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Post by Spankymac is sick of the swiss on Apr 18, 2007 23:56:29 GMT -5
Number 16, baby! YEAH! Riddler rocks.
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AFN: Judge Shred
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Wanted to change his doohicky.
Member of The Bluetista Buyers Club
Posts: 18,221
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Post by AFN: Judge Shred on Apr 19, 2007 0:32:35 GMT -5
if I just would have been here a bit sooner, the Spot would have been even higher. Well, double donkey punch, next time show up sooner! ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png) i got here fairly shortly after Jed suggested I make my way on over. Then after I do I barely see him. the Sucka.
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Post by Joker on Apr 19, 2007 4:54:17 GMT -5
Mysterio is 27th! The master of goldfish bowl head gear is in the top 30!!
See Marvel people love the guy really!
* Four Horsemen - Apocalypse
* Heads or Tails - Two-face
* Power Cosmic - Galactus
* Responsible For The Morlock Massacre - Mr. Sinister (Boo he should bein the top ten!)
* The Omega Effect - Darkseid
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:13:09 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/Darkseid.png/250px-Darkseid.png) 15. Darkseid Son of Yuga Khan and Heggra, Darkseid is the ruler of the planet Apokolips, a post he obtained after assassinating his mother. He is obsessed with finding the Anti-Life Equation in order to use it to rule the universe; this goal also includes conquering his rival planet, New Genesis, ruled by the Highfather. A destructive war between the two worlds was stopped only with a diplomatic exchange of the sons of Highfather and Darkseid. Darkseid's second born son Orion from his wife Tigra is surrendered to Highfather, while Darkseid receives Scott Free, who later becomes the master escape artist Mister Miracle. This turns out to be a setback for Darkseid with his biological son growing up to value and defend the ideals of New Genesis in opposition to his father. Darkseid's first born son is Kalibak the Cruel, and his third born son is Grayven. Darkseid's greatest ambition is to eliminate all freewill from the universe and re-shape it into his own image. To this end, he seeks to unravel the mysterious Anti-Life Equation, which will allow him to control completely the thoughts and emotions of all living beings in the universe. The Anti-Life Equation has often been portrayed as a quasi-mystical power that forces a listener to agree with whatever the wielder says, while other times, it is portrayed as a comprehensive scientific theory on how to dominate any living mind, whatever its nature may be. While he has yet to obtain a complete working copy of the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid has tried on several other occasions to achieve dominance of the universe through other methods. He has a special interest in Earth, as he believes humans possess collectively within their minds most, if not all, fragments of the Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid intends to probe the minds of every human in order to piece together the Equation. Darkseid has appeared all over the DC universe, battling Superman and the Justice League several times. Darkseid recently attempted to attack Earth by kidnapping Supergirl. He had used Black Kryptonite to brainwash Supergirl, thus providing him with a leader for his Female Furies, as well as a warrior on par with Superman. However, Batman and Superman were able to save Supergirl. This set forward a plan of revenge by Darkseid to destroy Supergirl; this plan also fails as Supergirl is teleported out at the last minute. Superman is set into an unparalleled fit of rage as he hurls Darkseid into the sun where they attempted to destroy each other. Superman beats Darkseid unconscious enough to throw him into the Source Wall, where Superman declares that, "For years and years, you've tried to learn the secrets of ultimate power from the other side. But you will never get the answers—just like the others who are entombed here. This is where you belong. Along with all the other failures in the universe." The mysterious appearance of the Maximums in the next story arc (see below) has been linked to Darkseid. During the Superman/Batman story arc "With a Vengeance" (issues 20-25), the Joker attempted to control Darkseid when the Clown Prince of Crime gained powers similar to Mister Mxyzptlk. It was later revealed that Bat-Mite was inside the Joker the whole time. (Bat-Mite literally crawled out of his mouth). Darkseid actually attempted to vaporize the Joker with his Omega Beam, but failed to hit his target. To pay a debt incurred to an alternate reality Darkseid and in order to realign the timeline, Superman recently freed the Prince of Darkness from his entombment in the Source Wall. The upcoming DC Comics event known as Countdown apparently has Darkseid playing a major role. A teaser poster for the event reads "Unto Man Shall Come a Great Disaster", with Darkseid's visage visible at the bottom. In addition, one of the promotional pins for the event reads "Darkseid Rules." It is currently unknown just what role Darkseid will play in the event, and if the 'Great Disaster' is the same disaster referenced in Kamandi, another Kirby work.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:20:05 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/da/Sinister9.jpg/250px-Sinister9.jpg) 14. Mr. Sinister Nathaniel Essex was a 19th-century scientist in Victorian England obsessed with Darwin’s theory of evolution, though he felt Darwin and his contemporaries were shackled by too many moral constraints. While pursuing his own research in 1859, he discovered that humanity was undergoing increasing mutation, due to what he called “Essex Factors” in the human genome. His theories were mocked, making him bitter; his son’s death (at the age of four from numerous birth defects, including crooked bones & hemophilia) drove him deeper into his work. He approached many groups in search of funding, including the Hellfire Club, though all turned him down. He hired a group of thugs, whom he named Marauders, to kidnap people off the streets of London so he could perform experiments on them; he even went so far as to dig up his dead son and experiment on him. During this time, Essex came into contact with Apocalypse (whom the Marauders had stumbled upon and awoken), accidentally educating the ancient mutant about the facts surrounding his nature. The two subsequently formed an alliance, during which Apocalypse used his advanced technology to mutate Nathaniel. A time-traveling Cyclops and Jean Grey tried to prevent Essex’s transformation but failed. In fact, Madame Sanctity of the Askani had sent Cyclops and Jean to the past to ensure the transformation, as Sinister was necessary for the birth of Cable. Cyclops & Jean also freed many of Sinister’s captives, two of whom (a man named Oscar Stamp and an apparently mute boy named Daniel) traveled to America and took the name Summers. With his new abilities and dispassionate outlook, Essex took a new name—Sinister, the last word his wife spoke to him as she died, after discovering the horrors he’d been engaged in (the stress also caused her to miscarry their unnamed child). Apocalypse’s first command was to create a plague to destroy the weak of the world, but Sinister would not do it—he had clarity of purpose, and destruction for its own sake was not part of it. The plague Sinister created attacked only Apocalypse, driving him into hibernation. In 1882, Sinister was present at Darwin’s funeral, reveling in the irony that the man who was once vilified was being buried in Westminster Abbey, one of the highest churches of England. Soon after, he left for the United States. (All of the above took place in the Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries.) Sinister continued his work, just as often allying with Apocalypse as against him. In 1891, he moved to New York, and posed as an obstetrician named Nathan Millbury (an alias based off the name of the manor of his former wife); here he had unrestricted access to an abundance of generational genetic material to study, including that of the adult Daniel Summers and his wife, Amanda Mueller. It was in 1891 that Sinister came across another pair of time traveling mutants from the future, the X-Man Gambit and a shape changer called Courier. Using his scientific equipment, Sinister managed to replicate the shape shifting abilities of Courier; before that, he’d hidden his pale complexion with common makeup. Gambit needed help getting back to the present, and to do so had Sinister re-implant a piece of tissue into his brain. Once the piece was restored, Gambit’s powers increased exponentially and he was able to return himself and Courier to the present. A century later, Gambit and Sinister would meet again. In 1915, Essex went back to England and granted Jacob Shaw, who would become Sebastian Shaw's father, the ability to shapeshift. Jacob was the brother of Esau Shaw, and was extremely envious of his brother’s better lot in life, such as having been recruited into the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle by Sir Waltham Pierce, seemingly an ancestor of Donald Pierce. Jacob used his newfound powers to imitate Sir Waltham, then killed his brother Esau. Jacob planned to then take on Esau’s place, but first he shapeshifted into a woman and planned to kill Waltham. Before he could finish his deed, however, Union Jack—Montgomery Falsworth, a friend of Esau’s—stepped in and accused Sir Waltham of sedition against the crown and the murder of Esau. Before Waltham could answer, Jacob shot at Union Jack, then ran off into the night. What Sinister hoped to obtain from aiding Jacob Shaw remains a mystery, though it is possible he expected to obtain an ally within the Hellfire Club. In the 1920s, Essex encountered a man named Herbert Edgar Wyndham, who dreamed of doing what Sinister had already accomplished—breaking the genetic code for human DNA. Essex worked side by side with Wyndham, who would later become better known as the High Evolutionary. By 1928 Wyndham had begun crude experimentations on lab animals with radiation exposure with little success. During a trip to an international conference on genetics in Geneva, Switzerland, Wyndham suddenly felt ill. Stumbling out into the street he met the hypnotic gaze of a man in a top hat and coat, shrouded in darkness. From this stranger Wyndham was handed a gift that should not exist in that time—a blueprint for breaking the genetic code. This was, however, Phaeder, father of Maelstrom. In the 1930s, Essex spent some time in California, gathering subjects for his experiments; while in Los Angeles, he met and fell in love with radio comedienne Faye Livingstone, though he never admitted his feelings. Discovering his secret laboratory one night, Essex confronted her with the truth—she carried the x-factor in her genes, and her offspring would produce special children, children that would be more than human. Horrified, Faye tried to leave, but Essex kept her prisoner. Months passed, filled with degrading examinations; affected pity gave way to foul contempt. Essex broke her in mind and spirit, and made her (not let her) see behind the illusion that was Nathan Essex. Then, in the middle of a raging storm one night, Essex flung the door open and released her, without speaking or gesturing. In time, Faye was brought to the Carlysle Nursing Home in San Diego, California, her mind & body falling to cancer. Due to her love for Essex, Livingstone had never married, and never had children. The offspring Sinister so eagerly anticipated never came to exist. Once a year, a Mister Essex would come and visit her, though he would never admit to anyone (not even himself) why. Genesis forced Sinister to confront both her and himself about the relationship, but Sinister refused, adamantly maintaining that she was nothing more than a useless husk to him. After sharing a telepathic dance with Essex, Faye died in his arms. In the 1940s Sinister worked with the Nazis, earning the nickname “Nosferatu,” due both to his pale visage and his habit of taking blood from everyone; he frightened even the Nazis. He often gave children candy in exchange for their blood as a means of bribery. According to Magneto, he was present at the Auschwitz death camp. During this time, he created Experiment N2, a clone of Namor the Sub-Mariner, which could forcibly suck the water out of Namor and use it to douse the android Human Torch’s flames. To Sinister’s considerable surprise, though, Captain America was able to defeat N2. It was during this period in 1944, Essex came across a man named John Greycrow, who would become Scalphunter, his first “new” Marauder. Following the end of World War II, Sinister's labs were raided by the United States army. Weapon Plus scientists Professor Thorton, Abraham Cornelius and Carol Hines found Nathan Essex's journals, which detailed the nature and results of his experiments In 1946, a Dr. Nathan Milbury (possibly Sinister in disguise) was involved with Project: Black Womb, a secret government project headed by Amanda Mueller and aided by Alexander Ryking (father of Carter Ryking) and Kurt Marko (father of Cain Marko), and (possibly) Irene Adler (the blind precognitive known as Destiny), which studied, but did not alter, thousands of children, mostly mutants, in post-natal holding tanks. Brian Xavier (father of Charles Xavier) was a colleague of Ryking and Marko at the project, which was based in Alamogordo, New Mexico, but whether he was involved with Project: Black Womb remains unclear. For decades, Sinister secretly observed the development of mutant children as they grew (many of which had been “earmarked” by Project: Black Womb) in the State Home for Foundlings in Omaha, Nebraska. He cruelly manipulated their childhood developmental processes and even tried to control their adult lives so they might become his minions. The hero Cyclops was among his subjects; one of Scott’s roommates in the orphanage was named Nate, and another alias of Sinister’s was Mike Milbury, neighbor to Scott’s grandparents (Phillip & Deborah Summers), in Alaska. It was from his laboratory under the orphanage that many evils ensued. At some point, Sinister spliced mutant genes from Alex Summers into Ahmet Abdol, who became the Living Monolith, able to absorb cosmic energies and use them to grow to enormous size. Sinister is responsible for the Morlock Massacre, ordering his band of Marauders to kill all of the sewer-dwelling mutants. It was later revealed that Gambit was the one who had assembled Sinister’s Marauders. Gambit did this, and many other tasks, for Sinister because he owed the geneticist a huge debt. When Gambit’s powers first manifested, they were largely uncontrollable. He heard through underworld contacts of Sinister, and approached him, asking for help. Sinister agreed, and removed a portion of Gambit’s brain, which reduced Gambit’s power but allowed him a greater degree of control over his abilities. In exchange, Gambit had to perform many tasks for him, such as assemble the Marauders for the Morlock Massacre. It is possible that Sinister recognized Gambit from a century prior, and agreed to help him in order to ensure the series of events that lead to Gambit (and Courier) going back in time—which allowed Sinister to gain Courier’s powers—occurred. As for the reason behind the Morlock Massacre, due to various twistings of time and dimensions, the Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse timeline arrived in the mainline reality twenty years prior. Many of the Morlocks were experiments of the Dark Beast. Since the Dark Beast had learned genetics from his reality's version of Sinister, and that Sinister’s methods were similar to those mainline reality's Sinister, Sinister could see his “signature” in the Morlocks. To prevent further unauthorized usage of his theories, he had the Marauders wipe out the Morlocks. He considered a similar course of action for the Genoshan mutates, who were created by the Sugar Man using his Age of Apocalypse counterpart's technology as well, but decided against it because the process had turned the mutates sterile; consequently, he didn’t consider them a contamination of his work. Though some of his Marauders died during the Massacre, Sinister’s mastery of genetics and cloning technology has enabled him to recreate his Marauders again and again and again. Sinister is obsessed with the Summers genetic line, which includes Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan, and has taken a proprietary interest in the family because Daniel Summers is a direct ancestor of Scott & Alex Summers. For a time, Sinister continued to advance his master plan to serve Apocalypse (and his own ends), but in general prefers to let bloodlines breed naturally (rather than hastily transforming them) in order to produce the most racially-supreme beings. Sinister eventually believed -- or realized -- that Scott Summers’ and Jean Grey’s mingled gene lines would create a mutant of unparalleled power, one that could destroy Apocalypse and thus free him from the yoke of that ancient tyrant. To this end, he created Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey, though he was disappointed that the clone manifested no powers at adolescence and he considered the whole project a waste of time and effort. Upon “Jean’s” death on the Blue Area of the Moon (at the culmination of the Dark Phoenix Saga), the Phoenix Force left her body and entered Madelyne’s, much to Sinister’s delight. He arranged a set of false memories for her, and left her where Scott would eventually encounter her. Eventually Cyclops and Madelyn Pryor wed and produced a child, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. Madelyne convinced Scott to move with her back to Alaska and live out their lives there, a subconscious suggestion implanted by Sinister—the remote location made it easier for him to study and if need be abduct the child. Sinister eventually took the child, then lost it to Madelyne (now the Goblyn Queen), briefly regained it (following her death), then lost it to Cyclops, who blasted him with a supercharged Optic Blast and reduced him to a skeleton (X-Factor #39). A later engagement with Cyclops showed that his optic blast can do little to no permanent harm to Sinister who can simply reform himself after being hit. Before Sinister could re-claim young Nathan, however, Apocalypse awoke. Sensing the threat posed to him, he infected Nathan with a technorganic virus which threatened to consume him. The only hope of saving him was for Scott & Jean to give him to a woman known as the Askani, who spirited him away to the future. Nathan survived, and came to be the man better known as Cable. Later, a group of mutants known as the Nasty Boys appeared, working alongside an evil duplicate of James Madrox. The evil Madrox wished to kill the true Madrox to ensure his continued independence and sought Sinister’s help in doing so; he sent the Nasty Boys to aid Evil Madrox by fighting X-Factor. Eventually, the Evil Madrox was re-absorbed by the original Madrox, and subsumed into him. Meanwhile, Quicksilver’s powers were being secretly overcharged by Senator Steven Shaffran, who was trying to discredit X-Factor in order to spur on his political career. Unknown to Shaffran, though, Sinister took the senator’s appearance and revealed Shaffran’s deeds to the team. Shaffran later confronted Sinister, and planned to kill him, but only succeeded in killing himself when his bullet ricocheted off of Sinister's chest. Later, Sinister sent his Nasty Boys to track down a rogue Malice, who was trying to break free of Sinister. In an earlier confrontation with X-Factor, Malice had possessed Polaris, but Polaris’s powers prevented the possessing entity from departing Lorna Dane’s body—something Sinister knew would happen. Malice did eventually break out of Dane’s body, and was determined to escape Sinister’s control—for a being used to existence as an incorporeal energy being, entrapment in a physical body, even one as powerful as Polaris’s, was Hell for her. A massive fracas between Sinister and the Nasty Boys, Malice, and Havok and Polaris broke out. Both Alex and Lorna tried to absorb Malice (in order to prevent the other from being possessed), but the strain wound up fatally disrupting Malice’s energy form (as planned by Sinister). Seeing as the conflict had no meaning anymore, Sinister and his minions withdrew. After the events of the X-Cutioner’s Song saga, Sinister unwittingly unleashed the Legacy Virus upon the Earth, a plague engineered by Stryfe, a clone of Cable. Sinister revealed to Cyclops Stryfe’s trick, and mentioned Cyclops’ “brothers,” something Cyclops picked up on and dubbed by many fans as the “third Summers brother”—though, technically, it wasn’t said that the brother was a Summers. Speculation abounds as to who that third brother is, though most evidence—and some quasi-official statements—indicate Adam X the X-Treme is that brother. It was theorized that Adam-X is the product of the rape of Cyclops’ mother by the former Shi’ar emperor D’Ken, thus making Adam-X the illegitimate heir to the throne of the Shi’ar Empire. However, the third Summers brother has been revealed to be Vulcan, who was born at the time in which Christopher and Katherine Summers were prisoners of the Shi’ar. In any event, Sinister did not mention a specific number of brothers, thus Adam-X could still be another brother of Cyclops, Havok and Vulcan, though not technically a Summers. Sinister later took in the mutant Threnody, and used her unique powers to track down victims of the Legacy Virus, which he could then study and work on to develop a cure. Moira MacTaggart, long-time ally to the X-Men and one of the top genetic immunologists on the planet, eventually developed a cure for the Virus. This cure was released thanks to the sacrifice of the mutant Colossus. Sinister offered to clone him to his fellow X-men as a form of gratitude (though he may have had ulterior motives), but they refused. Fortunately for Sinister, Cable also had a deep grudge against Apocalypse, and when Apocalypse merged with Cyclops at the climax of The Twelve story arc, Cable and Jean Grey tracked the merged being back to Apocalypse’s birthplace of Egypt. Jean separated Apocalypse’s astral form from Cyclops’ body, and Cable sundered the freed spirit, fulfilling his destiny as written by Sinister. This gave Sinister the freedom he’d long sought, as Apocalypse had always kept him on a tight leash. While Sinister has succeeded in his quest to eliminate Apocalypse, this has by no means ended his task. Mister Sinister desired research above all else in his world of genetics; bloodlines and gene pools are his chess pieces. Apocalypse was a threat to this work. Now without hindrances, Sinister can truly begin his work in genetics, no matter the cost in lives or suffering. By eliminating Sinister’s former master, the X-Men may have unleashed an even greater threat to the world. Sinister continues his research into mutant genetics, and recently reappeared in the pages of the new Weapon X series, in the guise of Dr. Robert Windsor. As Windsor, Sinister supposedly helped a number of prisoners escape from Weapon X's concentration camp Neverland. However, Sinister merely took these mutants to his personal labs to perform experiments on them. At the same time, Sinister created a group of superpowered beings called The Children, which he was forced to give up to John Sublime, after Sabretooth killed the first of the Children: Hans. Sinister later appeared in Russia in the limited series Colossus: Bloodline to confront Colossus and Mikhail Rasputin about their family’s shrouded history. He paired with Mikhail to kill off all of his living relatives to allow the essence of Grigory Rasputin to be concentrated in one host and become reincarnate. After the brothers fought Sinister’s influence, it was discovered that the reason he wanted Grigory in power was to stabilize his own failing abilities. Sinister admitted that he was weakened—being unable to shapeshift or teleport and actually sustaining injuries from Colossus’ attack—but vowed vengeance for when he did have his abilities restored. Mister Sinister’s had a small, yet significant, presence in the divergent House of M reality (as seen in Cable & Deadpool #17). While remaining a physiologically altered geneticist, this Sinister was a quite gentle, friendly person—even to the point of offering the visiting trio of Deadpool, Cannonball and Siryn a (drugged) barbecue dinner. Sinister was apparently rejected from society for experimenting on mutants, which was taboo under Magneto’s rule, and lived on a secluded Nebraska farm. Despite the difference in personality, this Sinister was also responsible for the birth of an infant Cable, who Sinister believed was a potential savior for the world of the House of M. Beyond a one-panel appearance in House of M: The Day After one-shot (not identified by name, but his facial markings were unmistakable), Mister Sinister has not made his presence known. It is unknown what effect, if any, had the massive depowering of mutants in Sinister, as some of his powers were obtained by enhancing himself with mutant DNA. In any event, Sinister presented himself before Sunfire and Gambit after the two former Horsemen of Apocalypse abandoned their master and decided to sever all ties with their former lives. Sinister recently showed up in X-Men Annual 2007 on the last page, telling Exodus he had the key to save the mutant race from extinction. Sinister will have a major role during 2007.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:25:11 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Apocalypse_%28comics%29.png) 13. Apocalypse Apocalypse's story begins with his birth in mid-30th century BC Egypt during the First Dynasty. He was born gray-skinned and somewhat disfigured, a sign of doom, in the settlement of Akkaba and abandoned by his original parents. The child was left to die in the harsh desert sun. However, a roving band of feared nomad raiders, the Sandstormers, slaughtered the population. Their ruthless leader, Baal, found the child crying in rage, and believed him to have the potential to be a god. He raised the child as his own, naming him En Sabah Nur ("The First One") in anticipation of others like him. The tribe lived and died by the philosophy of survival of the fittest, with "fittest" being the toughest, most ruthless and pitiless. As En Sabah Nur grew, he surpassed the other tribesmen in intelligence and strength. Everyone in the tribe except for Baal hated and feared him for his inhuman looks and great abilities. Nur did not understand their fear, but hardened his heart against it. Moreover, he believed in the principle that Baal and the tribe lived by, that only the fittest, tested by hardship, would, and should, survive. En Sabah Nur earned the right to adulthood at seventeen by surviving an endurance test in the desert: Nur killed three armed warriors of the tribe using only his bare hands. He and Baal were the only Sandstormers to survive when General Ozymandias attacked their camp. They found refuge in a sacred cave, but it soon collapsed. After a week of wandering without food or water, they had found the remnants of a timeship within an underground Egyptian tomb. He told En Sabah Nur to continue on, spreading the Sandstormers' doctrine, with the ultimate goal being the removal of Rama-Tut, a man who arrived in a fantastic ship from the future and discovered by Baal, only to leave and become the Pharaoh of Egypt. Baal told Nur that he believed him to be a conqueror whose coming was foretold in ancient prophecies, and that Nur was in fact destined to overthrow Rama-Tut. Then Baal died from lack of nourishment, and Nur, whose mutant physiology kept him alive, vowed to take revenge on Rama-Tut and claim his destiny. When Nur reached the surface, he was quickly enslaved. While a slave, he kept his disfigured lips constantly covered, and Ozymandias' sister, Nephri, became attracted to the mysterious slave. Eventually he had a vision of the Egyptian death god Set, who urged him to become a conqueror. En Sabah Nur caught the attention of the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, who was actually the time traveling Kang the Conqueror, who came back in time in order to locate the young Apocalypse and take him under his wing. Kang knew that Apocalypse, one of the most powerful mutants who ever lived, and the one who was destined to rule the world, had been born in ancient Egypt. Hence, Rama-Tut had gone back in time to find Apocalypse as a child, raise him, and thereby become the master of the most powerful being on the planet. Since Rama-Tut's mission failed, he decided to keep Apocalypse as a slave. En Sabah Nur was thrown into a pit of snakes, but survived when his powers activated. He revealed his face to Nephri, who rejected him for his appearance, and refused to bow to Rama-Tut, who also captured the Fantastic Four, who had traveled back in time. En Sabah Nur was shot by the Pharaoh with the same weapon he used to depower the Fantastic Four. En Sabah Nur was again left to die, but survived with the sudden emergence of his mutant immortality and mass shifting. Rama-Tut then fled, as Apocalypse's power flared. The Fantastic Four went back to their era. Apocalypse used his abilities to turn Ozymandias into a sand-like being, who would record Apocalypse's accomplishments throughout time. Years later, he revisited Nephri, now an ancient Egyptian Queen, and he mocked her dying beauty, as he was still as he had been years before. He walked away, leaving Egypt. For centuries, he travels around the world, worshipped as a god wherever he goes. He is worshipped as Aten, Sauru, Set, Kali and Huitzilopochtli; although these beings also exist as separate entities in the Marvel Universe, Apocalypse's powers are such that he was easily confused with them. It is most likely that this is the same time that Nur began to have progeny, that faithfully followed him as the Clan Akkaba. Offspring of Apocalypse receive a portion of his power, those closest related having near identical abilities. He also frequently acts as a conqueror, raising armies to do his bidding. Centuries later, revealed in X-Force #37, En Sabah Nur discovers a starship created by the alien Celestials in Mongolia. Apocalypse strikes down the ship's guardian, the immortal Saul, and enters the Ship. Unable to understand the technology inside he leaves again, searching the world for a key to the mysteries inside. In Cable & Deadpool #27, he finds this key when the time-traveler known as the Traveler, actually Cable, kills him. The Traveler's techno-organic blood is accidentally mixed with Apocalyse's and Ozymandias returns Apocalypse to the Ship. Inside, Apocalypse finds that his new techno-organic body can link to the Ship and make contact with it. However, he is confronted by the Celestials, who lents him their technology, requiring as payment greater sufferings later. Apocalypse agrees, and is transformed and enhanced by Celestial technology, becoming one of the most powerful mutants who will ever live. An early Horseman of War, leading Apocalypse's armies (The Dark Riders), bests the man who would later become Dracula in single combat. Apocalypse ruthlessly delivers the final blow to him, but Vlad refuses to die. During the 12th century, Apocalypse encounters crusader Bennet du Paris and awakens his latent mutant powers. Bennet almost immediately rebels but is soundly defeated. Apocalypse places him in suspended animation to remain until the late 20th century when Magneto revives him as his leading Acolyte, Exodus. Apocalypse enters long states of suspended animation to re-energize his body while he awaits for mutants to become more common, letting Clan Akkaba and Ozymandias to act in his stead while he sleeps. It was revealed in New Eternals: Apocalypse Now, when Apocalypse and Ikaris came face to face, that they both had met and fought centuries before now. The Eternals also referred to Apocalypse as their "Ancient Nemesis", indicating that Apocalypse had been battling the Eternals at some point a long time ago during the early centuries. He emerges from stasis during Victorian Britain after being disturbed by the Marauders (as told in the Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries). During this time, he turns Nathaniel Essex into the being known as Mister Sinister, and turns some of his Marauders into techno-organic hybrids. He leaves one man to incubate for 100 years to emerge as his herald. However, Sinister rebels and infects Apocalypse with a super virus he had created, and Apocalypse is forced to re-enter his slumber. Still later, Sinister returns, this time to infect Apocalypse with a Techno Organic virus in the Cable 1999 annual. In 1897, Apocalypse is woken by some followers in order to deal once more with Dracula, who is turning members of Clan Akkaba into vampires in order to battle Apocalypse, as revenge for his earlier defeat and the way the Dark Lord previously shamed him. Apocalypse kills one of his leaders as the price for awakening their master. Apocalypse, with Abraham Van Helsing, kills Dracula, although the master vampire would frequently return and suffer many more deaths. The continuation of the Akkaba line is secured by Ozymandias through a disabled but powerful teleporter named Frederick Slade mating with a woman referred to as Miss Ferguson. It's stated that Chamber is a member of this bloodline, since another surviving member of Clan Akkaba had the last name Starsmore and possessed the mutant ability to exhale gouts of flame. The Starsmore family never forgot about Apocalypse, although Chamber later rejected them Apocalypse awoke from his slumber by the arrival of the time-traveling mutant Cable, but spent many years hidden. Ironically, Cable had come to the present to prevent Apocalypse's awakening. During this time Nur gave weapons dealer Moses Magnum superhuman powers. Eventually Apocalypse came into conflict with the original incarnation of X-Factor on repeated occasions, first as employer of the Alliance of Evil. Later, when X-Factor member Angel lost his wings, Apocalypse granted him artificial ones in exchange for his servitude. Angel accepted and was reborn as the Horseman Death, but he rebelled. Apocalypse left his Celestial Ship with X-Factor, and took the willing Morlock Caliban, who saw Apocalyse as a source of revenge for his fellow Morlocks killed in the Mutant Massacre. Apocalypse radically altered Caliban, who would later do Apocalypse's bidding in fighting the X-Men. Apocalypse later returned to combat the High Evolutionary, and he took several Inhumans to create a team for him, first dubbed The Riders of the Storm, and later renamed simply The Dark Riders. Apocalypse was also confronted by Loki, who, in human disguise, offered him to join him in carrying out his biddings. However, Apocalypse had watched him in secret and learned of his true intentions. The two fought, and Apocalypse trapped Loki in one of his Celestial machines, which were draining of Loki's power. Apocalypse tells Loki that he will oppose him whenever he can. Loki then freed himself from the Celestial machinery, escaping, and warning Apocalypse not to interfer with him and his plans. Apocalypse then tells Caliban that mankind must now quickly grow stronger. Apocalypse would again return to battle the X-Factor on his base at the moon, where Apocalypse defeats and imprisons them, to leech their life-forces to strengthen his own power to Cosmic levels. However, Black Bolt and the Inhuman Royal Family blast into the base and frees them. Jean and Beast go to help Nathan while the others attacks Apocalypse. They realize that Apocalypse has infected Cyclops' son Nathan with the same Techno-organic virus derived from the alien technology that gave him his powers. Nathan pulls Jean onto the Astral Plane, for her help in combating the virus, which appears in the form of Apocalypse. Jean yanks Scott in to help, and he stabs the Apocalypse avatar with a psionic sword. Cyclops awakens in the physical world, where he uses the combined powers of Nathan, Jean and his own to tear Apocalypse apart. Apocalypse is defeated, and his original immortal body is destroyed, and the infected Nathan was sent to the future with Askani for a cure, where he became the time-traveling mutant warrior known as Cable. Apocalypse, however would once again return, and came into conflict with the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force when Cable's clone, Stryfe, traveled to the present and attempted to assassinate Professor X and frame Cable for the crime. At the end of this conflict, the severely weakened Apocalypse was apparently killed after a battle on the moon with his former servants, the Dark Riders, and left for dead by Archangel. Apocalypse's dead body was recovered by Genesis, the son of Cable. Genesis, who took over command of the Dark Riders with a new team, wanted to become the heir of Apocalypse by restoring him to life. Genesis restored Apocalypse to life by sacrificing the lives of many people in villages neighboring Akkaba. During this time, Wolverine was held captive by Genesis, who attempted to restore Wolverine's lost adamantium skeleton and claws and turn him into a Horseman as a gift for Apocalypse. However, Wolverine broke free and mutated into a feral state, and then killed Genesis and nearly all of the Dark Riders, with the exception of Gauntlet. During the fight, Cannonball opened the coffin containing Apocalypse's body, but found it empty. The body was stolen by Ozymandias and Apocalypse was reborn in Uncanny X-Men #335 with Ozymandias at his side. He teamed up with Cable to oppose Onslaught, but Cable and the Invisible Woman stopped him when he tried to kill Franklin Richards. Later, the storyline of The Twelve unfolded (in January & February 2000). Supposedly lost diaries of the mutant seer Destiny surfaced, telling of twelve beings of fantastic power that could defeat Apocalypse once and for all. The Twelve legend, however, was a ruse created by Apocalypse himself; once the Twelve were assembled, he planned to use them to transform himself into a godlike entity beyond the Celestials. The Twelve, chosen not only for their mutant powers but also for the Jungian quasi-archetypes they represented, consisted of: * Magneto and Polaris, representing opposing magnetic poles; * Storm, Sunfire and Iceman, representing elementals; * Cyclops, Phoenix and Cable, representing family (Father, Mother, Child), and chosen for the power of the Summers-Grey bloodline; * Bishop and Mikhail Rasputin, representing time and space, respectively * Professor X, representing the mind; and * The Living Monolith as the core. In an earlier storyline, dating to about 1987, The Twelve were supposed to be the future leaders of mutantkind whom the Master Mold was programmed to destroy. They included Cannonball and Mirage (then joint leaders of the New Mutants), Psylocke and Apocalypse himself, among others. Also included was a character called Ultiman, a future incarnation of Franklin Richards. In Uncanny X-Men # -1 it was revealed that it was Madame Sanctity of the Askani Sisterhood who programmed the identities of the Twelve so they would be destroyed in order to prevent the rise of Apocalypse, though for some reason she did not program all the correct identities, seemingly to protect Cyclops, Phoenix and Cable. Apocalypse planned to funnel the powers of the eleven mutants into The Living Monolith, and then from the Monolith into Nate Grey. As the power flowed into Nate, Apocalypse would possess Nate's body, which he had determined was the only physical body able to withstand such primal energies. Magneto had been weakened in some previous battles, however, so he could not supply enough energy to "complete the circuit," thus shorting it out. The Twelve escaped and confronted Apocalypse as he was preparing to transfer his essence into Nate. Cyclops jumped in the way of the transfer, saving Nate, but Apocalypse merged with Cyclops instead, giving birth to a whole new horror (unofficially dubbed by some fans as "Cyclopalypse"). Although he did not achieve the godhood he wished, Apocalypse's power was expanded to an incredible degree and he managed to escape in Cyclops' body, with Jean Grey the only one who believed her husband still survived within the form. After teleporting away, an amnesiac and powerless Cyclops regained control of the merged form. As Apocalypse began to re-emerge, however, Jean and Cable were alerted to his location, and she finally managed to free Cyclops by telepathically forcing Apocalypse's spirit out of her husband's body. Apocalypse was rendered an incorporeal astral form, and Cable took advantage of the opportunity to apparently destroy him, sundering his spirit with his Psimitar. The techno-organic virus, which Apocalypse long ago infected Cable with, was also revealed to be the means by which Apocalypse's spirit reconstituted itself. With only a drop of his blood into a vat of organs and blood, the virus would rewrite the genetic code of the material within to form a body for Apocalypse. Due to the events of M-Day, in which most of the mutants lost their powers, Apocalypse was revealed to be alive and well, and awoke from a slumber in a tomb in Akkaba, recalling: "Across the world-- helpless mutants slaughtered. Pogroms. Horror. ...Something has woken me from my slumber. Once, a sudden surge in worldwide mutant power stirred me from a similar sleep. Now-- a plummet in global mutant capacity-- has opened my eyes". Mike Marts said of the character's return: “ "Apocalypse, at his core, has always been about ensuring that the mutant race is strong enough to survive whatever hardships it might encounter. Now, after the events of M-Day, the mutant race is at its all-time low…so if there was ever a time where the mutant race needed a savior, it’s now. And En Sabah Nur intends to be that savior." ” Reappearing inside a Sphinx-shaped ship on the front lawn of the X-Mansion, Apocalypse had three new Horsemen: Gazer (War), Sunfire (Famine) and Polaris (Pestilence). While at the mansion, one of the X-Men switched sides to become a new Horseman Death: Gambit, so he could keep an eye on Apocalypse, although his mind was frayed as a result. He also swayed some of the 198 to side, including Skids, Scalphunter and Fever Pitch. Cable also revealed that he was responsible for Apocalypse's revival, stating that the mutant community needed a powerful threat to rally against. Believing that the X-Men would inevitably defeat Apocalypse yet again and that it would bring the remaining mutant community together, Cable judged "the risks worth the rewards." Apocalypse reminded Cable that even if he is defeated, he will return stronger than before, to which Cable responded. "Good, the world needs you to be stronger, Apocalypse....It's always helped us be stronger." It was discovered that the Celestials lent their technology to him, requiring as payment greater sufferings later. Apocalypse was going to embrace death as an escape from his lifelong pact, when the Celestials returned and took him away.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:30:00 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/5182_400x600.jpg/180px-5182_400x600.jpg) 12. Two-Face When he first appeared in Detective Comics #66, the character's name was Harvey Kent, but his name was changed to Harvey Dent in order to avoid unnecessary association with Clark Kent/Superman. The media nicknamed the young district attorney "Apollo" for his good looks. At 26, he was the youngest district attorney ever to serve Gotham City. He was elected about six months before Batman, then returning home from travels abroad, began his war on crime, as depicted in the events of Batman: Year One. His campaign against crime ended tragically when Sal "Boss" Maroni, a crime boss whom Dent was prosecuting, threw sulfuric acid in Dent's face, horribly scarring his left hand and the left half of his face while leaving the other half undamaged. Tormented by his hideous reflection, Dent scarred one side of Maroni's two-headed coin and let tosses of the coin decide whether he acted for good or evil in any situation. The comic book limited series Batman: The Long Halloween elaborated on these events, with some changes. In it, Dent, Commissioner James Gordon, and Batman forged an alliance to rid Gotham of crime. Mafia chieftain Sal "The Boss" Maroni was still the criminal who disfigured Dent. 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), was instead his wife in The Long Halloween (1998). By the end, Two-Face is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The scarring of half his face brought out his latent multiple personality disorder and transformed him into the villainous Two-Face. Obsessed with duality and opposites, Two-Face's trademark was crimes involving 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 was that he did not consistently go through with his evil deeds; every time he contemplated committing a crime, he flipped a two-headed coin, one side of which was scratched. Only if the coin came up scratched-side did Two-Face go ahead and commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. Recent interpretations portray this compulsion as a struggle between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self. It is also, as Two-Face himself implies in The Long Halloween as well as other stories, a mockery of the law that he lived by and fought for prior to his disfigurement. 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 of World's Finest Comics (number 173), in which Batman declared him to be the villain 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 1980s, Frank Miller rewrote Two-Face's origin, making him a victim of bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. Miller also introduced a much stronger aspect to the dual nature, using Two-Face as a metaphor for the charitable and hostile sides of human nature. In this incarnation, Two-Face/Dent was reimagined as a tragic character, with a back story that included an abusive, alcoholic father and struggling through law school. Miller further expanded on the character by making the pre-accident Dent a major heroic figure in Batman: Year One. Dent's past actions and ties to both Batman and Commissioner Gordon make him an unsettling and personal foe for both men. During the same period, Two-Face was revealed to have murdered Jason Todd's father, who had been one of his henchmen. Todd later had Dent at his mercy and chose not to kill him, embracing the ideals of Batman. This storyline was later mirrored in the animated series of the late 1990s with Tim Drake substituting for Jason Todd. During the Batman weekday comic strips published during the 1980s, the origin-story was given a slight adjustment. In this version, Harvey Dent was scarred by a vial of acid intended for the Joker, thrown by an unnamed bystander. 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 attempted to destroy his evil personality by taking away his coin and replacing it with a die and eventually a tarot deck. Effectively giving him 78 options, Dent could no longer decide on what to do. At the end of the graphic novel, Batman gives Dent his coin back, telling him to decide his (Batman’s) fate with the flip of the coin. Harvey Dent lets Batman go, despite the scarred side of the coin being face up. 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. During the aftermath of the earthquake that left Gotham City in shambles, Two-Face carved out a sizable portion of ruined city for himself. He took up residence in Gotham City Hall, maintaining a relatively sophisticated lifestyle. His empire was eventually brought down by Bane, who, in the employ of Lex Luthor, devastated Two-Face's gang during his destruction of the city's Hall of Records. Two-Face kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and put 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 played upon Two-Face's split psyche to demand Harvey Dent as his defense attorney. Dent cross-examined Two-Face and won an acquittal for Gordon, determining that Two-Face had effectively blackmailed Gordon by implying that he had committed murders to aid the Commissioner. It was also during this time that Two-Face met detective Renee Montoya. Montoya was able to reach the Dent persona in Two-Face, and she was kind to him. He fell in love with her, though the romance was one-sided. Later, in the series Gotham Central, he outed her as a lesbian and framed her for murder, hoping that if he took everything from her, she would be left with no choice but to be with him. She was furious, and the two fought for control of his gun until Batman intervened, 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 abusive father, Dent still loved him, paying for an expensive home for him 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 Two-Face. Two-Face was surprised when the coin flip came up scarred, but abided by the decision and jumped. Batman caught Dent, but the shock of the fall seemed to (at least temporarily) destroy the Two-Face side of his psyche. Two-Face is also at odds with his ex-wife Gilda, as Two-Face believes their marriage failed as he was unable to give her children. She later married Paul Janus (the events of Two-Face Strikes Twice), whom Two-Face had attempted to frame as a criminal by kidnapping him and replacing him with a stand-in, whom Two-Face "disfigured" with makeup to make it look as if Janus had gone insane just as Two-Face had. Eventually caught by Batman, Two-Face was sent away and Gilda and Janus reunited. Some time later (the time frame is never specified, though a young Dick Grayson is Robin in the first part, and Tim Drake is Robin in the second part, so several years are likely), Gilda gave birth to twins, prompting Two-Face to escape once more and take the twins hostage, as he had believed them to be conceived by Janus using an experimental fertility drug. They were not, however, to the disappointment of Dr. Moon, the black market doctor with whom he was working. 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 Harvey's sperm had been frozen after a death threat had been made against him, and was used to give birth to the twins. Batman is able to use this information to convince Dent to free the twins and turn himself in. In the storyline Batman: Hush, Dent's face was repaired once more via plastic surgery. This time around, only the Harvey Dent persona exists. However, he ended up taking 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, but manipulates the courts into setting him free, as Gotham's prosecutors wouldn't attempt to charge him without a body. In Detective Comics #817, as part of DC's One Year Later storyline, it was revealed that, at Batman's request and with training, Dent had become a vigilante protector of Gotham City in most of Batman's absence of nearly a year. He was reluctant to take the job, but Batman assured him doing good would atone him of his past crimes. After a month of training, they fought Firebug and Mr. Freeze, before Batman left for a year. Soon, Dent found himself enjoying his new role, but his methods were seemingly more extreme and less refined than Batman's. Upon Batman's return, Dent began to feel unnecessary and unappreciated, which prompted the return of the "Two-Face" persona (seen and heard by Dent through hallucinations). His feelings of uselessness were compounded by a series of mysterious killings that seemed to have been committed by Two-Face; the villains KGBeast, Magpie, The Ventriloquist, and Orca were all shot twice in the head with a double-barrelled pistol, implying that Dent was the perpetrator. When Batman confronted Dent about these deaths, asking Dent to confirm that he was not responsible, Dent refused to give a definite answer regarding his involvement in these deaths. He then detonated a bomb in his apartment and left Batman dazed as he fled. Despite escaping the explosion physically unscathed to a motel, Dent suffered a crisis of conscience and a mental battle with his "Two-Face" personality. Although evidence was later uncovered by Batman that exonerated Harvey Dent for the murders, it was too late to do anything to save him. Prompted by resentment and a paranoid reaction to Batman's questioning of him, Dent scarred 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 went 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. He is currently at large, and his whereabouts and motives are unknown. Two-Face is generally depicted with the left side of his face a twisted, discolored mess, with his lips and eyelids pulled back and his hair discolored or burned off. His left hand matches in some interpretations, while it is undamaged in others. The coloration of his deformity also seems to be at the whim of the colorist at the time, though green or purple seem to be the most common. The severity of the disformations also vary. Most early versions of Two-Face depict his hair, ear and lips as mutilated, but intact. Long Halloween and Dark Victory, however, depict Dent's scarred side with no hair, and the skin burned so badly that he no longer has his ear lobe, eye lid, or lips. What remains is colored pink. This look has also been adopted somewhat for his current disfigurement as part of One Year Later: although he retains his eye lids and lips, his ear lobe and hair are gone. His skin is also a dark red. His left hand may or may not be scarred to match his face, depending on the artist. There is also some question as to whether he retains vision in his left eye or is partially blind due to the acid strike. As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, Two-Face has appeared in numerous comics which are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including: * In the alternate future setting of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Dent's face was returned to normal, but at the unforeseen cost of permanently destroying the good-hearted Harvey Dent personality, leaving the monstrous Two-Face in control forever. As he put it when Batman captured him, "At least both sides match." * Two-Face also appeared in the Elseworlds Batman/Daredevil crossover book, partnered with Marvel villain Mr. Hyde for the purpose of using Hyde as an "incubator" to grow an organic microchip, giving Hyde drugs to speed up this process (regardless of the fact that this would kill him). It was also revealed in this book that Harvey Dent had once been friends with Matt Murdock, the secret identity of Daredevil. In earlier times, Dent had believed in giving criminals a chance at rehabilitation, while Murdock believed in final justice - having reversed his outlook to what Dent had once believed, Murdock managed to talk Two-Face out of killing Hyde without Two-Face using his coin to decide. Two-Face, however, insisted that act was merely "the last of Harvey Dent." * In the Elseworlds comic Batman: Masque, a pastiche of The Phantom of the Opera, Harvey Dent takes the role of the hideously scarred musical genius. * In Amalgam Comics, Two-Face is combined with Spiderman's foe Green Goblin to create Two-Faced Goblin. He appears in Speed Demon #1 and Dark Claw Adventures #1. During Two-Face's third appearance in the 1940s, his face and sanity were restored. Although there was a demand to use him again, the writers did not want to retcon his last story, so they had other characters assume the role. The first imposter was Wilkins, Dent's butler. The second of the impostors was Paul Sloane, an actor who was set to star in a biography of Harvey Dent. However, an accident on the set caused him to be disfigured in a manner similar to Dent. Sloane's mind snapped, and he began to think he was Two-Face. The third and final impostor was a thug named George Blake, who was easily identified as an impostor because the wrong side of his face was scarred. Also noteworthy is a 1968 story where Batman himself is turned into Two-Face. Aside from a 1962 reprint of the Sloane storyline, this was Two-Face's only appearance in the 1960s. [1] There was another Two-Face who appeared in the Batman Sunday strips. Actor Harvey Apollo was scarred with acid when testifying against a mobster in court. He only made a few appearances before accidentally hanging himself after slipping on the silver dollar piece he used as Two-Face. As mentioned above, Harvey Dent did return as Two-Face in the 1970s, however with the establishment of the DC Comics multiverse, the Two-Face of Earth-Two (i.e. the character seen in the original Golden Age stories) was said to be Harvey Kent, who had not relapsed following his cure, and went on to attend Batman's wedding. Paul Sloane was eventually introduced into post-Crisis continuity as Paul Sloan, the Charlatan, in Detective Comics #777 (Feb 2003). In this incarnation the actor had been hired by Gotham's costumed criminals to take Two Face's place in a scheme to kill Batman, Harvey's coin having come up unscarred. When the real Two-Face learnt about this he captured Sloan, and gave him the same acid burns he had. At the same time Scarecrow experimented on him with fear toxins. Now completely insane, the Charlatan became obsessed with both getting revenge on the criminals who hired him, and completing his mission to kill Batman.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:36:48 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/13/Galac553.png/250px-Galac553.png) 11. Galactus Originally named Galan of the planet Taa, Galactus is the sole survivor of the Big Crunch of the universe that existed prior to the current Marvel 616 Universe. Galan was a space explorer investigating the impending end of his universe. Eventually, Taa was engulfed by a radiation plague that killed almost all its inhabitants. At the last second, Galan escapes the doomed planet in a star-ship with a few other survivors. Rather than perish from the lethal radiation that had extinguished all life across the universe, Galan proposes to his crewmates that they pilot their craft directly into the center of the Big Crunch. As he approaches the Cosmic Egg — the focal point of the Big Crunch and the source of the exterminating radiation — his ship and crew are promptly destroyed. At the moment Galan's universe meets its end, the incarnation of that reality's Phoenix Force amasses the positive emotions of all living beings in the cosmos to preserve them from eternal damnation, enabling the Sentience of the Universe —that universe's incarnation of Eternity— to meet with Galan. Within the Cosmic Egg the Sentience of the Universe reveals itself to Galan and informs him that though they both will die in the impending cataclysm, they will survive through a joint heir born into the next universe. The Sentience of the Universe then merges itself with the mortal Galan, establishing Galan as the sole survivor of the ensuing Big Crunch. This union ultimately leads to his rebirth in the current universe as Galactus. After the birth of the current reality, Galactus gestates in a cocoon of cosmic energy to complete his metamorphosis, and after millions of years emerges as an entity of vast cosmic power who is essential and intrinsic to the newly formed universe. Galactus is considered one of the five essential entities within the Marvel Universe alongside Eternity, Death, Infinity, and Oblivion. Galactus has been referred to as the "third force of the universe" alongside Eternity and Death. Eternity and Death consider Galactus a peer and a sibling, with Death actually referring to Galactus on one occasion as "husband, father, brother, and son." Furthermore, in the comics series "Silver Surfer," it is suggested that the In-Betweener is actually the metaphysical, extradimensional counterpart to Galactus, just as Lord Chaos and Master Order are the metaphysical, extradimensional counterparts to Eternity and Death -although the exact nature of their relationship to each other is largely undefined, and there is no indication that destroying the In-Betweener would cause universal destruction as is the case with Galactus. Galactus requires energies obtainable only from certain planets to ensure his survival. Specifically, in order to maintain his existence he must devour planets that have the potential for supporting life. For this purpose, Galactus usually employs a Herald to scour the universe in search for suitable planets. Upon pinpointing the requisite planetary body, the herald will signal Galactus, resulting in the Devourer's arrival on the world's surface and the deployment of the Elemental Converter—a colossal machine capable of draining all life energy from the planet within minutes. While the Converter makes consumption of the planet's energy more efficient, Galactus is fully capable of devouring the planets without its aid. Due to his vast power and intrinsic, natural role in the universal order, Galactus considers himself a higher being than all non-abstracts. Accordingly, he believes he is no more responsible for the destruction of a planet than an asteroid colliding with its surface, regardless of whether the planet supports life or is a barren world. As a result, Galactus has become one of the most feared beings in the universe, as his vast power has allowed him to lay waste to innumerable extra-terrestrial civilizations and an incalculable number of deaths in his quest for sustenance, earning him his universal-renowned moniker as the Devourer of Worlds. Consequently, story-arcs involving the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Dr. Strange, etc. have frequently depicted Galactus as the primary antagonist or super-villain. Nevertheless, he is not an evil being, and harbors no ill-will to any living creature. Because Galactus brings balance between the two opposing universal forces of Death and Eternity, he considers himself to be outside of the concepts of Good and Evil — he is neither benevolent nor malevolent. However, because his mere existence requires the death of billions and the obliteration of entire civilizations, Galactus has been targeted for destruction on more than one occasion. The ramifications of Galactus' absence from the universe were not revealed until a storyline featuring Eternity stating the universe would collapse without Galactus' presence to balance it. In fact, so great is the role of Galactus in the Marvel Universe that Eternity has also once manifested itself before millions of aliens and allowed each to momentarily be part of the universe, thus allowing each being to realize the vital and essential role Galactus plays in the natural order. Galactus has over time appointed a number of beings to act as his Herald, with each being bestowed a fraction of the Power Cosmic so as to locate planets suitable for consumption. His known Heralds to date have included the Fallen One, the Silver Surfer, Air-Walker (and later Air-Walker robot), Firelord, the Asgardian Destroyer armor, Terrax, Nova, Morg, Red Shift, the Human Torch, and Stardust. Curiously many of Galactus' Heralds have either rebelled against him, betrayed him or been cast aside. In stories in alternate and parallel realities, Galactus also used other heralds: Plasma, Dark Angel, Dazzler, Golden Oldie, the Fantastic Four, Thor, Ardina, Starglow, Dominas and Superman. Galactus has threatened to consume the Earth on several occasions. During the first encounter the Fantastic Four are aided by the cosmic entity the Watcher, and later by Galactus' rebellious herald, the Silver Surfer. Galactus is defeated when Mr. Fantastic threatens him with the Ultimate Nullifier, the one weapon capable of destroying Galactus (the weapon is obtained by the Human Torch when the Watcher transports him to Taa II). Galactus leaves and vows to never attack the Earth again. However, soon after he returns to Earth once more to seek the wayward Silver Surfer. Galactus is eventually released from his vow when Reed Richards summons him to combat the threat of the cosmic entity the Sphinx on Earth. Galactus defeats the Sphinx, but is rebuffed by Richards bluffing with a fake Ultimate Nullifier he built. In one significant encounter Galactus returns to Earth in pursuit of his rebellious Herald Terrax. Galactus expends a considerable amount of energy in the pursuit, and finally arrives with the intention of consuming Earth to replenish himself. A hungry and weakened Galactus resolves the issue with Terrax, but is so diminished in strength that he is defeated by the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four, Avengers and Doctor Strange. However, rather than watch the Devourer die of hunger, Mr. Fantastic uses a device powered by the Thunder God Thor to reinvigorate him. A grateful Galactus vows that Earth is safe from his feedings before departing. Mr Fantastic's decision has consequences, however, as he is later placed on trial by a consortium of alien worlds for his actions. The Shi'Ar preside over the trial, and look to execute Mr. Fantastic until the cosmic entity Eternity is summoned by the combined effort of Galactus and the Watcher. Eternity then enables millions of alien onlookers to momentarily become one with the universe, temporarily granting them the clarity that Galactus is part of the natural order of the cosmos. Galactus recently discovered he was "starving" to death due to an addiction to the life forces of living beings which offer no sustenance, and was apparently killed when the Silver Surfer turned Galactus' own Elemental Converter against him. As Galactus dies he warns that his death will allow a great evil to surface. After his death, Galactus' remains took the form of a star. That great evil that Galactus spoke of emerged a year later in the form of the Biblical demon Abraxas, the universal embodiment of destruction and the antithesis of Eternity. The Fantastic Four discover that most of the energy that Galactus took from planets was devoted to keeping Abraxas imprisoned as, if released, the entity will eventually destroy the entire multiverse.[29] Franklin Richards pools his Celestial-level power with that of his sister Valeria Von Doom and reconstitutes Galactus, but the siblings permanently burn out their powers in doing so. The newly reformed Galactus reclaims the Ultimate Nullifier from Abraxas, and Reed Richards uses it to remake the multiverse into a version in which Abraxas never escapes. The Ultimate Nullifier is revealed to be an aspect of Galactus himself. Soon after however, Reed Richards designs a weapon with the express purpose of stripping Galactus of the Power Cosmic. The creation of the device is made possible with help from Quasar and Johnny Storm, who is cosmically aware at this time. The weapon succeeds in separating Galactus into his two core components - Galan and the Power Cosmic. Galan then exiles himself in another dimension, hoping that this act will prevent the Power Cosmic from finding him. The ruse fails, however, as a fully reformed Galactus encounters the alien warrior Beta Ray Bill soon after. The manner in which the Power Cosmic finds Galan has not been revealed. It has since been revealed that Galactus is not the only member of the "Cosmic Balance" and that others once existed. After a brutal civil war only three beings survived, being Galactus the Devourer of Worlds, Tenebrous of the Darkness Between, and Aegis the Lady of All Sorrows. Galactus imprisons his brethren in the Kyln, until the Annihilation Wave ruptures the Crunch and frees them. Knowing of their escape, Galactus augments the Silver Surfer — who is in his service as Herald once more — and engages them. The battle brings Galactus into contact with the Titan Thanos, Drax the Destroyer and Annihilus, the mastermind behind the Annihilation Wave. In the conclusion to the story, the Annihilation Wave is destroyed by an omnidirectional blast from Galactus, resulting in armistice and peace between all involved parties.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 7:48:22 GMT -5
Here is the countdown update so far.
100. Hush 99. Cyborg Superman 98. Hydro-Man 97. Captain Boomerang 96. "Holiday" 95. Psycho-Man 94. Carmine "The Roman" Falcone 93. Morgan Edge 92. Annilius 91. Kang The Conqueror 90. Alexander Luthor Jr. 89. The Black Mask 88. Metallo 87. Clown aka Violator 86. The Black Cat 85. Typhoid Mary 84. Sinestro 83. The Jackal 82. The Puppet Master 81. Cobra Commander 80. Harley Quinn 79. Shuma-Gorath 78. Silvermane 77. The Absorbing Man 76. The Sentinels 75. Morbius The Living Vampire 74. 8-Ball 73. Superboy Prime 72. Mr. Freeze 71. Onslaught 70. Puma 69. The Prowler 68. Mole Man (Wildcard) Superman 67. Super Skrull 66. Crossbones 65. Parallax 64. Gorilla Grodd 63. Stryfe 62. The Scorpion 61. Baron Zemo 60. Clayface 59. Mephisto 58. Catwoman 57. Killer Frost 56. Omega Red 55. Mr. Mxyzptlk 54. The Chameleon 53. Taskmaster 52. Mongul (Wildcard) The Punisher 51. Fing Fang Foom 50. The Penguin 49. Mystique 48. Electro 47. Lady Deathstrike 46. Poison Ivy 45. Shadow Thief 44. Rhino 43. Iron Monger 42. The Trickster 41. The Sandman 40. Shocker 39. The Mandarin 38. Sabretooth 37. Doomsday 36. The Lizard 35. Loki 34. General Zod 33. The Vulture 32. The Spot 31. Black Adam 30. Ultron 29. Dormammu 28. Ra's Al Ghul 27. Mysterio 26. Deathstroke The Terminator aka Slade 25. Brainiac 24. Bane 23. Juggernaut 22. Bizarro 21. Kraven The Hunter 20. Hobgoblin 19. The Scarecrow 18. Bullseye 17. Thanos 16. The Riddler 15. Darkseid 14. Mr. Sinister 13. Apocalypse 12. Two-Face 11. Galactus
Now for clues to the next five villians on this list.
* Dust of Death
* Erik The Red
* Four Metallic Apendages
* Kevlar Armor
* Maximum
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Post by Joker on Apr 19, 2007 7:58:30 GMT -5
So that would mean .. Magneto, Dr. Octopus, Carnage, Red skull and somebody else is on there way.
No idea who the 'kevlar armor' clue refers to ...
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:13:13 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Redskullept.png) 10. Red Skull The Red Skull, Johann Schmidt, was a former Nazi general officer and confidant of Adolf Hitler. He has been closely affiliated with HYDRA and is an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Avengers, and the interests of the United States of America and of the free world in general. He was physically augmented by having his mind placed into the body of a clone of Captain America, the pinnacle of human perfection. He has been seemingly killed in the past, only to return time and time again to plague the world with schemes of world domination and genocide. Chronologically by publication date, the first Red Skull to appear in the 1940s comics was George John Maxon, an American businessman and Nazi agent who led a ring of spies and saboteurs. He faced Captain America during two of the latter's first missions.[1] A formidable opponent in his own right, Maxon was killed during the last encounter, though he would reappear during the Modern Age. However, in the later Silver Age period, writers decided that Maxon had simply been a decoy for another Red Skull who was still living, named Johann Schmidt. This Red Skull, through retconning, would now be considered the earliest Red Skull according to the continuing stories. This led to the Maxon incarnation of the Red Skull being sometimes labelled as the Red Skull II and the Schmidt incarnation (a character which appeared chronologically later in the books) as the Red Skull I.[2] As with many supervillains, Johann Schmidt had a traumatic childhood that warped his mind paving the way for villainy in his adult life. Schmidt's mother died in childbirth and his father blamed Johann for it and tried to murder him, only to be stopped by the attending doctor. The father later committed suicide and Johann was orphaned. He grew up on the streets struggling to survive and his hatred of humanity grew with each day. A key episode was when he fell for a local Jewish girl, but when she spurned his clumsy advances, he murdered her, finding a release for his frustrations. With that, his depravity grew still more. In his late teens during the rise of the Third Reich, Schmidt got his most prosperous job, a bellhop in a major hotel. There he served the rooms of Adolf Hitler himself. By chance, he was present when the Führer was furiously berating an officer and swore he could train Johann himself, a simple bellhop, to be a better National Socialist. Looking closely at the youth and sensing his dark inner nature, Hitler decided to take up the challenge and recruited Schmidt. Dissatisfied with the standard drill instruction his subordinates used to train Schmidt, Hitler took over personally. Upon completion, Hitler gave Schmidt a unique uniform with a grotesque red skull mask, and he emerged as the Red Skull for the first time. His role was the embodiment of Nazi intimidation, while Hitler could remain the popular leader of Germany. To that end, The Red Skull was appointed head of Nazi terrorist activities with an additional large role in external espionage and sabotage. He succeeded, wreaking havoc throughout Europe in the early stages of World War II. The propaganda effect was so great that the United States government decided to counter it by creating their own equivalent using the one recipient of the lost Project Rebirth, Steve Rogers, as Captain America. The two counterparts soon clashed in what would be a series of engagements throughout the war, ending with a final battle that left the Skull buried under the rubble of a bombed building. Because he was immediately exposed to an experimental gas there, he remained in suspended animation for decades. With Schmidt's disappearance after 1945, the reputation of the Skull still was formidable enough to prove useful. In 1953 a Communist agent named Albert Malik set up his spy/criminal organization in Algeria and assumed the identity of the Red Skull, pretending that he was the original, when he was actually serving Soviet interests (ironically, Hitler's regime had a staunch anti-Communism slant.). During the 1950s he faced the then active version of Captain America who was also using the identity of Steve Rogers, pretending to be the original. The two impersonators continued to battle each other throughout the decade. But while the Captain, referred to as Captain America IV in some sources, was placed into suspended animation when his flawed replicate of the Super Soldier treatment seriously affected his mind, Albert continued his activities, over time cutting his links to the Soviet Union. He was among other things responsible for the deaths of Richard Parker and Mary Fitzpatrick-Parker, the parents of Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man), tipped off by the super-criminal Gustav "The Gentleman" Fiers. In addition, Schmidt's legacy still caused trouble in the years of his absence. This primarily came in the form of powerfully destructive robots called Sleepers which were intended to activate at preset times by his agents to devastate the Earth in the event of Nazi Germany's defeat. However, Captain America was able to neutralize all the machines in turn. Johann was eventually rescued in modern times by the terrorist organization, HYDRA. The Skull quickly subverted a cell to his own ambitions of world conquest and the death of Captain America. When Johann reappeared, he and Albert, though his age was starting to catch up with him, started to antagonize each other while both claiming the identity of the Red Skull. Finally Albert was the victim of an assassination organized by Johann, at the hands of Scourge of the Underworld. Some sources refer to Albert as Red Skull II and others as Red Skull III depending on their counting of George John Maxon or not. Thus the two enemies resumed their war, with Captain America, among other opponents, frustrating the Skull's schemes; not even when the Skull possessed the reality-altering Cosmic Cube could he claim victory. Establishing a Nazi colony on a deserted island, the Skull fathered a daughter who would eventually become known as Mother Superior. The war between Captain America and Red Skull in the modern era reached a breaking point when Red Skull one day discovered that the gas that had placed him in suspended animation was now wearing off and that his body was rapidly aging to what would be Skull's normal age. Now physically in his mid-80s, a weak and feeble Red Skull planned for a final showdown with his arch-rival. Kidnapping Captain America's closest allies, he forced Captain America to surrender himself to Skull and forcibly undergo a medical treatment that aged Captain America's body to its rightful age. The two men, their bodies now ancient, fought one last battle to the death. But at the last minute, Captain America refused to kill the Red Skull and Skull himself died cursing Captain America, as his elderly body shut down. Dead at last, it seemed like the threat of the Red Skull had finally ended while The Avengers were able to restore Rogers' youth. But the Red Skull would not stay dead for long; Nazi geneticist Arnim Zola, who had obtained DNA samples of Captain America years earlier, arranged for Skull's mind to be transplanted into a clone body of Captain America at the moment of his death. Assuming the identity of "John Smith" (coincidentally, the English equivalent of his natural German name), Skull decided that he would reinvent himself and his quest for absolute power as a means to celebrate his cheating death. The Red Skull abandoned his longstanding beliefs in National Socialism and Hitler, on the belief that the Nazi philosophy made him look like a relic of the past. Skull instead turned towards American ideology for his new motivation. Skull saw much potential in America in the 1980s and set about establishing his own foothold inside Washington DC, culminating in him gaining control over "The Commission", a government body that monitored and regulated super-hero activities in Washington. Skull also changed his mode of operations: rather than "living from one grand scheme to the next", he began financing a score of evil organizations that reported directly to him, most notably the militia group The Watchdogs. He also corrupted one of the Scourges, an organization who terrorized super-villains with a killing spree. But Skull's biggest move would be his plot to remove Rogers from the position of Captain America and replace him with a jingoistic extremist named John Walker. Although Walker initially attempted to live up to his predecessor's ideals, The Skull arranged for the murders of Walker's parents, driving him insane and into a downward spiral of murder as part of his plan to blacken the name of Captain America. But like all things, Skull's plans fell apart when Skull's chief pawn in the Commission was killed by Skull, right in front of Captain America. About to be exposed, Skull tried to manipulate Walker into killing Rogers. When Rogers defeated Walker, the Skull appeared to gloat at what he had done to Rogers and Walker and the reputation of Captain America. Skull bragged that he would kill Rogers at a time of his own choosing and that Rogers could not touch Skull due to his newfound status as a wealthy American businessman. Rogers, disturbed by this mystery man with Rogers' face claiming to be his dead archenemy, noted that the Skull was not inhaling from the cigarette holder he had in his mouth. The cigarette turned out to be holding a lethal dose of the Skull's favourite poison, the Dust of Death, intended for Rogers - but the trap backfired against Schmidt when Walker suddenly hit him from behind with his shield. As a result, Schmidt suffered the facial disfigurement attributed to the Dust, as his face turned into a literal red skull. Skull did not die though, presumably due to him having developed a level of immunity to his personal poison. After this, the Skull was attacked by the mutant terrorist Magneto, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who wanted to punish him for his involvement in Hitler's regime. Magneto buried him alive with enough water for a few months. The Skull remained there until he was rescued by his henchman Crossbones. The Red Skull's relationship with other villains in the 1990s was fraught with problems due to many villains shunning Skull because of his Nazi background. In the 1989 "Streets of Poison" storyline, the Skull proposes an alliance with the Kingpin to bring a new designer drug to New York but the Kingpin refuses to ally with the Nazi. He then defeats the Skull in hand to hand combat, sparing his life on the condition he never come near the Kingpin's territory again. In the 1989 crossover "Acts of Vengeance," the Skull demands the Wizard apologize for an insult to which the Wizard replies "You'll see yourself welcomed into Heaven before I speak those words!" It was not long after that he was kidnapped by Magneto. One prominent exception is fellow Nazi Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, leader of the terrorist organization HYDRA. After the Skull's agents allow Strucker to be reborn, a grateful Strucker allows the Skull the use of HYDRA resources. Anonther notable exception was a team-up with the Joker in a Batman/Captain America crossover book set during World War II (though this is considered non-canon, possibly part of DCs Elseworlds series; when he discovered he was working for a Nazi, the Joker actually took moral outrage: "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!". In this same story, The Joker and the Skull attempted to murder one another with their trademark poisons, but both emerged immune to the effects because their compositions were so similar. Skull's tenure in Washington came to an end when Skull was kidnapped and taken to Germany to stand trial for crimes against humanity, stemming from his days as an agent of the Third Reich. Skull narrowly escaped and was forced to fake his death in order go back into hiding in a compound in the Rocky Mountains. He recruited the female sociopath "The Viper", a move that alienated his minions and was further rocked when his chief henchman Crossbones kidnapped Captain America's girlfriend Diamondback, resulting in Captain America finding Skull's new lair. Skull went into hiding while the Viper, using funds she plied from Red Skull as part of a scheme to use televisions across America to blind TV viewers, was defeated by Captain America. Skull resurfaced during "Operation: AIM Island", where Skull discovered that he was facing the same permanent paralysis that Captain America was facing due to their exposure to the Super-Soldier Serum. When the evil scientist Superia offered Captain America a cure, Captain America refused it on account of Superia proclaiming that Captain America would "owe her". Skull took the cure and killed Superia, then arranged for Captain America to be kidnapped by his remaining forces and given a blood transfusion that cured him. Captain America's recovery would segue into a reluctant team-up between him and Skull; a Nazi cult that worshipped Adolf Hitler as a god had discovered a cosmic cube that contained Hitler's mind, put there in the cube by Skull himself. The two sought to stop the cult from fully powering the Hitler Cosmic Cube but Skull opted instead to send Captain America (against his will) into the cube to kill Hitler and allow him to imprison Captain America in the cube while he used its power to conquer humanity. But Captain America escaped and in the process used his shield to sever one of Skull's arms, causing him to drop the cube. The Cube then became unstable, destroying Skull. But like most evil, Skull's evil was not truly dead. Trapped in a hellish nightmare dimension, forced to serve as a bellhop to a world of immigrants, Skull's evil ultimately was so great that he was able to escape his prison. As a result, Skull now possessed limited reality warping powers that made him a truly cosmic threat. He was further aided by Kang the Conqueror, who sought an alliance with Skull to ensure his future dynasty would stay intact. He was sent to Galactus's ship to steal more power from it, in particular, steal the power of omniscience, which would remove all limits to Skull's reality warping powers. Unfortunately, this led to Skull's undoing as Kang and Skull were ambushed by Korvac, who stole Skull's cosmic powers for his own and banished Skull back to Earth. The Red Skull later manipulated his way into the position of Secretary of Defense as Dell Rusk (an obvious reference to Dean Rusk, but also an anagram for "red skull") to develop a biological weapon he tested at Mount Rushmore. He was exposed and defeated by the Avengers, and the Black Panther beat him so badly that he literally broke the Skull's jaw in half. The Red Skull was assassinated by the mysterious Winter Soldier, under orders from the renegade former Soviet general Aleksander Lukin, who wanted to possess the new Cosmic Cube the Skull had manufactured. When the Skull was shot, he attempted to use the Cube to switch bodies with Lukin to survive, but as the Cube was still weak he only managed to transfer his mind into Lukin's body, so that the two enemies are trapped together, waging a constant war for dominance which the Red Skull seems to be progressively winning. During a plot to lure out Captain America, Red Skull/Lukin recruited several German skinheads and made them the successors to the Master Man. He then had these soldiers, dubbed the "Master Race," launch an attack on London, which was thwarted by Captain America, Spitfire, and Union Jack. Then, Red Skull/Lukin activated a Sleeper, a robot programmed for mass destruction. The robot damaged a significant portion of the new London Kronas HQ, and was ultimately destroyed by Captain America and Bucky. In the aftermath, Red Skull sent a videotape, announcing to the world his return, followed by Lukin holding a press conference condemning the actions of both the Red Skull and Captain America, and supporting the Superhero Registration Act. Then, in his office, Red Skull introduced Lukin to his old/new associates, Crossbones and Sin. With America's superheroes divided over the Superhero Registration Act, the Skull manipulates events to his own ends, with the aid of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Doom, and Arnim Zola. His plans have involved the reunion of Captain America and his former lover Sharon Carter, who is being manipulated by Faustus. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the Skull puts his plans into action, arranging for Crossbones to shoot Captain America as he enters a courthouse in New York City; in the ensuing chaos, Carter, acting under Faustus' mental directive, assassinates Captain America. In the Earth X Universe the Red Skull is not dead, he is shaped in a different form as perceived by Alex Ross. A new boy has taken the older versions place, with the ability to control tens of thousands of people at once has taken his place. Captain America and his new Sidekick Red Wing, investigate the situation, and find the new Red Skull has an army in the tens of thousands that are going to take over New York. This new Red Skull also controls many different heros: Namor, Iron Maiden, and later Red Wing and Spider-Girl. It is later revealed that Red Skull has a special celestial seed that gives him this special power, and that he was intended to rule the earth until the Celestial Seed was ready, so when Captain America killed him, the Celestials come down to wipe all the inhabitants of Earth.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:16:09 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/Kingpinm.png/250px-Kingpinm.png) 9. Kingpin Wilson Fisk is a criminal mastermind who was involved in extensive illegal activities such as drug running, smuggling, murder, and so forth. Despite this, he had (until recently, see below) no criminal record and an army of lawyers to keep it that way, and is a criminal financial strategist without parallel. Fisk has no superhuman powers, but the majority of his 400-plus pound bulk is muscle (when he delivered a kick to the Kingpin's back, Daredevil could only think, "Whatever that was, it wasn't fat. Felt more like rock"). He is a superb fighter who has held his own against Spider-Man, but in recent years Daredevil has occupied his attention. He has been aware of Daredevil's secret identity for years, thanks to Karen Page's drug-fueled betrayal. Though Spider-Man and Daredevil are his greatest enemies, he has also tangled with Captain America, Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, The Punisher, the Avengers, and Ghost Rider, among others. He has employed any number of costumed criminals and assassins, notably Elektra, Bullseye, Jack O'Lantern, Answer, and Typhoid Mary. Wilson Fisk began his life as a poor child, ridiculed by his classmates, as he was heavy and unpopular. When he was repeatedly harassed by bullies, Fisk began training himself in physical combat. Using his newfound strength, he intimidated the bullies into joining his gang, and he started on the road towards being one of the most successful criminals in New York City. His first gang was a small one with only a few thugs. However, he eventually was found by crime lord Don Rigoletto. Fisk became Don Rigoletto's bodyguard and right-hand man. Eventually, Fisk killed Don Rigoletto and took control of his gang, immediately becoming one of the most powerful criminals in the city. The Kingpin stayed the ruler of New York's criminal underground for a long time. However, he had made enemies with other gangs, specifically the Maggia and HYDRA, who teamed together to bring down Fisk and his gang. Fisk left for Japan after his empire was brought down, and started a spice business, in order to become wealthy once more. After earning enough money, Fisk returned to New York and started gang wars, in an attempt to bring down the Maggia. With the criminal world in chaos, Fisk was able to step in and take control. While Fisk was a powerful crime lord, he posed as a legitimate businessman, one who made donations to charities, and seemed like a generous, wealthy man. He eventually met a woman named Vanessa, whom he married and had a son with, Richard Fisk. Vanessa did not know that Fisk was a criminal when she married him, and when she found out, she threatened to leave him if he did not give up his life of crime. He temporarily retired from crime, and the family moved back to Japan, until gang wars in New York required Fisk's attention. Richard Fisk did not find out that his father was a criminal until he was in college. After graduating, Richard told his parents he would travel through Europe. Only months after he left, they received news that Richard, who was angry after learning the truth about his father, had died in a skiing accident. However, this was not what really happened. It turned out that Richard Fisk was still alive, and he rose up to be one of the Kingpin's greatest criminal enemies, a rival crimelord known as The Rose. When Kingpin's empire was at its top, Fisk was the most powerful human in the Marvel universe, controlling several governments including the United States of America. Wilson Fisk eventually lost his criminal empire to one of his employees, Samuel Silke, who was working with his son Richard, in a bloody Caesar-like assassination bid. In the aftermath, Vanessa killed Richard and fled the country with Fisk's remaining wealth while the Kingpin recuperated in an unnamed eastern-European country, broken and alone. He returned, and after getting revenge on Silke by crushing his head, almost managed to regain his empire through sheer will, but was defeated by Daredevil, who declared himself the new Kingpin. Fisk was put in jail. Recently, he hatched a scheme to be freed and regain his wealth by giving the F.B.I. proof in the form of the nonexistent "Murdock Papers" that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Having made so many enemies who were in prison, Fisk was constantly under attack from the Hand, HYDRA, or any number of criminal organizations with which he had had intimate contact. The U.S. Government was hard pressed to get rid of this expensive, dangerous, legally clean master criminal, and Fisk succeeded in manipulating the F.B.I. into gravely wounding Daredevil and directing them to his D.N.A. He tells Ben Urich to give the feds the location of the Night Nurse, the only medic for injured superheroes, or go to jail. He succeeded in getting Matt Murdock finally arrested, but the F.B.I. betrayed him at the last minute and arrested him as well, placing him in the same jail as Murdock with hopes that the two would kill each other. Ironically, the enemies were forced to team up in order to survive a prison riot which was directed at them. Finally, Murdock sacrificed the deal, refusing to let Bullseye, who was also incarcerated, leave the prison as Kingpin had planned. The fight ended with the Kingpin shot point-blank in the knee by gunfire from Bullseye intended for Murdock, while Murdock escaped. Fisk also appeared in the Civil War War Crimes one-shot. He offered a deal to Iron Man — consideration on his sentence in exchange for information about Captain America's Resistance base. However, as his status in prison is threatened for collaborating with Stark, he betrays him; he first sets up Iron Man by revealing a gathering of supervillians by Hammerhead to create a new criminal empire, claiming it was a base of Captain America's, and gives information to the Secret Avengers instead. He also put out a hit on Spider-Man and his loved ones. A sniper attempted to hit Spider-Man, only to hit the "secondary target" of Aunt May. At some point later, after Matt Murdock returns to America with his name cleared, he completes Vanessa Fisk's last wish and takes on Fisk's case, getting all charges dropped in exchange for Fisk leaving the country. Fisk is seen visiting his wife's grave. Fisk later temporarily returned to New York to "[wrap] up some loose ends that he had to deal with." [1]He has a meeting with the Runaways, making a deal with the youngsters to secure a mysterious object for him.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:19:08 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Carnage.jpg/250px-Carnage.jpg) 8. Carnage He is still uncertain and information given by Kasady himself is often contradictory. Kasady claims his mother tried to kill him after she caught him torturing her dog. She was apparently beaten to death by Kasady's father, who received no defense from his son during his trial. Kasady however seemed to care for his mother, causing him to dig up her grave in Maximum Carnage, totally contradicting his prior account in which he took glee in her death. He also claims he killed his grandmother when he was younger, pushing her down a flight of stairs. Now an orphan, Kasady was sent to the St. Estes home for boys, where his eccentric behaviour made him the target of abuse from both the other orphans and the staff. Kasady vindicated himself by murdering the disciplinarian administrator and burning down the orphanage. By his early twenties, he had been convicted of eleven murders, although he bragged about committing dozens. He justified his acts of murder with an absurdist philosophy, based on the idea that the universe was essentially chaotic and that law and order were a perversion to this. He had recently shared a cell with Eddie Brock who had just recently lost his symbiote after a battle against Styx. When the symbiote returned and bonded with Eddie to form the entity known as Venom, the supervillain unwittingly left behind a spawn which merged itself into Kasady's bloodstream. One night, Kasady murdered a guard and escaped prison, beginning a series of gruesome and seemingly random murders. At the scene of each crime, he'd write "Carnage Rules" on the walls with his own blood. He was found by Spider-man, though the hero proved to be no match for the Venom spawn. In desperation, Spider-man made what would be the first of many truces with Venom to fight Carnage. Kasady, albeit having a stronger bond to his symbiote than Eddie Brock did, has been separated from and re-bonded with the symbiote several times. The Carnage symbiote, attracted to stronger hosts, has attempted to bond with Ben Reilly to become Spider-Carnage and, later, the Silver Surfer, which created the insane and vastly powerful Carnage Cosmic. Later, Venom decided to re-absorb the Carnage symbiote "for good." Without the symbiote, Kasady retained the Carnage persona by costuming himself in red paint and continuing his killing sprees, but he did so as a powerless human. Soon, however, Kasady found an exact replica of the symbiote in the Negative Zone. How this symbiote is an identical copy, or where it came from, has yet to be explained. However, the issues in which Kasady discovered the replica had references to the Spider-Man Unlimited (TV series) which had been airing at the time and which featured the Carnage Symbiote as one of its villains. In this same issue, Spider-Man himself briefly gained the costume the animated version of him from that series wore. Perhaps the most famous storyline in which Carnage appears is the 1993 Spider-Man event Maximum Carnage. Carnage, and a cadre of psychotic super-villains (consisting of Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion and Doppelganger) overtook New York, but were driven back by Spider-Man, Venom, the Black Cat, and several other heroes. In the 1996 Web of Carnage storyline, the Carnage symbiote escapes from the Ravencroft Institute where Cletus Kasady is incarcerated, seeking a stronger host. It takes over Ben Reilly, who had recently replaced Peter Parker as Spider-Man. Reilly has little previous experience with symbiotes, and is unprepared for an enemy that is immune to his spider-sense. Together, they become Spider-Carnage, and the symbiote attempts to force him, both mentally and physically, to kill Peter Parker (then powerless), and other innocent people. Reilly barely escapes the symbiote's control with help from Dr. Ashley Kafka and John Jameson, the administrators of Ravencroft. Carnage starred in the miniseries Venom vs. Carnage in 2005. The Carnage symbiote spawned a "child" symbiote, which he tried to kill without success. The "child" later bonded with police officer Patrick Mulligan. Carnage felt nothing but hate for the young creature and attempted to kill it, while Venom defended it (feeling protective of his "grandchild"). Venom named the new symbiote Toxin. Mulligan has since attempted to steer the symbiote towards heroism instead of murder. Carnage was one of several supervillains trying to escape from The Raft in New Avengers #1-2. The Sentry flew Carnage outside the Earth's atmosphere and ripped him apart. It is unknown whether this was Kasady or the symbiote itself, acting alone, but he has not appeared since.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:20:56 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6e/Doctoroctopus.png/200px-Doctoroctopus.png) 7. Dr. Octopus Born in Schenectady, New York, Otto Octavius had a turbulent upbringing. His father, a factory worker, was abusive and violent towards both Otto and his mother, leading Otto to be shy and reclusive in school. However, at his mother's insistence, he was determined not to become like his father and threw all his efforts into his education, regularly scoring top marks. His father's death due to an industrial accident pushed him further towards the study of, and obsession with, physical science. Before his transformation into the megalomaniacal archenemy of the web-slinger, Otto was a brilliant and respected nuclear physicist, inventor, and lecturer. He designed a set of highly advanced mechanical arms to assist him with his research into atomic physics. The tentacled arms were resistant to radiation and were capable of great strength and highly precise movement, attached to a harness that fit around his body. Though his relationship with co-workers was typically hostile, a fellow researcher named Mary Alice Anders befriended him, and later agreed to marry him. His mother did not approve, and to please her, he ended his engagement; later, when he discovered that his mother had begun dating a librarian, he rebuked her, causing her to have a fatal heart attack in the heat of their argument. During an accidental radiation leak that ended in an explosion, the apparatus became fused to Octavius' body. It was later revealed that the radiation (or possibly his own latent mutation) had mutated his brain so that he could control the movement of the arms using his thoughts alone. The tentacles have since been surgically removed from his body, although Octavius retains the power to control them telepathically from a great distance. The accident also seemingly damaged his brain (although it was later suggested that what was interpreted as brain damage was in fact his mind rewiring itself to accommodate four extra limbs[citation needed]), and the scientist turned to a life of crime. Though Doctor Octopus himself is portly, in poor physical shape, and is near-sighted, with his harness attached he is physically more than a match for Spider-Man: in his first appearance he beat Spider-Man so badly that the wall-crawler considered giving up his heroic career, until he was inspired to continue by the Human Torch at the time when the Fantastic Four were called in to fight Doctor Octopus. Over the years Dr. Octopus has become one of, if not the, most identifiable member of Spider-Man's rogues' gallery. He remains one of Spider-Man's most dangerous foes, having many legendary battles with him over the years. His crowning achievement of evil was the near-fatal beating of Spider-Man's then-partner, the Black Cat, who was placed in critical condition and led to Spider-Man beating "Doc Ock" to within an inch of his life. The trauma of the beating he received from Spider-Man left Octavius afraid of Spider-Man and spiders in general for years, until Spider-Man was forced to let his nemesis beat him in combat so as to allow his nemesis to break free of his fears and recruit him to save New York City from an exploding nuclear reactor. Doctor Octopus has worked with other supervillains on several occasions, most notably as the leader of the original incarnation of the Sinister Six. He has been a member of other versions of the Sinister Six, and founded his own short-lived version of the Masters of Evil when his teammates from the Sinister Six proved too difficult to manipulate. Despite the obvious obstacles, Octavius was for a time on good terms with Peter Parker's Aunt May, whom he first met in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964) when he abducted her and Peter's then-girlfriend Betty Brant to attract Spider-Man's attention. In fact, in later years May Parker and Otto Octavius were briefly engaged to be married. Their wedding was interrupted by Hammerhead. During the Clone Saga, Doctor Octopus saved Spider-Man from certain death due to a poison injected by the Vulture. During the healing process he discovered the identity of Spider-Man and then allowed himself to be taken in by police, expecting to be saved by his accomplice Stunner. But Stunner was knocked out and Doc Ock was murdered by the insane Peter Parker clone named Kaine. Octavius' student Carolyn Trainer took over as "Doctor Octopus" until the original was resurrected by a branch of the mystical ninja cult known as the Hand. Upon his resurrection, it was revealed that he had no knowledge of Spider-Man's identity. The reason was that the memories he gained came from a computer chip provided by Carolyn Trainer with his recorded memories; that recent memory had not been recorded at the time of his death. In recent years, Octavius attempted to create his own personal assassin in the form of a villainous mutated entity he dubbed "Spider-Woman", and was involved in a plot involving using prosthetic limbs as mind-control devices, to create an army of minions. He has also had to deal with another usurper, in the form of an arrogant young businessman and con artist named Carlyle, who pretended to employ Octavius at his company. This, however, proved to be a ruse, and Carlyle subdued Octopus and stole his technology, using it to create his own version of Octavius' harness. During a battle with Octavius and Spider-Man, Carlyle was defeated when Doc Ock ripped open his suit, allowing Spider-Man to fill Carlyle's suit with webbing. Dr. Octopus was taken into Ryker's Island and was drugged and brainwashed to take down the Green Goblin. He interrupted a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the two villains were struck by lightning and fell into the river below. Octopus was dragged out days later with no memories of the event. Octavius unsuccessfully tries to form and lead another version of the Sinister Six, because Captain America's Secret Avengers managed to defeat the villainous group, although Ock himself eludes authorities. In Sensational Spider-Man #28, Dr. Octopus is seen viewing a telecast of Peter Parker revealing himself to be Spider-Man. Ock then goes rampaging throughout the city, in utter disbelief that not only was he beaten numerous times by a teenager, but of the lost opportunity he had when he unmasked Parker in one of their first encounters (at the time, Peter was severely weakened and Octavius assumed it was an impostor). He is again defeated by Spider-Man, who confronts Dr. Octopus unmasked, after two of Peter's students distract Octavius. He is then sent to Baron Zemo's super-villain detention facility (as seen in Thunderbolts #104) and is one of the ex-super villains trying to hunt down the renegade super heroes.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:26:03 GMT -5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6b/Magslee.PNG/250px-Magslee.PNG) 6. Magneto During the 1940s, a young Magneto and his family are persecuted for being Jewish. They are shot by the Nazis and buried in a mass grave; Magneto manages to survive, only to be captured and sent to Auschwitz. There he is forced to work in the Sonderkommando. While in Auschwitz, Magneto falls in love with a gypsy named Magda. Together they escape the prison camp and marry, and Magda soon gives birth to their daughter, Anya. Anya is later killed in a fire, with a mob of people preventing Magneto from rescuing her. Enraged, Magneto's powers manifest uncontrollably, killing the mob and the surrounding townspeople. Terrified, Magda flees Magneto, discovering months later she is pregnant again. After giving birth to the mutant twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Magda disappears. Hunted for the destruction of the town and attempting to search for Magda among her own people, it is revealed that Magneto pays a forger to create the cover identity of "Erik Lehnsherr the Sinte gypsy" for him. Xavier later remembers meeting Magneto, at the time using the alias "Magnus", while working at a psychiatric hospital near Haifa. There, the two hold lengthy debates on the consequences humanity faces with the rise of mutants, though neither reveals to the other that they are mutants. When the two friends reveal their powers to each other and face Baron Von Strucker, Magneto leaves, realizing his and Xavier's views are incompatible. It was also this episode which provided for (at least) initial financing for Magneto's various enterprises, as he confiscated the Nazi gold Strucker was seeking. Sometime after his wife left him, Magneto worked as a hunter of Nazi war criminals for a mysterious agency, taking orders from a man known as Control. Control and his agency decide Magneto is taking too many liberties in his assignments, and they attempt to kill him, but Magneto seemingly kills them all. Magneto's experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp shapes his outlook on the situation that mutants face in the world. Determined to keep such atrocities from ever being committed against mutant-kind, he is willing to use deadly force to protect mutants. He believes that mutants ("Homo superior") will become the dominant life form on the planet. However, he constantly wavers between wanting peaceful existence with homo sapiens and wanting to enforce his superiority over all humanity. Magneto's first terrorist act was attacking a United States military base. He is thwarted by Charles Xavier's mutant students, the X-Men. After forming the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto briefly conquers the fictional South American nation of San Marco in the hopes of establishing a mutant homeland there, but is once again foiled by the X-Men. He later creates Asteroid M, an orbital base of operations in an asteroid he and his followers hollow out, but it is later destroyed in a battle with the X-Men. After several unsuccessful attempts at rallying more mutants to his cause, Magneto tries to force the allegiance of the Stranger. A powerful alien being, the Stranger encases Magneto in a special cocoon and spirits him away to another planet where he remains for a long time. Magneto's Brotherhood splinters, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch desert him. Magneto eventually escapes and makes his way back to Earth where he attempts to reenlist them to his cause, but his plans are foiled by his former minion Toad, who has grown tired of Magneto's cruel treatment. Using ancient and advanced alien technology he finds near the core of the earth, Magneto creates an artificial humanoid he names "Alpha the Ultimate Mutant." Alpha rebels against his creator and reduces Magneto to infancy. Magneto is then placed in the care of Xavier's former love interest, Professor Moira MacTaggert at Muir Island. At Muir Island, MacTaggert tinkers with the infant Magneto's genetic code in an attempt to prevent him from becoming "evil" in adulthood. However, her genetic tampering loses its effect when Magneto activates his powers again. Magneto is eventually restored to adulthood when he is found at Muir Island by the alien Shi'ar agent Erik the Red. Magneto returns to his attempts at global conquest, and is opposed time and again by the X-Men and other heroes. In his most audacious attempt to conquer the world, he threatens the governments of the world with earthquakes and volcanic activity. Though he has no qualms about sinking a Russian submarine that attacks him and then raising a volcano in the city of Varykino as revenge, he does give time for a mass evacuation before lava sweeps over the city. Likewise, he is shocked when he physically strikes down the adolescent X-Man Kitty Pryde in battle. Remorseful at almost killing such a young mutant, Magneto puts an end to his attempt at world conquest and retreats to rethink the path his life has taken. Magneto later discovers that former Brotherhood members the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are actually his children, but when he tries reaching out to them they push him away and refuse to forgive him. Magneto finds himself allied with Professor Xavier and the X-Men when a group of heroes and villains are abducted by the Beyonder, a nearly omnipotent yet frustratingly short-sighted being, to an alien world to participate in the Secret Wars. This surprises many of the other heroes who still believe he is a villain. After the Secret Wars are over, Magneto is transported back to his base, Asteroid M, where the alien Warlock, travelling to Earth, collides into the asteroid, breaking it to pieces. Magneto is sent falling towards Earth and into the Atlantic Ocean, sustaining serious injuries. He is rescued by Lee Forrester, the captain of a fishing trawler. Lee helps him recuperate from his injuries and the two share a small romance. After recuperating from his injuries, Magneto is asked to aid the X-Men in battling the returned Beyonder, and Magneto stays with the X-Men even after the Beyonder is defeated. His association with the team softens his views on humanity and Magneto surrenders himself to the law to stand trial for his crimes. A special tribunal is organized, and chooses to strike all charges against Magneto from prior to his "rebirth," deeming that this had constituted a figurative death of the old Magneto. However, the tribunal is interrupted by an attack from Fenris, the twin children of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Fenris is defeated but Professor X is brought to near-death due to the strain of the battle and previously sustained injuries. Xavier asks Magneto to take over his school and the X-Men, and tells him that doing so would make amends enough for his past crimes. Magneto agrees and chooses not to return to the courtroom. Instead he takes over Xavier's school under the assumed identity of Michael Xavier, Charles Xavier's cousin. Seeing him try to reform, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver begin accepting him as their father. Though Magneto makes a substantial effort as the headmaster to the New Mutants and an ally to the X-Men, his tenure is disastrous. He is forced to deal with the death of all of the younger students, the New Mutants, and their traumatic return to life after being slain by the godlike Beyonder. He is manipulated by the White Queen, mutant headmaster of the rival school "The Massachusetts Academy" into battling sanctioned heroes the Avengers and the Supreme Soviets. Magneto submits to a trial once again, but uses mind-control circuitry he salvages from the wreckage of Asteroid M to alter the opinions of the head justice in charge of the trial. As a result, he is finally absolved of his past crimes. Magneto does not make that decision lightly and wrestles with it afterwards. Feeling that desperate measures needed to be taken after the genocidal massacre in the Morlock Tunnels, Magneto and Storm join the Hellfire Club jointly as the White King. He is unable to prevent his students Roberto Da Costa and the alien Technarch Warlock from running away from the school, sees the death of the young mutant student Douglas Ramsey, and witnesses the apparent death of all of the senior X-Men on national television. Magneto ousts longtime co-chair Sebastian Shaw in order to establish himself as the head of the Hellfire Club, a move which alienates the New Mutants permanently. However, he appears to have quickly lost interest in the Club due to the endless intrigues among its members. Seeing conditions for mutants grow progressively more perilous, Magneto begins seeking allies to protect mutants from humanity. He participates in the "Acts of Vengeance" alongside such established villains as Doctor Doom, the Wizard and the Mandarin. He also confronts Red Skull, an unrepentant Nazi war criminal, on whom Magneto takes revenge by entombing him alive. He works alongside the American intelligence agent Nick Fury as well as a number of Russian operatives in order to re-establish peace in the Savage Land. Tired of the constant state of strife, Magneto builds a second orbital base where he hopes to live a life of quiet seclusion. He is, by this point, a figurehead for the cause of mutanthood and is sought out by a group of new mutants calling themselves the Acolytes. After this, Magneto sets his sights significantly lower than world conquest; he seeks only a haven for mutantkind. He first attempts to make the orbital base known as Asteroid M such a haven but is opposed by the governments of the world and the X-Men. The X-Men do not know whether or not Magneto is returning to his villainous ways, so they confront him. At the time the X-Men are divided into two teams, code named Blue Team and Gold Team. Xavier sends in the Blue Team, led by Cyclops. Cyclops has never trusted Magneto, despite his reformation and Xavier trusting him enough to ask him to take care of the school in his absence. Without giving Magneto a chance to explain himself, Cyclops orders the team to attack. During the battle Wolverine, who had been friends with Magneto when Magneto was on the team, attempts to kill him, much to Magneto's shock. With the exception of Rogue, none of the X-Men are any different. Feeling betrayed by his former allies, Magneto flees. Magneto later discovers how Moira had tampered with his mind when he had been de-aged. Enraged by this, he feels that his redemption has been a lie. Though it was later revealed that the genetic tampering had lost its effect when he had first used his powers after being re-aged, and thus his actions had never been influenced by Moira's tampering, the damage was done. Magneto once more becomes the X-Men's enemy. The United Nations Security Council, in response to a resurgent Magneto, votes to activate the "Magneto Protocols" - a satellite network, in slightly lower orbit than Avalon, which skews the Earth's magnetic field enough to prevent Magneto from using his powers within, preventing him from returning to the planet's surface. In response, Magneto generates a massive electromagnetic pulse not only destroying the satellites, but deactivating every electrically powered device on Earth within eleven minutes. The X-Men respond by hacking into Avalon's own computer systems to teleport a small team to the station with the aid of Colossus (who had joined Magneto as one of Magneto's Acolytes). There the X-Men engage Magneto in battle. Finally, Wolverine launches a killing strike which leads Magneto to respond by ripping the adamantium from Wolverine's bones. This act of self-defense enrages Xavier to the point that he mindwipes his former friend, leaving him in a coma. This action lead to the creation of Onslaught. Magneto remains comatose on Avalon worshipped by his Acolytes, under the leadership of Exodus, until Avalon itself is destroyed. During the destruction, Colossus places Magneto in an escape pod sending him back to Earth. This pod is intercepted by Astra, a former ally who now desires his death. She clones Magneto and when the clone is ready, she restores Magneto's mind since she feels there is no point in killing him unless he knows it is her doing. After a pitched battle, Magneto triumphs over the clone sending him crashing into a Mexican barn. However, weakened by this, the real Magneto goes into hiding while the now-amnesiac clone becomes known as Joseph (christened as such by the nun who discovered him) and eventually joins the X-Men. Since the world believes Joseph to be the real Magneto, Magneto takes his time to plan. He engages in a pair of brief diversions, first posing as "Erik the Red" and revealing Gambit's past crimes to the X-Men, resulting in Gambit's expulsion from the group. Then he kills Odekirk to prevent his true identity from being discovered by Sabra and Gabrielle Haller. Following this, Magneto constructs a machine to amplify his powers and blackmail the world into creating a mutant nation. The X-Men and Joseph, who has fallen under Astra's control again, oppose him. The X-Men defeat Magneto, leaving his powers severely depleted from over-strain, while Joseph sacrifices his life to restore the Earth to normal. The United Nations, manipulated by its mutant affairs officer Alda Huxley, cedes to Magneto the island nation of Genosha, which has no recognized government. Magneto rules that nation for some time with the aid of many who had previously opposed him, including Quicksilver, Polaris, and the founder of the Acolytes, Fabian Cortez. Despite the UN's hopes that Genosha's civil war between humans and mutants would destroy or at least occupy him, Magneto crushes all opposition to his rule and rebuilds the nation by forming an army of mutants dedicated to his cause, including mutants coming from all over the world seeking sanctuary. Eventually, Magneto is able to use the Genegineer's equipment to fully restore his power. Intending to declare war on humanity, he captures Professor X to use as a symbol with which to rally his troops. In the Eve of Destruction storyline, Jean Grey recruits a new lineup of X-Men to help Cyclops and Wolverine rescue Xavier and defeat Magneto. Taking the opportunity for revenge, Wolverine attacks the defeated Magneto, leaving him with serious injuries and crippling him for a time. Soon after this, Genosha is decimated by Sentinels under the orders of Cassandra Nova Xavier, Charles Xavier's previously unknown dead twin sister, whom Xavier had killed in the womb. Magneto and 16 million mutants who were gathered at Genosha are reported deceased. Months after the event, a team of X-Men searching in the debris find what was apparently a recording of Magneto's last words. Mutant-supremacist ideas, attributed to him, become wide-spread in the mutant community with some holding him as a martyr of the mutant cause. Magneto has become a Che Guevara-like revolutionary figure in the mutant community. T-shirts and posters with Magneto's face and the phrase "Magneto Was Right" become popular items, even amongst certain students in the Xavier Institute. Meanwhile, the mutant known as Xorn joins the X-Men after being rescued from captivity in China. Xorn is said to be a Chinese mutant with a "star for a brain" and wears a face-concealing metal helmet with a skull-like motif. He also possesses nebulous healing powers, although the only time he was shown to heal anyone is when he deactivates a number of microscopic Sentinels and simultaneously restores Professor Xavier's ability to walk. In the Planet X storyline, he eventually removes the helmet, revealing Magneto's face beneath. It is alleged that Xorn never existed and is simply an identity conceived wholly by Magneto. Having "exposed his deception", he then schemes to destroy the X-Men and reverse the polarity of the Earth's magnetic field, increasing his power with the use of a mutant drug called "Kick". He recruits the Special Class and Esme from the Xavier School to serve as his Brotherhood of Mutants, though most eventually turn against him. Before being decapitated by Wolverine, "Magneto" devastates much of New York City and kills Jean Grey using a lethal electromagnetic pulse that caused her to have a massive stroke. Some time later, the X-Men find another Xorn, who identifies himself as Shen Xorn and claims that the "Magneto" who devastated New York was Kuan-Yin Xorn, his brother. Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada later elaborated on this,stating that "Kuan-Yin Xorn came under the influence of as-yet-to-be-revealed entity that forced him to assume the identity of Magneto." This remains the official explanation of the Xorn character and its relationship to Magneto. With the launch of a new Excalibur series, Xavier meets up with the real Magneto who is still alive. Xavier brings with him the coffin supposedly containing the corpse of Xorn (but which is later shown to be filled with guns), and explains how the impostor has killed over 5,000 people including Jean Grey. Magneto is shocked and angry that people think he is capable of committing such an act. Xavier and Magneto put aside their differences to rebuild the island nation, rekindling their friendship in the process. Magneto's daughter Wanda suffers a mental breakdown over the loss of her children and starts to warp reality in order to recreate them, inadvertently resulting in random attacks on the Avengers, until Doctor Strange puts her in a coma. In Genosha, Magneto hears Wanda's psychic cry for help and, using a wormhole, whisks her away before the Avengers can do anything. Back in Genosha, Magneto tends to Wanda, becoming more withdrawn and angry, allowing only Xavier to visit, in the belief that Xavier can help Wanda. Xavier is angry to learn that Magneto revealed he was alive, in rescuing Wanda, but agrees to try and help. Months pass with no avail, and not even Dr. Strange's magic helps. The X-Men and the Avengers meet to decide what should be done, and when some of the members suggest killing Wanda, Quicksilver rushes to Magneto to inform him of this development. Magneto admits that he doesn't know what to do anymore and that the groups may be right, but Quicksilver convinces Wanda that she can undo her wrongs, prompting her to warp reality into the House of M. In the new reality, Magneto is attacked by Sentinels over Manhattan in 1979, and reveals an alleged international anti-mutant conspiracy involving Richard Nixon. This results in Magneto being granted sovereignty over Genosha as leader of the world's mutants. A group of heroes have their memories of the "real world" restored by Layla Miller, and they band together and attack Magneto in Genosha, believing him to be the one responsible. During the battle Layla is able to restore Magneto's memories as well, and he confronts his son, enraged that Quicksilver had done all of this in his name. Quicksilver reveals that Magneto would have let Wanda die, but Magneto replies that Quicksilver was only using Wanda and himself. Furious, Magneto kills Quicksilver by pummeling him with large pieces of steel and then crushing him with a Sentinel. Sensing her brother's death, Wanda incapacitates Magneto and removes his mouth when he tries to talk to her. She revives Quicksilver, telling Magneto that Quicksilver had only wanted him to be happy, but even when she gave Magneto what he wanted he was still a horrible man, and mutants were freaks. With the phrase "Daddy - No more mutants," Wanda changes the world back to its original form and causes ninety-eight percent of the mutant population to lose their powers. Magneto is one of the many mutants to lose their powers, and is left a broken man. When Quicksilver comes to Genosha to restore the mutants' powers with the Inhumans' Terrigen Mists, Magneto condemns his actions, pointing out the disastrous effects the Mists have on non-Inhumans. An angry Quicksilver attacks Magneto with his new powers from the Mists, savagely beating him until his own daughter Luna begs him to stop. When the Inhumans come looking for their Mists, Magneto tells them what has happened. The Collective, a being comprised of energy from all the former mutants' powers, merges with an energy absorbing mutant named Michael Pointer. The Collective kills all of the most recent incarnation of Alpha Flight save for Sasquatch, and battles the New Avengers before landing in Genosha. There it repowers Magneto and reveals itself as Xorn. Xorn explains that he took the image of Magneto because he knew mutants would follow him, and that they needed the real Magneto again. Magneto, not in control of himself, begins attacking the New Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while he pleads for them to kill him. He is taken down with a direct brain attack from mutant S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson. Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and the Sentry combine their powers and send the Collective/Xorn into the sun. Michael is separated from the Collective. Magneto, unconscious, is loaded into a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter, but it explodes upon take-off; his body is not found among the rubble.[11]. However, as of the end of Civil War it's been revealed that Pointer, who was shown to retain powers immediately after the separation, is coherced into joining the newly formed Omega Flight, using a suit designed to harness his powers as the new Guardian. Recently, it has been confirmed that Magneto will have a role in the 'Endangered Species' Uncanny X-men mini-series.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 19, 2007 10:49:45 GMT -5
Here is the countdown update so far.
100. Hush 99. Cyborg Superman 98. Hydro-Man 97. Captain Boomerang 96. "Holiday" 95. Psycho-Man 94. Carmine "The Roman" Falcone 93. Morgan Edge 92. Annilius 91. Kang The Conqueror 90. Alexander Luthor Jr. 89. The Black Mask 88. Metallo 87. Clown aka Violator 86. The Black Cat 85. Typhoid Mary 84. Sinestro 83. The Jackal 82. The Puppet Master 81. Cobra Commander 80. Harley Quinn 79. Shuma-Gorath 78. Silvermane 77. The Absorbing Man 76. The Sentinels 75. Morbius The Living Vampire 74. 8-Ball 73. Superboy Prime 72. Mr. Freeze 71. Onslaught 70. Puma 69. The Prowler 68. Mole Man (Wildcard) Superman 67. Super Skrull 66. Crossbones 65. Parallax 64. Gorilla Grodd 63. Stryfe 62. The Scorpion 61. Baron Zemo 60. Clayface 59. Mephisto 58. Catwoman 57. Killer Frost 56. Omega Red 55. Mr. Mxyzptlk 54. The Chameleon 53. Taskmaster 52. Mongul (Wildcard) The Punisher 51. Fing Fang Foom 50. The Penguin 49. Mystique 48. Electro 47. Lady Deathstrike 46. Poison Ivy 45. Shadow Thief 44. Rhino 43. Iron Monger 42. The Trickster 41. The Sandman 40. Shocker 39. The Mandarin 38. Sabretooth 37. Doomsday 36. The Lizard 35. Loki 34. General Zod 33. The Vulture 32. The Spot 31. Black Adam 30. Ultron 29. Dormammu 28. Ra's Al Ghul 27. Mysterio 26. Deathstroke The Terminator aka Slade 25. Brainiac 24. Bane 23. Juggernaut 22. Bizarro 21. Kraven The Hunter 20. Hobgoblin 19. The Scarecrow 18. Bullseye 17. Thanos 16. The Riddler 15. Darkseid 14. Mr. Sinister 13. Apocalypse 12. Two-Face 11. Galactus 10. Red Skull 9. Kingpin 8. Carnage 7. Dr. Octopus 6. Magneto
Now for clues to the last five villians on this list.
* Alien Symbiote
* Leader Of The Legion Of Doom
* Razor Bats
* Somehow....It's Always Reed Richards Fault
* You Ever Dance With The Devil In The Pale Moonlight?
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Post by paragon on Apr 19, 2007 11:36:47 GMT -5
Sinister>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Apocalypse.
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Post by Joker on Apr 19, 2007 12:28:15 GMT -5
venom, green goblin, luthor, doom & joker ... i'll be interested to see who got number one spot.
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Post by Spankymac is sick of the swiss on Apr 19, 2007 12:31:45 GMT -5
If Joker isn't number 1, I riot.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Apr 19, 2007 12:32:48 GMT -5
venom, green goblin, luthor, doom & joker ... i'll be interested to see who got number one spot. Yeah, those have to be the last five. Number 1 will either be Doom or Luthor.
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