Shock (comics)

Shock aka Ariel Tremmore is a fictional character, and a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, first introduced in 1993 on March 1, created by Dan G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel. A psychopathic killer, she has fought with Daredevil in his side of New York City.

As Shock, Ariel possesses the power to induce fear and hallucinations in other people by releasing pheromones through her skin.

Publication history

Shock aka Ariel Tremmore was introduced in 1993 on March 1, created by Dan G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel during their take on the Daredevil comic series for Marvel Comics.

Fictional character biography

Ariel is the daughter of Alan Fagan (the fourth Mr. Fear) and the grand niece of Alan's uncle Larry Cranston (the third Mr. Fear) who have fought with Daredevil. Alan Fagan used her mother, Cora Tremmore, for a sexual affair for a time but eventually they found out Cora was pregnant with his child and gave birth to Ariel. Alan refused to help care or take any responsibility for Ariel, so he abandoned both Cora and Ariel, leaving them behind.^[1]

As a result, Cora grew angry and taught Ariel to hate her father and to strive to be better than him as she raised her. After Cora became the victim of a horrific workplace accident and died, Ariel dedicated herself to her mother's goal of being better than her father and sought vengeance on her him for his absence from her life and the embarrassment that his criminal-career as Mr. Fear had brought to her and her mother. As life proved to be an expensive undertaking in the city, Ariel utilized a variety of ways of earning money, including theft and prostitution.^[2]

Eventually, Ariel paid a group of prison inmates to attack her imprisoned father and slash off a piece of skin from his face and bring it to her. After receiving the skin sample, Ariel brought it to a chemist to examine it, she theorized that her father's skin sample was laced with some of his 'fear-gas' that he had used as Mr. Fear, and was determined to produce a new, improved fear chemical to use against him for her revenge. Once it was synthesized, Ariel used this sample and injected it into her own body, which transformed her into a fearsome looking creature and decided to call herself "Shock", the 'Mistress of Fear'.^[3]

Using her newfound powers, Shock terrorized the population of New York and attracted the attention of Daredevil himself, who used his super-senses to track the scent of the chemical back to Ariel. Transforming into Shock, she used her abilities to cause Daredevil to become enraged and then tackled him off the top of the building they were on as they fought. Both made it safely to the ground and survived, but Shock escaped by using her powers to cause panic in the streets.^[4]

Shock then visited her father in the hospital. He was dying, but Shock tormented him with her powers until his vital signs began to strengthen. At the same time, Daredevil tracked her down again ready to bring her in. But this time she caused him to hallucinate that he was being attacked by Elektra.^[5]

Daredevil managed to keep his head clear enough from the illusion to force Shock to consume another dose of her own chemical, transforming her back into her human form. This made it easy to arrest her, but while she was handcuffed and being sent to jail, Ariel's hands turned back to their taloned form and she readied herself to break free.^[6]

Powers and abilities

By consuming the chemical synthesized by her father's skin, Ariel transformed into a monstrous, nightmarish creature with razor sharp teeth and talons, scaly-skin with pointed ears and long red hair.

As Shock she can generate terror, rage and even hatred in other people by pheromones generated through her skin.

She is capable of generating fear in her victims causing them to hallucinate their greatest fears.

She did not appear to be able to generate her emotion manipulating pheromones in her human form.^[7] However, the ending of her last appearance suggests that she may be able to transform to and from her monstrous form at will, rather than being reliant upon chemicals.^[8]

References

External links

• http://marvel.wikia.com/Ariel_Tremmore_(Earth-616)
• Shock at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• http://www.comicvine.com/shock/4005-41736/