ASSASSIN

 

ASSASSIN

Real Name: Mimeyoshi

First Appearance: Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual (Vol. 1) #3, July 1993

Powers: The Assassin is a gynoid constructed by Apocalypse to serve as an agent of infiltration and sanctioning. She was given adaptive programming instructions, effectively simulating independent thought, and instilled with knowledge of a wide range of disciplines to use in her missions. The Assassin possessed superhuman strength, stamina, and reflexes, and could take a considerable amount of punishment and still operate by rerouting her power supply.

She remained functional even after losing an arm and having a hole blasted through her chest. Among her integrated weapon systems were optical laser beams, an extendible garrote wire from the inside of her wrist, and poison-tipped retractable finger claws for either sedation or murder. Apocalypse could place a variety of lifelike pseudo-skins over her metallic exostructure, enabling her to perfectly blend in with humanity.

MARRINA

 

MARRINA

Real Name: Marrina Smallwood McKenzie

First Appearance: Alpha Flight (Vol. 1) #1, August 1983

Powers: Marrina is a Plodex, an extraterrestrial race whose hatchlings are genetically programmed to conquer. When the Plodex attempted to conquer Earth, their hatchlings were launched before they had received their genetic programming to enable them to survive on this planet. One of the eggs landed in the ocean and drifted across its floor for 40,000 years. In order to survive, the egg became water permeable, and the adaptable creature within the egg became amphibious. The egg was finally discovered more than 20 years ago by fisherman Thomas Smallwood. His wife Gladys forced the egg open. The creature within the egg, still primed for genetic conditioning, instantly took on humanoid form as soon as it made contact with the cells of Gladys Smallwood's body. Thus, Gladys Smallwood saw a humanoid infant hatch from the egg. Thomas and Gladys Smallwood adopted the infant, whom they named Marrina since Thomas found her egg at sea, and raised her as their daughter. Neither the Smallwoods nor anyone else in their community suspected Marrina's alien origin, and instead believed that genetic defects were responsible for her unusual appearance. Marrina had been "damaged" in her hatching, and therefore had no conscious drive to conquer, nor was she dominated by savage instincts. Instead, she had a normal Earth girl's personality.

 

She has yellow skin, green hair, webbed fingers and toes, and bulbous round eyes. She can breathe underwater indefinitely and see for great distances through murky waters. Her strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and durability are all greater than a normal human's, allowing her to survive deep ocean pressures or freezing temperatures and move more freely through aquatic mediums than a normal person. She has innate sonar senses that probe her underwater environment, giving her a 360 degree awareness of her surroundings. She can swim at speeds exceeding 900 knots by dissolving the outermost layer of her flesh, revealing a frictionless second layer underneath. Either through some hydrokinetic ability or sheer velocity, Marrina was able to shoot out from the surface of the water and create a waterspout, with water streaming behind her in one long line as she traveled inside the waterspout through the air over land, reaching distances of at least one mile away from the edge of the water before the spout began to disperse. Marrina's Plodex heritage renders her highly adaptable to certain stimuli, and if her savage nature is somehow triggered she will mutate physically. Normally these changes are minor, including distortion of her facial features, claws, fangs, and the newfound ability to blind other people on contact thanks to a chemical oil released from her pores that constricts the pupils temporarily. On one occasion, her Plodex genes transformed her into the Leviathan, a sea creature of enormous size and strength, a serpent over a mile in length.

NAMORITA

 

NAMORITA

Real Name: Namorita Prentiss

First Appearance: Sub-Mariner (Vol. 1) #50, June 1972

Powers: Though a member of the human sub-species Homo Sapiens Mermanus, Namorita is actually the clone of her own "mother", Namora. Namora was having difficulty conceiving a child, and went to the exiled geneticist Vyrra for help. Vyrra created a clone from Namora's own cells, genetically altered it in certain ways, and implanted it as a fetus in her uterus. Thus, Namora effectively gave birth to herself.

Namorita was originally blue-skinned like her father, but upon puberty shifted to the pink skin Namora and her cousin Namor possess. Namorita has most of the conventional attributes of Homo Mermanus: Superhuman strength, swimming speed, endurance, reflexes, vision, hearing, and durability. Her dense musculature allows her to withstand deep sea pressures, augmented vision to penetrate murky ocean depths, and specialized blood circulation to endure freezing temperatures; when exposed to sufficiently virulent poisons, she automatically entered into a death-like state until her body was purged of toxins.
Namorita's lungs presumably contain oxygen-diffusing membranes, or lamellae, allowing her to extract oxygen from water as she inhales it; she can thus survive indefinitely either underwater or on land, but she must periodically make skin contact with water, preferably by immersion, to keep her powers replenished. Although Namorita lacks the fully developed gills of typical Atlanteans, she presumably possesses vestigial, partially functional gills behind her ears that are nonetheless somehow essential to her respiration.

She also has Namor's ankle wings enabling her to fly up to 35 miles per hour and the ability to re-channel electricity. She has never demonstrated his radar sense or marine telepathy, though. Her strength level fluctuates in and out of water as Namor's does, but her upper level is approximately Superhuman Class 75.

Eventually, Namorita's genetically unstable clone DNA caused her to mutate, and she reverted to an Atlantean throwback state. She developed the blue skin of her people in addition to webbed fingers and small fins extending from the backs of her thighs. She took to calling herself "Kymaera", after a legendary Atlantean ghost-shark. Her new skin eventually cracked and peeled, shedding off to reveal her former pink-skinned, webbing and fin-less self. This reverse transformation gave her new powers in the process, though. Namorita could now turn herself invisible, bending light waves around her body. She can also secrete a powerful acid from her pores or a neurotoxin which temporarily paralyzes her opponents on contact.

GRIFFIN

 

GRIFFIN

Real Name: John Horton

First Appearance: Amazing Adventures (Vol. 2) #15, November 1972

Powers: Johnny Horton was a small-time criminal captured by the subversive Secret Empire. He was surgically and chemically enhanced to be an agent of organization. A mutagenic serum turned his face chalk white and augmented his strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and resilience to physical harm, while the doctors also surgically attached a set of claws to his fingertips, working wings on his back, and a mane of hair around his head. The serum remained in his system permanently, and Griffin found that extreme physical exertion would reactivate the serum, causing him to mutate further and develop new abilities. First, he developed razor sharp fangs and a long prehensile tail from his backside. Later changes included lion-like facial features, more pronounced claws, dinosaur-like scales on his skin which acted as living armor, and the ability to psionically command birds to do his bidding. His strength also increased with each new mutation, causing him to go from grappling with Beast (Class 2 strength) to fighting Wonder Man and Namor (Class 85-100).

Over time, however, Griffin's mind began to deteriorate with each mutation, making him more feral and ultimately little smarter than an animal. At one point, he had grown into an oversized quadraped with no remaining human sentience, and served as Prince Namor's personal steed during a time when the Sub-Mariner's wings were lost. He has since spontaneously reverted back to a humanoid form, but his current power levels are unclear.

TIGER SHARK

 

TIGER SHARK

Real Name: Todd Arliss

First Appearance: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner (Vol. 1) #5, September 1968

Powers: Todd Arliss was left paraplegic after an accident at sea until criminal scientific genius Dr. Lemuel Dorcas guaranteed the restoration of Todd’s athletic prowess. Exposed to a great variety of experimental procedures involving electroshock treatments and high-frequency radiation therapy which gradually enhanced his physiology, restoring his damaged nerve tissue and ligaments. Arliss was then placed within the Morphotron, an experimental device that genetically re-engineered him with a combination of traits from Namor the Sub-Mariner and an actual shark. All of these procedures restored his mobility and transformed him into the power-mad amphibian powerhouse, Tiger Shark.

Arliss possessed at least Class 75 strength, superhuman swimming speed, agility, endurance, and reaction time. His vision and hearing were more acute than normal, and attuned towards underwater perception. He had both gills and lungs to breathe indefinitely on land or underwater. His entire body was strengthened and reinforced to withstand low temperature extremes and intense ocean pressure, giving him incredible durability. His teeth also became razor sharp. Although technically amphibious, Tiger Shark was even more vulnerable than Namor to drying out, quickly losing his strength and power on land. His costume was typically equipped with a recirculating water supply to keep him wet during surface activity. Over time, the Tiger Shark mutated into a more animalistic state. He developed predatory instincts, real shark-like skin, bulging red eyes, more pronounced fangs and finger talons, as well as an actual dorsal fin as opposed to a cosmetic one on his costume. He has fluctuated back and forth from this state over the years.

Todd Arliss was an Olympic champion swimmer before his accident and before he was superhumanly enhanced.

STINGRAY

 

STINGRAY

Real Name: Walter Newell

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish (Vol. 1) #95, September 1967 (as Walter Newell); Sub-Mariner (Vol. 1) #19, November 1969 (as Stingray)

Powers: Oceanographer Dr. Walter Newell designed a unique suit for deep sea exploration. The armored suit, dubbed "Stingray" (which also became his code name while wearing the armor), provides him with exceptional physical powers while wearing it. Most notably, the glider-winged Stingray armor grants him superhuman strength and durability, enables him to function underwater, has limited air-gliding capability, and is equipped with electrical weaponry.

The suit is a reinforced, armored exoskeleton of super-hard artificial cartilage electrically powered, plastic-based, muscle-like tissue. The armor enhances Newell's strength to superhuman level, sufficient to lift up to 25 tons. The armor also enhances his agility and reflexes to athlete levels, augments his speed and stamina to peak human levels, and grants him significantly enhanced durability. The suit's exterior is tough enough to stop bullets at close range, albeit thin enough that the impact of gunshots can still potentially injure Newell to some extent (for instance, a close-range head shot once gave him a concussion). Back-up systems within the armor can repair minor damages as they occur, though the armor needs to be otherwise inert for a few moments during this process. The armor is controlled through a network of sensors close to the skin that follow and amplify the wearer's bodily motions via negative feedback control with the aid of an onboard computer system. The suit is powered by a small, nuclear-powered thermo-electric generator capable of normal operation for several years before requiring servicing.

Designed primarily for underwater use, the Stingray armor is equipped with an oxygen-diffusing system that provides its wearer with breathable air almost indefinitely. Two pairs of mini-turbine impellers located underneath the suit’s wings propel Stingray through the water at high speeds; as of the suit’s last known upgrade, it could travel at a rate of 60 knots (roughly 52 miles per hour) on its low-power setting. The suit’s current top speed at higher-power settings is unrecorded. The suit’s propulsion is strong enough that it can maintain high speeds, even if the wearer is carrying over 500 pounds of additional cargo or passengers. Able to withstand tons of water pressure, the armor can theoretically reach depths of well over 3,600 feet with compromising its structural integrity. The suit’s aerodynamic wings also enable the wearer to glide through air for short distances, particularly when coming out of forceful leaps of dives.

An electrical discharge device built into Stingray’s exoskeleton can emit up to 20,000 volts through the air (up to 30 feet) or water (up to 10 feet), rendering the average healthy male unconscious for about 2 hours. The armor has an internal sonar system and other sensors enabling its wearer to scan its surroundings and track various targets – for instance, a program enabling Newell to analyze and follow the ripple effect left behind by a given undersea quarry. The suit’s mask is sometimes equipped with a special amplifier enabling Stingray’s voice to be heard clearly underwater, and the mask’s interior features a computerized heads-up display that updates the wearer on the status of the armor’s various systems. Filtering and imaging software provides crystal clear vision through the one-way viewscreen of the suit’s face mask, even in the murky darkness of undersea locations. Newell wears a modified wetsuit beneath the armor and carries a short-term oxygen mask, enabling him to function underwater for brief periods without the armor if necessary.

Newell has designed and built a wide variety of high-tech submersible vehicles over the years, such as the “saucer-sub”, which is also capable of flight or hovering in mid-air, equipped with a selectively permeable transparent canopy of “ultra-polystyrone.” Newell also designed the undersea community Hydropolis, a sealed ecosystem covering six acres and capable of supporting various air-breathing life forms beneath the seas, including up to 500 varieties of plants, animals, and insects, The community’s protective biosphere is composed of porous thermal glass able to maximize heat obtained from minimal sunlight, though most of the community’s energy is gathered from geothermal vents and tidal generators. Hydropolis contains multiple distinct environmental habitats, recreating portions of the all the world’s various ecosystems, such as rainforests, savannas, marshlands, and oceans. Artificial rain is produced within these environments via condensers that extract water from outside the city. Newell has also used the artificial island Hydrobase as a mobile floating base of operations, though in its current modified form it resembles a huge conventional sea vessel. The entire Hydrobase structure can flip itself vertically to become a freestanding instrument platform, submerging much of the vessel beneath the water. While in this mode, Hydrobase can link up with Hydropolis, enabling the movement of people and materials from one structure to another.

Dr. Walter Newell holds a Ph.D. in oceanography. An exceptionally gifted intellect, he is an experienced oceanographer, an accomplished scientific researcher, and a skilled inventor of experimental oceanographic equipment. He is particularly adept at the design and construction of submersible vehicles and undersea architecture. He has also been trained in unarmed combat, marksmanship, first aid, and other skills by Initiative instructors.

NAMORA

 

NAMORA

Real Name: Aquaria Nautica Neptunia

First Appearance: Marvel Mystery Comics (Vol. 1) #82, May 1947

Powers: Namora, originally named Lady Aquaria Nautica Neptunia, is the cousin of Namor and a Sub-Mariner in her own right. Like her cousin, Namora was also born a Homo Sapiens Superior (mutant) hybrid of Homo Sapiens (human) and Homo Sapiens Mermanus (Atlantean) genes. As a result, this grants her abilities far greater then any one of her pure genetic blood lines.

Also, Namor and Namora are not blood related. Her Atlantean father was an adopted member of the royal family, and so she and Namor do not share family genetics.

Her strength level is around Class 50-70, in addition to superhuman swimming speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, vision, and durability. Naturally she is also amphibious, able to breathe on land or underwater. Namora did not originally possess ankle wings allowing her to fly, though a geneticist suggested once she had the latent ability to manifest these wings. They have apparently done so now that she has emerged from her comatose state.

NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER

 

NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER

Real Name: Namor McKenzie

First Appearance: Marvel Comics (Vol. 1) #1, April 1939

Powers: Born in late 1920, Namor is the son of Atlantean Princess Fen and American human sailor Leonard McKenzie. He is a mutant hybrid, possessing the various traits of his people, the Homo Sapiens and Homo Mermanus (Atlanteans), as well as additional abilities unique to him.

Unlike fellow Atlanteans, he is fair-skinned instead of blue-skinned. He is superhumanly strong, able to lift 100 tons while in contact with water. Even when active on the surface, he generally remains sufficiently strong to lift 85 tons, but prolonged time without renewed contact with water causes his strength to decrease proportionately. Prolonged dehydration (without any water contact or consumption), combined with repeated exertion, can reduce his strength to Class 10 or lower and even bring him to the brink of death, although even slight contact with water will immediately restore him to a semblance of health.

He is amphibious, capable of extracting breathable oxygen from atmosphere or water. Like all Atlanteans, his body is adapted to deep underwater pressures. This grants him a prolonged lifespan, augmented vision to penetrate ocean depths and specialized blood circulation to withstand freezing temperatures. His stamina and endurance also enable him to survive in outer space without protective garb, although he would still require a breathing apparatus. Even point-blank gunfire cannot penetrate his skin. Namor can survive indefinitely either underwater or on land, although too much time spent in one environment without contact with the other can induce manic-depressive mood swings.

Namor possesses superhuman reflexes, agility, and speed. His dense underwater-adapted body can move easily through a thicker medium like water and withstand the great pressure of living on the ocean floor. Unlike all Atlanteans, however, his physical abilities are dramatically greater. He can swim as fast as 60 miles per hour and has fin-like wings on his ankles which are inexplicably capable of providing enough lift for him to fly at similar speeds. In addition, the Sub-Mariner has certain abilities which are only rarely used: He possesses a telepathic rapport with many forms of marine life, allowing him to psionically communicate with and command them. He can also adapt this talent for communication with fellow Atlanteans. At times, he has demonstrated abilities similar to certain marine life forms, such as electric eel's ability to harmlessly absorb and redirect electrical currents (he absorbs electricity into his body and redirects it as charges of energy from his fists), a puffer fish's expansion and retraction of body mass, and a cavefish's radar sense, allowing him to probe his environment in order to determine the position of other objects, even invisible ones.

In the past, he has suffered a number of temporary changes to his abilities. At one point, his ankle wings were removed and his gills closed up so that he couldn't breathe underwater. Another time, his ability to breathe on land was affected, prompting him to use a special saturation costume to regulate his oxygen supply. As part of the Phoenix Five, Namor had the standard powers of cosmic fire enriching extreme telepathy and telekinesis which all Phoenix wielders have had since Jean Grey.

When not suffering from oxygen imbalance, Namor is an accomplished tactician, leader, and has proven himself to be a talented business executive as required (having been CEO of the environmentally conscious company Oracle, Inc. and owner of Hollywood film studio S.M. Studios). He is adept at designing Atlantean technology and reputedly speaks every language on Earth. He sometimes wields Neptune's Trident as both a weapon and a symbol of his royal status as King of Atlantis. On occasion, he has used Atlantean artifacts of power, including the shell-like Horn of Proteus that summons monstrous sea creatures, a statue that mesmerizes the user's opponent, and others. For a time, he wore a magic earring which he and his cousin, Namorita, who wore its twin, could use for communication purposes.