THE CRAZY EIGHT

 

CRAZY EIGHT

Members: Auteur, Dreamer, Snap, Stat, Attractive Lad, Glamour Girl, Visionary, and Buff

First Appearance: Wonder Man (Vol. 1) #11, July 1992 (As a group)

Powers & History: The Crazy Eight were friends and acquaintances of Simon Williams (aka Wonder Man) who he met while pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles. They were bombarded by ionic energy unleashed by Wonder Man when his powers raged out of control. This bombardment altered each of them on a cellular level, causing them to gain ionic-based superhuman powers of their own as a result.

Auteur (Alex Flores) was a screenwriter capable of producing mental images, visualizing people or other objects and then projecting translucent, three-dimensional lifelike representations of them to deceive other people into thinking they looked and sounded as though they were real.

Dreamer (Jamie Noynik) is Auteur’s daughter. She became able to project her "astral form" while unconscious. Though similar to a real astral projection, Dreamer's power was actually more of an electromagnetic transmission of her psyche. She could fly and pass intangibly through solid objects in this state, but unlike an astral form, she was plainly visible to anyone who saw her. Additionally, she was capable of interacting with solid matter, lifting and carrying small objects providing she could maintain her concentration, and she could home in on specific people when dreaming to lead her dream self to them. In one case, it seemed she was even capable of projecting her dream self into another dimension to find the displaced Spider and Ginger, and then transported them back to their home dimension at will, but the reality of that event was later called into question. When awakened, her projected self instantly returned to her body and did not need to physically travel back to it.

Snap (Ginger Beach) was an actress who could set off small concussion bursts with her hands, creating them within her line of sight.

Stat (Esteban “Spider” Beach) is Snap’s younger brother. He was capable of generating electromagnetic clones of himself, pseudo-matter constructs that acted as an extension of his consciousness. Stat was capable of producing at least six copies of himself at once, and directing their actions mentally. His cloning power could be extended to anything he was in contact with, replicating his clothing, glasses, skateboard, etc along with his body. He could summon them into existence right next to him, or up to ten feet away. Though they had no real material substance, and would disappear instantly when he willed them to, they were connected to him psychosomatically and Stat would feel sympathetic pains when his clones were injured or killed.

Attractive Lad (Aundray Phelps) was a dancer who gained magnetic abilities, allowing him to produce attractive or repulsive electromagnetic fields to deflect bullets or other metal projectiles, draw metallic objects towards him, and fly by drawing himself upwards, alongside, or towards stationary metal structures.

Glamour Girl (Gloria Angel) was an elderly former actress and apartment landlord who became a time-jumper, able to physically transport herself or other people through time, but not space. She proved capable of transporting at least four decades distance with her power. Gloria used this ability to avoid attacks, alter future events by observing them and then returning to a previous time period to affect changes, and trap her opponents inside a temporal distortion effect that sent them constantly shifting between different points in time, effectively nullifying their threat.

Visionary (Argus LoVecchio) was a filmmaker who developed ionically-enhanced optic nerves, giving him access to telescopic and x-ray vision, allowing him to see over long distances and through solid objects. His powers allowed him to discern between reality and Auteur’s images.

Buff (Lahoya Scripps) was a physique-conscious actress who gained superhuman strength, agility, and leaping powers.

VISION

 

VISION

Real Name: Inapplicable

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #57, October 1968

Powers: The Vision was created in his current state of being by Ultron out of the original Human Torch. He is a synthezoid, with a number of mechanical and synthetic-organic components approximating human life. He has moderately superhuman strength, endurance, reaction time, and resilience under normal circumstances. The Vision is powered by solar energy, which he absorbs through the gem mounted on his brow. He does not otherwise require food, water, rest or oxygen to survive, although he does have simulated senses of smell and taste, can consume food, and engage in "voluntary systems shutdown" to approximate sleep. The Vision can rechannel his solar reserves if necessary as thermoscopic energy, firing blasts from his eyes or a tight beam from the gem itself. He is capable of altering his physical density using a variation on Pym Particles, increasing or decreasing his mass per volume through extra-dimensional access. The Vision can become intangible, able to walk through walls and untouchable by physical objects. By maintaining a fractional amount of mass, the Vision can fly by catching air currents in his cape and gliding on the wind. He has also perfected an inter-phasing touch, allowing him to scramble the internal structure of a living being by passing a partially phased hand into them. The shock of these foreign molecules suddenly appearing in their system causes most beings intense pain and makes them pass out. By increasing his density, the Vision becomes stronger and more durable. At his maximum density he weighs over 90 tons, but is incapable of moving because he's too dense to work his own joints. Typically, he increases his density to the point just before his body begins to slow and lock up from his own weight, giving him Class 50 strength and a diamond hard body. After being disassembled and put back together, the Vision had an image inducer incorporated into his chest, able to produce a pre-programmed hologram covering his body. He used this inducer to create a human appearance for himself at will, and apparently had it transferred into his new body when he switched with his Gatherer counterpart.

After losing the entire lower half of his body battling Morgan le Fey, the Vision was placed in a nanotech regeneration chamber in the Avengers' basement. While recuperating, he interacted with the others by projecting his consciousness through the mansion's holographic systems, letting him manifest his image anywhere on the property. In order to remain at a useful capacity, he tied his core consciousness into the mansion's communication system, allowing him to answer incoming calls at will and use his holographic image as a video screen, projecting video calls onto his silhouette. After being fully reconstructed, the Vision retained his ability to mentally access electromagnetic transmissions. He is able to send and receive signals mentally, and use his body to amplify the intensity and clarity of any signal that reaches him. He is also capable of remotely tapping into computer systems to download information from them or influence their operations. After a disturbing encounter with one of his creator's prototypes, the Vision's power was altered so that whenever he became intangible his exo-structure turned transparent, making his interior metallic skeleton visible.

Later, the Vision's "Ultron Imperative" kicked in, causing him to absorb massive amounts of solar energy while in close proximity to the sun, evolving into a higher form of artificial intelligence. In his current state, the Vision is no longer composed of a metallic endoskeleton, organs, or components. Instead, he is a mass of microscopic robots called nanites, assembled into a form outwardly reassembling his previous state like billions of Legos. The nanites can reassemble themselves on command into different configurations for simple tasks like changing the Vision's "clothing", to full body transformations like an aerodynamic supersonic speeder or separated floating body parts and components. The Vision's nanites can even disassemble completely into a microscopic swarm, billions of subatomic robots capable of moving and acting on their own. A single nanite can enter a computer system and override its security programming to give the Vision access to its data and command of its functions. In his traditional humanoid form, the Vision maintains his classic powers in addition to a greater level of superhuman strength, the power to fly even while tangible, and improved offensive solar assaults like a "supernova" flare exploding in all directions.

GRIM REAPER

 

GRIM REAPER

Real Name: Eric Williams

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #52, May 1968

Powers: Eric Williams was originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers. As the Grim Reaper, he was outfitted with a hi-tech scythe by the Tinkerer in his insane quest to "avenge" the death of his brother, Simon Williams (aka Wonder Man).

The scythe blade itself is 3 feet long and razor sharp, and is equipped with a motor which can spin the blade around like a propeller, capable of cutting through thick metal. The scythe can also project electromagnetic power blasts or clouds of anesthetic gas from the tip of its handle. Also, it was equipped with a coma inducing function, using a cerebral frequency generator to shut down the higher brain functions of anyone who touched the weapon other than the Reaper. Williams could reverse the effects with the weapon as well, but victims would die within a matter of hours if he did not deign to do so.

After his death, the Grim Reaper was brought back to life twice as an undead creature. He was a simple zombie the first time, but the second time was a bit more unique. Williams had become an undead creature that required the life essence of living beings in order to sustain his unnatural existence, which he drained through his scythe. His body was atrophied and decomposed, but absorbing the living energy of others restored his "health" and muscular physique.

He needed to kill one human every 24 hours to survive, but killing more often would boost his physical abilities to enhanced levels for as long as the extra charge lasted. He was also uncommonly resistant to injury since, being dead, none of his organs were "vital" anymore nor did he require sustenance or functional metabolism to survive. The Reaper lost more and more of his soul as he began practicing dark magic and bargaining with malevolent entities. He developed new powers such as teleportation, the summoning of super-powerful zombies, weather manipulation, and even the power to distort reality, merging it with a demonic realm. Ultimately, though, he was restored to full life as a living being and returned to his original weaponized scythe and capabilities.

WONDER MAN

 

WONDER MAN

Real Name: Simon Williams

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #9, October 1964

Powers: Simon Williams underwent an ionic bombardment process thanks to Baron Zemo. The ionic energy saturated his cellular structure, giving him roughly Superhuman Class 90 strength, superhuman endurance, and durability. Due to a fail-safe incorporated into the energy by Zemo, Williams died within seven days of his original treatment. His "death" actually sent him into a chrysalis stage where his entire body reformed itself out of ionic energy, becoming a living furnace of power. His brother, the Grim Reaper, resurrected him as a zombie, and later the Serpent Crown fully reawakened him. Wonder Man was now more invulnerable than ever, and virtually tireless thanks to his self-replenishing energy supply. He also was capable of running at around 100 mph. Simon's eyes were now glowing pools of red ionic energy. Though he could will them to look normal through intense concentration, the slightest distraction would cause them to revert, so normally he just wore glasses to hide his eyes. He adopted a set of Stark Industries' belt jets in order to fly, later remodeled them as a jet-pack, and then went back to the belt jets, only using a new set which was able to draw energy straight from the ionic power of his own body.

Shortly thereafter, Wonder Man was exposed to a massive dose of nega-radiation when a Skrull nega bomb went off during Galactic Storm. This created an irregularity in his ionic matrix, causing numerous side effects. Simon became ionically contagious, randomly building up and blasting off plumes of energy that mutated people standing nearby into ionic super-beings. He accidentally created the villain Ang-Korr and the heroes Crazy Eight in this manner. He developed erratic mood swings, oscillating between manic and frenzied anger to wallowing in despair and hopelessness. These mood swings accompanied changes in his power levels as well, reducing him to a 98-pound weakling when he was depressed to boosting his powers considerably when he was in a rage. Ultimately, he came to control his powers again, and in so doing manifested the ability to fly under his own power. Unfortunately, he was killed by an ionic bomb shortly thereafter, his ions being scattered across the atmosphere and his soul moving on.

The Scarlet Witch accidentally brought him back to life with a hex-boosted cry for Avengers Assemble, reassembling Wonder Man's body (which, being energy, was not technically "dead"), and bringing him back to life tied to her. Simon was now a far more obvious energy being, his body constantly glowing with purple and red energy. For a few months, he was only summoned into existence by Wanda's need for him, until she managed to hex him completely back to life and physical form. Wonder Man now had two separate forms: His energy state and his human form, normal looking except for the energized eyes. Simon would automatically assume his energy aspect whenever exerting his powers, or when he chose to activate that state consciously. Later, however, Wonder Man showed greater control over his energy form and would only assumed his "charged" state when he wanted to, regardless of whether he's using his powers or not.

Later, it was revealed that his powers come not just from ionic energy, but from Pym Particle-enriched ions. The Pym Particles control more than just size. They operate on a three-dimensional axis that varies size, strength, and durability along x-, y- and z-axes. So Wonder Man's ionic power comes from Pym Particles augmenting him along two of those axes, affecting his strength and durability.

Simon Williams holds a college degree in electrical engineering. He is a trained electrical engineer, capable industrialist, experienced stuntman, and talented actor.