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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on May 23, 2008 20:47:39 GMT -5
I know Zod is one of them.
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Lupin the Third
Patti Mayonnaise
I'm sorry.....I love you. *boot to the head*--3rd most culpable in the jixing of NXT, D'oh!
Join the Dark Order....
Posts: 36,327
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Post by Lupin the Third on May 23, 2008 23:20:17 GMT -5
definately Zod, not sure about the others, one sounds like Dr. Evil.
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Post by demolitionfan on May 24, 2008 1:40:43 GMT -5
this another of the villan polls that ends in darth vader #1?I never liked that.The guy repents in the end and goes good so how can he be the greatest villan?
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MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 13,968
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Post by MolotovMocktail on May 24, 2008 3:16:06 GMT -5
Right. So Palpatine should be #1. And make sure Antoine Chigurh gets a mention. When I drafted my list a few years back, he obviously wasn't on it at that time.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 24, 2008 12:23:41 GMT -5
It's time for more villains. Here's 72: 72. Tony Montana Who is he: A Cuban refugee who rose to become the kingpin of the Miami cocaine scene. What is he from: “Scarface.” What has he done: Killed and cussed his way to the top of the Miami criminal underworld; killed his best friend because he married Tony’s sister. Intelligence: Street smarts and later became wise in cocaine trafficking. Power: He eventually becomes the most powerful gangster in Miami. Vileness: Will kill anyone, even his own best friend. Sway: His power and meanstreak can get a lot of things done. Purity: Driven to become a powerful criminal at any means, but cares deeply for his sister and refuse to blow up a man along with his wife and kids. Physical Prowess: Average male strength, gets angry easily, and can fire a gun very well. Name Coolness: “Tony Montana” is pretty cool and rolls off the tongue. Created by: Oliver Stone, though he loosely based it on the 1932 Howard Hawks “Scarface” and the main character Antonio 'Tony' Camonte Portrayed by: Al Pacino, whose portrayal of Tony Montana has become one of his most, only second to Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” movies. “Scarface” has become an important cultural icon for many gangsta rap artists and fans, inspiring posters, clothing, and many other references. The film begins with a description of how, in 1980, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro let the gates open on Mariel Harbor in Cuba allowing thousands of Cubans to immigrate to Florida on boatlifts. However, some of these immigrants were criminals or ex-convicts. Enter Tony Montana (Al Pacino), one of the thousands of Cubans that immigrated to Miami, Florida. He and his best friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) are met with resistance, particularly because of their criminal records, and are placed in limbo (so to speak) in Freedomtown, a place where Cuban refugees without Green Cards are kept. Manny makes Tony aware of a deal where they can leave Freedomtown and receive their Green Cards. But, they have to kill Cuban Communist Emilio Rebenga in order to obtain it. Tony does this without much thought, and they receive their American citizenship. Tony and Manny begin working in a small Cuban food stand to make money, but Tony soon grows restless. They both make a deal with drug dealer Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) (the same man who made the "Rebenga deal") to get paid for getting narcotics from Colombian dealer "Hector the Toad". Tony dislikes Omar's attitude, but obliges. Although the deal with Hector soon turns bad, Tony and Manny both escape alive and with the cocaine. Instead of allowing Omar to take the cocaine to his boss Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), Tony takes it to Frank personally, already untrusting of Omar. Tony manages to win Frank over with his sense of humor and bold attitude, and he ends up getting a job under Frank in his drug dealing business (along with Manny). Meanwhile, Tony takes an interest in Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer). While Tony flirts with Elvira, she doesn't show any interest in Frank (or anyone else for that matter). Tony pays a visit to his estranged family's home. It is implied that Tony's father walked out on the family years ago, but his mother (Miriam Colon) and his younger sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are home. Gina is excited to see Tony (who hasn't seen the family in 5 years), while his mother isn't too thrilled. When he offers his mother $1,000 (claiming he's "made it"), his mother declines the offer. She believes he's still up to no good, and wants him to leave because she doesn't want him rubbing off on Gina. Tony leaves, but Gina runs after him. He slips her the $1,000 secretly, and tells her to spend it on whatever she wants and to give his mother a little from time to time. It is clear he cares for his sister greatly, but later on in the film gives proof that he is very overprotective of her. While in Bolivia, Tony and Omar begin discussing business plans with Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar) on the behalf of Frank who couldn't make it down. Tony begins making major decisions about distribution of the drugs (decisions that Omar believes Frank should be approving). Omar and Tony begin arguing over the matter, while Alejandro offers Omar a quick helicopter ride back home. However, Alejandro makes one of his henchmen hang and kill Omar, who was allegedly an informant for the police. Alejandro believes Tony, however, is trustworthy and makes him one of his business partners. When returning to Florida, Tony comes under heat by Frank, who is angry at what had occurred in South America. Tony and Frank end their business relationship, while Tony begins making bolder passes at Elvira, one of them right in front of Frank. At a nightclub, Tony is nearly shot and killed by two henchmen. Tony is convinced Frank is responsible for the hit, and he and Manny hunt Frank down and kill him once he admits to it. Afterwards, all seems to be going well for Tony. He marries Elvira, takes over Frank's empire and becomes very wealthy. However, cracks in Tony's "perfect life" begin to form. Both he and Elvira become addicted to cocaine. He becomes more paranoid and untrusting of those around him, and she becomes more bored and distant. Manny and Gina begin dating behind Tony's back, afraid of what his reaction would be if he found out. Tony is arrested for tax evasion, and faces up to three years in prison. Soon, Elvira becomes tired of the lifestyle, and leaves Tony after a fight at a restaurant. During a trip to New York, Alejandro hires Tony to help put a hit out on a Congressman (who went on a television talk show and mentioned Alejandro, his henchmen, and their drug dealing). Tony orders one of the henchmen not to set off the bomb underneath the Congressman's car once he finds out his wife and children are in the car as well. When the henchman doesn’t listen, Tony grows angry and shoots him dead. He returns to Florida to find his mother upset over Gina's new attitude (whom she believes Tony corrupted) and Alejandro threatening to kill Tony for not going through with the plan. Tony goes to find Gina at an unknown mansion, and sees her and Manny together in nightrobes. Realizing Manny has slept with his sister, he shoots Manny dead in a cocaine-fueled rage (which he later regrets), and highly upsets Gina (who reveals they eloped and were going to surprise Tony). Tony and his underlings take Gina back to his mansion. Meanwhile, Alejandro Sosa's numerous henchmen are surrounding his mansion, with plans to kill him. They take out everyone else in the mansion one by one, until Tony is left to fight them off. He emerges from his room with an M-16 rifle, and begins shooting wildly at the men, and manages to kill some and stay alive. He believes he is victorious, until an assassin known as the Skull slowly walks up behind Tony and shoots him in the back with a shotgun. Tony plunges off the second floor, over the balcony, and into the small pool in his living room. He lies dead as a statue ironically stands above him reading "The World Is Yours". Ah, Tony Montana. He is one of the most influential cultural icons of the last 20 years. He is a huge presence in the film but not just because he’s the main character. He has this cocky swagger and bravado that obviously lets people know he is a bad man you do not want to mess with. He wants to become the most powerful criminal in Miami and will kill anyone to do so, which he pretty much those. “Scarface” is one of the bloodiest films ever, and a large portion of that blood is spilled because of Tony. He gives a whole new definition to cruel and ruthless. However, he does have some compassion. His downfall is the result of refusing to kill a Congressman while he is in his car with his wife and kids and kills a henchman to prevent him from blowing up his car. While he will kill any man without remorse or sympathy, he does draw the line at women and children. And, of course, there’s his sister Gina. He loves her and is very protective of her. In fact, he’s too protective of her. Hell, you could say that Tony is in love with Gina and not get any argument from many people. He attacks a man he saw Gina with in the bathroom. But, the best example would be when he finds out that Manny and Gina have been having a relationship. What does he do when he finds out that his best friend and his sister are in love and sees them after they have just had sex? He shoots his best friend. That is cold. However, despite all these things, Tony has become an idol to many rappers. They have may Tony Montana into a hero of sorts. But, they are missing the point of the movie. Tony Montana isn’t a hero. He doesn’t do nice and honorable things that should be immolated and imitated. You shouldn’t follow his example because, while he did make something out of himself going from refugee to rich and powerful criminal druglord, he and his action were also responsible for his own downfall. And, yes, he did go out fighting; but he still ended up dead at the end of the movie. Tony Montana isn’t a hero; he is a villain.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 24, 2008 13:34:25 GMT -5
71. Thanos Who is he: A Titan (from the moon of Saturn). What is he from: Marvel Comics, most notably Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, Infinity Abyss, Marvel: The End, his own series Thanos, and Annihilation. What has he done: Killed 30,000 Titans, including his own mother, and half the sentient beings in the universe, all because of his love of Death. Intelligence: A super-genius according to the Marvel Encyclopedia. Power: He was the most powerful Eternal of Titan. Vileness: If they could speak, all those dead beings would say he pretty vile. Sway: I imagine he could use fear to get what he wants. Purity: He cares for only one thing: Death. Physical Prowess: Superhuman strength, stamina, and particularly durability; capable of absorbing or directing enormous quantities of cosmic energy, using it to shield himself, matter manipulation, telekinesis, and resistance to powerful telepathic assaults; can temporarily increase his powers by absorbing energy from an unknown source of quasi-mystical nature; formidable combatant, but typically prefers to outwit his enemies Name Coolness: “Thanos” is pretty cool. Created by: Jim Starlin. Portrayed by: Gary Krawford was the voice of Thanos in the short lived 1998 FOX cartoon The Silver Surfer. So far, except for the video games Marvel Superheroes (SNES), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, that has been his only appearance outside of comics. Thanos is born on Titan, a moon of the planet Saturn to Mentor and Sui-San. Due to a genetic quirk, Thanos is born with the Deviant gene and as such resembles the Deviants — the Eternals' cousin race — more than his own people. Although treated fairly by his race, Thanos is mindful of his appearance and becomes distant, only keeping company with his brother Eros. Thanos matures to adulthood, and via the use of bionics and mysticism augments his abilities to become the most powerful of the Titanian-born Eternals, and is often referred to as the Mad Titan. Bitter at being an outsider, Thanos becomes fascinated with nihilism, embarking on his quest to "please" death, and begins by conducting a nuclear bombardment of Titan that kills millions of his race. Thanos' mother is thought to have died during the bombardment, but years later it is discovered that he kidnaps and then dissects her. He later travels to Earth, and prior to landing his vessel destroys a nearby car to prevent anyone from becoming aware of his existence. Unknown to Thanos, two of the family members in the vehicle survive; the father's spirit is preserved by the Titanian cosmic entity Chronos and is given a new form as Drax the Destroyer while the daughter is found by Thanos' father Mentor and is raised to become Moondragon. Many years later, Thanos begins his plan to conquer the galaxy; he builds a base on Earth and constructs a space vessel in the solar system that acts as a "universal translator" for his huge army of alien mercenaries, so that they can understand each other's language. It is at this time that Mistress Death, drawn by the level of Thanos' obsession and his now considerable power, manifests itself before Thanos, being an abstract entity and the personification of the universal concept of death. Thanos becomes determined to prove his "love" to Death for this sign of affection by destroying all life in the universe, and embarks on a quest to find the artifact the Cosmic Cube. It is at this time that Thanos finds himself opposed by the superheroes of Earth, who initially fight Thanos' forces in a rather disjointed fashion: Iron Man and Drax storm Thanos' base and fight Thanos' minions, the Blood Brothers. Captain Marvel becomes aware of Thanos courtesy of his cosmic awareness and explains the threat to Daredevil, the Black Widow, and Moondragon while Thanos hunts for the Cosmic Cube. The Avengers destroy the vessel acting as a translator for Thanos' mercenaries. Thanos eventually locates the Cube and uses his minions the Super-Skrull and the Controller to try and destroy Captain Marvel, who rallies Eros, Mentor, Drax, Moondragon, and the Avengers against Thanos. Thanos uses the Cube and wills it to allow him to be part of - and therefore in control of - everything. Although Thanos is now omnipotent and easily defeats the heroes, he makes the mistake of discarding what he believes to be a now-drained Cube. Captain Marvel shatters the Cube, which undoes Thanos' wish. Thanos then discovers that Death has abandoned him as result of this defeat, and retreats. Iron Man later investigates Thanos' old base and together with the Thing battles the Blood Brothers again. Thanos journeys into deep space and learns of the Universal Church of Truth, led by the being the Magus, a warped and future version of the hero Adam Warlock. Deciding that the Magus is a threat to his plans, and after finding the child Gamora, whose race has been exterminated by the Church, Thanos raises and trains her to assassinate the Magus. Thanos also joins forces with Adam Warlock, who is unaware of the fact that the Magus is actually the Champion of Life and that Thanos is the Champion of Death. The two eventually battle, and Thanos feigns defeat to allow Adam Warlock time to manipulate the timeline and undo the Magus. It is during this alliance Thanos secretly siphons off the energies of the Soul Gem that Warlock possesses, and after leaving Adam Warlock, Thanos embarks on his next quest to appease Death. Thanos combines the energies from the Soul Gem with the energies of the other Infinity Gems to power a weapon that is capable of destroying a star. Thanos then plans to painstakingly snuff out every star in the universe as a gift to Death. Gamora discovers Thanos' intentions and attempts to kill him, but is mortally wounded herself. Adam Warlock's unsuspecting ally Pip the Troll is also killed. Gamora lives long enough to warn a returning Adam Warlock, who travels to Earth and enlists the aid of the Avengers, Captain Marvel, and Moondragon. After attacking and dealing with Thanos' mercenary fleet, most of the Avengers and Moondragon storm Sanctuary I, Thanos' vessel. Thor and Iron Man follow Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel, who confront Thanos directly. Captain Marvel destroys the weapon's launcher, but Thanos then kills an attacking Warlock. Thor holds off Thanos while Iron Man destroys the weapon itself, and an enraged Thanos then defeats the remaining heroes with Sanctuary I's weapons. The cosmic entities Lord Order and Master Chaos intervene, and via a subconscious message draw Spider-Man and the Thing into the battle. Spider-Man frees the fallen heroes, and then makes contact with the Soul Gem, releasing the spirit of Adam Warlock, who then turns Thanos to stone. Years later, the Silver Surfer witnesses the resurrection of Thanos by Mistress Death, who feels that Death needs a champion once again. A revived Thanos decides to collect the Infinity Gems, which he takes from the In-Betweener and the Elders of the Universe. Thanos then combines the gems on his left glove to create the Infinity Gauntlet, which allows him to exceed the power he once possessed with the Cosmic Cube. Thanos honors Death by erasing half the population of the universe, but a group of Earth's superheroes almost defeat an overconfident Thanos. He then goes on to defeat an assembly of the cosmic hierarchy (here Galactus, the Stranger, Epoch, Kronos, two Celestials, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Mistress Love, Sire Hate), and even Death finally decides to join them. The conflict culminates in single combat with, and victory over, Eternity itself. As Thanos abandons his corporeal self to assume Eternity's position, the space pirate Nebula, who claims to be his granddaughter, takes the Gauntlet. Nebula then undoes all of Thanos' changes; to shortly afterwards lose the Gauntlet to Adam Warlock. Warlock had earlier made Thanos realize that it was his own self-doubt that subconsciously engineered his defeats, and when confronted by the superheroes he activates a nuclear device in his costume, telling them he prefers death to imprisonment. With no time to deactivate the device, Thor throws his hammer Mjolnir into Thanos, hurling him miles away. Thanos, however, teleports away just as the device detonates. Only Adam Warlock, in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet, is aware of the deception, and notes that Thanos now has a chance to reform. Thanos does reform for a time, and is eventually given the Reality Gem by Adam Warlock to safeguard. At one point Thanos uses the gem to resurrect the hero Captain Marvel, who died during the time that Thanos himself was dead. Thanos seeks forgiveness for his past actions and claims he wished to test the power of the gem. Captain Marvel, however, knowing of Thanos' self-doubts, guesses the truth and suspects that he has been resurrected to try and dissuade Thanos from his real goal: using the gem to make Mistress Death love him. Thanos confesses and at Captain Marvel's request allows him to return to the afterlife. Thanos then assists Adam Warlock and Earth's superheroes against first the Magus and later the Goddess- the evil and good personas of Warlock, who expunged them to become omnipotent when possessing the Infinity Gauntlet (Although none of Earth's heroes entirely trust him after his past actions). After fighting Thor, now strengthened by the Power Gem, in single combat, Thanos uses an invention to imprison him, and takes Thor to Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. Once in Asgard Thanos, and the Silver Surfer engage Thor's father Odin in battle, but are overpowered. It is at this point, however, that Odin discovers he is indirectly responsible for Thor's insanity, and aids Thor in curing himself. Thanos later discovers via an oracle a new extraterrestrial threat: Tyrant, a failed creation of Galactus. Thanos allies himself with Galactus' former Herald Terrax, the hero Jack of Hearts, a second generation Captain Marvel, and Ganymede, a warrior-priestess dedicated to destroying Tyrant. Together they attack Tyrant's base, at which point Thanos abandons the battle and taps into Tyrant's computers to learn of his origin. Thanos then steals one of Tyrant's "power orbs" - containing power drained from Galactus' Herald Morg. Thanos then confronts the entity and dares Tyrant to stop him. The battle allows Thanos' allies to escape and destroys much of Tyrant's base, at which point Thanos teleports away to safety. Tyrant is then confronted by Galactus, who negotiates the terms of a truce (including the release of other prisoners the Silver Surfer, Gladiator, and Beta Ray Bill). Soon after this Thanos recovers his vessel Sanctuary II from the android Quasimodo, and saves the Silver Surfer and Spider-Man in the process. Thanos is later revealed to be trapped in an alternate dimension. He employs the aid of the brother of Ka-Zar, Parnival Plunder, to attempt escape, planning to control all vegetation and cause universal havoc. A year later a now gigantic Thanos is still trapped, and attempts to use the Hulk as a physical anchor back to the Earth-616 universe. He is, however, defeated by the Hulk and the mutant X-Man. Thanos reappears two years later, having escaped the alternate dimension. He now seeks the Chalice of Ruins, Map of All-Ending, and Illumination Stone, which when united will enable the user to destroy the universe. Thanos enlists the aid of the Asgardian monster Mangog and the traitor Tarakis, and storms Asgard and ravages entire worlds hunting for the artifacts. After several bloody battles, the Thunder God Thor defeats Mangog with the help of Orikal while his ally Firelord defeats Tarakis. Just as Thanos unites the items and realizes his goal, Thor dons Asgardian armor which allows him to match Thanos' new power levels and defeats the Titan. Thanos later requires the aid of Thor and Genis (Captain Marvel's son) against the death god Walker, who attempts to woo Mistress Death and then destroy the entity after being rejected. Thanos and the heroes are successful, and it is revealed at this time that Thanos' retaking of his vessel and previous encounters with Ka-Zar and Thor were planned and served as useful preparation for the battle against Walker. Thanos then devises a plan to become the All-Father of a new race of Gods created by himself. Thanos, however, finds himself opposed by the Avengers, former member Mantis, and her son Quoi, apparently destined to be the Celestial Messiah. Thanos abandons this plan after having to unite with Mistress Death to destroy the Rot, an aberration in deep space that is apparently their offspring. Thanos once conducted extensive research on genetics, and after studying many of the universe's heroes and villains cloned them and gene-spliced his own DNA into the subjects. Although he later abandons the project, five clones survive, being versions of Professor X, Iron Man, Gladiator, Doctor Strange, and Galactus respectively. A sixth and unnamed version of Thanos also appears, and it is revealed that many of Thanos' recent encounters with Earth's superheroes were simply clones impersonating him. The true Thanos - with the aid of Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange - destroys the remaining clones. Sometime later Thanos finds and uses the artifact the Heart of the Universe to stop an alien pharaoh called Akhenaten who conquers Earth. The artifact makes Thanos a part of everything, and able to absorb the entire universe - even the other cosmic entities. With his newfound omnipotence, Thanos discovers that the constant resurrection of beings has caused an impurity in the old universe that only he can fix. Thanos then restarts the universe and sacrifices himself to fix the flaw. A repentant Thanos apparently survives and is accompanied by Adam Warlock to New Rigel-3, where Thanos uses his power to atone for previous acts committed against the Rigelians. The grateful Rigelians ask Thanos to assist with a problem on Rigel-18, which is revealed to be Galactus. Galactus is attempting to unite and use the Infinity Gems to stop his need to devour inhabited planets. Galactus, however, is being manipulated by an inter-dimensional parasite called Hunger, which devours entire cosmoses. The Hunger tricks Galactus into creating a machine, requiring the power of Infinity Gems, that allows Hunger access into the Earth-616 universe. With assistance from Moondragon and Pip the Troll, Thanos discovers the truth and attempts to stop Galactus but is easily outmatched. As Hungers begins to enter their universe, Galactus briefly stalls the entity and Thanos fails to destroy the portal that separates it from the vast bulk of its being. As Hunger and Galactus battle, Thanos forces Rigel-18 to collide with another planet and also detonates a large nuclear arsenal at the point of impact. Galactus survives the explosion, and Hunger is believed destroyed, although a tiny remnant of Hunger apparently survives by attaching itself to Galactus and then fleeing. Thanos states that although Galactus' intent was noble, his arrogance nearly destroyed the universe, and that should they encounter each other again, it would be as enemies. Thanos then visits the Kyln, an inter-galactic prison on the edge of the universe. It is here that Thanos meets the chaos mite Skreet, who chooses to accompany him, and the Fallen One, the very first Herald of Galactus. The Fallen One attempts to find and destroy Galactus, but Galactus simply teleports him back to Thanos. Thanos defeats the Fallen One by igniting a gas giant, and after mind wiping him employs the cosmic entity as his own personal Herald. Another clone of Thanos recently appeared at the trial of Eros' and stated that his brother inspired his obsession with Death when they were children, when attempting to make young Thanos accept the death of an animal he had involuntarily killed. By Titanian law Eros had to then take full responsibility for all the genocides Thanos had later committed. It is then revealed that this is a false memory implanted by the true Thanos as a personal joke. Thanos recently aligned himself with the genocidal villain Annihilus, who is employing the Annihilation Wave to decimate the universe. Thanos does so as he is "curious to see how a radical tilt in the universal balance would play out." Thanos also convinces Tenebrous and Aegis - two of Galactus' ancient enemies - to defeat the World Devourer. Annihilus desires the secret of the Power Cosmic and asks Thanos to study Galactus, but once Thanos learns of Annihilus' true goal (to use the Power Cosmic to destroy all life and remain the sole survivor) he decides to free Galactus. Drax the Destroyer, however, appears and kills Thanos before he can do so. During a climactic battle with Annihilus, the hero Nova is near death and sees Thanos, now standing with Mistress Death as her apparent consort, observing him. Ah, love. It can make people do crazy things. People driven by love will be willing to anything to prove their love to the person that they love. Thanos is one such person. He does all his evil deeds out of love. However, he isn’t in love with a physical being; he loves Death. Yes, death, the abstract we have know use to call what happens when stop living. Well, in the Marvel universe, Death takes on the physical form of a woman. As a young Titan, he became fascinated with nihilism and death. Eventually, it turned into love; and Thanos began to think of ways to appease Death. Of course, he came to the conclusion that Death would be most appeased with people dying, the death of every single living being to be precise. So, Thanos set out to kill as many as he could. He killed thousands of his fellow Titan and eventually half the beings in the Marvel Universe to please Death. That’s a lot of people dead, simply because he was in love with an abstract. He has been captured, defeated, and imprisoned in dimensions created solely to imprison him, but it has not stopped him in his quest. Though he has reformed at times, which puts a damper on the villain thing, over the years; it has been hard to tell whether he is good or bad. Nevertheless, he has killed for love, even though the object of his desire, Death, is extremely fickle. Death has usually spurned Thanos’s advances and offerings, which led to Thanos feeling betrayed and killing because of the betrayal. However, Thanos eventually did die and has apparently become Death’s consort. This is a good, because now he won’t be around to kill more people to appease his beloved.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 24, 2008 14:26:01 GMT -5
70. Daniel Plainview Who is he: A very successful oil man. What is he from: “There Will Be Blood.” What has he done: He abandoned his boy and drank your milkshake! ;D Seriously, he killed a man claiming to be his half-brother, force a preacher to renounce God and beat him to death with a bowling pin. Intelligence: Incredibly smart in oil drilling. Power: Becomes a powerful oil man in California. Vileness: Hates people and is very competitive. Sway: Is very good at manipulating people and getting his way. Purity: He does care for his son, but that eventually goes away he feels his son betrays him by leaving. Physical Prowess: Is pretty strong and tough, even pulling himself up from mine shaft after falling and breaking his leg. Name Coolness: “Daniel Plainview” has got a cool, old-timey quality to it. Created by: Paul Thomas Anderson, who loosely based him and the film on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! Portrayed by: Daniel Day Lewis, who won his second Best Actor Oscar for the role. In fact, he was so good that there are reports that he scared the original actor playing Eli Sunday, Kel O’Neill, into dropping out of the film. O’Neill had been intimidated by Day-Lewis's intensity and habit of staying in character on and off the set. Both Anderson and Day-Lewis deny this claim, and Day-Lewis stated, "I absolutely don't believe that it was because he was intimidated by me. I happen to believe that — and I hope I'm right." The story opens in 1898 with prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) discovering crude oil deposits in one of his silver mines. Plainview begins extraction operations, eventually refining his extraction techniques with self-designed drilling and rigging equipment. He soon earns enough money to build a small drilling company. One of his workers is killed in a work accident, and Plainview takes the man's orphaned child as his own. He begins a much larger enterprise with the boy, whom he names H.W. (Dillon Freasier), as his partner. By 1911, he has become one of the most successful oil men in California. Plainview is approached by young Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) who, in exchange for $500, alerts him Plainview to the presence of oil on the Sunday family's property in Little Boston, California. Plainview and H.W. travel there under the guise of hunting quail and discover oil seeping to the surface. Plainview then attempts to buy the property without telling Paul's father, Abel (David Willis), of the oil, but Paul's twin brother, Eli (also Paul Dano), knows of the oil and raises the price to $10,000, which he intends to put into the founding of his own church. Plainview pays the Sundays up front for their ranch and promises $5,000 as a donation to the church. Plainview leases the surrounding ranches, with the exception of one, owned by Mr. Bandy (Hans Howes), whom Plainview brushes off when Bandy demands that Plainview see him personally. Expecting the $5,000 donation, Eli plans an expansion of his Church of the Third Revelation, where he styles himself as a faith healer. Plainview constructs a large oil drilling rig, initially accepting Eli's request to bless the rig before Plainview starts the rig. At the ceremony that occurs before the rig is started, though, Plainview blatantly snubs Eli and says a short blessing himself. Not long thereafter, a worker is killed by falling material at the derrick, and H.W. loses his hearing in a blast from an explosion at the rig. Eli irks Daniel by repeatedly telling him that these disasters wouldn't have happened had he been allowed to bless the derrick. When Eli comes to the derrick to request the money Plainview owes him, Plainview violently attacks him, berating him for being unable to heal his son. Humiliated, Eli returns home, where he beats his father for selling the family's land at a greatly undervalued price. A man approaches Plainview claiming to be his half-brother Henry Brands (Kevin J. O'Connor). Taking Henry into his confidence, Plainview confesses his general hatred of people and his need to win out over all other competition. That night, H.W. attempts to burn the bed in which Henry is sleeping. Plainview sends him away to a school for the deaf. Henry and Plainview set out to survey and map a potential route for an oil pipeline, and later make a deal with Union Oil. Plainview eventually becomes suspicious that Henry is not who he says he is, and at gunpoint Henry admits being an impostor: Plainview's real brother was Henry's friend, who he claims died of tuberculosis. Plainview then shoots and buries Henry. The next morning Plainview is awakened by Mr. Bandy, who agrees to lease his property for a pipeline Plainview plans to construct on the condition that Plainview be baptized into the Church of the Third Revelation. In addition to his property being vital to Plainview's oil pipeline, Bandy's leverage is his knowledge of Plainview's murder of Henry. Plainview, who has no interest in religion, agrees, and suffers a humiliating initiation at the hands of Eli. Plainview sends for H.W., but is still unable to communicate with the boy, who is now learning sign language. Eli leaves Little Boston on missionary work. The story jumps to 1927. H.W. (now played by Russell Harvard) asks his father (through an interpreter) to be released from their partnership so he can take his wife Mary Sunday, to Mexico in order to form his own oil company. Feeling betrayed, Plainview tells H.W. that he was adopted, repeatedly calling him a "bastard from a basket." Later, Eli visits Plainview in his mansion, to beg for money after losing investments in the depression. He attempts to get Plainview to partner with him to drill the Bandy Ranch, upon which Daniel never had placed an oil rig. Before agreeing, Plainview forces Eli to admit that he is a false prophet and assert that God is a superstition. Plainview then informs Eli that he has already drained the oil from Bandy's land with his surrounding wells. He taunts Eli, eventually attacking him. The confrontation escalates until Plainview beats him to death with a bowling pin. His butler enters from the stairs and, upon seeing Plainview kneeling and exhausted beside the body of Eli, speaks to him. Plainview answers only with "I'm finished" and the film ends. Once again, greed rears its ugly head. It is a driving force for many evil men, in the real world and the fictional ones. It is not surprising that it is considered the root of all evil. Our greedy villain today is Daniel Plainview; a man is consumed with becoming very rich off of oil. He lies, tricks, manipulates, intimidates, and bullies his way into becoming a successful oil driller in California in the early 20th century. However, it’s not just greed that drives Plainview; it’s competition. He even says so: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people. In competition may even drive him more than greed. He can’t stand when people look down on him or get the better of him, and he has to prove that they are wrong. For example, when Plainview is trying to build a pipeline, one of the people looking to build it for him tells him to sell his oil to them. He says that they will make Plainview rich so that he can spend time raising his boy (this is after H.W. has gone deaf). Plainview gets angry and even says “One night, I'm gonna come to you, inside of your house, wherever you're sleeping, and I'm going to cut your throat.” Later, when he is in a restaurant eating with his son, he sees that same man, walks over to him, and tells him that he is raising his boy right. You can just feel the smugness as he enjoys his “victory.” Another example is when he has to join Eli Sunday’s congregation in order to build his pipeline on someone’s land. Eli had been a thorn in his side since he started drilling. You can almost feeling the anger and hatred he has having to join Eli’s congregation, especially when Eli forces him to admit his sin of abandoning his son on a train because he couldn’t raise him. It all comes as he yells “I’VE ABANDONED BY BOY!” He has a very big temper as well, and it comes out when he kills. He only kills two people: the man pretending to be his half-brother and Eli Sunday. But, you just know he could kill more. But, he does have some compassion for his boy. H.W. isn’t even his, but he takes care of the boy after his real father dies. He tries to care for H.W. when he goes deaf, but he has to send him to a special school. Then H.W. announces that he wishes to leave and go to Mexico to start a new life with his wife Mary Sunday. Feeling betrayed, his love for his son dies, and Plainview yells that H.W. is adopted, calling him a “bastard from a basket.” Ultimately, Plainview does win in the end. Eli comes to him in his waning years, wanting to partner with him in drilling the oil under the Bandy Ranch. Plainview agrees if Eli with call himself a false prophet and say that God is a superstition. He reluctantly does, with the same anger that Plainview let out when he had to admit that he abandoned his boy. Then, Plainview cheerfully tells him that he has drained the oil from his other wells, using the infamous “milkshake” metaphor. Then, he chases Eli around and kills him with a bowling pin. In the end, Daniel Plainview yells out “I’m finished!” because he has won, and he has nothing left to do.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 24, 2008 16:11:35 GMT -5
69. General Zod Who is he: A Kryptonian general. What is he from: DC Comics, most notably the Superman comics; “Superman II.” What has he done: Murder, treason, tried to take over Krypton, tried to take over Earth. Intelligence: A leader and strategist, Zod definitely has the brains, especially in his gang in “Superman II,” and made the most of them. Power: Was a high ranking official in the Kryptonian military and government. Vileness: Destruction and terror are just the appetizers to the main course: reshaping Mount Rushmore in his image! Sway: Extremely intimidating; it takes a strong personality to make the President quake in his boots (or it should). Purity: You will KNEEL BEFORE ZOD! Physical Prowess: Is as powerful as Superman, with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, senses, intelligence, regeneration, and longevity; super breath, heat vision, and flight Name Coolness: “Zod” is pretty cool and gets even cooler due to the Military Default Syndrome. Created by: Don’t know. Portrayed by: Terrence Stamp (“Superman II”). Stamp’s portrayal of Zod is the most famous. Hell, it may just be more famous than the actual comic book character. He was even the voice of Zod on Smallville. Rene Auberjonois was the voice of Zod in the Ruby-Spears Superman animated series. Dru-Zod, or simply Zod, was often portrayed as a megalomaniac. Zod was originally one of a number of Kryptonian villains trapped in the Phantom Zone. He first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961). Once Military Director of the Kryptonian Space Center, Zod had known Jor-El, Superman's father, when he was an aspiring scientist. When the space program was abolished after the destruction of the inhabited moon Wegthor, which had been caused by renegade scientist Jax-Ur, he attempted to take over Krypton. Zod created an army of robotic duplicates of himself, all bearing a resemblance to Bizarro. He was sentenced to exile in the Phantom Zone for his crimes. Zod was first released by Kal-El (during his career as Superboy) when his term of imprisonment was up. However, he attempted to conquer Earth with powers gained under the yellow sun. Zod was sent back into the Phantom Zone, occasionally escaping to target Superman. Later, another version of Zod came from a Krypton in a pocket universe created by the Time Trapper. He, along with companions Quex-Ul and Faora, devastated the Earth of that universe following the death of its Superboy, despite the best efforts of a Supergirl created by this world's heroic Lex Luthor. Eventually, the survivors of this world managed to contact the Superman of the main universe to help them, and he was able to take away the powers of the three super-criminals with gold kryptonite (As he was not from that universe, the Kryptonite of that reality would have no effect on him). However, as the three vowed to some day regain their powers and return to Superman's world to kill him, Superman was forced to execute them with Kryptonite, and it was this action that caused him to question his powers and how to deal with evil doers. This version of Zod is based closely on the Pre-Crisis version; the significant difference is he has killed everyone on the pocket Earth rather than conquering them with ease since there's no Superboy/Superman to stop him. Another incarnation of General Zod was introduced in the 2001 storyline "Return to Krypton." He was the head of the Kryptonian military in an alternate reality created by Brainiac 13. Like the Pre-Crisis version, Zod held the Kryptonian equivalent of fascist beliefs. He sent aliens to the bottle city of Kandor and planned a military coup. Zod was defeated by Superman and the Jor-El of that Krypton. Then came another Zod. This General Zod is a Russian who was affected prior to his birth by Kryptonite radiation because he was the son of two cosmonauts whose ship was too close to Kal-El's rocketship. This Zod is unnaturally weak under a yellow sun, but superpowered under a red sun (the opposite of Superman). After his parents died of the radiation, he grew up from birth in a KGB laboratory under the name "Zed." Apparently spoken to by the spirit of the Pocket Universe Zod, Zod created a suit of red armor that filtered the sunlight and declared himself ruler of the former Soviet state of Pokolistan. After several inconclusive encounters with Superman, he revealed his long-range plan to turn the sun red and take Superman's place. This was temporarily successful until Lex Luthor rescued Superman, gave him a blast of yellow solar radiation to regain his powers, and worked to restore the sun. Superman returned to battle Zod, but refused to kill him. When the sun turned yellow again, the now vulnerable Zod still struck Superman with all his power, but was killed. Introduced in the twelve-issue For Tomorrow (Superman #204-#215) storyline, written by Brian Azzarello and penciled by Jim Lee, this Zod resides in an alternate Phantom Zone alone and resents Superman for tampering with it. According to him, he comes from the same Krypton as Superman, and was exiled to the Phantom Zone by Superman's father Jor-El. This Zod wears black armor, and when unmasked, slightly resembles an older version of the film Zod. This interpretation also uses a variation of 'Kneel before Zod'. It is possible that this Zod is not a real Kryptonian, however. He appeared in Metropia, a version of the Phantom Zone created by Superman to resemble a living world, including seemingly living beings. Since Superman created the world of Metropia to bear similarities with Krypton, it has been revealed that this, yet again, is not the real Zod. One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Lex Luthor used a shard of sunstone, which had the word "doomsday" engraved upon it in the Kryptonian language, along with a stockpile of Kryptonite to reactivate the Kryptonian battle cruiser, Doomsday, which had been dormant within the earth for an unknown period of time. Luthor revealed that the vessel was in fact the flagship of the Kryptonian fleet, had belonged to an Admiral Dru-Zod and scoured entire planets clean of life. In October 2006, film director Richard Donner, noted for his work on the first two Superman movies, became co-writer of Action Comics along with Geoff Johns. At the end of Action Comics #845, Zod, Ursa, and Non have apparently been freed from the Phantom Zone by someone he refers to as his and Ursa's son, implying that the Kryptonian boy that landed on Earth in the story is his son. Somehow owing their freedom to the landing on Earth of Dru-Zod and Ursa's son, after a brief stop to the newly restored Fortress of Solitude to gain information from Jor-El's projection they fly to Metropolis, where Ursa confronts Lois to win her unwilling son back and Zod sends Kal-El to the Phantom Zone after freeing the other Kryptonian inmates. The back-story for the three Kryptonions was revealed in Action Comics Annual #10; Non had once been a brilliant scientist on par with Jor-El. Both were researching the event that would ultimately destroy Krypton. Zod entered their lab with troops (at this point Zod was still working for Krypton's Council). Both Jor-El and Non were arrested by Zod and given a warning by the High Council to halt their research, then released. Jor-El set to work creating the rocket that would send his son Kal-El to Earth, while Non began to spread the word of the planet's impending doom. Non's message swayed both Zod and Ursa that Krypton was soon to be destroyed. Non then disappeared from public life, only to return with a mutilated brain. The council had transformed him into a mindless brute and this act inspired Zod and Ursa to rebel against the Kryptonian government. Without any sense of right and wrong, Non now fought alongside Zod and Ursa. Zod attempted to recruit Jor-El to their cause; however Jor-El saw the plans were fueled by greed, a lust for power and violence. This rebellion was short-lived and the rebels were again arrested and set to be executed. Not wishing to resort to execution, Jor-El appealed on their behalf, to exile them instead. The council accepted this on the condition that Jor-El would be the jailer. Thus Zod, Ursa, and Non were imprisoned, and embittered against Jor-El for years to come. In addition, it is hinted that the revolution and war they attempted resulted in instability of Krypton's core. The origins of Zod, Ursa, and Non are similar to the events shown in Superman II. Zod now closely resembles his movie counterpart, with the addition of a black trenchcoat. Alternate versions: The General Zod of Earth-15 became Superman instead of Kal-El, and is semi-retired but is on call if needed. This version of Zod first appeared in Countdown #30 when the Red Hood, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, Bob the Monitor and the Jokester traveled to Earth-15 where Jason, Kyle, and Donna met their own counterparts, who has assumed the roles of Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman respectively, along with that world's Superman and the Atom. This Zod, along with all of the heroes of Earth-15 were killed by Superman Prime. Books: General Zod is the main antagonist of The Last Days of Krypton, a novel by Kevin J. Anderson In this incarnation, Dru-Zod is the son of Cor-Zod, formerly the head of the Kryptonian Council. Rather than taking his famous father's place on the Council, the younger Zod is put in charge of the Commission for Technology Acceptance. Commissioner Zod reviews, and at the instruction of the Council, usually rejects the inventions and theories brought forth by Jor-El. After Brainiac shrinks the capital city of Kandor, Zod steps into the now Council-free power vacuum and begins a military build-up with the help of Jor-El who is unaware of his more sinister plans for Krypton. Zod marries Aethyr-Ka in an unorthodox ceremony and begins to eliminate dissidents, trapping them in the Phantom Zone which, among many of Jor-El's devices, Zod has secretly hoarded in an effort to build up an arsenal. Although Jor-El receives long-awaited cooperation from Zod, he comes to distrust the new leader of Krypton. Zod moves his capital city to Xan City, formerly inhabited by Jax-Ur, a warlord responsible for a very dark period in Kryptonian history. With the help of the mute Nam-Ek and his wife Aethyr-Ka, Commissioner Zod declares himself General Zod and declares war on Zor-El, brother of Jor-El, attacking Argo City. The attack fails and Zod and his cohorts are captured and banished to the Phantom Zone. Movies: The movie version of Zod has immense popularity amongst comic fans. The recent reintroduction of Zod into DC comics continuity (co-authored by Richard Donner and Geoff Johns) shares the same back-story and Svengali-influenced appearance as the movie version. At the beginning of Superman, General Zod (Terence Stamp) is introduced as one of three Kryptonian criminals on trial. Zod was originally the leader of the Kryptonian military, who was entrusted with the defense of Krypton by the governing council. Conspiring with Non (Jack O'Halloran) and Ursa Sarah Douglas), Zod was planning to overthrow the Kryptonian government and replace it with his own, which would have been a military dictatorship. The three were captured instead, and the council unanimously agreed to exile Zod, Ursa, and Non to the Phantom Zone. Before Zod is thus exiled, he attempts to persuade Jor-El to join them. When Jor-El refuses, Zod becomes enraged, swearing revenge upon him and his offspring. The Phantom Zone portal is launched into space shortly before Krypton's destruction. In Superman II, the detonation of a hydrogen bomb that Superman throws into space destroys the Phantom Zone portal that has trapped Zod and his cohorts. For the 2006 Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, the original written scene was created, tying into the climax of the first film (which was the original ending). In this version, their escape is made possible by the shock wave created by the exploding XK-101 nuclear missile flung into space by Superman. After discovering that their Kryptonian physiology gives them each the same powers as Superman under Earth's yellow sun, they quickly subdue the U.S. Army and force the President of the United States to abdicate his position to Zod. This occurs shortly after Superman, unaware of their escape and presence on Earth, has stripped himself of his powers to be with Lois Lane as an ordinary human. After witnessing Zod's megalomania and defiance on a television news broadcast, Superman realizes the terrible mistake he has made. While Clark treks back to the Fortress of Solitude in a desperate attempt to regain his powers, Lex Luthor approaches the Kryptonian villains at the White House. In exchange for Zod's promise to give him Australia (another attempt to acquire "beachfront property" after failing to do so in the first film), he offers to bring them to Metropolis to confront Superman. The villains invade the Daily Planet; although Superman is not present, Luthor quickly points out that Lois Lane, whom Ursa calls Superman's "favorite" human being, will be effective bait to draw the Man of Steel out. Superman, with his powers restored, arrives and accepts Zod's challenge. This leads to a devastating, comic-book-style battle throughout downtown Metropolis. It quickly becomes clear that the villains have the upper hand. They outnumber Superman, and, significantly, they care nothing for the lives of the city's inhabitants. Continually distracted trying to save people whom the battle is endangering, Superman finally realizes he needs to rethink his strategy and move the battle away from a populated area, and he withdraws to the Fortress. Luthor offers to tell Zod about the Fortress of Solitude if Zod spares his life, and the three villains pursue Superman north, bringing along Luthor to guide them and Lois Lane as a hostage. In the climactic battle, Superman outwits the villains and gains the advantage, almost defeating Zod. But Non and Ursa grab Lois and threaten to tear her apart, forcing Superman to surrender. In a whispered aside, Superman tells Luthor about the molecule chamber which earlier stripped away his own powers and proposes tricking the villains into it. Luthor betrays Superman and tells Zod about the chamber, and Superman is forced inside and seemingly loses his powers again. With this, General Zod's revenge on Jor-El seems complete, as he tells Superman to kneel before him, take his hand, and swear eternal loyalty to him. But Superman has NOT lost his powers a second time; instead, he has stripped Zod, Ursa, and Non of theirs while he remained safe--and as super-human as ever--in the molecule chamber! As he takes Zod's hand, he crushes it (making the general moan in pain as he does) and then overpowers Zod, throwing him into an icy crevasse, where the general disappears into the mist. Non and Ursa are similarly dispatched; Non tries to fly over the same pit, but instead falls down it, and Lois punches Ursa down the pit as well. Luthor realizes that Superman used him to trick the Kryptonian villains: knowing that Luthor would betray him, Superman reconfigured the molecule chamber so that its red sun radiation would be projected throughout the Fortress, robbing Zod, Non, and Ursa of their powers while Superman was protected inside the chamber. A scene deleted from the movie (but shown in some TV versions) shows the trio alive and in custody, implying that they lost their powers permanently and were captured. The 2006 reedited version Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut retains the original theatrical film's implication that Zod and his colleagues are dead, though the footage of their arrest by Arctic police is included in the deleted scenes. Super Friends: A Phantom Zone villain named Zy-Kree, who resembled the movie-version of Zod, appeared in the Super Friends animated series. Ruby-Spears Superman series: General Zod was featured in the Joseph Ruby-Kenneth Spears animated Superman series in an episode titled "The Hunter," where he is in the Phantom Zone and creates a monster called the "Hunter" in an attempt to free the Zod trio from the Phantom Zone. He appears on Earth very briefly near the end of the episode. His appearance in the episode differs from that of Superman II. He is seen in his "Silver Age" Pre-Crisis grey military uniform with a general's hat and clean-shaven as opposed to Superman II, where he is seen with a mustache, a goatee beard, and a plain black outfit. Being Kryptonian like Kal-El, Zod is superpowered under the yellow sun of Earth and is seen flying like Superman. However, in the Ruby-Spears animation, Zod's criminal companions are two women, rather than the woman and the man as whom the Zod trio is usually portrayed. Rene Auberjonois provided Zod's voice. Superman: The Animated Series: Zod was not featured in the cartoon Superman: The Animated Series, although a similar villain named Jax-Ur did. Jax-Ur had been featured previously in some Silver Age stories of Phantom Zone criminals. In the animated series, he appeared along with a new character called Mala, who was seemingly based on Faora/Ursa. However, in the accompanying Superman Adventures comic book series in issue 21, Zod was portrayed as an Argosian (like the animated Supergirl) who co-opted Jax-Ur and Mala as his lieutenants (essentially giving Jax-Ur the Non/Quex-Ul role). It is revealed that in this universe Zod had staged a coup d'etat on Supergirl's homeworld of Argo, killing all of Argo's leaders and anyone else who he wanted. General Zod had already prepared a fleet to attack Krypton when it emerged that his colonels had secretly become convinced Zod had become too murderous and power-hungry. They had turned on Zod, exiling him to the Phantom Zone. Following Zod's removal from power, the colonels took over as the new leaders of Argo and worked to reinstate Argo's republic as it was before the coup. From that point on, the name of Zod instilled fear in all Argosians, and he was used as a "boogeyman" to Argo's children. This character resembles the Terence Stamp version from Superman: The Movie and Superman II. When Supergirl uses Kryptonite to weaken Jax-Ur and Mala, as it has no affect on her Argosian body, she suddenly realizes who she has met when it has no effect on Zod. It is unrevealed if General Zod suffers any weaknesses. Justice League Unlimited: General Zod later appeared issue #34 of the Justice League Unlimited comic based on the series. This time, he is portrayed as his regular Kryptonian general role. He and his group of foot soldiers were banished into the Phantom Zone for insurrection against the Krypton ruling council. This group included Mala and Jax-Ur. In this issue, Zod and Mr. Mxyzptlk worked together to kidnap Superman. Their plans were foiled when the Justice League came to rescue Superman. When Mxyzptlk was accidentally sent to the Phantom zone, Zod and his men took him. They probably tortured him too. This issue, released June 2007, marked the first meeting of Superman and Zod in the animated continuity. In the Justice League Unlimited episode "For The Man Who Has Everything," while under the influence of an alien plant, Superman has a dream in which he has a wife and son on Krypton. His wife briefly mentions her son will be attending a birthday party for "little Zod." Legion of Super-Heroes: Zod is a voice in the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, a character named Drax appears too. A young man who Clark accidentally frees from the Phantom Zone, Drax has the typical array of Kryptonian powers, in addition to an immunity to Kryptonite. On his chest, in a sort of parallel to Superman's "S", you can see a "Z". It is speculated that Drax could be Zod's son because in the episode, Drax mentioned his parents. Zod is capable of contacting him, prompting him to attempt to free them and the other phantom zone criminals. Like his father, Drax has a hatred of Superman, as well an air of superiority about him, and taunts the young Clark with the fact that he has no idea of his future or what he will become. He was born in the Phantom Zone and claims that's where he gets his powers from. The Pre-Crisis version of Zod can be seen as a cameo as one of the many Phantom Zone villains attacking the Legion members when they were temporarily trapped there. He is shown speaking to the trapped Legionnaires in a similar voice as the one speaking to Drax. Smallville: In Smallville, the voice of Jor-El is provided by Terence Stamp. This, combined with the apparent difference in character from other versions of Jor-El- apparently having sent Clark to Earth with the intention that he would rule the planet, often attempting to force Clark to become the 'perfect Kryptonian' that Jor-El felt he should be to fulfill his destiny, led to fan speculation that Jor-El was really Zod. Series creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough denied this rumor, and it is later revealed that Jor-El's characterization was misinterpreted. Recent portrayals of the character are somewhat closer to his normal characterization, showing compassion for his son and providing him with aid and advice when needed, although he still tends to demand obedience. In the series' fifth season, General Zod was featured as an off-screen presence. The fifth season premiere, "Arrival", featured two Kryptonian disciples of Zod searching for Clark shortly after their arrival on Earth during the recent kryptonite meteor shower that bombarded Smallville in the fourth season finale, "Commencement." After finding Clark, they opened a portal to the Phantom Zone and attempted to throw Clark into it. Clark managed to overpower them and send the two of them through the portal, trapping them in the Phantom Zone. In the episode "Solitude", Milton Fine, the human identity of the Kryptonian artificial intelligence known as Brainiac, persuades Clark to take him to the Fortress of Solitude. After arriving at the Fortress, Fine tricks Clark into freeing Zod from the Phantom Zone, temporarily opening a vortex in which the image of a figure similar to Terence Stamp's Zod can be glimpsed. It is also insinuated that Zod was a fascist leader on Krypton and ruled with an iron fist, and apparently considered Jor-El as his primary nemesis. At the end of the episode "Oracle", Chloe deciphers a Kryptonian message which Clark reads as, "Zod is coming." In the following episode, "Vessel", Jor-El reveals that Zod was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for crimes that resulted in Krypton's destruction. Zod's physical body was destroyed to prevent him from escaping from captivity, and therefore, he now required a vessel to inhabit on Earth. Brainiac had earlier injected Lex Luthor with a vaccine that granted him Kryptonian superpowers, and therefore, Lex was to be the vessel for Zod's consciousness. Through the actions of Clark and Brainiac, Zod is freed. After inhabiting Lex's body, Zod imprisons Clark inside the Phantom Zone, leaving no one to stop him, and begins his plans to conquer Earth as the trapped Clark is sent flying into space. In the sixth season premiere, "Zod", after a brief sojourn in the Phantom Zone, Clark escapes with the help of a Kryptonian woman who claims to have been Jor-El's aide. She gives Clark a crystal bearing the sign of the House of El (Superman's characteristic stylized "S"). Back on Earth, Clark confronts Zod/Lex, but Zod, a trained soldier, easily pummels Clark into submission. In homage to the climactic scene in Superman II, Zod issues his infamous command, "kneel before Zod" although in a much more serious tone, and then wordlessly commands Clark to take his hand. But instead of crushing Zod's hand as in the movie, Clark takes the opportunity to press the crystal into it, evicting Zod from Lex's body and sending him back into the Phantom Zone (in another allusion to the movie, the face of Zod's spirit as it is forced out of Lex strongly resembles that of Terence Stamp as Zod). Lex returns to normal with no memory of these events. However, he later discovers a shard of a Kryptonian device that Zod left on his laptop; Brainiac's hard drive. Zod is one the most interesting villains. However, while he may be a comic book villain, it is his movie version that is the most famous. In “Superman II,” Zod is a pathologically arrogant and pompous aristocrat. He is almost bored with his incredible powers and disappointed with the ease of overtaking Earth. But, he is very dangerous. Not only does he have the same powers as Superman, but he also has two loyal followers, Ursa and Non, who also have superpowers as well. But, what make him really dangerous is that he is obsessed with Superman, wanting to see him broken, destroyed, and forced to worship him. He is extremely driven and will do anything to see this happen. Hell, took over the entire planet to get at Superman. In fact, seems that “Kneel before Zod!” isn’t a command so much as it is a promise. That line, "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!", has become part of pop culture and is one of the most famous movie lines of all time. It has spilled over into the current day comic portrayals of Zod. But, it is much more than a good quote. It is the very core of Zod’s nature. He wants power. He craves it like a drug. He is a junkie desperate for another fix. He wants everyone to kneel before him, but he mainly wants Superman to do it. In fact, that is his downfall. He is defeated by forcing Superman to relinquish his powers at the Fortress of Solitude. However, Superman tricked Zod, reconfiguring the molecule chamber that took his powers to protect him as the whole Fortress and robbing Zod, Ursa, and Non of their powers instead. If he hadn’t been so obsessed with his goal to see Superman kneel before, then Zod would have probably noticed the trick. But that was not the case and ended up defeated and most likely dead.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 24, 2008 16:17:54 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 68-65. Here are the hints:
He is very protective of his sister, he is more than meets the eye, he likes to flip coins, and he doesn't say a word, at all.
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Sajoa Moe
Patti Mayonnaise
Did you get that thing I sent ya?
A man without gimmick.
Posts: 39,683
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Post by Sajoa Moe on May 24, 2008 16:19:02 GMT -5
Megatron and Two-Face, I'm guessing.
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Lupin the Third
Patti Mayonnaise
I'm sorry.....I love you. *boot to the head*--3rd most culpable in the jixing of NXT, D'oh!
Join the Dark Order....
Posts: 36,327
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Post by Lupin the Third on May 24, 2008 16:46:52 GMT -5
Yeah, Megatron and Two-Face. Or it could possibly be Starscream.
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MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 13,968
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Post by MolotovMocktail on May 24, 2008 18:51:59 GMT -5
Looks like you answered my call for Chigurh (unless that's Two-Face you're talking about). Still, he should be higher.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 13:28:06 GMT -5
Countdown time. Here's 68: 68. J.J. Hunsecker Who is he: A newspaper columnist. What is he from: “Sweet Smell of Success.” What has he done: Has used his column ruin people’s reputations; manipulates Falco in order to ruin the relationship between his sister and another J.J. disapproves of. Intelligence: Very smart, well read, good with the written word. Power: Can make or break people with his column. Vileness: Is very cold and almost emotionless. Sway: Like I said, can make or break people with his column. Also, he is very manipulative, especially towards Sidney. Purity: Cares only for his sister. Physical Prowess: He looks pretty big and scary. Name Coolness: Falls under the Initial Default Syndrome (initials automatically make it cool). Created by: Ernest Lehman. Portrayed by: Burt Lancaster, though he wasn’t the original choice. That was Orson Welles. Director Alexander Mackendrick wanted to cast Hume Cronyn because he felt that Cronyn closely resembled Walter Winchell, the basis for the Hunsecker character in the novelette. Lehman makes the distinction in an interview that Winchell was the inspiration for the version of the character in the novelette, and that this differs from the character in the film version. United Artists wanted Burt Lancaster in the role because of his box office appeal and his successful pairing with Tony Curtis on “Trapeze.” Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) has been unable to get a mention in J.J. Hunsecker's (Lancaster) influential newspaper column because he has been unable to make good on his promise to break up the romance between Hunsecker's younger sister Susan (Susan Harrison) and Steve Dallas (Martin Milner), an up-and-coming jazz guitarist. Blacklisted, and desperate to return to Hunsecker's good graces, Falco decides to spread false rumors that Dallas is a dope-smoking Communist in a rival column. When even this plan fails, however, Hunsecker orders Falco to plant reefers on the musician and have him arrested and roughed up by Harry Kello (Emile Meyer), a corrupt police officer. That night Falco reports to Hunsecker's penthouse apartment, only to find Susan about to attempt suicide. He saves her, tearing her clothes in the process, just as her brother walks in, whereupon Hunsecker decides to destroy Falco's reputation by accusing him of raping Susan. In a climactic confrontation with Hunsecker, Falco reveals in front of Susan that her brother had told him to destroy Dallas' reputation. But in the last plot twist Susan reveals that she had already broken up with Dallas, and in the final scene walks out on her brother. J.J. Hunsecker is the most powerful of the New York columnists, whose items can make a career or break one. Sidney Falco is a press agent so marginal that his name isn't painted on his office door, but written on a sheet of paper and taped there. Falco supports himself largely by getting items into Hunsecker's column, and recently Hunsecker has frozen him out because Hunsecker asked Falco to break up a romance between Hunsecker's younger sister Susan and a jazz musician named Steve Dallas, and Falco has so far failed. Audiences at the time might have heard whispers that Walter Winchell, the basis for the Hunsecker character, did much the same thing, using his column to attack a man who wanted to marry his daughter, Walda. (Her name provides some measure of her father's ego.) From that, we get a character who is very protective of his sister and will callously ruin a man’s reputation simply because he doesn’t think he is right for his sister. Hunsecker is so cool that he’s turned cold. He is also quite the manipulator, and Falco is the one being manipulated. Although Falco is in exile as the story opens, Hunsecker cannot quite banish him from his sight, because he needs him. He can use him and the promise of becoming big to get Sidney to do what he wants. Hunsecker is the top dog, and he knows that he rules by keeping the bottom dog, Sidney, slinking around. There’s a scene where Falco sits down at Hunsecker's table; and J.J. senses he's there without even needing to look around. He holds up an unlit cigarette and in the movie's most famous line says, "Match me, Sidney." All of this is pitiless and cruel, and reflects Hunsecker's personal style. He is a man apparently without sexuality of his own, although he seems delicately tuned to the weathers of Falco's moods. Falco is a very pretty boy, but J.J. is wary. "I'd hate to take a bite out of you," he tells the publicist at one point. "You're a cookie full of arsenic." J.J. is also very creepy. There are certainly suppressed incestuous feelings in J.J.'s odd household, where his sister lives firmly under his thumb and the columnist grows hysterical when another man seems about to take her way. I mean, he is so obsessed with ruining Susan’s relationship that it seems like jealousy of another man making love to his sister. But, the one scene that sums up J.J.’s cold ruthlessness comes at the end, when Sidney saves Susan from committing suicide and J.J. finds them. He clothes are ripped, and, suspecting sex, J.J. decides to destroy Sidney’s reputation by accusing him of rape. However, J.J.’s jealousy and controlling ways with his sister end up causing him to lose her as she reveals that she had broken up with her boyfriend and walks out on him. But, I doubt J.J. would care, just contempt that the relationship he tried to ruin is over.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 14:43:21 GMT -5
67. Megatron Who is he: Leader of the Decepticons. What is he from: Transformers What has he done: Attacked the Autobots time after time, killed Optimus Prime. Intelligence: Artificial; strategic leader. Power: Like I said, he is the leader of the Decepticons. Vileness: His mottos are "Peace through tyranny!" and "Lesser creatures are the playthings of my will." Sway: Uses fear and intimidation to get his way. Purity: Cares only for power. Physical Prowess: He’s a robot. Name Coolness: “Megatron” is very cool. Created by: Hasbro and Takara (created the toys); Jim Shooter and Dennis O'Neil (backstory); Bob Budiansky (names) Portrayed by: Seizô Katô was the Japanese voice of Megatron. Frank Welker was the voice for the 1980s Transformers series (Generation 1); he is usually consider the most famous and popular voice of Megatron. He also did the voice on the animate prequel and video game to the live action Transformers movie. Hugo Weaving was Megatron’s voice for the live action film. David Kaye and Gary Chalk voiced Megatron in the Beast Wars series. Corey Burton portrays Megatron’s voice in the 2008 series. The 1980s series and movie: Megatron is a Decepticon, one of the lineal descendants of the military hardware robots created by the Quintessons on their factory world of Cybertron. Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the Autobots, the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation, which allowed them the advantage of stealth. The Autobot victory in the war began the Golden Age of Cybertron, but a viper lurked within this paradise, as the Decepticons too eventually developed transformation, leading to the creation of Megatron. Gathering a small number of troops together, Megatron made a small strike on an outer city, killing the current Autobot leader. However, this event was not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive Orion Pax still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron duped him into allowing him access to energon warehouses, and Megatron fatally injured him in a scuffle. However, the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, reconstructed Pax into a battle hardy configuration — now, he was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again ("War Dawn"). Eventually, the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the Autobots' craft (referred to as the Ark in Beast Wars, following the ship's name from the Generation 1 Marvel Comics) in their star cruiser (referred to as the Nemesis in Beast Wars) and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on prehistoric Earth, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano. In 1984 (again, cited from Transformers: Beast Wars; the year was also mentioned in the Marvel comic, and "Starscream's Brigade", a second-season episode of the original animated series, features a subtitle that places that episode in 1985), a volcanic eruption jarred the Ark's computer, Teletraan I, back to life, and it proceeded to repair the Autobots and Decepticons, re-igniting the war on the energy-rich world they found themselves upon: Earth. After their first series of battles, the Autobots believed Megatron and the Decepticons were destroyed when their new space cruiser crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but in reality they survived and reconstructed the cruiser to serve as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker. Megatron re-established contact with Cybertron, and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a Space Bridge, although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy which Megatron and the Decepticons harnessed. The planet Earth was saved, however, when Megatron's stockpiles of energy were detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. Again, however, Megatron was able to cheat death, and was forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop the machinations of his treacherous lieutenant, Starscream. In his next scheme in "Heavy Metal War", Megatron absorbed all the separate powers of the other Decepticons into himself, and challenged Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat. With the added abilities of all his minions, Megatron easily defeated Prime in the battle, but when his deception was revealed, he and his followers were defeated in a group attack. Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, thefts of several unstable energy devices from human scientists, recovering the "Heart of Cybertron" power core from the derelict Nemesis, the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, forming a partnership with a corrupt human politician that allowed him to force the Autobots off Earth and briefly conquer Central City, co-opting Earth technologies, and reprogramming the robotic ninja Nightbird in "Enter the Nightbird". Fed up with the Autobots ruling the roads, Megatron ordered the creation of the Stunticons, four Decepticon cars and a truck. He even traveled to Cybertron and stole the key to Vector Sigma to give them full cybernetic personalities. Megatron used the Stunticons in many schemes, including sending the Stunticons to sabotage a race in the Middle East to obtain the power source to control weather. Megatron even made a number of temporary alliances with the Autobots - including stopping the Insecticons and his own mind controlled troops, stopping the Combaticons from destroying Cybertron and forcibly making Perceptor cure him of a plague of Cosmic Rust (although most of these alliances ended in double crosses). Eventually, however, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005 in Transformers: The Movie. Learning the Autobots were preparing a strike against the planet, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a mighty assault on Autobot City. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and personally confronted Megatron in a final, violent fight. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot Hot Rod then intervened, tackling Megatron, but the Decepticon leader was too powerful for him, seizing Hot Rod and using him as a shield. Prime would not shoot for fear of hitting Hot Rod. Taking advantage of Prime's sense of compassion, Megatron grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. The wounds were fatal and led to Prime's death, but not before Prime delivered his own final blow to Megatron, who plummeted off of a cliff, almost fatally damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee. On the return trip to Cybertron, it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or else Astrotrain, the Decepticons' space transport, would be unable to reach the planet. At Starscream's instigation, the wounded Decepticons were voted out and set adrift in space -- including the severely damaged, yet still functional, Megatron. This was not to be the end for the deposed Decepticon leader, though, as the world-devourer Unicron offered him a new body and new troops in exchange for Megatron's cooperation in destroying the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Thus, Megatron is rebuilt under Unicron's power and is reformatted as Galvatron, while the rest of the wounded Deceptions were also recycled into Galvatron's new warriors. Megatron would later appear in flashbacks, during the season three episodes "Five Faces of Darkness" Part 4, and "The Return of Optimus Prime" Part 1. Although this would be the end of Megatron in the U.S. animated series, he would make several more appearances in the animated segments of various Transformers toy commercials, where it was depicted that he became an Action Master, and eventually a CGI sequence of him in his first Generation 2 form and Combat Hero forms. Megatron made a cameo in the pilot of the Transformers: Animated series on a historical video being viewed by Optimus Prime. This historical video was stock footage from the original animated series. Japanese Manga: In the Japanese exclusive manga stories accompanying Transformers: The Headmasters Megatron would make a number of appearances. On one occasion Galvatron used a massive army of Megatron clones to overwhelm the Autobots, only being defeated when Rodimus Prime destroyed Galvatron's control over them. Rodimus and Galvatron would also even team up to battle Guiltor, a hybrid of both Optimus Prime and Megatron. With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the Japanese G1 continuity (which took a different direction after the end of series 3, opting to replace the events of The Rebirth with those of Headmasters), until five years later, in the manga-exclusive storyline, Battlestars: The Return of Convoy, which, although not animated itself (told instead through one chapter of manga and color magazine spreads), continues the tale of the cartoon Universe. In the previous Japanese-exclusive animated series, Transformers: The Headmasters, Galvatron had been apparently destroyed when he was buried on an iceberg. In the "Return of Convoy" storyline, a new evil force named Dark Nova recovers Galvatron's body, and restores him to life as Super Megatron (who transformed into a futuristic jet), pitting him against Star Convoy (the reborn Optimus Prime) and his Autobots. Super Megatron subsequently gets an upgrade to Ultra Megatron, and for the final battle, merges with Dark Nova himself, becoming Star Giant. In the Japanese Generation 2 manga, he was shown to have survived and, in a body resembling his "Hero" toy, once again opposed Optimus Prime. Beast Wars: The Predacon leader known as Megatron from the Beast Wars and Beast Machines animated series is a separate character from the original Generation 1 Megatron, and should not be confused with him. However, this was not the original intent for the character, as the original pack-in mini-comic and biographies released with the earliest Beast Wars toys indicate that the character was supposed to be the original Megatron, in yet another new body. With the advent of the animated series, however, the fiction of Beast Wars was re-imagined and eventually applied to the toy line, establishing this Megatron as an independent character. But that is not to say that the original Megatron did not play a role in his namesake's rise to power. At some undefined point during the Autobot-Decepticon war, the original Megatron acquired the Voyager probe's Golden Disk and inscribed a secret message onto it, intending for future generations of Decepticons to uncover it and follow its instructions should he fail, to use transwarp technology to travel back in time and kill Optimus Prime while he lay in stasis aboard the Ark, thus ending the great war early with the Decepticons the victors. Around three centuries after the eventual end of the "Great War," the Predacon that would become Megatron uncovered this message and quickly stole a Predacon transwarp cruiser called the Darksyde with the aid of a small like-minded army, heading to prehistoric Earth. This Predacon took the moniker "Megatron" in honor of the original Decepticon. Pursued by a crew of Maximals, both ships crashed on the planet, with only Megatron truly aware of when and where they were. Megatron, however, found himself unwilling to carry out the instructions of his ancestor, instead attempting to amass power through the huge reserves of energon and portions of mysterious alien technology that littered the planet. Systematic defeat by the Maximals eventually left all his options exhausted, and he proceeded to strike at Optimus Prime, only to be once again thwarted by his enemies. This would not be the last time G1 Megatron's influence would be felt. Observing how Primal boosted his own strength and form by holding the spark of Optimus Prime within his body, Beast Wars Megatron made the same move, purloining the spark of his ancestor and taking it into his own body, transforming as a result into a monstrous dragon. When he was finally defeated by the Maximals, the original Megatron's spark was returned to his body (in a deleted scene from the television series, that is available on the Season 3 DVD 2 in the "Scene Selection" menu), and history carried on as before. Marvel Comics: Megatron's beginnings are much simpler in the world of Marvel Comics: here, rising from his beginnings as a gladiator for the city-state of Tarn, Megatron and the Decepticons were the ones who developed transformation first, using it to begin the war against the Autobots, who fought back by mimicking the technology. Megatron is known to have competed with Sureshot and Optimus Prime in a sharpshooting competition some time in his past. In time, the war grew so fierce that Cybertron itself was shaken from its orbit, and set adrift in the cosmos. Eventually, four million years ago, the planet fell into the path of an asteroid cluster in the Sol system that threatened to destroy it, and so Optimus Prime led a contingent of his troops in the Ark to reduce the asteroids to rubble, saving Cybertron. The plan was a success, but immediately afterwards, Megatron and his troops attack, forcing Optimus Prime to crash the Ark into prehistoric Earth. Four million years later, in 1984, the Transformers were reawakened, and Megatron immediately set about trying to locate a source of fuel for the Decepticons. Unable to ingest common Earth gasoline, the Decepticons kidnapped Sparkplug Witwicky and forced him to develop a conversion process, but this only afforded him the chance to poison their fuel, deactivating them all. The Autobots were not saved, however, as Shockwave then defeated them all and brought the Decepticons back online to serve him, including Megatron. Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated. This forced him into an alliance with Ratchet, who located and reactivated the Dinobots, who had defeated Shockwave in the past. However, Ratchet unleashed the Dinobots on Megatron after convincing him that the recordings of their previous battle with Shockwave were the real thing. Though Megatron knocked out the recently reactivated Dinobots, in a near suicidal move, Ratchet managed to knock Megatron off a cliff. As he fell, Megatron transformed and shrank to a human-sized pistol to reduce his mass and increase his chances of surviving the impact. Megatron disappeared in a snowbank for some time. Soon, however, Megatron re-emerged, trapped in pistol mode, his higher brain functions disconnected. Used as a weapon by wannabe gangster Joey Slick, Megatron eventually restored himself, and was impressed enough with Slick for standing up to him that he allowed him to live. At this point Megatron was desperately low on fuel, and attacked a coal mine in an attempt to locate some when he eventually completely ran out and froze in place. He was soon located by Soundwave and brought back online. They then entered into an alliance with the human Donny Finkleberg, who used the alias of "Robot Master" to con humankind into thinking all Transformers worked for him. After a communication from Lord Straxus on Cybertron, Shockwave and Megatron entered into a period of shared leadership; but when a two-pronged attack by the Autobots saw Megatron defeated by Omega Supreme and Shockwave allowing the Autobots to capture the secrets of Devastator, Megatron was able to spin the situation and reclaim his leadership. In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device known as the hydrothermacline, Megatron battled Optimus Prime in a video game duel, using a cheat code to continue the fight after he had lost. Prime defeated him again, but at the expense of some of the game's characters, and ruled himself the loser because he would not have committed such an act in real life. As per agreement, Prime was destroyed, and Megatron's elation soon turned into paranoia as he had not killed Prime with his own hands and believed he may still be alive. Eventually descending into insanity, Megatron boarded the space bridge to Cybertron and detonated it with his fusion cannon, apparently killing himself. That would be all the U.S. comics saw of Megatron for quite some time, but their sister title in the UK, which produced its own material, interspliced with the U.S. stories, soon brought back the great slag-maker for more adventures. Prior to Megatron's seeming death, there had been a story in Marvel UK #99 which after being attacked by the Predacons had seen both him and Prime transported to Cybertron. There Prime was accused of being a Decepticon spy and hunted down by the Wreckers and Ultra Magnus thanks to misinformation spread by Megatron. However the disembodied local Decepticon leader, Lord Straxus, attempted to possess Megatron's body as his own had been mostly destroyed in a battle with Blaster. The attempt failed as Prime and Magnus defeated Megatron as the two minds warred for dominance. With the now insane Megatron threatening to destroy Polyhex with his antimatter powers, Ratbat teleported him back to Earth with amnesia in time for his U.S. "death" in issue #25. However, unbeknown to all, Straxus made another attempt with a specially-crafted clone of Megatron created from a regular trooper, which was transported to Earth soon after the real Megatron vanished. The clone believed itself to be the real thing, as did the comics' readers, thinking that the space bridge explosion had transported Megatron elsewhere on Earth, and after a battle with the mechanoid, Centurion, it was salvaged by Shockwave, who brainwashed the clone and unleashed it on Galvatron, a recreated future version of Megatron who had traveled back in time from the year 2006 and posed a threat to Shockwave's leadership. The clone Megatron, however, saw a possible partner in Galvatron, and the two teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both present and future in the apocalyptic "Time Wars". Subsequently, the clone returned to Cybertron, where it defeated the ruling Decepticon triumvirate, but was then confronted with the real Megatron: the Space bridge explosion had deposited him in the Dead End region of Cybertron, where he had wandered with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved a Decepticon from Autobots and regained his memories. The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over. The stage was now set for Megatron's return in the U.S. comics, as he had his Micromaster Sports Car patrol capture the Autobot medic, Ratchet and forced him to recreate Starscream as a Pretender with his personality reprogrammed to serve Megatron without question. Ratchet did so, but also restored Grimlock, Jazz and Bumblebee as Pretenders in the same manner, as well as arranging for Starscream's old personality to resurface, thwarting Megatron's scheme. When Megatron then attempted to flee through a trans-time dimensional portal, Ratchet tackled him as his base then exploded around them, apparently killing them both. Soon after, however, Autobot detective Nightbeat discovered that the explosion had actually blown them through the portal, and he dispatched a probe to pull them back from the gaps between reality. However, when they rematerialized, it was revealed that the explosion had fused the two enemies together into a hideous, twisted mockery of a being which ran rampant through the Ark. The half that was Ratchet begged Optimus Prime to kill them, but Prime could not, ordering the Micromaster Fixit to separate their bodies. Unfortunately, Fixit could not separate their minds, as the two discovered when they were reactivated with Nucleon, sharing each other's thoughts, feelings, sensations and sights. When the Ark was stolen by Shockwave and Starscream (as well as a stowaway Galvatron from a parallel universe) in order to escape Cybertron's destruction both Megatron and Ratchet were reactivated. A confused and disorientated Megatron soon encountered Galvatron and the two attacked each other, Galvatron wanting to end the madness of Megatron buried within himself, while Megatron thought he was fighting Ratchet. The mental link with Ratchet nearly proved his undoing, Ratchet's return to consciousness and the horror of his previous bond froze Megatron and nearly allowed Galvatron to kill him. Galvatron stopped just in time; however, coming to the realization that killing Megatron could mean he was in effect killing himself. Shockwave then appeared and attempted to kill Megatron, but a hidden Galvatron stopped him and Galvatron and Megatron teamed up once again. Matters were soon taken out of their hands, though, as an eager and desperate Ratchet crashed the Ark on Earth to escape the cycle of death and insanity of being bonded to Megatron as well as stopping a renewed Megatron/Galvatron alliance. This supposedly killed everyone on board. Transformers: Generation 2: A few years later, the Transformers franchise was given a shot in the arm with the launch of the Generation 2 toy line and comic book series. To go along with his return to the toy line with a new M1A1 Abrams tank alternate mode, Megatron also returned in the comics despite his seeming demise. Although thought dead for a year or two, Megatron had actually survived the Ark crash, and had quietly worked to repair it, concealing it beneath the ground (Ratchet apparently died in the crash, as their shared mind does not come up in the story). Tracking a transforming signal, mistakenly believing it was another Transformer; Megatron came across the shape-shifting castle of the terrorist organization Cobra, and entered into a bargain with its leader Cobra Commander, offering him the technology of the Ark in exchange for the new weapons his organization was developing. Reconstructed into a new tank body with a powerful railgun, Megatron defeated a squad of Autobots sent to stop him, and then turned on Cobra, capturing the scientist who had developed his gun (Doctor Biggles-Jones) and escaping in the airborne Ark. Following a climactic battle with Fortress Maximus which saw the destruction of the Ark, Megatron then battled and killed Bludgeon, reclaiming leadership of the Decepticons. He then stole the Matrix from Optimus Prime, using it to bring his newest warriors online only to have his faction bested by the forces of Jhiaxus and his second-generation Cybertronians. Megatron then entered into an alliance with the Autobots to defeat Starscream, who had seized control of the Decepticon ship Warworld through the power of the Matrix, stop Jhiaxus, and halt the spread of the Swarm. The tale ended with the Autobots and Decepticons uniting. The final page implies that Megatron is in fact a direct offspring of the Liege Maximo through the same replication process that created the Generation 2 Cybertronians of the story. Fun Publications: The Transformers Classics comics published in the Official Transformers Collectors Club magazine is set in the Marvel Comics continuity, but in a timeline where the events of Generation 2 did not occur. The story occurs fifteen years after Megatron was presumed dead in the crash of the Ark. Megatron survived, and eventually upgraded his body (based on his Classics toy) and gathered many other Decepticons to him. Soundwave helped him in recovering the body of Astrotrain, who was then used to help locate the placement of other fallen Decepticons around the globe. Those who joined Megatron included Laserbeak, Ramjet, Ravage, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream, and the Constructicons). Megatron also reactivated Thrust, Dirge and Thundercracker, but the three left him to join up with Bludgeon's troops - mostly because they couldn't work with Starscream, who had killed them once. Megatron's based his command from the wreck of the Ark in the Yukon, where he keeps the fallen body of Ratchet as a trophy and the severed, but living, head of Shockwave as an advisor. In Crossing Over, when Skyfall and Landquake were presumed killed in the midst of a bloody Mini-Con civil war and attack by Unicron (set concurrently with the events of Transformers: Cybertron), they were, in actuality, transported across universes, from the world of the Unicron Trilogy into the Marvel Comics timeline. Unclear what had happened, they then found themselves staring down the barrel of Megatron's cannon. The two were saved when a group of Robot Hunters in battle suits attacked Megatron. Megatron slaughtered them, only to be confronted by a team of Autobots led by Optimus Prime. Skyfall went with the Autobots, while Landquake was taken by Megatron. Back at the Ark Landquake was interrogated and swore loyalty to Megatron. Scrapper detected an unusual energon reading similar to that of Landquake and the Decepticons went to investigate, only to be confronted by the Autobots again. In Games of Decepticon Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate. The Decepticons capture the Autobot spy Mirage. Returning to the Ark the Decepticons fall under the sway of Bugbite, who is using cerebro shells he stole from the Insecticon Bombshell. Megatron overcomes the shell and destroys Bugbite, as the Autobots under the command of Grimlock raid the Ark, destroying the computer and saving Mirage. Convention Comics: Megatron would also appear in several BotCon comic sagas, written principally by Simon Furman. His story Reaching the Omega Point indicates that the Autobot-Decepticon alliance established in the conclusion of the Generation 2 comics didn't last and that Megatron eventually became Galvatron. In a prelude story the Last Days of Optimus Prime, Prime, feeling that there is no longer a place for him within the new Cybertron, journeys to J'nwan, a quasi-mystical realm, and is greeted peacefully by Megatron. In the Beast Wars future in which the story takes place, the greatest Autobots and Decepticons have passed on to J'nwan, where they can finally live in peace. A Predacon called Sandstorm, one of the Covenant of Twelve created by Primus, journeyed to this realm in order to get them to help against Shokaract, an evil being created from a Predacon fusing with Unicron's essence, who was attacking the Beast Wars Transformers, including Optimus Primal, and ruled the universe in their future. They refuse, but later in the story a group of these Transformers including Megatron, Optimus Prime, Grimlock, and Soundwave distracted Shokaract long enough for Primus to deal the killing blow. Megatron also featured prominently in Alignment, Simon Furman's take on what happened after the Generation 2 comic. In this story Megatron was defeated for command of the Decepticons by Galvatron II (the U.S comics version) and left for dead. Galvatron then constructed a fleet of Warworlds and attacked the Autobots before being killed by Optimus Prime. The Decepticons then retreated to their base, a conquered replica of Cybertron, before being attacked by the Liege Maximo's troops. Unbeknown to all, Soundwave had retrieved his master's body and had it rebuilt and upgraded, finally resurrecting Megatron's Spark via Unicron-inspired dark science with his fellow conspirators Direwolf, Ramjet and Ravage. Megatron then killed the entire Decepticon High Council for their failure to lead, save for Shrapnel who pledged his allegiance once more. Megatron then made a sacrifice play, destroying the now evacuated planet and annihilating the Liege Maximo's fleet with it. Taking a fleet of scavenged Warworlds to face the Liege Maximo and thwart his plan to become a god, Megatron was finally destroyed for good when he unleashed a massive energon-fueled blast which actually hurt the Liege Maximo. In retaliation, the Maximo used his arm cannon to obliterate Megatron. However, his sacrifice was not in vain as this caused the Liege Maximo to flee too soon and be destroyed when his energy gateway collapsed, shredding him between the physical realm and the realm he wanted to ascend to. This sets up the Pax Cybertronia and the evolution of the Autobots and Decepticons into Maximals and Predacons. Whether this story is reconcilable with "Reaching the Omega Point", or whether it is even part of the Transformers canon is debatable. Other comic stories: In the course of its run, the UK comics produced several stories which do not fit into the continuity of the G1/G2 storyline, instead branching off in their own direction. For example, after the first disappearance of Ratchet and Megatron, a disparate continuity of storylines based around the "Earthforce," a team of Autobots based on Earth, began, which saw Megatron and Shockwave establishing a joint leadership of the Decepticons only to have command usurped by Starscream and Soundwave. Also, after the end of the Generation 1 comics, the final UK annual printed a text story entitled "Another Time and Place", which followed up on the events of the Ark crash and saw Bludgeon and his followers locate Megatron's body and revive it with Nucleon (reflecting the release of Megatron as an Action Master figure in 1990). The process only barely succeeded — Megatron was deranged and animalistic, and was ultimately defeated by Optimus Prime and Grimlock. This conflicts with the Generation 2 comic but does not conflict with the rewritten UK Generation 2 comic by Fleetway, in which Megatron simply attributes his new body to human scientists, with no further explanation to contradict the events of "Another Time and Place". This tale, somewhat concurrent with the Earthforce tales, has Optimus Prime arriving on Earth in response to a distress call from Grimlock. Bludgeon has attacked Earth in order to draw Prime into the open. The Decepticons, low on energon, are defeated. Megatron then arrives and battles Prime. He is attacked by both Autobots and Decepticons, holding them off until Starscream arrives to bail him out. After this point it switches to reprints of the U.S. material. The most notable difference between the two is that Bludgeon is not killed by Megatron, and Bludgeon and Prime actually meet (although Bludgeon would later be killed by Megatron in the U.S. reprints). Voice actor plays: Megatron appeared in the 2006 TransformersCon voice actor play. Voices in the play were performed by a variety of volunteers and the actual voice actors attending the convention. The play itself should be considered unofficial, but was notable because it featured several original voice actors reprising their Transformers rolls. In this voice actor play various Transformers from different timelines and realities were swept up in a repeat wave and transported along with Unicron to Earth. The Transformers included Generation 1 Tracks, Ariel, Cosmos and Megatron, Beast Wars Tarantulas, Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte and Beast Machines Tankor. Upon arrival, Ariel found herself enamored with Megatron for his ability to fly. Sky-Byte, ever loyal to Megatron, any Megatron, pledged himself to his new leader. Although Megatron initially attempted to ally himself with Unicron, Tracks and Cosmos, who were from a later timeline than Megatron, warned him of his fate in their future. Eventually the Transformers were able to learn that the death of Unicron in 2005 was what created the repeat wave. They defeated Unicron by tricking him into Transforming and using up his power, then using the Key to Vector Sigma program (which Tankor had brought with him) to tap into the power of Vector Sigma itself, and through it the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. With Unicron's energy severely drained the various Transformers faded back to their original timelines. Megatron, enraged at being bounced around the time stream, decided to take out his anger on Starscream. Books: The Decepticons try to learn about the Autobot's new device. Megatron was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Laserbeak's Fury, Megatron's Fight for Power, Autobots Fight Back and Satellite of Doom. Dreamwave Productions: In the 21st Century reimagining of the Generation One Universe by Dreamwave Productions, Megatron was envisioned as an ancient gladiatorial combatant in the depths of Cybertron's underworld. As victory upon victory mounted, he began to realize that the games were nothing more than an elaborate attempt by the Cybertronian elders to hide the truth of Cybertron's history from the masses. When Megatron attempted to gain access to that knowledge through exploration and research, the Cybertronian elders attempted to have him assassinated, a plan that only resulted in stirring up even more discontent among Cybertronians which allowed Megatron to begin recruiting for the Decepticon movement. It is known that at one point Megatron attempted to recruit Grimlock as one of his inner circle, but the fellow gladiator refused the position, eventually joining the Autobots. Megatron's forces began a civil war of Autobot against Decepticon in order to mask his reactivation of the ancient planetary engines buried beneath Cybertron's surface, as part of this ultimate intent for the planet, it would be transformed into a massive war world that would cut a swath of destruction through the galaxy. All Megatron needed was a power source for the engines, which he believed could be found within the Matrix of Leadership. This plan initially failed, as during a conflict with Optimus Prime, Megatron's lieutenant Starscream activated the planet mechaforming process too soon, resulting in the destruction of the machinery. Approximately 7.4 million years ago, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the new unstable Spacebridge matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet Quintessa, Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless Seeker clones, quickly subjugating Cybertron. However, this story was never finished due to the closure of Dreamwave. Four million years ago, when Cybertron was threatened by a massive approaching asteroid, Optimus Prime led a contingent of Autobots aboard the Ark to blow the rock to fragments, which were transported away by an orbital Spacebridge network. When this task was completed, Megatron chose this moment to strike, attacking the Ark with his troops. Crippled, the craft flew through one of the Spacebridge portals, and was transported to prehistoric Earth, where it crashed, entombing the occupants in stasis for four million years. The Autobots and Decepticons were reactivated in 1984, but specific details of the battles were unrecorded, although what few flashbacks are seen of that time imply events similar to the animated series pilot "More Than Meets the Eye" parts 1-3 occurred. In 1999, an Autobot/human military alliance succeeded in capturing and deactivating the Decepticons. However, the Ark II, the spaceship carrying them back to Cybertron, exploded shortly after liftoff (sabotaged by rogue elements of the military, unwittingly being manipulated by Shockwave), and the Transformers were believed destroyed — but in actuality, they had been scattered back to Earth, where they lay in stasis-lock across the globe for three years. This slumber was brought to an end when Adam Rook, a rogue military scientist who had devised a method of controlling Transformers, salvaged many of the fallen Cybertronians and reprogrammed them as mass killing machines, which he then attempted to sell on the black market. Megatron was first to break free of Rook's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Rook during an auction. Megatron forced Rook to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location, where Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed Devastator on San Francisco in a mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime that humans were not worth his protection. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron. Several months later. Megatron was subliminally summoned to a remote area in Alaska along with the other earthbound Transformers. There they battled until Megatron's former second-in-command, Shockwave, arrived and revealed that in their absence, the war on Cybertron had ended, and attempted to arrest Megatron, Prime and their troops as war criminals. Megatron, weakened by battle, was quickly defeated by Shockwave and loaded aboard his shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity to be rid of his former leader by jettisoning him into space on the return trip. Megatron used the time floating in space in stasis lock to contemplate his existence and the Decepticon goal. Realizing that he had wasted millennia in his feud with Prime, Megatron resolved to once again conquer Cybertron as a means to enhancing the Transformer race and strengthening it from outside threats. It seemed as through he would not live to accomplish this goal, however, as death closed in on him but to his fortune, he was retrieved by the Junkion Wreck-Gar. The Junkion who took Megatron to the planet of Junk and repaired and re-armed him, only to be killed in return. Traveling to the Planet Beest, Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the Predacons, and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, Predaking, to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his gun arm and forcing him into servitude. He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command, and to teach Starscream a lesson long in coming. While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the Quintessons, the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of Dreamwave. However, it has been stated by representatives of IDW Publishing, the current holders of the Transformer comic license, that once Dreamwave has exited bankruptcy court, they intend to finish the story. The Dreamwave version of Megatron would also appear in a trilogy of iBooks by David Cian set in the main Dreamwave G1 universe: Hardwired, Annihilation and Fusion. In the series, Megatron and Prime were abducted by the alien Keepers and forced to fight in gladiatorial battles. They began working together to return to Earth, where Megatron would predictably attempt to seize their power for himself by uniting with the Autobots to stop the Keepers in return for a favor, which turned out to be asking Optimus to make him the next Prime. While this trilogy is set in the same universe as the Dreamwave stories, whether they fit into the continuity is unclear.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 14:43:57 GMT -5
Transformers/G.I. Joe: Megatron would also appear in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I. Joe limited series. Unlike many of the other Transformers (who were given World War II vehicle alternate modes) Megatron would keep his basic Walther P-38 handgun transformation, which was indeed a WWII German handgun. Forming an alliance with Cobra Commander due to their similar natures, Megatron nonetheless had a bitter personal rivalry with the tyrannical Cobra leader, resulting in Megatron killing several of his troops and Cobra Commander having to use the Matrix to keep him in line. Later, Megatron refused to help the Commander as Bruticus tried to crush him, and allowed the Baroness to use him in gun mode to shoot the helpless Cobra Leader. After battling Optimus Prime, he was deactivated when Snake-Eyes opened the Matrix, deactivating all the Transformers.
Devil's Due Publishing: In the G.I. Joe vs The Transformers comics printed by Devil's Due Publishing, Megatron was again among the Decepticons who crashed on in the Ark on Earth, but this time the Ark was discovered by the terrorist group Cobra, who reformatted the Autobots and Decepticons into weapons and vehicles for themselves called Battle Android Troopers controlled by the Televipers. Megatron was locked in gun mode, and kept by Cobra Commander as his personal sidearm, as it amused him to allow Megatron to speak and advise him. When Optimus Prime broke free of the controls Cobra had placed on him and attacked Cobra Commander, Megatron convinced his keeper to free him to fight Optimus. While Megatron did battle Optimus Prime, he also attempted to take over the Cobra installation and use it to manufacture Energon cubes to power the other Decepticons and eventually take over the Earth. Wounded by the Autobots and a malfunctioning orbiting weapons system, Megatron was eventually defeated and believed destroyed. In reality much of his body remained and the U.S. government studied his workings to advance their own projects in military super computers. Although Megatron was deactivated, his legacy would still come back to haunt the Autobots and G.I Joe. In the third volume of the series, it was revealed that the US Government had created the android Serpentor (or, as he is called here, Serpent O.R., standing for Organic Robot) using DNA from great historical war leaders and parts from Megatron. Freed by a raid by Cobra Commander, he then downloaded information on Cybertron and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership from the deactivated Soundwave and escaped to Cybertron via the Space bridge, uniting the various Decepticon factions. Serpentor managed to capture the group of G.I. Joes and Autobots pursuing him from Earth, killing Bumblebee in the process. It is explained that the program of Serpentor was overridden by the elements of the programming that were Megatron's (the scientists using Megatron's personality template upon which to base Serpentor's personality). Calling all the surviving Decepticons (including the Stunticons, Terrorcons, Triple Changers and Sixshot) together, Serpentor is at first mocked due to his size but convinces the Decepticons to rally against the Autobots using Megatron's memories. His attack comes during the Autobots' celebration of peace following the Decepticons defeat. The attack was successful and Serpentor succeeded where Megatron had failed, and captured Optimus Prime. But Serpentor's exposure to the Matrix, possession by Cobra Commander and subsequent destruction left Megatron's legacy unfulfilled. Optimus Prime notes that only Megatron was capable of launching such an effective and coordinated Decepticon attack. It is interesting to note that the Decepticons here venerate Megatron as an almost mythical heroic figure. Also, the information Serpentor downloads from Soundwave indicates that Megatron's pre-Earth form is similar to his Dreamwave universe War Within form. In addition, Serpentor refers to himself as Megatron's "son" at one point.
IDW Publishing: After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken over by IDW Publishing. IDW would take the opportunity to reboot the Transformers universe, including a revised origin for Megatron detailing how he came to power. Here, Megatron was originally a lowly energon miner. When the Autobot Senate decreed that he and his fellow workers were to be moved in favour of automated mining, a riot broke out and Megatron killed the head of the Senator's personal guard. Aided by Rumble and Frenzy, Megatron escaped and became a prominent figure in underground bloodsports in Kaon, which soon began making a vast amount of money through black-market recordings, with the once-reluctant Megatron becoming very good at killing. Under increasing attention from the security forces of Sentinel Prime, Megatron became sponsored with advanced weaponry by the corrupt Ratbat (looking to make a profit from black market sales of the bloodsports Megatron's team were winning), began a terror campaign, and attempted to forge the disaffected gladiators into an army. They were arrested by Sentinel Prime, but this was all part of Megatron's plan, as Starscream killed the Autobot Senate and Megatron personally killed Sentinel Prime in one-on-one combat. (The Transformers: Megatron Origin) Eventually full scale war broke out between the Autobots and Decepticons, devastating Cybertron in the process, leading to the disappearance of Shockwave and Thunderwing's pioneering of bio mechanical shells in an attempt to survive. Thunderwing's experiments, rejected by Megatron, turned him into a rampaging, mindless monster, forcing Megatron to form a desperate alliance with his enemy Optimus Prime in order to stop it. They succeeded, but only at the cost of the devastation of Cybertron, with Prime rejecting Megatron's suggestion to destroy the planet completely. After this the war spread further out into the galaxy, with Infiltration units from both sides battling over a world's resources, with the Decepticons eventually stripping it of all its natural resources. One such unit, led by Starscream, came to Earth and discovered an ultra powerful derivative of energon, dubbed "Ore-13" (planted by Shockwave in issue 1 of The Transformers: Spotlight). Starscream broke his unit's cover in order to protect their discovery, forcing Megatron to come to Earth personally (as seen in The Transformers: Infiltration). After ordering Razorclaw to deal with Thunderwing's reemergence in The Transformers: Stormbringer, Megatron traveled to the Decepticon base and defeated the superpowered Starscream in a duel, blasting him almost in half. (The Transformers: Infiltration) Personally assuming command of the traitorous Earth unit after this, Megatron became intrigued by the possibilities presented by Ore-13 and steps up the Decepticon infiltration efforts, causing tensions to rise via military striles and use of facsimiles (as seen in The Transformers: Escalation), with Megatron assuming his Earthen pistol mode at this point. During one such attack in the Russian breakaway state of Brasnya, Megatron was confronted by a countermission led by Optimus Prime. Enhanced by Ore-13 he nearly beat Prime to death in single combat. Prime survived by transferring his consciousness to his trailer, and defeated Megatron by causing the Ore-13 in his body to burn itself out, forcing the Decepticons to retreat. Enraged at his defeat, he calls in Sixshot to begin the annihilation of the planet early. This had large-scale repercussions: the Reapers, an intergalactic band of war machines dedicated to ending war forever, followed Sixshot and attacked the Decepticons. In addition to this, Megatron was then confronted by the other Decepticons' reaction to his calling in Sixshot: a repaired Starscream. The Decepticons defeated the Reapers, and Megatron and Starscream formed an uneasy truce as the humans located their base. In the IDW continuity, Megatron retains his role as supreme commander of the Decepticon army, although in this continuity, they are no longer based on Cybertron (which was rendered uninhabitable by Thunderwing) and are fighting to conquer multiple worlds simultaneously. In fact, he barely seems to care about Cybertron and was willing to order its total destruction to stop the reanimated Thunderwing. Having now ingested Ore-13, Megatron is able to easily manage mass-displacement and thus turn into an Earth handgun (in Escalation #2), and the newfound power appears to have affected his actions- he personally went on the Brasnya mission and is confident enough to transform & battle Optimus in front of human witnesses, actions that Optimus finds out of character. His instability is also what leads the other Decepticons to awaken Starscream to stand up to him in Devastation.
IDW Publishing: In issue #1 of the Transformers: Movie Prequel comic, set before the events of the film, Megatron is revealed to have co-ruled Cybertron together with Optimus Prime, serving as Lord High Protector. He soon desired power over the Allspark, and thus life itself. To this end, he gathered an army of like-minded separatists: the Decepticons. The Autobots attempted to hide the Allspark in Tyger Pax, but Megatron saw through the ruse and launched a full scale attack. A squad led by Bumblebee offered valiant resistance, but in the end, they fell and were captured. Megatron's forces tortured them, with Megatron eventually intervening personally. However, Bumblebee had refused to talk just long enough for Prime's plan to go ahead; the Allspark was launched into space. Megatron prepared to pursue in his jet mode, but was stopped by Bumblebee, who delayed him as the Allspark vanished beyond his reach. An irate Megatron then crushed Bumblebee's vocal circuits beyond repair, and promising that the Allspark would be his, pursued it into space. Megatron had almost caught up with the Allspark as it landed on a planet 10,000 years ago: Earth. In his reckless desire to possess it, Megatron pursues it right into Earth's atmosphere, losing contact with it in the process. His body is red-hot from atmosphere re-entry as he lands on the Arctic ice sheets; his body mass and temperature causes the ice, a substance he was unfamiliar with since Cybertron has no water, to give way beneath, sending him into the ocean waters. The rapid temperature change and low energon supply forces Megatron into stasis lock and he becomes frozen in ice beneath the surface. At the turn of the 20th century, Captain Archibald Witwicky discovers the Decepticon during an Arctic expedition. A crew of men later take his body, dubbing him the "Ice-man" (officially referring to him as N.B.E.-1 - Non-Biological Extraterrestrial), and keep him in storage up until the present day, eventually relocating him to Nevada. This incarnation of Megatron has a near obsession with the Allspark, and is able to sense it even from afar. He cares little about Cybertron or his minions, as long as they allow him to achieve his goal of conquering the universe.
Titan Magazines: In Titan Magazines' UK Transformers magazine, the UK-originated strips (written by Simon Furman) revealed Megatron's actions between issues #1 and 2 of the IDW comic. Pursuing the Allspark into space following the events of Movie Prequel #1, Megatron was delayed in his pursuit by a tractor beam from Cybertron. Breaking free and attacking the culprits, Jazz, Ratchet, and Ironhide, Megatron realized that if he engaged them, he would be delayed further. Summoning Devastator to deal with them, he resumed his pursuit - but the desperate gamble had worked and he (temporarily) lost the Allspark's trail. The character profile the magazine provided shed a little more light on Megatron's desire to possess the Allspark. He believed that while Cybertronians could already transform into other forms via a scanning process, the Allspark could allow Transformers to simply imagine the form they wanted and change accordingly. Interfacing with the Allspark directly, Megatron gained his deadly jet mode. and now began his plans to obtain it permanently.
Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday: Megatron appeared in the prequel novel Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday, where it was revealed that reverse engineering of his body had produced a spacecraft called "Ghost-1", which was sent into space in 1969, where they encountered the Autobots and Decepticons. It was also revealed that the humans keep Megatron in stasis by maintaining his body at a very low temperature: any higher and he begins to reanimate. In 1969, Megatron (here referred to throughout as the "Ice Man") was moved from the Arctic to Southern Nevada for ease of study. However, the convoy was sabotaged by KGB operatives hoping to capture Megatron's body. The cooling conditions that allowed Megatron's stasis lock were damaged in the ensuing crash, and he began to reanimate. Regaining consciousness in the middle of a pitched battle between the Americans and Russians, Megatron was once again put offline by the sacrifices of Colonel Kinnear, the convoy commander, and Colonel Nolan, who managed to knock Megatron down first with a snow truck and then with explosives, and then refroze him with liquid Nitrogen even as Megatron killed them.
2007 Live Action Movie: Before the events of the film, Megatron had been the first Transformer to discover that the Allspark was located on Earth, and he attempted to claim it somewhere between approximately 100 to 10,000 years prior (The film is deliberately vague on this issue). However, as he entered Earth's atmosphere, he passed over Earth's magnetic pole, causing his navigation system to malfunction. Subsequently he crashed into a polar ice cap; the heat caused by his entry caused the ice to melt and refreeze around him, leaving Megatron frozen in the Arctic. In 1897, more than a hundred years before the arrival of the other Transformers, he was discovered by an explorer named Archibald Witwicky, who accidentally activated Megatron's navigation system and caused the coordinates of the Allspark to be etched onto the explorer's glasses. Megatron remained imprisoned in the ice, but he was discovered by the U.S. government around the 1930's and kept frozen beneath the Hoover Dam for decades, monitored by a clandestine agency known as Sector 7, created entirely off the books by President Hoover. It is stated that all modern technology, such as microchips, motor vehicles and lasers, were reverse engineered from him. Later, Megatron's second-in command, Starscream, attacks the base after Frenzy deactivates the system imprisoning Megatron, releasing him from his government captivity beneath the Hoover Dam. Fully awakened, Megatron then proceeds to kill many Sector 7 agents, and immediately after leaves in search for the Allspark, attacking the Autobots in Mission City and killing the Autobot Jazz in the process. When Optimus arrives on the scene from his battle with Bonecrusher, Megatron throws away Jazz's dead body and attacks him in jet mode, snagging his enemy as he flies past and barreling through an office building, before exchanging cannon-fire on the street. After temporarily knocking out Optimus, Megatron then pursues Sam into an abandoned building, smashing upward through the floors until he corners Sam on the rooftop. He offers to let Sam live as his "pet" in exchange for the Allspark, but Sam refuses and Megatron sends him falling from the rooftop in response. However, Sam is saved by Prime, who is dragged down onto the street by a pursuing Megatron. The film culminates in a street-fight between Megatron and Optimus Prime, where the two leaders exchange mighty blows, damaging each other seriously. Just as Optimus is on the verge of defeat, Megatron is severely injured by a barrage of missile fire from a squadron of F-22 Raptors (one of which could have been Starscream) and ground infantry fire. Ultimately, the Decepticon leader is supposedly killed when Sam rams the Allspark into his chest, overloading his Spark and melting the interior of his chest, along with his hands when he clutches at his chest (which by Optimus Prime's admission is not necessarily, although probably, fatal). His remains are later disposed off into the Laurentian Abyss by the U.S. Armed Forces, along with the other dead Decepticons. Although the Allspark is destroyed, Prime recovers a small remaining fragment from Megatron's chest. Megatron's disgust for the human race and Earth is constantly shown, as he says "Humans don't deserve to live!" and also mocks Prime, saying "You still fight for the weak, that is why you lose!". Director Michael Bay stated that this, along with Megatron's arrogance, is the reason that Megatron keeps his protoform (Cybertronian form) mode and does not scan for an alternate "Earth-mode" (like almost all other Transformers in the film) to hide amongst the humans. During his climatic battle with Prime, Megatron even takes time during the battle to flick away a human as if the man were a bug, at the same time remarking, "Disgusting." (Interestingly, the Director's Commentary on the DVD release reveals that this human was director Michael Bay himself.)
2008 Animated Series: Megatron spent 4 million solar cycles in search of the Allspark. But though he found it, Megatron was betrayed at the beginning of the series by Starscream. Though he survived the explosion that cripples the Autobots craft, Megatron's right arm was severed by the Autobot Prowl before the rest of him was forced out the ship as it entered Earth's orbit. While the craft crashed in Lake Erie, Megatron's lifeless body crashed nearby while his disembodied head was found by a young Isaac Sumdac, who used the technology it was composed of as a keystone of Sumdac Tower's various creations decades later with Megatron's head and right hand within the Tower itself until Sari's key accidentally reactivated Megatron, whose link showed him that the Autobots are on Earth with the Allspark and that Starscream was to blame for his current condition. Being hooked up to Sumdac's mainframe, Megatron could control any non-Cybertronian machine as a result, controlling virtually any non-transformer robot on Earth and the automated plants that construct them, intent to recreate his body by giving Sumdac the means to accomplish it while keeping the human in the dark of his true nature. These attempts resulted in the creation of the Dinobots, originally meant to be prototypes for combat drones until they became aware, and secretly providing the acceleration suit to Nino Sexton to have him get a canister of volatile Destronium, a rare metal on Earth that is common on Cybertron, to rebuild his body. When Lugnut & Blitzwing come to Earth, Megatron was able to communicate with Lugnut over radio waves so that the two can find them. But the Autobots defeating them proved a hindrance. It is revealed that, as he fell from the Autobot's ship, Megatron contracted "space barnacles" which, in the present day, took over the remnants of his body, changing it into a monstrous, half organic creature that assimilated some construction vehicles into its body. After Bumblebee, Prowl and Sari managed to exterminate the barnacles which they thought they were the energy signature that detected in the area, Megatron's lifeless body was recovered by Professor Sumdac much later while tracking the same signature. Removing the construction vehicles from the exoskeleton, Sumdac managed to repair the body until Lugnut and Blitzwing arrive with Sari's Key, which provided Megatron all the power he needed to complete his revival. Once revived, Megatron takes out Starscream, unknowingly playing a part in the traitor's apparent immortality. Gathering his Decepticons and attacking the Autobots' ship, Megatron seemed to have achieved victory as he captured the AllSpark and added its power to his own. However, Optimus Prime used Sari's key to disperse the AllSpark, forcing a damaged Megatron to retreat, taking Professor Sumdac as his captive. Once repaired, Megatron uses the carbon mine his body was hidden in as his base of operations as it's an ideal area for evading Autobot detection. Looking at the factors that led to his defeat, he considers creating his own Space Bridge to Cybertron and forcing Sumdac to build it. Later, when one of the robots working with him malfunction, Megatron discovers that the Allspark has been shattered and placed in different forms of machinery. After having the professor develop energy dampening devices to shield their energy signatures, Megatron sends his cronies to steal the Elite Guard's tachyon transmitter in order to contact his Decepticon legions to divert all Autobot forces away from Cybertron, contacting his double agent to ensure the Autobots leave Cybertron defenseless once the Decepticons' Space Bridge is completed.
Megatron. The name alone sounds reason enough to put him on this list. It sounds cold and evil. Hell, Hasbro didn’t want to use the name “Megatron,” saying it sounded too dangerous, like an atomic bomb. However, Bob Budiansky, who was hired to come up with the names for the characters in the toy line, responded that as the lead villain, that was the whole point. Hasbro saw his reasoning, and approved the name. But, there are other reasons for Megatron being on the list. He is very powerful and utterly ruthless. Some see Megatron as a strategic leader who calls the shots from afar, whilst others see him as a tactical battlefield commander who leads by brutal example. Unlike many other villains in popular fiction, Megatron was not generally depicted as overly chaotic or insane. He was highly aggressive and a megalomaniac, but there was usually a consistent rationale behind his actions, albeit that Megatron was often the only one who could perceive this. Some versions of Megatron, most notably the 2007 movie, have been portrayed as caring little for humans and even the Decepticons who serve him, only caring for becoming the ultimate power in the universe. But, he has shown some good qualities. There have been some sparing occasions where Megatron displays a personal sense of fair play and even honor, a complexity that is most evident in his complicated relationship with Optimus Prime. There is an unspoken mutual respect between the two leaders, born of each knowing the other better than anyone else. Megatron at times seems to derive enjoyment from the perpetual conflict that exists between them: the pleasure of ending the life of Optimus Prime will be Megatron's and Megatron's alone, and to ensure this, he has aided Prime in the face of greater threats, such as the Combaticons or Jhiaxus's second generation Cybertronians. In instances such as these, the two have come to face the fact that were it not for their diametrically opposed ideology and views, in another life, the two could be comrades, a fact that Optimus Prime views as a tragedy, but which provides Megatron with amusement. Another interesting facet of Megatron is what he transforms into. He originally transformed into a Walther P38, a gun created by the Nazis, a group that have become a universal image for evil. After Generation 1, Megatron is usually a weapon of destruction, like a tank or an alien jet. In the end, Megatron is just a cold and ruthless robot who would love to see the Autobots destroyed and Optimus Prime dead by his hands, which did happen in the 1986 Transformers movie.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 15:32:07 GMT -5
66. Two-Face Who is he: Former district attorney turned criminal. What is he from: DC, most notably the Batman comics. What has he done: Has killed people because his coin landed on tails. Intelligence: Has a law degree, which he has used to become a highly-intelligent crime boss Power: Usually has several henchmen who obey his orders. Vileness: Has terrorized Gotham, and you don’t want to be on the losing side of one of his coin tosses. Sway: Two-Face loves to talk, probably a side effect of his former occupation, which can also be useful in getting what he wants. Purity: The criminal half of his personality appears to be often in control, yet the law-abiding Harvey Dent still existed, bound by chance and his lucky coin. Physical Prowess: He could handle a gun and throw a punch; half of him looks okay, but the other half is scarred and disfigured. Quite terrifying. Name Coolness: “Two-Face” is pretty cool. Created by: Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Portrayed by: Billy Dee William played “Harvey Dent” in the 1989 “Batman” movie and was guaranteed to play Two-Face in one of the sequels. However, Tim Burton left the franchise; and Joel Schumacher took over. Williams decided not to star in “Batman Forever,” and the role of “Two-Face” went to Tommy Lee Jones. In Batman: The Animated Series, Richard Moll was the voice of “Harvey Dent/Two-Face.” In the upcoming sequel to “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” Aaron Eckhart will play “Harvey Dent/Two-Face.” Comics: When he first appears in Detective Comics #66, the character's name is Harvey Kent, but in later stories, his name was changed to Harvey Dent to prevent confusion with Clark Kent. At 26, he is the youngest district attorney ever to serve Gotham City, and is nicknamed "Apollo" for his good looks. He is elected about six months before Batman begins his war on crime, as depicted in the events of Batman: Year One. His campaign against crime ends tragically during the prosecution of crime boss Sal "Boss" Maroni for murder. At a climactic moment in the trial, Dent produces Maroni's good luck charm, a two-headed coin he was well-known for carrying, which had been found at the murder scene with Maroni's fresh fingerprints upon it. Enraged, Maroni throws sulfuric acid in Dent's face, horribly scarring and discoloring his left hand and the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged; in some versions of the story, Dent is only saved from a face-full of acid by Batman's quick but, regrettably, only partial deflection of Maroni's hand. Tormented by his hideous reflection, Dent scars one side of Maroni's coin and lets tosses of the coin decide whether he acts for good or evil in any situation. The comic book limited series Batman: The Long Halloween elaborates on these events, with some changes. In it, Dent, Captain (later Commissioner) James Gordon, and Batman forge an alliance to rid Gotham of crime. Mafia chieftain Sal "The Boss" Maroni is still the criminal who disfigures Dent with help from the corrupt Assistant District Attorney Vernon Field, who provides him with the acid (concealed in an antacid bottle). Dent gets his trademark coin from his abusive father, who is referred to as being in some form of mental institution (his relationship with his father was earlier introduced in Batman Annual #14). Gilda Dent, who had been Dent's fiancée back in Detective Comics #66 and 68 (1942), is instead his wife in The Long Halloween (1998). Dent escapes from the hospital and hides out in the sewers for weeks, finally resurfacing as Two-Face to take revenge on the mob, killing Vernon Field and mob boss Carmine Falcone (Maroni has already been assassinated by this point by Falcone's son Alberto). By the end, Two-Face is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. The character only made three appearances in the 1940s, and appeared twice in the 1950s (not counting the impostors mentioned below). By this time, he was dropped in favor of more "kid friendly" villains, though he did appear in a 1968 issue (World's Finest Comics #173), in which Batman declared him to be the criminal he most fears. In 1971, writer Dennis O'Neil brought Two-Face back, and it was then that he became one of Batman's arch-enemies. In the wake of Frank Miller's 1987 revision of Batman's origin (Batman: Year One), Andrew Helfer rewrote Two-Face's history to match. This origin, presented in Batman Annual #14, served to emphasize Dent's status as a tragic character, with a back story that included an abusive, alcoholic father, and early struggles with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. It was also established, in Batman: Year One, that pre-accident Dent was a major heroic figure working as one of Batman's earliest allies. Dent had clear ties to both Batman and Commissioner Gordon, making him an unsettling and personal foe for both men. During the same period, Two-Face is revealed to have murdered Jason Todd's father, who had been one of his henchmen. Todd later has Two-Face at his mercy and chooses not to kill him, embracing Batman's ideal of justice. This storyline is later mirrored in the animated series of the late 1990s with Tim Drake substituting for Jason Todd. During the Batman daily comic strips published from 1989 to 1991, his origin is slightly altered. In this version, Harvey Dent is scarred by a vial of acid thrown by an unnamed bystander, who intended it for the Joker. In 1989, writer Grant Morrison portrayed Dent's dependence on his coin in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. The doctors in the asylum attempt to wean him off his evil personality by taking away his coin and replacing it with a die and eventually a tarot deck, effectively giving him 78 options. The treatment fails, however; with so many options, Dent can't even make simple decisions. At the end of the graphic novel, Batman gives Dent his coin back, telling him to use it to decide whether to kill him. He tells Batman that the coin landed scar face down, and Batman leaves safely, but the next scene shows the scar face up, meaning that he miraculously chose to let Batman live. In the hardcover edition, Morrison said this was because it was April Fool's Day. Throughout the history of the Batman franchise, attempts have been made to repair his facial scars but they have not yet cured his insanity; he simply destroys the one side of his face and becomes Two-Face once again. In Frank Miller's revival of Batman, The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne himself funds Harvey's rehabilitation, however, Harvey soon returns to crime and Batman must once again stop him from destroying Gotham. During the aftermath of the earthquake that leaves Gotham City in shambles, Two-Face carves out a sizable portion of the ruined city for himself. He takes up residence in Gotham City Hall, maintaining a relatively sophisticated lifestyle. His empire is eventually brought down by Bane, who, in the employ of Lex Luthor, devastates Two-Face's gang during his destruction of the city's Hall of Records. Two-Face kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and puts him on trial for his activities after Gotham City was declared a No Man's Land, with Two-Face as both judge and prosecutor. Gordon plays upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. Dent cross-examined Two-Face and wins an acquittal for Gordon, determining that Two-Face has effectively blackmailed Gordon by implying that he had committed murders to aid the Commissioner. During No Man's Land, Two-Face meets detective Renee Montoya. Montoya reaches the Dent persona in Two-Face, and is kind to him. He falls in love with her, though the romance is one-sided. Later, in the Gotham Central series, he outs her as a lesbian and frames her for murder, hoping that if he takes everything from her, she will be left with no choice but to be with him. She is furious, and the two fight for control of his gun until Batman intervenes, putting Two-Face back in Arkham. In the Two-Face one-shot book, Two-Face leads a crusade against Gotham City, culminating in the capturing of his own father to humiliate and kill on live television for the years of abuse he suffered. This story revealed that, despite his apparent hatred for his father, Dent still supported him, paying for an expensive home rather than allowing him to live in a slum. At the end of the book, Dent and Two-Face argue in thought, Two-Face calling Dent "spineless." Dent proves Two-Face wrong, however, choosing to jump off a building and end his life just to put a stop to his alter ego's crime spree. Two-Face is surprised when the coin flip comes up scarred, but abides by the decision and jumps. Batman catches Dent, but the shock of the fall seems to (at least temporarily) destroy the Two-Face side of his psyche. In Two-Face Strikes Twice, Two-Face is at odds with his ex-wife Gilda, as he believes their marriage failed because he was unable to give her children. She later marries Paul Janus, a reference to the Roman god of doors who had two faces, one facing forward, the other backward. Two-Face attempts to frame Janus as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigures" with makeup to make it look as if Janus has gone insane just as Two-Face had. Two-Face is eventually caught by Batman and sent away, and Gilda and Janus reunite. Years later, Gilda gives birth to twins, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he had erroneously believes them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. The end of the book reveals a surprise twist; Batman learns from Gilda that Janus is not the father of Gilda's twins - Dent is. Some of his sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and she used some of it to get pregnant. Batman uses this information to convince Dent to free the twins and turn himself in. In the storyline Batman: Hush, Dent's face is repaired once more via plastic surgery. This time around, only the Harvey Dent persona exists. However, he takes the law into his own hands twice: once by using his ability to manipulate the legal system to free the Joker, and then again by shooting the serial killer Hush. He manipulates the courts into setting him free, as Gotham's prosecutors wouldn't attempt to charge him without a body. In the Batman story arc Face the Face, that started in Detective Comics #817, and was part of DC's One Year Later storyline, it is revealed that, at Batman's request and with his training, Dent becomes a vigilante protector of Gotham City in most of Batman's absence of nearly a year. He is reluctant to take the job, but Batman assures him doing good would serve as atonement for his past crimes. After a month of training, they fight Firebug and Mr. Freeze, before Batman leaves for a year. Soon, Dent finds himself enjoying his new role, but his methods are seemingly more extreme and less refined than Batman's. Upon Batman's return, Dent begins to feel unnecessary and unappreciated, which prompted the return of the "Two-Face" persona (seen and heard by Dent through hallucinations). In Face the Face, his frustration are compounded by a series of mysterious killings that seem to have been committed by Two-Face; the villains KGBeast, Magpie, The Ventriloquist, and Orca are all shot twice in the head with a double-barreled pistol, implying that Dent was the perpetrator. When Batman confronts Dent about these deaths, asking Dent to confirm that he was not responsible, Dent refuses to give a definite answer. He then detonates a bomb in his apartment and leaves Batman dazed as he flees. Despite escaping the explosion physically unscathed to a motel, Dent suffers a crisis of conscience and a mental battle with his "Two-Face" personality. Although evidence is later uncovered by Batman that exonerates Harvey Dent for the murders, it is too late to do anything to save him. Prompted by resentment and a paranoid reaction to Batman's questioning, Dent scars half his face with nitric acid and a scalpel, becoming Two-Face once again. Blaming Batman for his return (despite Batman's having consistently defended him to the authorities), Two-Face immediately goes on a rampage, threatening to destroy the Gotham Zoo (having retained two of every animal - including two humans) before escaping to fight Batman another day. On the cover of Justice League of America #13 (Vol.2), Two-Face is shown as a member of the new Injustice League. He can be seen in Salvation Run. “Batman Forever”: The film opens with Batman (Val Kilmer) preparing for action. Two-Face, alter ego of former District Attorney Harvey Dent (Tommy Lee Jones), is holding a hostage in a bank vault. He connects the Bank vault by chain to a Helicopter, intending to fly it out of the bank. Batman arrives, rescuing the hostage and foiling the robbery by cutting the chain. Two face tries to escape but Batman hangs on to the chopper by the chain and is dragged through the City until he climbs slowly on top of the chopper. Two-Face aims at Batman but accidentally shoots the pilot and is forced to take his place at the wheel. Batman bashes his way into the cockpit, but not before Two Face aims to crash the chopper into the "Our Lady of Gotham" statue and locks the wheel. Two Face escapes using the only parachute on board, but Batman luckily manages to dive out of the cockpit and into the river in the nick of time. After having met clinical psychiatrist Doctor Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) at the robbery, Bruce Wayne invites her to a charity circus event. Two-Face and his cohorts storm the event, bringing a bomb with a two-minute timer. Two-Face, who blames Batman for the attack which left him disfigured, will detonate the bomb unless Batman reveals himself. Wayne attempts to reveal his alter ego to Two-Face, but is unheard over the screams of the audience. Meanwhile, the acrobatic family The Flying Graysons work to remove the bomb via an opening at the summit of the circus tent. The youngest member, Dick (Chris O'Donnell), goes ahead of his family and succeeds in pushing the bomb through the hole and out into the surrounding water. Upon his return, Dick discovers that Two-Face has killed his entire family and escaped. Wayne assumes responsibility for Dick and allows him to stay at his home, Wayne Manor. Dick declares his intention to avenge his family's deaths by killing Two-Face, and when he discovers Wayne's secret identity as Batman, he insists on becoming the crime fighter's partner in order to achieve his goal. Wayne is reluctant at first, telling Dick that killing Two-Face won't make the pain go away, but Dick names his alter-ego "Robin" at the suggestion of butler Alfred (Michael Gough). Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey), who has been stalking Wayne and leaving riddles for him, is inspired and delighted by watching Two-Face's raid at the circus on live television and creates his own alter-ego in the form of The Riddler, a master of puzzles and quizzes. He perfects his brain-manipulation device into a system which beams signals to and from the human brain in order to simulate an immersive television viewing experience. This has the side effect of allowing the Riddler to read viewers' minds, as well as augmenting his own intelligence. Making a deal to use his brain-manipulation device to discover Batman's true identity, he becomes partner-in-crime with Two-Face in order to fund mass-production of the device. Successful, he readopts his Nygma persona and hosts a launch event for a set-top version of his device. Nygma convinces an unwitting Wayne to try it, resulting in Nygma discovering Wayne's alter ego. Two-Face attempts to kill Wayne/Batman, but the appearance of Dick (disguised as Robin)at the end helps to foil the plan. Armed with the knowledge of Batman's true identity, the villains later converge upon Wayne Manor. Unwilling to have Two-Face kill his idol, Nygma (as the Riddler) blows up the Batcave and leaves a final riddle for his nemesis, while Two-Face kidnaps Doctor Meridian. Bruce and Alfred eventually solve the riddles, each one having a number in it: 1. "If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find 13 anyplace." (a clock) 2. "Tear one off and scratch my head; what was once red is now black instead." (a match) 3. "The eight of us go forth, not back, to protect our king from a foe's attack." (chess pawns) 4. We're five items of an everyday sort; you'll find us all in 'a tennis court'." (vowels- in the words 'a tennis court') Each number corresponds to a letter in the alphabet, with 1 and 8 being digits for the number 18. 13 being "M", 18 for "R" and 5 for "E", M-R-E, or "Mr. E"- mystery, or enigma- Mr. E. Nygma). Changing into Batman, Bruce asks Alfred whether he should use the Batboat or the Batwing. Dick suggests both as he enters the Batcave- now dressed in a "Robin" costume of Alfred's design. Bruce decides two against two are better odds, and finally agrees to Dick becoming a partner. Batman and Robin locate the Riddler's lair. During the assault on the lair, Robin confronts and overpowers Two-Face, but instead of letting Two-Face fall to his death, Robin rescues him, but Two-Face draws a gun capturing Robin. Batman manages to find his own way up to the high-altitude lair, only to find Robin already hostage along with Doctor Chase, both bound and gagged in individual cages on either side of Riddler's throne. Riddler, challenging Batman with the greatest riddle of all ("Can Batman and Bruce Wayne actually co-exist?"), gives him the choice of rescuing only one of them, but Batman instead destroys the brainwave-collecting hub, sending Two-Face running for his life, and reversing the brainwave stream from Nygma's head. Before Nygma collapses, he springs the trap doors in Robin's and Doctor Meridian's cages, sending them plummeting to their apparent doom, but Batman rescues both of them, only to be drawn on again by Two-Face perched on a nearby plank. Batman reminds Two-Face that he's always of two minds about everything, so as Two-Face flips his coin in the air Batman pulls a handful of similar coins out of his pocket and tosses them into the air with it. Frantically trying to find his own coin, Two-Face loses his footing and falls to his death. “The Dark Knight”: It hasn’t come out yet, but in this movie Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Through previews, it appears that the Joker will be responsible for Dent’s disfigurement and creation of Two-Face. In the film, Dent becomes a murderous vigilante — rather than an outright criminal — following his disfigurement, and director Christopher Nolan explained this was done to emphasize the differences and parallels between him and Batman. "[He] is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely," Eckhart said about Two-Face. Batman: The Animated Series: Prior to his disfigurement, Harvey Dent is featured in two episodes. In "On Leather Wings", he plans to prosecute Batman if the police can apprehend him for crimes that are in fact being committed by the Man-Bat, and in "Pretty Poison", Poison Ivy woos her way into Dent's life as a possible fiancée in an attempt to kill him, as revenge for Dent's nearly killing off an endangered breed of flower by breaking ground on the construction site for Stonegate Penitentiary. In the later episode "Almost Got 'Im", he comments to her that both sides want to kill her in different ways. In the series, Harvey Dent suffers from deep-seated psychological trauma resulting from years of repressing anger. As a result, he develops an alternate personality, "Big Bad Harv", who is as evil as his outer appearance is noble. "Big Bad Harv" would sometimes come out in the form of violent bursts of anger. Eventually, Gotham City crime boss Rupert Thorne gets his hands on Dent's psychological records and threatens to blackmail him with it. During an encounter with Thorne in a chemical plant, Dent loses his temper, putting his "Big Bad Harv" personality in control. He then goes on a violent rampage, which eventually results in a massive explosion in the plant. Dent is horrifically scarred by the explosion, and the stress of the events leaves "Big Bad Harv" in largely permanent control of Dent's personality. Batman, who as Bruce Wayne is Dent's best friend, is tormented by having to apprehend him again and again, gradually losing hope that he could ever be cured. In the episode "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", Two-Face unknowingly protects Batman's secret identity after Hugo Strange discovers it and attempts to auction it off to Gotham's top criminals: Two-Face, the Joker, and the Penguin. He says, "Ridiculous! I know Bruce Wayne! If he's Batman, I'm the King of England!" In the final episode of The New Batman Adventures, Dent's personality fragments a second time, creating a superego personality called "The Judge", a violent court-themed vigilante that attempts to crush the id that is Two-Face. Dent, looking to eradicate this new threat to him, has no idea that he himself is The Judge. While using this identity he attempts to eliminate Killer Croc, the Riddler and the Penguin. As in Batman Forever, this version of Two-Face is also directly connected to the origin of a Robin: Tim Drake, whose father was Two-Face's henchman. This combined the origin and personality of the Post-Crisis Jason Todd with the name of Tim Drake, Todd's comic book successor. Tim's father was trying to hide the binary components of a toxic chemical Two-Face planned on using to hold the city hostage. Suspecting that Drake knew where the chemicals were hidden, Two-Face scours the city looking for him. Fleeing for his life, Tim eventually crosses paths with Batman and helps him bring Two-Face to justice, paving the way for his transformation into Robin. In Batman Beyond, Two-Face appears in a training simulator used by Terry McGinnis, and again as a mannequin in the Batcave. In the beginning of the unedited version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Bruce Wayne decapitates the Two-Face mannequin with a batarang. The final appearance of this version of Two-Face is a cameo in Justice League. In the episode A Better World, Part 2, an alternate reality Two-Face appears as the janitor of Arkham Asylum. He has been lobotomized by that world's Fascist Superman. Two-Face is one of the most interesting villains. He started out as Harvey Dent, Gotham City’s district attorney who fought to bring criminals in prison. However, he gets disfigured when Sal “Boss” Maroni throws acid in his face during a trial. The skin on the left side of his face is burnt off. Harvey Dent's disfigurement brings out his latent multiple personality disorder and transforms him into the villainous Two-Face. Obsessed with duality and opposites, Two-Face's trademark is crimes involving duality, his constant and obsessive use of the number two. Furthermore, his related obsession with opposites reveals itself in such "quirks" as wearing clothes with dramatically different materials on each side. Another of Two-Face's trademarks is that he does not always go through with his evil deeds; every time he contemplates committing a crime, he flips a two-headed coin, one side of which is scratched. If the coin comes up tails (the scratched-side), Two-Face commits the crime; if it comes up heads, he does not. He never questions the result of the toss, only obeys. Recent interpretations portray this compulsion as a struggle between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self. He has a good moral side, and it is struggling to get out. However, it doesn’t; and Two-Face continues on with his criminal ways. He does have some compassion in him and will let people live or not commit a crime if his coin lands on heads. But, if it lands on tails, then nothing can stop Two-Face’s evil. He is a slave to the coin and will obey it no matter what. And, when it lands on tails, Two-Face is an evil son of a bitch that can only be stopped physical force.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 16:04:18 GMT -5
65. Kevin Who is he: A silent killer What is he from: Sin City (comics and movie) What has he done: Killed hookers and ate them. Intelligence: Knowledgeable in killing. Power: He is buddies with the most powerful man in Basin City, Cardinal Roarke. Vileness: Kills without mercy. Sway: Doesn’t speak, but he looks deceivingly safe, which can be used to lure people into a false sense of security. Purity: Cares for no one except Cardinal Roarke. Physical Prowess: Strong and good at hand-to-hand combat. Name Coolness: “Kevin” isn’t cool. Sorry people named “Kevin.” Created by: Frank Miller. Portrayed by: Elijah Wood, despite the fact that Kevin was a middle-aged man in the comics. In The Hard Goodbye, Kevin murders Goldie, one of Old Town's most famous hookers and leaders. Marv, a local brawler who had slept with her that night, had been sleeping beside her when Kevin killed her and seeks revenge. He eventually tracks her murderers to the Farm. Kevin sneaks up on, blinds and beats Marv into unconsciousness without breaking a sweat ; quite an impressive feat, as Marv is over 7 feet tall, 300 pounds, all but impervious to physical pain, and has proven to be more than capable of handling himself in a fight against multiple well-armed opponents. Marv also later notes that Kevin is the only person to have ever successfully snuck up on him. Marv wakes up and discovers Lucille, his parole officer. They are trapped in a cell-like room in the basement. Lucille is scared to death and in shock. She then reveals to Marv that Kevin is a killer and cannibal, having found out because Kevin drugged her, cut off her hand, and made her watch as he ate her hand. They eventually escape, but Lucille is killed in the process. Upon escaping the Farm after their first confrontation, Marv returns armed with his Colt 1911, gasoline, handcuffs, razor wire, several lengths of rubber tubing, and his "mitts". Knowing most of Kevin's tricks at this point, he sets up a series of traps around the Farm, then flushes Kevin out by torching the Farm with a Molotov cocktail. Kevin avoids Marv's razor wire rig, and the two fight it out hand-to-hand. Marv again takes quite a beating but keeps on fighting and eventually outsmarts Kevin by handcuffing him to himself, preventing Kevin from jumping away and allowing Marv to knock him out with one strong punch to the jaw. Goldie's twin sister Wendy shows up with a gun, intending to kill Kevin herself; but Marv knocks her out, because he intends to torture Kevin first, and doesn't want Wendy to witness such a disturbing scene. Marv proceeds with his vindictive quest, amputating Kevin's arms and legs with the hacksaw and using the rubber tubing as tourniquets to keep him alive. He beckons Kevin's pet wolf, who begins to eat his master. Even as his entrails are being devoured by his own pet, Kevin simply smiles calmly and doesn't utter a sound. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Marv finishes the job by sawing Kevin's head off, but the lunatic's stony silence and unwavering gaze rob him of any satisfaction the kill would have given him. Then, Marv takes Kevin’s severed head to Cardinal Roarke and shows it to him just before Marv kills him. Kevin also makes a cameo appearance during the climax of That Yellow Bastard (set almost four years before The Hard Goodbye), reading a Bible in a rocking chair while John Hartigan infiltrates the Farm. Sin City is filled with bad people. Hell, any one of the villains from Frank Miller’s comic noir tales could be place on this countdown. However, Kevin is the vilest of them all. He is just plain scary, a vicious killer who strikes fast and hard and would kill you before you even realized he was standing near you. He’s also a cannibal, who likes to eat his victims as they watch. In the story, we see several disembodied heads on the walls of the room Marv and Lucille are being held in; and Roarke implies that there may have been more. But, what makes his deeds so vile is that he’s so silent when he does them. Most of the villains in Sin City love to hear themselves talk. Kevin is different. He doesn’t speak at all. He is so calm and quiet that it’s a little frustrating. I mean, most people can accept a loud-mouthed villain who gloats and brags about his deeds. A boisterous and deafening person is almost comforting because we get some kind of idea for the reason behind his or her deeds. Kevin, on the other hand, doesn’t give us that satisfaction. He is silent and calm, and it scares people that someone could be so calm about doing such evil deeds. Also, we want a villain to be loud so that he can yell and scream as the hero defeats him. However, Kevin doesn’t say a word as Marv tortures and kills him. He robs Marv of the satisfaction of killing him. That is probably why Kevin is so silent. He doesn’t want to comfort or give people satisfaction. He only wants to satisfy his hunger, and in a way, he gets some kind of sick pleasure from the fear people get as he kills and eats them in silence.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 25, 2008 16:08:14 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 64 and 63. Here are the hints:
he is watching you RIGHT NOW!!!!, and he STRIKES FAST, STRIKES HARD, NO MERCY!!!!
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Jiren
Patti Mayonnaise
Hearts Bayformers
Posts: 35,163
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Post by Jiren on May 25, 2008 16:36:28 GMT -5
Is George Lucas in this list
After what he did to Star Wars & Indiana Jones he should be.
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Post by Spankymac is sick of the swiss on May 25, 2008 16:43:44 GMT -5
Is George Lucas in this list After what he did to Star Wars & Indiana Jones he should be. Here here!
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