Celestials

The Celestials are a star-faring race of humanoid aliens who possess untold cosmic power. Standing two thousand feet tall, the Celestials are clad in full body armor. No Earth being has ever seen what they look like beneath their armor or knows their origin.

What is known is that they have visited the Earth at four different periods in the Earth's past, each time altering the course of history. The first Celestial Host came to Earth approximately one million years ago to perform genetic tests and experimentation on Earth's highest lifeform, the nascent human being. Testing the versatility of human genes, the First Host created two sub-species of humanity, the Eternals and the Deviants. Their sole legacy to the mainstream human race was the implantation of a dormant DNA complex which would one day permit benevolent mutations.

The Second Celestial Host came to Earth approximately twenty-five thousand years ago to inspect the results of their first visit. Finding the direction of Deviants technology counter-productive, the Celestials destroyed the Deviants' major stronghold, Lemuria. Repercussions of that destruction caused tectonic plate shifting that eventually contributed to the sinking of the continent of Atlantis.

The Third Celestial Host arrived on Earth one thousand years ago to inspect the progress of the human race. Their landing site was arranged by the Eternals working in conjunction with the Incas of Peru. The Third Host was met by a contingent of Earth's mythological gods, including Odin of the Asgardians and Zeus of the Olympians, who challenged the Celestials' right to interfere in Earth's affairs. The outcome of that encounter was that all of the major races of gods swore to forego their active involvement in the destiny of mankind.

The Fourth Celestial Host arrived in recent years in order to judge mankind's worthiness now that the dormant DNA complex for benevolent mutations had become activated by the worldwide increase in radiation levels. The Celestials deemed humanity fit to survive. A group of twelve human beings representing the great accomplishments of mankind accompanied the Celestials when they left Earth.

It is not known how many Celestials there are in existence. Even the number of Celestials on Earth in the Fourth Host is a mystery. Nine were known by name and function, others were glimpsed but not identified. The Fourth Host was led by the Celestial known only as The One Above All, who remained aboard the orbiting mother ship during the entire stay on Earth. The head of the landing party was Arishem.

However, it is known that the Celestials have visited many other worlds in order to perform genetic experimentation. For example, the Skrulls are known to be a result of Celestial experimentation. The Celestials have returned to judge many of these worlds, and Earth is apparently the only one of these that they judged favorably and hence did not destroy for posing a potential menace to the universe.

There have only been indications of the full scope of the Celestials' power. Each member of the Fourth Host withstood a full frontal attack by the collective power of the Eternals and the Asgardians. Arishem has been shown to have sufficient power to permanently seal dimensional portals to the godly realms. The Celestials are not indestructible, however. During the Third Host, the Celestials used their combined might to slay one of their brethren for breach of conduct.

Another indication of the Celestials' power is that when the Fourth Host left Earth, they eradicated all evidence of their recent and past presence from the minds and records of mortal men. Only the Eternals, Deviants, dimensional gods of Earth, and a handful of human beings are now aware of their existence and remember the nature of their visits.

Destroyer

Long ago, the alien race of beings called the Celestials conducted genetic experiments on humanity of the planet Earth. The gods that looked after the Earth knew that with the Celestials eventual return, there would be a judgment that would seal the planet’s fate. If humanity was deemed unworthy of life, by the unknown standards of this mysterious race, Earth would be destroyed. The Destroyer was created, by the command of Odin, as a weapon to use against the mighty Celestials. The task was taken on by the finest craftsmen of Asgard, and once finished Odin, Zeus, and all other leading Earth gods transferred a portion of their power into the construct which gave it superhuman strength and energy manipulating powers. Odin then had the Destroyer sealed within a temple within a plateau hoping it would be out of reach of any would use its tremendous powers for evil until the purpose it was designed for could be implemented.

For many years the Destroyer remained lifeless until a vengeful Loki destroyed the plateau to reveal the temple inside. Loki then led a hunter, Buck Franklin, to the Destroyer in order to use the hunter’s life essence to animate the weapon and send it against his hated half-brother Thor. Since the Destroyer is not a living entity, it is not affected by Odin’s magic that anyone unworthy can’t use it as with Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and it can absorb the life essence of anyone. 

The Destroyer is not a suit of armor that can be physically worn or disassembled. A life force must be projected into the armor in order to animate it which leaves the possessor’s body in a catatonic state. The Destroyer is linked to the body of the individual inside which is why the person does not die due to lack of life force, but if the person’s essence is put back inside its body by a powerful spell directed at the person, the Destroyer will become inanimate once again. By the same token, if the person’s body is killed, the life force will leave the Destroyer and revert it back to its lifeless state. Normally, a person has to be close to the Destroyer and a willing participant to have their life essence transferred into it, but a person’s essence can also be transferred if that person is not mentally guarded for such a transfer. Odin or Loki, however, can make the transferals over great distances due to their proficiency with magic. Also, the Destroyer was given its own intelligence but has been programmed to destroy, so when a life essence is absorbed into the armor, the Destroyer normally takes over and the person inside has no choice but to go along with its programming unless the will of the person is the same as the will of the Destroyer. In Buck Franklin’s case, Franklin and the Destroyer both wanted to destroy Thor, so Franklin’s consciousness acted as one with the Destroyer’s.

Thor and the Destroyer battled within the temple, but Thor emerged victorious when he used Franklin’s body as a shield and tricked the Destroyer into transferring the life force of Franklin back into his body. Thor then rescued Franklin, and destroyed the temple in order to bury the Destroyer under it. This result was not satisfying to the God of mischief, and sometime later, Loki transferred his own consciousness in to the Destroyer while in exile. This time Loki used the power of the Destroyer to go to Asgard and attack Odin. Odin located Loki’s body and forced his life force out of the Destroyer and back where it belonged and into a state of unconsciousness. Again Loki had a plot to use the Destroyer but this time he had Karnilla, the Norn Queen on his side and they used the life force of the goddess, Sif to animate it, and some time after that an accident allowed the essence of Professor Clement Holmes to enter the Destroyer.

Thor finally gave the Destroyer to Galactus to act as his herald, but Loki eventually stole it back to use against Thor in another sinister plot by first using Balder and then Thor, himself, to animate the armor. However, while Thor’s essence animated the Destroyer he was able to gain control of the Destroyer through tremendous will power. Odin has also projected himself into the armor and has taken control but without any struggle making him, Thor and Loki the only individuals that were able to suppress the Destroyer’s consciousness.

Eventually, the Celestials returned to Earth again ready to pass judgment, and that is when Odin thought the time had come for the Celestials to do battle with the Destroyer. Odin transferred all of the Asgardians (except Thor’s) life essences into himself and then into the armor causing it to grow to a tremendous size. Wielding the Odinsword and invading the South American base of the Celestials, the Destroyer could not do much damage to those gathered there despite its overwhelming power.

Vulture (Adrian Toomes)



Adrian Toomes is a former electronics engineer who employs a special harness of his own design that allows him to fly and endows him with enhanced strength. Toomes is quite old, though spry, and is a virtually remorseless killer. On one occasion, he restored his youth through biochemical means, though this wore off after exposure to the corpse of an elemental superhuman. At one point he had used a device to steal Spider-man's youth, leaving Vulture young and Spider-Man elderly, but this effect wore off within hours.

On more than one occasion Toomes has been in league with several other Spider-Man villains in order to destroy the wall crawler. The Vulture has been in every incarnation of the Sinister Six.

The Vulture once stumbled across a plot by the Chameleon and the Green Goblin to drive Spider-Man insane by having shapeshifting androids impersonate his late mother and father; the sham was revealed when the Vulture sought out the Chameleon to find a way to maintain his artificial youth and the androids were ultimately destroyed, leading the wall-crawler to a brief nervous breakdown. The Vulture absorbed the artificial life force from the Mary Parker android, and the effect on the Vulture was two-fold; not only did he become a young man again, but he was instantly cured of the cancer that had been slowly killing him for some time. (The Vulture has since reverted to an old man once again, however.)

Toomes' identity as the Vulture has been claimed by impostors on several occasions. The first, "Blackie" Drago, was a prison cellmate of Toomes. While he was in prison, Toomes was in an accident and, worried that his revenge against Spider-man would never be fulfilled, told all his secrets to Drago, who stole the Vulture harness and costume, and was subsequently defeated by Toomes. The second, Professor Clifton Shallot, was a vengeful university professor who mutated himself into a Vulture lookalike; his powers were lost in his first and only battle with Spider-Man. The Vulture technology was later copied by a group of thugs called "The Vulturions"; Toomes defeated these usurpers as well. Another technology thief, Bluebird was defeated by Spider-Man before Toomes learned of her existence.

Recently, It was revealed that Toomes, with the help of Sandman, manipulated several villains Bullseye, Deadpool, Juggernaut, and Sabretooth into laying siege to terrorist group A.I.M (Advanced Idea Mechanics) headquarters in order to retrieve a disc containing the identities of undercover S.H.I.E.D operatives (including his daughter's).

Under the tutelage of Al Kraven, Kraven's son, Toomes briefly attempted a stint at heroism, but before long he returned to the other side of the law. However, the Vulture was hired by the government to track down Spider-Man after he rebelled against the Superhuman Registration Act. Toomes was hospitalized, suffering a mild stroke during his battle, and felt suicidal until Spider-Man made Toomes recognize his will to live

Ultimate Electro

Dillon was a criminal who underwent illegal genitic experiments carried out by Dr. John Skrtic on behalf of industrialist Justin Hammer, who was competing with Osborn Industries to win a lucrative government contract to create a super-soldier serum. Having been successfully given electrical abilities, Electro, as he now liked to be called, was sold into the service of the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk, in return for construction contracts for another of Hammer’s projects. Electro served Fisk willingly as an enforcer, and when Spider-man broke into Fisk Tower, the Kingpin set his new acquisition the task of taking the intruder down, something Electro swiftly managed. Electro was subsequently present when Kingpin murdered Frederick Foswell, the underboss known as Mr. Big, for having supplied Spider-Man with information.

When Spider-Man returned to the Tower a few days later to steal the surveillance footage showing Fisk’s crime, Electro and the Enforcers were sent to stop him. Initially dodging Electro’s blasts, Spider-Man then tricked his foe into stunning Ox, one of the Enforcers. After taking down the other two Enforcers, Spider-Man grappled with Electro, then threw him in to a stream of water coming from a broken water pipe, causing the electrical criminal to short out violently.

 He awoke three weeks later in hospital to find that the Kingpin had fled the country and F.B.I. agents waiting for him to wake so they could question him as to his reasons for being in the crime lord’s basement. Electro’s killed everyone in the room and fled, but he was swiftly recaptured by Captain America, Iron Man and the Black Widow. He was imprisoned in a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. facility alongside several other genetically modified criminals (Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Kraven and Sandman), his powers blocked by a high-tech control collar, to be studied and interrogated by Hank Pym (Giant Man). After several months, Dr Octopus engineered a break out, and the group slaughtered their way to freedom, killing 35 S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on their way out. Their next move was a direct assault on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Triskelion main base to capture Spider-Man, who had been moved there for his own protection. Octopus breached computer security to shut down the base’s defenses, then Electro overloaded both primary and back-up generators. The group entered and left equally swiftly with their objective.

Spider-Man was coerced into working with them on as they launched an attack on the White House itself. Conventional forces fell before them in seconds, but their progress was halted on the front lawn outside the Oval Office by the arrival of the Ultimates. Electro attacked Thor, and their battle raged into the air; but Electro’s powers proved no match for the alleged God of Lightning, who soon won the day, and along with his teammates, Electro was returned to custody. 

Bolivar Trask hired Electro to test Eddie Brock and the Venom suit by leading him on a chase through Manhattan. Spider-man showed up, but was knocked unconscious, resulting in a battle between Venom and Electro for the life of the web-slinger. Although Venom defeated Electro, S.H.I.E.L.D. intervened before anything more could happen. Electro was then placed back into their custody.

Circus of Crime

The Circus of Crime is a traveling band of circus performers, usually led by Maynard Tiboldt, better known as the Ring Master, who use their special skills to rob their audiences.

The Circus of Crime was originally Tiboldt's Circus, a small Austrian travel circus managed for generations by members of the Tiboldt family. In the 1930s Fritz Tiboldt, then managed and ringmaster of the circus, became active in Nazi party activities. After World War II began, he was asked by German intelligence to take his circus to America, supposedly just to give performances in major cities, but actually in order to use the talents of the Nazi sympathizers among his performers to murder high government officials. However, Tiboldt, who came to be known as the "Ringmaster Of Death," was captured by Captain America, and both Tiboldt and the members of his circus who had aided him in his subversive activities ported.

Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola continued to manage Tiboldt's Circus after the war. Eventually Fritz and Lola Tiboldt were murdered by Nazis who had escaped capture in vengeance for their cooperation with the Allies. Fritz's son, Maynard Tiboldt, thereupon succeeded him as leader and ringmaster of the circus, and decided to move it to America, far from the scene of Hitler's rise to power and his par death.

But once in America, Tiboldt's Circus proved incapable of competing successfully with larger with larger American circuses. Blaming Americans not only for ignoring his circus, but also for his father's humiliating capture in America years before, Tiboldt decided to turn to crime. If Americans would not enrich him and his performers willingly, they would be forced to do so. Tiboldt outlined his plans to the members of his troupe, a number of whom had accompanied him from Europe, and others of whom had joined the troupe after it came to America. A good percentage of the troupe quit, refusing to turn to a life of crime. However, a surprising number of the circus members eagerly agreed to join Tiboldt in his criminal endeavors, and they became the first members of what is known as the Circus of Crime.

The Circus of Crime usual modus operandi is the following. They will give a performance before a large audience. At some point the Ringmaster will use the powerful mind-control device concealed in his hat to put the audience into a trance. The Circus members then rob the audience, who remember nothing about the thefts when the Ringmaster releases them from the trance and the performance continues. The Circus of Crime performs under different names so that audience will not suspect that they are the Circus of Crime.

Over the years the membership of the Circus of Crime has varied, although there is a core group that has participated in most of its criminal ventures. The Ringmaster and his accomplices have been imprisoned by the law numerous times, but rarely for long, given the difficulties of proving the charges against them, since their victims usually have no memory of being robbed by them. Occasionally the Circus of Crime has operated without the Ringmaster, either because he is in prison, or because some have become dissatisfied with his leadership. However, he has always returned a leader.

Ultimate Wolverine

Howlett's past is mostly unknown, but during World War II he participated in military airdrops with Captain America. Decades later, he was abducted and experimented upon by a covert government unit, who bonded unbreakable adamantium to his skeleton and implanted three claws in each arm. Initially designated Weapon X (later the name of the entire unit), Howlett was renamed both "Logan" and "Wolverine." Weapon X held him for at least a decade. Supposedly programmed to kill any human he saw, he proved his humanity was intact by saving Nick Fury's life in the Middle East. He grew to hate his captors and also his fellow prisoner, Sabretooth.

Fury eventually helped him escape, and Wolverine became a mercenary, frequently working for Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. He was constantly pursued by Weapon X, on one occasion evading them with the aid of the young adventurer Spider-Man. A year and a half after his escape, Wolverine was assigned by Magneto to assassinate Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. Successfully infiltrating the X-Men, Wolverine delayed his mission in order to romance Marvel Girl, but in the succeeding weeks he embraced Xavier's cause and turned on Magneto, fighting the Brotherhood alongside the X-Men.

Wolverine remained jealous of Marvel Girl's boyfriend Cyclops, and when they investigated Magneto's abandoned Savage Land lair together, Wolverine left Cyclops to die. Wolverine helped the other X-Men battle Magneto and the Ultimates, but as the multi-front conflict reached its conclusion, Cyclops returned, exposing Wolverine's misconduct and kicking him off the team. Retreating into isolation, Wolverine was surprised when Cyclops, feeling Wolverine's rehabilitation outweighed their feud, invited him back and informed him S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered evidence of his earlier life: a wedding ring.Soon afterward, Weapon X captured and enslaved most of the X-Men; Wolverine escaped, informed Nick Fury of the abductions, and then allowed himself to be captured in order to lead rescuers to Weapon X's secret base. While Wolverine was drawn into a grudge match with Sabretooth, the Brotherhood of Mutants raided the base, and Fury arrived to kill Wraith and guarantee the X-Men's freedom.

Troubled by the revelation, Wolverine departed again, but was targeted by Weapon X renegades whom he defeated alongside Spider-Man and Daredevil. Wolverine has gradually regained the X-Men's trust, and been startled by a growing attraction between him and Storm.

Recently, Wolverine was killed by Magneto.

Infinity Gauntlet

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters 

Thanos, Death, Silver Surfer, Warlock, Doctor Strange, Mephisto, Nebula, Doctor Doom, Thor, Hulk, Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, Infinity Watch

Mistress Death believed that there was a cosmic imbalance in the universe - that there were more living than there were dead. As a result, Death resurrects her loyal servant Thanos, who is appointed the task of killing off half of the population of the universe. Not only is Thanos' power augmented by Death, he is granted access to the Infinity Well, where he realizes the power of the Infinity Gems. After much plotting and scheming, Thanos wrestles the gems from their owners and gains mastery over Power, Mind, Space, Reality, Time, and the Soul.

Hate-Monger

The Hate-Monger was a physical clone of Germany’s Adolf Hitler, the former leader of Germany and instigator of World War II. Years after the death of the original at the hands of the original Human Torch, Hitler's scientists created clones into which Hitler transferred his consciousness. In one such clone, disguised as the Hate-Monger, Hitler used a Nazi-designed Hate Ray to spread mindless hatred around the world. His first major attack was in the small southern country of San Gusto, where he bombarded the people with his ray, turning the country against itself. The United States had already spent billions trying to turn San Gusto into a show place of democracy, but after the Hate-Monger’s influence the country fell apart. Nick Fury, as a CIA operative, traveled to New York to enlist the help of the Fantastic Four to re-stabilize the country.

But once he arrived he found the Fantastic Four split up and only Mister Fantastic at their headquarters, the Baxter Building. The Hate-Monger had already beat him there, and had turned his Hate Ray on the four when they tried to break up a hate rally he had turned into a riot. Fury eventually convinced the entire Fantastic Four to help him, starting with Reed, who took the Pogo Plane to San Gusto in advance of the others. There, Reed stumbled upon the Hate-Monger’s Hate Ray while fighting San Gusto’s rebellion. The Hate-Monger gassed Reed with a paralyzing nerve gas and captured him. He explained to Reed that he was able to reflect his Hate Ray off of the Moon and fire it at any place on Earth, and soon he would blanket the entire planet in waves of hate and then control the haters to control the world. But before he could continue with his plan, Fury broke into the base and fired on the soldiers, threatening to shoot them unless the Hate-Monger gave Reed the antidotes to his paralysis and hate. The Hate-Monger acquiesced, but escaped shortly afterwards behind a pane of bulletproof glass.

Later, while the Hate-Monger’s soldiers fought off an attacking Nick Fury, the Fantastic Four, returned to their proper minds by Reed, helped Fury to subdue his troops. The Hate-Monger tried to turn a double-dose of his Hate Ray on the Human Torch, which would kill him, but the Invisible Girl snuck up behind him and spoiled his aim and he hit a pair of his soldiers instead. The soldiers turned on him and shot him. The Fantastic Four and Fury soon cleaned up the last of the soldiers and revealed the seemingly dead Hate-Monger as Adolf Hitler. But Hitler's mind had already transferred to a new cloned body, and he later continued his quest to rule the world.

106th Post!!!

This is my 106th post and I am going to share with you some of the people who have worn the Venom symbiote.

Galactus!

Spider-man

Scorpion

Wolverine

Hulk

Deadpool

And finally the original VENOM! 

and last, but not least... Bat-man!

House of M

      Universe

Marvel Universe was transformed into the House of M (Earth-58163)

        Key Characters 

Magneto, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, X-Men, Avengers, Spider-man, Fantastic Four

Following the events that disassembled the Avengers, Wanda Maximoff Scarlet Witch was left in the charge of Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier, both of whom were trying to rebuild the mutant nation of Genosha at the time. Enlisting the aid of Doctor Strange, Professor Xavier tried to cure Wanda of her insanity. Unfortunately, things appeared to be getting out of hand, and the combined efforts of Doctor Strange and Professor Xavier were not enough to help her.

Calling together the Avengers and the X-Men, Xavier and Strange held a group meeting to determine the fate of Wanda Maximoff. Quicksilver, who was eavesdropping, feared that the inevitable choice would be to kill her. Fearing for his sister, he hurried to Genosha where he pleaded to his father to protect Wanda. Magneto was torn-- he was unsure what the right choice was. His decision seemed to have been made.

When the Avengers and the X-Men flew to Genosha to check in on Wanda, Professor Xavier disappeared and suddenly the world burned white, to be replaced by a mutant utopia where humans had become the minority ruled under the House of M. No one remembered the world as it had been, except for S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Wolverine and a girl named Layla Miller, who exhibited the ability to unlock people's subconsciousnesses, reminding them of the world as it had been.

Uniting a group of heroes consisting primarily of the X-Men and the Avengers, those who remembered stormed the House of Magnus during a gala uniting all of the world's leaders, believing Magneto to be responsible for the world altering events. There, Doctor Strange discovered that it was not Magneto but Quicksilver who had manipulated Wanda into altering reality. Layla accidentally revealed to Magneto the world before the House of M. Enraged that Quicksilver had done such an atrocity in his name, Magneto killed his son. Wanda, who saw her brother's death, was traumatized. She quickly revived him from death and screamed to her father that he was a bad man, that mutants were freaks and that she hated him. As she seemed to calm down, Wanda said "No more mutants." Suddenly, the world burned white again... ...and the world returned as it had been, with only a few remembering the events of the House of M. As the world restored to normalcy, however, it became apparent that the majority of the world's mutants had lost their powers, Magneto and Quicksilver amongst them. With the bulk of the world's population ignorant of the world of the House of M, the shock of millions of mutants suddenly bereft of their genetic gifts caused widespread panic and the eventual quarantine of many mutants on to the grounds of the X-Mansion in Westchester.

Fall of the Mutants

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters

X-Men, Madelyne Pryor, Forge, Freedom Force, Adversary, X-Factor, Caliban, Apocalypse, Horsemen of Apocalypse, New Mutants, Bird-Boy, Ani-Mator, Freedom Force

The X-Men battled the Adversary in Dallas, and X-Factor clashed with the Horsemen of Apocalypse in New York, while the New Mutants confronted the insane Ani-Mator on Paradise Island.

Evolutionary War

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters

High Evolutionary, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thor, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, Silver Surfer, X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, West Coast Avengers, Apocalypse, Eternals, Inhumans, Terminus, Man-Thing, Black Panther, Giant-Man, Young Gods, Attuma, Kro

The High Evolutionary intends to help humanity reach the next stage of its evolution, regardless of the consequences, and embarks on a series of plans to attain his goal.

Civil War

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters:  

Avengers, Fantastic Four, Illuminati, New Warriors, Thunderbolts, X-Men

During a televised raid of a house containing select villains that had recently escaped from the super villain facility at Ryker's Island prison during a massive breakout, the escaped villain Nitro let off a massive explosion that killed the majority of the New Warriors, as well as the children at a nearby elementary school. In the wake of the tragedy, the U.S. Government proposed the Superhuman Registration Act, intending to register all super-powered beings as living weapons of mass destruction and requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government and subject themselves to federally mandated standards.

This event triggered negative public opinion against the super-heroes, resulting in the assault of Human Torch (Johnny Storm) by a mob and the request by S.H.I.E.L.D. for Captain America to become part of the enforcement of super heroes to register. When Cap refused, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill ordered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Anti-Superhuman Response Unit to tranquilize him, but Rogers escaped and went underground.

When the super-heroes met to discuss the best course of action, Uatu the Watcher appeared. As Watchers only appear to monitor key events throughout history, it was noted that his presence did not bode well for the heroes.

In a secret meeting with the President, Iron Man suggested that the President proceed and push the registration act while he, Mr. Fantastic, and Yellowjacket vowed to bring Captain America to the ground.

The Superhero Registration Act became law. Some of the first unregistered heroes to be captured were the Young Avengers. Captain America and the Falcon were undercover, and with the help of Wiccan were able to rescue the Young Avengers and rendezvous to their base. The Young Avengers were recruited into the Resistance.

At a press conference in Washington D.C., Iron Man gave a speech introducing Spider-Man to the podium. Spider-Man then talked about how over the past years, he had kept his identity a secret, then talked about the registration act and how it gave superheroes a choice: to continue the trend Captain America advocated and have people with powers completely unchecked, or that superheroes could go legitimate and earn back a little public interest. To demonstrate his support of the Act, Spider-Man unmasked himself and revealed to the world that he was Peter Parker.

Iron Man traveled to the X-Men Mansion, asking Emma Frost if the X-Men would sign the registration act and join his side. Miss Frost explained to Stark that the X-Men would not sign the registration act because they viewed hunting down other heroes would violate everything they stood for explaining that they know what it's like to fight the good fight while being persecuted. Frost said that as long as the pro-registration side left the X-Men alone, they would not join Captain America's resistance. While Stark left the mansion, he was approached by Bishop, who asked for a word with Iron Man.

As Captain America, Hercules, Daredevil, and Goliath were discussing their new secret identities, they received news of a petrochemical plant fire with three or four hundred workers trapped inside. Uniting the Secret Avengers, they headed to the plant only to discover that it was a trap set by Iron Man. Iron Man gave Captain America one last chance to register, offering a chance to explain things. Captain America answered by striking the first blow and disabling Iron Man's armor. A battle ensued, ending with Iron Man savagely beating Captain America, and the apparent return of the long-absent thunder god Thor lashing out against Captain America's Secret Avengers. As the Secret Avengers attempted to escape, Thor used his hammer to subdue them, blasting a hole through Goliath’s chest when he was attacked. Thor continued his assault until the Invisible Woman used her powers to protect the Secret Avengers and allow them to escape. Thor, who had just killed Goliath, was revealed to be a clone. He, and his mechanical hammer, had been engineered to serve the government. His violent murder of Goliath was an unforeseen error in his programming.

The death of Goliath opened the eyes of many and put things in a different perspective, causing several members to leave both sides for the other. The Pro-Registration side ended up losing more members than anticipated, causing operations to be put in action faster than planned. Iron Man assembled a new group of Thunderbolts in order to hunt down the Secret Avengers, consisting of several very brutal villains.

Eventually, the resistance mounted an attack against the pro-registration's holding facility in the Negative Zone, releasing the prisoners. The fighting between many of Earth's heroes led to the middle of Times Square. At the climax of the battle, as Cap was about to deliver a finishing blow to Iron Man, he was tackled by several emergency workers. Realizing the damage the war was doing to the city and its civilian population, Captain America unmasked and surrendered. Before his arraignment, Cap was shot multiple times on the steps of a Federal Courthouse and killed.

Avengers Disassembled

Universe:

Marvel Universe

Key Characters: 

Avengers, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four, Iron-man, Scarlet Witch, Spider-man, Thor

In possibly the worst day in Avengers history, an unknown assailant caused catastrophic events that would bring about the end of the Earth’s mightiest heroes. These actions left some critically injured while others would die at the hands of their enemies. If not for the aid of Doctor Strange, who uncovered that the attacks were magic based, the Avengers might never have revealed, or defeated, their true enemy- an insane Scarlet Witch.

Age of Apocalypse

Universe:

Earth-295 (Age of Apocalypse)

Key Characters:  

Bishop, Apocalypse, X-men

In a twisted version of the world they knew, the X-Men battle against the eternal mutant Apocalypse as Bishop seeks to repair the timeline. Legion, Xavier's own son, attempts to kill off all of Xavier's enemies; however, when Legion attempts to murder Magneto, Xavier sacrifices his own life to save Magnus. As a result, Magneto casts off his anti-human sentiments and carries on Xavier's dream of peaceful co-existence, thereby founding the X-Men.

Rhino

Aleksei Sytsevich was just another thug in the Russian Mafia, grasping at dreams of easy money, and headed for a short brutal life. Seduced by promises of wealth and power, Aleksei underwent a life-threatening series of chemical and radiation treatments to transform him after several months into the superhumanly strong agent for a collective of professional spies - in part, to support his family. Aleksei's powerful armor permanently bonded to his form, was modeled after the hide of a rhinoceros. Two scientists named Igor and Georgi chose this form, both for its visual impact and in recognition of the fact that the rhino is the result of countless generations of evolution towards the ultimate form for armored assault. They selected Aleksei for his muscular physique and low intelligence, which they believed would insure his loyalty.

Given the code-name Rhino, his first mission was to kidnap astronaut John Jameson, son of Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, and sell him to the highest bidder. He received intensive sub-hypnotic training in American English and false citizenship papers bearing the name Alex O'Hirn. Feeling cocky, he turned on his benefactors, destroying their headquarters, and attempted to abduct Jameson under his own initiative. As the Rhino made his way towards New York City, Spider-Man began to formulate how to defeat this apparently unstoppable foe. His discovered two key factors: once charging, the Rhino cannot change directions or easily halt his advance. Second, Aleksei is rather dumb. Spider-Man deduced that if he could avoid a direct hit from the Rhino's horn, his superior tactical skills and agility would always leave him the final victor in any fair fight.

Spider-Man defeated the Rhino sending the villain to a special state correctional hospital where he was kept under heavy sedation. After a few weeks, the Rhino broke out of the hospital and escaped, seeking revenge of Spider-Man. This time, Spider-Man defeated him using a specially-formulated version of his web fluid, devised with the aid of Dr. Curt Connors, that contained encapsulated acid pellets whose containers dissolved upon contact with air. The special webbing rendered the Rhino's costume weak and brittle, which deprived him of needed impact resistance. The Rhino was recaptured, tried, and convicted.

The Rhino served a commuted sentence and was discharged. When he was released, the spies who had transformed him, apparently showing no sign of malice towards his betrayal, approached him with the offer to strengthen him using a gamma-ray process. They had also devised an improved, acid-resistant material rhinoceros suit. Having no other prospects of gainful employment, the Rhino accepted the offer. The new series of radiation treatments were successful and doubled the Rhino's previous strength level. The augmented Rhino's first mission was to abduct Dr. Bruce Banner, an authority on biochemical gamma-ray experimentation, also known as the Hulk. The spies planned to coerce Banner into developing an army of gamma-ray treated superhuman assassins. When the Rhino tried to abduct Banner, Banner transformed into the Hulk and overpowered the Rhino. Again, Rhino was sent to a state facility under heavy sedation and high security.

The Rhino's battle with the Hulk came to the attention of the Leader, one of the Hulk's foremost enemies, who decided that further gamma-ray treatments would give the Rhino enough power to overcome the Hulk. The Leader freed the Rhino from the state facility, and further increased his strength by gamma-ray bombardments. The Leader then dispatched the Rhino to crash the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. Succeeding in interrupting the wedding, the Rhino engaged in battle with the Hulk when the Leader accidentally shot him with a radiation blast intended for the Hulk. The Rhino turned on the Leader and caused the Leader's escape module to explode. (Banner's wedding to Ross was subsequently delayed for several years.) The Rhino was left comatose but otherwise unharmed and taken to a state hospital. The Leader used his mental energies to revive him, and reoutfitted him to battle the Hulk once again - this time with the Leader's mind controlling his every move. When the Leader released the Rhino, Aleksei was aboard a space shuttle battling the Hulk. The fight continued until the shuttle crash landed on the High Evolutionary's artificial planet on the opposite side of the sun called Counter-Earth. While the ship automatically repaired its damage, the Leader telemetrically signaled for it to return. The Hulk fought his way back on, the Rhino in tow. When the ship crash landed back on Earth, the Rhino lay buried in the wreckage for some time until he revived.

Luke Cage

Born and raised in Harlem, Carl Lucas spent his youth in a gang called the Bloods. With his friend Willis Stryker, he fought the rival gang the Diablos and committed petty thefts, often on behalf of deformed crimelord Sonny Caputo, a.k.a. Hammer. In and out of juvenile homes throughout his teens, Lucas dreamed of becoming a major New York racketeer until he finally realized how his actions were hurting his family; he sought to better himself as an adult, finding legitimate employment. Meanwhile, Stryker rose through the ranks of crime, but the two men remained friends. When Stryker's activities angered the Maggia (a.k.a. the Syndicate), he was badly beaten in a mob hit, saved only by Lucas's intervention. When Stryker's girlfriend, Reva Connors, broke up with him in fear of his violent work, she sought solace from Lucas. Convinced that Lucas was responsible for the breakup, Stryker planted heroin in Lucas's apartment and tipped off the police. Lucas was arrested and sent to prison; contact with his family was sparse due to the resentment of his brother James, Jr., who intercepted Lucas's letters to their father James and eventually led each to believe the other was dead.

In prison, Lucas was consumed by rage over Stryker's betrayal and his father's supposed death, engaging in frequent brawls and escape attempts. Eventually transferred to Seagate Prison off the coast of Georgia, he became the favorite target of sadistic guard Albert "Billy Bob" Rackham, whose brutality ultimately led to a demotion that he blamed on Lucas. Later, research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein recruited Lucas as a volunteer for experimental cell regeneration based on a variant of the Super-Soldier process he had previously used to empower Warhawk. Burstein immersed Lucas in an electrical field conducted by an organic chemical compound; when he left Lucas unattended, Rackham misused the experiment's controls, hoping to maim or kill Lucas. Lucas's treatment was accelerated past its intent, inducing body-wide enhancement that gave him superhuman strength and durability. He used his new power to escape Seagate and made his way back to New York, where a chance encounter with criminals inspired him to use his new powers for profit.

Adopting the alias Luke Cage and donning a distinctive costume, he launched a career as a Hero for Hire, helping anyone who could meet his price. He soon established an office in Times Square's Gem Theater, where he befriended film student D.W. Griffith. Burstein, aware of his friend's innocence, also relocated to New York and opened a medical clinic, assisted by Dr. Claire Temple, whom Cage began dating. Although Cage would have been content to battle strictly conventional criminals, he soon learned that New York was hardly the place to do so. Stryker himself had become a Maggia agent as Diamondback and died battling Cage. Subsequent opponents included Gideon Mace, an embittered veteran seeking a U.S. takeover who would become a frequent foe; Chemistro (Curtis Carr), whose Alchemy Gun would be a weapon later used by others, including his own brother after Curtis reformed; and Discus, Stiletto, Shades, and Commanche, all criminals with ties to Cage's prison days who would face him repeatedly over the years.

Although Cage seemed to have little in common with most of New York's other superhumans, an ill-conceived attempt to collect a fee from a reneging Doctor Doom led him to befriend the Fantastic Four. He was subsequently hired by Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson to capture Spider-Man, the wisecracking adventurer who doubled as Jameson's personal demon, but Cage came to sympathize with Spider-Man and forcibly returned Jameson's deposit, earning a place on the publisher's lengthy list of superhuman personas non grata. Cage also befriended Jessica Jones, a.k.a. Jewel, a young woman whose super-strength and unconventional style matched his own. During a mission in which Orville Smythe duped him into stealing an experimental starsuit from Stark International, Cage followed the example of his new peers and took the codename of Power Man.

Shortly afterward, Cage began associating with the loose-knit super-team known as the Defenders, alongside whom he fought the super-strong Wrecking Crew and the racist subversives known as the Sons of the Serpent. When the Thing temporarily lost his superhuman powers, Cage was hired to replace him in the Fantastic Four, but his tenure proved brief after the Puppet Master took control of him to fight his new teammates. Meanwhile, Cage continued in solo action against an odd assortment of villains, including the maddened professional wrestler X the Marvel, the uninspired Maggia agent Mister Fish, mobsters Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton and Ray "Piranha" Jones, the racist Wildfire, the vengeance-seeking Mangler and Spear (whose brother had died under Dr. Burstein's treatment), rival crimelords Baron and Big Brother, the obsessive Goldbug, and Zzzax the Living Dynamo.

Ultimate X-men

Leaving the radical Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and obtaining secret financial backing from the Hellfire Club, Charles Xavier established the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children in New York. He gathered Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Colossus, Storm and Beast as his X-Men, defending mutants while promoting peaceful co-existence with humanity. Ice-man joined them after being saved from Sentinels, and Wolverine after the X-Men rescued him from Weapon X.

When the Brotherhood kidnapped the U.S. President’s daughter, the X-Men freed her, gaining the President’s favor and ending Sentinel attacks on innocent mutants. Cyclops briefly defected to the Brotherhood, unhappy Xavier was dealing with “the Evil Empire,” but when Magneto attempted to destroy Washington with reprogrammed Sentinels, Cyclops returned to the fold. Weapon X soon abducted all the X-Men except Wolverine, coercing them to become operatives until the Brotherhood freed them.

When the X-Men were called in to hunt down Xavier’s murderous mutant son David, Iceman was badly injured and Colossus was forced to kill David. Iceman’s parents removed him from the school and tried to sue Xavier, pressured by an anti-mutant senator; however, Iceman refused to co-operate, and dropped the suit. Shortly after Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men, Xavier sent Wolverine and Cyclops on a mission to the Savage Land; while there, Wolverine deliberately left Cyclops to die, jealous of his relationship with Marvel Girl. Meanwhile, the Hellfire Club revealed their true motivations when they tried to merge Marvel Girl with a hostile extradimensional entity, the Phoenix Force.

Magneto returned and the Brotherhood resumed its anti-human terrorism. Implicated as Magneto’s allies since they had falsified reports of his death, the X-Men became fugitives, battling the Ultimates and escaping only due to the surprise return of Iceman. The X-Men located Magneto thanks to Cyclops, who had been found and healed by the Brotherhood. Defeating Magneto and saving Florida from nuclear destruction, the X-Men became national heroes; the White House pardoned them but placed them under the supervision of S.H.I.E.L.D. In the wake of this adventure, Nightcrawler and Rogue were recruited into the X-Men, and Cyclops fired Wolverine. Cyclops later relented, feeling Wolverine’s best chance of redemption was with the X-Men.

The next few months saw a visit to the mansion from Spider-Man, an incursion by remnants of Weapon X, and the addition of Angel to the group. Beast left to join Emma Frost’s rival mutant educational program, but was killed in a Sentinel attack; Dazzler, one of Frost’s other recruits, joined the X-Men, though her rock chick ways irritated Xavier. The serial killer Sinister nearly slew Xavier and Iceman before Rogue defeated him. Believing a worldwide spate of horrendous nightmares might be a telepathic mutant’s distress call, Xavier sent several X-Men to Siberia, where they encountered the Ultimates and learned of the coming of Gah Lak Tus; Xavier subsequently helped oppose the world destroyer.

After Rogue left the team to be with mutant thief Gambit, Xavier sent several X-Men to Genosha to find out if convicted murderer Longshot had been framed by the anti-mutant regime. They learned he was guilty, but not before an unauthorized mission led by Dazzler freed him. The X-Men recently tried to prevent some of Emma Frost’s new students from breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Triskelion, bringing them into conflict with the Ultimates and Magneto once more.

Punisher (2099)

Jake Gallows was a dedicated Weapons Specialist in the Public Eye police force in the year 2099 when street thugs, with a distaste for happy families, murdered his. When his family's killer, Kron Stone, got off in court by paying a fine, because his father was the head of Alchemax, Tyler Stone, Jake got fed up with a society that only protected citizens who paid their dues to the police, and where the rich “black carders” could simply buy their way out of justice. Taking up the challenge of the 20th Century’s Punisher, as written in the dead vigilante’s diary, Jake Gallows decided to continue his fight against all crime as the 2099’s Punisher.

He immediately revenged himself upon Kron using a low-tech knife to stab the killer through his expensive energy shield. The new Punisher then began his war on crime with the aid of fellow Public Eye employee Matt Axel; along with a collection of antique and high-tech weapons his fallen brother had collected with him. With Axel’s help he set up his family’s brownstone with a scanning system which is able to search through police and corporate files, as well as a fully equipped prison system to replace the jails that had gone out of use in the year 2099. He even included a Molecular Disintegrator to bring back capital punishment.

While still working as a Public Eye officer, Jake Gallows fought criminals as night, and pretended to be a well-adjusted police officer during the day. This act eventually brought him to the attention of the Public Eye’s psych-officer, Kerry Dowenn. On her first visit to his house she interrupted him in the middle of a jailbreak, but he manipulated her into believing he was distraught only on the inside. Only later, when she felt obligated to resign for her mistake, did he reveal to her that he was the Punisher, and they began an affair.

At the same time, a group known as the Cyber Nostra launched an attack on the Decred Barrio, during a parade to honor the 20th Century’s heroes. Though the leader of the Decreds, dressed as Barrio Man, refused to fight off the Cyber Nostra, the Punisher showed up and defended them by killing most of the Cyber Nostra, except for the cyborg Multi Fractor. Before the Nostra could come after him, the Punisher tracked them down and killed Multi Fractor in a fight by overloading his cyber driver. The Punisher soon discovered a link between the Cyber Nostra and Alchemax when he found the criminal group cleaning up Alchemax’s genetic experiments. He eventually uncovered an experimental facility that used degens as lab subjects, and destroyed it, leading the subjects to a sanctuary that Axel created.

In response to the threat of the Punisher, the head of the Cyber Nostra, the Fearmaster, found and attacked Kerry at her apartment. He caught her about to erase proof of the Punisher’s identity and threatened to kill her using his powered hand that aliens had gifted to him. In the end she refused to give up Jake Gallows identity and he used his powers to turn her into solid glass.

When the Punisher found her he lost complete control, treating criminals harsher and executing them in groups. He murdered a kid named Sky Boy, a member of a group called the Young Blades, who rode bladed anti-gravity boards and would cut I.D. implants out of innocent drivers in order to pay for name brand fashionable clothes. Shortly afterwards he ran into Maxine Sanos, called Blue Max, the head of the Young Blades. But before he could shoot her she threw herself off a building and seemingly died rather than let him kill her. Later she appeared alive, competing in a yearly tournament to decide who would ride Blue Dagger, her personal sword blade. The Punisher competed in the tournament himself, trying to discredit Blue Max, but in the end she beat him by a few feet, and he was forced to give her up when the crowd of innocents surrounded him.

As Jake Gallows, the Punisher was warned of a hijack plot surrounding a massive flying ship called Skyliner. When the Punisher responded to the call he found a group called Wire-Heads, literal adrenaline/pain junkies, who drove the ship into a cloud farm operated by the Synthia Food Corporation, which sends out bacteria to grow on radiation and be picked up to make hamburgers. Before he destroyed the terrorists and saved the Skyliner, the Punisher discovered that the hijackers were hired by Alchemax to discredit Stark-Fujikawa.

When a being called Avatarr created a floating city called Valhalla, and nano-engineered a group of super heroes in order to fight the city’s vigilante heroes, the Punisher, as Jake Gallows, was assigned to look over the city’s security. He ran into the man beast known as Ravage, and after a fight that was interrupted by the security forces, he slipped away. Soon he was invited to join a group consisting of Ravage and 2099’s Spider-Man and Doctor Doom. Together they destroyed the created heroes and the Punisher distracted the engineered Thor when he recognized him as his family’s Thorite priest, and used Thor’s hammer to shutdown the city before it crushed New York.

After being nearly destroyed, the cyborg Multi Fractor was rebuilt with one ape arm and one mechanical claw arm, becoming 2099’s Jigsaw. He lured the Punisher into a fight, but the Punisher froze him using a grenade, and locked him up in his prison. But when the Punisher came back to execute him, the Fearmaster and his Cyber Nostra goons ambushed him. They put the Punisher in his own Molecular Disintegrator and cut off his hand in order to operate it, but it still backfired, blowing Jigsaw out of the building. The Fearmaster attacked the Punisher using the newly enhanced strength of his powered hand, but he escaped through the wall rather than continue the fight. Soon the Punisher hunted down the Fearmaster himself, equipped with a cybernetic hand, and was able to turn the Fearmaster’s own hand against him, turning him into clay, when the Fearmaster's alien lord, Kelmizadek abandoned him.

Scarlet Spider

Ben Reilly was the most genetically stable of the many clones of Spider-Man created by Professor Miles Warren, the Jackal. Warren created clones of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy from tissue samples he had obtained from a class experiment. After many failed attempts, most notably Kaine, Warren succeeded in creating a clone that did not suffer cellular degeneration.

The Jackal pitted this clone against Spider-Man in a deathtrap involving a bomb and Ned Leeds. The Jackal on scene, a clone of Warren, repented and saved Ned, dying as a result. With both Spider-Man and Spider-Man's clone unconscious, the real Jackal emerged, found who he thought was the real Spider-Man, and injected him with a drug to simulate death. The other Spider-Man awoke and dropped the "dead" body in a smokestack, where the Jackal implanted it with clone memories. However, his assistant, Seward Trainer, himself coerced by the Green Goblin, had deceived the Jackal. The Spider-Man the Jackal recovered was the clone after all.

The clone spent five years wandering the country. During this time he met Janine Godbe, the love of his life. Janine, as a child, had been horribly abused by her father. She could bear it no longer, and she killed her father. She then met Ben Reilly. Their love was short-lived, as Janine apparently died.

Reviving and returning home, the clone discovered the other Peter already there. Now believing himself the imposter, the clone named himself after "Uncle" Ben and "Aunt" May Parker (née Reilly) and spent the next five years wandering, eventually developing new weapons for his occasional confrontations with Kaine and other criminals. He also met and was befriended by Seward Trainer. Ben anonymously called to check up on Aunt May occasionally, but did not return to New York until he heard that she had been hospitalized.

Upon his return to New York, Ben saved a young girl's life as well as stopped a burglar at a small corner shop. He learned that Venom was back, and decided that he could not stand by without doing something. He adopted a new all red costume with a blue sleeveless hooded sweatshirt and was dubbed the Scarlet Spider. His return later triggered the release from stasis of the Jackal, who raised the possibility that Peter, not Ben, was the clone. When Seward Trainer, following up his earlier deception of the Jackal, announced that Ben was indeed the original Spider-Man, Ben assured Peter he had no intention of taking back his life. Together, Peter and Ben stopped the Jackal’s plan to unleash the Carrion virus on the world.

Originally distrustful of each other, the two Spider-Men developed an uneasy alliance that slowly grew to strong friendship. They introduced each other as cousins and considered themselves brothers. As Peter considered the impending responsibility of fatherhood, he relinquished the title of Spider-Man to Ben. But Ben created his own life, bleaching his hair and working at a coffee shop. As Spider-Man, Ben slightly modified the classic costume. For a period of time, Ben was taken over by the Carnage symbiote and became Spider-Carnage, however the symbiote eventually returned to Cletus Kassady.

The degenerating clone known as Kaine always hated Ben Reilly, believing that Ben was the original. After a series of brutal battles, Kaine gave up and surrendered to the police after being saved by Reilly. During these battles, Janine returned after having faked her own death. During these same battles, Janine apparently died again, when in reality, she had been kidnapped by Kaine. After being rescued by Ben, she stopped running and gave herself up to the police.

Believing to the end that he was the real Spider-Man, Ben was killed by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), sacrificing his life to save Peter from the impaling spike of the Goblin's glider. Ben's body degenerated into dust immediately after his death, proving that he was the clone after all, and not Peter Parker. However, this death is not consistent with clone degeneration, nor Ben's status as the one perfect clone.