Omega Red
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Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich) is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and a foe of the X-Men. His first appearance was X-Men (vol. 2) #4 (1992).
A mutant, Rossovich possesses the ability to siphon the life-force of others. The Soviet counterpart to the Weapon X program of the United States and Canada turned him into a supersoldier, bonding a super strong metal alloy called "carbonadium" to his body and implanting metal tentacles, which focus his life-draining abilities, into each of his arms.
Omega Red battled Weapon X subject Wolverine sometime during the Cold War, the start of a decades-long feud between the two. The Soviets eventually realized that Red was an uncontrollable psychopath and placed him in suspended animation. He has since been freed and become a world-renowned criminal and mercenary.
Omega Red is a popular X-Men villain, appearing in the 1990s-era X-Men animated series its successor X-Men: Evolution and several X-Men video games.
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[edit] Character history
Little is known about the past of Arkady Rossovich except that he was a serial killer. He was captured by the Interpol agent Banshee and turned over to the KGB, which wanted to create a super soldier similar to Captain America. Omega Red is the end result.
Omega Red possesses a variety of superhuman attributes as a part of both genetic mutation and artificial enhancements granted to him by the Soviet government. Omega Red possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and a high degree of resistance to physical injury and radioactivity. He has a superhuman regenerative healing factor similar to that of Wolverine and Sabretooth.
He also possesses the ability to secrete an odorless pheromone that weakens anybody within his immediate vicinity. The pheromone has never been given an official name, but has often been called his “Death Factor” and also the “Death Spore Pheromone” in opposition to Wolverine and Sabretooth's “Healing factor”. The pheromone is sufficient enough to render his targets unconscious, or even kill them, if exposed to the pheromone for a long enough period. He must secrete this pheromone, or it will start to feed off of his own body.
The Soviet government implanted one retractable carbonadium tentacle within each of Omega Red's arms. Carbonadium was the Soviets' attempt to recreate the artificial alloy known as adamantium. It is a more malleable form of adamantium. He uses them as weapons and as grappling appendages. He is able to a wrap a victim in his coils to literally drain them of their life energy. This vampiric tendency is essential to Omega Red's survival; the carbonadium implants, while great offensive weapons, slowly poisoned him and he was required to regularly drain the life energy of a person, or perhaps taking small amounts from larger numbers of individuals, in order to temporarily sustain his immune system.
In order to stabilize his condition, Omega Red requires the "Carbonadium Synthesizer," a device that was stolen by Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth during their final mission together as "Team X" sometime during the 1960s. It is because of his need for the Carbonadium Synthesizer that Omega Red has continuously sought out these three individuals over the years, believing they may know of its whereabouts.
At some time in the past the Soviet government decided that Omega Red was too unpredictable and treacherous to be relied upon, and so needed to be put in cryogenic suspended animation until a method could be found to control him. After the fall of Communism in Russia he was released by the clan of ninja known as The Hand. He was led to believe that Wolverine knew the whereabouts of the Carbonadium Synthesizer which could save his life, and sought him out in an effort to find this device. In doing so, he came into conflict with the X-Men many times. Later, Omega Red battled and fell under the mental control of the Soul Skinner in Siberia. The Soul Skinner then used him to battle Wolverine and the X-Men. Omega Red captured Wolverine and Jubilee, but escaped after the Soul Skinner's death. He has also fought against Chamber of Generation X, but suffered a humiliating defeat. Ultimately, Omega Red failed to eliminate Wolverine and proved to be no more loyal to the Hand than he was to the Soviet government.
He has worked for Neocommunist organizations and tried to kill a member of the Americomp organization, but was stopped by Daredevil and Black Widow.
Omega Red was later employed by Russian gangster Ivan Pushkin to incite a war between the subversive terrorist organization HYDRA and the technology suppliers A. I. M..
Most recently, whilst working for the drug lord known as the General, Omega Red was recruited by Sabretooth to attack Wolverine's friends and family alongside Lady Deathstrike. Sabretooth had promised both Omega Red and Deathstrike information on almost every mutant on Earth, but betrayed his new henchmen by teleporting away with Wolverine, his ward Amiko, and the information.
Omega Red is currently a crime lord (head of the Red Mafia) who poses as a legitimate business man, much like Wilson Fisk does in the U.S. At present, Omega Red has resumed his search for the Carbonadium Synthesizer. In Wolverine: Origins #6 and #7, Omega Red locates former Team X member, and now one of the numerous depowered mutants, Agent Zero, who is the only person that knows the location of the Carbonadium Synthesizer. This brings him into direct confrontation with Wolverine, who has also sought out Maverick in hopes of locating the Carbonadium Synthesizer.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Omega Red is a mutant with superhuman strength and the ability to emit lethal pheromones from his body (death spores). These spores result in the weakness or death of humans in his near vicinity. The severity of the effect is based on the endurance, health, and relative proximity of the victims. Normal humans would be killed in a matter of seconds of exposure, while beings with heightened endurance can withstand it for minutes or hours.
Omega Red possesses retractable tendrils housed within his arms made of carbonadium, an artificial alloy that is the former Soviet Union's attempt at creating adamantium. Carbonadium is more malleable than adamantium and, while being vastly stronger than steel, is not as durable as adamantium. Carbonadium, however, is for all practical purposes virtually indestructible. 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 devastation to just about anything they come into contact with. His skeleton is also laced with carbonadium, rendering it highly resistant to physical harm.[citation needed] Even damaging carbonadium with adamantium would require enormous pressure.[citation needed] He also wears a suit of red retro-Russian armor. This armor is sufficient to enable him to withstand being assaulted by Chamber, with a blast that sends his body flying several miles, without sustaining damage. [1]
Omega Red's body possesses some degree of superhuman durability. The tissues of his body are hardened to the extent that his body is more resistant to injury and trauma than an ordinary human. It is possible to injure Omega Red, but his body is able to heal with much greater efficiency than an ordinary human: in X-Men vol.2 #7, Omega Red quickly recovers from having his face slashed with a katana and suffering a punctured lung. Omega Red is able to, temporarily, increase his natural healing abilities by draining the lifeforce of other human beings. Despite his physical toughness, it is also revealed in X-Men vol.2 #7 that Omega Red's mind is vulnerable to telepathic attacks.
Omega Red has the ability to drain the life force of other humans to sustain his own. Omega Red can do this by ensnaring his victims within his tentacles. Due to the presence of the carbonadium within his body, Omega Red must drain the life force of others on a regular basis in order to sustain his own physical health. Only a device known as the Carbonadium Synthesizer can stabilize his condition. The more life force he drains, the stronger he gets and the faster he heals.
Omega Red is also an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and military tactician, having defeated foes such as Iron Man and Cable. He was trained in various forms of armed and unarmed combat by both the Soviet government and various organizations throughout the Japanese underworld. Highly intelligent, he has quickly become highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations.
[edit] Other versions of Omega Red
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, there is a different version of Omega Red known only as Rossovich. He has practically the same abilities as Omega Red of Earth 616, with the carbonadium tentacles and "Death Factor". However, he was much more vulnerable because he did not have the red armor and wore a blue uniform instead. Instead of a homicidal maniac, Rossovich appeared more sane and business-like. He had ties to the mutant underground and the black market. There he was able to secure access to food, weapons and valuable information. Domino went to Rossovich in search for X-Man but Rossovich fought back. In the fight with Domino and Grizzly, Rossovich was killed by Domino, who ran him through with her sword. His presence in the Age of Apocalypse timeline was very brief compared to that of his regular Marvel counterpart.
[edit] Ultimate Omega Red
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Omega Red makes a cameo as an enemy of Spider-Man, notably in #86 of the series. It is unclear what exactly his powers are, but his wrist tentacles appear to be fully organic rather than made of carbonadium, and sprout from the backs of his hands, rather than from below his palms. It is also unclear if this version of Omega Red possesses the ability to secrete death spores, although Wrecker claimed afterwards that he might have sprayed the area with 'toxins'.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Omega Red has appeared in the X-Men and X-Men: Evolution animated series.
- In X-Men, he was voiced by Len Doncheff. He appeared in the episodes "Red Dawn" and "A Deal With The Devil."
- In X-Men: Evolution, he was voiced by Richard Newman, his first and only appearrance in the episode "Target X" working for HYDRA. In this episode he mentions several of Wolverine and Sabretooth's then-unseen Weapon X accomplices, including Maverick, but nothing more of this was made before the show was cancelled.
Omega Red is a playable character in the Capcom fighting games X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel vs Capcom 2. His mutant death factor is present here as one of his normal attacks as well as the "Energy Drain" that lets him deplete an opponent's super meter and add the energy to his own.
Omega Red also appears in the video games X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and X2: Wolverine's Revenge.
Director Brett Ratner stated in an interview for Starlog magazine (issue #345) that Omega Red would appear in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand, but this was later denied by writer Zak Penn.[2] Supposedly Omega Red should have been in the movie, portrayed by Vince Murdocco.
