Nuke (Marvel Comics)
| Nuke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Daredevil vol. 1, #232 (July 1986) |
| Created by |
Frank Miller David Mazzucchelli |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Frank Simpson |
| Team affiliations |
Weapon Plus Thunderbolts |
| Notable aliases |
Agent Simpson Scourge |
| Abilities |
Cybernetic enhancements grant superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and sturdiness Second heart Remote-controlled vital functions. |
Nuke (real name Frank Simpson) is a fictional supervillain in the Marvel Universe. The character first appears in Daredevil #232 and was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. Nuke's most distinguishing feature is an American Flag tattooed on his face.
Publication history
Nuke was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli first appeared in Daredevil #232. Nuke largely disappeared following his apparent death in Daredevil #233, although his origin was explored and touched upon in issues of Captain America and Wolverine. It wasn't until Grant Morrison's New X-Men, when Morrison revealed Nuke was involved in the Weapon Plus program, that the character made a return in subsequent stories.
Fictional character biography
Nuke was a test subject of the Weapon Plus program, the supersoldier program that had created Captain America and would later transform Wolverine into a killing machine. The enhancing and conditioning process went awry, leaving Nuke seriously deranged.
Early life
The origins of Nuke are explained in the series Wolverine: Origins.
The disturbed son of a wealthy, abusive, alcoholic, upper-class woman in Ohio, Frank soon developed an unhealthy affection for his babysitter, the only real maternal figure in his life. The young woman, who was harboring feelings for his father Charles, capitalized on Frank's affection and talked the boy into killing his mother. Wolverine, who at that time was an operative for Weapon Plus, had been sent to kidnap Frank Simpson. Wolverine showed up, dressed as a cop. He then stalked Charles Simpson and the babysitter, eventually shooting the girl with Charles' gun, after which Charles committed suicide. Wolverine then went to Frank's place and abducted him for the supersoldier project.[1]
Years later, Frank Simpson was sent into the Vietnam War as a black-ops agent. Captured by the Viet Cong, Frank was severely tortured by Logan (who was posing as a Russian intelligence liaison), shattering Frank's still unbalanced mind. While torturing him (even carving into his face the American flag that years later would become part of his superpowered personality), he implanted the phrase "No V.C.!" as a trigger word, along with the compulsion to kill gruesomely, in retaliation for the tortures suffered, anyone who uttered the words. He then allowed Frank to escape, testing his work with a village of peasants, who, seeing an American soldier, tried to soothe his anger and convince him to spare them, shouting the "No V.C.!" phrase, meaning that they weren't Viet Cong. Frank, in response to the trigger word, burnt the village to the ground killing every inhabitant. The experiment being a success, Logan was installed as his handler. Due to his trauma, Nuke often hallucinates that the enemies he is fighting are the Viet Cong.[2]
At some time during the war, Nuke was inducted into the final part of the Project Homegrown, the Weapon VII programs, that turned him in a partial cyborg with a subdermal mesh able to deflect bullets, and a second heart that, working in conjunction with some (placebo) pills, controlled his aggression, leaving him addicted as well. His whereabouts after the war are still unknown.[3]
First appearance
Nuke resurfaced, employed by Generalissimo Felix Guillermo Carridad, of Tierra Verde, to destroy a rebel base. Carridad was impressed with his skills, and he enjoyed using Nuke periodically as a superhuman iconic symbol.[4]
Following an operation in Nicaragua, the Kingpin hired Nuke through a corrupt general and sent him to kill Daredevil. Nuke launched an attack on Hell's Kitchen, but was defeated by Daredevil. Enraged at a Daily Bugle article reporting on his mass murder in Hell's Kitchen, he broke away from his handlers, intending to destroy the Bugle building. He was intercepted by Captain America and shot by a military chopper. He fainted from the wound and was presumed dead by the general public.[5] Nuke was in fact taken in care by the Government, still controlled by the Tierra Verde enclave.[6]
Wolverine: Origins
After Wolverine discovered his full past and set out to take care of loose ends, the U.S. government dispatched Nuke, who was kept at the United States embassy in Chile, to hunt down Wolverine.[7]
Wolverine, with some efforts, quickly dispatched his foe, seeking a way to redeem, or kill him. After the battle he discovered that Nuke's enhanced physiology was further mutated, and he has become a cyborg, with artificial limbs, bones and skull, able to survive and being rebuilt after the most gruesome injuries, yet devoid of any personality or conscience. Acknowledging that now he was beyond any hope of redemption, he tried to kill him, only to be stopped by Captain America, who had arrived because he believed that Nuke was a failed subject of the Super Soldier Program. Now without any legs, the leftovers of Nuke's body were handed over to Emma Frost by Wolverine, who wanted Emma to try to restore Nuke's broken mind, if possible. And, if it turned out impossible, Logan told Emma to call him, because in that case he'd come back and kill Frank.[8]
Apparently Nuke's metabolism is now remote controlled from a secret base on Tierra Verde, whose technicians are able to shut down the biomech systems in Nuke's body.
Thunderbolts
Norman Osborn adds a man named Scourge to his black ops team the Thunderbolts; Osborn seems to know who Scourge is, but does not reveal Scourge's identity.[9] On their next mission, Osborn orders Yelena Belova to lead the current Thunderbolts to kill former Thunderbolt, Songbird. During the mission, Osborn promotes Scourge to field leader, and Belova is revealed to be the original Black Widow, Natasha Romanova in disguise.[10] Scourge leads the team into capturing the Black Widow, Songbird, and Nick Fury.[11] When Scourge orders the Thunderbolts to execute Songbird, Headsman turns on him and tries to kill him. Paladin helps out by shooting Scourge, and Ghost uses an electro-convulsive shock to make Scourge forget what happened as Songbird and the Black Widow escape. When Osborn confronts Scourge about the botched mission, the man reveals himself to be Nuke, stating that his new name is not who he really is; Osborn then demotes Nuke from the position of team leader.[12]
When Osborn sent the Thunderbolts to eliminate the Agents of Atlas, the mission went poorly. The Agents had the upper hand, until Scourge's schizophrenic mind caused him to apparently split the insides of the Uranian.[13] However, he only maimed the Uranian's mental projection of himself. The Uranian and Jimmy Woo then implanted a secret order for Scourge to kill Osborn when he sees him. However, when a holographic message of Osborn is played, Scourge reacts by shooting at the hologram; the bullet passes harmlessly through the image, and strikes Headsman in the head.[14]
Osborn sends the Thunderbolts to steal the Spear of Odin from the Asgard armory during the events of Siege. The team is opposed by members of the recently disbanded Mighty Avengers. Nuke uses Odin's spear to sever U.S. Agent's left limbs[15] before being shot in the face by teammate Paladin.[16] His injuries leave him in a coma and he is taken to the Raft maximum security prison where he is kept in the infirmary. U.S. Agent becomes the new warden of the Raft and tells the medical staff they should focus on more deserving cases with more chance of reform.[17]
Siege
During Siege, Nuke and the Thunderbolts fought against the Mighty Avengers. The Thunderbolts sought out the Spear of Odin to help Osborn storm Asgard. Nuke battled ferociously with US Agent for the Spear and after an intense battle, seriously injured and dismembered US Agent with the Spear.
Before Nuke could bring the Spear to his "master", Osborn, he was betrayed and shot by his fellow Thunderbolt Paladin who took the spear from him and with the help of another Thunderbolt, in the shape of Ant-Man, made sure that Osborn didn't get his hands on the spear.
The Heroic Age
After the battle of Siege climaxed, a grievously injured Nuke was left in a coma and captured by authorities where he was taken to the Raft to receive medical treatment and serve out a sentence for his crimes.
The surviving US Agent, who was now crippled, bitterly insisted that any attempt to bring him out of his coma was a waste of time as Nuke has no chance of ever reforming. Steve Rogers shared similar feelings and saw little reason to try and salvage Nuke, as he was far beyond saving, and any revival would likely just allow him to fall back into the hands of someone who would use him for further killing. Steve had also appeared to have made peace with his unease for being the basis of the creation of Nuke.
Most recently, Simpson had been spotted in Eastern Europe, still attacking individuals he perceived as enemies of America. He was allied and handled by the "Iron Nail" until Captain America urged him to stop his unnecessary violence.[18] Taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, The Iron Nail ignited a massive explosion inside of Nuke's body which killed him.[19]
The Death of Wolverine
Nuke appeared alive and well (with a shaved head) in the first issue of "The Death of Wolverine" mini-series, apparently working for Hydra and hunting Logan down.
Pill colors
Nuke has a second heart, and takes different colored pills to produce different bodily effects. Nuke's pill colors are: red, for increased adrenaline; white, to bring him down; and blue, to keep him docile between missions.
It was originally stated that the red pills Nuke took affected his adrenal glands, sending him into his bloodthirsty rages. The Wolverine: Origins series retconned this, stating instead that these pills are placebos, suggesting that Nuke lives in a constant state of increased adrenaline, but doesn't know it. The pills, therefore, trigger his violent behavior, but the effect is psychosomatic.
Powers and abilities
Nuke possesses various superhuman physical attributes as a result of various cybernetic enhancements. Nuke's bones have been replaced with advanced cybernetic components, granting him superhuman strength of an unrevealed limit. Aside from his strength, Nuke's body is considerably more resistant to physical injury than that of an ordinary human, even the arcane nerve strikes Daredevil learned during training by his sensei, Stick, have no effect. Nuke's skin has been replaced with an artificial type of plastic that looks identical to human skin but is much more durable. In addition, he has an artificial second heart that works in conjunction with his colored pills. Nuke is the victim of decades of systematic physical and mental abuse and conditioning at the hands of various individuals working for the United States government. As a result, Nuke is insane. He is now little more than a puppet in the hands of his current handler, and able only to follow issued commands. Also in his first appearance on "Daredevil" Nuke was equipped with a monstrous multi-barrelled assault rifle which, in addition to being able to fire massive volleys of bullets, fragmentation grenades and rockets, it was also (due to mechanisms left unexplained) able to 'keep count' of the casualties inflicted. Nuke also had a habit of resetting the counter after noting down each 'score' trying to 'better' it in the coming assignment.
Other versions
Civil War: House of M
In the House of M reality, Nuke is one of the government agents (alongside Mimic and Agent Barnes) sent to Genosha to kill Magneto and as many of his followers as possible. He and Mimic served as a distraction while Agent Barnes sneaked into Magneto's headquarters.[20] When Nuke entered Wanda's bedroom in order to kill her, he was disassembled by her.[21]
What If
What If v2 #48 showed what would have happened if Daredevil had saved Nuke. This story manifests as Ben Urich pondering the situation and thinking of alternatives.[22]
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Frank Simpson appears in Ultimate Comics: Captain America #1 as the man who was given the Super Soldier Serum during the Vietnam War when Steve Rogers was MIA after World War II, but his origin is more reminiscent of the Grand Director, a Captain America post World War II.[23] Like his mainstream counterpart, Simpson has the American Flag tattooed onto his face.[24] Simpson, completely disillusioned by America after Vietnam (1972) is believed to have betrayed his country due to the war and the augmentations, but has "seen the Light". He is trying to sell his reverse-engineered serum blood to the North Koreans, but is stopped by British S.A.S. and Steve Rogers. After his identity is revealed to Colonel Danvers, Cap is beaten, and travels to Saloth, a Cambodian village, but Simpson and his army (all pumped up with the Super-Soldier Serum) beat him. Simpson vows to make Cap, "see the light", strongly believing America stands for, listing atrocities in the last 50 years, but Cap escapes, stops Simpson and is later brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[25] Simpson is later visited by Cap in the Triskelion, which has Rogers reading the Bible to a bed-ridden Simpson.[26]
Amalgam
In the Amalgam universe, Nuke was combined with DC Comics' Bane as HYDRA's Bane Simpson,[27]
References
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #3 (2006)
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #2 (2006)
- ↑ New X-Men #145
- ↑ Wolverine (vol. 2) #18
- ↑ Daredevil #232-233
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #2
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #1-2
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #3-5
- ↑ Thunderbolts #133
- ↑ Thunderbolts #134
- ↑ Thunderbolts #135
- ↑ Thunderbolts #136
- ↑ Thunderbolts #139
- ↑ Thunderbolts #140
- ↑ Thunderbolts #142
- ↑ Thunderbolts #143
- ↑ Thunderbolts #145
- ↑ Captain America Vol 7 12
- ↑ Captain America Vol 7 17
- ↑ Civil War: House of M #3
- ↑ Civil War: House of M #4
- ↑ What If #48
- ↑ Ultimate Comics: Captain America #1
- ↑ Ultimate Comics: Captain America #2
- ↑ Ultimate Comics: Captain America #4
- ↑ Ultimate Comics: Captain America #4
- ↑ Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
External links
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