Friday, December 26, 2014 • Morning Edition • "Those who arrive survive. Maybe."

Your Top Marvel Heroes part 15

Written by Chris Mitchell on Wednesday, April 14 2010 and posted in Features
Three characters for ya: {nomultithumb}

190. M-11 the Human Robot (11 points)

Commissioned by Plan Tzu (aka Yellow Claw) as part of a complicated plan to establish his unwitting successor, FBI agent Jimmy Woo, as a great hero, the robot M-11 was completed in 1954 by an unidentified professor. Concerned at creating a killing machine completely under the control of Plan's Atlas Foundation, and pressured to hand over M-11 before he could complete the programming modifications he wanted, the scientist took the drastic step of having the robot electrocute him, correctly reasoning that somehow part of his displaced life essence would encode itself in its neural net, giving it free will and emotions. After slaying him, M-11 left the lab and walked into the sea, where it lay inert.

Four years later, Plan Tzu kidnapped President Eisenhower, and as he intended, Woo gathered together a team of "G-Men" to rescue him. M-11 had been found by the Atlantean Namora, while she was searching for her missing cousin Namor; she informed Woo of the machine, and he retrieved it. Its teammate Marvel Boy (Robert Grayson) used Uranian know-how to restore it to working order; M-11 worked with the group out of choice and a growing loyalty to Woo, but pretended to be controlled by a voice-activated radio device Woo carried. After a successful first mission, the G-Men worked together for another six months, battling foes such as the mysterious Foundation and the cosmic-ray mutated dog Laika, before instructions came from above to disband. M-11 was covertly retrieved by Plan Tzu, and over the succeeding decades it allowed him to make numerous upgrades to its systems.

Recently Plan Tzu moved to pass on his mantle to Woo. After Woo was critically injured while investigating Atlas, Plan convinced M-11 to enlist former teammates Gorilla Man, who got them in to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where Woo was being treated, and Grayson, whose alien technology restored Woo to health and youth after the trio broke Woo out. Initially unaware Plan Tzu was watching their every move through M-11's eye, Woo reformed the G-Men to discover the truth behind Atlas. M-11 deduced that Namora, long believed dead, was still alive, and led them to her frozen body, which it revived. After realizing Plan had been manipulating them and ordering M-11 to sever his connection to Plan, Woo led the G-Men to confront their opponent. Plan explained his actions, and ceded control of Atlas to Woo. M-11 currently remains with his former teammates as one of Woo's new Agents of Atlas.

M-11 is bulletproof, equipped with telescopic limbs possessing superhuman strength and which it can electrify, and, if shattered, it can pull its scattered components back together within minutes. It's ability to repair itself is a magical power bestowed upon it by Mr. Lao called a "restoration enchantment" . It can project protective force fields, and a destructive "death ray" which emanates from its eye. Its visual and audio sensors are extremely acute. Its computer brain is capable of independent reasoning and can access any computer network on Earth, downloading vast amounts of data for analysis.

Able to access knowledge from any computer database on Earth.

189. Magma (11 points)

Magma hailed from the fictional country of Nova Roma (New Rome), a colony of the Roman Republic reportedly founded shortly after the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The colony was hidden in modern Brazil and was ruled until recently by the immortal mutant sorceress Selene. Amara was the daughter of Lucius Antonius Aquilla. He was presumably a member of the historical gens Antonia which claimed descent from Anton, son of Hercules.

A faction of the city’s Inca population attempted to transform the republic into an imperial state and a dark cult following the Black Priestess was regularly sacrificing young girls in a pit of fire in some caves beneath Nova Roma. Senator Aquilla was the leader of the opposition to this faction. Fearing for his daughters safety, he sent his daughter Amara to live in the jungles outside Nova Roma, disguised as an Indian. Later, the senator discovered that the Black Priestess was actually the immortal mutant Selene, wife of Senator Marcus Domitius Gallio, the leader of the Imperial faction.

Amara remained in hiding for years until she was captured by the New Mutants, who were on an expedition in the Amazon jungle. They learned of her disguise, but then both Amara and the New Mutants were captured by soldiers of Nova Roma and imprisoned. Now held prisoner by Selene, Amara was to be sacrificed. Selene used her mutant powers to drain Amara's life energy into her own body. The New Mutant named Mirage attacked Selene. This distraction caused Selene to release Amara from her control, but Selene knocked Amara into the pit of lava.

Somehow, rather than harming Amara, her immersion in the lava awakened her latent mutant powers. Together, Amara, with her new-found powers, and the New Mutants defeated Selene and helped thwart Senator Gallio's attempt to kill Senator Aquilla and seize power. Amara was instructed to go to the United States with the New Mutants and there learn about modern civilization. Amara did so reluctantly and became a member of the New Mutants under the code-name Magma.

At first Magma experienced culture shock, however she soon got a handle of modern civilization, including such things as computers and electricity. She also made quick progress in the use of her powers, being able to melt tunnels into the ground with the walls cooling down in mere seconds.

At a Hellfire Club event, Magma recognized her grandmother, "many times removed" in a statue depicting the ancient lunar deity Selene. Selene approached her to claim having been both the model for the statue and the ancestor in question. Magma refused to believe her claim.

Amara later left the New Mutants and joined the Hellions, and then returned to South America with the Hellion member called Empath, who she had romantic feelings for. Amara sensed something was different about her homeland and its people but could not discern what was worrying her.


Later, all of the remaining members of the Hellions were killed by Trevor Fitzroy. Warpath, joined by Firestar and Cannonball, who were all once members of the Hellions, went to South America to tell Amara and Empath of the death of their former teammates. While there, they discovered that Amara and all the people of this city had been living a lie. The city had not been founded by ancient Roman settlers. Instead, it was populated by the kidnapped and mind-wiped victims of Selene. She had created the city as a testament to the times she loved most and desperately wanted to relive. With Selene gone from the area, the spell had started to fade. Empath had tried to prolong the scenario as, for the first time in his life, he was happy. The people of Nova Roma started to regain their memories and Amara was told that her real name was Allison Crestmere and that she was a mutant of British descent.

Later still, both Magma and Empath were kidnapped by the mutant twins Fenris, a plot that was part of an elaborate and deadly game organized by the villainous Gamesmaster. They were rescued by the team X-Force (formerly, the New Mutants). Afterwards, Magma decided to leave Empath and her friends to search for her family in England.

Allison was not seen again until her appearance in King Bedlam's new Hellions. He called her a "British exile," so it seemed that she did not rebuild her old life as planned. How she came to join him is unknown. However, when King Bedlam unleashed the Armageddon Man on the U.S., Magma did not leave with him, and helped X-Force shut down a nuclear reactor and stop the Armageddon Man.

Magma later turned up among a group of mutants captured and crucified on the front lawn of Xavier’s mansion by the Church of Humanity. Magma was among the few victims saved from certain death by quick transfusion of Archangel's new healing-factor-laced blood. However, Magma remained in a coma for a time.

A few weeks later, students Josh Foley and Julian Keller found out about Amara and decided to wake her up with Josh's healing abilities. Magma awoke and let out a power blast that nearly demolished the entire wing, then ran away. She joined up with the "X-Treme" X-Men team in California and reunited with her old friend Cannonball, then ran into Sunspot and Empath as well. Magma no longer thought of herself as Allison and was instead completely back to her Amara persona. How and why this change occurred, and which identity was the true one, is unknown. Amara helped the X-Men fight and temporarily defeat Elias Bogan and his telepath, though she reduced the LA X-Corporation headquarters to slag while doing it.

While vacationing in Guadeloupe, she found a new boyfriend. Antonio Argent was a mutant with almost the same powers as Magma. While on a date in the magma of a volcano, the "House of M consequence" took his mutant powers away. He combusted in the twinkling of an eye. His death temporarily drove her insane causing her to make the volcano erupt and attack a nearby town. She was later apprehended by Empath and brought to the Xavier Institute where she shared a tent with Skids and Outlaw. She was also being manipulated emotionally by the mutant Johnny Dee who was infatuated with her. Because of previous experience with being emotionally controlled, she incorrectly blamed Empath who denied her accusations.

mistyknight.jpg188. Misty Knight (11 points)

I like her. I wonder (and parts of me hopes) that she will be involved in the Shadowland event happening with the street level characters of the Marvel U. Seriously, an Annihilation style event with street level characters, how cool is that? Anywho.

During her tenure as a police officer Misty became good friends with Colleen Wing after saving her life during a shootout. Unable to continue active duty after being injured, Misty rejected settling for a desk job and instead left the NYPD to start a private investigation business with Colleen; Nightwing Restorations, LTD. The two specialized in missing persons cases, and came to be known as the Daughters of the Dragon for their training in Eastern martial arts and Colleen's samurai sword skills.

The Daughters of the Dragon have frequently teamed up with Iron Fist and Luke Cage, along with the Heroes for Hire. Misty has long been romantically linked with Danny Rand, though she also briefly romanced Tyrone King when Rand was believed dead.


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