The journey of a hero

[ThePhantomofTheOpera]

The Marvel and DC Universes have permanently merged together, and the government is stepping in. The government has signed a bill that all heroes must reveal their secret identity to the people of the world, and any that don't will but hunted by the U.S government and revealed by force. The government believes that this is what is best for the American population. Some heroes agree while others don't. Some heroes like: Iron-man, Spider-man, Cyclopes, Storm, ect. gave the government what they wanted. While others: Batman, Spawn, Capt. America, Ghost Rider, ect. made it clear that they wouldn't give up their secret identity. One thing the government didn't take into account is the fact of the villains that would benefit from the revelation of the heroes identities. I wonder if the heroes can survive the night.


RULES:


N/R


No killing off without speaking in PM first


No God mod


SKELLY:


Name/Alias:


Age:


Background:


Powers/Skills/Abilities:


Government or Renegade (Only if hero):


Appearance:


Name/Alias: Spawn/Al Simmons


Age: 40


Background:


Origin


A Hellspawn is born.


Spawn was once a man named Al Simmons, a highly trained assassin and was considered the best. He was a well known soldier who was at his most successful point when he saved the President from an attempted assassination. He was promoted to a higher level of the C.I.A. that dealt with the things the Government had kept secret from the general public. However, Al soon realized that the Government wasn't always right and started questioning if they were truly correct in their actions. This caught the attention of people in high power.


Jason Wynn who had long since been his superior found out about this and knew that Al knew too much. So he hired Chapel who was Al's friend and partner to kill him. In a blazing inferno Al Simmons was murdered and his soul was sent to Hell because he had knowingly killed innocents in his C.I.A. days.


Al Simmons in Hell


Al made a deal to sell his soul to a Demonic Being known as "Malebolgia" to get to see his wife Wanda Fitzgerald once again. He was allowed to come back however he came back five years later as some kind of strange Hellspawn with no memory of what he had done. After remembering what he had done, he sought out his wife only to find she had moved on and married his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald and had even had a child named Cyan.


It was after this event that his demonic guide the Violator, who appeared as a clown, showed up. He revealed to Spawn the purpose of his life and fought him, but had his battle interrupted by Malebolgia. Spawn must fight to survive, after realizing his purpose, against the forces of both Heaven and Hell. This produces major story arcs: A New Life.


Classic Spawn


Spawn’s early battles were very anti-hero like as he went up against street thugs and gangs. He later brutally killed a pedophile and child murderer named Billy Kincaid. It was this act that brought the detective duo of Sam Burke and Twitch Williams into Spawn's life.


Later he was hunted by the Angel Angela who hunted Spawns for sport.


It is around this time that Spawn becomes “king” of “Rat City”, a gathering of alleys where bums and the homeless live. There he meets the bum Cogliostro who to Spawn’s surprise knows much about him. Spawn would soon battle the cyborg mob enforcer Overtkill who almost killed Spawn, but he was able to emerge victorious. He was again hunted by Angela and would fight the angelic warrior called the Anti-Spawn a.k.a the Redeemer who was in fact Jason Wynn.


The First Metamorphosis


After an almost dangerous confrontation with a Redeemer, Spawns suit mutated and became more advanced. The unusual cape became slightly ripped, and the red glow that had come from the costume was gone, and had evolved to what is now black and white. Spawn used to have boots and gloves but he found out that those had also changed, becoming replaced with spikes. Spawn's suit was more powerful than the original and had also found out that he had a new cape and chains, which were able to shape shift into different things to confuse his opponents. After finding this out, Spawn used his blades to slash off a redeemer's hand. After defeating the redeemer Spawn thought that the battle was over until he meets someone more powerful than the redeemer known as the Freak. Spawn fought with The Freak but was unaware of The Freak's power, the ability to create nightmares which he did to torture Spawn with his past. During the battle a creature appearing to have the original appearance of Spawn, fights other beings and creatures, and knocks out Spawn. When Spawn woke up the creature tells Spawn that ever since the metamorphosis the suit will feed off souls. After being informed this Spawn later finds himself in New York City. He would fight with the The Curse, meet Harry Houdini who taught him about magic and also meet Batman.


After this Tony Twist sends a reprogrammed Overtkill after Terry, blaming him for the recent attacks on the mob and Spawn was forced to reveal his identity while saving his friend. However it was a well-placed shot from Twitch Williams that brought Overtkill down this time. He would later bring back his friend Bobby after he was killed in another fight with Chapel. Spawn would be a part of Angela’s trial and later traveled to the South and had an encounter with the KKK and an abusive father of two boys. When he returned to New York he was attacked by a new Redeemer. This caused his costume to evolve and defeated the Redeemer with its new found power. After another encounter with the Curse the suit began to go wild and after saving Terry from cancer sent him to Hell, but Malebolgia sent him back with full control of the suit.


Greenworld and Urizen


Due to increasing attacks from Heaven and Hell Spawn began to lose himself to evil, however thanks to the arrival of The Heap he was able to regain his goal. The Heap was an emissary of the Greenworld, a dimension whose power was equal to both Heaven and Hell’s and did not care for their war, but wanted to stop the destruction caused by it. They gave new powers to Spawn so he could better understand the world and it’s people.


It was around this time that Spawn battled the powerful god Urizen. Spawn once stopped a cult from summoning Urizen, but this time he had been summoned by two gate opener demons named Ab and Zab. Urizen was causing massive destruction to the world and after losing a battle to him, Spawn came back and used his new abilities to use the Earth itself to swallow Urizen and imprison him. The New King of Hell


After his battle Spawn learns that Malebolgia caused Urizen’s release in an attempt to start Armageddon and conquer the forces of Hell due to his army being larger at the time. Spawn and Angela decided to journey to Hell and kill him to stop his plans. During the battle Angela mortally wounds Malebolgia, but he kills her with his remaining strength and in anger Spawn takes off his head. Heaven and Hell


Spawn as an Angel


As Spawn struggled to find a way to get rid of hell's control and regain control, he noticed that the attacks were coming from both Heaven and Hell. Spawn found himself losing the battle at first due to the Salvation that had arrived in a new form, The Heap, a creature from the green world which is one of Spawns weaknesses. Heap's power was equal to Heaven and Hell which Spawn had never faced before, as it gave him new abilities which allowed him to overcome the worst from both Heaven and Hell. Though these powers were not really known they seem to give control of all the elements around the world. It was explained that the Greenworld had no interest in the war of Heaven and Hell, but was getting frustrated with the destruction that it brought. They caused the pain of the earth and later Spawn became aware of it. Spawn did not change his powers though rather than listening to earth, until being attacked by Urizen. After recovering, Spawn learns that the Greenworld had imbued him with a gift which he uses to contain Urizen by splitting the ground and imprisoning him inside the earth.


After killing him he finds that the throne of Hell is rightfully his and it is offered to him by the demon Mammon however he refuses the offer, but after deliberating with his teacher Cog he decided to turn Hell into a new paradise, but Cog reveals that he is Cain the man who killed his brother in envy and the first murder and man to go to Hell. His true goal has been to take over Hell and uses Hellspawn to do it. He betrayed Spawn and took the throne for himself, but gave Spawn the gift of his human form back. Wandering


After returning he meets a young Wiccan named Nyx. With her help he regains his suit, but has lost his much of his power due to still being human without the suit. However Mammon tricks and betrays Nyx and takes her control over Spawns union with his suit and removes all of his memories of the past. With no memory he wanders the Earth and during his wandering releases a group of angels who are called the Forgotten and take no sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. He discovers that Mammon is a member of the Fallen who was sent to Hell and his power is much greater than Malebolgia’s. Armageddon


Spawn in Armageddon


Spawn regains his memories thanks to the power of the Greenworld. His suit also evolves once more and now it seems one with his body but as time progresses, he begins to hate himself. Both Heaven and hell have rejected him and now he sits in the back alleys, the city streets, sitting upon a stage prop in an abandoned warehouse as maggots and other horrible insects crawl inside his body. Nesting inside the empty shell that he has become...where is he to go? His first thought is to return to the dead zone however that land is heavens territory ... and a Hellspawn is not welcomed in such lands. Immediately, upon entering Spawn is confronted by the Disciple who promptly greets Spawn by tearing his brain out and throwing his heart into the Greenworld whilst Spawn's body is thrown to hell. Spawn is then captured and tortured by Mammon so he can understand the secrets inside him.


Meanwhile when Spawn's heart fell to the Green World, a soul was freed, as all the souls that died within the hour Al died went into the Spawn suit (thus why Malebolgia could not control Spawn). Chris meets with his mother once more as the Man of Miracles instructed him and then he travels to hell along with Sam Burke and Twitch Williams to rescue Spawn from Mammon. Spawn escapes and when he returns to earth, Signs of Armageddon begin to appear and Spawn begins looking for a way to stop it. Spawn discovers that Wanda’s twin children are responsible and he stops them from killing their entire family, but is unable to destroy them. Zera reveals that Jake is God and Katie is Satan.


Spawn finds out that the Mother removed them of their powers and positions and sent them to Earth due to their hatred of each other and constant fighting. She tells him he cannot stop Armageddon, but he has the potential to be elevated to the power of a God and preserve the human race.


He has to eat a piece of Forbidden Fruit from the Garden of Eden to gain such power. She tells Spawn he must prove himself first and has to fight against the The Disciple. It is revealed that there are twelve disciples, each one representing Jesus’ disciples. His power is also weakened as a demon is never to enter the Garden and it has taken the form of a counter starting at 9:9:9:9. However with guidance from Cyan he defeats all the Disciples except for the last Judas who Cyan tells him not to kill. He then stabs him in the heart, but the Mother gives Spawn a piece of the fruit and resurrect him. He gains a more angelic form and greater power.


He returns to Earth finding it destroyed by the four Horsemen and all the humans dead and Angels and Demons in their place waiting to fight in the final battle. After defeating Zera he finds dead warriors of Heaven and one of them is Granny Blake having been betrayed by her faith. Spawn then battles the forces of Satan and God. He uses all the power given to him by the Mother to destroy the forces of Heaven and Hell and even all humanity. He has stopped Armageddon by taking away their armies; he is then killed by the two who then fight alone on Earth. New World


However, Spawn comes back and by opening himself to the power of the Mother, resurrects everyone with the knowledge of what happened. He left God and Satan to fight in their own little world and closed the doors to Heaven, Hell and Earth. He asked to be turned into a human again by the mother, but later asked to once again become a Hellspawn.


The New Clown


After a series of odd murders Spawn finds that the Clown has come back possessing the body of man named Barney Saunders. It was revealed that Saunders was having an affair with a woman named Wilma Barbara and got trapped in a garbage chute when he was trying to hide from her husband. He was there for sometime until Spawn destroyed and remade the world. He was rescued by Clown so he could use his body for himself. He then brought out the dark urges inside the tenants of an apartment building and used this to form a doorway to Hell to bring back his brother’s. However before he could form a portal Wilma showed up and his love for her allowed Saunders to take back control. He then intended to close the portal by going through it, but he took Wilma with him due to being angry over her leaving him in the chute.


Zera reappeared only her head survived and she was suspended in a jar. Spawn was summoned by a Voodoo priestess named Mambo Suzanne. Zera was attempting to take over Nyx’s body and fight Spawn, but she was killed when Suzanne used their fighting as a distraction and threw her head into the streets where it was eaten by demon dogs. Nyx was freed and her and Spawn became friends again.


Spawn later found that Ab and Zab had started a hell house where demons called sin eaters would create illusions of people’s greatest sins and feed off their guilt. After killing most of the sin eaters he found that a minister being fed on was his brother Richard and he allowed him to hallucinate to learn about his past.


It was revealed that Mammon knew Al when he was younger under the name Mr. Malefick. He taught Al to kill small animals in hopes of turning him into a killer and his servant and got Richard to do drugs. Only their brother Marc wasn’t influenced by Mammon. Later Richard stabbed his drug dealer named Weasel while high and called his brothers for help, but Al finishes him off instead of being implicated in crime and Mammon hides the body.


Nyx and Spawn then kill the last sin eater and Spawn discovers that Richard cannot remember his parents due to a spell placed by Mammon and Spawn goes to find out about them. He finds their home under a spell placed by Mammon keeping them there for years. His mother is not shocked by his form, but his father is. It was revealed his mother planned with Mammon to create a hellspawn stronger than the others, but his father was grief-stricken that he couldn’t stop her. He is then given a journal by his father that his mother prevented him from seeing. It revealed that his ancestor came across a hellspawn in the past known as the Gunslinger Spawn. The Tale of Two Brothers


Al Simmons


Ab and Zab create a hell where visitors are forced to view their deepest fears due to demons called sin eaters they feed on guilt from the visitors then making them face the evil that they had ever done. A woman who was in the house both had delusions of their fear caused by the sin eaters. They fed on the guilt giving them more power when Spawn confronted Ab and Zab he was faced with his own sin against Wanda and his unborn child. Spawn was unable to break free from the guilt and was slowly fed on by a sin eater. When Nyx interfered he was able to break a sin eater illusion. Nyx realized that he was getting more powerful. Spawn breaks all the others illusions then he comes across one who learned is Albert Simmons brother, Richard who was going through his worst sin Spawn who was still not yet recovering from all those memories as Albert Simmons.


Spawn decides to allow Richard to feel his sins. It is realized that it was Mammon that put an influence on Albert Simmons and tutored Albert Simmons to torture and murder small animals seemingly allowing him to become his servant who would feel no pity in taking a beings life Malefick had also influenced Richard Simmons to take drugs and introduced him to the drug dealer Weasel. It was only Marc Simmons who was able to save himself from mammon but was unable to help the others. Richard Simmons delusion of his past climaxed with him stabbing and injuring Weasel with a knife that was given by Mammon while intoxicated with drugs Richard calls his brothers to help him save the drug dealers life and Albert Simmons not wanting his brothers getting in the crime decides instead of calling an ambulance and pulls the knife from Weasel's body and kills him with it Mammon appears sending the brothers home while he hides the drug dealers body. The Monster in the Bubble


Spawn at his Prime


The comic series during the continuation from the last issue Spawn was left helpless and at a little weakened against his enemy Erskine's psychic powers,and although Spawn had psychic powers of his own he was in trouble due to Erskine's creation of a tentacle creature that had the ability of impaling his enemies. This creature also showed the features of Mammon that was coaxing. Nyx had come out of nowhere to stab the creature with a sword, but not killing the creature just stunning it to get it's attention, but it was a mistake by Nyx only making herself the creatures target. Next she uses her telepathic powers to contact Marc Simmons, asking him to shoot Erskine. Erskine retaliates and ceases Marc's attack and accidentally grabbed the trigger of Marc's special gun causing the creature to disappear, while Spawn and Nyx go to the hospital where Erskine is.


Spawn is given an opportunity of whether or not whether he should cause Erskine's death. Which threatens Spawn to enter the bubble dome, a dimension if Erskine does not reveal the location of Mammon, who Spawn believed was causing the attacks. Mammon then appears only to complicate the situation and make things worse by allowing Erskine to complete his last murder, by using a devastating psychic projection of a strange woman to attack the last victim. After all that had happened Mammon confesses that it was him who taught Erskine how to use his powers. Which been shown in his recent killing. Erskine tries to commit suicide leaving behind his possessions of the doctor who he was taken care by after he was brought to the hospital. Spawn continues to attacked Mammon, and ask what Mammon wanted from him. Mammon tells him that he was a special being with great divine powers.


Later a man wakes in a mortuary with no memory of who he is. Soon some doctors working on him discover he is alive and panic only to be killed by someone in a robe. The person was previously seen with Mammon and is revealed to be Morana. Severin is the man's name and he finds that he is one of the first species of vampires called the Vrykolakas. However he wants to die and Morana promises him death in return for his help. While Marc, Nyx and Spawn talk Severin appears defeats Marc and Nyx and bites Spawn to transfer his vampirism. He retreats back to Morana hoping for death, but is cursed to have to go over his last few moments repeatedly for all time.


It is revealed Cyan has been experiencing horrid visions mostly of her mother covered in blood and even Spawn's current torment. Severin's attack has caused Spawn to battle the suit in his mind. It tells him it was always in control not Al. It tells him of its anger of relinquishing his godlike powers and that Wanda had been having affairs before his death. The two fight in Spawn's mind him in his human form as the suit tells him Wanda never wanted his child soon Al gives in and gets up. Meanwhile Mammon with Morana and his adopted mother and father Lucian and Daciana as they prepare for the next step in their plans. Cyan is having more visions that cause her to be scared of Spawn and after seeing her door in blood she opens it to find Spawn asking if he's going to kill her mom. Luckily Granny had warned Cyan and she used a knife with the old shoe lace she got from Spawn to send Spawn into an illusionary world to talk to Wanda non-violently.


Morana


There he speaks with Wanda while they ride on a boat in a lake. He says he wanted to move on but can't. Wanda wonders if he could go if she forgave him but she says she cannot forgive for the death of the child but still loves the man inside him. Spawn tries to take out Cyan's knife but only pulls out his wedding ring and some how suppresses the suit. Soon Cyan and Nyx show up and they get to the shore only for K7-Leetha to appear and take over Nyx. It says it has been working with Mammon from the start to build Spawn and in return would get to live on earth free. Now controlled by the K7 Nyx tries to kill Cyan and Wanda but is halted by Mammon who promises even more power if it still does his wishes. The entire group goes to a castle and Mammon says his plan to make a perfect Hellspawn. He wanted the rapture so that Satan, God and Malebolgia would be gone and revealed his perfect Hellspawn was Al and Wanda's miscarried child now Morana. He chose those two due to the fact both the families have been filled with Spawns' from previous times.


After washing herself in virgins blood she is now fully mature and bonds with the uniform and gets ready to consume her parents souls. With none of the most powerful being useful Cyan taps into her powers and goes to the future. She talks with an old women who gives her a message for Al. Returning she has Spawn summon the last twelve (but most powerful) members of the Legion. However they are beaten by Morana one by one. Mammon insults Al and in turn he disowns Morana enraging her and given Cyan the chance to tell Nyx a spell to trap Mammon and Morana. It works and both demons are sealed and the others return home save Al who jumped into a hell-dimension to be reborn as a weapon against both heaven and hell. Spawn Endgame


Endgame


He passes through the reality and is soon ready to enter the human dimension. He makes his way to a certain point in the alleys (probably the spot he first returned from hell) and then blows off his head. Meanwhile a man under the named Jim Downing who is without his memories and is healing (unusually fast) at a hospital. He seems to know Spawn as he was thinking about him. A janitor tries to make money off Jim's story and calls a lawyer. The lawyer then calls someone else and tells the janitor not to go to the papers and then the lawyer commits suicide. Soon a thug is payed to capture Jim. While he is talking to a nurse who prayed for his recovery the thug attacks with a flaming skull. Jim flees and they cause a massive amount of damage, but soon he catches up to Jim, but soon Jim transforms into Spawn and kills his attacker and then escapes the burning hospital back in human form and is taken in by the firefighters.


He is later transported to another hospital with other patients. He later leaves and reunites with his nurse Sara and after remembering his first transformation he begins to turn again. He calls to Sara but leaves before she can see him. Meanwhile a reporter begins to ask questions about what happened at the hospital. Wandering the city he is attacked and effortlessly kills his would be killers. This draws the attention of Sam and Twitch who recognize the chaos as something Spawn may do.


After again reuniting with Sara and telling him about his transformation he then wanders again only to run into Wanda Blake Al Simmons ex-wife. She recognizes Jim as the form Al took when he originally came back to earth and she realizes he is a Spawn like Al.


On her advice he travels to Rat city and finds Spawns throne where he ruled and is met by an angel. He ends up fighting the angel and calls him a traitor during the fight. Fearing the angel has done something to Sara he beats the angel and leaves. Jim finds a man was asking questions about him and questions him to discover he works for someone named Gilbert Sanchez.


The angel Spawn beat is later attacked by Clown who removes her wings. When Spawn returns he's sees the angel both powerless and insane and is surprised to find Freak and later Violator himself. Despite Freak's warnings Clown begins to deceive Jim and informs him that his suit is a living being but then vanishes. Clown later allows himself to be arrested by Sam and Twitch to meet the leader of a vampire group to attempt to form a unity between the leader, Clown and Spawn.


Gilbert Sanchez is later killed by other mob members for his information on the new Spawn. Spawn attempts to learn more about him but after being assaulted uses his powers on his attacker. Jim later finds the man who had been asking Sara questions. He tracks to his families home which is suddenly bombed killing everyone inside but Spawn. He is later able to find more mob members and questions them further and then finishing them when he's done


Powers/Skills/Abilities:


While Spawn's abilities have fluctuated over the years, his core powers are derived from the necroplasm that makes up his body. This dense substance grants him superhuman strength, weight, stamina, and healing. Despite his weight, he is superhumanly agile and can jump to great heights and across long distances. His necroplasm also gives him necro-magic, a variety of supernatural powers including teleportation, phasing, resurrecting the dead, necro-energy blasts, biological manipulation, and much more. He can unleash the very fury of Hell through his body, however his magic is limited by a meter which starts at 9,999 and drains each time he uses his necroplasm. He is able to "feed" off the evil energy of the world including people and "dark animals" (rats, bats, roaches, worms, insects, wolves, and snakes). He is also an empathic being able to sense the emotions of others whenever he chooses. He can manipulate the elements and fly.


Spawn wears a living, sentient necroplasm-based symbiote suit, named Leetha of the 7th house of K (K7-Leetha). The suit feeds from the necroplasm in Spawn's body and his cape, spikes, and chains are all part of an organism that is bonded to his central nervous system; because of this connection he can mentally manipulate the suit to perform shapeshifting feats without draining his necro-meter.


Although Spawn is virtually immortal, he may be killed by a holy weapon forged in Heaven or by his own necro-power. He is also rendered powerless (and therefore mortal) in places that are immune to the influence of Hell, such as The Dead Zone (a patch of alley that is touched by Heaven) and the Greenworld.


Spawn also holds a vast arsenal of military grade weaponry and equipment as he frequently uses firearms as an alternative to his supernatural powers.


Government or Renegade (Only if hero): Renegade


Appearance:

Name/Alias: Capt. America/Steven Rogers


Age: 80 (looks 21)


Background:


Steven Rogers was born in the 1920s in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, to poor Irish immigrants, Sarah and Joseph Rogers.[56] Joseph Rogers died when Steve was only a child and his mother, Sarah, died of pneumonia while Steve was a teen. By early 1940, before America's entry into World War II, Rogers is a tall but scrawny fine arts student specializing in illustration, and a comic book writer and artist.


Disturbed by the rise of the Third Reich, Rogers attempts to enlist, only to be rejected due to his physically frail body. His resolution allows him to be noticed by U.S. Army General Chester Phillips and "Project: Rebirth." Rogers is used as a test subject for the Super-Soldier project, receiving a special serum made by "Dr. Josef Reinstein",[57][58] later retroactively changed to a code name for the scientist Abraham Erskine.[59] The name "Erskine" was first used in a Captain America novel The Great Gold Steal by Ted White published by Bantam Books in 1968.


The serum is a success, and transforms the frail Steve Rogers into a perfect specimen—a nearly perfect human being with peak strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence. The success of the program leaves Erskine wondering about replicating the experiment on other human beings.[58] The process itself has been inconsistently detailed: while in the original material Steve Rogers is shown receiving injections of the Super-Serum, when the origin was retold in the 1960s, the Comic Code Authority had already put a veto over graphic description of drug intake and abuse, and thus the Super-Serum was retconned into an oral formula.[60] Later accounts hint at a combination of oral and intravenous treatments with a strenuous training regimen, culminating in the Vita-Ray exposure.


Erskine refused to write down every crucial element of the treatment, leaving behind a flawed, imperfect knowledge of the needed steps. Thus, when the Nazi spy Heinz Kruger killed him, Erskine's method of creating new Super-Soldiers died as well. Captain America, in his first act after his transformation, avenges Erskine. In the 1941 origin story and in Tales of Suspense #63, Kruger dies when running into machinery but is not killed by Rogers; in the Captain America #109 and #255 revisions, Rogers causes the spy's death by punching him into machinery.[58]


Unable to create new Super-Soldiers, and willing to hide the Project Rebirth fiasco, the American government casts the now-powerful Rogers as a patriotic superhero, able to counter the menace of the Red Skull as a counter-intelligence agent. As such, he's supplied with a patriotic uniform designed by Rogers himself,[56]) a bulletproof shield, a personal side arm, and the codename Captain America, while posing as a clumsy infantry private at Camp Lehigh in Virginia. He forms a friendship with the camp's teenage mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes.[57]


Eventually Barnes learns of Rogers' dual identity and offers to keep the secret if he can become Captain America's sidekick, being trained himself to act as the perfect partner. During their adventures, Franklin D. Roosevelt presents Captain America with a new shield, forged from an alloy of steel and vibranium, fused by an unknown catalyst, so effective that it replaces his own firearm.[59] Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fight the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders as seen in the 1970s comic of the same name.[61] Captain America battles a number of criminal menaces on American soil, including a wide variety of costumed villains: the Wax Man,[62] the Hangman,[63] the Fang,[64] the Black Talon,[65] and the White Death,[66] among others.


In late April 1945, during the closing days of World War II, Captain America and Bucky try to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launches the plane with an armed explosive on it with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. The pair reach the plane just before take off. When Bucky tries to defuse the bomb, it explodes in mid-air. The young man is believed killed. Rogers is hurled into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Neither is found, and both are presumed dead. It is later revealed that neither character actually died.[67]


Late 1940s to 1950s


Captain America continued to appear in comics for the next few years changing from World War II-era hero fighting against the Nazis to confronting the United States' newest enemy, Communism. The revival of the character in the mid-1950s was short-lived, and events during that time period are later retconned to show that multiple people operated using the code name to explain the changes in the character. These post World War II successors are listed as William Naslund and Jeffrey Mace.


The last of these other official Captains, William Burnside,[68] was a history graduate enamored with the Captain America mythos, going so far to have his appearance surgically altered to resemble Rogers and legally change his name to "Steve Rogers", becoming the new "1950s Captain America".[69] He self-administered to himself and his pupil James "Jack" Monroe a flawed, incomplete copy of the Super-Serum, which made no mention about the necessary Vita-Ray portion of the treatment. As a result, while Burnside and Monroe became the new Captain America and Bucky, they became violently paranoid, often raving about innocent people being communist sympathizers during the height of the Red Scare of the 1950s. Their insanity forced the U.S. government to place both of them in indefinite cryogenic storage until they could be cured of their mental illness.[70] Monroe would later be cured and assume the Nomad identity.[71]


1960s to 1970s


Years later, the superhero team the Avengers discovers Steve Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, the Captain's uniform under his soldier's fatigues and still carrying his shield. After he revives, they piece together that Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945, surviving in such a state only because of his enhancements from Operation: Rebirth. The block had begun to melt after the Sub-Mariner, enraged that an Inuit tribe is worshiping the frozen figure, throws it into the ocean.[67] Rogers accepts membership in the Avengers, and although long out of his time, his considerable experience both in individual combat service and his time with the Invaders makes him a valuable asset to the team. He quickly assumes leadership,[72] and has typically returned to that position throughout the team's history.


Captain America is plagued by guilt for having been unable to prevent Bucky's death. Although he takes the young Rick Jones (who closely resembles Bucky) under his tutelage, he refuses for some time to allow Jones to take up the Bucky identity, not wishing to be responsible for another youth's death. Insisting that his hero finally move on from that loss, Jones eventually convinces Rogers to let him don the Bucky costume,[73] but this partnership lasts only a short time; a disguised Red Skull, impersonating Rogers with the help of the Cosmic Cube, drives Jones away.


Rogers reunites with his old war comrade Nick Fury, who is similarly well-preserved due to the "Infinity Formula." As a result, Rogers regularly undertakes missions for the security agencyS.H.I.E.L.D. for which Fury is public director.[74] Through Fury, Rogers befriends Sharon Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent,[75] with whom he eventually begins a romantic relationship.


Rogers later meets and trains Sam Wilson, who becomes the superhero the Falcon,[76] the first African-American superhero in mainstream comic books.[77][78] The characters established an enduring friendship and adventuring partnership, sharing the series title for some time as Captain America and the Falcon.[28] The two later encounter the revived but still insane 1950s Captain America.[69][70][79][80][81] Although Rogers and the Falcon defeat the faux Rogers and Jack Monroe, Rogers becomes deeply disturbed that he could have suffered his counterpart's fate. During this period, Rogers temporarily gains super strength.[82]


The series dealt with the Marvel Universe's version of the Watergate scandal,[83][84][85] making Rogers so uncertain about his role that he abandons his Captain America identity in favor of one called Nomad,[86] emphasizing the word's meaning as "man without a country". During this time, several men unsuccessfully assume the Captain America identity.[87] Rogers eventually re-assumes it after coming to consider that the identity could be a symbol of American ideals and not its government; it's a personal conviction epitomized when he later confronted a corrupt Army officer attempting to manipulate him by appealing to his loyalty, "I'm loyal to nothing, General... except the [American] Dream." Jack Monroe, cured of his mental instability, later takes up the Nomad alias.[88] Sharon Carter is believed to have been killed while under the mind control of Dr. Faustus.[89]


1980s to 1990s


The 1980s included a run by writer Roger Stern and artist John Byrne. Stern had Steve Rogers consider a run for President of the United States in Captain America #250 (June 1980),[90] an idea originally developed by Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin. Stern, in his capacity as editor of the title, had originally rejected the idea but later changed his mind about the concept.[91][92]McKenzie and Perlin received credit for the idea on the letters page at Stern's insistence.[93] Stern additionally introduced a new love interest, law student Bernie Rosenthal, in Captain America#248 (Aug. 1980).[94]


Writer J. M. DeMatteis revealed the true face and full origin of the Red Skull in Captain America #298-300, and had Captain America take on Jack Monroe, Nomad, as a partner for a time.[88] It is around this time that the heroes gathered by the Beyonder elect Rogers as leader during their stay on Battleworld in the 1984 miniseries Secret Wars Homophobia was dealt with as Steve Rogers runs into a childhood friend named Arnold Roth who is gay.[95][96]


Mark Gruenwald became the writer of the series with issue #307 (July 1985) and wrote 137 issues for 10 consecutive years from until #443 (Sept. 1995),[97] the most issues by any single author in the character's history. Gruenwald created several new foes, including Crossbones and the Serpent Society. Other Gruenwald characters included Diamondback,[98] Super Patriot,[99]and Demolition Man.[100] Gruenwald explored numerous political and social themes as well, such as extreme idealism when Captain America fights the anti-nationalist terrorist Flag-Smasher;[101] and vigilantism when he hunts the murderous Scourge of the Underworld.[102]


Rogers receives a large back-pay reimbursement dating back to his disappearance at the end of World War II, and a government commission orders him to work directly for the U.S. government. Already troubled by the corruption he had encountered with the Nuke incident in New York City,[103] Rogers chooses instead to resign his identity,[104][105] and then takes the alias of "the Captain".[106] A replacement Captain America, John Walker, struggles to emulate Rogers' ideals until pressure from hidden enemies helps to drive Walker insane. Rogers returns to the Captain America identity[107] while a recovered Walker becomes the U.S. Agent.[108]


Sometime afterward, Rogers avoids the explosion of a methamphetamine lab, but the drug triggers a chemical reaction in the Super-Soldier serum in his system. To combat the reaction, Rogers has the serum removed from his body, and trains constantly to maintain his physical condition.[109] A retcon later establishes that the serum was not a drug per se, which would have metabolized out of his system, but in fact a virus-like organism that effected a biochemical and genetic change. This additionally explained how arch-nemesis the Red Skull, who at the time inhabited a body cloned from Rogers' cells, has the formula in his body.


Because of his altered biochemistry, Rogers' body begins to deteriorate, and for a time he must wear a powered exoskeleton and is eventually placed again in suspended animation. During this time, he is given a transfusion of blood from the Red Skull, which cures his condition and stabilizes the Super-Soldier virus in his system. Captain America returns both to crime fighting and the Avengers.[110][111]


Following Gruenwald's departure from the series, Mark Waid took over and resurrected Sharon Carter as Cap's love interest. The title was then relaunched under Rob Liefeld as Cap became part of the Heroes Reborn universe for 13 issues[112] before another relaunch restored Waid to the title [113] in an arc that saw Cap lose his shield for a time using an energy based shield as a temporary replacement. Following Waid's run, Dan Jurgens took over and introduced new foe Protocide, a failed recipient of the Super Soldier serum prior to the experiment that successfully created Rogers.


2000s


In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Rogers reveals his identity to the world and establishes a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, as seen in Captain America vol. 4, #1-7 (June 2002 – Feb. 2003).[114] Following the disbandment of the Avengers in the "Avengers Disassembled" story arc, Rogers, now employed by S.H.I.E.L.D., discovers Bucky is alive, having been saved and deployed by the Soviets as the Winter Soldier. Rogers resumes his on-again, off-again relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter.


In the 2006-2007 company-wide story arc "Civil War", and its anchoring, seven-issue miniseries, Civil War (July 2006 - Jan. 2007), Rogers opposes the new mandatory federal registration of super-powered beings, and leads the underground anti-registration movement. He adopts the alias "Brett Hendrick", a mall security guard. After significant rancor and danger to the public as the two sides clash, Captain America voluntarily surrenders and orders the Anti-Registration forces to stand down.


In the story arc "The Death of Captain America", Rogers is indicted on criminal charges for his anti-registration efforts, and in Captain America vol. 5, #25 (April 2007) is shot outside a federal courthouse; taken to a hospital, he is pronounced dead.[115] The assassination, orchestrated by the Red Skull, involves Crossbones as a sniper and Dr. Faustus, who poses as a S.H.I.E.L.D.psychiatrist and gives Carter a hypnotic suggestion to surreptitiously shoot Rogers at close range during the chaos surrounding the sniper shot.


The miniseries Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #1-5 (June–Aug. 2007) follows the stunned superhero community after the apparent assassination. Captain America is purportedly laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, but Tony Stark (Iron Man) and others have actually returned Rogers' body to the Arctic where Rogers had been found years before, and whereupon Namor swore to guard him. In Captain America vol. 5, #30 (Sept. 2007), Stark receives a letter containing Rogers' request that Bucky become the next Captain America, which Bucky agrees to do four issues later. Adopting the original shield, he dons a new costume incorporating a pistol and a knife. The Norse god superhero Thor communicates with what appears to be Rogers' spirit on the first anniversary of Rogers' death, in Thor vol. 3, #11 (Oct. 2008).


had been hypnotized to use had actually caused Rogers to phase in and out of space and time, appearing at events in his lifetime and fighting battles. The Skull returns Rogers to the present, where he takes control of Rogers' mind and body. Rogers eventually regains control, and with help from his allies, defeats the Skull in the fourth and final issues of this miniseries. In the subsequent one-shot comic Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?, Rogers formally grants Bucky his Captain America shield and asks his former sidekick to continue as Captain America. The American President grants Rogers a full pardon for his anti-registration actions.


2010s


Following the company-wide "Dark Reign" and "Siege" story arcs, the Steve Rogers character became part of the "Heroic Age" arc.[116] The U.S. president appoints Rogers, in his civilian identity, as head of the nation's security, replacing Norman Osborn. The Superhuman Registration Act is repealed and Rogers reestablishes the superhero team the Avengers, spearheaded by Iron Man, Thor and Bucky as Captain America. In the miniseries Steve Rogers: Super Soldier, he encounters Jacob Erskine, the grandson of Professor Abraham Erskine and the son of Tyler Paxton, one of Rogers' fellow volunteers in the Super-Soldier program. Shortly afterward, Rogers becomes leader of the Secret Avengers, a black-ops superhero team.


During the Fear Itself storyline, Steve Rogers is present when the threat of the Serpent is known.[117] Following the apparent death of Bucky at the hands of Sin (in the form of Skadi), Steve Rogers ends up changing into his Captain America uniform.[118] When the Avengers and the New Avengers are fighting Skadi, the Serpent ends up joining the battle and breaks Captain America's shield with his bare hands.[119] Captain America and the Avengers teams end up forming a militia for a last stand against the forces of the Serpent.[120] When it comes to the final battle, Captain America uses Thor's hammer to fight Skadi until Thor manages to kill the Serpent. In the aftermath of the battle, Iron Man presents him with his reforged shield, now stronger for its uru-infused enhancements despite the scar it bears.[121] It is then revealed that Captain America, Nick Fury, and Black Widow are the only ones who know that Bucky actually survived the fight with Skadi as Bucky resumes his identity as Winter Soldier.[122]


In the Avengers vs. X-Men story arc, Captain America attempts to apprehend Hope Summers of the X-Men. She is the targeted vessel for the Phoenix Force, a destructive cosmic entity. Captain America believes that this Phoenix Force is too dangerous to entrust in one person and seeks to prevent Hope from having it. Cyclops and the X-Men believe that the Phoenix Force will save their race, and oppose Captain America's wishes.[123] The result is a series of battles that eventually take both teams to the blue area of the moon.[124] The Phoenix Force eventually possesses the five X-Men present, leaving the Avengers at an extreme disadvantage.[125] The Phoenix Five, who become corrupted by the power of the Phoenix, are eventually defeated and scattered, with Cyclops imprisoned for turning the world into a police state and murdering Charles Xavier after being pushed too far, only for him to note that, in the end, he was proven right about the Phoenix's intentions.[126] From there, Captain America proceeds to assemble the Avengers Unity Squad, a new team of Avengers composed of both classic Avengers and X-Men.[127]


Powers/Skills/Abilities:


Captain America has no superhuman powers, but through the Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment, he is transformed and his strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability, and healing are at the zenith of natural human potential. Rogers' body regularly replenishes the super-soldier serum; it does not wear off.[109]


The formula enhances all of his metabolic functions and prevents the build-up of fatigue poisons in his muscles, giving him endurance far in excess of an ordinary human being. This accounts for many of his extraordinary feats, including bench pressing 1200 pounds (545 kg) and running a mile (1.6 km) in 73 seconds (49 mph/78 kph).[128] Furthermore, his enhancements are the reason why he was able to survive being frozen in suspended animation for decades. He is highly resistant to hypnosis or gases that could limit his focus.[129] The secrets of creating a super-soldier were lost with the death of its creator, Dr. Abraham Erskine.[60] In the ensuing decades there have been numerous attempts to recreate Erskine's treatment, only to have them end in failure. Even worse, the attempts have instead often created psychopathic supervillains of which Captain America's 1950s imitator and Nuke are the most notorious examples.


Rogers' battle experience and training make him an expert tactician and an excellent field commander, with his teammates frequently deferring to his orders in battle. Thor has stated that Rogers is one of the very few humans he will take orders from and follow "through the gates of Hades".[130] Rogers' reflexes and senses are extraordinarily keen. He has blended judo, western boxing, kickboxing, and gymnastics into his own unique fighting style and is a master of multiple martial arts. Years of practice with his near-indestructible shield make him able to aim and throw it with almost unerring accuracy. His skill with his shield is such that he can attack multiple targets in succession with a single throw or even cause a boomerang-like return from a throw to attack an enemy from behind. In canon, he is regarded by other skilled fighters as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe, limited only by his human physique.[131][132] Although the super-soldier serum is an important part of his strength, Rogers has shown himself still sufficiently capable against stronger opponents, even when the serum has been deactivated reverting him to his pre-Captain America physique.[133]


Rogers has vast U.S. military knowledge and is often shown to be familiar with ongoing, classified Defense Department operations. He is an expert in combat strategy, survival, acrobatics, military strategy, piloting, and demolitions. Despite his high profile as one of the world's most popular and recognizable superheroes, Rogers has a broad understanding of the espionage community, largely through his ongoing relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. He is a talented artist, and has worked on the Captain America comic book published in the Marvel universe. Other career fields include commercial arts, teaching high school history, and law enforcement.


Although he lacks superhuman strength, Captain America is one of the few mortal beings who has been deemed worthy enough to wield Thor's hammer Mjolnir.[134]


Further information: Captain America's shield


Captain America uses several shields throughout his history, the most prevalent of which is a nigh-indestructible disc-shaped shield made from an experimental alloy of steel and the fictional vibranium.[135][136] The shield was cast by American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain, who was contracted by the U.S. government, from orders of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to create an impenetrable substance to use for tanks during World War II.[135] This alloy was created by accident and never duplicated, although efforts to reverse-engineer it resulted in the discovery of adamantium.[137]


Captain America often uses his shield as an offensive throwing weapon. The first instance of Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss occurs in Stan Lee's first comics writing, the two-page text story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941).[18] The legacy of the shield among other comics characters includes the time-traveling mutant superhero Cable telling Captain America that his shield still exists in one of the possible futures; Cable carries it into battle and brandishes it as a symbol.[138]


When without his trademark shield, Captain America sometimes uses other shields made from less durable metals such as steel,[139] or even a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix.[140] Rogers, having relinquished his regular shield to Barnes, carried a variant of the energy shield which can be used with either arm, and used to either block attacks or as an improvised offensive weapon able to cut through metal with relative ease.[141]Much like his vibranium shield, the energy shield can be thrown, including ricocheting off multiple surfaces and returning to his hand.[142]


Captain America's uniform is made of a fire-retardant material, and he wears a lightweight, bulletproof "duralumin" scale armor beneath his uniform for added protection.[59] Originally, Rogers' mask was a separate piece of material, but an early engagement had it dislodged, thus almost exposing his identity. To prevent a recurrence of the situation, Rogers modified the mask with connecting material to his uniform, an added benefit of which was extending his armor to cover his previously exposed neck. As a member of the Avengers, Rogers has an Avengers priority card, which serves as a communications device.


Captain America has used a custom specialized motorcycle, modified by the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons laboratory, as well as a custom-built battle van, constructed by the Wakanda Design Group with the ability to change its color for disguise purposes (red, white and blue), and fitted to store and conceal the custom motorcycle in its rear section with a frame that allows Rogers to launch from the vehicle riding it.


Government or Renegade (Only if hero): Renegade


Appearance:

Name/Alias: Deathstroke/Slade Wilson


Age: 35


Background:


Slade Wilson was sixteen years old when he first enlisted in the United States Army, having lied about his age. After serving a stint in Korea, he was later assigned to Camp Washington where he had been promoted to the rank of Major. In the early 1960s, he met Captain Adeline Kane who was tasked with training young soldiers in new fighting techniques in anticipation of brewing troubles taking place in Vietnam. Kane was amazed at how skilled Slade was and how quickly he adapted to modern conventions of warfare. She immediately fell in love with him, and realized that he was without a doubt the most able-bodied combatant she had ever encountered. She offered to privately train Slade in guerrilla warfare. In less than a year, Slade mastered every fighting form presented to him and was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Six months later, Adeline and he were married and she became pregnant with their first child. The war in Vietnam began to escalate and Slade was shipped overseas. In the war, his unit massacred a village, which sickened him. He was also rescued by SAS member Wintergreen, to whom he would later return the favor.


Chosen for a secret experiment, the Army imbued him with enhanced physical powers in an attempt to create metahuman supersoldiers for the U.S. military. Deathstroke became a mercenary soon after the experiment when he defied orders and rescued his friend Wintergreen sent on a suicide mission by a commanding officer with a grudge.[1] However, Slade kept this career secret from his family, even though his wife was an expert military combat instructor. Indeed, she had been responsible for a significant portion of his early training.


A criminal named the Jackal took his younger son Joseph Wilson hostage to force Slade to divulge the name of a client who had hired him as an assassin. Slade refused, claiming it was against his personal honor code. He attacked and killed the kidnappers at the rendezvous. Unfortunately, Joseph's throat was slashed by one of the criminals before Slade could prevent it, destroying Joseph's vocal cords and rendering him mute.


After taking Joseph to the hospital, his wife Adeline Wilson enraged at his endangerment of her son tried to kill Slade by shooting him, but only managed to destroy his right eye. Afterward, his confidence in his physical abilities was such that he made no secret of his impaired vision, marked by his mask which has a black, featureless half covering his lost eye. Without his mask, Slade wears an eye-patch.


The Teen Titans


Slade has a long history as an enemy of the Teen Titans, beginning when his other son Grant became an early Titans foe called the Ravager to fulfill a contract to kill or capture the Teen Titans. However, those enhancements proved fatal and Slade agreed to complete the contract. His first mission involved stealing the fictional element Promethium from S.T.A.R. Labs and selling it as the ultimate weapon. He then kidnapped the Titans and placed them in the path of a Promethium bomb to test his device for the buyers, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The Titans escaped and pursued Deathstroke, but he severely wounded Changeling in his escape. This would be the start to a lasting animosity between the two.


Deathstroke next appeared in New York, holding officials hostage in order to lure the Titans into confronting him. Terra, a new ally of the Titans, and Changeling were the only ones available to answer the call. Terra knocked Changeling out in an effort to prove herself worthy of being a Titan and fought Deathstroke single-handedly. Slade escaped as the other Titans arrived, but by then Terra had proven herself and the team offered her membership. Later that night, it was revealed that both Terra and Deathstroke conspired to fake the fight in a plot to infiltrate the team. It was also revealed that both shared an intimate relationship, despite Terra being fifteen years old.[1] The artist, George Pérez, noted that this constituted "statutory rape".[6]


Judas Contract


The Titans eventually entrusted Terra with all of their secret identities. Once Slade had this information, he used it to systematically take down each of the Titans, exploiting them at their weakest moments. Donna Troy was gassed at her photo studio, Changeling was poisoned with tainted envelopes while responding to fan mail, Victor Stone was electrically shocked by a chair in his own apartment, Koriand'r was ambushed with a device that affected her powers, and Raven was taken down by Terra herself. Nightwing was last to be attacked and he was confronted by Deathstroke himself. He narrowly avoided being captured and soon discovered that his teammates had already been taken. Nightwing arrived at Titans Tower to discover Slade's ex-wife and son. She told Nightwing that Terra was a traitor, how each of his teammates were captured, and related the origin of Deathstroke.


Nightwing, in order to confront Deathstroke and the H.I.V.E., joined Jericho (Joseph Wilson). During the confrontation, Deathstroke recognized Jericho as his son which caused him to hesitate. Jericho freed the Titans by possessing his father's body. Terra turned on Deathstroke, thinking he betrayed her as well. After her suicide, Slade was taken into custody.


Slade was put on trial for his crimes, but the trial was deliberately sabotaged by Changeling so that he could kill Slade himself, believing he was responsible for Terra's betrayal of the Titans. Slade agreed to the confrontation, but showed up out of costume. Changeling found himself unable to kill Slade, so instead they talked. Feeling some empathy for his grief, Slade explained his past with Terra, and Changeling realized Slade was not to blame for the choices Terra had made. The two men parted on peaceful terms, with Slade returning to Africa with Wintergreen.


Titans Plague


Months later, Slade encountered the Titans again while they were investigating mysterious attacks and disappearances. Donna Troy is attacked by a group of strange beastmen and barely survives the encounter. Meanwhile, while attending a fundraiser with his father, Gar Logan recognizes Slade trying to maintain a low profile. When he finally catches up with Slade, he finds him about to kill the host of the fundraiser Walter Lanier. He stops Deathstroke, but is surprised when Lanier turns into a bat-like creature and flies away. Slade reveals to the Titans that he was responsible for smuggling the drug the bestiamorphs were using to transform others, but did not realize what it was until it was too late. After Jericho and Raven were stricken by the plague, he aided them in destroying the beastmen and finding a cure for the contagion.


Titans Hunt


Shortly after this, he came to the Titans' assistance again during the Titans Hunt storyline. The members of the Titans, as well as many inactive members, all disappeared in a manner very similar to how they were abducted during theJudas Contract. Mento, an on-and-off member of the Doom Patrol, hires Deathstroke to find the missing Titans. He eventually discovers with Nightwing that the abductions were the work of the Wildebeest Society, and that their leader was none other than Titan member Jericho, Deathstroke's son.


It was revealed that Jericho had been possessed by the corrupted souls of Azarath as they were using him to capture the Titans and use them as physical hosts in order to survive. During the transfer process, Jericho's true self resurfaced briefly, begging his father to kill him. To spare his son any more pain and save the remaining Titans, Slade was forced to drive a sword through Jericho's heart, seemingly killing him. This act still haunts him to this day.


Afterward, Slade continued his life as a mercenary, but also acted as an occasional hero, aiding the Titans or acting on his own to help others, most notably during the Total Chaos storyline when the Team Titans arrived in the 20th Century to assassinate Donna Troy before she could give birth to her son, who in their timeline had grown up into the tyrannical despot, Lord Chaos. Slade also met Pat Trayce, a tough former cop who would become the new Vigilante. Pat Trayce and Slade quickly became lovers, and began a tumultuous on-again/off-again relationship.


Family business


After Slade thwarted an assassination attempt on the President of the United States, he was subsequently framed for the murder of a U.S. Senator. The man responsible had taken on the identity of the Ravager and was hunting down Slade's friends and loved ones. Eventually, with the help of the Titans and Sarge Steel, Slade was able to prove his innocence and the true culprit was revealed to be Steve Dayton, under the alias of the Crime Lord, who had again succumbed to mental instability caused by his Mento helmet.


Meanwhile, Slade's relationship with his estranged wife Adeline took a tragic turn as Slade underwent a process to gain the ability of physical regeneration, allowing him to survive any wound so long as his brain is intact (but this power is limited as Slade cannot regenerate his lost eye because that injury happened before he gained his healing factor). After gaining this power, Slade was forced to give his wife a blood transfusion to save her life, resulting in her gaining a similar healing factor which manifested itself as a form of immortality. This alteration of her DNA drove Adeline insane, shaming Deathstroke into going into a semi-retirement state.


In Titans (vol. 1) #12, Deathstroke teamed up with the Titans to face his wife Adeline, who in her insane state had revived the H.I.V.E. and sought to rid the world of all superhumans, blaming them for Jericho's apparent death. During the battle, interrupted by Vandal Savage and a band of villains that he had organized from recent Titans battles, Adeline's throat was slit. In a brief return of sanity, she begged Slade to kill her, requesting him to reunite her with "my... ourchildren..." because her version of the healing factor would not heal the wound, but only allow her to live in spite of it. Deathstroke refused, but Koriand'r shocked her teammates and Deathstroke by using her starbolt blast to disintegrate her completely, per Adeline's wishes. This was a turning point, as Deathstroke renounced all ties with the Titans as a result of Starfire's act.


It was then revealed that Jericho managed to transfer his consciousness into Deathstroke in the instant before his death. Taking control of his father, Jericho forced Deathstroke to murder his longtime butler, mentor and companion Wintergreen. He then launched a series of attacks against the current Teen Titans, most notably shattering Impulse's knee with a shotgun blast, before leaving his father's body. Deathstroke has since manipulated his one remaining child Rose Wilson into the mercenary business as the new Ravager, in order to find and kill Jericho, using a specially designed serum to heighten her hostility and push her over the edge. Unfortunately, the process also resulted in her being driven at least partially insane, to the extent that she cut out her own left eye in an attempt to prove to her father that she was just like him.


Nightwing and Birds of Prey


Deathstroke appeared in Nightwing #23 as a mercenary against Black Canary and Conner Hawke as part of the "Brotherhood of the Fist" tie-in to the No Man's Land story arc.[7]


Deathstroke also appeared in Birds of Prey #22-24, where he was sent to Gorilla City by Blockbuster to get an ape-heart. He is accompanied by Lady Vic, Grimm, and Black Canary, who is posing as Oracle.


Identity Crisis


In the Identity Crisis miniseries, Deathstroke was enlisted as a bodyguard for Doctor Light, who was being pursued by the Justice League of America as a suspect in the murder of Sue Dibny. In the ensuing battle, Deathstroke nearly beat the team of Elongated Man, Flash, Zatanna, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Atom and Green Lantern. He systematically took out every member except for Rayner, whom he had the potential to disable through trying to usurp his ring's energies using his own formidable willpower. Fortunately, before the outcome of this conflict with Green Lantern ended, Green Arrow stuck an arrow in Deathstroke's right eye socket, enraging him. Slade went ballistic, which derailed his pre-planned strategy and began to beat Green Arrow, but was stopped when the majority of the team tackled Deathstroke to the ground. Dr. Light used his powers to allow the two to escape. Near the end of Identity Crisis, Deathstroke confronts Green Arrow on a rooftop. Arrow sees his reflection in the windows of a nearby building, but when he turns to confront Slade, Deathstroke is gone. Instead, Green Arrow finds Slade's cowl and a note stuck to the wall by the very arrow he stabbed in Slade's eye socket. The note reads "This is yours - We're not done.".


Infinite Crisis


Deathstroke was a founding member of Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains in the Infinite Crisis storyline. He was seen in Infinite Crisis #1, hiding in a warehouse south of Metropolis waiting to ambush the Freedom Fighterswith several other members. The battle didn't last long, and by the end, Deathstroke had killed the Phantom Lady. Slade is also the one who landed the final stroke on Uncle Sam by shooting him in the back (and leading to his apparent death).[1]


He was the employer of Nightwing, whom he hired to train his daughter Rose. However, after the two had a confrontation with Superman, Deathstroke discovered that Nightwing had been teaching Rose the values of heroism. He could not kill Grayson in front of his daughter, because doing so would undo all of Slade's teachings. Nightwing offered a deal: he would stay away from Rose if Slade would keep the metahuman villains out of Blüdhaven. The deal held for 34 hours until Infinite Crisis #4, when Slade, under the orders of Alexander Luthor, Jr., the real leader of the Society, went with several villains (including old Titans and Doom Patrol foes and Brotherhood of Evil members Monsieur Mallahand Brain) to drop Chemo, another fellow villain who appeared to be a nearly brainless monster made of pure energy and radioactive chemicals, on Blüdhaven, killing over one-hundred thousand people. Slade gave the explanation to the Brotherhood that Nightwing should be made to believe that he can never go home again.


Nightwing took the first of his revenge by bursting in on Deathstroke and Rose's training session, revealing to the latter that the Kryptonite that Deathstroke had implanted in place of her missing eye was radioactive and deadly to humans as well as to Kryptonians (as revealed by Luthor's old possession of a Kryptonite ring that forced him to transfer his brain to a cloned body). Angered, Slade went after Nightwing with a grenade, only to have Rose try to stop him. Amid the smoke of the resulting explosion, Rose fled, telling her father that she hated him. Nightwing disappeared as well, but not before leaving a note for Slade warning him that he would be back to make him pay for Blüdhaven.


At the climactic Battle of Metropolis at the conclusion of Infinite Crisis, Slade was confronted by Batman, Robin and Nightwing. During the struggle, he was questioned regarding his motives for aiding the Secret Society. His claims of monetary motivation were deemed unsatisfactory; Batman accused him of having forsaken his code of honor, and Nightwing said it was because his family had abandoned him. Enraged, Slade said that was because of Nightwing, and that it was always because of him, before Batman told him to take responsibility for his actions and he was rendered unconscious.


One Year Later


Slade appears in the Green Arrow series after the one year jump in DC Comics' storylines. Apparently in hiding, he nearly murders a crony of several Star City businessmen who want to hire him for a murder. Before finishing his violent refusal, he asks the name of the target. When informed that it was to be the mayor of Star City, Oliver Queen (whom Deathstroke knows is secretly Green Arrow), he spares the lackey and decides to take the job.[8]


However, things do not quite go according to plan, with Green Arrow using the resources of both his identities, trapping him within a ring of armed National Guardsmen.[9] The fight ends with Deathstroke's arrest[10] and subsequent conviction and incarceration;[11] however, this is revealed as a ploy to gain access to Constantine Drakon, another jailed foe of Green Arrow who has information on the hero's activities in the lost year,[12] which include Green Arrow studying under Natas, an assassin who once trained Deathstroke himself.[13]


Deathstroke is also active behind the scenes in Teen Titans, currently in the process of organizing a counter-team of teen superhumans that will be known as Titans East. The current Titans team included Ravager, who now wanted nothing to do with her father. Deathstroke seemingly intended to "reclaim" Ravager and a recently resurrected Jericho from the Titans or, if that failed, to crush them along with the rest of the team. For these reasons, he specially selected each member of Titans East, believing that, overall, each member would successfully counteract every member of the current Teen Titans line-up.


As indicated over the course of the subsequent issues, Deathstroke was manipulating every member of his new team in one way or another. He had blackmailed former Titan Risk while at the same time offering him an outlet for his rage; was drugging Batgirl with the same serum he had used on Rose; and supplied Inertia with a formula which granted superhuman speed to compensate for the loss of the Speed Force following the initial battle with Superboy-Prime. His team, however, slowly fell apart over the course of the attack, as Robin managed to free Batgirl of his mind control serum and Raven convinced Duela Dent to switch sides. Slade and his remaining Titans subsequently faced off against both the current Titans and a group of old Titans led by Nightwing. Although he was defeated, he still managed to escape with the aid of Inertia. In the end, however, it was revealed to the readers that Slade's real mission was to provide his children with something he could never offer them: a real family, in the form of the Teen Titans. By attacking the Titans, he insured that Rose and Jericho would become more trusted by their associates, and thus grow closer to the team.


Recently, Deathstroke took credit for somehow twisting (through unknown means) the powers of Geo-Force, the half-brother of the original Terra, into the same powers as his traitorous sister. Using this leverage, Deathstroke offered to reverse the process only if Geo-Force became his own personal spy within the Justice League. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Geo-Force alerted Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman of Deathstroke's scheme, which culminated in Geo-Force alerting the League that Deathstroke (whose rivalry with Green Arrow has reached vendetta-level proportions) planned on using an army of supervillains to crash Green Arrow and Black Canary's wedding. Weeks later, Geo-Force was tortured by Gorilla Groddafter the League was kidnapped by the Injustice League, and ultimately transferred to Batman's newest incarnation of the Outsiders afterward, robbing Deathstroke of his potential pawn.


Deathstroke can be seen as a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.


Deathstroke is gravely injured with his own sword by Geo-Force in DC Universe: Last Will and Testament. Following his injury, he is recuperating at Belle Reve while doctors labor to save him. Deathstroke dreams of his family members and all of the people that he has let down. When he awakens, he vows that he will never again be haunted by the past.


Ravager comes to visit him, but in fact, wants to finish her father off. She tries to strangle him with a plastic wire, but Deathstroke is recuperated enough that he can fend off her attack. He escapes from the facility and steals a helicopter. Later, Deathstroke finds a young street urchin that he decides to take under his wing.[14]


Blackest Night


In the Teen Titans (vol. 3) tie-in to the Blackest Night crossover event, Deathstroke is living in the deceased Wintergreen's house and reading his journal, when he is attacked by Rose again. During the fight, the two are attacked by their deceased relatives Grant, Wade, and Adeline, who, along with Wintergreen, have all been reanimated as Black Lanterns. Deathstroke and Rose are forced to work together and fight for their lives against the Black Lanterns.[15]


The two hopelessly fight the regenerating Black Lanterns until Jericho, cured from his earlier insanity, arrives and turns the tide of the fight. During the course of the battle, Deathstroke confesses to his children that part of the reason why he menaced the Teen Titans for so many years was that he felt that by forcing his children to hate him, they would have a chance of escaping the sorrow and pain a life with him would entail. Just as Slade is overwhelmed and about to be killed, Jericho somehow uses his abilities to sever the connection between the Black Lanterns and their power rings, permanently sending them back to the grave. After realizing that her mother was not reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps, Rose comes to the conclusion that she must somehow still be alive, and leaves after threatening to kill Slade if he tries to stop her. Jericho chooses to stay with his father, reasoning that only Slade would have the courage to kill him if he were to ever return to madness.[16]


Batman and Robin


Recently, Deathstroke has been seen working with Talia al Ghul, controlling the body and physical actions of the current Robin in order to kill the recent Batman. Deathstroke is able to control Robin's actions thanks to a neural-implant inserted into Robin's spine by his mother while it was being surgically replaced. Batman defeats Deathstroke by taking advantage of the two-way connection between him and Robin by using a taser on Robin, the resulting electric shock overwhelming Deathstroke's enhanced senses. He then tracks Slade down and attacks him in his hospital bed for controlling Robin and for the Chemo attack, informing Slade that what happened then, is just a 'trailer' for what he will do later.[17]


Titans: Villains for Hire


Following the encounter with the Black Lanterns, Deathstroke recruits a team of supervillains consisting of Tattooed Man, Cheshire, Osiris, and the new character Cinder following the launch of Brightest Day. The team ambushes Ryan Choi in his home, and then battles him. This ends with Deathstroke driving his sword through Ryan's chest, killing him. He then gives the deceased hero's body to Dwarfstar.[18]


Following the assassination of the Atom, Deathstroke and the Titans are hired to kill Lex Luthor during his stay in Midway City. The attack is revealed to be a ruse crafted by Slade and Luthor in order to draw out a traitor on Luthor's security staff who is revealed to be a shape-shifting assassin named Facade.[19] After the Titans capture Facade and turn him over to the scientists at LexCorp, Luthor rewards Slade by examining technology that he had earlier ordered Tattooed Man and Cheshire to steal. Slade claims that this will bring him one step closer to his true goal: the ability to somehow cheat death itself. He also succeeds in recruiting Arsenal, a former member of the Teen Titans and Justice League, into the team.[20] Shortly after inducting Arsenal into the team, Slade accepts a mission to rescue a child from a drug lord named Elijah. After discovering that Elijah is using the bodies of kidnapped children to create an addictive drug called Bliss, the Titans promptly kill the gangster and shut down his operation. As the Titans are preparing to return to the Labyrinth, Cheshire notices that Slade has tied up DJ Molecule, a powerful metahuman who was working for Elijah as a bodyguard. When asked what he is doing with the young man, Slade cryptically responds by saying that he only accepted the mission in order capture Molecule for some unknown purpose.[21]


Afterward, Slade and his team arrive at South Pacific Island to kill cult leader Drago over the arena production of blind warriors; however, his team, Arsenal, and Cheshire betray him, revealing that they had been working with Drago. While Slade is held captive, Drago arrives and reveals to him that he is actually Slade's old friend, Corporal Daniel Rogers, who abandoned him during the civil war in Afghanistan. Drago then gouges out Slade’s left eye making him blind.[22] Slade is then imprisoned along with Arsenal and begins to tell him about his past with Drago.[23] Later, Drago takes a trip down memory lane with Slade, explaining how he lost his sight, and basically re-telling his origin and how it involved Jeremiah, right before he throws Slade beneath the complex to fend for his life against a crazed subhuman.[24] During the fights, Slade's left eye was restored due to his metahuman healing factor, and the Titans arrive to rescue him. Slade and the Titans break into Drago's mansion in attacks. Shade drugs him that he cannot focus his telepathic mind. When Drago was defeated, Slade allows him to live and the Titans then leave from his island. While returning to the labyrinth, Slade and the Titans are approached by the Atom and the Justice League attempt to arrest them for the murder of Ryan Choi.[25]


During the battle of Slade's Titans against the Justice League in Khandaq, the battle was stopped by Isis, who forces them to choose between leaving or continuing the fight and starting World War III. The Justice League chose to retreat and Slade retrieves from Supergirl's Kryptonian blood. Upon returning to the labyrinth, with his workers, Doctor Sivana and Doctor Impossible, Slade reveals to the Titans that their efforts support creation of a diabolical invention call the "Methuselah Device" for his dying son Jericho.[26]


The machine successfully heals Jericho, and Slade offers its abilities to all the Titans, offering to restore their deceased loved ones as payment for their services. All agree but Cinder, who does not want her brothers to live forever, as she claims to be doing. She attacks Cheshire and Osiris, and is then joined by Tattooed Man and Arsenal. As the Titans come to blows, Deathstroke attempts to take Jericho and leave, but Jericho, disgusted at what his father did to achieve his restoration, takes over his body, intending to destroy first the Methuselah Device, then himself and Deathstroke.[27] While the Titans fight over the Methuselah Device, its power source, a metahuman named DJ Molecule, is released. DJ Molecule blasts Slade, knocking Jericho out of his body. Arsenal then attacks him for stealing the Titans legacy. Slade escapes and the Methuselah Device is destroyed by Cinder. Afterwards, Slade berates himself and becomes Deathstroke once more.[28]


The New 52


In the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, Deathstroke is known as a top mercenary around the world.[29] Deathstroke is hired by a man named Cristoph for a mission that forces him to work with a team of younger mercenaries known as the Alpha Dogs. Their target is Jeffrey Bode, an arms dealer traveling on a plane. After discovering that the weapons Bode is trafficking are clones of the villain Clayface, Deathstroke and the other mercenaries are able to dispatch them, killing Bode in the process and retrieving a suitcase he had in his possession. Deathstroke subsequently betrays and kills the Alpha Dogs, enraged by the notion that his employers feel he is unable to accomplish his tasks alone. Deathstroke then begins to take on increasingly dangerous missions in an effort to prove his worth but is also spurred on by the contents of the suitcase he retrieved from Bode - namely the mask and knife belonging to his son Ravagerboth of which were stained with fresh blood indicating that he may be alive.[30] During this time, Deathstroke is pursued by a new villain known as Legacy.[31] Deathstroke kills Legacy, but another Legacy, donning the same colors as the last one, appears again, and again. It turns out the parents of one of the Alpha Dog members have hired multiple mercenaries to kill Deathstroke, all donning the green and purple color, to get revenge on him. Deathstroke tracks them down, but is confronted by his son Grant. It is revealed that all of this has been a plot to lure Deathstroke to him. Although Deathstroke manages to kill both the parents, Grant defeats him, claiming superior of Deathstroke. Grant is about to finish Slade, but he hesitates, and leaves. Recovering from his injuries, he takes another contract, happy that his son has become a better warrior than him, and then visits his father's hospital bed to mention he has grown up to be a greater man than him.


After this, Slade encounters various foes, including Lobo, Hawkman, and the Warhawks. Then he takes a contract from Harvest, to bring the Ravagers back to the colony. He does this in exchange for his daughter Rose and Terra. It is revealed that Lynch, the leader of Team 7 needed Terra to defeat a rampaging Majestic. For a plan B, to Slade's dismay, he calls in Joseph Wilson, now going by the name Jericho, with Adeline and Grant, to stop Majestic. Instead of stopping Majestic, Jericho takes control of Majestic, Adeline, Grant, and Terra to kill his father. Adeline dies, buried in the rubble caused by Majestic's, stampede. Jericho momentarily loses control by this, and Slade, Rose, and Terra manages to restrain Majestic, with the help of Rose's Gen-factor. However, Jericho retains control over Grant and Terra. When Slade knocks Terra unconscious, a cornered Jericho threatens to stab himself and Grant with a sword. Deathstroke, without hesitation, drives the sword into both of them, killing them instantly. But a later scene suggests Jericho has escaped, since there is shown a worker with glowing green eyes walking out of the clean-up scene, strongly implying Jericho has possessed the man to flee.


Powers/Skills/Abilities:


Deathstroke possesses various enhanced abilities stated to be almost superhuman according to DC Bios and Comic bios.[citation needed] These include the strength of ten men and heightened speed, agility, stamina, and reflexes. He has the capacity to use up to 90% of his brain at any one time, making him a tactical genius, adept at turning opponents' own abilities against them; this can also be attributed to his years in the military and combat with various heroes. Deathstroke also possesses a healing factor in his blood that enables him to heal from physical injury much faster than a normal person; however, it does have limitations, as he could not heal his missing eye and cannot regenerate entire limbs. This enables him to recover from what would otherwise be fatal injuries, though recovering from such injuries renders him insane and animalistic for a short period. Deathstroke is also a very formidable opponent in hand-to-hand combat.


Green Arrow (vol. 4) #66 claims that an assassin known as Natas taught Deathstroke "almost everything he knows" (a retcon of his origin in The New Teen Titans: Judas Contract, where his future wife, Adeline Kane, trained him while he was in the military). Deathstroke is also skilled in the use of many weapons including guns, rifles, and swords, which are usually among his current weapons of choice. His signature weapon is a power staff that fires lethal and non-lethal energy blasts from both ends. The staff can also be used to strike using energy at each end. His body armor is composed of a mesh-woven, kevlar, chainlink mail, capable of stopping small arms fire. Most of the metal he wears and uses is Promethium. However, in the New 52, he wears a full suit composed of Nth metal. This armor allows him to absorb blows from some of the mightiest DC beings, as evidenced by it being able to absorb numerous blows from Lobo.


Government or Renegade (Only if hero): Villain


Appearance:

Name/Alias: Red Skull/Johann Schmidt


Age: 96 (looks like 36)


Background:


Johann Schmidt was born in a village in Germany to Hermann and Martha Schmidt. His mother died in childbirth and his father blamed Johann for her death. Johann's father tried to drown the baby, only to be stopped by the attending doctor; he later committed suicide, leaving Johann an orphan. The doctor took Johann to an orphanage, where the child led a lonely existence. Johann ran away from the orphanage when he was seven years old and lived on the streets as a beggar and a thief. As he grew older he worked at various menial jobs but spent most of his time in prison for crimes ranging from vagrancy to theft.


As a young man Schmidt was from time to time employed by a Jewish shopkeeper, whose daughter, Esther, was the only person who had treated Schmidt kindly up to that point. Seized with passion for Esther, Schmidt tried to force himself upon her, only to be rejected by her. In unthinking fury, Schmidt murdered her. Schmidt fled the scene in terror, but also felt ecstatic joy in committing his first murder. In killing Esther he had given vent to the rage at the world that had been building up in him throughout his young life.[6]


According to the official version of the story told by the Red Skull and the Nazis, Schmidt met Hitler while working as a bellhop in a major hotel. This occurred during his late teens, around the same time that the Nazi Party gained power in Germany. Schmidt wound up serving the rooms of Adolf Hitler himself. By chance, Schmidt was present by bringing refreshments when the Führer was furiously scolding an officer for letting a prisoner escape, during which Hitler declared that he could create a better National Socialist out of the bellhop. Looking closely at the youth and sensing his dark inner nature, Hitler decided to act on his words and recruited Schmidt.[6] In the series Red Skull: Incarnate, it has been revealed that Schmidt actually engineered his meeting with the Führer with himself disguised as a bellhop, tricking his fellow orphan Dieter into trying to kill Hitler and then taking this opportunity to save Hitler's life.[7]


Dissatisfied with the standard drill instruction his subordinates used to train Schmidt, Hitler took over personally, and trained Schmidt as his right-hand man. Upon completion, Hitler gave Schmidt a unique uniform with a grotesque redskull mask, and he emerged as the Red Skull (in literal German: Roter Totenkopf or Roter (Toten-)Schädel) for the first time. His role was the embodiment of Nazi intimidation, while Hitler could remain the popular leader of Germany. To that end, The Red Skull was appointed head of Nazi terrorist activities with an additional large role in external espionage and sabotage. He succeeded, wreaking havoc throughout Europe in the early stages of World War II. Thepropaganda effect was so great that the United States government decided to counter it by creating their own equivalent using the one recipient of the lost Project Rebirth, Steve Rogers, as Captain America.[6]


In Europe during the war, the Skull took personal command of many military actions and personally supervised the takeovers and lootings of many cities and towns; in various cases the Skull ordered and supervised the eradication of the entire population of such communities. The Red Skull also organized a "wolf pack" of submarines which preyed upon shipping across the world, often under the Skull's personal command.[8]


At first Hitler took great pride in his protégé's successes and let the Skull have anything he wanted. Hitler thus financed the construction of secret bases for the Skull in various locations throughout the world, many of which were equipped with highly advanced experimental weapons and devices developed by Nazi scientists. The Skull was particularly interested in procuring technological weapons that could be used for the purposes of subversion and warfare. During the war he stole plans for the "nullatron," a device that could control human minds, adapted a space-warping device developed by the cyborg scientist codenamed Brain Drain, and commissioned Nazi scientists to develop a projector which could encircle and suspend sections of cities within spheres of energy.


But while the Skull always admired Hitler for his ideological vision, he was never content with being Hitler's subordinate. The Skull kidnapped and killed many of Hitler's closest advisers and eventually rose to become the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. Now Hitler could no longer effectively control the Skull and came to fear him, especially since the Skull had made little secret of his ambition to supplant Hitler someday.


After the renowned military officer Baron Wolfgang von Strucker had a falling out with Hitler, the Red Skull sent Strucker to Japan to found an organization that would prepare the way for takeovers in the Far East under the Skull's leadership.[volume & issue needed] In the Far East Strucker joined a subversive organization that came to be known as HYDRA, broke his ties with the Skull, became head of HYDRA and built it into a major threat to world peace.[volume & issue needed]


As World War II raged on, Hitler vowed, that if he could not conquer the world, he would destroy it. To achieve this end, the Skull proposed the construction of five gigantic war machines, to be called the Sleepers, which would be hidden in various locations while they generated and stored the power they would need, and then be released at a future date, "Der Tag" ("The Day"), to destroy the Earth if the Allies won. Hitler enthusiastically instructed the Skull to construct the Sleepers, unaware that the Skull intended to use them to conquer the world himself if Hitler's Third Reich fell. In the closing days of the war in Europe, Allied intelligence received reports of a Nazi doomsday plan code-named "Der Tag" to be implemented after Hitler's defeat. However, the Allies had no idea what the plan entailed.


Captain America and his teenage partner Bucky Barnes fought against and thwarted the Skull and his plans many times during the war, both working on their own and operating as members of the Invaders. Once they were captured by him, and Captain America was placed under Nazi control by a drug and told to assassinate the supreme commander of the Allied armies in Europe, but thanks to Bucky he broke free.[9] During the final days of World War II in Europe, Captain America and Bucky were assigned to England to prevent desperate Nazi efforts at sabotaging Allied supply bases there.[volume & issue needed] The Red Skull sent a number of his subordinates, who became known as the Exiles, and a large contingent of loyal German soldiers and their wives to a secret island base ("Exile Island"), where they would organize an army for use in the future.[volume & issue needed]


The two counterparts soon clashed for the first time.[10] The Skull later temporarily brainwashed three of the Invaders into serving him.[11] The Red Skull and Captain America continued to engage in a series of skirmishes throughout the war. On one occasion the Skull captured Captain America and told him his origin. He placed Captain America under his control and tried to use him to kill a high-ranking officer, but with Bucky's help Captain America broke free.[12] Now that the German defeat was becoming a reality, the Red Skull was more determined than ever to obtain vengeance for his numerous personal defeats by Captain America and Bucky. The Skull assigned Baron Heinrich Zemo to go to England, and, under the cover of stealing an experimental Allied drone plane, to capture or kill Captain America and Bucky. However, the Skull was unaware that the Allies had just secretly parachuted Captain America into beleaguered Berlin to investigate "Der Tag."[volume & issue needed]


Finally, Captain America tracked the Skull down to his hidden bunker. The Skull was about to hurl an armed hand grenade at his nemesis when Captain America threw his shield at him. The grenade went off, but the Skull was not killed, thanks to his body armor. He was, however; seriously hurt and partially buried in debris. Thinking he was dying, the Skull defiantly told Captain America that the Sleepers would avenge the Nazis' defeat. Then, suddenly, an Allied attack on Berlin began. An Allied plane dropped a huge blockbuster bomb on the bunker, causing a cave-in that Captain America barely escaped. Captain America was picked up by the Allies and returned to England only to fall into Zemo's trap, which led to Captain America's falling into suspended animation for decades. Support pillars that crisscrossed over the Red Skull when the bunker caved in saved him from being struck by tons of rubble when the bomb hit. The cave-in released an experimental gas from canisters in the bunker which put the Skull into suspended animation during which his wounds slowly healed.[13]


Post-World War II era


Modern era


Johann was eventually rescued and revived from suspended animation in modern times by the terrorist organization, AIM with his henchman. The Skull quickly subverted a cell to his own ambitions of world conquest and the death of Captain America. He stole the Cosmic Cube after taking control of its Keeper's mind with a device he planted while shaking hands, and revealed that he gave Zemo the order to steal the bomb plane that led to Bucky's death. He had had a rivalry with Zemo, and hoped to set his two foes against each other. Captain America found out from the dying pilot of a plane that had been following the Keeper's plane of the Cube, which had been used to destroy the plane. Schmidt told another AIM member of his plans after getting a mind control device on him, then caused him to shoot himself. He fought Captain America again for the first time in years after getting the Cube on an island, and created a superstrong humanoid monster to fight Captain America. Captain America began defeating it, so the Red Skull sent it away. He began sending Captain America to another dimension when Captain America offered to become his servant. The Red Skull encased himself in a golden suit of armor, and talked of creating a new order of knights. He planned to take over the world with the Cube, then create spaceships to conquer other worlds. Captain America defeated him by getting close to him while the Red Skull prepared to knight him. Captain America tried to get the Cube, and in the fight the island split apart due to the Cube's power, and the Skull fell off a cliff while trying to get the Cosmic Cube.[14] When Johann reappeared, he and Malik, though his age was starting to catch up with him, started to antagonize each other while both claiming the identity of the Red Skull.[volume & issue needed] Finally Albert was the victim of an assassination organized by Johann, at the hands of a rogue agent of the Scourge of the Underworld.[15]


Thus the two enemies resumed their war, with Captain America, among other opponents, frustrating the Skull's schemes. The Skull captured part of Manhattan Island,[16] unleashed the fourth Sleeper, and captured Captain America on Exile Island.[17] The Skull then regained the reality-altering Cosmic Cube and temporarily switched bodies with Captain America. He also used the Cube to alter the personality of "Snap" Wilson, the future Falcon.[18] Some time later, he first fought Doctor Doom.[19] The Red Skull then fomented racial hatred in New York,[20] and was revealed as the true power behind the Las Vegas HYDRA faction, and first clashed with the Kingpin.[21]


Some time later, the Skull killed the would-be Captain America, Roscoe, while Rogers had temporarily given up the role. He also revived the use of his "dust of death."[22] The Skull later fought Doctor Doom on the moon but was defeated.[23] With Arnim Zola, the Skull sought to transplant Hitler's brain into Captain America's body.[24] He transformed a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents into his skull-faced slaves.[25] The Skull teamed with the Hate-Monger, a clone of Hitler, and trapped him in a flawed Cosmic Cube.[26] The Skull led the Nihilist Order for a brief time.[27]Establishing a Nazi colony on a deserted island, the Skull fathered a daughter who would eventually become known as Mother Superior.[28]


The war between Captain America and Red Skull in the modern era reached a breaking point when Red Skull discovered that the gas that had placed him in suspended animation was wearing off and his body was rapidly aging to what would be Skull's normal age. Now physically in his mid-80s, a weak and feeble Red Skull planned for a final showdown with his arch-rival. Kidnapping Captain America's closest allies, he forced Captain America to surrender himself and forcibly undergo a medical treatment that aged Captain America's body to its rightful age. The two men, their bodies now ancient, fought one last battle to the death. Captain America refused to kill the Red Skull, who died cursing Captain America as his elderly body shut down.[29] Dead at last, it seemed like the threat of the Red Skull had finally ended and The Avengers were able to restore Rogers' youth.


Resurrection


The Red Skull would not stay dead for long; Nazi geneticist Arnim Zola, who had obtained DNA samples of Captain America years earlier, arranged for Skull's mind to be transplanted into a clone body of Captain America at the moment of his death. Assuming the identity of "John Smith" (the English equivalent of his natural German name), Skull decided that he would reinvent himself and his quest for absolute power as a means to celebrate his cheating death. The Red Skull abandoned his longstanding beliefs in National Socialism and Hitler, on the belief that the Nazi philosophy made him look like a relic of the past. Skull instead turned towards American ideology for his new motivation. Skull saw much potential in the American dream of capitalism and self-determination and set about establishing his own foothold inside Washington DC, culminating in him gaining control over "The Commission", a government body in Washington that monitored and regulated superhero activities.


Skull also changed his mode of operations: rather than "living from one grand scheme to the next", he began financing a score of evil organizations that reported directly to him, most notably the militia group the Watchdogs. He also employed one of the Scourges, an organization who terrorized supervillains with a killing spree.


Despite all of this, Skull's biggest move would be his plot to remove Rogers from the position of Captain America and replace him with a jingoist named John Walker. Although Walker initially attempted to live up to his predecessor's ideals, The Skull arranged for the murders of Walker's parents, driving him insane and into a downward spiral of murder as part of his plan to blacken the name of Captain America.[30]


Yet like all things, Skull's plans fell apart when Skull's chief pawn in the Commission was killed by Skull, right in front of Captain America. About to be exposed, Skull tried to manipulate Walker into killing Rogers. When Rogers defeated Walker, the Skull appeared to gloat at what he had done to Rogers and Walker and the reputation of Captain America. The Skull explained that this is part of his new operational method of engaging in multiple concurrent projects instead of investing consecutive grand schemes that his enemies could focus all their energies on stopping. Furthermore, these projects include killing Rogers at a time of his own choosing and that he could not touch Skull due to his status as a wealthy American businessman. Rogers, disturbed and puzzled by this mystery man with a face identical to his own and claiming to be his dead archenemy, noted that the Skull was not inhaling from the cigarette holder he had in his mouth. The cigarette turned out to be holding a lethal dose of the Skull's favorite poison, the Dust of Death, intended for Rogers - but the trap backfired against Schmidt when Walker suddenly hit him from behind with his shield. As a result, Schmidt suffered the facial disfigurement attributed to the Dust, as his face took on the appearance of a living red skull; his head is hairless and its skin has shriveled, clinging tightly to his actual skull, and has taken on a red discoloration. Skull did not die though, due to the effects of the Super-Soldier formula.[31]


After this, the Skull masterminded a conflict between the United States and Symkaria, the nation of Silver Sable[32] He joined the "Acts of Vengeance" conspiracy, but was attacked by the mutant terrorist Magneto, a Holocaust survivor who wanted to punish him for his involvement in Hitler's regime. Magneto buried him alive with enough water for a few months. The Skull remained imprisoned, close to death and beginning to see the error of his ways, until he was rescued by his henchman Crossbones.[33]


The Red Skull's relationship with other villains was fraught with problems due to many villains shunning him because of his Nazi background. In the "Streets of Poison" storyline, the Skull proposes an alliance with the Kingpin to bring a new designer drug to New York but the Kingpin refuses to ally with the Nazi and the two engage in a drug war. He then defeats a weakened Skull in hand to hand combat, sparing his life on the condition he never come near the Kingpin's territory again.[34] In the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover, the Skull demands the Wizard apologize for an insult to which the Wizard replies "You'll see yourself welcomed into Heaven before I speak those words!"[volume & issue needed] Not long after that, he was kidnapped by Magneto. One prominent exception is fellow Nazi, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, leader of the terrorist organization HYDRA. After the Skull's agents allow Strucker to be reborn, a grateful Strucker allows the Skull the use of HYDRA resources.[35]


Skull's tenure in Washington came to an end when Skull was captured by Hauptmann Deutschland, and taken to Germany to stand trial for crimes against humanity, stemming from his days as an agent of the Third Reich. Skull narrowly escaped and was rescued by Arnim Zola, and was forced to fake his death and go into hiding in a Rocky Mountain compound. He recruited the female sociopath "The Viper", a move that alienated his minions and was further rocked when his chief henchman Crossbones kidnapped Captain America's girlfriend Diamondback, resulting in Captain America finding Skull's new lair. Skull fired Crossbones, and went into hiding while the Viper, using funds she plied from Red Skull as part of a scheme to use televisions across America to blind TV viewers, was defeated by Captain America.[36]


Skull resurfaced during "Operation: AIM Island", where Skull discovered that he was facing the same permanent paralysis that Captain America was facing due to their exposure to the Super-Soldier formula.[37] When the evil scientistSuperia offered Captain America a cure, Captain America refused it because Superia said that Captain America would "owe her". Skull took the cure and apparently killed Superia, then arranged for Captain America to be kidnapped by his remaining forces and given a blood transfusion that cured him.[38]


Captain America's recovery would segue into a reluctant team-up with the Red Skull; a Nazi cult that worshiped Adolf Hitler as a god had discovered a Cosmic Cube that contained Hitler's mind, put there by Skull himself. The two sought to stop the cult from fully powering the Hitler Cosmic Cube but Skull opted instead to send Captain America (against his will) into the cube to kill Hitler, imprisoning Captain America in the cube while he used its power to conquer humanity. Captain America escaped and in the process used his shield to sever one of Skull's arms, causing him to drop the cube. The Cube then became unstable, destroying Skull.[39]


Trapped in a hellish nightmare dimension and forced to serve as a bellhop to a world of non-European immigrants, Skull's will ultimately was so great that he was able to escape his prison. As a result, Skull now possessed limited reality warping powers that made him a truly cosmic threat. He was further aided by Korvac, who was posing as Kang the Conqueror. He was sent to Galactus' ship to steal more power (in particular the power of omniscience), which would remove all limits to Skull's reality warping powers. This led to Skull's undoing as he was ambushed by Korvac. Korvac stole Skull's cosmic powers and banished Skull back to Earth.[40]


The Red Skull later manipulated his way into the position of U.S. Secretary of Defense in the form of "Dell Rusk" (an anagram for "Red Skull") to develop a biological weapon he tested at Mount Rushmore.[41] He was exposed and defeated by the Avengers. The Black Panther beat him so badly that he broke the Skull's jaw in half.[42]


In the body of Aleksander Lukin


The Red Skull, in Alexander Lukin's mind. Art by Steve Epting.


The Red Skull was assassinated by the mysterious Winter Soldier, under orders from the renegade former Soviet general Aleksander Lukin, who wanted to possess the new Cosmic Cube the Skull had manufactured.[43] When the Red Skull was shot, he attempted to use the Cube to switch bodies with Lukin to survive, but as the Cube was still weak he only managed to transfer his mind into Lukin's body, so that the two enemies are trapped together, waging a constant war for dominance which the Red Skull seems to be progressively winning. During a plot to lure out Captain America, Red Skull/Lukin recruited several German skinheads and made them the successors to the Master Man. He then had these soldiers, dubbed the "Master Race," launch an attack on London, which was thwarted by Captain America,Spitfire, and Union Jack. Then, Red Skull/Lukin activated a Sleeper, a robot programmed for mass destruction, that was presumably created by Doctor Doom. The robot damaged a significant portion of the new London Kronas HQ, and was ultimately destroyed by Captain America and Bucky. In the aftermath, Red Skull sent a videotape, announcing to the world his return, followed by Lukin holding a press conference condemning the actions of both the Red Skull and Captain America, and supporting the Superhero Registration Act. Then, in his office, Red Skull introduced Lukin to his old/new associates, Crossbones andSin.[volume & issue needed]


With America's superheroes divided over the act, the Skull manipulates events to his own ends, with the aid of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Doom, and Arnim Zola. His plans involved the reunion of Captain America and his former lover Sharon Carter, who is being manipulated by Faustus.[volume & issue needed]


In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the Skull puts his plans into action, arranging for Crossbones to shoot Captain America as he enters a courthouse in New York City; in the ensuing chaos, Carter, acting under Faustus' mental directive, assassinates Captain America. This is only the first phase of the Skull's evil plan. Upon the discovery of his identity as Lukin, the Skull fakes his death, and initiates the second part of his plan: using Kronas Corporation's vast holdings to economically cripple the United States, before having S.H.I.E.L.D. agents brainwashed by Doctor Faustus open fire on crowds of protesters in front of the White House. The Red Skull continues his assault by engineering a riot by placing Kronas security troops and drugged water in a protest on the Lincoln Monument.[44]


All of this has apparently been to elevate his puppet politician, Gordon Wright, elevated in the public's eye with being credited as "resolving" the situations, as well as surviving a (staged) attack by the Serpent Squad. Once elected, Wright will led the country directly into a police state secretly controlled by the Red Skull. The Skull also plans to transfer his consciousness into Sharon's unborn child, apparently sired by Steve Rogers himself and potentially having inherited his Project Rebirth enhancements.[45]


Both schemes fail because of the impatience and incompetence of the Skull's daughter - her near-fatal attack on Sharon Carter causes her to lose the baby, and she intentionally botches her pseudo-assassination of Gordon Wright by attempting to kill him for real. As Faustus has surreptitiously tampered with Sharon's programming, she is able to rebel, and before escaping shoots Lukin to death. This is not the end of Red Skull, since Arnim Zola had seconds earlier transferred his mind to one of his spare robotic bodies, but after having his current form damaged by the imposter Captain America, he's unable to return to Red Skull, essentially trapping him in his current robotic form for the time being.[46]


Captain America: Reborn


It has been revealed that Red Skull did not actually kill Steve Rogers, but trapped his body in a fixed position in space and time. He was planning on using Sharon and a machine created by Doctor Doom to return his body back to their time, but since Sharon destroyed the machine, his body is now drifting through time and space.[47] Apparently, it is presumed that the Red Skull intended to transfer his mind into Rogers' body. Norman Osborn decides to assist in completing his plan as Captain America led his team of Avengers would increase his popularity in his stolen Iron-Man suit.[48] Sin and Crossbones find him and take him to Latveria in order to place the Red Skull's mind in a living body.[49] The Red Skull, Sin, and Crossbones land in Latveria and Doom confronts them, saying that he would kill them if he was not a man of his word. Doom and Zola complete the machine and, after Ms. Hand brings Sharon to them, they strap her in. They activate the machine and soon Steve Rogers' body returns. When Steve opens his eyes, they are shown to be red, signifying that the Red Skull is now in control.[50] Steve Rogers still resides in the body, and during the Red Skull's invasion of Washington D.C., he and Steve battle in the mind of Steve's body.[51] Steve eventually forces Red Skull out, placing him back into his robot body. To prevent him from escaping the immediate area, Sharon Carter hits the Red Skull with a shot of Pym Particles, making him a massive robot who cannot elude any pursuer's attention. While Rogers and the Avengers keep Schmidt occupied with a team attack, he is destroyed by a missile barrage fired by Sharon Carter on a hijacked AIM battleship. In the epilogue, it was shown that Sin was too close to the exploding robot, and her face was heavily scarred, leaving her looking just like her father.[52]


Clone of Red Skull


Following the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Red Skull mysteriously returns and assembles a team called the S-Men. Red Skull's S-Men attack Rogue and Scarlet Witch at the grave of Professor X and steal his body. In his hideout, Red Skull is then seen removing Professor X's brain in a plot to "eradicate the mutant menace".[53] This Red Skull is revealed to be a clone of the original, created by Arnim Zola in 1942 and held in cryogenic stasis in the event that Germany lost the war. Fusing part of Professor X's brain with his own, Red Skull brainwashes Scarlet Witch as part of a plot to wipe out the world's mutant population. Rogue attacks the Scarlet Witch and they fight until they both discover the lobotomized body of Professor X. Red Skull arrives and reveals that he has fused his brain with Professor X's brain.[54] Using Professor X's telepathy, the Red Skull provokes ordinary citizens of New York into a mass assault against even potential mutants, even managing to take control of Thor. However, his telepathy is still erratic with the Red Skull being unable to completely control Captain America and an attack against him by Wolverine cutting off his right hand and disrupting his powers long enough for Rogue and Scarlet Witch to break free.[55] The team ultimately force the Red Skull to retreat after Rogue manages to temporarily disrupt his powers, Havok mockingly comparing the Red Skull to the jock who beats up gay kids to conceal his own homosexuality.[56]


Powers/Skills/Abilities:


Although the Red Skull has no superhuman abilities, he possesses a high intellect and inventive genius, and is a highly gifted subversive strategist and political operative. At one point, the Red Skull's mind inhabited a body cloned from Captain America's, and hence possessed the mutagenic alterations induced by the Super-Soldier formula. He was thus endowed with a body that was in perfect physical condition, with strength, speed, durability, agility, dexterity, reflexes, coordination, balance, and physical endurance that exceeded that of any Olympic athlete who ever performed. Despite the scar tissue covering his face and head, his senses were still above-average. He has been shown as a superb martial artist, though he was never on par with Captain America himself; he was originally trained by German athletes appointed by Hitler, and is heavily trained as a skilled marksman with various forms of handguns, and well-versed in the use of fire arms and explosives.


While sharing Alexander Lukin's body, he lost his superhuman abilities. Since then he resides in one of the android bodies engineered by Arnim Zola, with enhanced endurance and resilience.


He typically armed himself with a trick cigarette that could fire fatal poison gas — his trademark "Dust of Death" — toward his victim. The "Dust of Death" is a red powder which kills a victim within seconds of skin contact. The powder causes the skin of the victim's head to shrivel, tighten, and take on a red discoloration, while causing the hair to fall out. Hence the victim's head resembles a "red skull". He also carries a large arsenal of conventional and advanced fire arms and explosives.


Government or Renegade (Only if hero): Villain


Appearance:

 

[Sedrian]

Batman


Renegade

Ghost Rider


Renegade

Dr. Doom


Villain

Darkseid


Villain

Omega Darkseid

 

[ThePhantomofTheOpera]

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