More Characters

[Charles Warren]

MISTER FANTASTIC
Real Name: Reed Richards
Affiliation: Fantastic Four
Powers: Elastic Body, Super-Intelligence

Reed Richards, the only son of wealthy physicist Nathaniel Richards and his wife Evelyn, was a child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Evelyn Richards died when Reed was seven. Nathaniel Richards encouraged and guided young Reed in his scientific studies, and Reed was taking college-level courses by the time he was fourteen. Richards attended several universities, among them California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Harvard University, and State University in Hegeman, New York State.

It was at State University that Reed Richards first met two of the most important individuals in his life. He was assigned to room with a foreign student, a scientific genius named Victor Von Doom. The imperious Von Doom took an immediate dislike to Richards, and decided to take other quarters. As Doctor Doom, Von Doom would later become Richards' greatest rival and enemy. Richards instead gained as his roommate former high school football star Benjamin J. Grimm, who became Richards' closest friend. Richards was already intending to build a starship for interstellar travel. When he told this ambition to Grimm, Grimm jokingly said that he would pilot the starship for Richards.

While attending Columbia University Richards rented living quarters at the Manhattan boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm. Though she was still only a child, no more than twelve years old, Susan fell in love with the older Richards, much to his embarrassment.

Three years before Reed Richards tested his starship, his father mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Nathaniel Richards had devised a time machine which he had used to attempt to journey into the future of his own world. However, the machine actually transported him to an alternate Earth with a history considerably different from our own; Reed Richards would be reunited with him while visiting this alternate Earth years later. But before Nathaniel Richards left his own time line, he made arrangements that left two billion dollars to his son. Reed Richards spent most of this money on his project to build and launch his starship. This project, based in Central City, California, received further funding from the federal government.

Reed Richards recruited his old friend Ben Grimm, who had become a successful test pilot and astronaut, to pilot the starship. Susan Storm, who was now an adult, joined Richards in California. Richards and Storm were engaged to be married.

Shortly before the starship was to be launched, Richards used his scientific knowledge to defeat the extraterrestrial being Gormuu, who had intended to conquer Earth. Richards' encounter with Gormuu strengthened his resolve to finish the starship, which he saw as a first step in making it possible for mankind to defend itself from extraterrestrial threats.

However, the federal government then threatened to withdraw its funding from the project. Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself before the funding was withdrawn. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the starship's shielding might prove inadequate protection from intense radiation storms. Nevertheless, Grimm was persuaded to serve as pilot, and Susan Storm and her adolescent brother Johnny insisted on accompanying Richards as passengers. The four friends stole onto the launch facility, entered the starship, and blasted off. They intended to travel through hyperspace in the ship to another solar system and back. However, unknown to Richards, a solar flare caused Earth's Van Allen radiation belts to be filled temporarily with unprecedented, ultra-high levels of cosmic radiation. Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin volume was subjected to intense cosmic ray bombardment, which irradiated the four passengers and wrought havoc on the ship's controls. Pilot Grimm was forced to abort the flight and return to Earth.

Once back on Earth, the four passengers discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Reed Richards discovered that he could become malleable and elongate his body at will. Richards convinced the three others that the four of them should use their newfound powers for the good of humanity as members of a team he named the Fantastic Four. Richards, who became the team's leader, named himself Mister Fantastic, while Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm named themselves the Thing, the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman), and the Human Torch, respectively. The profits from Richards' patents and royalties funded the team's activities.

Under Richards' leadership the Fantastic Four has become Earth's most honored team of superhuman adventurers, and has saved the world from conquest or destruction many times. Richards eventually married Susan Storm, and they now have a son, Franklin.

After many years, Reed joined his wife in semi-retirement from their superhero career. They tried to raise their son Franklin in a relatively normal environment, but soon, Franklin was kidnapped by the villains Nanny and the Orphan-Maker at the same time that New York was undergoing a demonic invasion. Richards and his wife teamed up with Captain America (then, the Captain) and other heroes to reform the team Avengers, which had then recently gone on hiatus. Richards, however, continually disrupted the Avengers' team dynamic with his natural penchant for leadership. Richards and his wife soon left the team and rejoined the Fantastic Four at their base.

Since then Reed and the rest of the Fantastic four have continued to protect the world from every threat they can.

Mister Fantastic possesses the ability to convert the mass of his entire body into a highly malleable state at will. In such a state, he can stretch, deform, expand, or compress his entire body or parts thereof into any contiguous shape he can imagine. He can extend his limbs, torso, or neck to great distances: the maximum length he can distend before his body segments become painful is about 1,500 feet. (Although he can extend discrete body parts, such as a single finger, an ear, or an eye, he seldom if ever isolates such parts in his elongations.) He can also extend his body in two directions, creating a canopy, parachute, or sheath, its thickness determined by the extent of its distention. He has compressed his body into the shape of a solid sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a toroid, and a rectangular prism: he can assume the shape of any solid that he can envision clearly, of a volume no greater than 1.7 cubic feet (a sphere about 18 inches in diameter). He can generate thin-walled shapes that enclose great volumes of space. Mister Fantastic can flatten himself to the thickness of an average sheet of typing paper (.0035 inch) or narrow himself to a diameter small enough to pass through the eye of a #10 beading needle (about .045 x .06 inches). How his body's respiration and circulatory systems function at these distorted extremes is as yet unknown. Mister Fantastic can alter his form in a matter of seconds, often much less (depending on the complexity of the shape), and revert to his normal humanoid shape within a similar time. The greater the distance he stretches or the more extended the size of the object he becomes, the weaker his overall strength becomes.

Due to the great malleability and elasticity of his molecular structure, Mister Fantastic is able to absorb the impact of any type of man-made ballistic projectile by deforming his body along the path of the projectile's trajectory at the point of initial impact. After his body absorbs the kinetic energy of a ballistic projectile's impact, he can expel the object back along its trajectory by flexing like a trampoline if he is adequately braced. He can enclose and absorb the energy of a large explosive, on the order of 8 to 12 pounds of TNT (excluding exotic, high density explosives). Such shocks to his system are physically exhausting.

Mister Fantastic's transformation to a malleable state is reflexive and nearly instantaneous: if he was at his normal form and taken unaware by machine gun fire, his body would still absorb the bullets' impact through radical deformation. Mister Fantastic's skin is virtually impervious to laceration or punctures unless he wilfully relaxes his reflexive control over small areas of his body. In that case, scalpels and ordinary needles can penetrate his skin.

[Charles Warren]

INVISIBLE WOMAN
Real Name: Susan Richards
Affiliation: Fantastic Four
Powers: Invisibility, Force Fields

Susan Storm, the eldest of two children born to a physician and his wife, grew up comfortably in suburban Long Island. At age 12 she met her future husband, Reed Richards, then a Columbia University graduate student living in her aunt's New York City rooming house. Enamored of the shy but handsome scientist, Sue promised to keep in touch with him. When she moved to California to pursue an acting career, Sue again encountered Richards, and the two began a romantic relationship.

An aeronautical engineer, Richards was working on a starship that would make it possible to travel to other solar systems. When the government threatened to cut off its partial funding of the project, Richards decided to make an immediate test flight. It would have been just him and his friend, pilot Benjamin Grimm -- but Susan and her brother, Johnny, insisted on going along. In space, the starship unexpectedly encountered intense radiation, which caused the crew to abort the flight and crash to Earth. Following the accident, the four discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Now able to turn invisible at will, Sue became a founding member of Reed Richards' team of adventurers, the Fantastic Four.

Sue Richards' psionic ability to manipulate ambient cosmic energy enables her to bend light around her body without distortion, thus rendering herself invisible. The cells of her body produce an unknown form of energy she can mentally project around other people and objects -- rending them invisible, as well. Richards' brain cells produce psionic force she can shape into relatively simple forms - such as rectangle planes, globes, cylinders, cones and domes. Also, she can mentally project protective fields that are highly resistant to concussive forces. And by projecting columns of psionic force beneath her, she can travel through the air.

[Charles Warren]

HUMAN TORCH
Real Name: Johnny Storm
Affiliation: Fantastic Four
Powers: Fire Control

Jonathan Storm, the second of two children born to a physician and his wife, grew up comfortably on Long Island. Despite the fact his mother died in a car crash when he was nine, Storm developed an interest in automobiles at an early age. Storm passed much of his leisure time in the company of automobile mechanics and enthusiasts, and learned to totally overhaul a car's transmission before he was fifteen years old. For his sixteenth birthday, his father bought him his first "hot rod."

Storm went to California to visit his sister, Susan, who had moved there hoping to become an actress and there become engaged to marry aeronautical engineer Reed Richards. Richards was working on a starship of his own design that would make possible travel to other solar systems through hyperspace. When the United States government threatened to cut off its partial funding for the project, Richards decided to make an immediate test flight. He himself would ride in the starship, with his friend Benjamin Grimm acting as pilot. Susan and Johnny Storm insisted on going along as well. Sneaking onto the launch site and into the starship, the four launched themselves into space. The starship encountered unexpected intense radiation, which proved to be too much for the ship's shielding to block out. (It has been theorized that this was the result of a reduction in the extent of Earth's magnetosphere brought on by a solar flare.) As a result, the four people in the ship were exposed to intense cosmic ray bombardment. Aborting the test flight, the four returned to Earth.

Upon landing, Johnny Storm discovered that the cosmic rays had mutagenically altered his entire body, enabling him to create fiery plasma all about his body without harm to himself. Storm called himself the Human Torch, the same name used by the android hero of the 1940's. Storm agreed to join Richards' proposed team of champions, the Fantastic Four.

For a time Johnny Storm tried to live quietly on Long Island with his sister, trying to finish high school while hoping that no one in the community would realize that he was the Human Torch, a fact that proved impossible to conceal from the townspeople. After graduation, Johnny moved into the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters in New York City.

After many years, Johnny began dating and then married the blind sculptress Alicia Masters, former girlfriend of teammate the Thing, who was then on a sabbatical from the team. This caused some tension between him and the Thing when he returned to the team, and later Storm suspected the Thing of inviting Crystal to join the Fantastic Four to test his marital fidelity as a way of seeking revenge or splitting his wife. Crystal soon left the team, however, and the Thing began a relationship with their other associate, the second Ms. Marvel.

Later, Alicia Masters was revealed to be a spy from the alien race of shape-changing Skrulls. Lyja, the Skrull, had fallen in love with Storm and married him. The revelation of Lyja led the team to infiltrate the Skrull homeworld to rescue the real Alicia, who was still in love with the Thing, and the Skrulls captured Lyja. Although Lyja managed to escape, her relationship with Storm was damaged, turning Storm from a hotheaded brash adult to a solemn and brooding one. Lyja returned to Earth to attempt a reconciliation and reveal that she was pregnant, a fact which began to turn Storm around, although he never fully recovered his love for what he thought was Alicia. Lyja's "child" ended up being a Skrull bio-weapon, which the Four quickly defeated. Eventually, Storm began to date again, and has since moved on in romantic terms.

The Human Torch possesses the mental ability to control ambient heat energy and the physical ability to envelop his entire body or portionsof his body with fiery plasma without harm to himself. (Plasma is a super-heated stated of matter such as exists in the atmosphere of stars.)

Ordinarily, when aflame, the Human Torch is enveloped by a low intensity flame of low level plasma (reddish, approximately 780 Fahrenheit), which ranges from 1 to 5 inches from his body. He can, however, generate much higher levels and flames about himself. The Torch refers to his highest, hottest levels of plasma that he can create as his "nova flame." The exact temperatures that his "nova flame" can attain are not known.

At an average rate of expenditure of energy, the Torch can stay aflame for about 16.8 hours. In his younger days, he could only maintain his flame for much briefer periods, and sometimes exhausted it while in combat. He cannot maintain his "nova flame" for as long a time as he can maintain his ordinary flame. The Torch can release all of his body's stored energy in one intense, omni-directional "nova-burst," which can reach about 1,000,000 F, and which is similar to the heat-pulse of a nuclear warhead detonation, with an are of total devastation of about 900 feet in diameter. (The Torch has claimed that he can destroy a small moon with his nova-burst.) This violent discharge uses his entire reserve of energy (except for the necessary to keep him alive) at once, entirely exhausting his flame power. He generally requires at least 12 hours to recover entirely from such a feat.

The Human Torch can generate shapes composed of fire from any point on his body. (He usually employs his hands to "sculpt" the flames.) He can form fire into long streams, spheres, or even more complex shapes like letters in skywriting. These flames-objects will only remain their shapes as long as he concentrates upon them. The objects will only burn about 3 minutes before expiring unless the Torch continues to infuse them with energy. The temperature of these fiery projections is generally around 2,800 F (near the melting point of iron).

The Human Torch's plasma has a high hydrogen content, and is surrounded by an exuded cloud of mono-atomic hydrogen atoms. This hot cloud provides sufficient positive buoyancy for him to float. With mental stimulation of his flame, he can provide enough lift to carry 180 pounds. By forming a jet from his feet, directed behind him, he can achieve speeds up to at least 140 miles per hour.

The Human Torch has the ability to mentally control the ambient heat energy within his immediate environment, even when he himself is not aflame. He can reduce objects' temperatures (if they are in a normal range for existing on Earth's surface) to about 30 F, raise them to several hundred degrees, or extinguish open flames. His radius of influence is about 80 feet. The heat energy he takes from the environment is absorbed into his own body. If he takes in a critical amount while he is not aflame, he will become aflame. There are unknown limits to the amount of flame he can absorb into his own body harmlessly while he is himself aflame.

The Human Torch's flame is supported by the presence of oxygen, and thus is extinguished in low air pressure or a vacuum. The Torch's flame can be extinguished by smothering materials, such as water, sand, fire-fighting foam, and heat-resistant blankets, unless his flame is at such an intensity that it immediately vaporizes such materials on contact. If hit with small amounts of water, up to about five gallons, the Torch can turn it to steam with relatively little effort. More water than that could extinguish his flame at its normal level, and he would have to wait until he could evaporate the residual moisture before re-ignition.

The Torch's light output is mostly in the infrared and infrared region of the spectrum, and is invisible to the unaided eye. Less that 10% of his total power output is in the visible portion of the spectrum. Thus, the Torch, when aflame, is dimmer than one would expect of so powerful an energy source.

The Human Torch is unaffected by heat and flames, including his own, even when part of him is aflame and the rest of him is not. His flesh cannot be scalded or burned by any heat source whose level is below that of his maximum output.

Abilities: Johnny Storm is a brilliant racing car driver. He is also a superb mechanic and designer of automobiles. He himself is responsible for major redesigns of the Fantastic Four's flying Fantasti-Car, based on Reed Richards' designs for the original version.

Paraphernalia: Johnny Storm's Fantastic Four uniforms and ordinary clothing are created using unstable molecules, enabling him to flame on while wearing them without harming them in any way.

[Charles Warren]

SHE-THING
Real Name: Sharon Ventura
Affiliation: Fantastic Four
Powers: Super-Strength, Super-Durability

Sharon Ventura is the daughter of a career officer in the United States Army. Her mother died while she was young, and she grew used to being constantly shipped to various towns when her father was transferred. Her father had apparently wanted a son, so he never really encouraged her or praised Sharon for doing anything right. She enrolled in military school, but she was kicked out when she refused to testify against a roommate who was suspected of cheating on some exams. Her father never could forgive her for that, and he died a year later, still angry with her.[citation needed]

Thunderiders & Grapplers

She spent the next few years of her life training in a number of dangerous physical activities. She then began to earn money in such professions as movie stunt work. She joined the Thunderiders motorcycle stunt team, and stayed with them for a while. While on the team, she met Ben Grimm, the hero known as the Thing. Ben was attracted to her because she reminded him of his dream girl, Tarianna, whom he had met and lost on a planet created by the omnipotent Beyonder. Sharon became fond of Ben, but she could not return his romantic feelings towards her. While Ben was a member of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, Sharon met Auntie Freeze, a manager for a group of female wrestlers called the Grapplers.[citation needed]

Freeze offered Sharon a chance to join the Grapplers if she would go through a special strength augmentation process offered by the Power Broker. Sharon agreed and went through most of the treatment, which was administered by the criminal Dr. Karl Malus. She suddenly realized that she was cheating herself by having her potential artificially increased. She escaped before Malus could inject her with the final drug of the process, which was actually a highly addictive drug that would make her dependent on Malus for the drug in the future. Sharon had actually completed the augmentation process and was now superhumanly strong.[citation needed]

Sharon contacted Auntie Freeze and joined the Grapplers, wearing a colorful costume and calling herself Ms. Marvel. When Freeze learned that Sharon had not completed the treatment, she was forced to order the other Grapplers to capture her. Sharon escaped, with the help of the Thing.[1]

She-Hulk

During the battle, the Thing started to mutate and change. Sharon helped Ben get to a hospital, and then accidentally became involved in a battle with the hero She-Hulk. While they were fighting, the Thing left the hospital, not wanting them to see his newly mutated body.[2]

The Captain

For a while, Ms. Marvel looked for Malus. During her search, she met the Captain (a brief alternate identity used by Captain America) when he rescued her from the Power Broker's facility after she'd been captured by his henchmen. While she was imprisoned, she was molested by some of the Power Broker's men. As a result, Sharon found it very difficult to trust men.[3]

Fantastic Four

A little later she joined the hero team Fantastic Four, reuniting with the Thing, who she found herself able to trust, as because of his mutated appearance, he was not like other men.[4] While battling the Arabic electronic terrorist, Fasaud, the Thing and Ms. Marvel were forced to take one of Fasaud's space shuttles. They defeated Fasaud in outer space, but the shuttle was badly damaged in the battle. The shuttle crash landed somewhere in the African jungles of Wakanda. During the descent to Earth, the shuttle and its occupants were bombarded with cosmic rays. After crashing, the Thing found himself further mutated, while Sharon had mutated into a form similar to that of Ben when he originally turned into the Thing.[5]

[Charles Warren]

TESSA
Real Name: Unknown; later she would be known as Sage
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Computer-like Mind

Little is known of the life of the woman known as Sage except that she had lived in a small village in the Balkan region of Europe whilst still a young girl.[1]

Just prior to her teenage years, Sage found herself caught up in the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. She was forced to learn to fight to survive encounters with both soldiers and local bandits, and took weapons and equipment from the bodies of fallen combatants wherever she finds them. One day, Sage felt herself compelled to enter a cave in the nearby Hindu Kush mountain range. There, she found the powerful telepathic mutant Charles Xavier, his legs crushed by a "demon". Initially wary of him, Sage rescued the critically injured mutant but soon after they encountered a United Nations aid convoy being attacked by bandits. Using her rifle, she picked-off the attackers from her hill-side vantage point. Down at the site of the attack, she briefly stood, horrified, over the raped body of a young female aid worker. Then, sensing she was about to be attacked from behind, she spun and shot one of the bandits. Despite begging for his life, she unsheathed her knife and killed him.[2]

Hellfire Club

Years later, Xavier recruited Sage at the same time that he formed his original team of teenage mutant students he called the X-Men. Xavier kept Sage's presence at his mansion a secret as he intended to utilize her own mutant talents as a spy in his fight for peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans. Sage's mission was to infiltrate the organization for the rich and powerful known as the Hellfire Club and to gain the trust of Sebastian Shaw, then Black Bishop of the New York branch of the Hellfire Club.[3]

For years, Sage acted as Shaw's familiar, advising and counseling him in both his legitimate and illegal business practices, all the while gathering information for Xavier. Shaw found Sage's ability to function as a living computer invaluable and kept her in his employ for many years, even during the time he was deposed as leader of the Club.

[Charles Warren]

SELENE
Real Name: Unknown; later she would be known as Sage
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Psychic Vampire

Selene's origin is yet unrevealed, but she is known to have lived for several millennia, and to have been a foe of the sorcerer Kulan Gath. In past ages she was renowned as a sorceress whose power was feared and respected by practitioners of black and white magic. She eventually came to live in the ancient Roman Republic. For unknown reasons, she accompanied the large number of Roman citizens who fled Rome in the First Century B.C. and sailed to the New World, where they founded Nova Roma ("New Rome") in a hidden section of the Amazon jungle in what is now Brazil. The founders of Nova Roma fled Rome because they foresaw that its republican government would be replaced by an imperial one. For reasons that remain unknown. Selene found herself unable to leave Nova Roma, and remained there for roughly two thousand years. Nova Roma she led the dreaded Cult of Fire as its Black Priestess.

In recent years Selene married Marcus Domitius Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma who plotted to abolish its republican government. The intervention of the New Mutants both thwarted Senator Gallio's schemes and led to Selene's apparent destruction. However, Selene not only survived, but somehow found herself able to leave Nova Roma. She soon traveled to New York City. Over the two millennia that she was trapped in Nova Roma, a religious cult worshipping Selene as a goddess had continued to survive in the outside world. Selene made contact with a leader of the cult, Friedrich von Roehm, in New York City. Von Roehm was also a member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, an elite group secretly dedicated to achieving world domination. Von Roehm successfully sponsored Selene for membership in the Inner Circle, and she rapidly rose to the high rank of Black Queen of the Inner Circle.

Selene is a mutant with various superhuman attributes. She sustains herself by psionically draining the life force of other human beings into herself. Because of this, she is often referred to as a vampire, although she is not a true supernatural vampire, like Dracula. If she drains a person's entire life force from him of her, the victim dies and the victim's body crumbles into dust. If Selene drains only part of victim's life force, Selene achieves a measure of psychic control over her victim's mind. Through unknown means, Selene can also cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene's own will.

It is not known how often Selene must drain life force from another human in order to survive. It is known that great expenditure of power causes Selene to age, but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life force. Selene will not age as long as she maintains her supply of absorbed life force. She is also unaffected such as knife wounds.

She has physical strength, stamina, speed, and reaction time that are all several time greater than those of a normal woman.

Selene possesses telekinetic abilities that give her complete psionic control over inanimate object and fire. She can cause inanimate objects to move according to her will by projecting part of her absorbed life force into them. She can cause inanimate objects in her presence to disintegrate. She cannot, however, rearrange the atomic or molecular structure of matter.

Selene can include a momentary hypnotic trance state in people around her. She can also momentarily move at speeds rivaling those of Quicksilver.

[Charles Warren]

THE BLACK BISHOP
Real Name: Harry Leland
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Mass Manipulation

Little was known of Leland's past before encountering the X-Men, however it is known that was a corporate lawyer, and that he encountered his later teammate, Emma Frost before she was inducted into the Hellfire Club. At the time, Emma was homeless and using her powers during a Hellfire Club meeting to gain information about stocks, Leland took an interest in her but came on too strongly, which made Emma run away. Shortly after, he accompanied Sean Cassidy and his NYPD partner to an incident behind the club which involved Emma. Emma, having met and repaired the fractured mind of the Dark Beast with her powers, mind-wiped all three men into forgetting the incident and that they had ever met.

As an ally of Sebastian Shaw, Leland rose in the Hellfire Club to join their Inner Circle after helping Shaw take out the Council of the Chosen.[3] Later, Leland first encountered the X-Men when they invaded the New York headquarters of the Hellfire Club. Leland caused Wolverine to become super-heavy and fall through the club's floor into a sub-basement. In the rematch, Wolverine attacked Leland from above. At that moment, Leland foolishly used his mass-increasing powers against his opponent a second time, resulting in Wolverine crashing through the floor again, only this time with Leland beneath him as Wolverine intended. All evidence to the contrary, Leland somehow survived this incident.

POWERS

Mass Manipulation: Leland possessed the ability to increase the mass of an object or person within 350 feet of him, making it extremely heavy. Leland's power could affect both people and inanimate objects, but active resistance by the subject made it more difficult to assert Leland's power.

[Charles Warren]

HELLSTORM
Real Name: Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Sorcery, Hellfire Control

Daimon Hellstrom is the son of a demon who called himself "Satan" after the legendary embodiment of evil, and a mortal woman named Victoria Wingate. Desiring an heir in the event something should happen to him, the demon took human form and established the trappings of a mortal life for himself near Fire Lake, Massachusetts. There he met and seduced a young woman, and keeping his true identity a secret, married her. Daimon Hellstrom was born to the couple a year later, to be followed by the birth of a sister, Satana, when Daimon was three.

Despite the pentagram-shaped birthmark on his chest, Hellstrom grew up in ignorance of his father's true identity. His mother discovered the demon's identity as "Satan" when Hellstrom was a young adolescent, when she interrupted a demonic ritual "Satan" had staged in their basement involving the participation of Hellstrom's sister. The revelation traumatized the woman to the point of hysteria, and she was institutionalized. While under clinical psychiatric care, she regained enough of her sanity to sense that she would die soon, and wrote a full diary describing her life with the demon. Hellstrom and his sister meanwhile were placed in separate orphanages, and "Satan" disappeared to his netherworld domain, where he eventually brought Hellstrom's sister. Shortly thereafter, Victoria died.

Hellstrom spent the rest of his adolescence in the orphanage without any contact with his father or sister. Upon leaving the orphanage, Hellstrom entered a monastery to become a priest. In his third year, shortly before, being ordained, Hellstrom turned twenty-one, and received legal notification of his inheritance of his father's house in Greentown, Massachusetts.

Hellstrom visited the house for the first time since childhood and found his mother's diary. Hellstrom was incredulous at the revelations contained therein. At that point, "Satan," aware of his son's new knowledge, directed him telepathically through the house's secret basement interdimensional passageway to the demon's netherworld domain. There Hellstrom first met his father in his satanic guise, who beseeched his son to disregard his mother's diary's warnings and serve him in "hell." "Satan" transported Hellstrom back to the surface world, whereupon Hellstrom decided to dedicate himself instead to fighting his father's evil. Hellstrom immediately returned to the region "below" to attempt to battle "Satan." This first confrontation was something of a victory for Daimon Hellstrom, managing as he did to pit many of "Satan's" slaves against their master, as well as to steal the satanic trident of "Satan" and demon-drawn chariot.

During this battle, Daimon Hellstrom discovered the powers of the Darksoul that he had inherited from his father. He declared himself the Son of Satan, and for the next several years battled many manifestations of demonic evil on Earth as well as other realms. He eventually met his adult sister, Satana, who had become a succubus, and battled her on at least one occasion. During this period, the Son of Satan maintained his civilian identity of occult expert Daimon Hellstrom, and was a visiting specialist at a St. Louis college.

During his career as an adversary of his father, the Son of Satan several times aided the Defenders in their battles with demonic possessions and threats and eventually became a member. During his Defenders membership, Daimon Hellstrom met and fell in love with the mortal crimefighter Hellcat, Patsy Walker. It was during this period, too, that he finally confronted his father and defeated him.

Shortly after the Son of Satan declared himself triumphant over his father and his father's influence, the Miracle Man, a superhumanly powered criminal who had masqueraded as a monk in Father Gosset's monastery during one of Daimon's visits, stole the Darksoul from Hellstrom in battle. The Miracle Man himself was subsequently defeated and the Darksoul sent into the form of a snake. Daimon Hellstrom was finally liberated from his partial possession by demonic evil, and much of his powers gone, retired his costumed identity of the Son of Satan.

Daimon Hellstrom thereupon married Patsy Walker and left the Defenders, moving back to San Francisco. He and his wife soon earned a reputation as supernatural investigators based there. Hellstrom continues to publish regularly in scholarly occult journals, and is considered a leading demonologist. Daimon Hellstrom uses the costumed identity of Hellstorm when battling supernatural menaces in public in order to preserve Daimon Hellstrom's professional reputation.

POWERS

As Hellstorm, Daimon Hellstrom still commands various supernatural powers. He can sense the presence of the supernatural. Apart from this ability, it is unclear as yet whether Hellstorm himself possesses superhuman powers, or whether these other powers stem not from himself but from his netharanium trident.

Hellstorm can project "soulfire" (also called "hellfire"), a fire-like mystical energy, from his trident. This "soulfire" is similar to the mystical flame employed by the demonic Ghost Rider, and can cause excruciating pain within living beings through direct Stimulation of a person's life force (or soul). Soulfire does not physically burn in the sense that true fire does (oxidation), but can be perceived by its target as heat if its wielder so wills it. Hellstorm can project Soulfire in a blast with concussive force. Hellstorm can also cast spells to transport himself and others into mystical dimensions and back to Earth. It is unclear as yet if he possesses other superhuman powers.

[Charles Warren]

THE BLACK ROOK
Real Name: Friedrich Von Roehm
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Lycanthrope

Friedrich Von Roehm was apparently German by birth. He operated a jewelry shop on New York City's Park Avenue. Von Roehm was also secretly a lycanthrope and a high priest of the supernatural being and self-described goddess Selene Gallio. Von Roehm, who had worshiped Selene as a goddess, became her personal servant when she showed up in his jewelry shop.

As a member of the Hellfire Club, Von Roehm sponsored Selene for membership. Selene became the new Black Queen, and Von Roehm served as the Black Rook. Alongside the Hellfire Club, Leland later battled the X-Men in New York's Central Park. Selene used her psionic powers to mentally trigger Von Roehm's hereditary lycanthropy and sent him in pursuit of Rachel Summers. When the mutant-hunting Nimrod intervened to attack the X-Men and Hellfire, the X-Men's leader Storm proposed an alliance to battle Nimrod.

[Charles Warren]

THE WHITE ROOK
Real Name: Emmanuel De Costa
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: None

Emmanuel da Costa was the wealthy father of the New Mutant Sunspot. A ruthless and tyrannic businessman, particularly with his own family, he caused a rift between himself and his family, leading to his divorce.

Da Costa was later contacted by the Hellfire Club and became a member of its secret Inner Circle under the alias of White Rook. He was the only person in the Inner Circle without superhuman powers. His performance in that role was almost unnoticed.

[Charles Warren]

COUNT NEFARIA
Real Name: Lucino Nefaria
Affiliation: Maggia
Powers: Superhuman Strength, Durability, Flight

Count Luchino Nefaria, the descendent of a long line of Italian noblemen, inherited a vast fortune. Fascinated by technology, Nefaria commissioned researchers to create inventions far in advance of contemporary science. Although he greatly valued his family's tradition of respectability, his lust for even greater power and wealth led Nefaria to become a powerful figure in the Maggia, the notorious international crime syndicate.

After battling a number of super heroes, Nefaria sought superhuman abilities of his own. Once empowered, he attacked New York City, and was confronted and captured by the Avengers. Nefaria's new powers did not come without a price: Now a feeble, wizened old man, he required machines to keep him alive. Nefaria's daughter, Madame Masque, freed him from the Avengers, believing he was not receiving proper care. During a battle with Nefaria's minions, the Ani-Men, Iron Man accidentally crushed him under the weight of a Jupiter landing vehicle.

Miraculously returned to his prime, Nefaria resurfaced to plague the Avengers yet again. As powerful as ever, he gained control of fellow ionically charged beings Wonder Man and Atlas. He used the heroes as pawns in a plan to charge all Earth's inhabitants with ionic energy, so he could control the world as he controlled them.

POWERS

For most of his life, Count Nefaria possessed no superhuman powers. But due to Professor Kevin Sturdy's treatment, Nefaria gained the powers of the Living Laser, now a being of pure energy; Power Man, before becoming Atlas; and the Whirlwind. However, each of Nefaria's superhuman abilities is a hundred times greater than its source. Besides superhuman strength, Nefaria possesses extraordinary resistance to injury. (He survived a blow from Thor's hammer unharmed.) Having returned from the dead transformed into an ionically powered entity like Wonder Man, Nefaria must feed on the energies of other ionic beings to sustain his own powers.

[Charles Warren]

SUNSPOT
Real Name: Roberto Da Costa
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Solar Energy Conversion

Roberto Da Costa is the son of a Brazilian millionaire and his American wife Nina, an archaeologist. Roberto first manifested his superhuman mutant powers when, at the age of fourteen, he was playing in a championship soccer match for his school team in Rio de Janiero. Motivated by racial hatred, a boy named Keller and another member of the opposing team knocked Da Costa to the ground. The hot-tempered Da Costa retaliated by tackling Keller, who began brutally beating him. It was then that, without being aware of what was happening to him, Da Costa first became able to use his superhuman strength, his body and clothing temporarily turning black in the process. Da Costa used his newfound strength to hurl Keller from him. Bewildered, Da Costa sought help, but both the other players and most of the spectators panicked and fled. However, his girlfriend, Juliana Sandoval, who had been watching the game along with Emmanuel Da Costa, stood by Roberto in his time of need.

Roberto's father, a member of the Hellfire Club saw the benefit of inducting his son into the organization.

POWERS

Ability to absorb solar energy and convert it for use as physical strength. His physical resistance to impact also increases somewhat when he employs superhuman strength. For unknown reasons small black spots appear in the air around Sunspot when he utilizes superhuman strength. Although Sunspot can absorb energy from stars and reflected solar energy from the moon, the amounts that reach him on Earth are too minuscule to add significantly to his power. Recently Sunspot developed the abilities to fly and project concussive energy blasts from his hands.

Special limitations: When not in direct sunlight, Sunspot can exhaust his superhuman strength by using up the stores of energy within his body.

[Charles Warren]

PSYLOCKE
Real Name: Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock
Affiliation: The X-Men
Powers: Telepathy

Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock is the daughter of Dr. James Braddock, who was once a denizen of Otherworld, an other-dimensional realm. A being who called himself Merlin (but who may not actually be the wizard of Arthurian legend) sent Braddock to Earth to father the champion who would be known as Captain Britain.

Living in England, Dr. Braddock became one of the United Kingdom's leading research scientists. He married a woman named Elizabeth and they bought the mansion they renamed Braddock Manor. There Dr. Braddock created a highly advanced computer complex called Mastermind (which is not to be confused with the two mutants of the same name).

Dr. and Mrs. Braddock's three children, the eldest, Jamie, and the twins, Brian and Elizabeth (nicknamed "Betsy"), inherited genes from their father that endowed them with superhuman powers. The children's powers, however, remained latent for many years.

Dr. and Mrs. Braddock were killed in an explosion in Dr. Braddock's laboratory at Braddock Manor that was caused by the malfunctioning computer Mastermind.

Brian Braddock eventually became the costumed champion known as Captain Britain. Betsy developed the psychic ability which she used in the service of S.T.R.I.K.E., a British division of the international law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Betsy also developed a highly successful career as a fashion model. She knew of Brian's double identity, and the two siblings took up residence in Braddock Manor.

Members of a British government agency called R.C.X., knowing that Brian Braddock was Captain Britain, attempted to recruit him to work with them. Refusing to be exploited by the government, Brian Braddock gave up the role of Captain Britain. The R.C.X. agents then persuaded Betsy to become the new Captain Britain, working with them. Betsy used a costume taken from an otherdimensional counterpart of Brian, which magnified her strength to superhuman levels when she wore it and enabled her to fly. Another other-dimensional hero, Captain UK, trained Betsy to become a crimefighter, and the two acted as partners on missions together for many weeks.

Finally, Betsy launched her solo career as the new Captain Britain, which came to a quick end when she went into battle against two of the original Captain Britain's arch foes, the Vixen and Slaymaster. Wearing a battle suit that amplified his own strength, Slaymaster savagely beat Betsy nearly to death and blinded her. Sensing her telepathic cries of agony, Brian Braddock rushed to his sister's rescue and fought and killed Slaymaster. Realizing he could not forsake his responsibilities, Brian resumed his role as Captain Britain.

Betsy went to Switzerland to recuperate. While there she was taken prisoner by the other-dimensional creature known as Mojo. Mojo took control of Betsy and gave her new, artificial eyes, thereby restoring her sight. Betsy was rescued through the intervention of the New Mutants, a team of adolescent mutants. Having regained her free will, Betsy chose to remain at the New Mutants' home, Professor Charles Xavier's mansion in Westchester County, New York, which also served as the secret headquarters of the mutant adventurers called the X-Men.

Betsy proved her courage to the X-Men by resisting the attack of their enemy Sabretooth when he broke into the mansion. As a result she was accepted into the ranks of the X-Men, becoming a costumed adventurer once more under the code name Psylocke.

POWERS

Psylocke possesses many telepathic abilities, enabling her to read minds, communicate mentally with others over long distances, stun the minds of others with "mental bolts," control the minds of others, and create illusions in the minds of others.

[Charles Warren]

MISTER SINISTER
Real Name: Dr. Nathaniel Essex
Affiliation: None
Powers: Various genetic enhancements using Mutant DNA

Nathaniel Essex was a biologist in Victorian England who developed advanced theories on human evolution. A geneticist of unparalleled genius, he foresaw the coming mutations that would transform mankind. However, his unorthodox experiments resulted in his ouster from the Royal Society and caused his wife to shun him. These rejections led him to ally himself with Apocalypse, an immortal mutant who has witnessed virtually the whole of human history. Apocalypse transformed Essex into the ageless being known as Mr. Sinister.

Sinister has conducted numerous experiments in his time. He operated an obstetrics clinic in New York in the late 19th century and performed side research on society's deviants. As Dr. Essex, he influenced the work of Herbert Wyndham, the man who became the High Evolutionary.

Sinister plotted the course of certain gene pools for more than a century, discovering that the combination of Scott Summers' and Jean Grey's traits would produce a mutant of incredible power. The future Cyclops was brought to Sinister's orphanage in Nebraska, and the geneticist collected a blood sample from the girl who would come to be known as Phoenix to confirm his findings. Sinister used that sample when Jean died to create a clone, Madelyne Pryor, who later became the evil Goblin Queen.

Following up on his genetic pursuits, Sinister set in motion the so-called "Mutant Massacre." A community of mutants who considered themselves outcasts from society, the Morlocks lived in tunnels under New York City. Sinister's Marauders annihilated the Morlocks because he considered them genetically useless.

Sinister first fought the X-Men during the "Inferno" crisis, an invasion of demon mutants he helped create. He sometimes aids Charles Xavier's team, but for his own reasons.

POWERS


◾ Genetic Enhancements Using Mutant DNA: Following genetic alteration by Apocalypse, Nathaniel Essex was transformed from human into superhuman. He has continually improved upon his original transformation over the years, incorporating the genetic material of certain mutants into his DNA to gain their abilities, or performed other self-experiments to alter his genetic capabilities.[124][22][113] ◾ Cellular Shape-Shifting: Mister Sinister possesses the ability to control every molecule of his body, Enabled via Implanted X-gene taken from the bio-molecular meta-morph Courier.[22] This allows him to assume the form of any one he wishes. He can reduce himself into a semi-liquid state, or harden his body like living armor.[125]
◾ Regenerative Healing Factor: Mister Sinister is able to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Sinister can fully heal from injuries that result in massive tissue damage or loss such as multiple gunshot wounds, slashes, puncture wounds, broken bones, and severe burns within a matter of moments. Apparently an extension of the cellular control he derived from Courier, Sinister's healing factor is such that he no longer requires the functionality of his brain or other internal organs to survive. In the past, he has been blasted in half or had holes blown through the center of his head without consequence.[125][126]
◾ Superhuman Stamina: Mister Sinister's muscles produce considerably fewer fatigue toxins than the muscles of ordinary humans. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several days before fatigue begins to affect him.[127]
◾ Superhuman Speed: Mister Sinister is capable of running at speeds far greater than those of the finest human athlete.[128]
◾ Superhuman Durability: Mister Sinister's muscles and tissues are far more durable than those of an ordinary man allowing him to resist gunshots, physical damage, shocks and energy blasts. His durability can be enhanced by his regeneration ability, telekinesis, and force fields.[128]
◾ Superhuman Strength Mister Sinister possesses superhuman strength, which may be a product of his shape-shifting. Sinister has been categorized as able to press lift within 2 to 10 ton range.[127] Later classification has identified him having an upper limit of possibly 25 tons. [128]
◾ Superhuman Reflexes: Sinister's reflexes and agility are enhanced to levels that are beyond the human body's natural limits.[127]
◾ Telepathy: He can read minds and project his own thoughts into the minds of others within a radius of 250 miles (on Earth). With extreme effort he can greatly extend that radius. Mister Sinister is resistant to other's telepathic powers.[46] ◾ Mental Paralysis: He has the ability to induce temporary mental or physical paralysis and project pain into the minds of others.[45]
◾ Telepathic Illusion: Ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.
◾ Telepathic Cloak: Can mask his presence from being detected by others. Can extend these defenses to others around him as well. Stryfe's abilities can, at times, go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths, depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities.
◾ Mind Link: Ability to develop a mental link with any person, which remains as a connection to that individual.
◾ Telepathic Camouflage: Ability to mask himself and other peoples' presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making his appearance to those around his quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising).
◾ Mind Control: Ability to control the minds and even voluntary and involuntary bodily functions of sentient beings (such as other Humans).
◾ Mind Trap: Ability to take another person's mind from their body and effectively trapping that mind within his own.
◾ Mind Possession: Ability to possess the mind of another, and use that beings body as his own.
◾ Mind Alteration: Ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.
◾ Mental Amnesia: Ability to cause loss of particular memories and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.
◾ Psionic Shield: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of others minds. Stryfe has proven very difficult to psychically assail, as he is very well skilled in shielding his own mind from mental-attacks (such as attempts to read, control or harm his own mind), and has been sufficient to protect himself from other psychics.
◾ Psionic Blasts: Can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind, so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary.
◾ Astral Projection: Ability to astral travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the Astral Plane, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. Stryfe has a mastery of astral projection, and is able to remain on his own plane of existence or to traverse into any of the so-called "Astral Planes".
◾ Mental Detection: Can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within an as yet undefined radius of himself, by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.

◾ Dilate Power: He has the ability to mentally paralyze a foe he's touching and the ability to psionically "turn off" the superpowers of any mutant, creating a mental block. He can also create mental links with others and even to objects and locations like the bases he has used over the years.[67]
◾ Telekinesis: He possesses telekinetic abilities enabling him to levitate and psionically manipulate living beings, inanimate objects, and to some extent energy. He can “lift” as much as 100 tons of weight and possibly even more and can achieve other effects. Capable of very fine control over objects, including himself.[128]
◾ Concussive Blasts: Mister Sinister can fire blasts of concussive force from his hands. These blasts are powerful enough to match Cyclops´s energy blasts at their full power for a considerable period of time and have a great destructive power.[45]
◾ Force Fields: Mister Sinister can erect multiple force barriers to repel, reflect and defend against incoming onslaughts. They are potent enough to stand against Cyclops's optic blasts with ease. He normally uses them on a personal level but it is assumed he can not only increase and decrease the protection level but also enhance the size of the shield to englobe others and even entire areas.[45]
◾ Telekinetic Flight: By levitating himself, he can “fly” for indefinite amounts of time and at varying speeds.
◾ Teleportation: Mister Sinister has exhibited the ability to transport over large distances, however Beast believes this is a function of his headquarters and this fact remains to be cleared.[129]
◾ Technology Interface: Mister Sinister is able to directly interface with various technologies he has at his disposal, mentally activating or summoning them. One example would be if his teleportation ability is purely technological (above).[58]
◾ Immortality: Mister Sinister is functionally immortal in the sense that he is immune to aging and disease and he can rapidly regenerate almost any damaged bodily tissue. However, it was possible for him to be killed. This ability originated from his healing factor and from his exposure to Celestial technology from Apocalypse.[

[Charles Warren]

SHINOBI SHAW
Real Name: Shinobi Shaw
Affiliation: Hellfire Club
Powers: Molecular Density Manipulation

Shinobi Shaw was the illegitimate son of Sebastian Shaw. Rejected and abandoned by his father at an early age, Shaw forced his way into his father's company in order to impress his father. Since then, Shaw has also joined the Hellfire Club. He leads a clique of young Hellfire Club mutants who care more about hedonism than power.

POWERS

Shinobi Shaw is a mutant with the ability to alter the density of his own body. He can lower his body's density, allowing himself to pass through solid objects of organic and inorganic nature. He can also heighten his body's density, providing resistance to injury. Shinobi is also able to phase a body part (such as his hand) into the body of another person and increase the density, causing great physical damage.