Cyber (comics)
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Cyber is a fictional character, a Marvel supervillain and enemy of Wolverine of the X-Men. He was created by Peter David and Sam Kieth and first seen in Marvel Comics Presents #85, September 1991 (though covered by a trenchcoat). He was first fully seen and named in Marvel Comics Presents #86, September 1991.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Cyber's earliest known confrontation with Logan seemingly occurred during World War I, where he served as Logan's brutal Drill Instructor during his early days in the miliary. Cyber, or "Silas Burr", as he calls himself, eventually comes to murder a woman known only as Janet, whom Logan was interested in romantically. After witnessing her death at Cyber's hands, Logan attacks and is severely beaten as Cyber effortlessly gouges out Logan's left eye and taunts the young recruit. This is Logan's most severe beating and defeat up to this point in his life and the resulting psychlogoical effects result in a deep-seated fear of Cyber. Burr's history between this early event and the modern era are still unknown, as sometime during this period his skin becomes fused with adamantium through unknown means. It has been suggested, by Cyber himself, that he once ran with the notorious Edinburgh killer, William Burke, and took part in the heinous West Port murders of 1828.
In the modern era, Cyber resurfaces in Madripoor, where he interferes between the crime cartel of Wolverine's ally Tiger Tyger and General Coy. With the exception of his adamantium enhancements, which appears to be recognized by Wolverine, Cyber's appearance remains unchanged, indicating that he ages much slower than an ordinary human. Wolverine, after running from the fight and barely escaping with his life from their latest encounter, eventually manages to overcome his fear of Cyber in order to save Tyger's life, as he slashes out the villain's left eye before he falls into a truck full of the powerful hallucinogens he had earlier used on Wolverine, leading Cyber to run screaming into the forest and disappear.[1]
Cyber later confronts the mutant team of X-Factor alongside the female criminal organization called the "Hell's Belles." Cyber brutally defeats X-Factor's Polaris first, despite her magnetic powers, and nearly kills Strong Guy with his poisoned claws before disappearing when hit by a subway train.[2]
He next surfaces as an agent for the mysterious death-cult known as Coven, where he is eventually outsmarted by Wolverine, due largely to his own arrogance and his underestimation of his former pupil. Being strangled by Wolverine with the adamantium chain that has shackled them to each other, and lacking an "adamantium windpipe", he disappears as he falls into the dark jungle.[3]
Cyber is next seen back in Edinburgh, Scotland where he again engages Wolverine in battle. Recalling his part in the West Port murders long ago, he plans to kill Wolverine and feed him to deathwatch beetles to steal his adamantium skeleton and sell it to some associates of his. However, Cyber is unaware that the adamantium laced to Wolverine's skeleton has been recently removed by Magneto. Despite this, and despite the fact that many of Wolverine's other mutant attributes were weakened, he manages to hold his own against Cyber briefly. Cyber is momentarily distracted by the distant cannon fire of Edinburgh Castle as Wolverine extracts his bone claws and slashes Cyber across the face. Cyber, unimpressed by the attack and annoyed by this turn of events, quickly slams Wolverine to the ground and uses his foot to break off the bone claws of Wolverine's right arm before their fight is interrupted, allowing Wolverine the opportunity to escape Cyber once more. Using his brain-wave tracking power, he chases the poisoned Logan to Muir Island, where he is eventually outsmarted and captured by Excalibur before being turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D.[4]
Cyber is later broken out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody by the Dark Riders. Afterward, the Dark Riders learn that the adamantium laced to Cyber's skin is completely pure and, through a combined effort, manage to trap him inside a chamber containing "mutant deathwatch beetles," which devour the flesh from Cyber's entire body, beginning with his exposed face and eating the rest from the inside out. Cyber's adamantium carapace, which remaines untouched, is then used in an unsuccessful attempt to re-implant adamantium onto Wolverine's skeleton by Genesis, leader of the Dark Riders.[5]
Cyber recently resurfaces in astral form, making himself known to a powerful young mutant with child-like intelligence named Milo. Cyber tells Milo that his name is Silas Burr. Milo, unable to pronouce 'Silas Burr', is instructed to merely call his new friend "Cyber".[6] Completing his possession of Milo's body, Cyber is easily able to suppress his child-like psyche, coupling Milo's incredible strength with his own cunning intelligence. Intent on revenge, he sets off for the Tinkerer, contracting him to perform the adamantium bonding process once he has stolen the necessary liquid adamantium, being kept by the Hague. Arriving in Brussels, he is revealed to be behind the scenes in setting up the inevitable confrontation between Wolverine and his son, Daken.[7]
[edit] Powers and abilities
Original Body:
Cyber is a mutant that possesses a number of superhuman abilities, some due to his natural mutation and some due to artificial enhancement. Cyber possesses some degree of superhuman strength, though no official limit has been revealed. However, Cyber's strength is considerably greater than even the finest human athlete. His strength was sufficient to destroy a jeep with a single blow or slash open bank vault doors with ease.
Through an, as of yet, unrevealed surgical procedure, Cyber's skin is laced with a malleable layer of the virtually indestructible alloy adamantium, with the exception of his face. As a result, most of Cyber's body was virtually invulnerable to physical injury. Cyber's adamantium skin has proven able to withstand all attacks against it, even by weapons composed of adamantium itself. After his resurrection, his new adamantium skin was applied by the labors of the brilliant criminal scientist, the Tinkerer.
Housed within each of Cyber's fingers is a retractable adamantium claw. Each talon was tipped in either powerful hallucinogens or poisons that have proven capable of incapacitating Wolverine before his mutant healing factor could filter them out. The potent toxins are specifically designed to affect Wolverine and are fatal to ordinary humans within seconds. Cyber's Adamantium claws were also capable of cutting almost any known material. The known exceptions are Adamantium itself and Captain America's shield, which is composed of the only known substance in the Marvel Universe known to be even harder than adamantium.
Cyber also possesses an accelerated healing factor similar to that of Wolverine that enabled him to survive the mysterious process that grafted adamantium to his skin. However, Cyber's healing factor, while similar to Wolverine's, wasn't nearly as efficient. After Wolverine gouged out Cyber's left eye in combat, he was unable to regenerate it and had replaced the eye with an artificial implant, where as Wolverine has regenerated missing eyes on multiple occasions. A side effect of this accelerated healing is a dramatically altered aging process. Despite his chronological age, Cyber possesses the appearance and vitality of a man in his physical prime. Another effect of Cyber's healing factor was an augmentation to his musculature resulting in the production of considerably less lactic acids than ordinary humans. As a result, Cyber possesses superhuman levels of stamina in all physical activities.
Cyber's final ability is an unusual psionic ability that allows him to track specific brain wave patterns across great distances. The exact limit of Cyber's range is unknown, however it was greatly amplified after his over-exposure to the hallucinogens that coat his claws. Cyber has recently claimed he can track brain wave patterns from any location on earth, and was even able to allow his consciousness to leave his body entirely. It was this ability that allowed Cyber to survive in corporeal form for years following the attack by the Dark Riders.
Cyber is an excellent hand to hand combatant. He is well known in military circles and throughout the criminal underworld, where he often hires himself out as a special enforcer or mentor.
Current Body:
Cyber's consciousness has recently taken possession of the body of a large, muscular mutant with child-like intelligence named Milo. Milo is a mutant possessing some degree of superhuman strength, the limits of which aren't known. However, his strength is sufficient to decapitate a fully grown horse with a single punch. Whether or not Milo's body possesses any other superhuman abilities is unknown at this time.
