multiverse playground

Black Spy and White Spy (or "Man in Black" and "Man in White") — Wearing wide-brimmed hats and dressed in overcoats, both Spies have long pointed faces. They are identical except for one being entirely in white and one entirely in black. The Spies were modeled after El Hombre Siniestro ("The Sinister Man"), a character Prohías created in the Cuban magazine Bohemia in 1956. Like the Spies, he wore a wide-brimmed hat and overcoat and had a long pointed nose. Prohías described the character as someone who "thought nothing of chopping the tails off of dogs, or even the legs off of little girls" and stated he was "born out of the national psychosis of the Cuban people."[3] 'El Hombre Siniestro bears strong resemblance to the Spies—although, instead of fighting against a set rival, he simply does horrible things to anyone he can find.

The cover copy of The All New Mad Secret File on Spy vs. Spy provides early insight to the characters and Prohías' views on the Castro regime and the CIA:

You are about to meet Black Spy and White Spy – the two MADdest spies in the whole world. Their antics are almost as funny as the CIA's. . . . When it comes to intrigue, these guys make it way outtrigue. They are the only two spies we know who haven't the sense to come in out of the cold. But they have a ball – mainly trying to outwit each other.[3]

A gag panel in Mad magazine #122 (Oct. 1968) established Black Spy as a member of the "East." He gets trapped by White Spy, who is guarding the border to the "West." There is otherwise no indication in the series that Black Spy is pro-communist or White Spy is pro-capitalist.

Grey Spy (or "Woman in Grey") — She debuted in Mad magazine #73 (Sept. 1962) (the strip was temporarily renamed Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy). Grey Spy's appearances were sporadic, but she always triumphed by using the infatuations of Black Spy and White Spy to her advantage. Prohías explained, "the lady Spy represented neutrality. She would decide for White Spy or Black Spy, and she also added some balance and variety to the basic 'Spy vs. Spy' formula."[3] Grey Spy's last appearance under Prohías was Mad Magazine #99 (Dec. 1965); she did not appear again until Bob Clarke and Duck Edwing took over the strip.

The tabloids dubbed her Lady Mechanika, the sole survivor of a psychotic serial killer's three-year rampage through London. Found locked in an abandoned laboratory amidst countless corpses and body parts, with her own limbs amputated and replaced with mechanical components, her life began anew. With no memory of her captivity or her former life, Lady Mechanika eventually built a career for herself as a private detective, using her unique abilities to solve cases the police couldn't or wouldn't handle. Still, she has never stopped searching for answers... Now, brought into a case unlike any before, Lady Mechanika will have to rely on her advantage in all things occult and paranormal in order to solve the case and possibly unlock the secrets of her past! Set in England at the turn of the 20th century [2] Lady Mechanika is an all-new supernatural action-adventure series with unique and vivid story arcs designed to allow new readers to jump right into any volume without missing a thing.

Vol. 2: The Tablet of DestiniesEdit

A Professor of archaeology and a German scientist together discover a chamber created in Sumerian times in the middle of Africa. In it lies a mysterious Tablet, the key to infinite wealth and power. Lady Mechanika is drawn in to protect the archaeologist's granddaughter, Winifred, from would-be kidnappers intending to use her to incentivise her grandfather to work more quickly and disclose to them the secrets of the Tablet. Winifred is kidnapped in London but rescued in Germany by Lady Mechanika. Using a flying dirigible hot air balloon provided by a Rosicrucian secret society, Lady Mechanika and Winifred are over the Sahara on the way to the archaeological dig when the dirigible is attacked by a group connected to the people who meanwhile have taken forcible charge of the archaeological expedition. They pose as Germans but are in fact Serpent creatures able to assume human form. Lady Mechanika and Winifred escape the explosion of the dirigible, cross the desert with the help, first, of a slaver party and, later, of a band of female warriors, the Desert Wraiths. Eventually Akina, one of the warriors joins the two of them in finding, attacking and overcoming the Serpent group before the Serpents are able to take the Tablet, which turns out to be a nuclear weapon, to destroy Berlin. In order to rid the world of knowledge of the weapon, the escaping Lady Mechanika and friends launch the weapon from the archaeologist's dirigible into the heart of the mountain below where other weapons of the same kind are thought to be hidden. Winifred returns to London with her grandfather; the scientist goes into hiding with another identity for cover; Lady Mechanika receives a coded thank you message from the leader of the Rosicrucian group.

Vol. 3: The Lost Boys of West AbbeyEdit

Dragon Man is an android built by Professor Gregson Gilbert of Empire State University as an experiment. Gregson hoped to find a way to bring it to life. He could not find a way to do this until the alchemist Diablo arrived and brought it to life under his partial control using his supernatural powers. However, Dragon Man broke his control and attempted to kill Diablo.[2][3]

Although Dragon Man is slow-minded to the point that he is incapable of speech, he understands orders given by Diablo and is a determined foe of the Fantastic Four (although the creature has always displayed a King Kong-like affection towards Sue Richards). Dragon Man is not especially malicious, although he is easily manipulated and provoked to violence.

After his first activation, Dragon Man was later revived. He encountered Medusa and Gorgon, and fought the Thing and Human Torch.[4]

Dragon Man was later studied by Hank Pym at his laboratory. He was restored to life again by Diablo and was defeated by Pym as Goliath and escaped.[5] Dragon Man battled Hercules and the Avengers destroyed Diablo's army of Dragon Men.[6]

Dragon Man was once found by the original X-Men and was considered an unofficial mascot of sorts. After a period of time on the team where he developed a deep affection for Jean Grey, Dragon Man had to be released to the creature-filled island known in the Marvel Universe as Monster Island.

Dragon Man was reclaimed by Professor Gregson Gilbert and sent by Lemuel Dorcas to attack Namor.[7] It was next used by Gregory Gideon to attack the Fantastic Four.[8] Dragon Man was then sent by Machinesmith to attack Captain America.[9] He became the mount for the extra-dimensional dragon rider Ral Dorn.[10] Dragon Man then fought Hulk and Kate Waynesboro when it was under the control of Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime.[11]

Dragon Man encountered the child superheroes called Power Pack. Gregson Gilbert later attempted to replicate the creation of the Dragon Man without the addition of alchemical interruptions, and this time succeeded. He created a number of androids based on other legendary creatures. These androids were defeated by Power Pack, and Gilbert and Dragon Man go to work at Disneyland.[12]

Dragon Man was used as a servant of Aron the Rogue Watcher.[13]

He faced Spider-Man during the Acts of Vengeance, when he was unleashed on him by Wizard.[14]

In addition to his servitude to Diablo, Dragon Man has served Super-Adaptoid and was also a member of the New Enforcers. In The Spectacular Spider-Man #235-6, Roxxon Oil sprung him from a government containment facility in order to capture and dissect him to create robotic super-soldiers based on Dragon Man's powers. He was freed by Ben Reilly.

Dragon Man showed up in Africa under the service of mad scientist Eric Pain.[15] Though the creature was under a full rage, he ended up defeated once more by both superheroes. Afterwards, he resurfaced in Beyond!, destroying an Avengers Quinjet the group was using to escape.

During the Civil War storyline,[16] he was spotted at the funeral of Stilt-Man. After poisoning the guests, the Punisher blew up the bar in which the wake had been held. He was later seen being arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.[17]

Alyosha Kraven later began collecting a zoo of animal-themed superhumans,[18] including Bushmaster, Gargoyle, Tiger Shark, Kangaroo, Aragorn, Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull, Swarm, Mandrill, Grizzly, Frog-Man, and Rhino. In the end, the Punisher managed to sabotage this zoo; though Kraven himself escaped to the Savage Land.

In Avengers: The Initiative #8, Dragon Man had been captured by the trainee heroes, having been attracted to Komodo.

In Nova, Dragon Man was seen battling the newly revived Nova Corps consisting of Qubit, Fraktur, Tracel, Morrow, Irani, and Robbie Rider. He was subdued by the Corps using a gravimetric net.[19]

At one point, Dragon Man had been placed in the Negative Zone, and like most of the other prisoners, was conscripted into service when Blastaar attacked the prison. When the Shadow Initiative was sent in to liberate the prison, Blastaar sent Dragon Man against them. However, Komodo was able to use Dragon Man's attraction to her to convince him to switch sides.[20]

Following this, he seemingly reforms, as he, Artie and Leech were seen at Franklin Richards' birthday party.[21]

He has since been upgraded by Valeria Richards and joined Reed Richards' Future Foundation. Valeria used her talents to upgrade Dragon Man to have super-intellect and have the power of human speech. Dragon Man would become an adopted member of the Future Foundation and guardian of the gifted children in that program.[22]

Stinkor was first introduced in 1985 as an action figure from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toyline and came packaged with a mini-comic entitled The Stench of Evil!. The Stinkor action figure had a semi-foul scent, giving it the distinction of being one of the few toys whose "action feature" was an odor. The Stinkor action figure was created by Mattel by re-using the mold of another villain in the Masters of the Universe line Mer-Man. The only differences between the Mer-Man and Stinkor action figures were that Stinkor was painted black and white, had different chest armor and was chemically treated with patchouli oil to smell musky.[2]

Stinkor was presented to Lou Scheimer and other staff at Filmation for inclusion in the original Masters of the Universe cartoon series, but his questionable superpower kept him from ever making an appearance on television. According to Filmation staff, when the description of Stinkor was read out at a meeting of the story editors, all of them burst out laughing and vowed never to use Stinkor in any episode script.[3]

2002Edit

In the 2002 version of the He-Man cartoon, Stinkor's origin was finally revealed in The Sweet Smell of Victory episode, marking the first time the character had appeared on television. Stinkor was originally a common thief named Odiphus and resembled a large house cat or mogwai. Odiphus was first seen witnessing the escape of Kobra Khan. Later on, Odiphus sought to join Skeletor's group. A chemical accident in Tri-Klops' lab mutated Odiphus into Stinkor and gave him his horrible stench. Stinkor is not immune to his own stench and must wear an oxygen mask to breathe properly. Stinkor eventually incorporated into his breathing apparatus a way to control his stench into focused blasts and teamed up with Skeletor against He-Man and the other Masters of the Universe. As it turns out as difficult as Stinkor is to be around, Skeletor eventually holds him in relatively high favor as a minion who has proved himself agreeably useful.

Speaking "Rigellian", which coincidentally sounds exactly like English, Kang and Kodos are Rigellians from the planet Rigel VII. Virtually identical in appearance, wearing breathing helmets, one of the few distinguishing characteristics is the duo's voices as Kang's is deeper. In most appearances they are antagonistic towards humanity. One exception is Kang and Kodos's first appearance in segment "Hungry are the Damned" of the episode "Treehouse of Horror", where they capture the Simpson family and feed them exquisite cuisine.[2] Lisa becomes suspicious of their intentions and accuses Kang and Kodos of wanting to eat the Simpson family. Kang and Kodos deny this accusation and are outraged. Afterwards both take the Simpsons back to Earth.[2]

Kang and Kodos have invaded the Earth on several occasions, with varying results. In 1996, Kang and Kodos impersonated Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and ran against each other in the 1996 election. At first, Americans declared they would vote for a third party candidate, but Kang convinced them that the option would be a waste of a vote. As a result, Kang was elected president.[3]

In their second appearance, they decided to take over the Earth after citizens had declared world peace, but ultimately failed.[4]

Kang and Kodos's religion is "Quantum Presbyterianism",[5] although Kodos later claims to be Jewish.[6]

Other Rigellians that have appeared include Serak the Preparer, who was voiced by James Earl Jones and only appeared in "Treehouse of Horror".[2]

Kang and Kodos have appeared in every "Treehouse of Horror" episode to date, and have played major roles in "Treehouse of Horror I",[2] "Treehouse of Horror II",[4] "Treehouse of Horror VII", "Treehouse of Horror IX", "Treehouse of Horror XVII",[7] "Treehouse of Horror XVIII".[6] " Treehouse of Horror XXII, and "Treehouse of Horror XXX". The rest of their appearances were cameos, although both appeared in the opening segment of "Treehouse of Horror X",[8] "Treehouse of Horror XIV",[9] "Treehouse of Horror XV"[10] and "Treehouse of Horror XVI".[11] In Treehouse of Horror XXXI, Kang and Kodos appeared in flashback segments at the end of the episode and as candidates on a voting ballot. Kang and Kodos's cameo appearances normally occur in the midst of segments, which will suddenly cut away to the duo. For example, Kang and Kodos observe zombies attacking Earth from space. The duo laugh maniacally at the Earthlings' suffering, before the scene is switched back from space to Earth.[12] Kang and Kodos have made rare appearances in non-"Treehouse of Horror" episodes, such as "Behind the Laughter"[13] and "Gump Roast",[5] and had a non-speaking cameo in "The Springfield Files" on a line-up with other aliens.[14]

Also, the duo can be seen in the crowd flyby during the updated HD opener. Kang and Kodos also have small cameos in "Three Dreams Denied".

In the episode "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner", Kang and Kodos have one of their few canon appearances. The Simpsons end up on Rigel VII where Kang and Kodos give them a tour and a brief look at their lifecycle before placing them in a zoo with one of them, Homer, to be eaten in a yearly ritual. But after it is revealed that human consumption is fatal to their kind due to their unhealthy diet, their queen killed as a result, the Rigellans send the Simpsons back to Earth.[15]

In one Treehouse of Horror episode, Marge announces Kang to be Maggie's father, the result of an experiment to breed two different species.

In the canon episode Halloween of Horror, Lenny and Carl are dressed up as Kang and Kodos, with Lenny providing Kang's "voice".

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Poole arrived to the Marvel Universe from what she claims to be "the real world".[10] In her home reality, Gwen had been a comics superfan as an escape from her life as an unemployed high school dropout. Unwilling to be an "extra" in the Marvel world, she went to a tailor for superheroes and requested her own costume. The tailor (named Ronnie) complied, but misread Gwen's application form, and thought Gwen went by the alias of "Gwenpool", leading to a costume similar to Deadpool's.[11] Upon gaining the ability to manipulate the borders of the fourth wall from an attempt to return her to reality, allowing her to travel in time, Gwen retcons the Marvel Universe into believing her to be a mutant after being given the idea by Kamala Khan, allowing her to enter the gates of Krakoa.[12]

Solo seriesEdit

Gwenpool's first appearance as a character was in Howard the Duck Vol 6 #1 (later republished in The Unbelievable Gwenpool #0), when she was involved in stealing a humanity-destroying virus from Black Cat and selling it to Hydra to get money easily, believing that the Avengers would simply deal with any consequences. When she revealed to Howard the Duck the item she had stolen from Hardy and to whom she had sold it, Howard scolded her and informed her that the Avengers were not available to save the Earth from the virus. Guilt stricken, she then set out with Howard to retrieve the virus from a Hydra base.[13]

In the 2015 Gwenpool Special, Gwenpool is hired on her first mercenary job, to kill a villain. After completing her mission, Gwenpool attends a Christmas party hosted by She-Hulk, where she's seen talking to Ms. Marvel.[14]



Gwenpool unmasked

Following the events of Gwenpool Holiday Special #1, Gwenpool becomes a full-time mercenary.[15] While trying to deposit the money she made killing Orto, Gwen stops a bank robbery by killing all of the robbers, except for the gang's hacker Cecil, whom she enlists as a reluctant sidekick. After a mission revolving around extraterrestrial arms dealers where she killed MODOK Superior's best agent and took credit for his work, MODOK tracked Gwenpool down. He murdered Cecil in order to persuade her to become his henchman and an agent for his Mercenary Organization Dedicated Only to Killing. Gwenpool joins MODOK's elite squad, which also includes the alchemist Mega Tony, the magician Terrible Eye, and Batroc the Leaper, who gives Gwen basic combat and firearms training.[16]

Gwenpool then arranged a meeting between herself and Doctor Strange, in which she explained to him that she was from a reality where all Marvel characters are fictional characters in comic books. Doctor Strange agreed to transfer her history from Gwen's original world to create a fake background for her in the Marvel Universe, so that she could get her Social Security number, driver's license and other essential documents. However, this allows MODOK Superior to discover Gwen's ordinary, powerless background, and he swears to destroy Gwen for lying to him and having no credentials to be a mercenary. Gwen and MODOK then engage in battle, and she defeats him with the hacking assistance of Cecil, who returns as a ghost.[17]

Without MODOK, Gwen becomes the new leader of the MODOK organization, but learns she is wanted by the alien arms dealers, who are known as Teuthidans. Assisted by a rogue Doombot named Vincent Doonan and MODOK's other agents, Gwenpool's team defeats the Teuthidans, but destroys the MODOK base in the process. Without a base or funding, Batroc and the others decide to disband MODOK.[18]

During the Civil War II storyline, Gwenpool appears in Georgia attempting to earn the bounty on an alien smuggler named Chammy, only to discover that Rocket Raccoon and Groot are also after him. The three end up fighting another alien named Reeve, who put the bounty on Chammy. After Reeve defeats them and escapes, Chammy tells Rocket, Groot and Gwen that Reeve is looking for a formula that could temporarily neutralize Captain Marvel's powers, allowing him to kill her. Gwen refuses to help at first, under the logic that Captain Marvel, being one of most important "characters" in the current "story", would not be killed off in "a comic about a talking tree and raccoon". However, after coincidentally running into Kitty Pryde, Gwen falls under the mistaken impression that the comic she is currently in was being written by Brian Michael Bendis, a "big-deal comic book writer" with a fixation on Pryde who would have the authority to kill Captain Marvel. Convinced that Captain Marvel’s life is actually in danger, Gwen accompanies Rocket & Groot to the Triskelion, where they and Chammy help defeat Reeve, and Gwen realizes that the real writer put Kitty Pryde on the street to trick her into helping.[19]

After short team-ups with the Champions,[20] Blade,[21] Deadpool,[22] and the duo of Ghost Rider and Kate Bishop, Gwen meets her brother Teddy, who drags her back to her world (or a close facsimile).[23]

Here Gwen loses her memories of her time in the Marvel Universe and resumes an ordinary life, but she gradually becomes once again aware that she is in a comic book. Gwen then begins experimenting with the fourth wall again and learns to interact with the comic book medium by erasing the walls between panels and even climbing out of the panels, finding herself looking in on her life.

Watching the past from outside the borders, Gwen sees the "extra pages" of her Holiday Special, in which when her brother Teddy was sucked into the Marvel Universe, he ended up working for Orto the snake swordsman. Upon seeing her kill Orto's henchmen, Teddy runs into versions of Spider-Man, The Terrible Eye, and Vincent Doonan, who claim to be from a future where Gwen becomes a huge threat and destroys their lives. They offer him the chance to "return home" with his sister and fix things. Being concerned for Gwen's mental health, and having had a terrible time, he readily agrees. On finding this out Gwen, with her memory and costume restored, re-enters the borders, confronts Teddy for trying to undo the past and steal her dream of living in a comic, and shows him that their "parents" aren't real, and they never even left the comic.

Terrible Eye explains that their attempts to send the Pooles to their home dimension created a pocket dimension from their memories that was almost identical to their real one. The three realize that trapping Gwen was what led to her gaining her powers over reality in the first place. When Spider-Man narrates a flashback sequence of the future evil Gwen's misdeeds, the evil Gwen herself travels through the flashback's panels to follow him to the present.

Future Gwen battles Spider-Man, Terrible Eye, and Doonan, while each side tries to convince the present Gwen to join their cause. Future Gwen turns out to be weakened by Present Gwen’s doubt, but still effortlessly kills Doonan, Terrible Eye, and Spider-Man, horrifying Present Gwen, before explaining to her past self that she became a villain because she was tired of her good deeds being undone as the plot progressed, so she turned to committing evil that could always be undone on characters that “matter”, demonstrated when Spider-Man’s death is retconned a moment later because he’s too important in the story to be killed. However, Present Gwen is disgusted at the idea of hurting the characters she’s grown to love, and wipes her future self from existence. This comes at the cost of erasing all of the Evil Gwen stories and thus dramatically shortening Present Gwen’s lifespan.

Learning that the universe is attempting to make her into a joke villain, Gwen wants to make sure her evil self never comes to be. To catch the attention of the Avengers she visits Latveria in an attempt to face off with Doctor Doom, thinking him to still be evil, as she hasn't read Infamous Iron Man. It is revealed that she and Cecil, now in his mystical monster body, share an apartment and since she has given up killing people is hacking to pay the bills. A short time later after rescuing Vincent Doonan from Paste Pot Pete and throwing him into the void between comic panels as a demonstration of her new superpower, Gwen asks Vincent where to find the real Doctor Doom so she can defeat him and prove herself to be a fameworthy hero. Vincent leads her to Doom, who explains he's reformed, but Gwen still attacks him, releasing an evil version of Doctor Doom from within him.

After a brief fight in which she realizes she can't kill the Doom doppelganger, the real Doom comes to her aid and destroys his evil past self. He and Gwen have a chat about why she wanted to kill him, which turns out to be because since destroying her evil destiny self, her comic pages are running out and she believes she is doomed to be cancelled. With only a few pages left, once Doom is gone, she wonders if she has to become a super villain.

In the final chapter of Unbelievable Gwenpool, a Gwen from the future appears to her and explains that while her first comic series has ended, she's already in several other comics, toys, games, fan works, and so on. Even if her current book ends, she and her side characters will return in future stories. Meanwhile, in between these pages, Gwen enlists the help of Stephen Strange and her friends to restore Cecil to human form. She is given a watch that counts down the issue's remaining pages and she uses the rest, one page at a time, to see old friends, team up with new superheroes, rescue her brother from Hell, meet the Marvel Universe counterparts of her parents, and chase off M.O.D.O.K. one more time. Future Gwen then goes back to where the chapter started to talk to her past self, creating a loop.

West Coast Avengers Vol. 3Edit

After recently having been beaten up by a clone of Squirrel Girl,[24] and later attending the funeral of a separate Skrull duplicate of Squirrel Girl, Gwen visits Kate Bishop in Los Angeles, before being drafted to join the accidentally reformed West Coast Avengers. She instantly enters into conflict with one of the members, Quentin Quire, but their clashes and shouting matches eventually evolve into passionate kisses. However, Gwen later informs the camera crew following the team that she started a relationship with Quentin partly because she felt a romantic plot would make her less of a supporting player and thus less likely to die, having also considered establishing a romantic relationship with America Chavez.[25] Along with the other Avengers, Gwen helps stop giant monsters created by the original M.O.D.O.K., adopts a baby land-shark she names Jeff, and faces an alliance of villains headed by Madame Masque.[26] Later, during the War of the Realms, Gwen and the West Coast Avengers assist Otto Octavius in protecting San Francisco, and she uses her perspective as a Marvel Universe outsider and a fellow B-list hero to help him come to terms with his lack of a star role in the event.

Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019)Edit

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Poole arrived to the Marvel Universe from what she claims to be "the real world".[10] In her home reality, Gwen had been a comics superfan as an escape from her life as an unemployed high school dropout. Unwilling to be an "extra" in the Marvel world, she went to a tailor for superheroes and requested her own costume. The tailor (named Ronnie) complied, but misread Gwen's application form, and thought Gwen went by the alias of "Gwenpool", leading to a costume similar to Deadpool's.[11] Upon gaining the ability to manipulate the borders of the fourth wall from an attempt to return her to reality, allowing her to travel in time, Gwen retcons the Marvel Universe into believing her to be a mutant after being given the idea by Kamala Khan, allowing her to enter the gates of Krakoa.[12]

Solo seriesEdit

Gwenpool's first appearance as a character was in Howard the Duck Vol 6 #1 (later republished in The Unbelievable Gwenpool #0), when she was involved in stealing a humanity-destroying virus from Black Cat and selling it to Hydra to get money easily, believing that the Avengers would simply deal with any consequences. When she revealed to Howard the Duck the item she had stolen from Hardy and to whom she had sold it, Howard scolded her and informed her that the Avengers were not available to save the Earth from the virus. Guilt stricken, she then set out with Howard to retrieve the virus from a Hydra base.[13]

In the 2015 Gwenpool Special, Gwenpool is hired on her first mercenary job, to kill a villain. After completing her mission, Gwenpool attends a Christmas party hosted by She-Hulk, where she's seen talking to Ms. Marvel.[14]



Gwenpool unmasked

Following the events of Gwenpool Holiday Special #1, Gwenpool becomes a full-time mercenary.[15] While trying to deposit the money she made killing Orto, Gwen stops a bank robbery by killing all of the robbers, except for the gang's hacker Cecil, whom she enlists as a reluctant sidekick. After a mission revolving around extraterrestrial arms dealers where she killed MODOK Superior's best agent and took credit for his work, MODOK tracked Gwenpool down. He murdered Cecil in order to persuade her to become his henchman and an agent for his Mercenary Organization Dedicated Only to Killing. Gwenpool joins MODOK's elite squad, which also includes the alchemist Mega Tony, the magician Terrible Eye, and Batroc the Leaper, who gives Gwen basic combat and firearms training.[16]

Gwenpool then arranged a meeting between herself and Doctor Strange, in which she explained to him that she was from a reality where all Marvel characters are fictional characters in comic books. Doctor Strange agreed to transfer her history from Gwen's original world to create a fake background for her in the Marvel Universe, so that she could get her Social Security number, driver's license and other essential documents. However, this allows MODOK Superior to discover Gwen's ordinary, powerless background, and he swears to destroy Gwen for lying to him and having no credentials to be a mercenary. Gwen and MODOK then engage in battle, and she defeats him with the hacking assistance of Cecil, who returns as a ghost.[17]

Without MODOK, Gwen becomes the new leader of the MODOK organization, but learns she is wanted by the alien arms dealers, who are known as Teuthidans. Assisted by a rogue Doombot named Vincent Doonan and MODOK's other agents, Gwenpool's team defeats the Teuthidans, but destroys the MODOK base in the process. Without a base or funding, Batroc and the others decide to disband MODOK.[18]

During the Civil War II storyline, Gwenpool appears in Georgia attempting to earn the bounty on an alien smuggler named Chammy, only to discover that Rocket Raccoon and Groot are also after him. The three end up fighting another alien named Reeve, who put the bounty on Chammy. After Reeve defeats them and escapes, Chammy tells Rocket, Groot and Gwen that Reeve is looking for a formula that could temporarily neutralize Captain Marvel's powers, allowing him to kill her. Gwen refuses to help at first, under the logic that Captain Marvel, being one of most important "characters" in the current "story", would not be killed off in "a comic about a talking tree and raccoon". However, after coincidentally running into Kitty Pryde, Gwen falls under the mistaken impression that the comic she is currently in was being written by Brian Michael Bendis, a "big-deal comic book writer" with a fixation on Pryde who would have the authority to kill Captain Marvel. Convinced that Captain Marvel’s life is actually in danger, Gwen accompanies Rocket & Groot to the Triskelion, where they and Chammy help defeat Reeve, and Gwen realizes that the real writer put Kitty Pryde on the street to trick her into helping.[19]

After short team-ups with the Champions,[20] Blade,[21] Deadpool,[22] and the duo of Ghost Rider and Kate Bishop, Gwen meets her brother Teddy, who drags her back to her world (or a close facsimile).[23]

Here Gwen loses her memories of her time in the Marvel Universe and resumes an ordinary life, but she gradually becomes once again aware that she is in a comic book. Gwen then begins experimenting with the fourth wall again and learns to interact with the comic book medium by erasing the walls between panels and even climbing out of the panels, finding herself looking in on her life.

Watching the past from outside the borders, Gwen sees the "extra pages" of her Holiday Special, in which when her brother Teddy was sucked into the Marvel Universe, he ended up working for Orto the snake swordsman. Upon seeing her kill Orto's henchmen, Teddy runs into versions of Spider-Man, The Terrible Eye, and Vincent Doonan, who claim to be from a future where Gwen becomes a huge threat and destroys their lives. They offer him the chance to "return home" with his sister and fix things. Being concerned for Gwen's mental health, and having had a terrible time, he readily agrees. On finding this out Gwen, with her memory and costume restored, re-enters the borders, confronts Teddy for trying to undo the past and steal her dream of living in a comic, and shows him that their "parents" aren't real, and they never even left the comic.

Terrible Eye explains that their attempts to send the Pooles to their home dimension created a pocket dimension from their memories that was almost identical to their real one. The three realize that trapping Gwen was what led to her gaining her powers over reality in the first place. When Spider-Man narrates a flashback sequence of the future evil Gwen's misdeeds, the evil Gwen herself travels through the flashback's panels to follow him to the present.

Future Gwen battles Spider-Man, Terrible Eye, and Doonan, while each side tries to convince the present Gwen to join their cause. Future Gwen turns out to be weakened by Present Gwen’s doubt, but still effortlessly kills Doonan, Terrible Eye, and Spider-Man, horrifying Present Gwen, before explaining to her past self that she became a villain because she was tired of her good deeds being undone as the plot progressed, so she turned to committing evil that could always be undone on characters that “matter”, demonstrated when Spider-Man’s death is retconned a moment later because he’s too important in the story to be killed. However, Present Gwen is disgusted at the idea of hurting the characters she’s grown to love, and wipes her future self from existence. This comes at the cost of erasing all of the Evil Gwen stories and thus dramatically shortening Present Gwen’s lifespan.

Learning that the universe is attempting to make her into a joke villain, Gwen wants to make sure her evil self never comes to be. To catch the attention of the Avengers she visits Latveria in an attempt to face off with Doctor Doom, thinking him to still be evil, as she hasn't read Infamous Iron Man. It is revealed that she and Cecil, now in his mystical monster body, share an apartment and since she has given up killing people is hacking to pay the bills. A short time later after rescuing Vincent Doonan from Paste Pot Pete and throwing him into the void between comic panels as a demonstration of her new superpower, Gwen asks Vincent where to find the real Doctor Doom so she can defeat him and prove herself to be a fameworthy hero. Vincent leads her to Doom, who explains he's reformed, but Gwen still attacks him, releasing an evil version of Doctor Doom from within him.

After a brief fight in which she realizes she can't kill the Doom doppelganger, the real Doom comes to her aid and destroys his evil past self. He and Gwen have a chat about why she wanted to kill him, which turns out to be because since destroying her evil destiny self, her comic pages are running out and she believes she is doomed to be cancelled. With only a few pages left, once Doom is gone, she wonders if she has to become a super villain.

In the final chapter of Unbelievable Gwenpool, a Gwen from the future appears to her and explains that while her first comic series has ended, she's already in several other comics, toys, games, fan works, and so on. Even if her current book ends, she and her side characters will return in future stories. Meanwhile, in between these pages, Gwen enlists the help of Stephen Strange and her friends to restore Cecil to human form. She is given a watch that counts down the issue's remaining pages and she uses the rest, one page at a time, to see old friends, team up with new superheroes, rescue her brother from Hell, meet the Marvel Universe counterparts of her parents, and chase off M.O.D.O.K. one more time. Future Gwen then goes back to where the chapter started to talk to her past self, creating a loop.

West Coast Avengers Vol. 3Edit

After recently having been beaten up by a clone of Squirrel Girl,[24] and later attending the funeral of a separate Skrull duplicate of Squirrel Girl, Gwen visits Kate Bishop in Los Angeles, before being drafted to join the accidentally reformed West Coast Avengers. She instantly enters into conflict with one of the members, Quentin Quire, but their clashes and shouting matches eventually evolve into passionate kisses. However, Gwen later informs the camera crew following the team that she started a relationship with Quentin partly because she felt a romantic plot would make her less of a supporting player and thus less likely to die, having also considered establishing a romantic relationship with America Chavez.[25] Along with the other Avengers, Gwen helps stop giant monsters created by the original M.O.D.O.K., adopts a baby land-shark she names Jeff, and faces an alliance of villains headed by Madame Masque.[26] Later, during the War of the Realms, Gwen and the West Coast Avengers assist Otto Octavius in protecting San Francisco, and she uses her perspective as a Marvel Universe outsider and a fellow B-list hero to help him come to terms with his lack of a star role in the event.

Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019)Edit

Psycho-Man first appears in the 1967 Fantastic Four annual, as the leader of a technocracy that governs a microscopic system of worlds in the Microverse.[2] Due to overpopulation on these worlds, the character decides that the macroscopic world will be an ideal new base. Using technology from the mainstream Marvel universe, Psycho-Man remains microscopic in size but is able to function by controlling a suit of advanced human-sized armor. Using a portable device capable of influencing people's emotions, Psycho-Man enslaves a number of human subjects to build a larger version of the machine, with the intent of subjugating the world. The plan, however, is thwarted by Fantastic Four members the Human Torch and the Thing, by the Royal Family of the Inhumans and by the Black Panther; Psycho-Man is forced to retreat back to the Microverse.[3]

The character reappears in the title Fantastic Four when Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch and the Thing travel to Psycho-Man's realm to find the Herald of Galactus, the Silver Surfer. Becoming aware of the threat of Galactus, Psycho-Man allows the heroes and the Surfer to leave unopposed.[4] In the title Micronauts the diminutive heroes are joined by the entire Fantastic Four and battle Psycho-Man, who at this time claims to be in forced exile.[5] Psycho-Man reappears in the title Fantastic Four and uses an android based on the villain the Hate-Monger to incite hatred amongst the population of New York City.[6] Psycho-Man succeeds in transforming the Invisible Woman into the entity Malice and sends her to destroy the remainder of the Fantastic Four. Mister Fantastic frees his wife from the conditioning and they pursue Psycho-Man to the Microverse, where the villain is forced to experience a number of negative emotions simultaneously by the Invisible Girl after she turned his own equipment against him. The villain lapses into a coma and Susan Richards, in recognition of the personal growth she experienced during this mission, changes her name to the Invisible Woman.[7]

Reduced to a minuscule size after an accidental exposure to Ant-Man's shrinking gas, Spider-Man finds himself in the Microverse face-to-face with Psycho-Man. After a failed attempt to drain the Captain Universe power from Spider-Man (a power he no longer possesses), Spider-Man escapes from Psycho-Man's prison to find an alien universe that Psycho-Man has shrunk and demanded they make him king. After a battle with Psycho-Man, Spider-Man, with the help of the beings of this shrunken universe, is able to destroy the device that controls Psycho-Man's power to manipulate the sizes of things, causing Psycho-Man to shrink and Spider-Man to return to normal size.[8]

In the fourth volume of the title Captain Marvel, the Kree hero Genis-Vell has an encounter with Psycho-Man in the Microverse when the villain temporarily controls Marvel's ally, Drax the Destroyer.[9] The character launches another attack on New York City in the title Marvel Knights 4 but is defeated once again by the Invisible Woman;[10] appears in an issue of the fourth volume of the Black Panther and battles a new version of the Fantastic Four (the Black Panther; the mutant Storm; the Thing and the Human Torch).[11]

Psycho-Man is killed by the Red Hulk during a tournament organized by the Grandmaster, but restored to life with other fallen characters when the tournament is completed.[12]

It is revealed that Psycho-Man has a daughter, who calls herself Psycho-Woman, who uses an "emotional modifier" device, far superior to her father's technology. She engineered a series of events that led to Johnny Storm impregnating a woman, in hopes of using the child's genetics to create a cosmic energy-powered army. Hiding in Johnny's body, she was apparently incinerated when he "flamed on".[13]

Psycho-Man attempted to take control of the students of Avengers Academy while they were out on a 'field trip' with substitute teacher Spider-Man.[14] He was defeated when Spider-Man's will power proved sufficient to shake off his influence thanks to his old experience with the Psycho-Man. Spider-Man rallied the other students to fight back and throw off his control, simultaneously giving Spider-Man the chance to connect to his students and prompt them to prove their worth as heroes.[15]

During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Psycho-Man takes advantage of the fear and chaos caused by the Serpent and his Worthy by plotting to use Man-Thing as the ultimate fear bomb for Earth and other worlds. Psycho-Man has to deal with the Fearsome Four (consisting of Howard the Duck, She-Hulk, Nighthawk, and Frankenstein's Monster). Psycho-Man brings forth an alternate version of the Fantastic Four (consisting of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Gray Hulk, and Ghost Rider) from another dimension and brainwashes them into fighting the Fearsome Four. Howard the Duck uses his secret weapon - a device called the "No Thing" - which defeats Psycho-Man and the alternate Fantastic Four.[16]

When the mysterious Quiet Man mounted an attack on the FF, one of the villains he recruited to aid in his assault was the Psycho-Man, whose dimensional technology helped the Quiet Man access the forces of Counter-Earth created by Franklin Richards, recruiting and brainwashing its heroes as part of his plans. However, the Psycho-Man's role in his plan also allowed Reed to defeat the Quiet Man, whose plan depended on the idea that the villains would withdraw and allow the Quiet Man to present himself as the hero who exposed Reed's attack, as Reed correctly deduced that the Psycho-Man wouldn't give up control over two worlds. The Psycho-Man was defeated when Valeria managed to calculate how to hack his equipment and use it to make the Quiet Man's forces withdraw.[volume & issue needed]

Gamora sealed the souls of the universe within the Soul Gem. In order to incapacitate its inhabitants, she additionally folded the universe in half, merging every soul with another. This course of action accidentally resulted in the creation of Warp World, a pocket dimension where history was rewritten and adapted to the fused beings. Inside Warp World, Spider-Man and Moon Knight were merged together into Arachknight.[2]

Fifteen years prior in this world, when Peter Parker was a child, he visited the World Science Festival at the American Museum of Natural History with his uncle Ben and aunt May. On their way back home, Peter convinced them to cut through Central Park instead of taking a cab, and they were attacked by the mysterious Goblin-by-Night. Peter was fatally injured, and Ben and May were killed. As he laid dying on the ground, Peter was bitten by a mystical spider. The spider linked Peter to the totem energy of ancient spiders, saving his life and granting him powers, but also shattering his mind into four separate personalities. Peter initially tried to silence the voices in his head, but eventually decided to listen to them, allowing each to regularly take control of his body and essentially compartmentalize his life.

Peter's mind is fracturedIn the present, Peter had become a successful magnate and owner of Parker Industries who moonlighted as the vigilante Arachknight. His best friend Harry Russell was Peter's right-hand man in both of his professions, usually making sure Peter's C.E.O. persona was present when necessary to run the company. Unbeknownst to Peter, Harry's father Norman Russell was secretly the Goblin-by-Night, afflicted by a curse that turned him into a bloodthristy monster with no control of his actions. Peter learned this secret when accompanied Harry to Norman's house. Norman ran away after turning into the Goblin-by-Night, with Harry having failed to contain Norman's outburst. As Arachknight, Peter chased the Goblin-by-Night to Central Park and pummeled the monster. Harry tased Peter from behind, and after Norman reverted to his human form, he took him away.[1]

Harry took his father to the sublevels of Parker Industries to treat his injuries, but Norman transformed again and went on a rampage, biting Harry in the neck in the process. The Goblin rampaged through the building and reached Peter. As Arachknight, Peter beat the Goblin to a pulp. When he prepared to deal the final blow, Harry arrived moribund on a prototype glider and convinced Peter to stop, arguing that Norman was not in control of his actions when he murdered Ben and May, but if Peter retributed it would be willingly. Harry suddenly transformed into the Goblin and escaped on the glider, and Norman revealed he had passed on the curse to his son when he bit him. Peter promised Norman to work together to cure Harry.[3]

Arachknight and the DefendersSome time later, when the monstrous Devondra began to consume Warp World, countless scaled-down manifestations of Devondra started appearing all over the world. Arachknight was fending off the Daily Bugle Building from these creatures when he was reached by Emma Frost's worldwide telepathic rally to fight Devondra's main form in the confines of Warp World.[4] Following Gamora's defeat, Adam Warlock and his allies restored the universe to normalcy. However, they made it so Warp World continued existing within a facet of the Soul Gem, so the new life forms that resulted from its creation wouldn't cease to exist. Inside Warp World, some of the heroes that fought Devondra including Arachknight decided to remain banded together, and formed the Defenders.[5]

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Personality

Peter Parker's mind is separated into four different aspects, whom of all have different personalities. The original Peter serves as the main host and somewhat dominant of the personalities.

The first aspect, known as 'the Arachnid,' serves as the dominant aspect of Arachknight. He is mainly light-hearted and enjoys taunting enemies with jokes and wits. He appears to be the most athletic of Peter's personas. The second aspect, commonly known as 'the Knight,' is the darker and more aggressive persona of Peter. He is claimed to be serious and intense but great in finishing off fights with criminals. The Knight additionally acts as Peter's fight-or-flight response, overriding other personalities in moments of dire danger. The third aspect, claimed to be called 'C.E.O. Peter,' is the confident C.E.O. of Parker Industries. The fourth aspect, commonly known as 'Science Peter,' is a working scientist with a strong passion. He has a strong fear of heights and is the least athletic of the personas.[1]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Maya Lopez was a young girl when her father Willie "Crazy Horse" Lincoln was killed by the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk). Crazy Horse dies, leaving a bloody handprint on Maya's face and a last dying wish: that the Kingpin raise Maya well. Kingpin honors his dying wish, caring for her as his own daughter. Believed to be mentally disabled, Maya is sent to an expensive school for people with learning disabilities. There, she manages to completely replicate a song on the piano. She is subsequently sent to another expensive school for prodigies.

EchoEdit

Maya is sent by the Kingpin to prove Matt Murdock's weakness, telling her that Matt believes Fisk is a bad person and that she is the only way to prove him wrong. As Maya believes Fisk, it would not appear to be a lie when she tells Matt.[3]

Murdock and Maya soon fall in love. She later takes on the "Echo" guise to hunt down Daredevil. On her face, she paints a white handprint, similar to the bloody handprint left by her dying father. Maya proves more than a match for Daredevil, having watched videos of Daredevil and Bullseye fighting. After several failed attempts, noticing that Daredevil can easily move through the dark, Maya easily figures out Daredevil's weakness and exploits this by having a fight in a place where Daredevil's heightened senses are useless. Maya easily takes down Daredevil and nearly kills the vigilante, refusing only when she finds out Matt and Daredevil are one and the same. Matt manages to expose the Kingpin's lies. In revenge, Maya confronts and shoots Fisk in the face, blinding Fisk and starting the chain of events that lead to the man's eventual downfall (Kingpin later partially recovered eyesight through reconstructive eye surgery).[4]

After realizing the horror of her actions and the lies with which she has grown up, Maya flees the United States to do some soul-searching. When she comes back, she tries reuniting with Murdock, only to find out Matt is now with a blind woman and that the Kingpin is still alive (despite Maya's attempts). Leaving Matt, Maya visits the Kingpin in prison who tells her that she doesn't get blamed for what she did, and (that despite all that had happened) the Kingpin still loves her like a daughter. Unsatisfied and still needing peace, Maya turns to the Chief (her father's old friend) noted for wisdom. The Chief sends Maya on a vision quest to calm her soul. On her quest, she meets and befriends Wolverine who helps her recover and passes on knowledge of Japanese culture and Japanese organized crime. Soon enough, Maya makes peace with her past and is back doing performance art.[5]

Ronin and the AvengersEdit



Maya Lopez unmasked as Ronin.

After a recent identity crisis and feeling unable to join the New Avengers due to a refusal to tarnish the reputations of heroes by working alongside them, Maya dons a suit that conceals her identity as well as her gender and rechristens herself Ronin (Japanese for "Masterless Samurai").

Daredevil recommends Maya to Captain America to aid the Avengers in seizing the Silver Samurai in Japan.[6] After joining the Avengers, Maya returns to Japan to keep an eye on dangerous assassin Elektra Natchios rumored to be leading the Hand, check on the Silver Samurai from time to time, and hopefully solve the conflict between The Hand and Clan Yashida. Around the conclusion of the Civil War between the pro-registration and anti-registration factions in America, Maya fights Elektra and is killed, but is soon resurrected by the Hand with the same process used to raise Elektra. Maya is taken captive with the intent of turning her into an assassin for The Hand. Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Spider-Woman, Iron Fist, and the new Ronin rescue her and escape, leaving Elektra to furiously send the Hand after them. During a brief lull in the fight with the Hand in which Luke tries to negotiate with Elektra to buy time, it is revealed that the Hand has been successful in brainwashing Maya, as she subsequently stabs Dr. Strange with a sword given to her by one of the Hand.[7] She continues to fight the New Avengers until Dr. Strange is able to release an astral form with Wong's help, and frees Maya from the brainwashing. Maya then charges straight for Elektra (who is fighting Luke) and stabs her, revealing that Elektra is a Skrull warrior in disguise.[8] They return to New York, after Spider-Woman's apparent betrayal of stealing Elektra's Skrull impersonator's corpse.[9] The Avengers hide in a hotel room (Strange's magic making it appear that Maya is the only person in the room) before returning to Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Maya officially hands the Ronin identity over to Clint Barton after they arrive.[10] After Strange confirms their identities by casting a spell that shows everyone their true nature - Maya appearing dressed in a female variation of Daredevil's costume - the team heads to Stark Tower to stop the Hood's attack on the building. There, they encounter the Mighty Avengers locked in battle with an army of invading symbiotes, one of which latches on to Maya before Iron Man manages to cure those infected.[11]

World War HulkEdit

Echo attempts to defend Rick Jones from Hiroim and Elloe of the Hulk's Warbound during their attack on the Sanctum Sanctorum to capture Doctor Strange. She, along with Iron Fist and Barton, is defeated and captured.[12]

Avengers/InvadersEdit

During the Invaders' appearance in the present due to D'Spayre's manipulations acquiring a Cosmic Cube, Echo proved vital in defeating the villain as her deafness meant that D'Spayre was unable to manipulate her emotions.[13]

Secret Invasion: The InfiltrationEdit

After the defeat of the Hood's criminal organization,[14] Echo remains on the team as Doctor Strange departs to the astral plane to heal himself, setting up base in a building owned by Iron Fist's company but technically leased to Samuel Sterns for the year.[15] After a brief run-in with a Skrull disguised as Daredevil, Barton admits being attracted to her, and the two sleep together.[16]

Secret InvasionEdit

Echo goes with the rest of the New Avengers to the Savage Land when a Skrull ship crash lands. When the ship opens, it reveals various superheroes in outdated outfits. Echo joins with the Mighty Avengers and New Avengers to fight the "old" heroes from the Skrull ship. The battle is then broken up by a dinosaur causing everyone to split up.[17] Later, she encounters "Spider-Woman" who is actually the Skrull Queen and the force behind the Skrull Invasion. "Spider-Woman" incapacitates Echo by repeatedly blasting her with venom blasts and then slams her into a nearby tree trunk.[18] Echo helps the other Avengers kill all the other Skrull impostors, then heads to New York and confronts an army of Super Skrulls along with various other heroes and villains.[19] She is invited back to Captain America's apartment by Iron Fist but does not show up.[20]

Heroic AgeEdit

Following the reformation of the New Avengers during the Heroic Age, Cage and Jessica Jones seek a nanny for their child; Echo is one of several respondents to the offer, but declines and then angrily asks if Cage even remembers that she used to be a member of the Avengers.[21]



Dark Multiverse‎

REAL NAME

Unknown

MAIN ALIAS

Batmazo

AFFILIATION

Dark Knights

BASE OF OPERATIONS

Castle Bat

STATUS

ALIGNMENT

Bad

IDENTITY

Secret Identity

OCCUPATION

Guard

CHARACTERISTICS

GENDER

Male

ORIGIN

UNIVERSE

Dark Multiverse

CREATORS

Scott Snyder · Francis Manapul

FIRST APPEARANCE

Dark Nights: Death Metal Trinity Crisis #1

(November, 2020)

MORE 

Batmazo was a combination of Batman and Amazo from the Dark Multiverse.

History

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Rorschach (character)

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Rorschach (Walter Joseph Kovacs) is a fictional antihero in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. Rorschach was created by writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons, but as with most of the main characters in the series, he was an analogue for a Charlton Comics character, in this case Steve Ditko's the Question. Moore also modeled Rorschach on Mr. A, another Steve Ditko creation on whom the Question was originally based.[1]

Rorschach

Walter Kovacs as Rorschach.

Art by Dave Gibbons

Publication informationPublisherDC ComicsFirst appearanceWatchmen #1 (September 1986)Created by

Alan Moore

Dave Gibbons

In-story informationAlter egoWalter Joseph KovacsTeam affiliationsCrimebustersPartnershipsNite Owl IIAbilities

Master hand-to-hand combatant and expert street-fighter uses a grapple gun to get to high places

Ingenuity and inventiveness in crafting improvised weapons and tools

Skilled in detective work, tracking, and interrogation

Peak human strength, agility, stamina, endurance, and pain tolerance

Genius Level Intellect

While Watchmen has an ensemble cast, many consider Rorschach to be the protagonist as he drives most of the plot forward and serves as the series' narrator.[2][3][4] In the beginning of the story, he is introduced as the only masked vigilante to remain active on his own terms and initiative, a criminal outlaw as opposed to other former superheroes now covertly employed by the U.S. government. A ruthless crime-fighter, Rorschach believes in moral absolutism—good and evil as pure ends, with no shades of gray—which compels him to seek to punish any evidence of evil at all costs. His mask displays a constantly morphing inkblot based on the ambiguous designs used in Rorschach inkblot tests, also his namesake, with the mask's black and white coloring consistent with his sense and view of morality.

The original character was positively received, with multiple references in other comic titles and appearances in other media. He reappears in the Before Watchmen comic book prequel in his own miniseries. Rorschach made his live-action debut in the 2009 film Watchmen, played by Jackie Earle Haley, who also voices him in the video game Watchmen: The End Is Nigh.

A successor to the Rorschach mantle, named Reggie Long, debuted in the sequel miniseries Doomsday Clock, which connects the Watchmen universe with the mainstream DC Universe.

Publication history

Fictional character biographyEdit

Before WatchmenEdit

Walter Joseph Kovacs was born on March 21, 1940, the son of Sylvia Kovacs, who was a prostitute, and an unknown father only known to Kovacs as "Charlie". His mother was frequently abusive and condescending towards him. In July 1951, at the age of 11, Kovacs became involved in a violent fight with two older bullies, and subsequently his living conditions were finally looked into. He was removed from his mother's care and put in "The Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children" in New Jersey, where he rapidly seemed to improve, excelling at scholastics as well as gymnastics and amateur boxing. In 1956, after leaving the Charlton Home when he was 16, Kovacs took a job as a garment worker in a dress shop, which he found "bearable but unpleasant" partly because he had to handle women's clothing; it was here that he acquired a certain dress fabric that he would later fashion into the mask he wears as Rorschach. In 1962, Kovacs scavenged the material from a rejected dress that had been special-ordered by a young woman with an Italian name. Though Kovacs learned how to cut and fashion the material successfully with heated implements, he soon grew bored with it, as it served him no real purpose at the time.[14]

Two years later when buying a newspaper on his way to work in March 1964, Kovacs read about the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese, who he believed was the Italian woman who had rejected the dress. Ashamed by what he read about the unresponsiveness of her neighbors, Kovacs became disillusioned with the underlying apathy that he saw as inherent in most people. Inspired by Genovese's fate, Kovacs returned home, made "a face [he] could bear to look at in the mirror" from the dress's fabric, and began fighting crime as the vigilante Rorschach. Initially, Kovacs left criminals alive, but bloodied, for the police to arrest, leaving a calling card in the form of a Rorschach test at every crime scene. In the mid 1960s, he teamed up with Nite Owl II, a partnership which proved highly successful at battling organized crime.[14]

In 1975, an investigation into the kidnapping of a young girl named Blair Roche led to the transformation of the "soft" Kovacs into the ruthlessly uncompromising Rorschach. He tracked the kidnapping to a man named Gerald Grice. At Grice's shack, Kovacs found evidence Grice had killed the girl and had fed her remains to his dogs. Discovering this, Rorschach suffered a psychotic breakdown, killed the dogs with Grice's meat cleaver and waited for his arrival. When Grice returned, Rorschach hurled the corpses of the dogs through his windows, handcuffed him to a stove, and poured kerosene around him. Leaving Grice a hacksaw, Rorschach told him that his only chance to escape would be by cutting off his hand. Rorschach then set the shack on fire and left. No one emerged.[14] During a later psychological evaluation, the vigilante stated that Kovacs went into the shack, but that Rorschach came out.

When the Keene Act was passed in 1977 to outlaw vigilantes, Rorschach responded by killing a wanted serial rapist and leaving his body outside a police station with a note bearing one word: "never!"[15]

In WatchmenEdit

By 1985 and the events of Watchmen, Rorschach is the vigilante who continues to operate in defiance of the Keene Act, the rest having retired or become government operatives. He investigates the murder of a man named Edward Blake, discovering that he is the Comedian. He believes that someone is picking off costumed superheroes,[16] a view that strengthens when Doctor Manhattan is forced into exile[17] and when Adrian Veidt, the former vigilante known as Ozymandias, is targeted in an assassination attempt.[18] Rorschach questions Moloch, a former supervillain who unexpectedly attends Blake's funeral, who tells him what little he knows.[19] Later, after reading a note written by Moloch telling him to come over for more information, Rorschach visits him again, only to find him dead, shot through the head. The police, tipped off anonymously over the phone, surround the house. Rorschach scolds himself for falling into such an obvious trap, and is arrested after a fight, in which Rorschach tries to escape by jumping through a window, but is unmasked. After the unmasking, Rorschach is revealed to be the red-haired man who, in addition to being the first character to appear in the series, was shown several times in the early chapters carrying a sign reading "THE END IS NIGH".[18]

Rorschach is sent to a prison where many of its inmates are criminals he put away, including Big Figure, a dwarf crime boss who is hungry for Rorschach's blood. During his incarceration, he is interviewed by the prison psychologist Dr. Malcolm Long. Long believes he can help rehabilitate him; instead, Rorschach's explanation of his life and his justifications for his uncompromising worldview lead Long to question his own views.

One day during lunch, one of the inmates attempts to attack Rorschach with a shiv, whereupon Rorschach throws the boiling-oil contents of a deep-fryer into his face in self-defense.[14] As the guards grab and begin to beat him, Rorschach hoarsely yells at the watching crowd, "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me."[20] After the inmate dies, the prison breaks out in a riot. The Big Figure and two of his associates try to kill Rorschach, but he outwits and ultimately kills them all in rapid succession. Rorschach's two former colleagues, Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II, begin to take his "mask killer" theory seriously and break him out of jail to follow up on it.[21]

After the prison break, Dr. Manhattan comes back from his self-exile to transport Silk Spectre II to Mars.[21] After acquiring a spare costume from his apartment, Rorschach, along with Nite Owl, enters underworld bars to find out who ordered the assassination attempt on Veidt. They obtain a name, a company called Pyramid Deliveries, and then break into Veidt's office. Nite Owl correctly deduces Veidt's password and finds that he runs Pyramid Deliveries. Rorschach, who has been keeping a journal throughout the duration of the novel, realizes that they may be no match for Veidt. He makes one last entry in his journal, stating his certainty that Veidt is responsible for whatever might happen next, and drops it into a mailbox.[22]

Nite Owl and Rorschach fly out to Antarctica.[22] There they learn the true nature of the conspiracy and Veidt's motivations: to unite the world against a perceived alien threat and stop the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. Veidt then reveals that he set his plan into motion well before they arrived.[23] Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre II arrive at the base after viewing the carnage Veidt's false alien has wrought on New York City. Despite their mutual horror, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre II and Doctor Manhattan all agree to keep quiet about the true nature of the events when the United States surprisingly does enter into a peace accord with the Soviet Union.

Rorschach states the others must be joking, and leaves to tell the world. Dr. Manhattan confronts him outside, telling him he cannot allow Rorschach to reveal the truth. Refusing to compromise his principles, Rorschach understands he will be killed. He removes his mask and demands that Manhattan just "do it", which he does.[24]

In the final scenes of the comic, Rorschach's journal has made it to the offices of the New Frontiersman, a right-wing newspaper. Outraged by the new accord between the Soviet Union and the United States, the editor pulls a planned two-page story. He leaves it to his assistant Seymour to decide how to fill that space, and Seymour begins to reach for the paper's "Crank File," which contains the journal. The outcome is ambiguous.[24]

Events of Doomsday ClockEdit

The events of Doomsday Clock begin with Robert Redford winning the 1992 election by using the details of Kovacs' journal, which he gained from the New Frontiersman, leading the citizens of New York to rally against Ozymandias, while the United States faces an inevitable nuclear war. Reggie Long, son of Kovacs's prison psychologist Dr. Malcolm Long, later takes on the Rorschach mantle after being driven insane by Veidt's monster and learning self-defense techniques from former Mothman Byron Lewis, and mistakenly believing that his father and Rorschach had been friends after reading parts of his reports on him.[25]

Events of RorschachEdit

Thirty-five years after the death of Rorschach, right-wing vigilante Laura "The Kid" Cummings brainwashes two elderly comic book creators, Wil Myerson and Frank Miller, into believing that they are Rorschach's reincarnation, before attempting to assassinate Robert Redford's political opponent, being killed themselves in the process.[26]

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