AQUARIAN

 

AQUARIAN

Real Name: Wundarr

First Appearance: Fear (Vol. 1) #17, October 1973 (As Wundarr); Marvel Two-In-One (Vol. 1) #58, December 1979 (As Aquarian)

Powers: Wundarr was born on the planet Dakkam to the extremely humanoid-looking alien race native to the world. As an infant, Wundarr was placed inside a rocket and sent into space when his father incorrectly predicted a planet wide destruction. Spending the interstellar voyage mostly in suspended animation, he grew to adulthood inside the spaceship with his every need cared for except knowledge and learning. Wundarr eventually came within the gravitational influence of Earth and was bombarded by cosmic rays in Earth's outer atmosphere. This radiation endowed him with certain superhuman physical powers. Crash-landing on Earth, having been released from suspended animation by the crash, Wundarr the Star-Child was all of 23 years old, but still with the mind of an infant.

Prior to his exposure to the Cosmic Cube at the research facility for Project: PEGASUS, the Aquarian's body absorbed various energies from the environment and transformed them into kinetic energy with which to augment his body's strength and endurance. The Aquarian possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) approximately 1 ton under optimal conditions. Before his power changed due to exposure to the Cosmic Cube, he could absorb energy to increase his physical strength to about 15 times its normal level, thus enabling him to lift (press) 25 tons. The Aquarian could not only use his augmented strength to lift things, but also to propel himself through the air by jumping. The Aquarian could cover several miles in a single bound. The energy absorption process continued involuntarily and if the Aquarian had not expended it in some physical activity before it reached the threshold of his body's capacity to retain energy, the energy would explosively discharge in a sphere of concussive force. Reed Richards designed him a containment suit which enabled his body to expel small, non-concussive amounts of energy so it would not build up. 

After the Cosmic Cube experiment, the Aquarian's former energy-dampening ability was transformed into something different and more powerful. The Aquarian's body is now surrounded by a field of entropy ("null-force"), which, at equilibrium, radiates to a distance of five feet from any point on his body. With concentration, the Aquarian can contact the null-field to about five inches in thickness, or expand it to a maximum distance of approximately 500 feet. He can never shut the field down completely. The null-field neutralizes most energies within the electromagnetic spectrum over a certain as yet unmeasured intensity. This includes light, electricity, magnetism, high-frequency energies, sound, and even gravity.

The Aquarian's entropic field also neutralizes kinetic energy. His body's null-field is of opposite polarity to that of the fields of normal atomic matter. Hence his field nullifies kinetic energy in direct ratio to the inertia (resistance of object in motion to changes of motion) of the moving object. Only objects with kinetic energy below a certain as yet unmeasured value are permitted trough his field without any cancellation of inertia. The net effect of any object of greater inertia entering his null-field is that it loses its kinetic energy. Hence, a speeding bullet, a thrown knife, or a hurled punch is unable to strike him. Because this kinetic energy-canceling property affects him as well as other objects in his field, the Aquarian cannot move faster than his null-field will allow. Therefore, his ability to leap is useless. However, since he can negate gravity's influence on him, he can walk on air.

The kinetic and electromagnetic energies possessed by most other superhumanly powered beings also canceled within his field. Hence, those who possess superhuman physical strength would be unable to exercise it within his field, and those with energy-manipulating powers would also be unable to use them. The field does not take these innate capacities away; it simply prevents their use in his presence.

MANTIS

 

MANTIS

Real Name: Unrevealed (last name "Brandt")

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #112, June 1973

Powers: Mantis was raised from infancy by the Priests of Pama to be a candidate for the Celestial Madonna, the prophesized mother of the Celestial Messiah who will bring peace to the universe. As she grew up, Mantis honed her body to the pinnacle of human perfection, giving her peak human strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes. She also developed her "empathy", a catch-all name for a series of psychic abilities she demonstrated. She had an empathic connection to plant-life, allowing her to communicate with plants with some degree, learning from them and receiving sensory information. She had occasional flashes of precognition, guiding her to perform certain actions in order to achieve the best results in a situation. Mantis was able to instinctively sense weak spots in her targets, allowing her to break or shatter extremely durable materials with her bare hands, and take down even superhumanly powerful opponents like Thor.

After being confirmed as the Celestial Madonna, Mantis's physical form evolved into pure spiritual energy. She became one with the plant life of the universe, able to psychically sense any sight or sound happening in the vicinity of vegetable matter across entire galaxies. Possessing no true body of her own, Mantis was capable of causing vegetation to rise up and form into a duplicate of her human self, placing her consciousness into this avatar. The only visible difference was that she had green skin instead of regular flesh-toned, and she could mentally change that anyway. By psychically abandoning an avatar, Mantis could physically reappear on another plant entirely by creating another avatar there for her mind to possess. These avatar bodies had her physical skill, and were capable of surviving in the vacuum of space. After being destroyed in her avatar form, Mantis's consciousness was splintered into five separate pieces, inhabiting five different avatar bodies on Earth. A side effect of her splintering was that her presence faded from people's memories after she left the area; no one who encountered one of her splinter bodies would remember it more than a week or so afterwards. Also, her empathy was scrambled, preventing her from communicating with plants anymore.

Eventually, Thanos came and killed four of her, but this caused her consciousness to reintegrate back into the last body, and Mantis was whole once more. Besides her physical abilities and restored empathy, Mantis now had an extended lifespan, the ability to fly, and the power to release celestial energy as blasts from her hands. She seems to have recently lost these powers, however, and exchanged them for new ones. Mantis is now capable of telepathic feats such as communicating with other people's minds, cloaking herself from sensory detection, and shielding herself and other people from psychic assault. Her precognitive powers have become more defined, giving her constant and considerable insight into upcoming future events. She has also demonstrated minor telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers.

GREMLIN

 

GREMLIN

Real Name: Kondrati Yurivich Topolov

First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #163, May 1973

Powers: The Gremlin's father, the Gargoyle, was involved in an accident that unleashed radiation that horribly altered his face and body while vastly increasing his intelligence. The radiation that altered him was also passed on to his son, who was born a mutant as a result. He inherited the Gargoyle's grotesque appearance and genius-level intelligence. Accounts vary as to the exact age of the Gremlin, but it is known that he is not yet an adult. He matured rapidly and developed a mechanical and bio-genetic aptitude well above normal.

The Gremlin's mutation consists of having a large head, a small body, and superhuman intelligence. He can rapidly accumulate knowledge, recall it, apply it, or some combination of the above.

KRONOS

 

KRONOS

Real Name: Kronos

First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #55, February 1973

Powers: Kronos began as a member of the Earth-born Eternals (Homo Sapiens Immortalis), an evolutionary offshoot of humanity created by the extraterrestrial cosmic beings known as the Celestials. Eternals possess long lifespans and vast physical and cosmic energy-manipulation powers which remained dormant for a long period. Centuries ago, Kronos was working in his laboratory in the Earth Eternals' city of Titanos on an experiment with cosmic energy when he accidentally caused an explosion that demolished Titanos and subjected the Eternals to a cosmic particle bombardment. This irradiation activated the latent genes in the Eternals that gave them their long lifespans and virtual invulnerability, and enabled them to pass these active genes down to the children produced by any mated couple of Earth Eternals.

Because Kronos was caught at the center of the blast, his body was destroyed. The same blast strengthened his cosmic life force, however, to the point where it continued to survive without a physical body, and was exponentially magnified to godlike proportions. He possesses cosmic power on a level incomprehensible to human beings. He has been observed to have the power to create artificial beings from inanimate matter and to have power over the disembodied life essences ("souls") of mortals. He is shown to have cosmic senses and perceptions far beyond those of any mortal being. Due to his inexhaustible life force, Kronos is immortal and cannot be physically harmed. His mental abilities have yet to be fully catalogued, but he has demonstrated telepathy, telekinesis, and non-human cosmic perceptions.

MENTOR

 

MENTOR

Real Name: A'Lars

First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #55, February 1973

Powers: Mentor is a member of the Earth-born Eternals (Homo Sapiens Immortalis), an evolutionary offshoot of humanity created by the extraterrestrial cosmic beings known as the Celestials. Eternals possess long lifespans and vast physical and cosmic energy-manipulation powers.

Since his life-force and molecular structure are reinforced by cosmic energy, Mentor is virtually immortal, immune to disease and the debilitating effects of aging and able to regenerate injured or missing organic tissue. Only an injury that disperses a significant portion of his bodily molecules could cause him to die. Cosmic energy bolsters his metabolism so that Mentor does not tire from any physical exertion. Like all Eternals, Mentor can levitate by mentally manipulating gravitons (subatomic particles that carry the force of gravitational attraction) around him. He can fly at approximately 500 miles per hour, a rate of speed slightly below average for his kind. he possesses an enhanced-human strength level enabling him to lift (press) approximately 1 ton under optimal conditions. This is slightly subnormal for an Eternal of his age, height, and build who engages in minimal regular exercise beyond his procreative responsibilities. His endurance, stamina, and durability are godlike, however.

Like all Eternals of Earth, Mentor can project his natural cosmic energies from his body as waves of light, heat,or concussive force. These waves, which he usually directs from his hands, have a maximum concussive force equivalent to 50 tons of TNT, sufficient to level a 12-story steel-frame building. He has also displayed telepathic abilities and the power of molecular manipulation of matter.

A'Lars is a gifted intellect with knowledge of science and technology far in advance of present-day Earth. As ruler of the Saturn moon of Titan, Mentor has access to and full use of a wide range of advanced technology.

STARFOX

 

STARFOX

Real Name: Eros

First Appearance: Iron Man (Vol. 1) #55, February 1973

Powers: Eros is a Titanian Eternal, a genetic splintering of the Eternals of Earth (Homo Sapiens Immortalis). Eros' father and mother, Mentor and Sui-San, are both Eternals. However, only Mentor possesses the full potential of an Earth-born Eternal. Since Sui-San had no access to her cosmic energy, her and Mentor's children were stronger and longer-lived than the Eternals previously living on Titan, but not as powerful or long-lived as the Eternals of Earth.

Eros is suffused with cosmic energy, though, and his reinforced physiology makes him virtually invulnerable to all forms of physical harm. He can still feel pain and be knocked senseless by a certain level of force, however. He has superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and reaction time. Starfox has levitation powers, allowing him to lift and maneuver objects from a distance telekinetically, or produce a gravitational aura around his body, enabling him to fly and propel himself through atmosphere, space, or underwater. Eros has a limited ability to tap the molecule rearranging and energy casting powers of his father's genotype, but rarely employs them at all.

He possesses the ability to manipulate the pleasure center of other sentient beings, a power other Eternals do not possess. Starfox naturally causes others to feel good and cheerful in his presence, and it increases his natural charisma and sex appeal. With slight concentration, Eros can compel people to instinctively trust everything he says and make them willing to do what he suggests, within reason. An overdose of his pleasure principle can send people into a euphoric state, causing them to "bliss out" and become virtually senseless for a time.

MANDRILL & NEKRA

 

MANDRILL & NEKRA

Real Names: Jerome Beechman (Mandrill); Nekra Sinclair (Nekra)

First Appearances: Shanna, The She-Devil (Vol. 1) #4, June 1973 (Mandrill); Shanna, The She-Devil (Vol. 1) #5, August 1973 (Nekra)

Powers: Jerome Beechman was the son of Frederick Beechman, an atomic research scientist at Los Alamos Atomic Proving Grounds, New Mexico, and his wife Emily. Prior to his conception, Dr. Beechman, a Caucasian scientist, as well as Gemma Sinclair, a Black cleaning woman, were exposed to a massive dose of radiation when faulty electrical wiring caused an explosion which breached the facility's experimental, small nuclear pile. A year later, the Beechmans’ son was born around the same time Gemma's daughter, Nekra, was born. However, the racial patterns displayed by the children were reversed: The child born to Black parents, Gemma Sinclair and her husband, had chalk-white skin and fangs while the child born to the Caucasian Beechmans had deep brown skin and tufts of body hair. Mistreated by family and peers, Nekra ran away while Jerome was abandoned in the desert by his parents, both were 10 years of age at the time. They encountered each other at the age of 16 and developed a partnership, manifesting their respective mutant powers after an encounter with an angry mob.

Mandrill is a mutant with many bestial characteristics, including the appearance of a baboon along with enhanced levels of strength, agility, reflexes, and some degree of enhanced senses as well. His primary mutant power is the chemically-based ability to attract and enslave most adult women to his will. Like many animals (including humans to a small extent), Mandrill continually emits pheromones (natural, airborne hormones secreted primarily through-sweat glands which communicate and stimulate behavior) of great potency and volume. Once the Mandrill's pheromone emissions, released into the atmosphere, reach the olfactory centers of a woman, her hormonal balance is altered, causing her to feel extreme physical attraction. The Mandrill's mutant pheromones are released at a rate of 2,000 parts per million, several thousand times that of a normal human. Consequently, any woman within range (about 250 feet downwind, or in the direct path of the emission) is severely affected. Within seconds of exposure to the Mandrill, most women become submissive and open to manipulation by him, as if hypnotized.

The mutagenically-altered structure of Mandrill's sex pheromones is practically addictive. Initial contact with Mandrill and subsequent reinforcement over a period of a few months is sufficient to keep most women in his power almost permanently. If, however, the woman is removed from his presence after the initial contact, she will go through a mild period of "withdrawal" and be free after a period of a few months.

Some women, notably Shanna the She-Devil and the Black Widow, have been able to resist Mandrill's power, by some unknown, natural means, perhaps solely through will power. Certain mild, electrical stimulation can also deaden the pheromone-affected nerve centers of the female brain. Most male endocrine systems are biologically unable to perceive the Mandrill's pheromone emissions.

Nekra is a mutant with enlarged canine teeth and chalky-white skin lacking pigmentation, giving her a vampiric appearance. Her mutant ability is to augment her strength, speed, agility, endurance, durability, and recuperative powers to superhuman levels by harnessing the negative psychic energy comprising her violent emotions, especially hate. It's not entirely clear whether she is transforming that emotional energy into physical power, or if strong emotions produce a bio-chemical reaction that augments her strength. In either case, heightened adrenal activity causes a series of metabolic reactions throughout her body, resulting in a great increase of the efficiency of her muscles and a toughening of her skin. At her peak, she can withstand bullets, the heat and concussion of 100 pounds of TNT at a distance of 5 feet, temperature variations between -30° and 1,000° Fahrenheit without harm, gunfire, electric shocks, open flame, animal attacks, falls from great heights, and more, usually without injury.

Because Nekra's powers are based on her emotional state, there is a limit for how long she can sustain them. Under normal conditions, she can work herself into a frenzy for only about an hour before emotional fatigue will set in. Mood-altering drugs and pheromones can inhibit he powers, and she seems especially sensitive to the influence of Mandrill and Spider-Woman (though Nekra has developed a chemical that temporarily immunizes her against this effect). She is vulnerable to the manipulation of physiological pressure points and if her emotional focus is interrupted by some external distraction, she will experience a corresponding drop in her physical power.

Extremely agile and fluidly graceful, Nekra is a formidable unarmed combatant. She is also an accomplished brainwasher whose tools have included drugs, mesmerizing illumination, chanting, and hypnotic dancing. She is proficient in various voodoo rituals such as the creation and manipulation of zombies (reanimated corpses), and has developed her own unique hybrid brand of voodoo which combines the Black Talon's teachings with rites derived from the Cult of Kali and certain West African tribes. Using her hybrid voodoo (components of which include quartz crystals, magnetism, rare cavern herbs, ritual dancing, and open flame), Nekra can produce zombies who almost perfectly stimulate living beings, replicating the deceased person's full intellect, personality, and appearance (as opposed to decaying, near-mindless conventional zombies); in fact, Nekra's zombies are generally unaware of their undead state.

CHEMISTRO I

 

CHEMISTRO I

Real Name: Curtis Carr

First Appearance: Hero for Hire (Vol. 1) #12, August 1973

Powers: Curtis Carr was Chemistro I. He was a self-taught genius who created the first alchemy gun, a weapon which fired a molecular transfiguration beam that would alter the composition of anything it hit. He could convert nearly all forms of matter into rubber, glass, steel, paper, burning phosphorus, ice, molasses, epoxy, mace gas, nitroglycerin, molten rock, etc. He could even transform a single target again and again by shooting it multiple times. The transfiguration process was highly unstable, however, and so anything altered by his beam would eventually disintegrate into dust, regardless of what he had transfigured it into. Chemistro III, the original's brother, used the same style of alchemy gun as his his broher, but Chemistro II's gun exploded in his hands while he was constructing it, and its chemical properties were absorbed into his skin. Therefore, the Chemistro II had the power to alter the molecular composition of anything he laid his hands on. The effect was conductive, as he could transform an entire hospital hallway, ceiling, and floor merely by touching the wall. He made other uses of his power as well, such as turning his gloves to steel in order to increase the damage of his punches. By the time of the third Chemistro (and possibly as early as the second), the alchemy gun's transfigurations became less unstable, and altered objects could remain stable and substantive for hours, even days in their new state without disintegrating. Also Curtis Carr, now reformed, developed a protective chemical spray which would block the alchemy gun's effect, and a method for reversing the transfigurations back to normal so that the person or object would not disintegrate at all.

Carr later reinvented himself as High-Tech, incorporating a large supply of technical widgets into a personal body suit designed primarily for infiltration. The suit created a data-broadcasting web which scrambled various forms of electromagnetic detection to prevent them from tracking his presence. It also included a jetpack for flight and diffractory force field to scatter and disperse energy assaults without harming him. For offensive purposes, he had forearm cannons that could fire electromagnetic force (with both concussive and electro-disruptive properties) and launch a neural-overload net that flashfried his victim's nervous systems, setting their pain centers on overload.

Curtis Carr held graduate degrees in chemistry, physics, and mechanical engineering. A gifted intellect in all three fields, he was also a highly skilled inventor.

HOWARD THE DUCK

 

HOWARD THE DUCK

Real Name: Howard (Last name unrevealed)

First Appearance: Adventure Into Fear (Vol. 1) #19, December 1973

Powers: Howard the Duck was born on Duckworld, an alternate Earth in another dimension designated Earth-47920 (later re-numbered as Earth-791021). It is inhabited by anthropomorphic water fowl and poultry called Duckworldians, intelligent life evolved from waterfowl. Duckworld resembles mankind's Earth in an astounding number of ways, including the fact that ducks speak English.

Howard's body, like those of his entire race, has similar characteristics to those of both common Earth ducks and common Earth human beings. He has webbed feet, a bill and feathers, but lacks wings. His neurological, urogenital, and musculoskeletal systems are anatomically far closer to man than duck, despite the fact that females of his race are egg-layers. Though possessed of no superhuman powers, Howard has expert knowledge of the little known Duckworld martial art called Quack Fu, and hence is a surprisingly formidable opponent in hand-to-hand combat.

Howard briefly possessed the magical skills and paraphernalia of Dr. Strange. After being bitten by Dracula, Howard temporarily possessed an aversion to sunlight and a pathological thirst for blood, but no other vampire abilities. He has also proficiently utilized voodoo magic items and the Amulet of Pazuzu. While Howard clearly possesses an aptitude for magic, he lacks both the motivation and interest to further develop it.

Howard cannot swim, nor fly (since he lacks wings) and also has an inherent dislike of chickens.

HELLSTORM

 

HELLSTORM

Real Name: Daimon Hellstrom

First Appearance: Ghost Rider (Vol. 2) #1, September 1973

Powers: Known as both "Hellstorm" or the "Son of Satan", Daimon Hellstrom is the child of a mortal woman and one of the many Hell-Lords of the nether dimensions, known either as Satan or Marduk Kurios. Daimon possesses both a human soul and a "Darksoul", representative of his father's taint and power. Though his strength and endurance are heightened slightly by the Darksoul, his primary ability is the generation of soulfire, a mystical and spiritual energy that takes the form of normal-looking flame. He can produce soulfire as a source of light or heat, blast through solid barriers, heal wounds and other injuries, or assault opponents physically and metaphysically, striking directly at their souls to cause pain, unholy terror, unconsciousness, etc. He often uses a trident made of netheranium to gather and focus his soulfire in blast form. The netheranium was a psycho-sensitive metal, making it capable of sensing various kinds of mystical energy, and protected against attacks of the same.

Initially, Daimon's Darksoul would become active at night, consuming him in soulfire to reform his clothing into his Son of Satan robes and altering his personality to make him colder and more manic. He would soon learn to integrate his two halves, but maintained the ability to summon and displace his costume at will, day or night. The Son of Satan lost his powers for a time after the Darksoul was removed from his body, but his mystical potential began to return slowly on its own, and he first adopted the name Hellstorm in this period. Daimon began to die without his Darksoul, though, and it was returned to him through an arcane ritual, and his "human side" was rather weakened by the incident. After killing his father in battle, Hellstorm was anointed with the black halo and became ruler of his father's nether-dimension of "Hell", with all the power that came with it. Hellstorm's soulfire is now dramatically more potent, and he can summon and dispatch his trident with a gesture, even recreating a new one to serve as the symbol of his power if the previous one is destroyed.

Hellstorm is able to use his extra-dimensional access to Hell to travel to and from that dimension at will, as well as between different points on Earth. He can sense electrical energy in his surroundings and manipulate it to a certain degree, causing mechanical systems to turn on or off, or explode by causing a power surge to shoot through them. Daimon also possesses certain telepathic abilities, allowing him to read certain surface level thoughts from other people. If he is in a hurry, Hellstorm can forcibly compel someone to reveal everything they know to him, although this process tends to permanently unhinge his victims, leaving them manic and more than a little insane afterwards. His power is now tied to the realm of Hell, making his energies wax and wane depending on the number of dead souls under his care, and the number of living souls who worship or fear him.

Daimon Hellstrom has an advanced degree in demonology. His expertise in demonology is entirely self-taught, and he is a highly experienced exorcist with knowledge of mystic rites.

ZZZAX

 

ZZZAX

Real Name: Zzzax

First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #166, August 1973

Powers: Zzzax is an "electromagnetic intelligence". It was the product of an accident that occurred at a Consolidated Edison nuclear power plant when a group of heavily armed terrorists attempted to shut down the power for New York City. The explosion that their stray gunfire caused started a chain reaction in the atomic reactor, creating a psionically-charged electromagnetic field of humanoid form. As the electromagnetic form grew, it incinerated those people who stood in its way, absorbing the electro-psionic fields generated by their brains, and thus acquired a human intelligence. As it began to think and become aware of its surroundings, it developed rudimentary speech and named itself "Zzzax" in imitation of the electrostatic "crackle" it made when it moved. As it killed more human beings, it grew more intelligent; consequently it began a campaign of murder and destruction in order to increase its intelligence further.

It is capable of crude human level intelligence (variable up to normal) and superhuman strength (at Class 100 maximum). Zzzax generally appears as a gargantuan mass of electrical "sparks" in humanoid form. It is highly luminescent, whitish-yellow in color, and gives off the scent of ozone. Zzzax can hover or fly in the air.

Zzzax can fire extraordinarily powerful blasts of electricity. Zzzax's tremendously high voltage enables it to incinerate matter which lies in its path. Zzzax's superhuman strength has enabled him to battle the Hulk nearly to a standstill. Zzzax has incinerated whole city blocks in minutes. Zzzax has burned the Hulk's skin to a slight degree. At its most powerful, Zzzax is 40 feet tall and carries a voltage of several hundred thousand volts that can be almost totally expended over a 20-minute period.

Zzzax subsists by drawing all available electromagnetic fields into its own. Those electromagnetic fields housed by human brains, when absorbed, add to Zzzax's level of stored psionic energy, making it more intelligent. For an unknown reason, Zzzax finds this absorption of electrical/psionic energy from human brains pleasurable, and therefore undertakes the murder of human beings for their psionic energy whenever possible, In absorbing this psionic energy from a human victim, Zzzax will incinerate the victim's body, Zzzax is seemingly unable to absorb psionic energy from its recurring adversary, the Hulk. However, Zzzax can take control of the electrical/psionic impulses in the Hulk's nervous system, and thereby control the activities of the Hulk's muscles.

Zzzax's own thoughts and behavior can be influenced by strong desires on the part of the human beings whose psionic energy it has consumed. However, only in the case of General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross has another being's consciousness supplanted Zzzax's own as the dominant one controlling Zzzax's physical form.

DOCTOR NIGHTSHADE

 

DR. NIGHTSHADE

Real Name: Tilda Johnson

First Appearance: Captain America (Vol. 1) #164, August 1973

Powers: Tilda Johnson is an extraordinary genius extensively self-taught in many scientific fields on Ph.D. levels, including genetics, biochemistry, cybernetics, robotics, and physics. Though perhaps better in specific fields by certain scientists, her specialist skill level in such a wide range of sciences is only matched by a handful of scientists. Initially a poor fighter, she appears to have undergone extensive training in martial arts and acrobatics during her time in Femizonia. Dr. Nightshade excels at manipulating others, using her youth and perceived innocence to play on the preconceptions.

Dr. Nightshade claims her first specialty was controlling men, which she does using a mesmerizing chemical which can be inhaled in dust form, absorbed through the skin, or applied more subtly as a pheromone perfume; certain strong willed males, such as Captain America and the Falcon, have proven resistant to this hypnosis. Another frequently used tool she employs is her Lycanthro-Catalyst (“werewolf formula”), which turns men into lycanthropes under her control; originally administered through injection, it can now be applied via transdermal patches. Initially, both of these chemicals wire off in direct sunlight, but Nightshade has developed stronger, more permanent versions.

When Lycanthro-Catalyst is applied to individuals who have another form imprinted on their DNA, such as the Puma’s feline one, it triggers a transformation into that form rather than the lupine one, and they may retain their free will. She uses a gun which fires various cartridges, including fast-setting expanding silk strong enough to support several hundred pounds, flesh-eating enzymes, and acidified dimethoxypropane. She has also used a reflective silicon coating in baby oil rubbed on her skin to break down the force fields which give the Black Panther's energy daggers their structural integrity, a paralytic enzyme in an acid base on her gloves which can eat through the Panther's Vibranium-wweave costume to attack his central nervous system, and various other poisons. Dr. Nightshade is also a robotics anbd electronics expert, designing super-strong Cybernauts capable of passing for human, as well as larger models designed specifically to fight superhumans.

SHATTERSTAR

 

SHATTERSTAR

Real Name: Unrevealed

First Appearance: The New Mutants (Vol. 1) #99, March 1991

Powers: Shatterstar possesses a hollow bone structure and strengthened muscle mass, giving him heightened strength, speed, agility, endurance, reaction time, vision, and hearing. He also has highly impressive regenerative abilities, allowing him to recover from severe gut wounds in a matter of minutes. Shatterstar has an intuitive learning capacity, enabling him to quickly assimilate various forms of information. He will master any weapon or strategic game within a short time of being first introduced to it. He also has a remarkable ability for learning new languages. In addition, Shatterstar can build up a surge of sonic waves within his body, creating a humming noise that emanates from his position. He then channels it outwards as a vibratory shockwave conducted through the metallurgic properties of his sword. His swords seem specially designed to focus Shatterstar's "force of will" as he calls it, since he can make the blades discharge the blast even when he is not in physical contact with them. Presumably, his swords are especially sensitive to the vibratory frequencies he emits, naturally gathering and channeling the energy.

Shatterstar's original swords were forged from science and magic, making them particularly dangerous. Not only could they cut through most forms of Earth materials, they were also highly effective against mystical beings or barriers. Thus, Shatterstar was able to stab out the eyes of the otherwise magically-impervious Juggernaut. These swords also generated a mild electrical current through the hilt. Shatterstar was immune to the effect, but anyone else attempting to use his blades would find them totally unwieldly, as the blade would jerk and spasm out of their control.

Shatterstar has also demonstrated a newfound ability to teleport. How he developed this ability is unknown but, like his "force of will", it appears to be accomplished through an internal power channeled by his blades. Using another person as a psychic anchor, Shatterstar can focus energy through his swords, causing a portal ("slashway") to appear in mid-air. These slashways can cross continental distances, transporting Shatterstar and others anywhere his anchor is capable of visualizing. He apparently cannot utilize his power alone, and needs the image of his destination to come from another person. Furthermore, the person who acts as his anchor must be someone he has "connected with", although what that means hasn't been fully explained. It requires concentration for Shatterstar to maintain the slashways, and he requires several hours of rest before he can create a second one. Shatterstar's blades have also been redesigned for covert usage, stored on retractable mounts in his sleeves so that they shoot out from his forearm.

*Shatterstar is the biologically conceived son of Longshot and the Dazzler. From his mother's side, this means Shatterstar is half-mutant. From his father, he is also one of the synthetic Wildways Bipeds. But due to a time loop, Shatterstar was studied by Arize, his unique genetic profile mapped and extrapolated in Arize's work. Based on samples taken from Shatterstar, Arize created the Biped known as Longshot. So Shatterstar was naturally fathered by a man who was created based on Shatterstar's genetic material, making Shatterstar his own grandfather.*

DAZZLER

 

DAZZLER

Real Name: Alison Blaire

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #130, February 1980

Powers: The Dazzler’s mutant power is the ability to absorb ambient sonic vibrations into her body and convert them into a "cascading release of photons" which takes the shape of various forms of light wave emissions. She can consciously control the frequency (color), amplitude (direction), duration, and intensity of the light she produces.

Originally, she required a constant source of sonic waves to use her powers, transforming sound directly into light. However, after attempting to process the close quarters roaring of a jumbo jet engine, the Dazzler's metabolism was altered so that she could store up sound within her body to be converted into light effects at a later time. She can produce light from her entire body or parts of it in various colors, pulsations, and levels of intensity, from a mild glow to a blinding glare. Manipulating the way her light pulsates can render people unconscious, disrupt their sense of equilibrium, or even send them into a temporary comatose state as their minds simply shut down from the overdose of sensory information. The Dazzler can also use hypnotic patterns of light to alter emotional states, projecting a calm serenity into a crowd or driving them into a raging frenzy.

For offensive purposes, she is capable of firing high-impact photon packets or focused laser beams capable of cutting through steel. She can generate force fields of laser light energy which will either deflect projectiles or atomize anything that they come into contact with. By concentrating, the Dazzler is able to form realistic looking holographic projections out of her light, and animate them to move according to her will. Or extremely rare occasions, she has been able to fly through a form of directed thrust. She can also produce a "light fog" into her environment which acts as an opaque screen, preventing anyone from seeing through it except for her. More recently, she has also demonstrated the power to create hard-light fields, shaping solid constructs like staffs, blades, or shields.

She also possesses a natural resistance to the adverse effects of intense light and sound, and so cannot be blinded or deafened by any level of glare or volume. On one single occasion, the Dazzler demonstrated the power to re-channel sound waves without converting them into light first, creating a sonic blast. Inexplicably, the Dazzler has also begun demonstrating the capacity for self-resurrection. She has died several times in the recent past, yet her body has fully restored itself to life within a matter of hours each time. Also, the Dazzler cannot use the sound of her own voice, amplified or not, to create light.

Alison Blaire is a talented singer, actress, and dancer. She is also a highly skilled athlete and a highly accomplished roller skater.

LONGSHOT

 

 

LONGSHOT

Real Name: Longshot

First Appearance: Longshot (Vol. 1) #1, September 1985

Powers: Longshot is an artificially engineered humanoid designed by Mojoverse scientist Arize to have a strong sense of self along with certain superhuman powers. He possesses only three fingers and a thumb on each hand, a hollow bone structure like a bird, leathery skin, and strengthened muscle mass like an Earth human, giving him heightened agility and reflexes. He possesses excellent accuracy and hand-eye coordination, making him an excellent shot with his grappling lines and supply of throwing knives.

Longshot has psychometric powers enabling him to read the psychic imprints left on physical objects by sentient beings. By touching an object, Longshot can recreate in his mind any scene that has taken place around the object in the past. This allows him to view past events so long as they were in the immediate vicinity of the object. He can also read whatever thoughts and emotions other people were experiencing while they were touching the object in the past. This acts like mind-reading by proxy, allowing him to know anything a person was thinking about while they were in contact with the object. Longshot is also capable of picking up on future thoughts and emotions if someone is destined to touch the same object again at a later date. This only works if there is a previously-established imprint, meaning he can't pick up on future thoughts from people who will not touch the item for the first time until sometime later. Longshot's power also allows him to read surface level thoughts and some future impressions directly from other people when he touches them. He can also read the objects history, as well.

Longshot's "luck" ability is a powerful psionic probability-altering effect that actually gathers "luck" around him like a quantifiable factor -- somehow it "absorbs" favorable probability from the environment, making Longshot extraordinarily lucky while rendering everyone else around him less lucky than before. This can even cause others to experience negative probability events, or "bad luck", as long as he's around. Longshot's luck guides him in whatever he does, allowing him to take phenomenal risks and come out on top, miraculously avoid injury, and foul up whatever opponent or force comes against him. The nebulous nature of this ability originally had a limitation: It used to be that only when he is pure of heart and motive can his luck function. However, Longshot's "luck" leaves him whenever he acts out of selfish desires. He seems to have broken that limit in recent years.

Longshot is also sensitive to hearing “voices” of the dead and when he employs one of his powers, his left eye glows with a bright light.

JONATHAN TREMONT

 

JONATHAN TREMONT

Real Name: Jonathan Tremont (legally changed, birth name unknown)

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 3) #13, February 1999 (in shadows); Avengers (Vol. 3) #15, April 1999 (in full)

Powers: The man who would eventually change his name to ‘Jonathan Tremont’ was originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers.

Growing up in a small village in the foothills of the Himalayas in rural India, there were three brothers. Each brother gained fledgling powers from exposure to energy from an extraterrestrial Trion shard that crashed in the Himalayan mountains. The eldest developed great strength, the middle became supernaturally intelligent, and the youngest (Tremont) developed a gift for oration and the ability to charm others with his words. Before they could fully develop, though, the first two brothers died of an illness which swept the village. Tremont preserved his brothers' souls by housing their spiritual energy inside him as they passed.

As an adult, he had vivid prophetic dreams about the shard hidden in the mountains, but could not locate it himself. Through Hal Chandler (who along with his brother, Chuck, was empowered by another Trion shard in the 1950s as the 3-D Man), Tremont uncovered the shard and mastered it through study and meditation, becoming a superhuman.

Exposure to the energies of the Trion shard during his childhood made him remarkably charismatic and persuasive. Tremont was a gifted orator proficient in the use of advanced technologies, which he used in concert with his superhuman powers. Gaining the shard itself during adulthood, Tremont developed the ability to absorb psionic energy from various sources (primarily from other living beings) and metabolize it to saturate his body with various superhuman powers.

Tremont manifested a number of superhuman powers in the present, not all of which were fully defined. He possessed the power of suggestion, which he could use to influence people's thoughts and actions subtly, either over a distance or in person such as when he gave his speeches for his Triune Understanding group. He manifested different aspects of telepathy, such as the ability to transfer his consciousness to the astral plane for meditation or to commune with his brothers. He could also send the minds of other people into a psychic landscape of their own devising, allowing them to literally face their own psychological problems and issues.

Tremont absorbed power from his followers, feeding off of their psychic energies and devotion to the Triunes. Absorbing too much psychic energy too quickly would harm or even kill his followers. When charged by these energies, he was capable of levitation, size alteration, energy blasts, possibly teleportation and many other feats as well. Chiefly, though, Tremont's most significant ability is the power to summon his deceased brothers, in their more fully developed identities as Pagan (left) and Lord Templar (right), whose powers he could also manifest within himself.

Pagan is a massive physical specimen, normally standing at least 9' tall. He has Class 100 strength, superhuman endurance, reaction time, and is all but impervious to any form of physical injury. Pagan is constantly revitalized by Trion energy, which can increase his size and strength even further if he wills it. He also seemed to absorb different types of energy when exposed to them, reducing the amount of punishment he endured even further.

Lord Templar's primary ability was to summon the Avatars of Templar, energy duplicates which acted as slightly different versions of himself. Among his avatars were ones that were superhumanly strong, superhumanly agile, capable of morphing their hands into sword-like blades, projected high-voltage electricity, energy-siphoning abilities, and becoming intangible. He could summon six different avatars, or six of one type, such as all Avatars of Strength. Templar himself was capable of teleportation, levitated himself constantly, and could produce repulsion energy either as beams from his hands or as a surge of energy blasting out from his body. Whether we saw all his possible avatars or if he also personally possessed all the abilities they did is unknown.

3-D MAN

 

3-D MAN

Real Name: Charles Chandler and Harold Chandler

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere (Vol. 1) #35, April 1977

Powers: The 3-D Man is a combination of two originally baseline human brothers, Charles “Chuck” and Harold “Hal” Chandler. While testing an experimental rocket in 1958, Chuck was kidnapped by a passing Skrull stealth ship. He fought his way out and ultimately crashed the ship in a field near where his brother Hal was. The ship's crash caused an explosion, causing energies from the Skrull's experimental power source (a Trion shard of extra-dimensional energy) to burst outwards and irradiate Chuck, splitting him into two identical beings: One completely green, one completely red. He crashed in a field in the Mojave Desert where Hal was, and as the two Chucks ran towards Hal, they converted into energy and ended up super-imposed on Hal's glasses, creating a very special set of red and green 3-D glasses with Chuck's twin images imprinted on them. Hal came to discover that by focusing on the images of his brother in the glasses into merging on a flat surface, he would slip into a trance-like state as he initiated a dimensional transfer, so that Chuck's energy body would be reconstructed into material form in three-dimensional reality, a blending of his red and green halves.

Calling himself the 3-D Man, he possessed three times his previous athlete levels of strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, vision, hearing, durability, recuperative powers, etc. His strength and speed were around lifting 600 lbs and running 60 mph, respectively. The glasses upon which his images were imprinted were an artificial portal to a two-dimensional reality where Chuck Chandler resided when not manifested in the three-dimensional plane. The 3-D Man’s form could only exist in the material world for three hours before he would disintegrate into his two-dimensional component images and return through the portal. By concentrating on the images on his glasses, Hal Chandler mentally initiated the dimensional transfer that brought the 3-D Man into reality, Chuck Chandler himself couldn’t initiate the process. It’s also unknown what Chuck’s subjective experience was of the two-dimensional reality where spent most of his time.

Originally, the 3-D Man was animated by Chuck Chandler's mind, but later on Hal would also operate in control of the 3-D Man as well. Whenever Chuck was active, he was fully aware of what Hal had been experiencing while Chuck was "dormant", and likewise Hal remembered whatever Chuck did as the 3-D Man. As the years passed, Hal became an old man, even though he and his wife aged more slowly thanks to long-term exposure to Trion shard’s energies. The 3-D Man was still young and vital when called upon, but the effort was more and more draining on Hal's elderly body, and so he did so quite rarely. An encounter with the Trion shard's power-source and merging with the similarly-powered Triathlon led to a significant power increase. They eventually split, with Triathlon retaining his regular power levels, Hal Chandler returning to normal, and Chuck Chandler becoming human again for the first time in over 50 years, not having aged a day.

Chuck Chandler was a talented football player and an expert pilot; Hal Chandler was an experienced scientific researcher who requires eyeglasses and crutches to walk due to being astigmatic and suffering from poliomyelitis during his childhood.

As the 3-D Man, Chuck wore a specially-designed temperature-regulating NASA flight suit that took on a red/green color scheme and bonded to his skin when he was exposed to the Trion shard’s energies. Being transformed back into human form by Triathlon also transformed the suit to its original state and allowed him to remove it.