Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[EternalPhoenix]

There's a quote I remember from a movie trailer. It was not in the movie,sadly. The movie was about a ninja who stole a baby he was supposed to kill and fled to the Old West to be a laundromat owner. Because baby killin' was a step too far. Parents and family? Fine, slaughter away. Baby? Now that's just too much. :shrug: The plot kicked in with his ninja clan finding out where he was and if you don't know where this is going I am sad.

The quote, which sticks in my mind to this day? The resident wise old man saying "Ninjas. Damn."

Edit: The first Warrior's Way trailer. Yeah, that was it. Linked it in Discord.

[Goldar]

And the Hand doesn't talk about the offshoot that became The Foot.

That's because the Foot went unwashed for a month and began to reek. Talk about Toe-Jam!

[Goldar]

But seriously, what's all this about hands and feets? What about the Head (Head-lok) or the Mouth (The Word)?

[Jabroniville]

But seriously, why use the name of one of your most prominent super-heroes as the name for the demon lord, too?

THE BEAST OF THE HAND
Created By: Frank Miller & Bill Sienkiewicz
First Appearance: Elektra- Assassin #1 (Aug. 1986)
Role: Demonic Leader of the Hand

-The Beast of the Hand was revealed in the massive uber-artsy classic Elektra: Assassin- Miller himself I guess figured if someone was gonna make an origin for the Hand, it'd be him. He is a grotesque, fat demon hailing from before mankind, and said he loved the darkness, hating humanity as a corruption of it. He came to be worshipped by the Hand in olden times, and now seeks to create a nuclear war to remove the annoyance of humanity from the world. He manipulated Elektra into killing people, thus setting the dominoes up, then possessed Ken Wind, who was felt to be the next U.S. President. He is opposed to Elektra and agent Josh Garrett, whose mostly cybernetic body is able to resist the Beast's control (Elektra is nearly lost within a comatose patient). Wind nearly forces a General to launch all of America's warheads, but the man commits suicide before he can be made to do it. Wind is finally countered by Elektra & Garrett- Garrett's mind is swapped with Wind, who is elected president. We naturally never see Wind again, but the Beast is beaten.

-The Beast remains out of comics for most of the '90s, with some backstory given in the "Snakeroot" stories (they're said to be possibly the originators of the Hand, but they're later ignored)- he doesn't reassert himself until Shadowland, where Daredevil takes control of the Hand. First, he commands them to right wrongs and tries to fix the organization, but it was all a ruse, as the Beast slowly takes over his body and corrupts his soul- only Danny Rand's "Iron Fist" can drive the Beast from him. Enraged, the Beast becomes a recurring villain later, trying to have NYC mayor Wilson Fisk killed as thousands of Ninjas attack the city to spread fear. He tried to manipulate DD's new protégé Blindspot, but was ultimately cased off by Daredevil stabbing him with a sword. The character is now kind of a recurring "Behind the Scenes" villain after mostly being in Elektra: Assassin and then disappearing. It's a bit curious that he was almost never used after that book, but it was SO reliant on the styles of Miller & Sienkiewicz, and SO artsy-fartsy, that I'd imagine a lot of creators just kind of got antsy over trying.

-The Beast is a demon of some kind- it's never made clear what, as he doesn't interact with other Demons, such as Mephisto, Satannish, etc. He might just be some kind of extradimensional entity. Like most Demons, he's good at manipulation and mind control, but can be exorcized and must take time to reform later.

[Jabroniville]

KIRIGI
Created By: Frank Miller
First Appearance: Daredevil #174 (Sept. 1981)
Role: Elite Ninja, One-Off Monster
Group Affiliations: The Hand
PL 9 (135)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 6 (+12)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Ninja) 10 (+11)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Perception 5 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Ninja Weapons) 4 (+11)
Sleight of Hand 8 (+11)
Stealth 6 (+12)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Equipment 4 (Ninja Stuff), Diehard, Fearless, Hide-In-Plain-Sight, Improved Critical (Sword) 2, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Takedown 2, Tracking

Powers:
Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Healing 8 (Flaws: Limited to Himself, Distracting) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Sword +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Shuriken +11 (+3 Ranged Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8, Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Hand)

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 58--29 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 6 / Defenses: 6 (135)

-So with Daredevil undergoing a huge mega-arc involving ninjas everywhere, it was inevitable that the bad guys would unleash an ELITE Ninja. It's a classic literary story in continuing narratives: the hero undoes the villains time after time, so they're forced to hire an elite super-warrior of deadly reputation from a far-off land in order to stop him. Kirigi debuts slaying three failed Hand Ninjas ("Remarkable" "Three of us" "With but a single stroke!!" *dies*"), then hunts Elektra after she interfered in a fight between DD and the ninjas. He fights a bit like a Ninja Jason Voorhees- constantly "tanking" damage and stalking forward- Elektra kills him by blowing up a semi-trailer next to him, then decapitating him while he's stunned ("God or demon, Kirigi had a neck that was human enough"). The character returns years later, resurrected by The Hand, but is now killed by Stick and his "Chaste".

-He is resurrected by the Hand in order to fight DD and The Chaste (Stick's organization of good-aligned Ninjas), but he is handily-defeated by the numerous warriors. I was going to make him PL 10, but for all his hype, he's killed by Elektra once, then jobs hard in his second fight. And this is 1980s Elektra- the one who jobbed to regular Goons and died fighting Bullseye. This was WAY before she got more credibility as a fighter. So instead, Kirigi is PL 9. And as a matter of fact, he's one of my very few fairly-balanced PL 9 (135) P.C. builds.

[Jabroniville]

IZANAMI
Created By: D.G. Chichester & Len Weeks
First Appearance: Daredevil #293 (Aug. 1991)
Role: Hand Lieutenant, Powerhouse, Immortal Warrior
Group Affiliations: The Hand
PL 8 (144)
STRENGTH 4/6 STAMINA 4/5 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 5 (+7)
Expertise (Ninja) 8 (+9)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 7 (+9)
Ranged Combat (Ninja Weapons) 5 (+12)
Stealth 8 (+13)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Equipment 2 (Ninja Gear), Evasion, Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical 2 (Chosen Weapon, Unarmed), Improved Defense, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Skill Mastery (Stealth), Tracking

Powers:
Enhanced Strength 2 (Flaws: Source- Life Force) [2]
Enhanced Stamina 1 (Flaws: Source- Life Force) [1]
Immortality 5 [10]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Weapons +8 (+7-8 Damage, DC 21-23)
Shuriken +12 (+2 Ranged Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +5, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 62--31 / Advantages: 24 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 15 (144)

-Izanami was a one-off Hand agent- a hulking, obese woman who absorbed the souls of many Hand ninjas in order to boost her raw power. This did not save her, however, as the police arrived and she was gunned down in a hail of bullets. Yes, killed by REGULAR POLICE. However, she had an extra trick up her sleeve- she could rise from the dead, also using these souls. When the Hand and the Chaste fought each other, an agent named Spear worked with the Hand, but Daredevil knocked him out and threw his spear at Izanami, somehow killing her for good, as it dissipated the souls held within her body. Stone told Daredevil not to feel too bad, as she was not actually alive. The character nearly reappeared a bit later as the Hand's Jonin nearly placed her being over the body of a woman gambling at a casino, but it wore off before Izanami could take over entirely.

-Izanami is a pretty basic PL 8- a tough, strong opponent, but easily killed by regular gunfire.

[Davies]

... well, the design borders on being a clever reference to Izanami-no-mikoto, but ... <makes face>

[Jabroniville]

GLADIATOR II (Melvin Potter)
Created By: Stan Lee & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Daredevil #18 (July 1966)
Role: Crazy Villain, Sad Villain, 90s Guy Created Too Soon, Huge Scrapper
Group Affiliations: The Maggia, The Emissaries of Evil
PL 10 (111)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 6 (+10)
Deception 4 (+2)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+3)
Expertise (Costume Designer) 9 (+8)
Intimidation 9 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+3)
Perception 5 (+4)
Persuasion 3 (+1)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Benefit (Ambidexterity), Assessment, Chokehold, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Critical (Buzzsaw Blades), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Takedown

Powers:
"Power Punch" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

"Gladiator Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [11]
Protection 1 (1)
"Buzzsaw Blades on Arms" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Improved Critical, Split, Penetrating 4) (Extras: Multiattack 5) (Flaws: Penetrating only if held against target -2) (12)
-- (13 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Buzzsaws +11 (+8 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +5 (+6 Armour), Fortitude +7, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Being Left Alone)- Potter doesn't want to be a criminal anymore, and just wants to be left alone in his costume shop.
Reputation (Crazy)- Potter is nuts, prone to psychiatric problems. Some people know this, and use it to their advantage- few are surprised when Potter goes on another rampage.
Relationship (Betsy Beatty, Li Ling, Daughter)- Melvin was married to his devoted therapist for a while, but eventually divorced her and had a daughter with Li Ling.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 14 (111)

-Let me get this straight... this guy's a crazed, psychotic villain with a history of mental problems and a costume with BUZZSAWS on the wrists... and he WASN'T created in the Nineties?

-Gladiator's a weird little Daredevil D-League villain that gets brought back every once in a while. Depicted as an unstable costume designer who occasionally regresses into a super-villainous personality, he's had some dark tales told about him. At first, he foolishly puts on a costume that he thinks makes him superior to any superhero, but loses to Daredevil on his first outing. He became a recurring foe, often working for another mastermind, like the Masked Marauder, and even joined Electro's group, the Emissaries of Evil, in a team attack on DD. Later, he aids Whitney Forst in raiding Stark Enterprises, but is defeated by Iron Man. Further team-ups with the Death-Stalker, Beetle & Purple Man ALSO met with failure, but he ultimately decides to reform.

-Eventually, Melvin married his therapist Betsy (which I'm pretty sure goes against their rules as Doctors and all), and even allied with DD & Elektra against The Hand. He was generally seen as a positive character in Frank Miller's run- somewhat unwell, but fundamentally a good man who deserved sympathy. However, he was manipulated by a crook into fighting on behalf of his daughter- this is mysterious, given his relationship with Betsy, but many later stories make his wife nameless- but Melvin went to jail. Ultimately, the current Mr. Fear gives him chemicals that make him lose his mind- he attacks his wife and others and finally ends up back in prison. He'd be more pathetic, but he's actually beaten DD in combat a few times.

-Gladiator's surprisingly a worth combatant at PL 9.5, able to beat down even DD thanks to his VICIOUS costume- Buzzsaw Blades attached to his arms, on an already freakishly-strong guy. He's tough as nails, but only PL 8.5 on Defenses, being his one weakness. He's a little easier to hit, but still a frightening opponent to human-level guys (+8 damage to Daredevil is actually pretty scary). And he's fairly low on Skills and Ability Scores, making him pretty much a combatant and little else. But for a one-off threat that we don't see a lot of, he's pretty scary. In the 1960s, his "Recurring Doofus" act probably made him barely a PL 7-8- he's a rare '60s Jobber Villain that actually UPGRADED.

[Skavenger]

I'm planning a more thorough response to some of these characters (God, I hate Bullseye), but I find it interesting how often the Hand get retconned to have all these branches and power tiers and ceremonies that wind up amounting to nothing. There was a Wolverine storyline where he fought the Arbiters on behalf of Wilson Fisk and Elektra, three "ultra assassins" who help deem who's truly worthy of leading the Hand (Elektra thought they were going to resurrect Bullseye again, recruited Wolverine to help stop them). At the end the three just...walk back into their cave, and are never heard from again.

[M4C8]

I'd actually like to see someone write some sort of origin story for Melvin, like how or why he's such a skilled and dangerous fighter. IIRC I've read seen he was some sort of criminal early on in his life but that's all the info we've got.

[Jabroniville]

LADYKILLER (Michael "Mikey" Reese)
Created By: Frank Miller & Klaus Janson
First Appearance: Daredevil #173 (Aug. 1981)
Role: One-Off Villain
Group Affiliations: None

-Oh, NOW I remember this guy. I was a bit taken aback when I realized I must have read these issues (since they're part of the Frank Miller mega-arc from the early '80s), but this guy was a pretty forgettable one-off. He was a muscle-bound brute who attacked women while wearing a mask, and had crippled a woman while she was in law school. She eventually became a paralegal and mistook Melvin "Gladiator" Potter for this man- a tremendous look-alike. Daredevil decided to help them prove Melvin's innocense, and eventually tracked him after he tried to kill Melvin's parole officer. Reese and his buddies beat DD pretty bad, but he freed himself and knocked out the villain, unmasking him. Daredevil finally convinces the paralegal to finally testify against Reese to ensure he goes to prison for his crimes. The villain has never reappeared, despite being a Miller original. Being pretty one-note and in a plain costume didn't really help him.

-Reese is just a pretty big, scary dude, but notably a normal woman kinda fought him off using a fire extinguisher and drawing enough commotion to attract attention. Then he lost to Daredevil despite having him outnumbered.

[Jabroniville]

KRUEL (Vic Krueller)
Created By: Daniel G. Chichester & Alexandra Jubran
First Appearance: Daredevil #338 (March 1995)
Role: Dick Tracy Villain
Group Affiliations: The Kingpin's Organization
PL 7 (94)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+6)
Expertise (Criminal) 7 (+10)
Insight 1 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Startle

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Enemy (The Kingpin)
Motivation (Revenge)

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (94)

-Kruel came about in the awful, awful 1990s run of Daredevil, by some writer I've never heard of (LOL I said this years ago and now have looked at D.G.'s history in comics a lot more intently this time around). He's established as having been an employee of the Kingpin who was caught "skimming" off of Wilson Fisk's enterprises. Fisk sent his henchmen after Kruel, viciously beating him and leaving him for dead. He reappears, hideously deformed like a character in Dick Tracy, "years later", desperate for revenge against both the Kingpin, and some people at a diner who refused to help him when he was attempting to flee his attackers. He attacked several people, but Daredevil intervened- Kruel ended up falling to his death.

-This whole stupid story involves him killing another of Matt Murdock's "Disposable Girlfriends", who at this point had left him for Foggy Nelson (!!), and a flashback that actually doesn't make sense, because it involves three characters whose backstories (Karen Page the struggling actress, Foggy the law student, Glorianna the new immigrant) don't match up at any given moment, especially with a young Kingpin like in the story. The entire thing was written by Chichester under the infamous pseudonym "Alan Smithee", usually taken by directors who wish to remove their names from shameful projects- it was when he discovered that he was being removed from Daredevil, and wanted to spite his bosses.

-Kruel is more of a one-off that managed to die in one of the first things he ever did, so I'm thinking he's not that great. He apparently has a good deal of "Berserker Strength", but I'll call that an affectation of his combat style.

[Davies]

The sad thing is, Chichester's early run on the character had some good moments, and he wrote what I remember as an excellent Batman/Daredevil teamup that strongly influences how I think the two characters would relate to each other.

[Ares]

I don't know if that symbol is meant to represent anything or if it's just a nifty design, but I like it either way. It's kind of a shame it doesn't get used often.

[catsi563]

Melvimn actually showe dup in the daredevil,NF show as the guy who builds DDs new costume. he was slightly mentally "'off"' and had incredible strength enough to toss DD around like a rag doll