REPTIL (Humberto Lopez)
Created By: Christos Gage & Steve Uy
First Appearance: Avengers- The Initiative: Featuring Reptil #1 (June 2010)
Role: Animal Morpher
PL 8 (114)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Deception 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)
Advantages:
Fast Grab, Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Crystal Medallion" (Flaws: Removable) [48]
"Dino-Morpher"
Shapeshift 6 (48)
Morph 3 (Flaws: Limited to Reptiles) (12)
Senses 3 (Reptile Awareness- Ranged & Acute) (3)
-- (60 points)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Dinosaur Powers +6-8 (+2-10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6
Complications:
Responsibility (Repressed)- Reptil does not express himself openly very often, and it's believed that this repression is causing trouble in controlling his abilities.
Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 48 / Defenses: 11 (114)
Reptil- From TV to the Funny Books:
-Reptil is one of those age-old ideas- a new character created for an Animated Series who then is transplanted into the comics. Harley Quinn and X-23 both got this treatment, and Reptil was done with extreme speed. The character debuted as part of the cartoonish
Marvel Super Hero Squad show, where he was a young Latino hero recruited onto the Avengers, where he became a signature character. Sort of a "Fans' Eye View" guy who had things explained to him. He was a minority hero on a team that's always struggled to find good ones for the supporting media (
Avengers: EMH used the Black Panther as a rarely-speaking "Guy Who's Good At Everything"; the MCU threw in a half-dozen Backgrounders onto the team but mainly focused on others;
Avengers Assemble awkwardly stuck The Falcon in there as their "Spunky Young Rookie"), and relentlessly "Kid-Focused"- his power was to turn into DINOSAURS.
-The biggest issue I had with him was that his name sounds kinda dumb. "Reptil" is just Spanish for "Reptile", but I find it sounds weird.
Reptil in Avengers Academy:
-The comic book version is a teenager, and joined Avengers Academy instead of the main
Avengers rosters. He's the child of two paleontologists who found a crystalized bone with magic powers- wearing it as a medallion, Humberto Lopez can transform into any reptile. His parents later disappeared on a dig, and he became a hero in hopes of finding them. He joins the Initiative, but has bad luck on his first mission, losing his temper against Stegron and putting his team at risk, but regroups and is instrumental in beating the villain and rescuing Moon-Boy and seeing him home.
-Reptil is then placed on the
Avengers Academy book, which sees him finally gain more control over his abilities- instead of merely adopted Dinosaurian traits (wings, claws, etc.), he can now fully transform. However, an early fight against Michael Korvac's super-powered Cosmic Bride, Carina, sees the team replaced with potential adult versions of themselves from the future- while most of the team are returned to normal (and have to deal with what their future selves are like), Reptil is actually stuck as an adult! However, he eventually returns to normal, and shows great leadership abilities, until his future self takes control of his body, and starts trying to ensure that his future comes to pass. In the end, he can't bring himself to kill his fellow students, and leaves current Reptil to his fate.
-By the end of
Avengers Academy, Reptil has entered into a relationship with White Tiger, but soon they're on different books- he is abducted into Arcade's Murderworld island with the rest of his team. He doesn't actually get up to much in the book, which largely focuses on other characters from the looks of things (though he saves everyone from an exploding Hazmat), and in the end, he doesn't join them in subsequent stories- he joins Leonardo da Vinci's attempt at a replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Reptil's Powers:
-Reptil has the AMAZING (and hard-to-draw, which is probably why he's written out of later stuff) ability to transform into reptiles, primarily dinosaurs, though he can do crocodiles and stuff, too. This makes him one of comics' rare Animal Shapeshifter-types, which enables him to be very versatile- flying like a pterosaur, running like an ostrich mimic, attacking like a raptor, or throwing down like a T-Rex or Triceratops. He's one of the only people on the team with a legit win over a solo super-villain, as he manages to overpower and K.O. The Rhino of all people during a fight against the Sinister Six. This brings up one of those funny things in comics, where a guy can lift fifty tons, but a mere animal (who under no circumstances could lift such a weight) can still overpower them.