Cardiac (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cardiac (Elias Wirtham) is a fictional character comic book vigilante appearing in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writer David Michelinie, penciler Erik Larsen, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #342 (December 1990).
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Origin
As revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man #376, Elias Wirtham is a doctor driven by his brother's death to researching life-saving medical practices.His brother's death was the result of corporate greed, who had a cure for his condition ready,but did not distribute the medicine due to it not being a "profitable" time for them, hence his motivation against corporations. As a part of his research, Elias replaces his heart with a beta-particle reactor, which supplies energy throughout his body. This energy, channeled through his muscles, increases his speed and agility and can also be fired through his fists or the power staff he wields. He adopts the moniker "Cardiac" in reference to the source of his power.
[edit] History
Becoming a vigilante and believing himself an instrument of justice, Cardiac targets a filmmaker whose film is indirectly responsible for a boy murdering his family. However, Cardiac incidentally encounters Styx and Stone, and is inadvertently embroiled in a fight between Styx, Stone and Spider-Man. At different times fighting each of them, Cardiac eventually cooperates with Spider-Man and together they defeat Styx and Stone. Afterward, Spider-Man attempts to restrain him, but he escapes.
Shortly thereafter, Rhino was dispatched to kill Cardiac, but was defeated by him. Cardiac returns periodically to perform his version of justice. He will not hesitate to kill criminals, but he is often bothered by his conscience that he has to. Cardiac later targeted a shipment of drugs, and again encounters Spider-Man. After defeating the hero, he destroys the shipment, saying "he wasn't there to destroy a misguided hero".
[edit] Powers and abilities
Cardiac's heart has been replaced with a beta-particle reactor, which is lets him use his power staff to discharge shocks and to increase his speed, agility, and strength.
