Iceman

Real Name
Robert "Bobby" Louis Drake

Occupation
Adventurer, formerly teacher, accountant, student

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Port Washington, Long Island, New York

Known Relatives
William Robert Drake (father), Madeline Beatrice Bass Drake (mother), Mary (cousin), Joel (cousin), Anne (aunt)

Group Affiliation
X-Men, formerly Twelve, X-Factor/X-Terminators, Defenders, Champions

Education
College degree, Certified Practicing Accountant accreditation

Height
5'8"

Weight
145 lbs.

Eyes
Brown

Hair
Brown

Powers
Iceman is able to lower his external and internal body temperature without harm to himself, thereby radiating intense cold from his body. Iceman is able to reach -105 degrees Fahrenheit within a few seconds, and is immune to sub-zero temperatures around him.

In addition, Iceman can freeze any moisture in the air around him into unusually hard ice, and thereby form simple objects such as slides, ladders, shields, and bats. Iceman can also augment his ice form with extraneous moisture to enhance his strength and durability, and can reshape his body's ice form at will by using any available moisture from his surrounding environment. Similarly, Iceman can rebuild his ice form if any part of it is broken or if it is shattered completely without suffering any permanent damage.

Previously, Iceman was able to transform his body into solid ice and back to human form at will. For a time, however, his body was permanently transformed into solid ice as a result of a secondary mutation. After M-day, Iceman appeared to have lost his powers, returning to human form. However, this was revealed by Emma Frost as a mental block, and Iceman later regained his powers, along with the ability to change from human to ice form.

Iceman also possesses the potential to transport himself quickly over great distances through nearby flows of water by merging his body’s molecules with those of the stream.

Abilities
Bobby is a Certified Practicing Accountant.

Other Info
When Bobby was a teenager, he revealed his powers when he was trying to protect his girlfriend and himself from a couple bullies. He temporarily encased the head bully in ice. The townsfolk believed he was a menace and organized a lynch mob to take him out. Fortunately, the sheriff of the town was able to stop the mob and he arrested Bobby and threw him in jail. Professor Charles Xavier, heard about this and sent Cyclops to persuade Bobby to come to Professor X's school. But, while Cyclops was trying to get Bobby out of jail the mob caught both of them and were about to hang them but Cyclops and Bobby broke free. Professor X used his mental powers to halt the townspeople in their tracks and erase their memories of Bobby's powers. Bobby, grateful for what Professor X did, accepted Xavier's invitation to enroll at his School for Gifted Youngsters and took the codename Iceman. (To learn more about the characters or school above, just click on their highlighted names. Note: Remember that there is one picture on the Cyclops bio on Marvel.com that shows Emma Frost and him which has her in revealing and tight-fitting clothes.)

At first, Bobby could only turn into a snow-like form, but soon he was able to increase his degree of cold control, and he was able to turn into an ice-like form. (Bobby in his snow-like form is shown in the third picture posted.)

Later on the X-men team gained some new members. Bobby had a brief romantic relationship with one of the new members, Polaris (a magnetism-manipulating mutant who just so happens to be the daughter of Magneto) until she realized that her heart belonged to the other new member, Havok (a plasma-charged mutant who just so happens to be the brother of Cyclops). Bobby had trouble accepting her decision, which led to increased tension between himself and Havok. Eventually, Iceman quit the X-men for a short time to sort out his feelings. (To learn more about Polaris, Havok, or Magneto, click on their highlighted names. Actually Polaris' pictures on Marvel.com are not really that bad. Finally, a woman character on Marvel.com without having extremely indecent clothing.)

One time the Asgardian trickster god Loki captured Bobby, hoping to use him to gain control over the Frost Giants. Loki enhanced Iceman's powers to such an extent that he was forced to wear a power-dampening belt to cancel out his powers. Later on, Bobby gained enough control over his enhanced powers that he was able to stop using the inhibitor belt. Believing he had achieved his full potential, Iceman never attempted to push himself beyond his perceived limits. (To find definitions and information about the words and characters above, just click on the highlighted words.)

After the House of M incident Iceman was believed to be among the mutants who lost their powers, but this apparent loss of powers was quickly revealed to be a subconscious reaction to the trauma of that reality warp. Since recovering his powers, his ice form has taken on a much more jagged appearance. (To learn more about the House of M, click on the name above. Also, Iceman in his "jagged" appearance is shown in the fifth picture posted.)

To learn more about the life of Iceman, just click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Iceman.

Abomination

Real Name
Emil Blonsky

Occupation
Professional Criminal, Former Spy

Citizenship
Citizen of Yugoslavia

Place of Birth
Zagreb, Yugoslavia

Known Relatives
Nadia Dornova Blonsky (wife, divorced)

Group Affiliation
Ally of the Abominations and the Forgotten; Formerly partner of the Rhino, crew of the starship Andromeda, agent of the Galaxy Master, and MODOK.

Education
Unrevealed

Height
6' 8"

Weight
980 lbs

Eyes
Green

Hair
None

Powers
Blonsky's transformation into the Abomination substantially increased his strength and durability. Like the Hulk, the Abomination can use his superhumanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances, covering miles in a single bound. The Abomination has vast physical strength.

Unlike the Hulk, the Abomination's transformation has proved stable: he cannot change back and forth between his human state and his superhuman state, despite his wishes to the contrary. Though the Abomination has proven able to regenerate lost eyes and recover from other forms of massive cellular damage, his ability to regenerate tissue is much slower than that of the Hulk. One possible explanation for this is that the Hulk's remarkable regenerative abilities increases in efficiency as he becomes enraged, much like his strength. The Abomination is resistant to extremes of temperature, and can hold his breath for extended periods of time; in the case of lack of air or heat, he may enter a coma-like state of suspended animation.

Other Info
Emil Blonsky gained his powers after receiving a dose of gamma radiation similar to that which transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk. As a a result he was permanently transformed into a massive green-skinned monster whose physical power was equivalent to, if not greater than, that of the Hulk. He is able to maintain his normal level of self-control and intelligence after his transformation. He is unable to return to human form. (To learn about the Hulk, click on the name above.)

Blonsky blames Banner for his condition and therefore the Abomination and the Hulk have battled multiple times, and Abomination loses pretty much every time (Key word: pretty much). There has been times where the Abomination has actually beaten the Hulk, which makes Abomination one of the elite few who can claim to have been able to be victorious over the Hulk.

In jealousy from losing his wife, Abomination wanted to kill Betty Ross Banner (the Hulk's wife). Betty was recovering from radiation sickness caused by exposure to the gamma radiation within Bruce and the Abomination poisoned her with his own radioactive blood and killed her. (To learn more about Betty Ross Banner, click on her name above. To learn more about how the Hulk reacted to finding out that Abomination killed Betty, or just to learn more about Abomination, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Abomination.)

Cyclops

Real Name
Scott Summers

Occupation
Co-headmaster of Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, adventurer, former student, former radio announcer

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Anchorage, Alaska

Known Relatives
Philip Summers (grandfather), Deborah Summers (grandmother), Christopher Summers (Corsair, father, deceased), Katherine Anne Summers (mother, deceased), Alexander Summers (Havok, brother), Gabriel Summers (Vulcan, brother), Jack Winters (Jack O'Diamonds, former foster father), Jean Grey-Summers (Phoenix, wife), Madelyne Pryor-Summers (ex-wife, deceased), Nathan Christopher Summers (Cable, son), John Grey (father-in-law, deceased), Elaine Grey (mother-in-law, deceased), Sarah Grey-Bailey (sister-in-law, deceased), Aliya Jenskot (daughter-in-law, deceased), Tyler Dayspring (Genesis, grandson, deceased), Stryfe (clone son, deceased)

Group Affiliation
X-Men, formerly Twelve, X-Factor/X-Terminators

Education
College degree from Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, post-graduate courses

Height
6'3"

Weight
195 lbs.

Eyes
Brown, glowing red when using powers

Hair
Brown

Powers
Cyclops possesses the mutant ability to project a beam of heatless ruby-colored concussive force from his eyes, which act as inter-dimensional apertures between this universe and another. Cyclops' body constantly absorbs ambient energy, such as sunlight, from his environment into his body's cells that allows him to open the apertures. Cyclops' mind generates a psionic field that is attuned to the forces that maintain the apertures. Because this field envelops his body, it automatically shunts the other-dimensional particles back into their point of origin when they collide with his body. Thus, his body is protected from the effects of the particles, and even the thin membranes of his eyelids are sufficient to block the emission of energy. The synthetic ruby quartz crystal used to fashion the lenses of Cyclops' eyewear is resonant to his minds' psionic field and is similarly protected.

The width of Cyclops' optic blast is focused by his mind's psionic field with the same autonomic function that regulated his original eyes' ability to focus. As Cyclops focuses, the size of the apertures change and thus act as a valve to control the flow of particles and the beam's relative power. The height of Cyclops's eye-blast is controlled by his visor's adjustable slit. The beam's effective range is approximately 2,000 feet.

Due to a head injury, Cyclops is unable to shut off his optic blasts at will and must therefore wear ruby quartz lenses to block the beams.

Other Info
Scott Summers was the first of two sons born to Major Christopher Summers, a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force, and his wife Katherine. Scott's father was flying his family home from vacation when their plane was attacked. To save their lives, Katherine pushed Scott and his brother Alex (who later becomes the mutant, Havok) out of the plane with the only available parachute. With their parents presumed dead, the authorities separated the two boys. Alex was adopted, but Scott remained comatose in a hospital for a year. On recovering, Scott was placed in an orphanage.

Because of his head injury due to the plane crash, Scott hasn't been able to control his mutant power by himself. The first time his mutant power erupted from his eyes as an uncontrollable blast of optic force, he demolished a crane (as in the construction machinery, not the bird). I had always though that Cyclops' eyes shot lasers or something, but apparently it's just a huge force so it makes sense that no one actually gets burned by this blasts, but just blown away by the impact and force of the blast.

Scott's display of power attracted the attention of Professor Charles Xavier. Professor X eventually found Scott and rescued him from his current foster father who was a criminal mutant named Jack Winters (Jack O'Diamonds). Scott was enlisted by Xavier as the first member of the X-Men. (Unfortunately, the current bio for the Jack O'Diamonds on Marvel.com is under review to make sure the info is correct. But hopefully it will be up soon and in the mean time if you would like to learn about Charles Xavier or the X-men team, just click on the names.)

The mask Cyclops wears is lined with powdered ruby quartz crystal, which prevents the optic blasts from emitttign from his eyes. (On the Marvel.com website, it goes into great detail about how the mask works and is operated, so if your interested in that, go ahead and click on the link to Cyclops' bio on Marvel.com in the bottom paragraph of this post.)

Now as Cyclops, Scott became deputy leader of the X-Men. Scott fell in love with his teammate Jean Grey. Shortly thereafter, the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force took Jean's place. When it committed suicide, Scott believed the love of his life had died and he left the X-Men. Cyclops eventually returned to the X-Men and then met Madelyne Pryor (basically a clone of Jean Grey). Unaware that Madelyne was a clone of Jean created by Mister Sinister, Scott fell in love with Madelyne and they were soon married. Madelyne became pregnant and had a son named Nathan Christopher (Later, known as the powerful mutant, Cable). When the real Jean emerged from suspended animation, Scott left his wife and son and rejoined the other original X-Men in establishing a new team, X-Factor. Later, the X-men fought against Madelyne and she perished in the battle. Later, Scott and Jean (the real one) got married. (To learn more about Jean, Phoenix Force, Madelyne, Cable, along with the X-Factor team, just click on the highlighted words above. I'm not going to lie, the whole Phoenix Force/Jean Grey thing is confusing to me.)

At one point, to prevent the destruction to the mutant race, Cyclops had to merge with would-be evil conqueror, Apocalypse, and became a new evil entity. Jean detected Scott's psyche inside Apocalypse and prevented the X-Men from destroying him, however he was presumed dead by most of his teammates. Only Jean and Cable refused to believe Scott had perished. Investigating rumors that Scott was alive, Jean and Cable were finally able to find him struggling to reassert his mind over the villain's psyche. Ultimately, Jean was able to physically rip Apocalypse's essence from Scott's body using her mental powers, and Cable destroyed it with his own powers. Afterwards, Scott returned to the X-Men, but his association with Apocalypse had given him a grimmer, more serious personality than ever before. As a result, many of his relationships, including his marriage to Jean, became strained. (To learn about Apocalypse, just click on his name above.)

Scott sought the counsel of his teammate Emma Frost and the pair began a psychic affair (I don't know what exaclty that means). When Jean discovered Scott's betrayal, he left the X-Men in order to sort out the mess his life had become. After the death of his wife ,Jean Grey, Cyclops assumed the position of co-headmaster of the School alongside his new love, Emma. (Note: Just know, pretty much every picture of Emma Frost is pretty bad. Every picture is either very revealing, tight-fitting, and/or risque. If you want to learn anything about Emma Frost you will want to block any pictures. Plus, Cyclops' bio on Marvel.com, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Cyclops_(Scott_Summers), has a picture of him and Emma so watch out, and block those images too. But, there is some good information about Cyclops that I didn't go into great detail explaining in the above paragraphs which can be found on the above link to Marvel.com's bio page for Cyclops. So, check it out and enjoy!)

Juggernaut

Real Name
Cain Marko

Occupation
Adventurer, former teacher, mercenary, soldier

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Berkley, California

Known Relatives
Kurt Marko (father, deceased), Marjory Marko (mother, deceased), Sharon Xavier Marko (stepmother, deceased), Charles Francis Xavier (Professor X, stepbrother), Cassandra Nova (stepsister, deceased), Lilandra (ex-sister-in-law), David Haller (Legion, stepnephew, deceased)

Group Affiliation
Excalibur; formerly X-Men, former partner of Black Tom Cassidy, formerly Commission for Superhuman Activity, Exemplars, New World Order, eXiles, U.S. Army

Education
Military boarding school

Height
6'10"

Weight
900 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Red

Powers
The Juggernaut originally possessed untold mystical power which enhanced his strength to an unknown degree and made him a seemingly irresistible, unstoppable being. Once he began to walk in a given direction, no obstacle or force on Earth was able to stop him. Some obstacles, for example many tons of rock, or forces such as plasma-discharge cannons slowed his pace considerably, but nothing stopped him permanently from advancing. The Juggernaut was, however, vulnerable to magical forces of sufficient strength.

Besides giving him vast superhuman strength, the mystical energy of Cyttorak gave the Juggernaut an extraordinary degree of resistance to all forms of injury. The Juggernaut could also shield himself even further from injury by mentally surrounding himself with a force field. Enveloped by this field, the Juggernaut had been seen to survive the fiery explosion of a truck transporting a huge quantity of oil without any injury whatsoever. The Juggernaut could survive indefinitely without food, water, or oxygen thanks to his being sustained by his mystical energies alone.

In the past, the Juggernaut has temporarily possessed telepathic abilities and certain mystical powers, all of which he has since lost. Recently, however, the Juggernaut has been stripped of this mystical energy, including his personal force field. He still possesses superhuman strength, endurance and durability due to years of absorbing the mystical energies of Cyttorak, but the current upper limit of these traits is as yet unknown.

Other Info
As you all can see, Charles Xavier is Cain Marko's step-brother. Marko's mother died and Xavier's father died when they both were younger and then their parent's married each other. (Crazy connection huh?!)

Cain and Charles were drafted into military service and served in the same unit. At one point, Cain went into a cave that housed the lost temple of Cyttorak, a powerful mystical entity. Inside the cave, Cain found the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and after he touched it he was transformed by the gem's mystical energies into a human juggernaut. After he was turned into the Juggernaut, Cain was buried by a cave-in. Charles believed his stepbrother had died. (To learn more about the above highlighted character and item just click on the them, but know that there is pretty much nothing currently written about them on the Marvel.com website.)

Here's an interesting fact: During The Hulk's attack on the X-Men during World War Hulk, Juggernaut was transported by Cyttorak to where the Hulk was. The Hulk beat Juggernaut, but then later the Juggernaut became fully powered and engaged the Hulk again to a stand still. (To learn about the Hulk, just click above.)

Juggernaut started out as evil, but has recently embraced his good side. He eventually joined his stepbrother's, Professor X, X-men. When doing this he changed his outfit from the red-brownish to his black/grayish and yellow outfit. (The black/grayish and yellow outfit is shown in two of the above posted pictures.)

The Juggernaut wears a helmet fashioned from an unknown mystical metal found in the Crimson Cosmos dimension of Cyttorak. The Juggernaut subsequently fashioned a skullcap from scraps of the metal used to construct the helmet. The Juggernaut originally wore a suit of armor that he could summon around himself at will from the Crimson Cosmos. After being stripped of his powers, the Juggernaut took to wearing a suit of armor that resembles his original but is fashioned from unstable molecules. Without his helmet and skullcap, the Juggernaut is vulnerable to psionic attacks against his mind.

The Juggernaut had a short-lived romantic relationship with Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk), who is Bruce Banner's (Hulk) cousin. (To learn more about the Juggernaut and his relationship with She-Hulk and to about the evil to good flip-flopping of Juggernaut, click on the following website, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Juggernaut. Note: If you decide to go to the She-Hulk bio page you will want to block images because the first image shows the She-Hulk in a very risque and tight-fitting outfit.)

Daredevil

Real Name
Matthew Michael Murdock

Occupation
Crime fighter, lawyer

Citizenship

U.S.A.

Place of Birth

New York City

Known Relatives

Jonathan "Battling Jack" Murdock (father, deceased), Grace Murdock (mother, deceased), Milla Donovan (estranged wife)

Group Affiliation

Formerly Defenders, "Marvel Knights"

Education
Daredevil possesses a high school diploma and a Juris Doctor (doctorate of law) from Columbia University. He also possesses the equivalent of a self-taught masters of applied sciences in mechanical engineering.

Height
6'0"

Weight
200 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Red

Powers
In compensation for his lost sight, Daredevil’s other four senses have been preternaturally enhanced.

His sense of touch is sensitive enough to detect the faint impressions of ink on paper, allowing him to read by touch. He is also able to feel minute changes in temperature and pressure, enough to sense a human body at a distance of five feet, due to body heat and air disturbance. His sensitivity to heat allows him to sense the temperature of people and objects in order to determine whether a person is alive, how long they have been dead if they are not, and other changes in body temperature such as blushing or the heating up associated with various emotional states, as well as residual body heat on an object, or how recently a machine has been in use.

Daredevil’s sense of smell is enhanced enough to distinguish individuals by their natural odors, and remember and identify them no matter how they attempt to mask their scent, as well as track that individual scent through a crowd of people at a distance of roughly 50 feet.

His sense of taste is sharp enough to enable him to detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzel. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tastes, as long as there are at least 20 milligrams of that substance present.

Daredevil’s enhanced sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of 1 decibel at a pressure level of 7, whereas the average human can only detect a sound as low as 20 decibels. He can even hear people speaking through a standard soundproofed wall. Daredevil is also able to hear a heartbeat from 20 feet away, as well as identify people by their individual beat rhythm, or detect whether they are lying or not by the changes in their heartbeat, though a pace maker or self control will confuse his reading. Not only does Daredevil’s hearing allow him to be constantly aware of his own heartbeat, blood circulation, breathing, physical movements, etc, but he is also able to hear and sense the same attributes in other people. One of the primary ways he does this is by hearing the reverberations made by ambient sounds on objects and people, giving him a sonar-like sense of where things are, and how dense they are. And while he is able to block out a good amount of background noise, he can also be excessively disoriented by unexpected loud noises and can be confused when immersed in the wash of sound from a busy crowd.

Along with the enhancement of Daredevil’s normal senses, he has gained another sense which he calls his Radar Sense. According to one theory, this sense reacts to an emission of electromagnetic energy a mutation in his brain has caused, reading the reverberations of this energy as a 360º, 3-D map of objects. This “sight” is not perfect, and can only give Daredevil an impression of the exact physical shape of objects, not a literal one. Closely overlapping objects can also confuse this sense.

The mutations that have heightened Daredevil’s level of sensitivity have also increased his awareness of other forms of electromagnetic radiation. He is capable of detecting and identifying any electromagnetic radiation on the standard scale; from radio waves, (which he can only detect, not understand the message) all the way to gamma waves, and everything in between. He is also able to judge the strength of a given radiation and even differentiate between individual colors by the amount of radiation they give off. At very close range, Daredevil is able to detect the micro voltage of a human being’s brain. 

Abilities

Daredevil possesses the strength, speed, agility, and endurance, not to mention acrobatic and gymnastic skills, of an Olympic-level athlete. Through a combination of the tutelage of Stick and self-training, Daredevil is a master of a unique martial art form, which is a hybridized form of American boxing and the Japanese arts of ninjutsu, judo and aiki-jujutsu. Martial arts training has given him an immense degree of concentration and personal control over his body and energy, or Ki. Daredevil is also an accomplished criminal trial lawyer. 

Other Info

Pretty close to what Daredevil the movie shows, Matt Murdock gained his powers when he saved a man from an oncoming truck and it spilled radioactive cargo that made him blind, but it did enhance his other senses.

Matt learned martial arts from martial arts master named Stick, and through this Matt mastered his senses and became an awesome fighter. (Click on Stick's name to learn more about him.)

His father (a professional boxer) was murdered by agents of the Fixer for refusing to throw a fight. (Not Kingpin, who killed Murdock's father in Daredevil the movie. Click on the link above to learn more about Fixer and the Kingpin.)

Daredevil has loved and fought alongside both the Black Widow (who will be in the next Iron Man movie, Iron Man 2) and Elektra. Something interesting to point out, Elektra learned martial arts from the same martial arts master as Daredevil: Stick. (Click on the above links to learn more about the different Marvel characters. Note: They are Marvel female characters so beware of the risque pictures.)

Daredevil and the Punisher both fight crime, but Daredevil disagrees with the Punisher's lethal tactics. Daredevil even shot the Punisher to prevent him from killing a drug-dealer. However, Daredevil has worked with the Punisher when necessary. Another person that Daredevil often battles is Bullseye. And pretty much every time, Daredevil beats Bullseye. (Click on the above name of the characters to learn more about them and their connection to Daredevil.)

Daredevil uses a billy club, disguised as a blind man's walking stick. It contains thirty feet of aircraft control cable, which is connected to a case-hardened steel grapnel. Also, Daredevil's first costume was yellow, black, and red, which was made from his father's boxing robe (this is shown in the fifth picture posted. And above that, is the short-lived red and black armored outfit Daredevil used).

If you would like to learn more about the life of Daredevil, including some of the experiences teaming up with other Marvel characters such as Spider-Man and Wolverine, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Daredevil_(Matthew_Murdock).

Daredevil appears in the 2003 film named Daredevil (shown as the top photo in the second picture posted above). Marvel Studios has reclaimed the rights to the Daredevil character and has released the Netflix TV series named Marvel's Daredevil. This version of the Daredevil starts in a black ninja-like outfit and then finishes Season 1 with a newer red-armored version (shown as the bottom two photos in the second picture posted above.)

Lady Deathstrike

Real Name
Yuriko Oyama

Occupation
Assassin, CEO of Oyama Heavy Industries

Citizenship
Japan (Canadian criminal record)

Place of Birth
Osaka, Japan

Known Relatives
Kenji Oyama (Lord Dark Wind, father, deceased), two unidentified brothers (deceased)

Group Affiliation
Formerly Thunderbolts; former ally of Reverend William Stryker, former employee of Sabretooth, formerly Reavers

Education
Privately tutored

Height
5'9"

Weight
128 lbs.

Eyes
Brown

Hair
Black

Powers
Lady Deathstrike is a cyborg with augmented strength, speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes. Her skeleton has been artificially laced with molecules of the metal Adamantium, rendering her bones virtually unbreakable. Deathstrike is able to cybernetically interface her consciousness with external computer systems, allowing for direct data access to her brain’s memory centers and granting her the ability to remotely operate such systems.

Deathstrike’s cybernetic systems also include a self-repair and reconfiguration program, allowing her to automatically repair damage to her cyborg body. The more damage she endures, the longer her reconfiguration program will take to repair her body.

Abilities
Lady Deathstrike is a supremely skilled martial artist, considered an expert in the art of Kenjutsu and other samurai warrior skills. She is an accomplished pilot of various aircraft and seacraft, and is fluent in both Japanese and English.

Other Info
Some may wonder how Lady Deathstrike met Willaim Stryker, who is the guy who experimented on many different humans/mutants such as Wolverine in the X-Men movies (Stryker is in the movie, X2: X-men United, and the upcoming moive, X-Men Origins:Wolverine)? Yuriko and her two brothers were privately tutored by Marcy Stryker, who was the wife of William Stryker. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about them.)

Yuriko's dad, Kenji, was the one that developed a way to bond the virtually indestructible metal Adamantium to human bone, a procedure he hoped to use in creating an army of super-soldiers for Japan. But, his notes were stolen, and it took him years to rediscover the process. Yuriko found out that her father was evil and that her brothers died in the service of her father, Lord Dark Wind. Yuriko's friend Kira was also currently serving under her father as well. And Lord Dark Wind captured Bullseye and replaced his broken bones with Adamantium substitutes, hoping that in return Bullseye would assassinate Japan’s minister of trade for him. Yuriko discoverd these things and decided to help guide Daredevil to her father’s private island. Yuriko killed her father, Lord Dark Wind, just as he was about to kill Daredevil. Yuriko's loved friend, Kira, killed himself because he was despaired over Kenji's death. The shock of Kira’s death radically altered Yuriko’s outlook on life, and she resolved to carry on her father’s work. (Talk about a weird turn-around!?) (If you would like to learn more about the highlighted characters above, just click on their names.)

Yuriko became convinced that Wolverine had gained his Adamantium-laced skeleton by the plans that were stolen from her father years earlier which has led to a pretty much life-long rivalry between the two. At this point, she decided to dress up as a female samurai and call herself, Lady Deathstrike.

Yuriko is a human. She is not a mutant. At one point during her life, Lady Deathstrike was transformed into a cyborg (a living being who contains cybernetic or bionic parts to replace and/or enhance physical parts). This process gave her a skeleton that was artificially laced with molecules of Adamantium, and superhuman strength. (To learn more about Lady Deathstrike's life, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Lady_Deathstrike. Note: Just like many of the female Marvel characters, Lady Deathstrike's picture found at Marvel.com is very risque. To avoid this picture, just block the images loaded on your webpage and just read the bio.)

Battle Royal Results

And the victor is...ROGUE!!! Wow! What a great turn out at the polls this week! 18 votes, and 7 of them went to Rogue! She CRUSHED the competition! The next closest was Wolverine in a distant 2nd with only 3 votes! I was kind of surprised by this...I didn't know that their were sooooo many Rogue fans!?!? Apparently, once people learned more about her (which I learned a ton more about her too) people thought she was the strongest! My first poll I ever did about which superpower people would like to have...Rogue only got 2 votes, and people were allowed to choose their TOP 3 (not just one)! Crazy!?!?! Talk about a turn around! (But, it may have to do with people wanting to be able to touch people, which Rogue can't, so I can kind of understand why people wouldn't want her ability, but see her as the strongest character!) Anyway, thanks for all those who participated, and thanks to all those who just check out my Marvel Madness blog! Much love everyone!

P.S. I believe I will be doing another Battle Royal once I highlight 12 more characters!

Thing

Real Name
Benjamin Jacob Grimm

Occupation
Adventurer; former construction worker, security guard, astronaut, test pilot, college football player, student, wrestler

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Manhattan, New York

Known Relatives
Daniel Grimm (father, deceased), Elsi Grimm (mother, deceased), Daniel Grimm Jr. (brother, deceased), Dr. Jacob Grimm (uncle and former legal guardian), Alyce Grimm (aunt, deceased), Sophie Grimm (aunt, deceased), Petunia "Penny" Grimm (aunt), unnamed maternal grandmother (deceased), Franklin Richards (godson)

Group Affiliation
Fantastic Four; formerly Avengers, Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, Thunderiders, pawns of Grandmaster, Project: PEGASUS staff, Defenders associate, NASA, U.S. military

Education
College graduate (State University), U.S. military pilot training, NASA astronaut training

Height
6'

Weight
500 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
None (formerly brown as Grimm)

Powers
The Thing's mutated physiology grants him tremendous superhuman strength and durability, the levels varying with his different forms. There have been periods where Ben could assume human form at will; however, these situations seldom last long. He also has enhanced stamina and lung capacity, and increased resistance to sensory and temperature extremes. His reflexes are above-average by human standards despite his immense mass, and he retains a reasonable level of agility and dexterity.

Abilities
Ben is an exceptionally skilled and experienced pilot, proficient with many varieties of both conventional and exotic aircraft, and was also trained as an astronaut. He is uniquely gifted in the art of hand-to-hand combat (a skill Ben honed long before he became the Thing), though his fighting style tends to be a rather loose brawling technique all his own. In his youth, Ben was a talented football player.

Other Info
When Ben Grimm went to college on a football scholarship, he roomed with Reed Richards. (Both would eventually become members of the Fantastic Four, Thing and Mister Fantastic respectively.)

As a test pilot in the military, Ben undertook dangerous assignments on occasion, notably when the Pentagon recruited him to fly government agents Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) and Logan (Wolverine) into Russia, supposedly to test a series of radio transmitters. The trio were shot down but managed to fight their way out of Russia while Logan completed his true mission, capturing the Russian Project: Red Storm. Ben eventually moved into the astronaut training program, where his colleagues included fellow pilot John Jameson (who is the son of J. Jonah Jameson, the Daily Bugle newspaper owner in Spider-Man). (Click on the names above to learn more about each of the characters.)

In the Thing's first appearance, Jack Kirby (the original illustrator) had intended his skin to be something like dinosaur hide. Over the years his skin has evolved growing into more rocky plate like structures. The rocky exterior moves over a more viscous inner hide. This can be seen in story lines from the 1980s where Reed Richards attempted to cure the Thing. He succeeded in removing the rocky exterior but was not so successful in removing the inner hide which left the Thing looking like bumpy mush for a period of time. It is commonly accepted that the evolution of the Thing's skin is a measure of the Thing's overall physical changes and strength.

At one time, the Thing wore a helmet that concealed his face (as seen in the second to last picture posted), but after awhile he stopped wearing it. He later wore the helmet again when he was recovering from facial scars inflicted by Wolverine.

The Thing and the Hulk have been allies and enemies multiple times throughout each others' lives. In fact, the Hulk eventually becomes one of the toughest recurring opponents for the Thing.

The Fantastic Four had to undertake a time travel quest one time, and Ben found a new life in the past as the legendary Blackbeard the Pirate. He nearly abandoned his teammates to remain in the 18th century. (Who would of thought...Thing as Blackbeard the Pirate...very interesting.)

For many years Ben and Avengers butler, Edwin Jarvis, have organized a series of floating super-hero poker games, attended by players such as Nick Fury, Wolverine, Blake Tower, Doctor Strange, Beast, Human Torch, She-Hulk, Black Cat, Archangel, Spider-Man and many of the Avengers. (Click on the highlighted names to learn more about these Marvel characters. Note: the pictures for Black Cat and She-Hulk are risque, so beware! To avoid their images, try to block images before you enter their Marvel.com bio pages.)

The Thing has had many relationships and they all have seemed to fail for one reason or the other. Along with that, the Thing has had to drop out of the Fantastic Four a few times. Also, there have been multiple times where the Thing has been able to turn back into his human form. (To learn about these topics and about the life of the Thing, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Thing. Just know that the bio is a little longer than most other Marvel characters, but it's interesting.)

Battle Royal

I recently rented a cartoon movie entitled, Hulk Vs., which has two separate short movies with Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor. This has inspired me to do this next poll...BATTLE ROYAL! Imagine if twelve Marvel characters were to be in a battle to where there could only be one victor. Put the good and evil notion to the side. Everyone vs. everyone. No alliances. Only one can be left standing. Please choose who you think would win among the twelve Marvel characters in the poll. Also, if you have time, please leave the reason why you think the character you chose would win in the "comment" section below. This way, we can all see your reasoning in choosing your winner. Who will be the victor? Only you can decide!

The twelve characters that are involved, are the twelve characters that have been highlighted so far on the Marvel Madness blog: Rogue, Magneto, Human Torch, Mystique, Colossus, Beast, Storm, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Hulk. (If you have forgotten some of these characters' powers/abilities, go ahead and check out their bios right here on the Marvel Madness blog.)

Rogue

Real Name
Anna Marie (full name unrevealed)

Occupation
Adventurer, former mechanic, waitress, terrorist

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Caldecott County, Mississippi

Known Relatives
Owen (father), Priscilla (mother), Carrie (aunt), Raven Darkhölme (Mystique, foster mother), Irene Adler (Destiny, foster mother), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler, foster brother), Graydon Creed (foster brother, deceased)

Group Affiliation
X-Men, formerly X.S.E, X-Treme X-Men, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

Education
College-level courses at Xavier's School, partial law degree

Height
5'8"

Weight
120 lbs.

Eyes
Green

Hair
Brown with white streak

Powers
Rogue is a mutant who formerly possessed the ability to absorb the memories, abilities, personality, and outward physical characteristics of other beings through skin-to-skin contact. Such transfers lasted for 60 times longer than the contact time, with extended contact resulting in the possibility of permanent absorption. No upper limit had been determined for the number of beings Rogue could simultaneously imprint.

Upon absorbing another's memories, Rogue also gained any associated emotional responses. Rogue was typically able to control such emotions, however absorbing psyches more powerful than her own resulted in Rogue’s psyche being supplanted.

After permanently absorbing the powers of Ms. Marvel, Rogue possessed an amalgamated mutant human/alien Kree physiology that granted her a degree of immunity to poisons, and a virtually indestructible body. Rogue also possessed Ms. Marvel's above normal reflexes and psychic "seventh sense" that enabled her to subconsciously anticipate an opponent’s moves. Whilst Rogue possessed Ms. Marvel's psyche, her "double" consciousness made her resistant to telepathic probes from even the most powerful mind readers. She also gained Ms. Marvel's incredible strength, and supersonic flight.

After absorbing the powers of an alien Skrull, Rogue began to spontaneously reactivate previously absorbed abilities. Rogue could also tap into the residual psychic energy of those she had imprinted to determine their status and to relive past events from their perspective.

Recently, Rogue has seemingly permanently absorbed the fire-based powers of Sunfire.

Abilities
Rogue could formerly draw upon the combat and espionage training of Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) by granting control of her body to her alternate personality, a duplicate of Danvers'. Rogue can also speak fluent French.

Other Info
I don't know about you guys, but I didn't know that when Rogue absorbed people's powers, she also absorbed their memories, personality, feelings, and outward physical characteristics. I just thought she absorbed mutant's powers. Also, she can absorb more than one person's abilities at one time. I didn't realize how cool her mutant ability was! (The one picture above looks like Rogue absorbed Colossus and Nightcrawler's abilities and physical characteristics. The one above that picture shows Rogue with Sunfire's powers, I think. I thought that the Colossus/Nightcrawler picture was pretty sweet! And to learn more about each of these other characters, just click on their names above.)

When Rogue was young she ran away from home and was taken in by Mystique and Destiny, whom she regarded as her surrogate parents. Rogue realized that she couldn't live normally with other humans after she kissed her boyfriend who went into a permanent coma. She then began to participate in her foster mother's criminal endeavors and joined Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (Click on the names and mutant group above to learn more about them.)

The picture above (second from the bottom) in the just green costume that looks like an old-school comic book drawing was the first costume Rogue ever had in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Some of you may have watched the X-men cartoons growing up and noticed that Rogue flies. But in the X-men movies she doesn't. Well, on her first mission with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Rogue battled with Ms. Marvel and permanently absorbed her memories and powers, including super-strength and flight. And that's how she got her flight abilities. (Click on the name above to learn more about Ms. Marvel.)

As many may know, Rogue and Gambit are intimately involved with each other. I dont' know about anybody else, but I was a bit bugged that Gambit wasn't in the X-men movies. But, I'm glad that he will be in the next movie, X-men Origins: Wolverine. (Click on the highlighted words to see more about Gambit and more updates about the next X-men movie coming out May 1, 2009.)

To learn more about the life of Rogue, such as when and why she finally joined the X-men, click on the following link, http://www.marvel.com/universe/Rogue.