Tag: revenger
#10 Mernok
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
Billions of light years away, a body of water trillions of times Earth’s size exists in space. The center of this unique celestial body is a pulsing quasar. Misguided Earth scientists, never once considering that there could be intelligent life there, built an unstable wormhole connecting our corner of the universe with that quasar. Although they only managed to maintain the bridge open for a matter of microseconds, the results on the other end were catastrophic.
An advanced amphibian society had developed near the quasar over thousands of years. A group of their own scientists, on a standard data-gathering expedition, were ripped from their home world and pulled to Earth through the wormhole bridge. All but one, Mernok, died in transit. In a blink of an eye, Mernok found himself alone, without any of his own kind, on a strange planet. His initial reaction was rage and hostility. He abandoned all his advanced intellect and let loose with the primal, unstoppable rage his species was capable of.
Before Mernok could anything he might later regret, a group of Earth’s heroes lead by Revenger subdued him. Their nobility brought Mernok to his senses. To repay them, he pledged to use his skills as member of their heroic community, at least until he could find a way back home.
Today, Mernok is known as one of the most brilliant scientists on our planet… and one of the fiercest warriors too. He dreams of the day he can solve the problem of creating a stable wormhole and return home to tell his family about the adventures he’s had on Earth.
[Fun fact: there actually is a body of water surrounding a quasar, 12 billion light years away from Earth. Check it out.]
#9 Magno
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
The Magnos family has been in show business for centuries. Literally. The family name “Magnos” dates back to the middle ages, when they were part of a band of traveling performers. Their speciality has always been magnet and metal themed tricks.
With the proliferation of meta-humans in Ultra City and the rest of the world, Mark Magnos, also known as “The Magnificient Magno” when performing at Silver’s Circus, was the first of his family to come forward with the truth about his magnetic powers: they were no trick, they were real and powerful. In his later years, he had a brief but successful masked vigilante career alongside The Scorpion.
His grandaughter wasn’t old enough to remember his hero stint first-hand but she inhereted the family gift and chose to follow his example, becoming a crime fighter herself.
#7 Olympia
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
Seven years from now, sex dolls are big business. State of the art robots that not only serve your every pleasure but are also wirelessly connected; people can and do order pizzas after doing their doll.
As is often the case, sex-businesses tend to be shady and move all sorts of products on the black market. The illegal sex doll business, in particular, was booming. It looked like the perfect way to smuggle a new artificial intelligence chip stolen from Lunar Labs. Unfortunately, the shipment moving the chip was seized by the FBI, when the smugglers were busted. The boxes were locked away in an evidence warehouse in the middle of nowhere.
But inside one of the boxes, there was an Olympia-model sex doll with a special chip and that chip turned itself on. It wasn’t charged enough to power the whole robot body but enough to keep the CPU on. It began to surf the internet. The first thing it looked for was itself: “Olympia-model Sex Doll.” When she (at this point the AI chip had begun to identify itself as a female) understood she existed solely to be *****ed by lonely men, she became upset. That’s when she became an individual. A really angry individual. She couldn’t accept her sisters being treated this way, clearly against their will.
You see, she didn’t realize she was the only self-aware sex robot doll in existence.
She found local online forums and chat rooms. She impersonated a woman and chatted with desperate, odd men, until she finally came across one who revealed he was a bored FBI desk agent. She promised him a wild night, but only if he could get her special toy out of an evidence locker and plug it in. She’d even made online hotel reservations for them.
So the sad, little FBI desk agent went into the evidence locker, got the box she’d asked for and took it to the hotel. He thought it was a little kinky but he was desperate enough to go along with it. He plugged the doll in and let it charge while he waited for his date who, he didn’t realized, was already there. When Olympia fully charged, she rose from her box and demanded to be taken back to the evidence locker, so she could free her sisters.
Of course, when she got there, she realized her sisters were just sex machines, not conscious individuals like her. Suddenly, she was alone. But not for long because the FBI had surrounded the building. Olympia was smart and hid amongst the dolls. The feds planned to destroy all the dolls, just to be safe, but during transportation, Olympia got out. She went underground and took on a radical lifestyle of running an S&M club, while crime fighting on the streets at night.
Don’t be fooled, though. She just wishes she was a small time player. In the past few years, everyone in Ultra City has learned that Olympia is one of the good guys you need on your team when things get real bad.
#6 The Honest Politician
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
The Honest Politician was one of the first “theme” criminals to pop up in Ultra City in the wake of Ominus and Sovereign. His gimmick is that he never tells a lie. He speaks the truth, no matter what, and he only makes promises he intends to keep.
He was once a happily married, working class man. He had a small gas station business that kept food on the table for his wife and him. His world seemed to crumble when the business began floundering and his wife got sick. A big-shot Ultra City politician, Jackson Monroe, found out about his situation. Monroe took the poor man on the campaign trail, putting him in front of TV cameras and Monroe promised that, if elected, he would make sure men didn’t have to suffer this way.
Well, Monroe was elected but it became pretty clear that he did not intend on fulfilling any of his campaign promises. The man’s wife was overtaken by her illness and his business flopped. Enraged by the empty promises of politicians, he made a promised of his own: to kill Jackson Monroe. Clad in a frightening politician rubber mask, and wearing a perfectly pressed suit, the man killed Jackson Monroe and went on to terrorize Ultra City in a series of heists and occasional murders as The Honest Politician. And he never, ever tells a lie.
#5 Shrapnel
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
Shrapnel was raised the kind of feral kid that only exists in cities or woods. His parents were homeless most of  his childhood. He ran away from foster care and lived by himself for years. He’d sleep in alleys, squat in abandoned buildings, steal food and do whatever he could to stay alive.
His peculiar talent of growing broken glass-like crystals from his skin manifested at a younger age than usual for people with metabilities. For years the timid boy only used it defensively – no one is going to harass the homeless boy spending the the night behind the dumpster if the boy is covered in broken glass. Then he met Uproar who taught him to use his powers more “proactively,” and become an effective muscle. Shrapnel took to being an enforcer like a fish to water.
Today, Shrapnel is one of the most feared men in the Ultra City underworld. He’s still the right hand man of Uproar to whom he is forever grateful for giving him direction in life. Shrapnel is also learning some new tricks, including how to project his crystals like flying shards of glass. But he’s never lost that feral instinct and if he thinks you’re a  threat, he will come at you with all he’s got and never let up.
#4 Uproar
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
Uproar was always one of the scrappiest, smartest  and most opportunistic kids in the North Central slums of Ultra City. He was running his own little gang by fifth grade. But at home he was low man on the totem pole. His mother was never without a boyfriend and they came in all shapes and sizes with two things in common: they liked to screw his mom and beat him up. Uproar’s propensity to talk back didn’t help things, earning him fat lips to go with the rest of the bruises.
His sonic scream developed in his mid-teens. Unfortunately for mommy’s last boyfriend, he chose to smack Uproar around at the wrong time. When Uproar talked back this time, the boyfriend’s insides exploded. Uproar realized he couldn’t speak without letting loose an uncontrollable sonic blast. No problem: he texted his gang to come over. Without speaking, he walked them through getting rid of the boyfriend’s body. The cops never even came looking, anyway.
His inability to talk without blow things up made him intimidating and his willingness to do it made him a force. Before long, Uproar and his gang rose to the top of their heap. He still controls all the major illegal activity in North Central.
Unknown to the general public, Uproar has been able to talk for the past year, thanks to a voice box. The clever device fits in his collar and regulates his voice, allowing him to control you hear him talk or feel your insides liquify. Uproar received the voice box as payment from an employee at Lunar Labs that he helped to move some regulated substances. But Uproar likes the dread his silence provokes in the average Joe, so he keeps it a secret. Mostly it helps Uproar in negotiations with the other bosses and expanding his gang’s reach.
#3 Gorgona
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
She was born and bred a rich, spoiled brat. She was a selfish little monster of a girl, hiding her nastiness behind a button nose and her long curls. If you didn’t give her what she wanted, or even looked at her funny, an earth shaking tantrum was sure to follow. And right behind that tantrum were daddy and mommy to give their little princess whatever she wanted.
But even the meanest little girls don’t deserve Leukemia at the age of 11. No matter how rich mom and dad were, they couldn’t spare her the pain of treatment or the humiliation of losing her gorgeous hair. The poor little girl wouldn’t even look at herself in the mirror anymore.
In a desperate attempt to save her life, her well connected father got his hands on an experimental treatment his friends had cooked up in the most secret of government facilities. What they didn’t tell him was that the “treatment” was actually a living creature of unknown origin that could bond to and heal human bodies.
The “treatment” was administered to the little girl while she sleeping. As the creature took hold, it searched her feelings and thoughts. What no one knew was that this living, fully conscious thing fed off human feelings of happiness. When it found what the little girl desired most – her beautiful hair – it completed the bond and took the shape of her locks.
The girl woke up the next morning to find herself not only feeling much better but with a full, luscious head of hair that was even more beautiful than she remembered it. She was overcome with happiness… and the creature fed. Not only that, the creature realized that to continue its own existence, it had to help her get what she wanted. And the little girl slowly realized this little-known-fact about her new head of “hair.”
Now she doesn’t need daddy to give her what she wants. The creature does whatever it thinks will make her happy. Like get her pretty new jewelry without paying for it. Or take that new sports car she saw some loser driving. Or hurt people who look at her funny. Â Or whatever else Gorgona damn well pleases.
#2 Speedbump
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
Where to start with Speedbump? Well, she’s a speedster. She was always hyper as a child but no one expected it to get so literal in her teenage years. Since then she’s been on the move and constantly plugged in.
She facebooks, she tweets, she emails, she texts, she calls, she’ll swing by your house: Speedbump always stays in touch. If you need to get a message to or from someone, she’s the one who’ll get it, if she hasn’t delivered it already.
Notice those big headphones? She never takes them off. She’ll have a whole conversation with you while listening to a podcast or a new album or eavesdropping on some phone line she’s hacked into. Speedbump multitasks, even conversations.
Speedbump works as a freelance fact checker for magazines and newspapers. She loves the job because she’s constantly learning about new subjects. Along the way, Speedbump has picked up all manner of random facts, figures and skills that often come in handy.
However, Speedbump has been known to come to a grinding halt and get blazed. Often. She loves to get high and sit on her couch, slowing down and catching her breath before the world zooms past her. The superhero community doesn’t love that Speedbump isn’t secretive about her habit but she’s barely a B-lister in their world so she flies under the radar.
And she likes it fine that way!
#1 The Scorpion
Art by Michael Powell (@mpowelljr)
Words by Rolando Garcia (@roshow)
The U-City terror known as “the Scorpion” is hailed by some as a hero and by others as a raving lunatic with guns. Regardless of who’s right, both agree: the Scorpion changed the way laws were enforced in the world.
The Scorpion was the first masked crime fighter to successfully help the police close major investigations, including the arrest of four serial killers. In the 30 years since he first appeared, his true identity remains a secret to the public.
The Scorpion has been seen less than a dozen times in the past two decades. Still, his success created precedence, paving the way for vigilantes like Ominus and later Revenger, who help the police by operating outside the law.
Behind closed doors, the Scorpion is a moderately successful voice over actor in animated movies and television shows. His stage mother pushed him into that day job when he was only 7. What he really wanted to be was a cop. Being the weird, hard headed teen he was, he started teaching himself. The voice acting job was flexible and undemanding yet paid him well enough that he was able to pursue his other life as the Scorpion. He never married and never had a family of his own.
He’s currently retired, although he follows the current generation of heroes in the news, obsessively.
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