sparkymat

the german

Profile

Name: Unknown

Alias: The German

Power: Manipulation of magnetic fields

Overview

Little is known about the German. He first catches the attention of the Company when he commits a string of bank robberies, most of them using brute forces, including ripping off the vault doors. Later, after escaping from Level 5, he, along with Knox, Flint and Jessy (Peter), attempts to rob another bank, where he gets killed by Knox over an argument.

Closest ‘Marvel’ match

magneto

It is quite obvious that The German is a nod to Magneto, one of the most prominent characters from the Marvel Universe. A Jewish Holocaust survivor, Magneto grew up hating his oppressors. Since the discovery of his powers, he considers mutants (like himself) as the next step in the evolution of man. Thus, began his war on humanity, the war for mutant rights. Initially it was for dominance, though with time, it became more a battle for survival.

Often considered a “bad guy”, Erik ‘Magnus’ Lehnsherr (real name being Max Eisenhardt) is one of the most powerful Marvels. He was once the ruler of Genosha, the first mutant nation, before the country was attacked by anti-mutant activists (with Sentinels IIRC), an act which destroyed millions of mutants.

Battle

Verdict: Not at all a good idea

Though the extent of The German’s powers have never been explored much, he seems to be quite average in terms of Marvel mutant power ranges. Mangeto, on the other hand, is one of the most powerful Marvels in the Marvel universe. In terms of raw power, he can lift a cargo freighter weighing 30,000 tons, 50 feet into the air from a distance of 300 feet away. He has a genius level intellect, being extremely knowledgeable and practised in genetic manipulation and engineering. He uses his magnetic powers quite effectively, using force-fields, enhancing his strength to Class 100 levels, and assembling complex machinery with precision using his powers, and sometimes, all at the same time.

knox

Profile

Name: Benjamin Washington

Alias: Knox

Power: Enhanced strength (fuelled by fear in those around him)

Overview

Knox is portrayed as a sadistic criminal. He seems to have turned to the wrong side of the law quite early in his youth. He is seen working as part of an organized syndicate, in most instances.

Closest ‘Marvel’ match

sabretooth

In my opinion, there is no “close” match for Knox in Marvel. One potential candidate I can think of, who comes a little close, would be Victor Creed, a.k.a Sabretooth. Like Knox, Sabretooth is sadistic and has enhanced strength. Though he usually prefers to work alone, he has often teamed up with other villains, notably the Brotherhood of Mutants (the Mystique-led wing, if I remember correctly).

Battle

Verdict: Not a good idea

Sabretooth will possibly toy with him for a while, before tearing him to pieces. Romulus is one of the few people in the Marvel universe who can scare Sabretooth. So Knox doesn’t have much of a chance here. However, let us assume there are others in the area who are scared. I am not sure if Knox’s strength scales with the amount of fear generated in the vicinity, but I am pretty sure that Sabretooth’s healing factor can compensate. In short, Knox is dead.

Recently came across this post, which pitted the various Heroes characters against their X-Men counterparts. Personally, I feel most of it was not true or accurate. Hence, I am going to attempt to re-match them based on my knowledge of the respective mythologies. Also, “X-men” doesn’t include the villains and other miscellaneous mutants, so I am renaming it to Marvels.

As an introduction, here’s a list of Heroes characters whom I will be comparing with their Marvel counterparts.

• Knox
• The German
• Stephen Canfield
• Eric Doyle
• D.L. Hawkins
• Niki Sanders
• Micah Sanders
• Monica Dawson
• Tracy Strauss
• Mohinder Suresh
• Meredith Gordon
• Hiro Nakamura
• Adam Munroe
• Matt Parkman
• Maury Parkman
• Robert Bishop
• Elle Bishop
• Daniel Linderman
• Eden McCain
• Claude Rains
• Candice Wilmer
• Daphne Millbrook
• Maya Herrera
• Usutu
• Hana Gietleman
• Isaac Mendez
• Ted Sprague
• Claire Bennet
• Arthur Petrelli
• Angela Petrelli
• Nathan Petrelli
• Peter Petrelli
• Molly Walker
• The Haitian
• Gabriel Gray / Sylar

at The Dark Knight: No superpowers..? I like that…

The Watchmen: Then you’re gonna love me!

Some quotes from various X-men comics

“Sit it out, boy, I have no interest in reading your mind. I might get lost in all that empty space.”

“I believe you people have something that belongs to us?”
“Short li’l fella.”
“All adamantium and attitude. He’s one of a kind. We’d like him back.”

“And finally, those of you with red in your costumes will follow attack plan D, schedule C — or is it plan C, schedule D…? Uh, any questions?” ‘I’m wearing red underwear, do I use plan D?’ ‘Hey, I just got here.. are we the X’s or the circles?’ I don’t know, Colossus, I thought it was shirts and skins!’” “Just beat up the ^&&*%$%# bad guys, all right!!!!”

Storm: “We are here to see a man about a rescue.”
Xavier: “Pity. I was hoping for a pizza delivery.”
Colossus: “Is Professor Xavier unwell, Storm? He is making a joke.”
Jean Grey: “Contrary to popular belief, the man’s only human. Complete with a sense of humor.”
Archangel: “Such as it is.”
Xavier: “Et tu, Archangel? Don’t I get respect anymore from anyone?”

“Dog bites man — that’s not a story. Man bites dog — *that’s* a story. and if the dog and man slug it out for six issues and then Wolverine shows up for a guest appearance, and the dog turns out to be a mutant; that’s a *Marvel* story.”

“Like, is that a cigarette? I am SOOOOOO impressed.”
“I have a small list of people I try to impress, chica. And surprise, surprise, you ain’t on it.”

“You have no idea what it’s like to have your entire life pulled out from under you!”
“Warren, please. You’re talking to the woman who’s been killed, cloned and kidnapped more times than *I* can remember. Let’s keep it in perspective.”

“Guido, go *with* her.”
“Why me?”
“Because I *ordered* you to, ‘cupcake’!”
“Okay. So long as there’s a reason.”

“I *hate* this! I’m a trained mercenary! I know 64 ways to kill a guy with a spoon and I’m stuck guarding an electric generator.”
“D’you mean you can kill a guy who *has* a spoon — or that you can kill a guy with your own personal spoon?”

“The truth is out there - and it’s got bloody great teeth.”

“If I had a nickel for every catatonic body down here….well, I’d have fifteen cents, but that’s beside the point”

“My name is Blink. Who do you *think* is faster…halfscan?”

“Why does everyone say my name like it means shut up?”

“Yeah, it’s Jaimie alright.”
“You know this guy?”
“No, Einstein, my hobby is looking at random stiffs and saying ‘It’s Jaimie all right.’”
“Oh. Well, it beats collecting comics.”

“With everyone assuming a fifty degree variant. I’ll propel the projectile at a maximum rate of nineteen feet per square…”
“Forge, this is a huddle…not a physics class. What he’s trying to say is ‘Go Long’.”

“So what’s her power? ‘Sides the ability t’stick her chest out?”

“If we nail X-Force, then we get… CABLE.”
“Oh, good! Including HBO? And maybe the Disney Channel for Rahne…”
“Quiet. You’re embarrassing me.”

Benjamin Jacob “Ben” Grimm was born in poverty and hardship. Orphaned at an early age, he was brought up by his uncle Jake and Aunt Petunia. His life in the rough streets of New York, moulded him into a street-wise scrapper.

Excelling in football in high school, Ben received a full scholarship to Empire State University, where he first met his eventually life-long friend, Reed Richards. When Reed Richards told Ben of his dream to build a space rocket, Ben jokingly offered to fly it.

Following college, Grimm joined the Air Force as a test pilot. Some years later, Reed Richards contacted him again. He had built his space ship and reminded Ben of his promise to fly it. The government had refused to give permission for Reed himself to pilot the craft. So, under the cover of darkness, Reed, Ben, Susan Storm (Reed’s future wife) and her brother Johnny Storm, sneak into the space ship and take off into space. During their unauthorized flight, they were pelted by cosmic rays from a cosmic ray storm against which the space ship had no protection.

Crashing on earth, the quartet discover that they have developed fantastic superpowers. Ben was transformed into a orange, lumpy thing and later evolved into a massive orange humanoid of slightly jagged earthy rock. The four decide to band together and thus was born the Fantastic Four - one of Marvel’s recognizable superhero team.

While the others had retained their human appearance and considered their powers to be a gift, Ben was trapped in a monstrous form and was very unhappy with his state, though he continued being a reliable member of the team.

To his fans, he is the ever-loveable Thing. His catch-phrase, “It’s clobbering time!”, is one of Marvel’s most famous quotes. The Thing’s most endearing quality is his indomitable spirit. Coupled with his excellent hand-to-hand combat skills that he had learned on the streets, and his tough rocky hide, the Thing is one of Marvel’s best scrappers.

When the Champion of the Universe, had challenged the heroes of Earth to hand-to-hand combat, with the Earth as prize to the victor, it was Ben Grimm who faced the unbeaten Champion in the final round. Even the Thing’s tough hide was not able to save him from the Champion’s onslaught. Though the battle lasted a long time, in the end, Ben was defeated. Bruised and broken, the Thing was knocked down and the Champion turned to the referee, who prepares to declare him the winner. Despite having broken both his legs, and several ribs, Ben drags himself to the ring corner and pulls himself up and turns to face the Champion. Amazed the Champion turns to face him, at which Ben declares that his body may be broken, but his spirit refused to be and as long as there was a single breath in him, he would continue to fight him. Impressed by Ben’s indomitable resolve, the Champion forfeits the match and declares Ben the winner.

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was a military scientist working on a new weapon called a “gamma bomb”. During the first testing of the gamma bomb, Bruce watched with horror as a teenage boy strolled casually into the fenced test area. Instructing his assistant to cease the countdown, he rushes out to save the teenager. Unknown to him, his assistant is a Russian spy, who, having failed to obtain the secret of the gamma bomb, had received orders to kill the inventor of the gamma bomb. Reaching the teenager in time, Bruce pushes him into a military trench and needed one more second to save himself, a second that was denied him.

Catching the full blast of the gamma explosion, Bruce is wracked with intense pain and he blacks out. Hours later, he wakes up in a hospital bed. Agitated on finding his life’s work sabotaged and his life threatened, he gets worked up and loses his temper and in the process, transforms into the gamma powered being known as the Incredible Hulk. Originally grey and not much larger than a very large person, the Hulk soon mutated into a larger and emerald skinned form.

Bruce Banner has the most unique form of multiple personality disorder, in the sense that his multiple personalities manifest physically as well. The two most dominant personalities, apart from that of Bruce Banner’s, are the Grey Hulk and the Savage Hulk personalities.

The Savage Hulk was the largest and strongest of the Hulk persona and like all the Hulk variations, had immense strength that increased as he got angrier (”The madder Hulk is, the stronger he gets”). The Savage Hulk had the personality of a small child and just wished to be left alone. This personality represented Bruce’s inner child, a product of childhood abuse and emotional scarring caused by his mother’s abuse at his father’s hands. Not very articulate, the Savage Hulk’s frequent quote is “Hulk Smash!!!”.

The grey hulk was smaller than the savage hulk and considerably more intelligent and cunning. Adopting the name Joe Fixit, he worked for some time as an enforcer in Mardipoor, where he had a few run-ins with Logan (aka Wolverine). This persona represented the teenager in Bruce Banner.

Doc Samson, attempting to cure Banner of his disorder, tries hypnotic suggestion, which unleashes yet another persona, which calls itself the Professor. The Professor has the body of the Savage Hulk, with the face and mind of Bruce Banner. However, despite his thinking so, Professor is not Bruce Banner but just another persona of his multiple personality disorder.

Bruce Banner’s life is a sad one, always on the run, avoiding the police and the armed forces, forever hunted for the destruction he causes as the Hulk. The Savage Hulk persona (which is the dominant one of the Hulks) has also saved the Earth on many occassions and is also a founding member of the Avengers. However, his temper caused him to part ways (violently) with his former teammates. Seeking to escape his tormentors, he travels around the globe, wanting only to be left alone.

J’onn J’onzz (popularly known as the Martian Manhunter) is a native of the planet Mars and a green Martian by race. Accidentally teleported to the planet Earth by a human scientist, he was unable to return to his home planet through the portal that brought him to earth. Thus, he used his powers to fit in, adopting a human-like appearance and calling himself “John Jones”. He joined the police force and secretly used his alien powers to help the inhabitants of his new home planet.

John possessed most of Superman’s powers, as well as added abilities like invisibilty, telepathy and the ability to control his molecular structure, which enabled him to shape-shift. His only weakness was towards fire, which affected him in much the way kryptonite affected Superman.

A founding member of the JLA, Martian Manhunter has been a key member of the League since its founding. Telepathically linking the Leaguers during combat, John plays a pivotal role in the League’s functioning. Furthermore, his immense strength and durability makes him one of the team’s foremost powerhouses, along with Superman.

The death of his entire race, has caused Jones to choose to remain on his adopted planet. It was later revealed that his race’s sworn enemies, the White Martians, have survived and their plans of conquest of Earth have brought them into conflict with the JLA several times. The White Martians consider Jones to be a traitor for opposing them, and as such have captured and tortured him.

Superman and the Martian Manhunter have much in common. Both are super powerful aliens who have come to adopt Earth as their planet. Both are good hearted people who fight for truth and justice and wouldn’t hesitate to lay down their lives to save others. However, where Superman is loved and admired by the public, Jones is shunned and feared, primarily due to his alien appearance. Jones is well aware of this and tends to avoid exposing himself to humans, except in the guise of police detective John Jones. His complex is deep rooted and though he bears no malice or ill-will towards Superman, on more than one occassion, he has asked himself, why people love Superman and not him. This changes when, after saving the world yet again, for the first time ever, a small kid comes up to him and hugs him, thanking him for saving the world.

Frank Castle was a multiply decorated U.S. Marine Corps Captain who had fought in the Vietnam War. Later, he ran Special Black Ops training missions for Marine Commandos in the upper New York state area. One day, while picnicking with his family in Central Park, they become witness to a Mafia execution. Seeking to eliminate all witnesses, the Costa Family murdered them on the spot.

Castle was believed to be dead until he awoke sometime later in a body bag. Furious and confused, Castle struck out at the medics. It took the entire police squad on the scene and several tranquilizers to incapacitate him. He was hospitalized. Though two assassins attacked him in the hospital, he managed to kill one of them and savagely beat up the other. Though he was able to identify the killers who shot his family, the police were unable to help him as the killers were well tied with the Costa Family. Depressed, Frank turned to drinking and nearly shot himself in the head. Another attempt on his life resulted in the total obliteration of his house. Everything that had been left of his family, had gone up in flames.

From the flames of his anger and frustration, was born the persona known now as The Punisher. In his own words, “Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family. In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue… natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it’s an emotional response. No. Not vengeance. Punishment“.

Armed with a wide variety of weapons - mines, pistols, a shotgun - and his extensive combat experience, he started his Holy Crusade against war by first eliminating the Costa Family - only the first of a four-figure body count - making Castle’s vendetta, a very bloody one. Ruthlessly, the Punisher hunted down and killed any one whom he deemed should be punished. Waging a one-man war on organized crime, he savagely and ruthlessly killed many villains, more than any “hero” ever. Highly skilled in martial arts, stealth tactics and marksmanship, Castle used killing, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture to wage his war against crime.

His willingness to kill has brought him into conflict against other costumed crusaders, often ending in a battle between them. Undeterred by others’ opinions, he continues his war on crime, maiming and killing evildoers and striking fear into those who prey on the innocent.