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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 9:54:52 GMT -5
45. Shadow Thief While growing up in Japan, Carl Sands learned ninjutsu techniques and became a rather undistinguished industrial saboteur, accepting unremarkable sums to hinder and eliminate his clients' rivals. The Thanagarian criminal Byth then hired Sands to steal Hawkman and Hawkwoman's ship. To help Sands with this job, Byth gave him a Thanagarian belt device/"shadow vest" known as a Dimensiometer, which gave Sands the ability to shift his body into a shadow form. (In the Pre-Crisis version, Sands was given the dimensiometer in return for inadvertently helping an alien explorer.) Hawkman eventually defeated him, but Shadow-Thief would come into conflict with him many times after that. He would later become a member of the Injustice Gang which came into conflict with Hawkman and his allies, the Justice League of America. He lost the belt to the Phantom Stranger, but he gained a shadow suit. He eventually sold his soul to Neron for more power. Neron gave him a more powerful shadow suit with the ability to turn other people and objects into shadows. Recently, the Shadow Thief has entered into the employ of St. Roch art trader Kristopher Roderic. Sands has been sent to the ends of the earth in service of Roderic's dark aims, and is hopeful that the unscrupulous collector will help him with a problem of his own. During the events of Identity Crisis, Shadow Thief became deranged and began having delusional conversations with the Dimensionmeter. He ended up apparently killing Firestorm with Shining Knight's mystically enhanced sword. For killing Firestorm, he was prosecuted by Kate Spencer (a.k.a. Manhunter IX).
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 9:55:23 GMT -5
The original good superman threw people uncaringly to the ground while still flying, killing most of them. How do you know they didn't land in a dumpster? ;D because they showed most of them being dead
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 9:56:38 GMT -5
44. Rhino The Rhino was initially Aleksei Sytsevich, a poor immigrant from Russia who was desperate to pay for the rest of his family to come to America. With little education and no real skills, the only paying jobs he could get were using his impressive strength and musculature as an enforcer for various criminal organizations. One day he was contacted by some Eastern Bloc agents, who offered him a vast sum of money for participating in an incredible experiment. Sytsevich agreed, and was subjected to intensive chemical and radioactive treatment, which bonded a super-strong polymer to his skin and greatly augmented his strength and speed. He was given the code name "Rhino," and was sent to work as a super-assassin. Rhino's first job was to capture Colonel John Jameson for his military secrets. Spider-Man defeated the Rhino, leading to the supervillain's arrest. After escaping from prison, Rhino has taken on many other jobs over the years, and although he still hates Spider-Man and would love to crush him, he is professional enough not to let personal feelings distract him from a paying job. Physically, he is one of Spider-Man's strongest foes with his favored attack being ramming into a target with a sustained charge. He is also not very bright, and thus not too difficult for the wall-crawler to beat. The Rhino has often tangled with The Incredible Hulk as well. He was significantly outmatched by the Hulk in terms of brute force, but the level of superhuman strength he does have, coupled with his invulnerability, has always made him a good adversary. Recently, as portrayed in the story Flowers for Rhino, he decided to seek help to improve his mind the same way his body had been improved: through science. He sought out a scientist who had an experimental treatment to increase his intelligence. To his surprise the treatment actually worked and he was able to defeat Spider-Man, who had always outsmarted him in the past. Next, he took over the majority of the criminal operations in the city and started a law suit against Spider-Man that prevented the hero coming within 500 yards of him. However, his intelligence continued to increase exponentially and, with no intellectual competition, he began to find life boring; he even rewrote "Hamlet" because he found the writing style sloppy, and in his depression pointed out to Spider-Man that he was able to deduce Spider-Man was Peter Parker through a simple equation that could give him the identities of any costumed hero. When he began to approach omniscience he worried that such high intelligence would drive him insane so, although he briefly contemplated suicide, he elected to have the process reversed, actually making himself "a little MORE stupid than [he] used to be... Just to be on the safe side." Whether this meant that he no longer remembers Spider-Man's identity was unknown, but is now a moot point due to Spider-Man unmasking during the Civil War crossover. As of now he has been attacked by the Punisher and was left in less than good condition. He, later, showed up for the wake of the dead supervillain Stilt-Man, tussling with Armadillo, causing a brawl to break out that was stopped by Spider-Man. The wake was later bombed by the Punisher, the only two apparent survivors were the Prowler and the Puma (as Puma had escorted Prowler out at Spider-Man's request.) Rhino has apparently survived the explosion, though, as he's seen humiliating Deadpool by shrinking him via Pym Particles, gluing his head to a keychain (the same thing Deadpool had done to him during a previous encounter), then made him ride a urinal cake. The Rhino was satisfied by what he had done and the two parted ways... only to have Deadpool turn around and defeat the villain while still small.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Apr 18, 2007 9:57:04 GMT -5
How do you know they didn't land in a dumpster? ;D because they showed most of them being dead Oh, yeah, well...SO'S YOUR FACE!!!! *runs off*
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 10:00:23 GMT -5
43. Iron Monger Obadiah Stane was a ruthless individual who studied his adversaries to find weaknesses that he could exploit. Ever since he was a child, Stane enjoyed chess, and handled his life with the same kind of methodical logic that he used in the game. In addition, he was a strong believer in using psychological manipulation to his advantage. For instance, in a childhood chess match against another boy whose skill at least equalled his own, he killed the boy's dog so that his mind wasn't on the game. He won easily, and he continued to use similar forms of manipulation through his life. Stane's father was killed in a hit after being broken out of prison. The hit was used as a setup to frame Tony Stark's father. In adulthood, as a wealthy financier, Obadiah Stane turned his sights on acquiring Stark International, the industrial corporation owned by Tony Stark (Iron Man). Stane had his agents, the Chessmen, attack Stark Industries and assault Stark's confidant, James Rhodes. Stane also set up Indries Moomji as Stark's lover without Stark knowing that Moomji was actually the Chessmen's Queen. While all of this was occurring, Stane and his associates conspired to lock Stark International out of various business deals. Stark eventually learned that Stane was the mastermind behind these attacks, but was unable to confront him. The assaults on Stark, his business, and his friend pushed Stark to the edge, and when Stark was scorned by Stane and then spurned by Moomji, he catastrophically relapsed into alcoholism. With the help of SHIELD, Stane succeeded in buying out Stark International, which he then renamed to Stane International. Stark, having fallen off the wagon, relinquished his armor to Jim Rhodes and disappeared to be a homeless vagrant. Rhodes became the new Iron Man while ignoring Stane's demands to relinquish the armor. Stane proceeded in manufacturing and supplying munitions and weapons to SHIELD and others who could pay for them. But, when Tony Stark left, he left behind notes and information on the Iron Man armor. These notes were far from complete and without Stark's mind, they were hard to analyze, but Stane assigned a team of scientists to these notes and working from this, they created the Iron Monger armor which, according to Stane, was "far superior to Stark's Iron Man armor". He even thought of either selling them to the highest bidder or creating an army of them and using them to "take over any country he wanted". He said that this last idea was particularly interesting. Stark, while a vagrant, befriended a pregnant homeless woman. She died in childbirth, but Stark promised to protect the child. This vow helped pull Stark out of his alcoholic state. When Stark recovered, he built a new suit of Iron Man armor, creating what was then the pinnacle of armor design, the Silver Centurion armor; he also founded a new, successful computer company, Circuits Maximus. Upon learning of his rival's recovery, Stane decided to attack Stark continually again. Stark confronted Stane on the property of Stane International and defeated Stane's agents, including the Chessmen, who had proven a match for his previous armor. Stane donned the Iron Monger armor and confronted Stark personally. The Iron Monger was more powerful than the previous Iron Man armor, but not the Silver Centurion model. Stane tried to defeat Stark by threatening to give his friends a horrible death, but Stark easily defeated the deathtraps. He then confronted Stane again, who was holding his last card: the baby of a woman who Stark had befriended while on skid row. Stane told Stark to remove his helmet or he would crush the homeless woman's baby between his palms. Stark, having detected interfering frequencies in his armor's systems through the battle, deduced that Stane wasn't experienced enough to fight Stark without some help and that help was in the form of a computer bank that helped Stane manipulate the Iron Monger armor. He used his armor's pulse bolts to destroy the nearby building that contained that computer, causing Stane's Iron Monger armor to seize up and fall to the ground as Stark swooped in to catch the baby. Stane then removed his helmet and confronted Stark. When Stark told Stane that it was all over, Stane said that he had one thing left. He then raised his hand to the side of his head and using the repulsor beam, he fatally shot himself in the head, like his father before him. Stark was later able to obtain complete control over his own company, which reverted back to the name of Stark International. After Stane's death, the Iron Monger was obtained by the United States government, who had one of the Guardsmen use it to test the combat skills of the USAgent. Another Iron Monger armor was built by Simon Steele, who used it in battle against Dominic Fortune. A third was built by Stark's former college classmate Joey Cosmatos, who was working from Stane's plans. The Red Skull later had one of his own agents use a suit of Iron Monger armor in an assassination attempt against the Viper, but the suit's wearer was apparently killed by the Viper's men. In the novel Spider-Man: Venom's Wrath, an early scene features Spider-Man confronting a teenager named Daniel in a "cheesy exoskeleton" who calls himself the Iron Monger, and attempts to rob a movie theater (a police officer told Spidey that this was the third time he had attempted something like this). Spidey explains that "an ironmonger is someone who sells iron, not someone who wears it. Last guy to use the name was an industrialist, so it fit him." Daniel's suit includes a laser weapon he calls a "hydrogel blast", despite Spider-Man realising that term makes no sense.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 10:03:14 GMT -5
42. The Trickster The original Trickster is a practical joker and conman whose favourite occupation is damaging enemies like the Flash with items such as explosive teddies. His alter ego is James Jesse (the opposite of Jesse James), a stage name, and his real name is Giovanni Giuseppe. He was a circus acrobat who decided to become a criminal for the thrill. He created shoes that allowed him to walk on air and other dangerous gag gadgets for his crimes. He would clash with The Flash many times. He was among the villains who were brainwashed into giving up crime by The Top. He spent a time working in special effects with Blue Devil, before defeating Neron, with Captain Marvel's help. Justifying his change of heart by saying he no longer dared to go to Hell, he began using his con-artist skills for good, before joining the FBI. Working as an agent of the FBI, James Jesse gathered the reformed rogues to stop Captain Cold and his rogues. But the Top appeared and reverted what he did to the reformed rouges. Jesse is now a member of the rogues again. James will be a major character in the crossover event, Countdown. While the first Trickser was working for the FBI, teenager Axel Walker stole all of Jesse's gadgets and shoes and became the new Trickster. He joined Blacksmith's Network and destroyed files from Goldface and Hunter Zolomon for her. He was also given new "toys" in addition to James's original ones. After the defeat of Blacksmith, He was offered to join the new rouges led by Captain Cold, and took it. He was with the new rouges until all the "reformed" rouges tried to stop Cold. While the two Tricksers were fighting, the Top gave Jesse's memory back. The first Trickster them defeted the new one and told him never to become the Trickster again. Axel current whereabouts are unknown.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 10:05:00 GMT -5
41. The Sandman William Baker was born in Queens, New York. At the age of three, William was abandoned by his father and forced to live in poverty with his mother. Throughout high school, William turned to theft and cheating to get through class and to make ends meet at home. After accepting a bribe, Baker was expelled from school and soon found work as a mob enforcer. Under the alias Flint Marko, Baker became involved in more and more illegal activity, and slowly developed a violent and bitter personality. Eventually he ended up doing hard time on Rikers Island for his dealings but managed to escape. Immediately after he fled to a beach near Savannah, Georgia where he came into contact with sand that had been irradiated by an experimental reactor. His body and the radioactive sand bonded, and Marko’s molecular structure was altered into a sand/dirt-like substance. Marko soon found that he could transform any or all of his body into sand, and adopted the name Sandman to match his new powers. Marko clashed with Spider-Man for the first time at the school which the hero attended as Peter Parker. Marko was defeated by Spider-Man (who used a vacuum cleaner), but eventually resurfaced as a member of the Sinister Six led by Doctor Octopus. After being soundly defeated by Spider-Man several more times, Marko gave up and took a shot at battling other superheroes. Most notably, he created the original Frightful Four to combat the Fantastic Four, but his fledgling group of villains were beaten by the experienced heroes. He also fought the Hulk. An emergency blood transfusion between Sandman and Betty Ross following one of these fights turned Ross into a glass statue, but Doc Samson was able to reverse the effect. During his encounters with the Hulk, Sandman wore a diamond-patterned green costume with a purple headpiece. This has not been seen again. Sandman eventually discovers that — starting with his hand — his body is slowly transforming into glass, although he is able to reverse the effect. Afterwards, he decides to resume his struggle with his original adversary, Spider-Man, and allies himself with Hydro-Man to do battle with their mutual enemy. The two briefly merge into an unintelligent and largely ineffective mud monster, but split apart. Afterwards, Marko becomes deeply depressed, and the Thing of the Fantastic Four supports him, and encourages him to use his power in the name of good. Sandman then makes sporadic appearances in various Spider-Man comics, assisting his former enemy. The first such appearance has him coming to the rescue of Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who are outnumbered and surrounded by the Sinister Syndicate. Silver Sable is impressed by Sandman's performance and recruits him as a freelance operative. Sandman also appears as part of the Outlaws, a group of reformed Spider-Man enemies such as Prowler, Rocket Racer, Puma, and Will o' the Wisp, who would turn up from time to time to help Spider-Man. Flint briefly joins the Avengers as a reserve member. Later, he becomes a full-time mercenary in the employ of Silver Sable, as a member of her Wild Pack, serving alongside heroes such as Paladin and Battlestar. He eventually reverts to his villainous ways, claiming to have faked his heroic career, although it is revealed that the Wizard used his mind-controlling "Id Machine" to force him to act as a villain. Sandman then rejoins a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, which is working with one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies, Venom. Venom reveals that he had joined the team to make sure no one else kills Spider-Man, and turns on the remaining five. Dealing with Marko, Venom rips off and swallows a chunk of sand, which apparently destabilizes Sandman's body structure. His body slowly begins to crumble away. He blames Spider-Man, but ultimately asks him to deliver a message to his mother. He also expresses remorse that he could not pull off the task of becoming an official superhero. The Sandman then crumbles to pieces and seems to die, washing away down a sewer and ending up as part of Jones Beach, New York. Sandman's body and mind scatter with the grains of sand. The major part of his mind merges with the beach and begins swallowing people in an attempt to piece himself back together. Spider-Man tries to free the captured people from Sandman's beach consciousness, which is his evil mindset, and succeeds when Marko explodes from too many clashing mindsets. Soon the sand of the beach begins to spread to different areas around New York, and all of the different aspects of Sandman's shattered mind form individual beings: Marko's good side, evil side, feminine side and childlike side. Spider-Man locates all of the different versions of Sandman and attempts to convince them to return to one being. Sandman's evil side merges with his child and feminine sides, but Sandman's good side doesn't want to allow evil to become a part of him again. The new Sandman responds by abandoning his good side completely, which eventually crumbles into lifeless sand and blows away. While the new Sandman is not the sadistic monstrosity that his purely evil side was, he is a criminal and seems to lack any desire to become a hero or do good. Sandman is one of the villains recruited to recover the Identity Disc, but is seemingly killed due to mutinous behaviour. At the series' end, Sandman is revealed to be alive and working along with the Vulture to manipulate the other villains. According to Spider-Man: Chapter One by John Byrne, Marko is related to the Osborn family. This has not been referred to by other writers, mostly because the series' complete failure rendered it non-canon. Recently in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man storyline "Sandblasted", Sandman has approached Spider-Man asking for help in clearing the name of his father, who has been imprisoned for murdering a bum. Baker admits that his father is a petty criminal, but insists he would never go so far as to kill anybody. Baker also mentions that the victim bears an uncanny resemblance to a picture of Peter Parker's Uncle Ben. Sandman accompanies Spider-Man until they find the true killer, who turns out to be Chameleon 2211. Chameleon 2211 killed the Uncle Ben that Hobgoblin 2211 brought from an alternate universe (in issue #8 of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) and was posing as him after that. Thanks to Spider-Man, Floyd Baker is switched with Chameleon 2211 and saved. Morally, Sandman is a complex character. Throughout his criminal career, he possessed an affinity for his ailing mother. He reformed and joined the superhero group the Avengers and the Wild Pack of Silver Sable. He has since returned to a life of crime but resists the extreme methods and actions of typical supervillains, rarely killing anyone. The Sandman almost always uses the alias Flint Marko, but his actual name is William Baker. This name change was so that his mother would never discover his true identity.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 10:12:58 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
Now for clues to the next five villians on this list.
* Creator of Ultimo
* Killed Superman
* Peter Parker Was His Teaching Assistant
* Shock And Awe
* Victim, Alongside Wolverine, Of Weapon X
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Post by Spankymac is sick of the swiss on Apr 18, 2007 11:49:37 GMT -5
Gettin' closer to the top of the lot, and still no Riddler yet. Don't let me down, voting people.
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Jeff
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 7,074
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Post by Jeff on Apr 18, 2007 13:16:59 GMT -5
Kraven will be number 1 also Omega Red rules and he should make a return
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Apr 18, 2007 14:46:53 GMT -5
hmm... Doomsday, Sabretooh, Shocker and Lizard... don't know who made Ultimo
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:00:10 GMT -5
40. Shocker Herman Schultz was born in New York City. He was a high school dropout who had brilliant talents as both an inventor and an engineer. Instead of using such talents to gain legitimate employment, he became a successful burglar and (according to him in later stories) the world's best safe-cracker. After finally being caught and incarcerated for his crimes, he developed a pair of gauntlets designed to shoot air blasts, vibrating at high frequency. Schultz used the gauntlets to escape from prison and became the supervillain known as "The Shocker". He defeated Spider-Man in their first confrontation (Spider-Man lost because he was at a disadvantage due to having a broken arm from his earlier battle with the Lizard), but was later beaten and sent back to prison by Spider-Man (who pinned Schultz's thumbs away from the gauntlets' triggers with his webbing). The Shocker would go on to prove a constant presence among Spider-Man's gallery of enemies, often as either a thief or subordinate to a more prominent of Spider-Man's foes (notably Wilson Fisk and the Owl). He regularly works either as a member of a team (including Hobgoblin's Sinister Seven, Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve, Doctor Octopus's most recent Sinister Six, and the Masters of Evil) or in partnership with at least one other villain (previous alliances include Boomerang, The Beetle, Rhino, Leila Davis, Trapster, Hydro-Man, and Speed Demon). Likely Schultz's most ambitious solo exploit was his attempt to hold the city of New York for ransom by blacking out various electrical grids to spell out his name. The Shocker found a rare moment of victory over Spider-Man when he teamed up with the Trapster. Sent by the Friends of Humanity to assassinate Paul Stacy, the duo managed to glue Stacy and Spider-Man together and corner them, only to be called off of their assignment moments before finishing them off. Shocker would later turn on the Trapster at the bequest of Norman Osborn (who sought to have the Trapster eliminated as a potential witness against his recent attempt to frame Spider-Man for murder). Preparing to kill the resigned Trapster in an alley, he was attacked and rendered unconscious at the last minute by Spider-Man (then disguised under the alias of Dusk). He recently allied himself with Speed Demon of the New Thunderbolts in order to break into a particular well-guarded safe. Though the police arrived at his hide-out in quick pursuit, he was saved by Speed Demon, who dashed in and stole both the loot and Shocker's weapons, removing all traces of evidence (and, unfortunately for Shocker, also keeping the money to fund the Thunderbolt's further activities). Shortly after, he was terminated as a freelance agent by Hammer Industries and captured by Spider-Man while trying to rob a federal bank alongside Hydro-Man. A new version of the Sinister Six, with the Shocker as a member, banded together during the Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers. Shocker is set to reappear as a member of Avengers: The Initiative (issue #3) in an attempt to capture Spider-Man, who is unregistered by law. He also recently appeared in Punisher War Journal #4, but apparently survived the event and appeared in She-Hulk #17. As a side note, Herman Schultz is not the only Marvel villain to use the name Shocker. Randall Darby from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants/Mutant Force also used the name. Darby changed the name to Paralyzer at one point, perhaps merely to avoid confusion with the Shocker proper.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:04:08 GMT -5
39. The Mandarin The Mandarin's father was one of the wealthiest men in pre-revolutionary mainland China (who claimed to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan), and his mother was an English noblewoman. Both died soon after their son's birth, and he was raised by his father's sister, who was embittered against the world and raised him with much the same attitude. He displayed scientific aptitude at an early age and used his inheritance for education in various sciences in China and abroad. As an adult he became a high government official, or mandarin, and became renowned throughout China for his administrative brilliance. However, with the success of mainland China's Communist revolution, the Mandarin was deprived of his position, his palace and his wealth. Hoping to find a means of restoring himself to a position of power, the Mandarin explored the forbidden "Valley of Spirits," where no one had dared set foot for centuries. There he found the skeleton and starship of Axonn-Karr, an intelligent dragon-like alien from the planet Maklu-4, who had come to Earth centuries ago and died. Over the following years, the Mandarin studied Makluan science until he had mastered it. He also learned how to use the ten rings he found within the starship which were apparently its propulsion source, among other things. The Mandarin then subjugated the villages around the Valley, and, through his super-science, rapidly became a power that not even the Chinese Army could successfully challenge. He then embarked on a long series of attempts to achieve world domination. The Mandarin saw technology as the surest means to achieve his goals. Over the years, he would frequently attempt to turn various nations' weapons against them. Among the Mandarin's earliest schemes was the sabotage and theft of American missiles and spy planes built by Anthony Stark. To restore public confidence in his workmanship, Stark donned his Iron Man armor and flew to China to investigate. Iron Man soon became the Mandarin's principal obstacle against his plans for world domination. but the Mandarin failed to kill him. Similarly, Iron Man thwarted the Mandarin's various schemes, but was unable to bring him to justice. Some of the Mandarin's early technological achievements were the launching of a small orbiting satellite whose "death-ray" he aimed at Stark Industries and the building of Ultimo, a 30-foot android possessing vast destructive powers. The Mandarin would employ Ultimo four times over the years, but it was always defeated by Iron Man. The Mandarin's teleportation technology, derived from Makluan science, enabled him to kidnap people at will or teleport himself out of threatening situations. During his fifth encounter with Iron Man, the Mandarin teleported Harold "Happy" Hogan, a friend and confidant of Iron Man, to his castle in China half a world away, precipitating his fifth encounter with Iron Man. Hogan had been wearing the Iron Man armor at the time to help protect his employer's secret identity, and the Mandarin mistook him for his true foe. Rescuing Hogan, Iron Man physically bested the Mandarin in personal combat for the first time. Iron Man redirected the missiles that the Mandarin had launched at the Mandarin's castle, destroying it. The Mandarin escaped by means of his teleportational machinery, and he materialized aboard his orbiting satellite. There, he constructed a gemlike device capable of broadcasting "hate-rays" toward Earth. The Mandarin assembled several of the former Masters of Evil to perform missions for him: the Living Laser, the original Power Man, the Swordsman, the Enchantress, and the Executioner. The Avengers managed to thwart the Mandarin's scheme and destroyed his satellite. The Mandarin then established a base in China's Gobi Desert and turned his attentions to the Hulk for a time, hoping to make the dull-witted brute an accomplice. Two attempts at controlling the Hulk proved futile, however, including one where the Mandarin allied himself with the American criminal the Sandman. The Hulk destroyed the Mandarin's desert base. When the Mandarin next attacked Iron Man, he employed an android in the Hulk's likeness rather than the real Hulk. The Mandarin set up a makeshift base of operations in America, and attempted to publicly discredit Anthony Stark. Holding Iron Man captive for the fourth time, the Mandarin tried to learn if Iron Man was actually Stark, but Stark fooled him with a rubber mask over his own features. His plans thwarted, the Mandarin tried to kill Stark's current girlfriend Janice Cord, but the Mandarin's betrothed Mei Ling saved her at the cost of her own life. Returning to China, the Mandarin sought a means to increase his rings' power and learned of the legendary Eye of Yin, a talisman of power created by an ancient group of Chinese sorcerers. The Mandarin maneuvered the Royal Family of the Inhumans (who at the time lived in the nearby Himalayan Mountains of Tibet) into locating the idol for him. But before he could fully incorporate the Eye's power in his rings, Black Bolt, the ruler of the Inhumans, overpowered him, stripped him of his ten rings, and hid them. Unable to find the rings, the Mandarin journeyed back to the "Valley of Spirits" and the ruins of the Makluan starship wherein he first acquired the rings. There he found a headband containing technology which enabled him to recover the rings. The Mandarin used his newfound power to restore his castle to its original state. The Unicorn, another frequent opponent of Iron Man, sought the Mandarin's aid in curing him of a progressive disease. The Mandarin and the Unicorn traveled to America to attack their common enemy Iron Man, but in the heat of battle, the Mandarin found that the headband had somehow exchanged his consciousness with that of the Unicorn. The Mandarin was forced to flee, desperate to separate himself from the Unicorn's dying body. When the Mandarin arrived at his castle in China, he found that it had been taken over by the Yellow Claw, another Chinese supervillain. The Mandarin was forced to find another laboratory to try to restore his mind back to its rightful body, which he managed with the unwilling aid of the Japanese mutant Sunfire. In battle with Iron Man again, the Mandarin's interim headquarters was destroyed. The Mandarin then launched an attack on the Yellow Claw in an attempt to regain his own castle, but was fatally injured when the Yellow Claw robot he had been battling exploded. As the Mandarin lay dying, he used the headband's mind-transferring capacities to transfer his consciousness into his ten rings. When the rings were confiscated by the Yellow Claw's power-hungry servant Loc Do, the Mandarin's consciousness entered Loc Do's body, permanently driving out Loc Do's. Using his matter-rearranger ring, the Mandarin transformed Loc Do's body into a younger duplicate of his original one. The Mandarin returned to his castle, discovering that it had again been destroyed. After rebuilding it, the Mandarin attempted to capture Iron Man with his teleportation devices, but once again caught someone else clad in his armor. This time it was Michael O'Brien, later to become a friend of Stark's and first to wear the Guardsman armor. Iron Man flew to O'Brien's rescue, clad in an old set of armor, saved O'Brien, thwarted the Mandarin's attempt to bomb the United States and for a second time bested him in personal combat. Perhaps due to the effect of the Mandarin's mental domination ring on him, Iron Man did not take the Mandarin into custody, but allowed him to remain free. The Mandarin later schemed to involve turning the Great Vibranium Mound of Wakanda into Type II Vibranium which destroys the molecular cohesion of metals. He also tried to destroy China's entire rice crop in an attempt to provoke war. In the second of these plots, the Mandarin encountered James Rhodes, during his custodianship of the Iron Man armor. When Stark tried to set up a branch of Stark Enterprises in Hong Kong, Iron Man and the Mandarin once again came into conflict. The Mandarin had taken the name of Zhang Tong, and had become a financial leader in Hong Kong. As Tong, he controlled a number of government officials and industry leaders of Hong Kong. The Mandarin thwarted all of Stark's attempts to set up a business branch, even resorting to murder. The Mandarin now employed a group called the Hand to do his dirty work. When on a mission, a Hand member was allowed to take one of the Mandarin's rings and use its powers. If the Hand member was captured, he would fanatically try to kill himself. If the Hand member was killed or knocked out, the ring would automatically teleport back to the Mandarin. At one point, the mutant heroine Psylocke passed through the mystic portal known as the Siege Perilous. The portal relocated her to an Asian shore, leaving her amnesiac. The man known as Matsu'o Tsurabaya found her and believed he could save his brain-dead lover Kwannon by switching her mind with Psylocke. He made an arrangement with the Mandarin to help him with the switch, whose rings would be able to cause the mindswitch. Working with the woman known as Spiral, they were able to switch the minds of the two women. Mandarin then put Psylocke (now in Kwannon's body) through conditioning, causing her to believe herself to be Lady Mandarin, the Mandarin's assassin. After doing several assignments for him, Psylocke was eventually rescued by her X-Men teammates Wolverine and Jubilee, and Psylocke defeated the Mandarin, causing events which led to Mandarin's leaving the Hand. The Mandarin next discovered the Heart of Darkness, an orb of apparently mystic energy, which he used to turn back time in China. Iron Man, with his team Force Works and ally War Machine defeated him, but not before the Mandarin discovered that Tony Stark was the man inside the Iron Man armor. Iron Man infected Mandarin with a techno-organic virus, and the Heart, seeing him infected with technology, rejected the Mandarin and imploded. Iron Man believed him dead, but in reality the Mandarin was transported and transformed by the last flare of the orb's magic, turned into a janitor in the Hong Kong branch of Stark Enterprises. Eventually, the Mandarin's memories returned to him and instead of trying to crush technology, Mandarin believed that the feudal system of yesterday had merely been transformed into the capitalism of today. Mandarin set into motion plans to create a giant flying fortress called the Dragon of Heaven through which he could conquer Russia and eventually the world. During this time, Iron Man reappeared after being believed dead in a battle against the psychic menace Onslaught. The Mandarin initiated a series of attacks on Iron Man, culminating in a battle with the Dragon of Heaven. Eventually it was revealed that the Mandarin's primary purpose was not to conquer Russia, but to test Iron Man, prove him worthy as a foe and to justify Mandarin's own thoughts on capitalism. The Mandarin apparently died as the Dragon of Heaven exploded, but Iron Man was less than convinced that his foe had truly met his end. Nevertheless, the Mandarin has thus far yet to make a return into Iron Man's life. Instead, the Golden Avenger has been faced with Temugin, the son of the Mandarin. Temugin has precious few memories of his father and most of them involve his father taking him to the monastery where he was raised and trained by monks. Temugin is sensitive, spiritual and unbelievably powerful because of his control of chi, the living force in all things. One day Temugin received a package containing the severed hands of the Mandarin, bearing all the rings of power. Temugin knew that he was honor bound to fulfill his father's wishes for him. He challenged Iron Man to avenge his father’s death, and he proved a deadly adversary even without the rings. After Tony Stark revealed a conspiracy for mass murder in his own ranks, Temugin appeared to have forgiven Iron Man for the death of his father and to have turned to more lofty pursuits, but recent events indicate the power of the rings have corrupted his soul. Temugin is named after his claimed ancestor Genghis Khan, whose name was Temugin (also spelled Temuchin, Temudjin, u also variates to ü) The Mandarin will be revived in the current arc of Iron Man. Apparently he has been in a prison in central China for some time. In this story it has been revealed that he has lost his hands. He has also been living with no food or water for years. His ability to survive so long without food or water is likely due to his mastery of chi.Despite being handless and starved, he was able to kill several men armed with guns via his mastery of the martial arts.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:09:49 GMT -5
38. Sabretooth In an early tale (Wolverine vol. 2 #10), Creed and Logan, the X-Men's future Wolverine, live in a small community of Blackfoot Indians and settlers, and one day, Sabretooth tracks him down in Canada, and rapes and seemingly murders his one-time teammate's lover, Silver Fox, on Logan's birthday. This results in the first of many battles between the two, but not before they are reunited as teammates. Many years later, Creed would start hunting down Logan on his birthdays to battle him. Eventually, Creed is recruited into a top secret CIA covert ops unit known as Team X, with allies John Wraith (Kestrel), Logan (Wolverine), and David Nord (Maverick). On one mission, the psychopathic Sabretooth kills a crucial scientist during a battle against Russian supersoldier Omega Red. He frequently kills targets and civilians during other fights involving the loose knit team, but he is loose friends with Logan. During this period he fathers a son, Graydon Creed, with the mutant shapeshifter Mystique, who is undercover in the guise of a spy named Leni Zauber. Graydon eventually grows up to found Friends of Humanity, an anti-mutant organization, and while running for President he will be assassinated by the evolved robot Bastion. Next, Sabretooth is recruited by the Weapon X program, but it is unknown what, if any, enhancements he gets. He does receive the standard Weapon X memory tamperings, and he is found to be more prone to telepathy than his counterpart, Wolverine. In 1968, Creed, using the alias Sabretooth, works as a mercenary in Saigon and is responsible for the murder of several prostitutes. Because of his contacts, Creed becomes aware that an individual, the White Devil, is involved in the disappearance of soldiers and locals, which are rumored to be the victims of experimentation. Sabretooth is approached by Scalphunter, who has killed Creed's employer. Creed then receives a large sum of money as a compensation for his employer's death and because the White Devil wants to employ him as one of his own enforcers; an offer Sabretooth accepts. Eventually emerging as a costumed villain, Sabretooth becomes partners with the Constrictor and the two act as enforcers for major criminal interests. The two soon dissolve their partnership, and Sabretooth nearly kills the Constrictor at one time. Sabretooth battles Iron Fist, in his first historical appearance, Iron Fist #14. Sabretooth eventually encounters a thief by the name of Gambit, and the two fight, but find they aren't exactly enemies. Later, while recruiting for mastermind villain Mister Sinister, Gambit gathers a group of mutant criminals he has associated with who form The Marauders and participate in the Mutant Massacre. This sets Sabretooth in another battle against Wolverine. Sinister clones several of the Marauders so that he has a loyal group of lackeys after the originals die, but Sabretooth cannot be cloned. Still, he stays with the Marauders for an unspecified amount of time before leaving and returning to his mercenary roots During his time as a mercenary, he establishes himself as a hero-fighting villain by taking on the likes of Luke Cage, Daredevil, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Black Cat, where he nearly bites through her leg until he encounters the armor underneath her boot. During one of his Spider-Man encounters, Creed's employer, The Foreigner, claims to have trained the mercenary at some point. Also during this time, the ninja organization the Hand augments his strength. Eventually returning to the sewers to slaughter some leftover Morlocks, Sabretooth becomes hunted by Caliban, a surviving Morlock who previously pledged his life to the immortal mutant Apocalypse. In a vicious battle, the once meek Caliban breaks Sabretooth's spine, and leaves him for dead. Sabretooth's healing ability repairs this damage, but he doesn't track the augmented Caliban down. Sabretooth returns to his archenemy Wolverine, and the pair are reunited with Team X. A bigger surprise comes when Wolverine and Sabretooth discover Silver Fox is actually alive, but she only remembers a hatred for Logan. Ultimately, Ferro, a telepath, takes control of Creed and coerces him to kill Silver Fox, this time for real. Believing himself to be Wolverine's father (initially the intention of Claremont), it was revealed by genetic testing by S.H.I.E.L.D. that Sabretooth could not be Logan's father (Wolverine scribe Larry Hama and editors did not like the father idea). During this period, he also battles Cable, and is targeted by the Weapon X robot Shiva. Soon, suffering from severe bloodlust, Sabretooth hires telepathic mutant Birdy to help him keep his urges in check by providing what he calls "the glow," a psychic blast that satiates his bloodlust and numbs the pain of his suppressed memories as a youth, allowing himself control for short periods. Sabretooth is next hired by the Hand's leader, Matsuo, in an attempt to defeat the X-Men with the newly reanimated Omega Red. During the battle, the telepathic X-Woman Psylocke possesses Sabretooth to free her teammates. A short time later, Birdy is killed by his grown son Graydon, who now has a hatred for mutants, especially his father. Without the "glow", Sabretooth slips into a murderous killing spree. This culminates in a clash with Maverick, who Sabretooth defeats and escapes, claiming only Wolverine can do what needs to be done to the psychotic Creed as he leaps out a window. Maverick approaches the X-Men and in Japan, an ancient telepath, comatose since the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, mindlinks and the team discovers Creed's psychosis was rooted in his time as a CIA operative: on a mission, he slaughtered a target, his wife (a "freebie" for Creed), and a little boy. The look in the boy's eyes has followed Creed ever since. Ultimately, Sabretooth attacks Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. As Xavier infiltrates Creed's mind, he discovers that every victim Sabretooth has killed is remembered by the villain. Xavier is confident this means Creed values human life, and there is hope for the mutant. Sabretooth is incarcerated, as a wanted murderer, in a holographic environment because Xavier does not want him to roam on the grounds. Sabretooth is angered, but grudgingly stays with the team. During his incarceration, he assists in battles against the X-Cutioner and the Phalanx. Caliban, becoming child-like in thought, kidnaps the X-Man Jubilee in exchange for Sabretooth. When Sabretooth arrives, he mauls Caliban's face, who flees the battle. Wolverine, who had left the team after his adamantium was removed by Magneto, returns, and the villain escapes for a fight. This leads to Wolverine stabbing one of his claws into Sabretooth's brain. The newer, gentler Sabretooth, with brain damage and free from the need for "the glow", was frequently nursed for by X-Force member Boomer, he eventually reveals that he was feigning helplessness, and attacks Boomer. Psylocke saves the young mutant's life, and she uses her psionic knife to disable him. However, this no longer works because of his brain injury from Wolverine, and furthermore, it renders him resistant to telepathic detection and control. Retaliating by nearly killing Psylocke, he is confronted by the X-Men, who manage to incapacitate him. He is turned over to the custody of Dr. Valerie Cooper, who fits him with an explosive restraining collar and forces him to participate as a member of the government-sponsored X-Factor team. He eventually escapes, and returns once more to mercenary work. Under unknown circumstances he gains adamantium skeleton and claws, but after his defeat to Wolverine, they are removed by Apocalypse after the long time rivals are captured and forced to fight once more, with the victor to become his new horseman, Death. Wolverine triumphs, and Apocalypse takes the adamantium from Sabretooth and bonds it to Wolverine. He then joins Mystique's new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, calling itself the Brotherhood, where he participates in an assassination attempt against Senator Robert Kelly. Later, he is forced to become a member of a relauched Weapon X program, where his skeleton is infused with adamantium once more. Sabretooth reveals that by means of genetic enhancement the Weapon X program has increased his strength and accelerated his healing factor in Wolverine Vol. 2 #166. Eventually he escaped the program again, and resumed working solo, and sometimes in a team, such as when he worked with several other villains to locate Identity Disc, a record of heroes' secret identities, which ended up being a ruse. Later, in Canada, he encountered Sasquatch and the newest Wendigo. Sabretooth and the Wendigo end up in the Arctic Sea, presumed dead by Sasquatch. After a fearsome battle in the Arctic Waters, Sabretooth emerged victorious with the hide of the Wendigo. Sabretooth would later attack the Xavier Institute, in a revamped Brotherhood consisting of leader Black Tom Cassidy, Mammomax, Avalanche, Exodus, and undercover heroes Nocturne and Juggernaut. Wolverine claims to have killed Sabretooth, spreading him "all over the grass", although Black Tom's plant abilities probably contributed to Sabretooth's survival; he next comes back in "X-Men: The 198 Files". In X-Men #188, he was spotted fleeing a mysterious group of superhumans collectively known as The Children. Their reasons for pursuing him remained unknown, but two of them — Sangre and Serafina — were tracking him. Sangre activated a singularity generator that annihilated most of the town and killed all its citizens, except for a little girl whom Serafina deliberately shielded from the destruction so there would be a witness to what has happened. He later encountered two more of the Children — Aguja and Fuego. They attacked him and temporarily neutralized his healing factor, but he managed to escape regardless, only to end up at the Xavier Institute later that night seeking sanctuary. It is revealed that the Children are after Creed because he has seen them and knew who they are, while the public believed the X-Men destroyed the town. It is only when Rogue, the leader of the team, injected nano-sentinels into Sabretooth's blood that they take him along with their fight against The Children, a factor that one of The Children exploited. At one point Cannonball saved his life during the battle. Sabretooth rewards him with some inside information after, "The first time you turn your back, you're dead." Sabretooth has recently renewed his bloody rivalry with Wolverine following Wolverine's return to the X-Mansion. Wolverine hurls Sabretooth through a window before engaging him in a bloody brawl. During the fight, Wolverine thinks back to the time when Sabretooth has, supposedly, killed and raped Silver Fox. He remembers Sabretooth saying Quod Sum Eris" and asks what it means. Sabretooth explains that it means "You will become me". Wolverine loses control and calls Sabretooth insane before placing his fist against Sabretooth's throat. Creed tells him if he extracts his claws, he will rip his heart out. Wolverine replies "Let 'er rip" and pops his claws into Sabretooth's throat. Wolverine regains consciousness and finds himself chained to the roof of the Blackbird. He quickly breaks free of the chains and is surprised to find Sabretooth piloting the jet. Wolverine breaks into the cockpit and begins choking Sabretooth with one of the chains and causes him to crash. The two emerge from the flaming wreckage and, while healing from the injuries sustained in the crash, begin fighting once again until seperated by a lightning bolt, courtesy of Wolverine's former teammate and current Queen of Wakanda, Storm. A short time later Sabretooth is chained up in the royal palace of Wakanda and complains to Wolverine, Storm, and the Black Panther. Sabretooth snaps the chains and escapes into the jungle, with the Panther quickly giving chase. The Panther catches up to Sabretooth and the two begin to fight, with Sabretooth quickly gaining the upper hand. He holds the Panther off the ground by the neck, preparing to strike a killing blow, when Wolverine suddenly appears and slices off Sabretooth's right hand. Writer Mike Carey noted he has no plans on redeeming Sabretooth, saying, "I’m not going to try and show a heroic side to Sabretooth’s nature; I’m not going to retcon him so that there are reasons for his actions that make him forgivable. The things he’s done are not forgivable and he can’t be redeemed. I’m not making him into a hero; I’m making him into a team member and there are reasons within the first storyline as to why he ends up fighting alongside the X-Men against another enemy. And there are reasons why it’s not so easy to simply shake him off again afterwards. There are things that are going on that will sort of unfold during the first year of my run which explain his being there and explain his being accepted with very, very grave misgivings into the team.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:13:49 GMT -5
37. Doomsday Doomsday was artificially created in the distant past on Krypton long before the humanoid Kryptonian race had gained dominance over the planet. During this time period, Krypton was a violent, hellish world where only the absolute strongest of creatures could survive (at the time, the world's dominant lifeforms were said to be the most dangerous creatures in the universe). Doomsday's creator was a mysterious alien named Bertron, who wished to create the ultimate lifeform. To do so, Bertron and his team sent a baby onto the surface of the planet, where it would be instantly killed by the harsh environment or the vicious creatures inhabiting it. Each time, whatever of the lifeform's remains that survived were harvested and used again, to create a better, stronger version than the previous. In short, the mad scientist was using the method of cloning to accelerate the evolution of the being he was creating. Through decades of this process, the being who would eventually become Doomsday was forced to endure the agony of death, thousands upon thousands of times; the memory of these countless deaths was recorded in his genes and drove it to hate all life. Eventually, Doomsday gained the ability to evolve against what killed him in his prior life without the need of Bertron's technology. At this point he proceeded to hunt down and kill all of the lethal creatures that inhabited Krypton. Bertron himself met his death at the hands of his own creation. Doomsday escaped Krypton and went on a killing spree across several planets. He began with crashlanding on Bylan 5 (245,000 years ago), a planet where Darkseid was about to wed a princess (in order to obtain that planet's chemical deposits for Apokolips' weapons factories). They fought to a standstill and for the first time, Darkseid knew defeat. He was forced to flee as the battle had caused the planets atmosphere to become toxic and therefore worthless to Apokolips. Doomsday managed to hitch a ride on an escaping shuttle. This shuttle eventually crashed on Khundia. The warring Khundian clans united in order to build protective armor for a warrior named Kobald. His goal was to survive long enough to force Doomsday onto a rocket. Once the rocket was in space, Doomsday killed Kobald and the resulting explosion send him hurling through space. He would next come across the path of a Green Lantern named Zharan Pel. Doomsday took his power ring and sensing the Guardians of the Universe power made his way to them. Hundreds of Green Lanterns were sent to stop him and were killed. He continued to Oa where a single Guardian sacrificed himself in battle to defeat him. With Doomsday dead, the Guardians turned their attention to rebuilding the Corps. In reality, the release of massive energies by the Guardian had caused a tear in space through which an injured and unconscious Doomsday fell. Eventually coming to Calaton, he tore that world apart for three years. With only the capital city left, all the members of the royal family combined their life forces into a single energy being, The Radiant. The Radiant killed Doomsday with a huge blast of energy (laying waste to over a 1/5 of his world in the process). In common Calatonian burial procedures, Doomsday's body was shackled and masked, and due to his status as a murderer, was shot into space. Eventually, he would land on Earth, the force of the impact of his landing driving the casket deep underground. Doomsday, however, was not dead, as any time he would be "killed", he would return, having evolved past whatever defeated him. In his first encounter with the Justice League, Doomsday defeated the entire team of superheroes in a matter of minutes, fighting literally with one hand tied behind his back while laying waste to the entire surrounding area and in turn attracting the attention of Superman. Due to Doomsday's rudimentary speech, he never actually called himself "Doomsday"; the name was coined by Booster Gold, one of the members of the Justice League, who said that the monster's rampage resembled "the arrival of Doomsday" (meaning the end of the world). During his violent rampages, Doomsday took interest in billboards and television spots advertising violent wrestling competitions held in Metropolis, inspiring the seemingly mindless creature to head towards the city. Superman quickly found that Doomsday's awesome power was somewhat a match for his own and he realized that if Doomsday actually reached Metropolis, the resulting battle could conceivably destroy the city and kill millions of innocent people. Simultaneously, Doomsday developed a strong desire to murder Superman in particular; this was later explained in the Hunter/Prey miniseres by Doomsday sensing that Superman was Kryptonian, and, due to the agony of his continuous deaths during his creation, Doomsday regarded anything Kryptonian as an automatic threat (however, Doomsday did not react violently towards the Cyborg Superman, who possesses Kryptonian DNA). In the space of only a few issues of the Superman comic book series, Superman and Doomsday engaged in a titanic battle that made Superman realize that Doomsday would continue to attack relentlessly, endlessly, with no defeat or surrender in sight. It culminated in Superman #75, where in a heroic act of self-sacrifice, Superman fought Doomsday to the bitter end, until the two combatants each struck a simultaneous, fatal blow that left both of them lifeless in front of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis. In the aftermath of Superman's apparent death, no fewer than four super-beings appeared in his wake, two of them declaring themselves to be the "real" Superman. One of these four, a half-man/half-machine cyborg (who would later become a dangerous villain called simply "The Cyborg") took the apparently lifeless body of Doomsday and, after strapping it to an asteroid, flung it into deep space, on a trajectory that would supposedly ensure that it would never land on any planet. The issue closes with an image of an awakened and laughing Doomsday, still strapped to the asteroid, but otherwise in good condition. Eventually, after passing through a wormhole, Doomsday's asteroid was accidentally found by a deep-space scavenger ship. Upon closer examination of the peculiar-looking drifting rock, the ship's crew retrieved the object hoping to find something of value. The scavenger vessel happened to be en route to Apokolips, the home of the awesomely-powerful tyrant Darkseid. Doomsday was fully rested and, after slaughtering the crew of the salvage ship, found himself landing on the harsh world. This was to be the setup for a final showdown between Doomsday and Superman (similarly resurrected, in the meantime), who had been uneasy about the possibility of Doomsday's resurrection. With the help of his JLA contacts, Superman procured a Mother Box, a thinking computer, after Darkseid's servant Desaad contacted Earth about a problem on Apokolips. Unknown to Superman, Doomsday had faced and beaten Darkseid himself in single combat (even surviving Darkseids fabled Omega Beams) and was laying waste to Apokolips. Unfortunately, before Superman could deal with Doomsday, Desaad opened a boom tube to Calaton -- the first world where Doomsday was successfully defeated -- and sent Doomsday through to what he believed was his defeat at the hands of The Radiant. However, Doomsday is essentially able to adapt and overcome any opponent because of the process by which he was created (he was always stronger than he had been prior to his last death); so, although The Radiant had defeated him once, he would not be able to defeat him again. Likewise, even though Superman had killed Doomsday once before, he would be unable to do so again. Superman, while knowing this, was obsessed with stopping Doomsday and traveled to Calaton. He fought Doomsday again with the help of the Mother Box, but, despite it providing him with extra weapons such as an ultrasonic gun and an energy sword, Superman met with defeat. He was forced to use one of Waverider's time travel devices to bring Doomsday to an entropy, a terrible place in the universe where time and space are absorbed by a force stronger than a black hole, and therefore, time and space don´t exist, due to this fact life isn´t possible and, supossedly, there is no way for Doomsday to scape because there´s not a physical place to do it. That place is the End of Time. During the Wonder Woman Lifeline storyline, an imperfect duplicate of Doomsday was created by an artificial intelligence based on the son of the programmer, who didn't realise that he was creating an actual monster; he thought he was simply playing a computer game. Despite the duplicate possessing all of Doomsday's raw strength, with the aid of the new Wonder Girl, and the disguised Hercules (Currently posing as new hero Champion in a plot against the Amazons), Wonder Woman was able to shatter the false Doomsday when he was given access to so much power that his bone spurs covered his body, leaving him unable to move and reduced to a simple statue that Wonder Woman was able to shatter. Doomsday returned yet again in the miniseries The Doomsday Wars. In this series, Brainiac uses his technology to travel to the End of Time to retrieve Doomsday in order to combine the beast's massive power with Brainiac's formidable intellect (this was later revealed to have taken place due to the timeline's reconstruction following the events of 'Zero Hour', when the former (at that time) Green Lantern Hal Jordan, presently known as Parallax broke down creation and the heroes were forced to trigger their own Big Bang to stop him; the reconstruction of time meant that Brainiac was able to change the outcome of Doomsday's defeat). Doomsday's will proved too strong to override completely with psionics, and he reacted too quickly for any chemical process to eliminate his simple mind, so Brainiac attempted to use a human host to genetically engineer a Doomsday body without the mind while temporarily lodging in Doomsday's head. He chose to use Pete Ross and Lana Lang's newborn baby, born eight weeks premature and being transported by Superman to the best Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit in the country; Brainiac intercepted Superman during the attempt and stole the baby to hurt his long-time foe, correctly deducing that it was the child of someone close to Superman. In the end, Superman thwarted Brainiac's plot by driving him out of Doomsday's body via the use of a telepathy-blocking 'psi-blocker'. He then lured Doomsday to the moon, where he placed Doomsday in a kind of stasis with four JLA teleporters; perpetually transporting between those four booths, Doomsday would never be more than 25% integrated, and thus unable to 'think' of a plan to escape. Following these events, Doomsday was released by Lex Luthor's Suicide Squad to battle Imperiex, a threat that was judged to be even greater than Doomsday himself. Once freed, Doomsday slaughtered the Squad, and then went on to battle Imperiex's numerous probes (his mind having been altered to regard them as the threat he normally perceived Superman to be), which had thus far managed to seriously injure or kill most of Earth's heroes. Doomsday tore through numerous probes with seemingly little effort- aided by Superman, the only time the two enemies would come close to teaming up- before finally confronting Imperiex himself. Imperiex proved too much for Doomsday, who blasted him, reducing Doomsday to a skeleton. Just a little while later, Superman #175 commemorated the 100th issue since the death of Superman in battle with Doomsday by staging a rematch. We learn that Doomsday's body was retrieved and his flesh regrown by Lex Luthor, who handed Doomsday over to Darkseid (who had helped in the retrieving and repairing of Doomsday) to repay Earth's war debt to Apokolips. By this time, Doomsday had evolved intelligence and sentience. Lex Luthor arranged for the Joker to set Doomsday loose in Washington D.C. to demonstrate that he was "in good working condition." It also happened to be the anniversary of the day that Superman had died while stopping Doomsday. Superman defeated Doomsday by using his newfound sentience and intelligence against him. While Superman proceeds to take everything Doomsday throws at him and then knock him out for good, he explains how he has done so: "You're different now. You can think for yourself. So think about this. Before, you were a mindless thing. Nothing could hurt you. You couldn't feel pain, much less understand it. But once you have felt it -- it changes you -- forever. And you'll begin to understand something new. Fear. I've lived with it all my life. You don't want to die again, do you? The agony of what's happened to you affects your speed -- your strength ... and that little bit of doubt -- that you cannot win today -- grows. You understand now, don't you? You will never hurt me again. You will never kill me again. Never again!" Darkseid attempted to replicate Doomsday, producing an army of Doomsday "clones." Fortunately, Darkseid was not able to duplicate perfectly the creature in all its raw power, possibly as a result of the creature's complex DNA, and they were defeated by a combination of heat vision and Batman's explosive batarangs during an attack on Paradise Island. When Superman travelled to Apokolips to reclaim the life of John Henry Irons, the man known as Steel, Darkseid's wife Mortalla ordered his troops to release Doomsday in an attempt to help Darkseid. Doomsday's short freedom was quickly halted by John Henry Irons in the Entropy Aegis, an armor with incredible power. Doomsday disappeared and was seen wandering the harsh lands of Apokolips. With his newfound intelligence, Doomsday managed to escape Apokolips and return to Earth. Upon his arrival, Doomsday encountered a series of emotions previously alien to him - love, compassion and kindness. Exploring the full abilities of these new emotions, Doomsday made his way to Metropolis once more, though not in the destructive manner he had before. Upon his arrival in Metropolis, Doomsday found Superman at the brink of death at the hands of one of his enemies. Using his new emotions, Doomsday shocked both Superman and his opponent, Gog by helping Superman fight against Gog's army (this, however, was not the first time that they worked together; that was in the Imperiex War when they joined to fight Imperiex. It is however, the first time Doomsday willingly worked with Superman, as previously his mind had been manipulated by Manchester Black so that his anger at Superman was transferred to the Imperiex drones). This unfortunately was not enough to save Superman, who died at the hands of Gog and caused the future to diverge. In this new future, Doomsday was remembered as one of Earth's greatest heroes, who continued Superman's legacy by leading an army under his name against the army of Gog. This timeline ended when an old and weary Gog offered Doomsday the chance to return to the past and save Superman - albeit at the cost of becoming a monster again. Back in the present, an unconscious Doomsday was transported away by a younger version of Gog to an unknown location for an unknown purpose. During Infinite Crisis, Doomsday was freed from captivity in a cavern near the center of the Earth by Doctor Psycho and Warp. He was then mind-controlled by Doctor Psycho and used as the "spear-carrier" of a supervillain assault on Metropolis. He was stopped by Kal-El and Kal-L, the two Supermen, who made quick work of the villain as, for the first time, the two Supermen acted as a team. What became of him afterwards has been unrevealed as of yet.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:15:52 GMT -5
36. The Lizard Curtis Connors was born in Coral Gables, Florida. He was a gifted surgeon who enlisted in the military and was sent off to war. He performed emergency battlefield surgery on wounded GIs, but his right arm was injured in a blast and had to be amputated. After his return to civilian life, he became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of reptilian limb regeneration and studied reptilian biology extensively. From his home in the Florida Everglades, he finally developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA. He successfully regrew the missing limb of a rabbit and then, despite the warnings of his wife Martha, chose to test it on himself. Connors ingested the formula and his missing arm did indeed grow back. Unfortunately, it had a horrible side effect; Connors was subsequently transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster. Spider-Man discovered this situation during a trip to Florida to investigate newspaper reports of the Lizard. Spidey was then able to use Connors' notes to create an antidote to restore him to his human form and mentality. Later, Curt Connors relocated to New York City and was able to repay Spider-Man by developing a formula to save May Parker's life after Peter Parker had given his aunt his radioactive blood during a transfusion that had put her in mortal peril. It later became clear that the success of Connors' apparent cure from the Lizard persona was short-lived. A repeating pattern occurred, with stress or a chemical reaction turning Connors into the Lizard, Spider-Man fighting him and then forming some kind of temporary cure to revert the transformation until the next time. A second personality had formed with the Lizard, one with the familiar goal shared by many villains of taking over the world. The Lizard envisioned a world where all humans had been transformed into (or replaced by) super-reptiles like himself. Despite the Lizard's overall hatred of humans however, he was often shown to be unwilling to harm his wife Martha or young son Billy. For a time, Peter Parker worked as a teaching assistant to Dr. Connors at Empire State University, although Connors had no idea that Peter was actually Spider-Man. Connors' wife took their son Billy and separated from Curt after his absence during the Lizard's involvement in the Secret Wars battles. Connors then tried to straighten out his life and control the Lizard, with some degree of success. This ended when the villainess Calypso used her voodoo magic to take control of the Lizard for her own purposes, reducing him to a mindless savage state. After a series of bloody battles, the Lizard and Calypso were defeated by Spider-Man. Connors once again gained control of the Lizard's mind and body, although it was very weak control. Curt carried out a plan to cure himself temporarily, after which he voluntarily submitted to incarceration in the supervillain prison, the Vault. When Calypso forced the transformation and attempted to control the Lizard once again, the creature killed her and escaped from the Vault. After this escape, the Lizard fell into a quicksand pit during a battle with Spider-Man and the bounty hunter Warrant and was believed to have died. This would soon be proven incorrect. Shortly after Connors' apparent death in quicksand during the Lizard's battle with Spider-Man and Warrant, a huge bestial animalistic Lizard appeared. Spider-Man realized that not only had the Lizard survived, this new monstrous transformation seemed to be permanent and the personality of Curt Connors appeared completely lost. However, when this savage mindless Lizard later unexpectedly encountered Dr. Connors himself, Curt became the true Lizard once again and saved his family by killing the "Lizard-clone". It was revealed that the Lizard-clone was a scientific accident resulting from an experimental formula being tested on a piece of the original Lizard's tail, which had then grown into a fully-formed second creature. Although reunited after Curt's apparent death, tragedy later struck again in the Connors family - this time for Martha and Billy. Both mother and son were diagnosed with cancer after years exposed to carcinogens from living near an industrial lab of the Monnano Corporation in Florida. Spider-Man assisted Curt in successfully forcing Monnano to admit their environmental culpability. However, Martha succumbed to the cancer and died. Billy survived and remained bitter towards his father. Curt's guilt and internalized anger at these events eventually led him to become the Lizard and attack Spider-Man once again. After reverting back to human, Curt purposefully attempted bank robbery so he would be sent to prison. Curt's stint in prison was short-lived, as he was released and transformed into the Lizard once again as part of a scheme by Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin, to form a "Sinister Twelve" group of villains to kill Spider-Man. The Sinister Twelve was defeated and captured by the combined forces of the Fantastic Four and certain members of the Avengers. More recently, the Lizard has resurfaced to face Spider-Man with the aid of a smaller twin of himself, who was revealed to be none other than his son, Billy. Curt had injected Billy with the Lizard formula while under the influence of a mysterious meteorite that caused savage behavior in those within range of its radiation. Both the Lizard and "Lizard Junior" were eventually captured and transformed back to human form, but the future effects of the Lizard formula on Billy Connors remain to be seen. A new version of the Sinister Six including the Lizard appeared briefly during the superhero Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers. Since the Lizard was never a member of the original Sinister Six, the circumstances of his involvement with this recent group of villains has yet to be revealed.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Apr 18, 2007 16:25:59 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
Now for clues to the next five villians on this list.
* Kneel Before Him
* Leader of the Legion of Losers
* Ragnarok
* Teth Adam
* Yo Adrian....
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Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Apr 18, 2007 17:07:20 GMT -5
YES!
Zod is coming!
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Post by Joker on Apr 18, 2007 17:39:50 GMT -5
Looks like Loki is on his way.
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Post by "St. Louis Viper" Buck Summers on Apr 18, 2007 19:40:06 GMT -5
The Shocker is better than you.
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