systems. The unit’s artificial left eye is sensitive to a spectrum stretching both above and below visible light. When in active scanning mode, it can also emit and detect variable frequency, EM radiation and neutrinos.

The artificial ear is also more efficient than a human ear, and has directional capabilities. Both visual and audio input can be further augmented by digital data gathered by both systems. It is routinely digitized and stored in organic memory where it can be accessed for playback either by the unit or on monitors. Other than the previously mentioned organic systems, the unit is of entirely artificial construction.

Deathlok's skeleton is of pure indestructible Adamantium, tooled to mimic the full human range of motion. The muscles and cartilage are composed of an extremely impact-resistant, surprisingly elastic, Adamantium/steel alloy which also mimics the full human range of motion. The torsal cavity contains the organic lungs and stomach, the computer's central processor, and the controlled fusion generator that powers the cyborg and its primary firearms. The unit can lift (press) 85 tons under optimal conditions. The strength limitation is due to the stress and elasticity limitations of the muscle alloy. The Deathlok system can exert more force than its muscles can bear without being deformed or ruptured.

For this reason, an inhibitor function in its operating system prevents it (under almost all circumstances) from exerting anywhere near its theoretical 150-ton strength levels. Deathlok's primary offensive weapon is the Plasma Assault Rifle. The weapon fires plasma created by superheating inert gases, and is powered by the cyborg's internal fusion reactor. The weapon is limited by power considerations, and the gun's inability to operate unless in direct contact with the fingertip power outlets in the cyborg's right hand. Deathlok also carries a pistol with similar limitations, but less firepower. Adjacent to the rifle is a plasma grenade launcher with immense destructive power. Deathlok can interface with virtually any computer system and, by expanding its sensory perceptions into “cyberspace”, it can communicate with phone and computer systems via machine code.

MIchael Collins is a gifted intellect with a masters degree in computer science and a Ph.D. in both prosthetics and neuroscience. An expert computer programmer, he has used his skills to interface with Deathlok III's CPU to implement programming safeguards (the "no killing" parameter which prevents the cyborg from causing death). After experiments performed on him by the cosmic Stranger, Collins can now assume his totally human and organic state, yet reactivate his internal computer and full bionic enhancements at will. He also now possesses regenerative powers which can repair both his organic and artificial components.

JOHN KELLY

 

JOHN KELLY

Real Name: John Kelly

First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #62, November 1990

Powers: John Kelly is a master of both armed and unarmed combat due to his time as both a former United States Army Colonel and a New York City police officer.

Technology from Deathlok I (Luther Manning) found its way into the hands of the present-day RoXXon Oil Corporation. By hacking classified files from S.H.I.E.L.D., they created the first robotic duplicate and later advanced the technology through their subsidiary company Cybertek Systems to reverse-engineer a new Deathlok cyborg years earlier than they did in Manning's timeline. Approached by Cybertek CEO, Harlan Ryker, John Kelly readily volunteered to become the prototype for the modern-era Deathlok. His body was cybernetically re-engineered and retooled into the framework of the Deathlok cyborg. The Deathlok cybernetic implants and CPU worked in conjunction with Kelly's brain to store and retrieve data at incalculable levels.

Kelly's initial test-run as Deathlok II consisted of a set of manually-loaded mission parameters into the cyborg's CPU. The objective was to "terminate" 12 targets. To that end, Deathlok II (armed with a paintball gun) was pitted against 12 trained mercenaries (all armed with real weapons). The test-run was going well until Kelly attempted to deviate from the mission parameters. The onboard CPU interpreted Kelly's actions as an error and, after determining the source of the error being from the organic software (the brain), corrected it by electrocuting Kelly's brain, killing him.

DEATHLOK I

 

DEATHLOK I

Real Name: Luther Manning

First Appearance: Astonishing Tales (Vol. 1) #25, August 1974

Powers: On Earth-7484, Luther Manning was a United States Army Colonel whose body was torn apart by a concussion bomb during a training exercise. Wishing to preserve Manning’s knowledge and experience, Simon Ryker selected him for Project: Alpha-Mech when he didn’t survive surgery. The CIA project, spearheaded by Simon and his brother Harlan, was designed to build an army of cyborg super-soldiers. After 5 years in stasis, Manning’s body was reanimated as the cyborg Deathlok with his remaining flesh was in a dead, necrotizing state while most of his body was reconstructed using metal and plastic components.

The reinforcement to his skeleton and muscles gave him mild superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reaction time. His artificial left eye provided variable visual modes, including telescopic, microscopic, infrared, and night vision capabilities, as well as advanced computer-guided targeting programs. He was still technically alive, and so required oxygen, food, water, and rest, although not to the same degree as before his cybernetic conversion. He is powered by a thermonuclear generator and, in all but his later incarnations, his mind was computer augmented. Deathlok's onboard computer system contained an advanced scanning suite that included thermal scans, motion and proximity sensors, and a storehouse of data on various subjects. The interactive intelligence ran on an internal modem, provided Deathlok with a “voice” in his head with intelligence updates, scanning alerts, and probability breakdowns for various possible tactical responses to a given scenario.

He has worn a woven metal-mesh costume and carried a helium-neon laser pistol, a 9” metallic knife that magnetized to his cybernetic leg, and a variety of bladed, ballistic, or energy-discharging weapons he could attach to his modular limbs. He also carried one of Godwilf’s Time Gauntlets, enabling time-travel. In later incarnations, Deathlok removed the computer intelligence from his head and adopted a bulkier and more heavily-armored cybernetic frame. Called the Demolisher, Manning now had increased levels of superhuman strength and durability, and he employed modular cybernetic arms with different weapons such as laser cannons, combat blades, or a vulcan cannon.

Deathlok is a gifted intellect, a brilliant military strategist, and formidable hand-to-hand combatant, all of which was augmented by his on-board computer.

BOOKWORM

 

BOOKWORM

Real Name: Nelson Gruber

First Appearance: Sleepwalker (Vol. 1) #4, September 1991

Powers: Nelson Gruber was originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers working as a laboratory assistant at Metropolitan University. He received his powers after conducting a sleep study on Rick Sheridan, the human host for the extra-dimensional vigilante known as Sleepwalker. During the study, he electronically recreated the synaptic patterns produced by Rick Sheridan's brain waves from when he and Sleepwalker were bonded and then amplified them. When his computer overloaded as a result, Gruber absorbed the energies of the Mindscape (Sleepwalker’s home dimension) that those patterns represented.

As Bookworm, he could summon those energies from the Mindscape and shape it into constructs that manifested as anything he read from the printed page. The speed at which he summoned multiple constructs in a row indicated that Bookworm was not actually reading each book he utilized for his powers, but merely focusing on the concepts the book represented. Although he chiefly used books to focus his power, it's likely anything that stimulated his imagination could potentially summon the energies necessary for his constructs. The constructs he formed were animated and even lifelike in their activities: Projections of King Arthur or Amazon warriors acted as Bookworm imagined they would, even after he left the immediate area and they operated without his direction. He could direct the actions of his constructs as well, commanding them to attack a particular opponent.

SPECTRA

 

SPECTRA

Real Name: Selena Slate

First Appearance: Sleepwalker #13, June 1992

Powers: Selena Slate was a laboratory assistant who was transformed into a superhuman being after making contact with a synthetic diamond being used for experiments in light. She can now transform into an energized state, generating a shifting spectrum of light colors from her body, as well as plumes of light-charged mist that wrapped around her body. Although her powers were innate, she carried the diamond to enhance and focus her abilities. Spectra is capable of flight and could project different forms of light offensively. She could generate blinding flashes of light, coherent laser beams, manipulate temperature to create intense heat or cold, and induce a neural jolt that caused tremendous pain to living creatures. Spectra could also manipulate light to cast illusions and bend visual patterns to make objects appear off center from where they actually sat. Her solid light constructs could form as battering rams, razor spikes, nets, etc.

COBWEB

 

COBWEB

Real Name: (unpronounceable by human standards)

First Appearance: Sleepwalker (Vol. 1) #3, August 1991

Powers: Cobweb is being from the psychic dimension known as the Mindscape. The Mindscape is equivalent to the astral plane, an extra-dimensional realm inhabited by sentient beings composed of pure thought, or representational matter. All human minds are linked through the Mindscape, and it is possible for denizens of the Mindscape to enter the minds of humans, influencing their dreams or causing them trauma or madness from their subconscious. A denizen of the Mindscape may be unable to find their way out of a human mind, though, either back into the Mindscape or out into the waking world. The beings known as the Sleepwalkers have long made it their purpose to patrol the Mindscape and guard defenseless minds everywhere from evil creatures who would invade other beings consciousness in order to feed upon their mental energies. One such creature was the being who would become known as Cobweb. Cobweb developed a rivalry with one Sleepwalker in particular, who defeated him many times over and banished him to the furthest reaches of the Mindscape. Cobweb eventually returned and lured his rival Sleepwalker into the mind of Rick Sheridan.

Cobweb appears composed of material that resembles webbing. He is elastic and durable, able to bend with impact to absorb attacks without suffering harm. His body can extend and reshape itself, increasing the length of his limbs or distorting his appearance. He can weave duplicates of himself, animating them from a distance with a single thread to divert his prey. Cobweb can influence the minds of other beings, creating illusions and false realities that mislead his opponents. These illusions can actually become reality over time if the victim believes them for too long. From his position in the Mindscape, Cobweb can scan the minds of human beings or monitor their waking activities, but whether this is a "power" or simply the nature of the Mindscape is unknown.

8-BALL

 

8-BALL

Real Name: Jeffrey Hagees

First Appearance: Sleepwalker (Vol. 1) #2, July 1991

Powers: Jeff Hagees was a designer of mission propulsion systems for a defense contractor. A compulsive gambler, he was fired by his employers who feared he'd sell defense secrets to pay his gambling debts. Furious, he created the costumed criminal identity of 8-Ball, basing his custom pool cue on his propulsion system work.

His pool cue worked as a force-amplification delivery system. By striking a target with the cue, the target would receive hundreds or even thousands of times greater directional force than the average strike of a pool cue would generate. With his own talent for billiards and angular geometry, 8-Ball could then launch objects as projectiles towards his true target to cause massive damage. The strike itself seemed to transfer force, not apply it: Striking a person with the pool cue would not hurt them with 100x greater force than normal, it would amplify the force they were experiencing from the strike, causing them to move with greater force and velocity, but without experiencing the impact that would normally be necessary to transfer that amount of force into their bodies. Whatever the pool cue launched them into would be a crushing impact, but getting hit by the pool cue itself would not. His costume was a billiards motif consisting of a bulletproof helmet and a variety of pool balls for throwing, some designed to act as grenades. He traveled aboard a hover rack in the form of a giant pool ball.

Jeffrey Hagees holds a masters degree in engineering. A gifted intellect and inventor, he is a skilled gymnast, an expert pool player, and an experienced designer of missile propulsion system.

SLEEPWALKER

 

SLEEPWALKER

Real Name: (unpronounceable by human standards)

First Appearance: Sleepwalker (Vol. 1) #1, June 1991

Powers: The being called Sleepwalker is a native of the Mindscape, a dimension which borders the unconscious minds of all living beings. He belongs to a group of guardians of the Mindscape called Sleepwalkers who are sworn to prevent the evil beings of their realm from entering the minds of innocents.

A disastrous encounter with one such foe left him trapped in the mental landscape of a human, Rick Sheridan. Whenever Rick falls asleep or unconscious, Sleepwalker materializes out from Rick's mind into our world. When Rick wakes up, Sleepwalker returns to his mind, fading from physical existence wherever he is on Earth at the time. He possesses Class 10 strength and superhuman endurance, reflexes, and resistance to physical injury. His primary power is his warp-vision, which is capable of manipulating matter in a number of ways. Sleepwalker can cause inanimate objects to seemingly come to life and attack his opponents, inducing fences or lamp posts to wrap around and entangle a victim or the street to rise up and strike someone or immobilize them in place. He could redirect the direction of matter, such as causing a burst water main to turn at a right angle and strike a specific target. Warping matter also allows him to "stretch" it in some way, like when he wrapped a mugger in a playground swing, then caused the posts the swing set was mounted with to shoot up more than 50 feet tall. Sleepwalker has taken an oath never to use his warp-vision on living beings, because the disruptive effect in excruciatingly painful and could prove fatal if not immediately reversed.

Sleepwalker possesses telescopic vision and can see in different wavelengths of light beyond the human range thanks to his warp-vision, and can project two-dimensional images in mid-air that replay anything he has seen in the past. He cannot manipulate or animate these images, but merely show exactly what is in his visual memory. As an extension of his warping effect, Sleepwalker is capable walking on air by projecting auras of energy from his feet. He is capable of mentally controlling the height of his levitation, but cannot move through the air any faster than he can walk or run, unless he uses his warp-vision to construct a wind tunnel in order to propel him at high speeds. Sleepwalker is dependent on energy from the Mindscape in order to sustain his powers and survive, and so if Rick remains unconscious for too long a time, Sleepwalker will begin suffering ill-effects. Fortunately, the normal human sleep cycle seems to be short enough that it doesn't affect Sleepwalker, and only in rare cases has this been a problem. Also, Sleepwalker's powers are inexplicably tied to contact with the ground, meaning that he becomes weaker the higher up in the air he levitates, and is rejuvenated by returning to Earth. While in the Earth's dimension, he is resistant to it's native magic, even to that of its Sorcerer Supreme.

DARKHAWK

 

DARKHAWK

Real Name: Christopher Powell

First Appearance: Darkhawk (Vol. 1) #1, March 1991

Powers: Chris Powell was a teenager who found an amulet in an abandoned amusement park which enabled him to access a Darkhawk android body, from the Darkhawk Ship in the dimension known as Null Space. The Ship holds six Darkhawks at once, each held in stasis on a different platform known as a Perch. Powell's amulet was a recreation of another one, and thus originally it was one of two amulets linked to a single hawk. By holding the amulet and concentrating, Chris transpositions his body and mind with the Darkhawk. In a flash of energy, the android and Chris's body exchange places, with him going to the Perch and the Darkhawk appearing wherever he was a moment before. At the same time, Chris's mind is transferred into the cerebral-net of the Darkhawk body, which is capable of supporting a host consciousness. As Darkhawk, Chris possessed Class 10 strength, superhuman speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and resilience. His optic sensors included telescopic, infrared and night vision capabilities. The amulet, which fused itself onto the Darkhawk's chest during the transformation, acted as a power source and was capable of focusing energy. It could fire concussive blasts or shape a tangible disk of energy, which could be projected out a varying distance from Darkhawk's body. It was most commonly used as a shield, but could also be a battering ram or pin people or objects against a wall or floor. He had a claw cable mounted on one wrist which had a three-pronged claw that rested on the back of his hand. Darkhawk could extend the telescopic hooks to make it into a Wolverine-style claw weapon, or fire the entire claw as a wire-guided grappling hook. By tapping his arms to his sides, Darkhawk could unsheathe his retractable glider wings. Initially, Darkhawk could not truly fly, and relied on his claw cable to get him airborne then glided on air currents. During a trip through time, however, Darkhawk spontaneously developed the power of true flight. The unique temporal lag between Null Space and other dimensions enabled Chris to make use of a "fast healing trick" for his android body. If Darkhawk was injured in any way, Chris could tap the amulet and revert to his human self, then immediately tap the amulet again and transform into a fully healed Darkhawk. This worked because the Darkhawk Ship maintained and repaired the androids on their Perches, and the temporal displacement between "there" and "here" enabled the Ship to fully complete any repairs before a relative second passed for Chris.

During the Amulet Quest event, Darkhawk's amulet was realigned to link with a new prototype Darkhawk body. This new body was stronger, faster, and better armored than the original. It still had wings, but was capable of self-propelled flight without them. In place of the old claw-cable, each arm had a spear point which could be extended by more than a foot for melee combat or fired off as a grappling cable similar to his original weapon. The amulet could now create a full body transparent force field to protect Darkhawk, and projected Darkforce energy as concussive blasts. By merging the force field and the Darkforce, Chris could generate an enormous "dark hawk" projection around his body. He also now had thermoscopic eye beams, the ability to become invisible at will, and the power to remotely summon weapons and technology from the Darkhawk Ship to himself. However, he was also split into two independent but identical consciousnesses: One inhabiting his human body, the other inhabiting the Darkhawk. This put an end to the "fast healing trick", and so Darkhawk was given the ability to summon a large energy pod at will. By climbing inside of it, the pod's energy would slowly work to regenerate and repair and damages to his android form. By the end of his first reign as Darkhawk, Chris and Darkhawk were re-merged back into a single being. Since that time, Darkhawk has apparently reverted back to his original android body and powers. Somehow, his amulet also enabled more than one Darkhawk to be summoned at once, when Phil Urich stole than amulet and became Darkhawk, and then Chris touched it to become another Darkhawk and fight the thief.

Darkhawk's abilities have changed considerably since he learned the true nature of his powers. Powell is actually heir to the amulet of one of the last surviving members of the Fraternity of Raptors, a league of armored warriors who committed acts of sabotage, counter-intelligence, kidnapping and assassination in the name of the Great Purpose. The Great Purpose is revealed to the Raptors through the Datasong, a streaming of accumulated memories and information dating back through the Fraternity's several millennia of existence. Everything a Raptor learns or gains access to is shared by all others through the Null Source. The Datasong not only provides extensive knowledge on a variety of subjects, it also uses psycho-historical variables to chart the future and predict upcoming events, and the actions the Fraternity of Raptors need to take in order to assure specific outcomes. This is the Great Purpose. The Fraternity of Raptors fell into disarray six thousand years ago, long before humanity reached the stars. As a result, Chris Powell is actually incompatible with the amulet he wields, and has not been able to tap the Datasong or the full scope of his armor's abilities. The "events" he experienced with Evilhawk and the origins of his armor were actually a hallucination created by his mind attempting to properly interpret the Datasong.

The amulets of the Fraternity of Raptors are far less benevolent than Powell had been led to believe. When functioning properly, the amulet latches onto a host body, casting it into a crystal cage inside the Null Source at the Tree of Shadows. The host is then used as a living power source for the Raptor, whose consciousness and armor materialize in place of the host in the real world. The bonded "partner" is nothing more than a battery to the Raptor, held eternally in captivity while the Raptor operates in their place. Chris Powell's amulet was linked to a Raptor named Razor, but his human incompatibility kept Razor's personality from becoming dominant, allowing Powell to wield the Raptor's armor and some of the powers himself as Darkhawk. This new concept explains how Chris spontaneously developed the power of flight previously, created his second armor, and even manifested more than one armor at once with Phil Urich.

In his present state, Darkhawk's "default armor" is much stronger than before. The suit possesses greater levels of superhuman strength, durability, and at least Mach 4 atmospheric flight. Darkhawk can survive for extended periods of time in the vacuum of space, and mechanically open personal stargates for faster-than-light travel across the galaxy. His claw cable has a new feature: It can be nano-reconfigured into a Scout-hawk, a remote-flying bird drone that can transmit sensory data back to Darkhawk's visor for reconnaissance. The Scout-hawk can also visually display its findings for others to see. Darkhawk can generate a disguise skin, a holographic cloaking field that can hide his true appearance behind a false identity. Besides the basic features, Darkhawk can reconfigure his suit to summon variant armor designs. The conversion can be as simple as selecting different kinds of ordinance to morph his hands into, but more extreme reconfigurations actually call upon different armors. The Heavy Duty suit gives Darkhawk significantly increased physical power, boosting his strength and durability with exoskeletal components. The Carbon-fiber Lightweight suit does the reverse, reducing his strength and weapon systems to make him non-metallic and highly agile and maneuverable. The Rescue suit has front-mounted spotlights on his chest and an advanced sensor array. Darkhawk has augmented his firepower several times by calling on the Strike Suit, Warflight suit, or Heavy Weapons armor. The armor looks similar each time, so its unclear if these are different combat armors with individual weapons or ordinance, or just different names for the same basic armor enhancement. With full firepower, Darkhawk has access to lasers, particle beams, and micro-munition assaults which release a cluster of highly explosive ammunition.

For a time, Chris Powell's amulet lost it's power, and he later regained his abilities under different circumstances. Razor had learned from Chris's example and became an apostate to the Fraternity of Raptors, severing from the Tree of Shadows and (in doing so) breaking his connection to Chris and the amulet. Events conspired to bond the two of them again, but with an altered status quo. Because Razor was separate from the Tree, it was no longer possible for he and Chris to exchange points in space. Rather, the amulet recorded a blueprint of each user and stored it during transformation. This meant Chris's human body was physically destroyed and rewritten into the Darkhawk body when he changed, then rebuilt from a stored file when he reversed the effect. The Darkhawk he became during this period was generally more powerful than before, but the amulet only had so much "storage memory" and so, in order to maintain the blueprint of Chris, it could not allow Darkhawk to reconfigure into the previous stored body designs.

More history of the Tree of Shadows was revealed. It was created when the Elder of the Universe known as the Gardener planted in the exotic soil of the Darkforce Dimension. The Tree bloomed into Null Space, where it was fought over by ancient Shi'ar and Skrull. Raptor Prime was born when an avian race Shi'ar connected with the amulet-seeds of the Tree, gaining not only great power but also reconfiguration abilities to match its enemies, the Skrulls. The Fraternity of Raptors was eventually born from an attempt to suborn and control the Tree of Shadows to a particular end. As the Shi'ar both worship and fear the Phoenix Force, the Fraternity was created in the image of Ratha'kon, the Hawk-God of the cosmic pantheon who was the Phoenix's opposite. While the Phoenix represented chaos in its ties to unbridled life and evolution, the Hawk-God lived to impose order. The Fraternity of Raptors "tamed" the freestyle shape-changing of the Tree's original Raptors, creating mechanoids that harnessed the reconfiguration for specific, pre-approved combat designs.

These revelations explain how Darkhawk regained his own power of reconfiguration, Together, he and Razor threw off the strictures imposed on the amulets by the Fraternity. Darkhawk's Raptor body could now alter in size and strength, becoming a mobile and occupied battle mech, produce various new forms of technology and weapons outside of existed combat forms, and so on.