Sasha Hammer

Sasha Hammer is a fictional character from the Marvel Comics universe. She is the daughter of Justine Hammer and The Mandarin,^[1] the granddaughter of Justin Hammer, and an enemy of Iron Man. Temugin is her paternal half-brother.

Publication history

Sasha Hammer first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #1 and was created by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson.

Fictional character biography

Sasha Hammer is the granddaughter of financier Justin Hammer and the daughter of Justine Hammer and the Mandarin. Raised by her mother, they both harbor a desire for revenge against Tony Stark for the loss of Justin (whose body was encased in ice and lost in space), and see Stark as an obstacle to their success.^[2] Hammer first appeared as the girlfriend/assistant to tech-terrorist Obadiah Stane's son, Ezekiel Stane, providing support to him and his underlings in their attacks on Stark Industries buildings around the world. When Stane is apprehended by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D., Hammer is able to go underground, having never been discovered.^[3]

Following Norman Osborn's fall from power, Hammer reappears out in the open alongside her mother Justine as the heads of Hammer Industries and purchases numerous de-commissioned H.A.M.M.E.R. technologies to create Detroit Steel, a large suit of powered armor that they wish to market globally as a new soldier for the post-9/11 world.^[2][4]

Justine and Hammer embark on a campaign to discredit Tony Stark in the industrial market, conspiring with Babbage, a corrupt Pentagon general, and staging civilian attacks in which Detroit Steel is arranged to intervene before Stark. When confronted by Stark about her operations, Hammer attacks him with her own biotech weapons, with which Stane augmented her body with before his arrest, and reveals her criminal intent to both Stark and Rescue.^[5] Shortly after this incident Detroit Steel launches a surprise attack on Stark Resilient by orchestrating a remote-server air-strike unwittingly piloted by young gamers on their phones-unaware their actions were actually taking place in the real world. The combined efforts of Iron Man, War Machine, Rescue and Maria Hill are able to stop the strike and shut down Detroit Steel.^[6]

The Hammers then use their connections to arrange Stane's secret release, with Hammer introducing him to the employ of her father, The Mandarin, Iron Man's old nemesis.^[1]

After the original pilot of Detroit Steel, Lt. Doug Johnson, is turned into stone by the Asgardian demon Mokk: Breaker of Faith, and believed dead, Hammer's mother makes her the new pilot of the Detroit Steel armor.^[7] However, Johnson is later revealed to be alive, and kidnaps his replacement. He brings the bound and gagged Hammer to Justine, threatening to kill her unless his armor is returned to him. Johnson releases Hammer after regaining possession of the suit. Sasha and the Steelcorps battled Johnson up to the point where Sasha decapitated him with her whips.^[8]

Powers and abilities

Sasha Hammer has been augmented by advanced technology, enabling her body to generate powerful energy of an unspecified type. She can project this energy from her hands in the form of whips and swords that she can use in physical combat. Her enhancements also give her ability to fly. The limits of these abilities have not been explicitly given, but she can use them to destroy an automobile and can prove a considerable opponent to Iron Man.^[9]

When operating Detroit Steel armor suits, Hammer has at her disposal that full range of armaments and other features with which the suits were designed, as well as modifications with which the suit can be customized to a particular pilot. According to Hammer Industries, the suit incorporates technology, such as C.N.S. (Controlled Exo-Enhanciles), that would eventually be used to end paralysis caused by cervical, thoracic or corticospinal injuries. Weighing four and a half tons,^[2] the "oversized"^[10] Detroit Steel towers over Iron Man,^[11] at approximately twice his height.^[12] The suit affords its occupant considerable protection from automatic weapons and explosives,^[2] though the magically-powered being Mokk was able to easily rip open the armor.^[13]

The suit allows its users to fly (though Hammer, as aforementioned, has this ability without the suit), and usually is seen with a rotary cannon mounted on its right arm, and a specialized chainsaw on its left,^[2] which can penetrate Iron Man's Bleeding Edge Armor.^[12] There are rocket-powered munitions on the suit's shoulders.^[2] The rotary cannon can be dismounted so that the soldier can carry and fire it as a traditional handheld weapon,^[14] and users of the armor have been seen outfitted with other types of weapons in this manner, including both directed-energy weapons and scaled-up rifles.^[15] Sasha Hammer's armor has also been observed to have a directed-energy weapon in palm of its hands.^[14] Those who pilot the armor are required to undergo considerable surgical modifications, which leave implants visible on the pilot's chest, which Lt. Johnson, who first piloted the Mark One, felt "turned him into a monster", though Hammer, who already had undergone a number of enhancements by Ezekiel Stane, regards herself as Stane's "masterpiece".^[9] As an executive of Hammer Industries, Hammer has access to a wide range of armors that come in varying sizes and designs,^[16][17] with different models designed for different environments and hot zones, including arctic climates and urban encounters.^[2]

In other media

Film and Television

• Sasha Hammer appears in the anime film Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Houko Kuwashima in the Japanese version and by Tara Platt in the English dub.^[18]
• Sasha Hammer is alluded in Avengers: Ultron Revolution. She is mentioned in the episode "The Conqueror".

References