Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
MacynSnow
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Silver Swan I-III! Circe! Orana! Artemis!)

Post by MacynSnow »

Here's the thing 'bout the "Silver" Titans(my personal nickname for that version of the team); By that point in their lives, the main "Sidekicks"(Donna Troy, Wally West, Dick Grayson & Occasionally Roy Harper) had had YEARS of training and actual combat under their collective belts, weither it was with their respective Mentors or as the original Teen Titans. They were so used to dealing with more powerful enemies by that point, i woulda been shocked if they'd lost.
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Maxwell Lord

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image

MAXWELL LORD IV
Created By:
Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire
First Appearance: Justice League #1 (May 1987)
Role: Team Bankroller, Hero-Turned-Villain, Mind Controller
Group Affiliations: The Justice League, Checkmate, The Extremists
PL 14 (151)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 10 (+14)
Expertise (Business) 10 (+13)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+8)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 3 (+7)
Persuasion 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 5 (Wealth- Billionaire)

Powers:
"Focused Mind Control" Mind Control 14 (Feats: Subtle 2) (58) -- [59]
  • AE: "Group Mind Control" Mind Control 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (51)
"Mental Detection" Senses 7 (Mental Awareness- Ranged, Radius, Acute, Detect Mutants- Ranged & Radius) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Mind Attacks +10-14 Perception (+10-14 Perception Affliction, DC 20-24)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Hatred (Superhumans)- Max has apparently harbored resentment of superhumans for years, finding them to be destructive and dangerous to regular people.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 59 / Defenses: 12 (151)

Maxwell Lord- Comedically-Amoral Businessman to Supervillain:
-UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH I've been dreading this one. Maxwell Lord is a character who's a combination of extremely controversial, very important, and completely irrelevant to me. Literally the only comic I've ever read featuring him was the one where he shot the Blue Beetle in the head- the character means nothing to me. He is a guy created for the silly Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League book who has for some reason been converted into a villain, who seemed set against Wonder Woman for a bit but segued into fighting the new Blue Beetle and then kinda disappearing into side-books, but he's showing up in Wonder Woman 84.

-So Maxwell Lord debuted in the Justice League International book, forming and bankrolling a new team- his own father had prided himself on ethical business practices (to the point of committing suicide when he learned one of his products was carcinogenic), and Lord's mother wanted him to have the same kind of morality. However, he is completely ruthless, doing things like setting up a terrorist to be beaten by the team (the terrorist is killed in the process)- a computer is revealed to have been manipulating him, and Lord destroys it. Lord was depicted as comedically-amoral, but not truly villainous- he develops a conscience and even shows some heroic qualities, but is still a resolute con-artist- part of the book's humor was in character interplay.

-Eventually, however, Lord is given super-powers by a Gene Bomb in the Invasion crossover- he is given the ability to control minds, albeit with great difficulty. His mother, apparently very smothering, pushes him to be helpful, leading to further resentment of the superhuman community, which is exacerbated when she dies in Mongul's destruction of Coast City (this is shown later). He is possessed by an evil alien named Dreamslayer and the JLI nearly disbands in the resulting battle- Silver Sorceress is mortally-wounded, and takes hold of Dreamslayer within her own mind as she dies, taking him with her. Lord's power is thus burnt out, and he eventually gets a brain tumor and dies.

Max Goes Evil:
-BUT WAIT! Lord's mind is actually taken hold of by the computer that'd controlled him to start with, and it's placed inside a robot that has two different origins because of retcons. This robotic body eventually resembles his normal human form. This way, Lord pulls together the "Super Buddies" in Formerly the Justice League, an even sillier take on the JLI era. Finally, Lord gets his "heel turn"- he reveals that he is no longer a cyborg, and has actually been a criminal mastermind ALL THIS TIME- his backstory is now rewritten to show that he harbors all this anti-metahuman resentment, believing their actions can shatter worlds. And he murders Ted Kord in the prelude to Infinite Crisis, capping off this heel turn in a big way. He takes over Brother Eye and makes a horde of superhero-hunting OMACs, then takes over Superman's mind and tries to force him to kill Wonder Woman- using the Lasso of Truth, she gets him to confess that the only way to stop him from taking over Superman's mind again and again is to kill him... and she does.

-So Diana snapping the neck of Lord is broadcast around the world, and creates a schism in the superhero community, especially since Batman & Superman are anti-killing. Diana is unapologetic and practical about it, and things come to a head at the end of the story arc when she talks down Batman from killing Alexander Luthor Jr. (whom he thinks has just killed Nightwing). All of this was... controversial, as Lord was amoral and selfish, but never truly EVIL before this, and it was seen as more of the now-common "Edgelord"-y nonsense that comics was getting into a bit too much even by 2005- the power of Geoff Johns at DC was enormous, and his hands were all OVER stuff like this- turning Silver Age or comedy characters towards bloodshed and brutality. When confronted about the lack of continuity, Dan DiDio was more or less like "nobody liked or bought comics where Max was a cyborg, so we retconned it".

Max Comes Back:
-His big heel turn cemented right before he died in a spectacular manner, Max barely sat on the shelf for a year before returning in a Booster Gold series written by Johns. Booster goes back in time to save his friend Ted, but this creates an alternate timeline where a mind-controlled Superman turns the world into a police state. Ted ultimately decides that the proper timeline needs to take place, and willingly goes back to meet his fate. A zombified Lord returns in Blackest Night to oppose Wonder Woman (naturally), and he's among those returned to life in Brightest Day. Doing a gimmick where his power gave him nosebleeds and so he always had an extra blood supply close, he eventually erases the world's memory of his existence. Only his former JLI teammates seem to remember him, and he works to destroy their lives and careers. Finally the heroes defeat him and undo another "dark future" ruled by his OMACs. He shows up in both the New 52 and Rebirth in minor roles, often involving conspiracies with Checkmate.

Max's Powers:
-Max initially appears as a sneaky, conniving businessman, sporting solid deceptive skills and a good business sense, but later gained limited Mind Control (very Tiring), then revealed himself to be evil all along, boosting his Deception and Mind Control to extremely high levels. He's powerful enough to control even Superman for a long period of time, which of course brings the age-old problem of Affliction in M&M terms- the way to do this would likely require a DC 30 check or something, lest Superman would break out of it pretty quickly. It just kind of "always works" in comics sometimes.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Davies »

Ironically, the version of the character in WW84 is pretty much Max in name only, and not all that much like the other figure he's supposed to be based on either. Both JLI!Max and that individual are the products of generations of inherited wealth, while the film character apparently started from humble beginnings. He also has a genuine human connection in the person of his son.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
MacynSnow
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by MacynSnow »

I actually liked Max pre-OMAC storyline. He'd be what i'd picture a "Good" version of Lex Luthor to be: A slightly amoral & ruthless businessman(you have to be that way to run a Corporation like Max & Lex do) who just want's to help the heroes out. It's too bad DC went all Edgelord-y at the time...
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by greycrusader »

Veronica Cale is SUCH a carbon-copy of Luthor; I know Rucka says this was deliberate, but to what end, exactly? Was he planning on some sort of subversion of the concept? Otherwise, she's just a jealous, wealthy businesswoman out to make Wonder Woman look bad in the public eye (which I guess also steals from J. Jonah Jameson). And the post-Rebirth version is apparently just massive character shilling mandated by Rucka's editorial pull. I fail to see the point of the character at all, frankly.

And Dark Angel? Yes, her involvement in Donna Troy's history made everything make perfect sense.

All my best.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Ares »

greycrusader wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:11 am Veronica Cale is SUCH a carbon-copy of Luthor; I know Rucka says this was deliberate, but to what end, exactly? Was he planning on some sort of subversion of the concept? Otherwise, she's just a jealous, wealthy businesswoman out to make Wonder Woman look bad in the public eye (which I guess also steals from J. Jonah Jameson). And the post-Rebirth version is apparently just massive character shilling mandated by Rucka's editorial pull. I fail to see the point of the character at all, frankly.

And Dark Angel? Yes, her involvement in Donna Troy's history made everything make perfect sense.

All my best.
The only thing I know Veronica Cale from is the terrible pilot for that 2011 Wonder Woman TV series where she was played by Elizabeth Hurley. That pilot was such a God awful mess, with Cale coming off as just a bland corrupt businesswoman. The insane thing about the pilot was that Diana did a lot of morally questionable things, up to and including murder, torture and numerous other violations of the law, and even had people call her out on said actions, but the pilot tried to somehow spin it like Diana was always in the right. Somehow it was the people bringing up all of the terrible things Diana was doing that were shown to be corrupt and evil, rather than rightly pointing out that the self-pitying nut-job was basically making things extremely difficult for the police, violating the law, and then felt bad that no one seemed to understand her difficult life of being a billionaire who gets to literally get away with murder.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:11 am Veronica Cale is SUCH a carbon-copy of Luthor; I know Rucka says this was deliberate, but to what end, exactly? Was he planning on some sort of subversion of the concept? Otherwise, she's just a jealous, wealthy businesswoman out to make Wonder Woman look bad in the public eye (which I guess also steals from J. Jonah Jameson). And the post-Rebirth version is apparently just massive character shilling mandated by Rucka's editorial pull. I fail to see the point of the character at all, frankly.

And Dark Angel? Yes, her involvement in Donna Troy's history made everything make perfect sense.

All my best.
Yeah it's honestly super-duper weird. I know Rucka is "Mr. Feminist" at DC, so I'm thinking... maybe he wanted another high-profile villainess? And a scientific/business genius who was female? But her being so insanely prominent since Rebirth just came off soooooooooooo frickin' loud and clear as "No, we will USE my Precious Pet, and we will ignore all that bullshit other writers had her do without me!" and Rucka cramming his own character in there regardless. Granted, WW could use some new, elite villains, but Lass Luthor? Really?

(man I feel I should ask what Rebirth even IS, since I skipped it entirely, but I fear it'd be a huge infodump and I couldn't make sense of it).
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Ken »

Rebirth was an attempt to try to polish the turd that is the new 52 with a light varnish of early-Radium-Age-pre-new-52 "continuity".
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Jabroniville »

oh neat- found an old assessment of a Cap story in another build-post of mine:

There's a fun series of bits in one of the books I picked up from the Comic Expo- Captain America #369, which is a combination Cap/Diamondback/Skeleton Crew/SELENE issue:

* It starts off with Cap intruding upon the Serpent Society's Asp at the STRIP CLUB she works at (he's trying to find out where Diamondback, Asp's colleague and friend, is), and when he lectures her about her job (because he's Cap), she rips on him and declares that her work is an art form and that she ENJOYS seeing men slobber over her.

* Ron Lim REALLY loves drawing Diamondback here. It helps that her costume is both completely vacuum-sealed/skin-tight, and has the black diamonds run completely down to her crotch and butt, allowing Lim an excuse to basically show it as a thong.
* The Skeleton Crew (Crossbones, Machinesmith, Mother Night & The Voice) are hunting the location of the Red Skull, as Gruenwald had the brilliant idea to have Magneto be pissed off over the whole "German War Criminal" thing, and BURY the Skull in a hidden location, essentially torturing him as his own people were once tortured (though I dunno if the Skull PERSONALLY tortured Jews, it's likely). As Magneto was then a member of the Hellfire Club (the Late Claremont Era had Mags do this while the X-Men left for Australia), they go traipsing around their basement.

* This sets off one of Gru's favorite "Story Ideas"- the meeting of random characters who've never met before (Mark Waid also loves this), as Selene, the Black Queen, interrupts the Crew's invasion and holds them solid. Except the Voice has the power of Mind Control, and actually forces her to stop moving. But Selene still uses her Elemental Control to force the Voice to let her go... at which point she crushes his throat anyways. Because Selene is awesome.

* Then, crazier stuff happens, as Selene holds off the Crew momentarily (Smithy is in the giant "Sleeper" Robot, so is quite the powerhouse), nearly zaps the strength of Captain America when he arrives to help (as he's all "I've GOT you, miss" when she's thrown into his arms, because the sight of a black-haired woman in fetish gear fighting super-villains in the New York City sewer system isn't enough to make him suspicious), but then DIAMONDBACK of all people scores a KO, throwing one of her freshly-made Throwing Diamonds into the back of her head. She recovers quickly, but it's still REALLY unusual to see Gru job out someone else's character in his own book- Cap usually wiped out Jobbers for that very reason. Eventually, all the villains escape after Selene triggers a cave-in.

* Crossbones is oddly way more intelligent here than I ever remember him being. Though he talks like a brute, he comes up with a lot of strategies, recognizes when it's time to bug out, and even realizes that the Black Queen is way too much for them to handle (Mother Night says they should've held her hostage; 'Bones says he already THOUGHT of that, but the way she challenged the whole team made him drop consideration).

But the BEST part is in the second bit of the issue (these books tended to use the Red Skull and his operation in a secondary part, doing their own thing): The Red Skull, rotting in a prison cell of complete darkness, slowly going mad. And in a pretty dark turn of events, the malhourished Skull is seeing visions- his abusive father, the ashamed Adolf Hitler (who ensures the Skull that he "will never be more than I MADE you! You can never surpass the MASTER! Do you hear me... you BELL-HOP!?"), and the daughter whom he'd abused so terribly, and a helpful Arnim Zola... each of whom goad him to commit SUICIDE to end his pain. Hitler even says "If you'll recall, *I* committed suicide in a bunker not unlike this one. I think that before long, YOU will, too! Like master, like pupil!" And when Zola recommends suicide so the Skull can merely enter a new Clone Body, Gru writes himself out of that potential plot-hole/easy-out with the Skull pleading "You don't understand! Dying is AGONY!"

But best of all, the final vision is that of Captain America himself. But instead of goading him towards suicide ("This is not justice. This is VENGEANCE."), Cap recommends the Skull FIGHT, so that he can face justice later! "Don't SUCCUMB to the darkness! DON'T GIVE UP, MAN!" And of course this hurts the Skull most of all- "I CURSE you, Captain! I HATE you for caring! I hate you for being more GOOD than I am EVIL!" The sheer agony of his arch-nemesis being a voice cheering him on causes him more suffering than any of the people close to him, most of whom hated him. And yet... it works. The Skull's hate keeps him alive in the darkness, the taunts of his greatest enemy pushing him through sheer stubborness.

Gruenwald's Cap run is often derided for its goofiness (because it can be Hella-weird at times), but he REALLY got these characters. And even the bad stories are at least INTERESTING.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:19 pm oh neat- found an old assessment of a Cap story in another build-post of mine:

There's a fun series of bits in one of the books I picked up from the Comic Expo- Captain America #369, which is a combination Cap/Diamondback/Skeleton Crew/SELENE issue:

* It starts off with Cap intruding upon the Serpent Society's Asp at the STRIP CLUB she works at (he's trying to find out where Diamondback, Asp's colleague and friend, is), and when he lectures her about her job (because he's Cap), she rips on him and declares that her work is an art form and that she ENJOYS seeing men slobber over her.

* Ron Lim REALLY loves drawing Diamondback here. It helps that her costume is both completely vacuum-sealed/skin-tight, and has the black diamonds run completely down to her crotch and butt, allowing Lim an excuse to basically show it as a thong.
* The Skeleton Crew (Crossbones, Machinesmith, Mother Night & The Voice) are hunting the location of the Red Skull, as Gruenwald had the brilliant idea to have Magneto be pissed off over the whole "German War Criminal" thing, and BURY the Skull in a hidden location, essentially torturing him as his own people were once tortured (though I dunno if the Skull PERSONALLY tortured Jews, it's likely). As Magneto was then a member of the Hellfire Club (the Late Claremont Era had Mags do this while the X-Men left for Australia), they go traipsing around their basement.

* This sets off one of Gru's favorite "Story Ideas"- the meeting of random characters who've never met before (Mark Waid also loves this), as Selene, the Black Queen, interrupts the Crew's invasion and holds them solid. Except the Voice has the power of Mind Control, and actually forces her to stop moving. But Selene still uses her Elemental Control to force the Voice to let her go... at which point she crushes his throat anyways. Because Selene is awesome.

* Then, crazier stuff happens, as Selene holds off the Crew momentarily (Smithy is in the giant "Sleeper" Robot, so is quite the powerhouse), nearly zaps the strength of Captain America when he arrives to help (as he's all "I've GOT you, miss" when she's thrown into his arms, because the sight of a black-haired woman in fetish gear fighting super-villains in the New York City sewer system isn't enough to make him suspicious), but then DIAMONDBACK of all people scores a KO, throwing one of her freshly-made Throwing Diamonds into the back of her head. She recovers quickly, but it's still REALLY unusual to see Gru job out someone else's character in his own book- Cap usually wiped out Jobbers for that very reason. Eventually, all the villains escape after Selene triggers a cave-in.

* Crossbones is oddly way more intelligent here than I ever remember him being. Though he talks like a brute, he comes up with a lot of strategies, recognizes when it's time to bug out, and even realizes that the Black Queen is way too much for them to handle (Mother Night says they should've held her hostage; 'Bones says he already THOUGHT of that, but the way she challenged the whole team made him drop consideration).

But the BEST part is in the second bit of the issue (these books tended to use the Red Skull and his operation in a secondary part, doing their own thing): The Red Skull, rotting in a prison cell of complete darkness, slowly going mad. And in a pretty dark turn of events, the malhourished Skull is seeing visions- his abusive father, the ashamed Adolf Hitler (who ensures the Skull that he "will never be more than I MADE you! You can never surpass the MASTER! Do you hear me... you BELL-HOP!?"), and the daughter whom he'd abused so terribly, and a helpful Arnim Zola... each of whom goad him to commit SUICIDE to end his pain. Hitler even says "If you'll recall, *I* committed suicide in a bunker not unlike this one. I think that before long, YOU will, too! Like master, like pupil!" And when Zola recommends suicide so the Skull can merely enter a new Clone Body, Gru writes himself out of that potential plot-hole/easy-out with the Skull pleading "You don't understand! Dying is AGONY!"

But best of all, the final vision is that of Captain America himself. But instead of goading him towards suicide ("This is not justice. This is VENGEANCE."), Cap recommends the Skull FIGHT, so that he can face justice later! "Don't SUCCUMB to the darkness! DON'T GIVE UP, MAN!" And of course this hurts the Skull most of all- "I CURSE you, Captain! I HATE you for caring! I hate you for being more GOOD than I am EVIL!" The sheer agony of his arch-nemesis being a voice cheering him on causes him more suffering than any of the people close to him, most of whom hated him. And yet... it works. The Skull's hate keeps him alive in the darkness, the taunts of his greatest enemy pushing him through sheer stubborness.

Gruenwald's Cap run is often derided for its goofiness (because it can be Hella-weird at times), but he REALLY got these characters. And even the bad stories are at least INTERESTING.
That issue was great and I think the next one was the date night of Steve and Rachel, which was also hilarious.
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Medusa

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

MEDUSA
Created By:
Roberg Kanigher & Ross Andru
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #153 (April 1965)
Role: Monster
Group Affiliations: None

-The mythical Medusa first appeared in the Silver Age as a minion of the Duke of Deception- her backstory was that the Duke hated her, and ruined "the most beautiful of all mortals" by replacing her face with that of a snake-haired crone. Rejected by the Prince to whom she was engaged, she became enraged, turning him to stone and going on a rampage. The hero Perseus slew her and her "Skull-Cap" was used as a weapon against Superman. She reappeared in modern times to fight Green Arrow, Green Lantern & Black Canary as well. In this case, the Canary talked her out of killing GL.

-Post-Crisis, Medusa reappears with the backstory that Athena punished her simply for drawing the gaze of Poseidon. Perseus again killed this version, but her immortal sisters Euryale & Stheno resurrected her with Circe's help. She vowed revenge on Athena by killing Wonder Woman, attacking the Amazon. She turned many people to stone, including the young son of one of Diana's aides. A furious Diana beat Medusa to near death until Ares teleported her away. Finally, there was an official challenge, in which Circe planned to broadcast Medusa's face around the world, freezing millions- Diana blinded herself deliberately to fight the Gorgon, and sliced her head off with an axe, decapitating her. Like in myth, Pegasus sprung from her severed head. Diana later saved the frozen boy using a singular gift from Athena after accomplishing some other great quest, and later regained her vision.

-Medusa is a pretty classic threat- a powerful warrior with a gaze that can turn anyone who looks upon her to stone. Post-Crisis, she was winged, and her hair-snakes could spit burning poison into people's faces. She was also nearly as powerful as Wonder Woman.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Circe! Artemis! Dark Angel! Maxwell Lord!)

Post by JDRook »

Davies wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:17 am Ironically, the version of the character in WW84 is pretty much Max in name only, and not all that much like the other figure he's supposed to be based on either. Both JLI!Max and that individual are the products of generations of inherited wealth, while the film character apparently started from humble beginnings. He also has a genuine human connection in the person of his son.
I watched WW84 a few days ago and I can see a bit of where they were leaning into and away from old interpretations with WW and Lord and Cheetah.
Spoiler
Now it seems like the big broadcast at the end with Lord and WW is an attempt to wash over the original neck-snap-heard-round-the-world with Diana's message of Love and Hope and Stuff, counteracting the Wish-Prime screwing up the world and letting Lord live and go back to his son instead of being forced to kill him to stop him.
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Re: Medusa

Post by MacynSnow »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:47 pm Image

MEDUSA
Created By:
Roberg Kanigher & Ross Andru
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #153 (April 1965)
Role: Monster
Group Affiliations: None

-The mythical Medusa first appeared in the Silver Age as a minion of the Duke of Deception- her backstory was that the Duke hated her, and ruined "the most beautiful of all mortals" by replacing her face with that of a snake-haired crone. Rejected by the Prince to whom she was engaged, she became enraged, turning him to stone and going on a rampage. The hero Perseus slew her and her "Skull-Cap" was used as a weapon against Superman. She reappeared in modern times to fight Green Arrow, Green Lantern & Black Canary as well. In this case, the Canary talked her out of killing GL.

-Post-Crisis, Medusa reappears with the backstory that Athena punished her simply for drawing the gaze of Poseidon. Perseus again killed this version, but her immortal sisters Euryale & Stheno resurrected her with Circe's help. She vowed revenge on Athena by killing Wonder Woman, attacking the Amazon. She turned many people to stone, including the young son of one of Diana's aides. A furious Diana beat Medusa to near death until Ares teleported her away. Finally, there was an official challenge, in which Circe planned to broadcast Medusa's face around the world, freezing millions- Diana blinded herself deliberately to fight the Gorgon, and sliced her head off with an axe, decapitating her. Like in myth, Pegasus sprung from her severed head. Diana later saved the frozen boy using a singular gift from Athena after accomplishing some other great quest, and later regained her vision.

-Medusa is a pretty classic threat- a powerful warrior with a gaze that can turn anyone who looks upon her to stone. Post-Crisis, she was winged, and her hair-snakes could spit burning poison into people's faces. She was also nearly as powerful as Wonder Woman.
Personally think she was MORE deadly without the wings. As a fan of Ray Harryhousen and the ORIGINAL Clash of The Titans(the new one's much to angsty & Edgelord-y for my tastes), my favorite "monster"(and i use that term loosely, as the original myth was much more tragic, with her being cursed just for being Prettier than Aphrodite) was always her. The only reason Perseus beat her was due to a gift of the gods(that wierd Mirror Shield) and good timing, not actual combat skills.
IMHO, The Medusa should've been Diana's main physical archenemy, with Silver Age Cheetah being her Lex Luthor...
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Doctor Psycho

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

DOCTOR PSYCHO (Edgar Cizko)
Created By:
William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #5 (June 1943)
Role: Mind Controller
Group Affiliations: The Secret Society of Super-Villains, The Legion of Doom
PL 12 (119)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 8 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+7)
Insight 4 (+8)
Perception 4 (+8)
Technology 2 (+5)
Treatment 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Daze (Deception)

Powers:
"Focused Mind Control" Mind Control 12 (Feats: Subtle 2) (50) -- [52]
  • AE: "Group Mind Control" Mind Control 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (51)
  • AE: "Brainwashing" Affliction 12 (Will; Entranced/Compelled/Transformed Memories) (Extras: Progressive +2, Perception-Ranged +2) (Flaws: Limited to Sleeping Victims) (48)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Mind Attacks +10-14 Perception (+10-14 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 20-24)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +7

Complications:
Hatred (Women)- Doctor Psycho is a disgusting, shrunken manipulator who hates women, especially back in the Golden Age. He gladly manipulates them and bases many schemes around discrediting them.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 11 (119)

Doctor Psycho- Golden Age Misogynist:
-... huh. This guy was a Marston original? I had no idea he went back that far. I honestly considered him a big signifier of how poorly-booked most of Wonder Woman's Rogues Gallery was, because he was chosen as the "WW-Specific" bad guy as part of Lex Luthor's Secret Society in the build-up to Infinite Crisis, and I'd NEVER HEARD OF HIM. Like, how is this main-level dude obscure enough that even I had no idea who he was? While I'm not the biggest DC fan, I still at least knew the Silver Swan, Cheetah, Giganta, etc. And yet apparently this dude's been a part of WW's story for every single era, pretty much. In pretty much every era, he's a short madman in a suit with psychic powers.

-Initially, he was one of those enemies who represented a specific mental malady- Marston meant for him to represent "the folly of abnormal emotions such as misogyny and other hatred", what he called "less actively developed men". Doctor Psycho was a murderous psychopath with a specific hatred of women, and based partially off of actor Lon Chaney and Marston's undergraduate advisor Hugo Münsterberg, who was opposed to women's suffrage and feminism, and was into metaphysics, according to Wikipedia. He was an agent of the Duke of Deception, who wanted to discredit women publicly, under orders from Ares. This stems from being left by his fiancee for another man, who'd framed him for a crime. When he was finally released from prison, he tortured and killed the man, then hypnotically forced his ex-ciancee to marry him after torturing her as well. He uses her as a medium for ectoplasm that lets him fashion fake animals & humans, and makes a living as an occultist. He tried getting women barred from the military using various schemes, but Diana, Steve & the Holliday Girls get rid of him- he nurses a grudge for ages, but his ex joins Diana's circle.

Later Doctor Psycho:
-When Robert Kanigher took over WW, he dropped most of Diana's supporting cast and Rogues, yet this guy continued to appear. Dr. Psycho reappeared a few more times later on, typically using someone as a medium to create beings- like the "Captain Wonder" incident where he got Steve Trevor's mind to create its idealized version of Steve. He reappears Post-Crisis now as a legitimate Telepath, able to enter and shape other people's dreams. He uses his powers to manipulate Vanessa Kapatelis into becoming the third Silver Swan, but is otherwise an extremely minor bad guy. And then all of a sudden he shows up as part of Lex Luthor's Society! Yeah, THIS GUY is their key anti-WW fighter! He is shown to be almost openly rebellious, conniving against his allies (Luthor is humorously "yeah, I figured", confessing "one doesn't blame the scorpion for its sting"), but he's otherwise kinda minor and doesn't get up to much other than getting Doomsday to go on the rampage. He and the other villains lose the fight. He goes on trial and has Kate "Manhunter" Spencer defending him, but he activates his powers and forces her to kiss him, breaking his concentration enough that she stabs him in the head, causing great power-loss. He later gets stabbed by the Mad Hatter in Secret Six, and becomes a background villain in WW again, working with Circe.

Doctor Psycho's Powers:
-Doctor Psycho has some powerful mental abilities, but still comes off as a "small fry" to me- he can control people, but only up to a point, and most strong-willed sorts can oppose him eventually. He's also no physical threat, and can be one-offed by anyone who really knows what they're doing. In the Golden Age through Bronze Age, he was mostly an occultist (probably Expertise 8), who could Summon very powerful minions, but only through mediums.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Davies
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Re: Doctor Psycho

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:26 am -... huh. This guy was a Marston original? I had no idea he went back that far.
There've been long breaks between his appearances, but yeah, this f--<ahem> fellow and the Cheetah are Diana's two most enduring human foes. DC Fandom gives his Golden Age incarnation two appearances (plus two that are rectonned in in the late 70s) and his Silver Age incarnation a total of ten appearances, with a fourteen year break in the middle of them, then four years between the reboot and his first post-Crisis appearance.

Also, he features heavily as an ally-turned-antagonist in the Harley Quinn animated series, where he is presented as the minor menace your summary would suggest. I'm not sure what the creators of that were thinking in having him as even a temporary ally ...
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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