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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Thorpocalypse
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dark Messiah! Typhoid Mary! Sir! Vapora! The Hand!)

Post by Thorpocalypse »

KorokoMystia wrote: Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:20 pm And the Hand doesn't talk about the offshoot that became The Foot.
Of course not. Even immortal ninjas know better than to mess with copyright lawyers. :)
Me fail English? That's unpossible. - Ralph Wiggum
Jabroniville
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Stilt-Man (Wilbur Day)

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image
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STILT-MAN I (Wilbur Day)
Created By:
Stan Lee & Wally Wood
First Appearance: Daredevil #8 (June 1965)
Role: Iconic Loser Villain
Group Affiliations: The Emissaries of Evil, The Gang of Four
PL 7 (93)
STRENGTH
1/5 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+7)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+2)
Stealth 4 (+5)
Technology 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Equipment 5 (Arsenal), Move-By Action, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Stilt-Man Power Armour" (Flaws: Removable) [36]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 7 (7)
Electrical Aura 5 (Flaws: Limited- Drains Quickly) (15)
Immunity 5 (Entrapment) (5)

"Stilt-Legs"
Elongation 5 (250 feet) (Flaws: Limited to Legs) (3)
"Seven-League Strides" Speed 4 (30 mph) (4)
"Hydraulic Leg Ram Attack" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
-- (44 points)

Equipment:
"Stun Gas Gun" Affliction 7 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Cumulative, Area- Cloud) (21) -- (23)
  • AE: "Gas Grenades" Affliction 5 (Same as Above) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative, Area- Cloud) (Diminished Range -1) (19)
  • AE: "Particle Beam Blaster" Blast 7 (14)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Suit Strength +7 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Leg Ram +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Aura +7 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Blaster +6 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Stun Gas +5/+7 Area (+5/+7 Affliction, DC 15-17)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +1 (+8 Armour), Fortitude +4, Will +2

Complications:
Reputation (Stilt-Man)- He's Stilt-Man. 'Nuff said.
Motivation (Greed)
Weakness (Metal Suit)- Wearing a suit of metal, he is vulnerable to electrical & magnetic attacks.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 36 / Defenses: 10 (93)

-STILT-MAN! This guy is basically the poster-child for Lame Joke Villains, and like many of them, debuted in the 1960s Daredevil comic. Unlike other stupid villains, he was SO silly that he effectively became the single-most iconic example ever- a role taken over by the Shocker upon Wilbur Day's death. As soon as comics became self-relevant and knew how silly some of their ideas were, Stilt-Man became a running gag and image of the goofiness of the '60s, and was given a sad-sack loser villain gimmick. Recently, he was killed by the Punisher, and given a big send-off in The Bar With No Name. Multiple successors have arisen, but all are one-shot guys even WORSE than Day was.

-Wilbur Day is an inventor's assistant who stole some hydraulic rams and went on a crime spree wearing them on his feet, because comics. He became a recurring foe of Daredevil's, at one point forming the Emissaries of Evil (gotta love those '60s "Evil" names) with Matador, Leap-Frog, Electro (EVEN THEN DD was stealing Spidey's Rogues!) and Gladiator. He went on to become more of a joke in the '70s, jobbing to Black Goliath and The Champions, and later being KO'd and having his armor stolen by Turk Barrett, a recurring idiot thug in DD's book. He even got a suit made of SECONDARY ADAMANTIUM once, but was beaten by Thor, who confiscated the suit. One of his most prominent appearances was in Armor Wars, where Tony Stark went out of his way to demolish every armor-themed villain at Marvel, disabling their suits because he found out they'd been using stolen Stark designs. He was later just seen in either gag pages or as part of a mass of villains- things like being part of the villains Doom tossed at the FF during Acts of Vengeance, or attacking the Avengers while their destroyed mansion was benig rebuilt.

-Ultimately, he was killed by the Punisher during Civil War while he was acting on behalf of the Superhuman Registration Act. It was revealed after his death that he'd married Princess Python of the Circus of Crime, and the Punisher poisons a bunch of villains at his wedding (all of whom are revealed to still be alive). Much later, Miles Warren clones him, and apparently that clone is active, but it's unclear and will probably be retconned. In the meantime, THREE PEOPLE have stepped up to fill that legacy! An unnamed guy, crook Michael Watts, and LADY Stilt-Man. So a guy most famous for sucking and being stupid now has a proud legacy of "deliberately-shitty villains", for which we owe him eternal credit.

-Stats-wise, he's a low-level Power Armour Guy, expensive only because he has some decent protection in the suit, and that Electrified Body trick he can use. He does some damage with the Hydraulic Ram, but he's nowhere near the physical combatant most heroes or villains are, and as such, he's only a minor threat- at PL 7, he's a notch above The Enforcers, and runs along guys like Boomslang and Frog-Man- just pathetic, and unable to defeat even New Mutants/Generation-X-class rookie heroes.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Feb 18, 2022 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Shock
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by Shock »

Stilt-man gets around
Marvel database wrote:Tired of the constant humiliation he endured, Stilt-Man devised a plan to prove himself a leader. Finding the planet where the race of robotic giants known as Ultimos originated, Wilbur learned to reprogram them. Using an "interference beam" under his command, Wilbur routinely abducted random people from across the universe to this planet. Pretending that the same thing had inexplicably happened to him, Wilbur used his intellect to establish and run Megiddo, a small and peaceful colony where its inhabitants lived an unburdened life. In order give the colony something to bond over to avoid dissension, Day also regularly controlled the Ultimos remotely to attack the village and keep them as a looming threat.[46] Due to his reputation as a super villain, Wilbur operated mostly from the shadows, using a Kree soldier named Yar as the public leader.
Jabroniville
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Stilt-Man (Forgotten Replacement)

Post by Jabroniville »

STILT-MAN II (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Robert Kirkman & Scott Kolins
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #9 (Aug. 2005)
Role: Legacy Villain, Joke Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (79)
STRENGTH
1/5 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 3 (Arsenal), Move-By Action, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Stilt-Man Power Armour" (Flaws: Removable) [36]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 7 (7)
Electrical Aura 5 (Flaws: Limited- Drains Quickly) (15)
Immunity 5 (Entrapment) (5)

"Stilt-Legs"
Elongation 5 (250 feet) (Flaws: Limited to Legs) (3)
"Seven-League Strides" Speed 4 (30 mph) (4)
"Hydraulic Leg Ram Attack" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
-- (44 points)

Equipment:
"Particle Beam Blaster" Blast 7 (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Suit Strength +6 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Leg Ram +6 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Aura +6 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Blaster +6 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +1 (+8 Armour), Fortitude +4, Will +2

Complications:
Reputation (Stilt-Man)- He's Stilt-Man. 'Nuff said.
Motivation (Greed)
Weakness (Metal Suit)- Wearing a suit of metal, he is vulnerable to electrical & magnetic attacks.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 36 / Defenses: 10 (79)

-You had to know that there would be replacement Stilt-Men. But due to weird editing, we got two, and one was never named. This guy debuted in Robert Kirkman's unsung Marvel Team-Up run, with a very "Invincible"-style origin story: he downloaded the plans for the Stilt-Man armor off the internet. He was going to use eBay, but found a free download instead. Adding telescoping ARMS to the costume, he engaged in some heists and scored an off-panel win over NFL SuperPro ("funniest-looking guy I've ever seen..."). He attacked Daredevil, who kept pulling his punches, afraid that a fall from that height would kill the doofus. Failing to hit DD with an arsenal of guns, this Stilt-Man was finally one-punched out by Luke Cage, being treated like a total joke. He quickly appeared in Ms. Marvel as one of Kamala Khan's first super-villain fights, and he used his new energy blaster on her. She took it from him and shot him in the balls with it repeatedly.

-After that, a new Stilt-Man appeared temporarily, but in 2011 this one showed up as a backgrounder in an X-Men book. Later, he appears using Doctor Octopus arms as part of his armor, but DD & Spider-Man short out his armor and stop him. He's pretty well always been a total doofus- like the original Stilt-Man but without any of the presumed smarts.

-This Stilt-Man is again a joke, but not very bright, either.
Jabroniville
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Stilt-Man (Mikey Watts)

Post by Jabroniville »

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STILT-MAN III (Michael "Mikey" Watts)
Created By:
Matt Fraction & Andy MacDonald
First Appearance: Punisher War Journal #26 (Feb. 2009)
Role: Forgotten Legacy Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (66)
STRENGTH
1/5 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Stilt-Man Power Armour" (Flaws: Removable) [36]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 7 (7)
Electrical Aura 5 (Flaws: Limited- Drains Quickly) (15)
Immunity 5 (Entrapment) (5)

"Stilt-Legs"
Elongation 5 (250 feet) (Flaws: Limited to Legs) (3)
"Seven-League Strides" Speed 4 (30 mph) (4)
"Hydraulic Leg Ram Attack" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
-- (44 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Suit Strength +4 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Leg Ram +4 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Aura +4 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Blaster +4 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1 (+8 Armour), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Reputation (Stilt-Man)- He's Stilt-Man. 'Nuff said.
Motivation (Greed)
Weakness (Metal Suit)- Wearing a suit of metal, he is vulnerable to electrical & magnetic attacks.

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 36 / Defenses: 7 (66)

-This Stilt-Man has a very "Blue-Collar" origin- the Tinkerer slaps together a new Stilt-Man armor and sells it to regular-joe criminals. Mikey Watts was part a small gang of regular guys- responsible for crimes like grand theft, drug dealing, breaking & entering and the murder of a police officer. Mikey heard of the sale and the gang bought it, but they fought over who would get to wear it- the cop killer demanded to but was forced out of the suit at gunpoint. Vowing revenge, he left their hideout but was executed by the Punisher. Wanting to be civil, one of the gang suggested Mikey wear the suit and the other guy agreed- but wanted to be "Vice-Stilt-Man". Mikey slowly got used to the suit and the "Stilt-Man Gang" celebrated, and were actually SPARED BY THE PUNISHER, mainly because "you punish the guilty Frank, not the stupid". Curiously, the group has never appeared again- both subsequent appearances by Stilt-Man are apparently the other guy (though I'm not sure how the person writing the bios would know).

-This Stilt-Man was hesitant and unsteady, and we've never seen him get used to the suit- he's thus only PL 6.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by Ares »

The sad thing about Stilt-Man is that the concept is pretty sound. You have a guy who can do "second story man" type crimes, but at Skyscraper heights, he's got solid mobility and protection, so in theory he should be able to make a solid getaway by exploiting the places his armor can let him go that police cars can't.

The problem is that, in addition to being worn by idiots, the suit is this bright, reflective chrome that makes it stupid easy to spot and tail, and he keeps winding up fighting superheroes when he should focus more on getting away. The Shocker once made a similar statement, about how he'd developed his outfit to be able to rob safes more effectively, but ever since he put it on he's gotten into way more fights with superheroes than when he was a normal burglar.
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bsdigitalq
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by bsdigitalq »

Stilt-Man is that perfect mix of incredibly silly with "well, maybe..."

Like he's just silly enough to be fun and made fun of, but without ruining him completely. Just this perfect level of relatively harmless, but still kinda interesting in spite of the ridiculous concept. I enjoy seeing him every now and then, and get the appeal.

Angar the Screamer on the other hand....ugh....
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by Ares »

bsdigitalq wrote: Fri Feb 18, 2022 6:01 pm Stilt-Man is that perfect mix of incredibly silly with "well, maybe..."

Like he's just silly enough to be fun and made fun of, but without ruining him completely. Just this perfect level of relatively harmless, but still kinda interesting in spite of the ridiculous concept. I enjoy seeing him every now and then, and get the appeal.

Angar the Screamer on the other hand....ugh....
Yeah, Stilt-Man is fun.

Angar the Screamer is an example of (the rare time) when it's okay to take a toy out of the toybox if it can make another toy much better. Screaming Mimi becoming Songbird because of Angar's death makes his removal completely justified , IMO.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Jabroniville
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Lady Stilt-Man

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image

LADY STILT-MAN (Callie Ryan)
Created By:
Joe Kelly & Eric Canente
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #611 (Jan. 2010- Lady)
Role: Legacy Loser Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (68)
STRENGTH
1/5 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+6)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+2)
Technology 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Close Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Stilt-Man Power Armour" (Flaws: Removable) [36]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 7 (7)
Electrical Aura 5 (Flaws: Limited- Drains Quickly) (15)
Immunity 5 (Entrapment) (5)

"Stilt-Legs"
Elongation 5 (250 feet) (Flaws: Limited to Legs) (3)
"Seven-League Strides" Speed 4 (30 mph) (4)
"Hydraulic Leg Ram Attack" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
-- (44 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Suit Strength +6 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Leg Ram +5 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Aura +7 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1 (+8 Armour), Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Reputation (Stilt-Man)- They're ALL named Stilt-Man. 'Nuff said.
Motivation (Greed)
Weakness (Metal Suit)- Wearing a suit of metal, he is vulnerable to electrical & magnetic attacks.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 36 / Defenses: 7 (68)

-The fourth "Stilt-Man" is named LADY Stilt-Man, a woman out to honor Day's memory, and is known to be "trying too hard" and has been beaten in humorous ways by Deadpool and others. She briefly joined Misty Knight's Heroes For Hire, but joined Purple Man's group in a betrayal. She's been nothing more than a backgrounder since then, standing around in mass "every villain is now on the Masters of Evil in Bagalia" roster and once teaming up with another Stilt-man and jobbing to Deadpool.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Feb 19, 2022 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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The Cossack

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE COSSACK (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Dennis O'Neil & David Mazzuccelli
First Appearance: Daredevil #217 (April 1985)
Role: Soviet Agent
Group Affiliations: The Soviet Union

-The Cossack is a one-off foe and former Russian agent who was now a mercenary. He and a scientist planned to use a device that caused blindness in people for extortion, but when he suggested that the Black Widow help him out on it, she refused. He put the device on her to blind her, then tossed her out of a window, but Daredevil came to her rescue. When he planned to hold New York hostage, suggesting "death will rain from the skies", Daredevil realized he planned on attacking an airport- he somehow correctly guessed the exact one (O'Neil should know that New York has a LOT of airports), where the Cossack was blinding a bunch of air traffic controllers. DD handily beat the villain and his men. A classic "One-Off Story"- the Cossack has never reappeared.

-The Cossack was a pretty big guy, and used a weapon that made others blind by pointing it at them, but he was no match for Daredevil (who, naturally, was gonna be unaffected by his weapon).
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The Wildboys

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image

THE WILDBOYS (Jet Ving & Marvin "Spit" Lockerbie)
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & John Romita, Jr.
First Appearance: Daredevil #253 (April 1988)
Role: Elite Mooks
Group Affiliations: The Wildboys Street Gang
PL 6 (78)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+6)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+6)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+7)
Perception 1 (+3)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Connected, Equipment 1, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Any Attack), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Taunt, Teamwork

Equipment:
"Gangster's Arsenal"
"Leather Jacket" Protection 1 (1)
"Brass Knuckles" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Subtle) (2)
"Knife" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Improved Critical) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knuckles or Knife +7 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Pistol +7 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3 (+4 Jacket), Fortitude +5, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Mayhem)- The two destroy things for kicks.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (78)

-Jet & Spit are scruffy little thugs who appeared as minions of Daredevil villain Ammo, joining his gang. They're a duo of vandals who are also skilled knife-fighters, but only appeared a few times and are handily beaten by Daredevil in each of them- they later appear with Ammo, Bullet & Bushwacker in an attack on Daredevil, under the orders of Typhoid Mary. After that, they largely take on a "Those Two Guys" schtick, like in a Daredevil Annual where their attempts to rob a drug dealer end up with them congratulated by police for his capture, or the time they came across the Lifeform and were nearly killed until Daredevil saved them. At one point, they're nearly killed by "The Crippler", and finally, they and a band of assorted villains (including Taskmaster, Pete London, Tatterdemalion and others) all compete over some barrels of restaurant grease worth millions of dollars- naturally, this ends up with everyone involved (including DD) getting coated in the stuff during a brawl. All of their appearances take place over five years, and this is their last... until 2018, when writer Ed Brisson has Bullseye casually execute both of them after a robbery in the pages of Old Man Logan.

-This is a pretty lazy build, though- just my "Gang Member" PL 6 build (Ammo is PL 7, so if they're in HIS gang, they have to be lower) with the guns taken out, since they apparently didn't use them.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by Sidney369 »

The Wild Boys remind me of Beavis and Butthead, although they came first.
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Typhoid Mary! The Hand! Gladiator! Stilt-Man!)

Post by Goldar »

Well, we had the Hand, the proposed Foot and with Stilt-Man and Lady Stilt-Man we now have....the Leg! :lol:
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Re: The Hand

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:05 pm THE HAND
Created By:
Frank Miller
First Appearance: Daredevil #168 (Jan. 1981)
Role: Mooks
Group Affiliations: The Hand (well, duh)

-The Hand have a tough row to hoe in the Marvel Universe- they're supposed to be these elite, frightening Ninjas, yet their status as Faceless Mooks makes them ridiculously-easy for heroes to defeat, resulting in them having zero credibility. Even NON-powered heroes can mow down dozens of them at once! They've also gained the troubling ability to just casually-resurrect people, something that's been used as part of the eternal Revolving Door of life & death in the MU, allowing the resurrections of characters like Elektra and Doctor Octopus, amongst others. They also like to corrupt and control people, turning people like Wolverine, Northstar & Daredevil into their agents.

-The Hand debuted in 1981, and soon became signature threats faced by Daredevil, but typically as hired agents. They were given a mystical bent (they were literally soundless as they attacked), and made to seem pretty important- Daredevil could beat a group of them, but they'd provide a challenge, and then commit suicide so they couldn't be interrogated or autopsied. They made a big enough impact that all of Marvel soon began using them to some degree or another- the "Ninja Craze" of the '80s is in part prescribed to this organization, as The Foot of the Ninja Turtles franchise in particular was an obvious parody, and the ninja wars of G.I. Joe also took some homage here. In short, secretive, silent ninja clans became RAD.

-Their backstory has been modified here and there- their initial origins came in a '90s Elektra series tied to the "Snakeroot" group, but that was ignored. Currently, they're an 800-year old group founded in feudal Japan. Elite training, all sorts of stuff, etc.- one sensei wanted to free Japan from foreign influence and wanted a school that could train samurai who take back control- the Hand was formed with five leaders of five organizations- one for each main island of Japan. Eventually, however, they were corrupted by worship of "The Beast"- a Demon which gave them mystical powers. This new Hand became simple mercenaries. In Post-World War II Japan, they were instrumental in forming HYDRA, but Baron Strucker soon took it over. The remaining Hand were eventually opposed by Stick and his group, "The Chaste"- Stick later died fighting them, at the cost of hundreds of ninjas.

-Eventually, everyone at Marvel got linked to them somehow- Chris Claremont used them in the X-Books, at Psylocke went from English to Asian at their hands. They helped resurrect Omega Red in Jim Lee's X-Men, and were later able to resurrect Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man, correcting one mistake of the Clone Saga. It turned out that the most reliable means of resurrection in the Marvel Universe was a Hand Ceremony in which several ninjas gave their lives to bring someone back as a Hand-controlled killer. It soon became a cliche that a hero would be killed (unrealistically-easily, given how much trouble ACTUAL super-villains have doing it), then resurrected by this process, thus becoming a threat for a couple issues until they could be fixed.

-At one point, Elektra ruled the Hand for a time, but this was revealed to be a Skrull- a demon-infested Daredevil later took control himself. BUT WAIT! EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG! There is also a female-led faction called "The Nail" and one ruled by undead ninjas called "The Underhand". The Beast of the Hand now controls Daredevil, but various heroes combine forces to save his soul- Iron Fist uses a chi-punch to "cleanse" his spirit and drive out the Beast, but the Kingpin & Typhoid Mary take control of the Hand for themselves in the aftermath. Probably the coolest use of the Hand in recent member was a random Uncanny Avengers arc where tehy used their resurrection trick on the Hulk, temporarily making him an uber-threat the Avengers had to take down.

-Hand Ninjas are such an iconic minion in the Marvel Universe, it's no shock that they go down in droves to every single hero out there. Despite this, they're SUPPOSED to be elite fighters, so I constructed a Ninja for every possible Power Level between 4 and 8! These Minions are fairly capable- every one makes their PL caps and fills out all the points necessary for PC-level heroes. But the vast majority of the time, Hand Ninjas are PL 4 or 5.
I wonder how well they would do if the Hand went up against the Man-Thing. Something about burning at the touch leaps to mind.
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Elektra

Post by Jabroniville »

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ELEKTRA (Elektra Natchios)
Created By:
Frank Miller
First Appearance: Daredevil #168 (Jan. 1981)
Role: Femme Fatale, Ex-Girlfriend, The Sacrificial Girlfriend
Group Affiliations: The Hand, HYDRA, The Chaste, S.H.I.E.L.D.
PL 10 (182)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 7
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+15)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+16)
Close Combat (Sai) 4 (+16)
Deception 6 (+8, +10 Attractive)
Expertise (Ninja) 12 (+14)
Insight 7 (+10)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 10 (+13)
Ranged Combat (Ninja Weapons) 5 (+13)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+6)
Stealth 8 (+15)
Treatment 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Assessment, Attractive, Chokehold, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Defensive Throw, Diehard, Equipment (Sai), Evasion, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Grab Finesse, Great Endurance, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical 5 (Sai 3, Unarmed 2), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Instant Up, Languages (English, Greek, Japanese, Others), Last Stand, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 6, Seize Initiative, Skill Mastery 2 (Stealth, Ninja), Takedown 2, Tracking, Trance, Uncanny Dodge, Weapon Bind, Weapon Break

Powers:
"Martial Artist" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Equipment:
"Twin Sai" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split, Improved Disarm) (3) -- (4)
  • AE: "Thrown Sai" Strength-Damage +1 (Extras: Ranged 3) (Flaws: Limited to Two) (Diminished Range -1) (3)
Offense:
Unarmed +16 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Sai +16 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Thrown Sai +13 (+3 Ranged Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +11

Defenses:
Dodge +16 (DC 26), Parry +16 (DC 26), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +7

Complications:
Relationship (Matt Murdock)- Elektra and Matt were lovers in college, but split when her father was killed. Now, they are a mix of deadly adversaries, old lovers with issues, and uneasy allies.
Responsibility (The Hand)- Sometimes they want to kill her, sometimes she's a member, sometimes she leads them.
Enemy (Bullseye)- Bullseye murdered her because she took his "spot" as The Kingpin's personal assassin. And also because he's just evil and does stuff like that.

Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 88--44 / Advantages: 50 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 21 (182)

Elektra- The Ultimate One-Story Character... Who Got a Billion More Stories:
-Elektra was a great storyline in Daredevil, and it's kind of a shame what became of it. This dangerous, mysterious never-before-seen ex-girlfriend of Matt's shows up, kicks some ass (but loses one of her very first fights to some common thugs- something you'd NEVER see nowadays!), feuds with Matt, attracts a legion of male fans thanks to her sexiness (she's based off of bodybuilder/nude model Lisa Lyon, and had long raven tresses), then gets murdered by a lethal bastard named Bullseye. Along the way, we learned her tragic backstory (Matt had attempted to save her father from terrorists and failed- she ran out of his life, breaking his heart), and then her modern ways- she'd become a merciless assassin (being trained by Matt's own mentor Stick, but showed too much darkness in her sould and joined The Hand), nearly killing Ben Urich, and teamed up with Matt to face The Hand and their lethal warrior, Kirigi. But when the Kingpin made her his personal assassin and sent her after Foggy Nelson, she found herself unable to go through with it when they recognized each other. And then Bullseye, angry and hurt over losing his job with the Kingpin, decided to impress people by hunting down Elektra and murdering her in cold blood- she crawled to Matt's home and bled out in his arms.

-This fantastic little self-contained story (she was around for only slightly greater than a YEAR) basically MADE Daredevil the way The Dark Phoenix Saga made the X-Men, and Frank Miller leveraged that success into The Dark Knight Returns, and all that cemented him as one of the all-time greats. Elektra REALLY left an impression on people- the great design (with the flowing bandana and giant sais), the tragic backstory, the broken romance in the past... it was so darkly romantic and "Film Noir", yet very "Comic Book" in how she was a fantastic martial artist and super-dangerous physically. So this Elektra character, who wasn't really that deep, but had some conflicting elements, was now ultra-famous and people demanded to see more of her. Miller & Bill Sienkiewicz did an incredibly-artsy, incredibly-weird series Elektra: Assassin in 1986, teasing fans even more- the series is either out of continuity, or takes place before she first appears in Daredevil. And Marvel, of course, appeased the fans and finally brought her back... to do nothing interesting at all.

Elektra Returns:
-See, Elektra was a far better character when she died than she ever was alive. She had just enough pathos to keep going, and an incredible design, so no wonder fans were impressed, but where was there really to GO from here? Frank Miller finally agreed to resurrect her- Daredevil & Stone, a member of Stick's organization, had worked to resurrect her- they failed at first, but Matt purified her soul in the process, and Stone later completed it. However, Frank only did so with the promise that she would never be used again- as you might imagine, Marvel broke their promise on this BIG-TIME, and Frank never worked for them again.

-Worse still, Marvel COMPLETELY wasted her- the 1990s was in full swing, and so a ton of garbage writers were just floundering on all sorts of books, and nobody really cared much about Daredevil to quality-check it. She even got a bunch of Limited Series with some nobodies working on the book, likely trying to earn some cred for themselves (who the hell is D.G. Chichester?). Now, she's just some ninja chick who runs around, fights with/leads The Hand, occasionally sees Daredevil but usually doesn't, and otherwise just kind of hangs around. She re-enters Daredevil's life during some nonsense story-arc with the "Snakeroot" group, and briefly teams up with Wolverine when he's a noseless beast-man.

-There's a brief Elektra series when Marvel was desperately trying to make this one cover-artist named Greg Horn a big megastar. His "exagerrated realism" style, with photorealistic women's faces (CLEARLY drawn/traced from professional models), was suddenly used to sell THREE different books starring women- Emma Frost, The Black Widow (Yelena Belova) and Elektra, but every one of the books quickly died. Then Elektra largely vanishes again, appearing in the late 2000s as part of a goofy story in which The Hand kills and resurrects tons of characters as Hand agents- Elektra fights them, but is herself slain, then made their leader. But this was all part of her plan, and now she has mystical powers and helps the heroes win. Then she pops up in Bendis's New Avengers, and it's revealed that at some point, she was replaced with a SKRULL! This is the first step in the huge Secret Invasion story-arc. She is released a couple years later, and finally gets her win back over Bullseye- he was sent by Norman Osborn to kill her, but she wins. Later, she joins a Thunderbolts squad led by the Red Hulk, then acts as a double agent in Shadowland to get close to a demon-possessed Matt Murdock.

-Along the way, she was played horribly by Jennifer Garner in both a Daredevil movie and even a solo Elektra film- one so disastrous that it helped destroy all attempts to make a superhero movie centered around a woman for YEARS until Wonder Woman came out. Every series featuring her has been a bust, and she's really a nobody. Shows you that you shouldn't ALWAYS bow down to fan interests, I guess, but there's really no way they were getting around it- the fans WANTED her back, and giving the fans WHAT THEY WANT is kind of something comics isn't always good at. So it's a shame that in this case, it turned out badly.

Elektra's Abilities:
-Elektra's much like Daredevil, in that she's a world-class fighter (a bit better than Matt, but weaker) who costs a fair bit- she's equal to most of the top-tier fighters in the Marvel Universe, but lacks the true Unarmed Potential. TONS of Combat Advantages, a great number of ninja Skillz, some not-bad Ability Scores, and a world-class fighter. Since she has no super-powers, she arguably fits what ANY PL 10 Ninja character could be- that price-point is high, but still around what my Bullseye costs, and a ways less than Daredevil does.

-Note: More recent depictions of Elektra have off-and-on shown telepathic powers, minor mind control, and the ability to "live in people's minds", whatever the hell that means (Possession, I guess?). But I'm ignoring all that, since it's unnecessary pseudo-mystical crap and doesn't really fit the character either.
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