Hero/Villain of the Week!

This week I’m introducing format changes in an effort to make things more clear for all of you, and as a means of providing you an unbiased source of information when introducing you to a new character.  This way, you can decide for yourself which heroes and villains you want to see more of.  A clean look is nothing more than an added bonus.  So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the new Hero/Villain of the Week!

Marvel Comics presents

Name:  Omega Red      Real Name:  Arkady Gregorivich

Status:  Villain     Occupation:  Crimelord; former mercenary, KGB agent  

Group Affiliations:  Red Mafia (kingpin); former employee of Sabretooth, The General, Ivan Pushkin, and Matsu’o Tsurayaba; formerly KGB, Upstarts

Height:  6′ 11″     Weight:  425 lbs

Powers:  Omega Red is a mutant with the ability to secrete bodily pheromones deadly to anyone in his immediate vicinity. This power greatly drains his energy, requiring him to absorb the life force of others. Omega Red was also granted superhuman strength from the KGB enhancement.

Special Abilities:  Omega Red is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant with extensive KGB training, and is fluent in Russian and English. Omega Red also has superhuman levels of stamina sufficient to engage Wolverine in combat continuously for over eighteen hours with no signs of fatigue. His bodily tissues are harder and more resistant to certain types of injury than those of an ordinary human. While he isn’t invulnerable, his body can withstand great impact and blunt trauma forces that would result in severe injury or death in an ordinary human.

Preferred Weaponry:   Implanted within Omega Red’s arms are long retractable tendril-like coils made of carbonadium, an artificial alloy that is the former Soviet Union’s attempt at creating True Adamantium. Carbonadium is more malleable than adamantium and, while being vastly stronger than steel, is considerably less durable than adamantium. Carbonadium, however, is for all practical purposes virtually indestructible. Omega Red can cause the coils to shoot forward from openings in the undersides of his wrists in order to ensnare his victims. Omega Red is able to use the tentacles as highly effective offensive weapons, often brandishing them like whips during combat. The natural durability of the tentacles, combined with his physical strength, are sufficient to cause damage to most conventional materials.  The coils serve as both conduit and stabilizing factor for his mutant pheromones. Omega Red’s resistance to injury is considerably enhanced due to the red armor that he wears. While it is unknown what the armor is composed of, it is sufficient to allow him to withstand powerful energy blasts from the likes of Chamber or Cyclops without sustaining injury

Key media appearances:  Omega Red’s key appearances in the pages of Marvel Comics include Wolverine:  Origins #31 and X-Men Vol. 2 #4-7 and #18-19.  The character has also appeared in two incarnations of the X-Men animated series, X-Men the animated series and X-Men:  Evolution.  Red has also appeared in multiple video games, including multiple Capcom/Marvel fighting games and as a boss in X-Men legends 2:  Rise of Apocalypse.  Finally, the character appeared in the Marvel animated film Hulk vs, particularly the Hulk vs Wolverine feature, working with Weapon X members attempting to capture the Hulk to use him as the Ultimate Weapon.  In that segment, he has a “unique” relationship with the Merc with the Mouth, Deadpool.

Character History:  Little is known about the Russian mutant before he became a mercenary and serial killer in Russia.  Once captured, he was turned over to the KGB, where they promptly turned him into their agent, code named Omega Red.  But the transformation process was interrupted by Team X,  an elite covert ops team consisting of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maverick, and Wraith. They stole the Carbonadium Synthesizer, a device that was used to control Omega Red’s mutant power.  Omega Red was subsequently put in suspended animation.

He was revived decades later by ninja clan the Hand, and he promptly allied himself with their leader, Matsu’o Tsurayaba, in exchange for the whereabouts of Wolverine and the C-Synthesizer. Omega Red fought with both Maverick and Wolverine in an attempt to regain control of the synthesizer and gain his revenge on those who caused his state of suspended animation.  He was defeated by the X-Men.  Omega Red would later hunt down the cyborg M.O.D.A.M, whom he believed was the KGB agent who had betrayed him.  He was stopped by Iron Man.  Omega Red would come across and do battle with Generation X, Daredevil and the Black Widow, before he became employed by Russian crime lord Ivan Pushkin in an effort to incite a war between Hydra and A.I.M.  He ultimately failed in that endeavor, and would bounce from lackey job to lackey job, only to be betrayed at every turn.

Omega Red grew tired of being hired muscle, and he moved to New York to be the Kingpin of the Red Mafia.  In this capacity, he provided one time foe Agent Zero (formerly Maverick of Team X) with information on the whereabouts of Sabretooth, thus exacting a bit of revenge on both of them.  He served as a legitimate business man and a serious threat to the Kingpin, until he decided to resume his efforts to find the Carbonadium Synthesizer.  He would clash with Wolverine, landing himself in S.H.I.E.L.D custody.  His freedom was bought by Red Room with the hopes of using Omega Red’s powers for his own means.  Omega Red promptly “freed” himself from his employer, and immediately clashed with Wolverine, Collossus, and Nightcrawler.  Red had become impervious to Wolverine’s claws as a result of experimentation by Red Room, but he still fell to the heroes.  Omega Red is presently in S.H.I.E.L.D custody.