List of Marvel Comics characters: A

Abraxas
Abraxas is a primordial entity who is the anthithesis to Eternity and represents the destruction of the Multiverse. He first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #2001. Abraxas was fated to destroy the Multiverse upon the death of Galactus, but he was erased from existence when Reed Richards used the Ultimate Nullifier in Fantastic Four Volume 3 #49.

Abyss
Abyss is the name of different characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Nils Styger
Abyss is a mutant and the genetic half-brother of Nightcrawler as the son of Azazel. He was created by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Roger Cruz, and Steve Epting, and he first appeared in Age of Apocalypse: Alpha, which takes place in an alternate reality. Years after the Age of Apocalypse event ended, the character was introduced in the Marvel Universe. Born Nils Styger in the fictional nation of Genosha, Abyss has the ability to teleport by accessing the Brimstone Dimension, much like Nightcrawler. He was involved in the Legacy Virus storyline and was one of the mutants affected during the Decimation storyline.

The Age of Apocalypse version of the character is Nightcrawler's half-brother through his mother, Mystique, and served as one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. He physically exists as a portal, and he is able to contort his body and to absorb other people into it as they are sent to another dimension.

Abyss (alien)
Abyss debuted in The Avengers (vol. 5) #1. She was created by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opeña. She is composed of living gas and is invulnerable to harm. Abyss also has the ability to suggest ideas and manipulate certain beings into acting the way she wants and assisted in a plot to bring a breathable atmosphere and vegetation to Mars. She is the sister of Ex Nihilo, hatched from an egg carried by an alien robot named Aleph. The two came into conflict with the Avengers when Ex Nihilo attempted to terraform Earth, but were defeated.

Ex Nihilo, Abyss, Nightmask, and Star Brand joined the Avengers. Alongside her sibling, Ex Nihilo journeyed with the Avengers into space to combat the alien race known as the Builders, who had created Aleph. During the conflict, Abyss and Ex Nihilo discovered other Ex Nihilii existed, but that their corresponding Abysii had died long ago.

When Earth learned of the threat of the Incursions, Abyss and the Ex Nihilii joined with a group of Avengers who had sided with A.I.M. to investigate and potentially stop the events at their source. Travelling the multiverse, the team eventually encounter the leader of the mysterious Black Priests, Doctor Strange, who offers them an opportunity to reach the true cause of the Incursions, the "Ivory Kings". Accepting the offer, the team reach the Ivory Kings, but are vastly outclassed by the beings. Abyss and the Ex Nihilia sacrifice their lives to use their powers to turn one of the beings into a tree.

Abyss in other media
The second incarnation of Abyss appears in the Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur episode "Moon Girl's Day Off", voiced by Maya Hawke. This version possesses teleportation capabilities and is the latest in a long line of generational female supervillains. However, she begins to reconsider villainy after encountering Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

Adam
Adam is the first human created by God. The character is derived from the biblical Adam. He was a recurring character in Ghost Rider volume 7 and Man-Thing volume 5. The biblical Adam had previously been featured in Marvel's Bible Tales for Young Folk series in 1953.

When the Serpent was freed, Adam saw this as a sign and offered to Johnny Blaze to remove the curse of Ghost Rider off him, instead giving it to one of his students Alejandra Jones.

Adam X
Adam X, also referred to as The X-Treme, is a half-alien half-mutant. He was created by Fabian Nicieza and Jeff Johnson and first appeared in X-Force Annual #2 (October 1993). The son of Shi'ar emperor D'Ken and a human woman, the character's mutant ability is to ignite any blood that is accessible through an open wound. To use his power, Adam X carried a large number of blades. Adam X was originally intended to be the brother of Cyclops and Havok, but the character was retired when Nicieza left the series. However, in 2021 the anthology title X-Men Legends would reveal Adam is genetically related to the Summers, as genetic information from Katherine Summers was used in his creation, along with that of a previously undeclared sister named "Eve-Y".

Adam was among the many Mutants who would move to San Francisco. While there, he assisted the X-Men during the Fear Itself event, being recruited to assist in attempts to stop the possessed Juggernaut. However, his assistance failed to impede Juggernaut.

Aegis
Aegis is the name of different comic book characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Aegis (Lady of All Sorrows)
Aegis, or Lady of All Sorrows, is a primordial being who wields the Power Cosmic. Aegis was created by writer Keith Giffen and artist Andrea Di Vito, and she first appeared in Annihilation: Silver Surfer #3, dated August 2006. Aegis is a member of the Proemial Gods who build and maintain the universe. She is the Proemial responsible for eliminating aberrations. After a war among the Proemials, Aegis and Tenerous were captured by Galactus. She and Tenebrous aligned with Thanos and Annihilus to fight Galactus and the Silver Surfer. The two successfully defeated Galactus for Annihilus. Outlasting the events of the Annihilation Wave, Aegis and Tenebrous pondered what to do. Recognizing their threat, the Silver Surfer attacked the two, but was outclassed until he used the energies of the Crunch, a barrier between the universe and the Negative Zone, to slay both primordials.

Aegis (Trey Jason Rollins)
Aegis is a superhero created by Jay Faerber and Steve Scott who first appeared in The New Warriors (vol. 2) #0 in June 1999. Trey Rollins was a kid in Brooklyn who found a magic breastplate. He became the superhero Aegis and joined the New Warriors. When Hercules learns that Rollins has the breastplate, he takes Rollins to Olympus and battles him, accusing him of stealing the breastplate. Rollins earns the right to keep the breastplate, and he learns that it was gift from Athena.

During the superhero civil war. an unregistered Aegis is being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. He is offered sanctuary with X-Factor but declines. He later complied with the Registration Act. Aegis was killed during a fight with the Huntsman when the breastplate fails to protect him after jumping out of a 12-story window. Huntsman was acting on behalf of Hera after Zeus' death. He later appears in Erebus, a casino where souls try to win a chance at resurrection. He helps Hercules save Zeus from his imprisonment by Hades and accompanies Amadeus Cho to the Elysian Fields.

Aftershock
Aftershock is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Allison Dillon
In the MC2 reality, Allison Dillon is the daughter of former supervillain Max Dillon / Electro. She inherited her father's electric powers, but their different electric auras left them unable to touch the other without harming themselves. Growing up in foster homes, Dillon becomes the supervillain the teenage villain Aftershock. Electro finds his daughter with the help of Spider-Man and Spider-Girl in Spider-Girl #81 and convinces her to stand down.

Danielle Blunt
In the main Marvel Comics continuity, Aftershock is Danielle Blunt a young woman empowered and brainwashed by the Superior to become the field leader of the "Bastards of Evil", believing herself to be Electro's daughter. Her position as field leader caused frictions with teammate Singularity, leading to a fight that restored her memories. She was aprenhended and sent to the Raft by Spider-Girl, who helped her fully regain her identity in a futile attempt to reform her. Blunt is later freed with the Bastards of Evil in the Fear Itself story arc.

Aftershock in other media
A character based on the Allison Dillon incarnation of Aftershock appears in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, voiced by Alison Brie. This version daylights as Ms. Dillon, a school teacher. While not made explicitly clear within the series, show developer Steve Loter referred to her as Electro's daughter.

Agamemnon
Agamemnon is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Agamemnon is a half-human, half-Asgardian. He was born immortal, and though he never physically aged beyond the age of 16 (although he employs holograms to appear as an old man), the Pantheon members are all his descendants. He recruited the Pantheon, stationed in the Nevada desert based headquarters called The Mount. He first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #381 (May 1991). Aside from being immortal, Agamemnon does not appear to have superhuman powers. He is a master in analyzing and forecasting the future development of social structures, as well as a master battle strategist and an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. He also has access to the highly advanced technology produced by the Pantheon scientists and craftsmen. Since the revelation that he is Loki's son, he has also demonstrated knowledge of magic and spell casting. Though he does not appear to have any innate magic ability, he has shown skill in employing magical artifacts and rituals.

Agamotto
Agamotto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Agamotto is an ancient Sorcerer Supreme who created the Eye of Agamotto—a tool of magical clairvoyance used by superhero sorcerer Doctor Strange.

Agamotto in other media
Agamotto appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Corey Burton. This version was the first Sorcerer Supreme millennia prior before being corrupted by power. Subsequently, he was banished from Earth, with his right eye being removed and part of his power transferred into it.

Agent 33
Agent 33 (Kara Lynn Palamas) is a fictional agent in the Marvel Universe. The character, created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, first appeared in Hercules: Heart of Chaos #1 (August 1997).

Kara Lynn Palamas was a historian and researcher who held a special interest in classic mythology. When gods and heroes started to appear all over the world, she was sought after by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was put into training to become a full-fledged agent. Her partner was Alex DePaul, who personally taught her. She was asked to recruit Hercules when Ares began his assault on Earth. Though he initially said no, he changes his mind when his friend, Tharamus, is murdered. Together, Hercules fought Ares while Palamas was forced to fight DePaul who was in league with Ares the whole time.

Agent 33 in other media
Kara Palamas appears in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. played by Maya Stojan and Ming-Na Wen. She is a well respected S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was kidnapped and brainwashed by HYDRA leader Daniel Whitehall. In the episode "Face My Enemy", she infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. using a phototastic veil to resemble Melinda May. After fighting the real May, the mask gets fused on to her face with an electric lamp. Now resembling a scarred May, she continues to work diligently and faithfully to Whitehall. In "What They Become", Palamas helps capture Grant Ward, but when Whitehall is killed by Phil Coulson she becomes directionless and proceeds to follow Ward. At this point, Palamas was no longer able to make decisions on her own, so Ward helps her by tracking down the creator of the veil in an effort to manage it. Later, they capture Sunil Bakshi and proceed to brainwash him out of revenge. She then used a photo of herself to make the veil resemble her unscarred self. In "The Frenemy of My Enemy", Palamas and Ward are forced to work with Coulson's team to find Baron Strucker and his HYDRA base. Together, they were able to track him through Dr. List and proceeded to send the Avengers after them. Palamas admitted to Bobbi Morse that she was in love with Ward for saving her. Together they once again betray S.H.I.E.L.D. and kidnap and torture Morse. In "S.O.S. Part Two", Palamas and Ward set a trap for Lance Hunter when he arrives to rescue Morse. Palamas once again donned her May disguise using her veil, but she is accidentally killed by Ward.

Aggamon
Aggamon is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Aggamon is depicted as a supervillain and minor enemy of Doctor Strange who has allied with Dormammu and Clea. He is the ruler of the Purple Dimension, a realm in which he tricks natives of other dimensions into visiting the place and forcing them to become slaves. He first appeared in Strange Tales #119 (1964).

For millennia, Aggamon is the cruel ruler of the Purple Dimension. He hears the news of the powerful sorcerer Doctor Strange. Interested in gaining power, he hires thieves to steal Strange's Purple Gem. Tracing the valuable to the dimension, Doctor Strange promises that to regain the gem, he would swear himself to slavery. As soon as he was regiven the possession, he breaks his promise and challenges his enemy to a mystic duel. The battle went on for hours, until, unable to continue without losing his life, Aggamon surrenders. Strange casts a spell over the being that prevents Aggamon's full recovery unless his slaves were freed, and left with the Purple Gem.

Sometime later, Aggamon is one of the many witnesses to a fight between Doctor Strange and the mystical tyrant Dormammu. This taught him respect for other powerful dimensional universes. He has since sold some of his gems throughout the multiverse. It is unknown whether he has given up his slaves to regain his full health or not.

An averagely powerful sorcerer, Aggamon can conjure mental visions, open dimensional portals, and can perform other magical abilities similar to Doctor Strange's but not nearly as powerful. He carries a "Jeweled Demolisher Beam" which projects mystic energy for almost limitless amounts of times. Aggamon also has access to many other mystic objects such as gems and is served by an entire army of underlings.

Agony
Agony is the name used by a symbiote in Marvel Comics. The symbiote, created by David Michelinie and Ron Lim, first appeared in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 (May 1993), and was named in Carnage, U.S.A. #2 (March 2012). It was created as one of five symbiote "children" forcefully spawned from the Venom symbiote along with Riot, Lasher, Phage, and Scream.

Leslie Gesneria
Agony's first host was Leslie Gesneria, a mercenary hired by Carlton Drake's Life Foundation in San Francisco. Gesneria bonded with the Agony symbiote in conjunction with Scream (Donna Diego), Phage (Carl Mach), Riot (Trevor Cole) and Lasher (Ramon Hernandez), but they were defeated by Spider-Man and Venom. The symbiote's "siblings" later kidnapped Eddie Brock in an attempt to communicate with alien symbiotes in Chicago. When Brock refused to aid them Gesneria, Cole, and Machwere killed while the others were misled into believing Brock was picking the group off, unaware that the true killer was the schizophrenic Diego, who had snapped from Scream's influence.

This incarnation of Agony appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited and as a boss in Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety.

James Murphy
Agony's second host was James Murphy, a Petty Officer assigned to the Agony symbiote for Mercury Team With Cletus Kasady on the loose in Colorado, Murphy trains with Agony for months in specific tasks alongside Phage (Rico Axelson), Lasher (Marcus Simms) and Riot (Howard Odgen), as well as assists Spider-Man, Scorn and Flash Thompson. Murphy and his teammates are later killed by Carnage in their secret base and the four symbiotes bond with Mercury Team's dog.

Tess
After being possessed by Knull the four symbiotes possess a bickering family, with Agony taking the mother Tess. The symbiotes head to New York to assist in Carnage's quest before hunting Dylan Brock and Normie Osborn, only to be defeated by the Maker and separated from their hosts. Still under Knull's possession, Agony merges with her "siblings" into one, but is defeated by Andi Benton.

Gemma Shin
Agony's fourth host is Gemma Shin, a communications director who is secretly a terrorist. Now led by the Carnage symbiote, Agony and the other three symbiote enforcers participate in a conspiracy involving the Friends of Humanity, only to be defeated by Flash Thompson, Silence and Toxin. While her fellow symbiotes are taken into Alchemax's custody, Agony manages to escape. Agony subsequently joined Mayor Wilson Fisk's Thunderbolts after the outlawing of superhero activities. She assists Electro, the Rhino and U.S. Agent in taking down Moon Knight.

Ahab
Ahab is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Dr. Rory Campbell was a psychologist who had previously met the scientist Moira MacTaggart. He accepted a position as Moira's assistant at Muir Island, at the same time that the mutant hero team Excalibur became stationed there. Campbell attempted to reach the island during a storm that was exacerbated by an attack by Siena Blaze and nearly died; however, he was rescued and brought ashore by team member Phoenix. While working at Muir Island, Campbell discovered the existence of a future timeline where he became the mutant hunting Ahab, creating and leading hordes of mutant trackers called Hounds. Campbell became determined to prevent that future from ever happening. Excalibur had captured the villain Spoor, one of Magneto's Acolytes, and Campbell built a special room to perform therapy on Spoor, who had the power to control another's mood. The room had built-in lasers to react to any hostile behavior and Campbell used mood stabilizers while talking to Spoor so as to inhibit his mutant power. Nevertheless, Spoor eventually provoked Campbell into attacking him. As a result, the room's weapons fired at the scientist, costing him a leg.

Campbell continued to fear his perceived "destiny" of becoming Ahab occurring. He left Excalibur to work with Alistair Stuart at the department as a mutant liaison officer. Rory hoped the benign position helping mutants would prevent him from being harmed by mutants in a way that would trigger his alternate future self's rabid anti-mutant hatred. Later, he traded secrets of McTaggert's research into the deadly Legacy Virus to Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club, claiming that he hoped that Shaw's greater resources would find a cure, but also receiving a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg in the bargain. Soon afterwards Campbell was captured by the villain Apocalypse and transformed into the Horseman called Famine, utilizing life-draining technology. In this capacity, he fought the X-Men but managed to escape before Apocalypse was defeated.

"Days of Future Past" version
On Earth-811, Ahab became the leader of the government-sanctioned Hound program, commissioned to track down and capture mutants for internment. In this reality, Rachel Summers was Ahab's pinnacle of Hound creation, although Rachel subsequently escaped into the current timeline, horribly mutilating Ahab by throwing him into one of his machines. For a while, Ahab was a paraplegic in a floating chair, but later he was given bionic body parts. Ahab, now more cyborg then ever, tried to hunt Rachel down through the time-wandering spirit of the alternate future's Franklin Richards, at one point creating Hounds out of Scott Summers and Sue Storm-Richards. Ahab was defeated by the actions of the Fantastic Four and the combined X-teams. Years later, Rachel finally defeated Ahab with the help of her Excalibur teammates and reprogrammed the Master Mold of the future, causing the Sentinels to preserve all life (even Ahab's).

Unidentified reality version
An alternate version of Ahab was later retrieved from a future timeline by Kang to aid in fighting the Apocalypse Twins and saving the Earth from destruction. Afterwards, Kang dropped Ahab off in the present day with the Red Skull to help build mutant internment camps. Ahab was forced to stay in this reality and time, and took control of Prestige.

He travelled to Transia, but was attacked and wounded badly, needing help from their government. When X-Force arrived they saw him and immediately engaged. After the battle was over, they found his head and body separated from each other and that he was dead.

Ahab in other media

 * Dr. Roderick Campbell appears in The Gifted, portrayed by Garret Dillahunt. This version is a human scientist working for Trask Industries' "Hounds" program and an advisor to Sentinel Services.

Ai Apaec
Ai Apaec is a supervillain based on the chief deity of Moche culture.

AIDA
AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Data Analyser) is a fictional computer system in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character, created by Mark Gruenwald and Bob Hall, first appeared in Squadron Supreme #1 (September 1985).

Created by Tom Thumb, AIDA was a computer imbued with artificial intelligence. Thumb gave it a female personality and would often flirt with his creation. AIDA was also the only person who knew of Tom's cancer diagnosis. AIDA eventually tells Ape X, but Tom has resigned himself to his fate. AIDA and Ape X try to create a robot duplicate of her creator but this endeavour is abandoned. When Moonglow infiltrates the Squadron, AIDA alerts Ape X, but the mental programming of the Squadron's brainwashing technique causes Ape X to suffer an aneurism, much to AIDA's confusion, since the artificial intelligence lacks the knowledge to understand her mistake.

AIDA in other media
AIDA appears in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., voiced by Amanda Rea in the third season, and portrayed by Mallory Jansen in the fourth season. This version is Holden Radcliffe's A.I. assistant whose name is an acronym for Artificial Intelligent Digital Assistant, and which is converted into a Life Model Decoy (LMD) based on Agnes Kitsworth. While helping S.H.I.E.L.D. fight Eli Morrow, she uses information from the Darkhold to betray Radcliffe and utilize a virtual reality world, the Framework, to better experience human emotions and enact Project: Looking Glass to help her exist in the real world. In pursuit of her goals, she assumes the alias of Ophelia / Madame Hydra and pursues a relationship with Leo Fitz's Framework counterpart, the "Doctor". Successfully enacting the project, AIDA grants herself various powers, such as imperviousness to conventional forms of harm, and kidnaps Fitz. Taking advantage of her experiencing human emotions, Fitz convinces AIDA to rescue the former's teammates, though they are captured by Jemma Simmons. Learning Fitz loves Simmons instead of her, AIDA escapes and joins forces with Anton Ivanov in the hopes of making S.H.I.E.L.D. suffer for the pain they caused her. While attempting to retrieve the Darkhold, she is attacked by Robbie Reyes's supernatural powers which harm her. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson later borrows supernatural powers to successfully kill AIDA.

Aireo
Aireo is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Aireo is an aerokinetic Inhuman, also known as Skybreaker, who can manipulate air.

Ajax
Ajax is the name of different characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Pantheon version
Ajax first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #379 (March 1991), and was created by writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown.

Ajax is a member of the Pantheon, and is one of the descendants of the immortal Agamemnon, along with Achilles, Atalanta, Cassiopeia, Delphi, Hector, Paris, Perseus, Prometheus, and Ulysses. Ajax was born in Texas. He was named after Ajax, a Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War.

When the warriors of the Pantheon first encounter the Hulk, for the purpose of inviting him to join them, Ajax attacks the Hulk after he believes the Hulk has struck Atalanta, for whom Ajax bears an unrequited crush. To prevent injuries to nearby civilians, Hulk pretends to be rendered unconscious so that the Pantheon will take him captive. When the Pantheon returns to their headquarters, The Mount, the formerly captive Hulk frees himself, and Ajax fights him again but this time is defeated by him. After the Hulk accepts the Pantheon's offer to join them Ajax attacks him again, but Atalanta, to whom Ajax is submissive, tells him that the Hulk is now a member of the Pantheon, and that he must now regard him as a friend.

Ajax serves on many of the Pantheon's missions while the Hulk is part of the team. Ajax fights rioters in New York City alongside Atalanta, killing some of them because his companion ordered this. Alongside the Hulk and the Pantheon, he battles S.H.I.E.L.D. and the forces of Farnoq Dahn in the Trans-Sabal war, and battled the People's Protectorate. After Atalanta is injured Ajax visits her in the Mount's hospital. He battles Dracchiss alongside the Pantheon, and is badly burned in a fight with the U-Foes.

When he discovered Atalanta and Achilles in a romantic interlude, Ajax flies into a jealous rage, threatening to hurt both of them. He is eventually restrained and calmed by the Hulk.

Ajax is so massive that he cannot move quickly without a special exoskeleton battle-suit, which grants him superhuman strength, durability and reflexes. His strength increases as his anger builds, much like that of the Hulk. Like other members of the Pantheon, Ajax has a fast healing ability and an extended lifespan. Without support from his battle-suit, Ajax's legs and spine would collapse under his tremendous weight. His body is disproportionate in shape. He also has poor vision.

He has the mentality of a young child, making him sometimes difficult to control. Atalanta has always been able to calm him down, as he idolizes her and will do anything she says. Of course, this sometimes leads to other problems. For a time, he did not understand the difference between romantic love and platonic friendship love and this drove him into a rampage, where he even threatened Atalanta herself. The rampage was ended before anyone was seriously hurt or killed. Ajax took his rage out on an inanimate mountain, not realizing he was endangering himself as well. The Hulk managed to talk him into calming down.

The Hulk has also gotten into trouble when he fails to treat Ajax with the proper mind frame. At first he attacks Ajax again when he mistakes a simple hug for another threat against Atalanta. Then the Hulk let it slip that Bambi's mother had died, distressing Ajax who had been told, by Atalanta, she had run away and come back after the movie had ended.

Albert
Albert is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an ally of Wolverine and is a sapient automaton or android. Albert, created by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri, first appeared in Wolverine (vol. 2) #37 (suspended in a tank of liquid) and officially appeared in Wolverine (vol. 2) #38.

Albert is a robot double of Wolverine who was created along with his counterpart Elsie-Dee by Donald Pierce. These androids were designed to kill Wolverine. The double was to trap the real Wolverine in a burning building, upon which Elsie-Dee would detonate with sufficient force to kill. Initially, Albert had a primitive artificial brain with limited higher logic functions and no emotions, and he was not referred to with a name but as "Dummy".

Pierce's plan to kill Wolverine failed when the Reaver Bonebreaker accidentally gave Elsie-Dee enhanced artificial intelligence. As a result, she defused the detonation sequence and enhanced the primitive intelligence of her counterpart. It was at this point that Elsie-Dee named him as Albert, after Albert Einstein. Having met Wolverine, Albert and Elsie-Dee decided the mutant was a noble person and abandoned their mission. While Elsie-Dee saved Wolverine while they were in a burning building, Albert raided an electronic store and hacked into NASA's supercomputers to find a way to crack Pierce's programming. After crunching the numbers and sending them to Elsie-Dee, Albert was shot by the police. Albert rebuilt himself in the police evidence locker, and stole a stealth bomber before linking up with Elsie-Dee.

The two robots risked their artificial lives several times for each other and for Wolverine. At some point, they traveled in time and had several adventures, even teaming up with Bloodscream, an old enemy of Wolverine, while Albert gained a leadership role with a local Indian tribe.

After Wolverine's body disappeared from his tomb, Albert was mentioned in Daredevil's discussion with Nur as one of the Wolverines that they are not looking for. Albert was in Saskatchewan and massacred the forest rangers at an outpost in at Meadowlake Provincial Park. When Daredevil, Misty Knight, Nur and Cypher arrived to investigate the sighting, Cypher was attacked by Albert. Daredevil confronted the killer, discovering that it is Albert rather than Wolverine as Nur works to heal Cypher. The group deactivated Albert, leaving an anonymous tip for the Canadian authorities on where to find him.

During the "Iron Man 2020" storyline, Albert appears as a member of the A.I. Army. He later divers from the A.I. Army's goals and heads to Madripoor to look for Elsie-Dee. He was directed to Donald Pierce's company Reavers Universal Robotics. After Albert subduing the Reavers, Donald tells Albert he sold Elsie-Dee's parts. After getting them back, Albert puts Elsie-Dee back together – however, the Reavers, Kimura, the Jade Dragon Triad, and the Vladivostok Mafia take action against Albert vowing that he will never make it out of Madripoor alive. The pair evade their enemies and make it out of Madripoor by plane, in a disguised box bound for Macao. Elsie-Dee stated to Albert that they would get him upgraded. Albert and Elsie-Dee are among those assisting in the fight against the Extinction Entity. It would later be revealed that this was just a simulation as Tony Stark has discovered that Arno Stark's terminal congenital disease that caused Arno to have a delusion about the Extinction Entity and had placed Arno in the Virtual Armor.

Albert is superhumanly strong, could interface directly with computers, and had an intellect greater than his designer Donald Pierce. Albert had three retractable claws on each hand, just as Wolverine (but not adamantium). Albert not only had technological knowledge centuries beyond conventional science (which he was capable of making significant progress in), but also perfect photographic recall and detailed knowledge of even the most obscure facets of history. Albert reinforced his construction with bulletproof armor. Although Albert was initially designed to fight Wolverine, he has limited fighting skills.

Albert in other media
Albert appeared in Wolverine: Adamantium Rage.

Albion
Albion is a fiction comic book superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. His civilian identity is Peter Hunter.

In 1914, Peter Hunter's life changed when the mystical Green Knight bestowed him the Pendragon spirit-power once belonging to Herne the Hunter and Merlin, becoming the British hero, Albion. During World War I, he became a great hero for the British nation. However, after the war his powers faded and Hunter became a history teacher.

Decades later his student Cam McClellan was possessed by the Pendragon power. Unable to control it, Cam became prey to the Green Knight's enemies, the Bane. Hunter and fellow Pendragons Ben Gallagher, Union Jack, Kate McClellan, went to Joselito, Spain, where they encountered the Bane's pawn, Francesca Grace. Hunter convinced Cam to return the Pendragon power to him, allowing him to become Albion once again.

Taking an extended leave of absence from school, Albion became a leader of the new Knights of Pendragon, and investigated the return of the Bane's leader, the Red Lord. Captured and killed by Grace, Albion was resurrected by the Green Knight to take part in the final defense of the Green Chapel in the realm of Avalon. Victorious, the Knights used the chapel as their base for months. Albion officially became the group's leader, overseeing battles against Mys-Tech, Magpie, Baron Blood, and Shadow King, and began romancing his former enemy turned teammate, Grace.

He was later recruited into the Time Guardian's Dark Guard along with Dark Angel, Motormouth, Killpower and Death's Head and charged with protecting the galaxy from Mys-Tech, Albion and his allies defeated the evil Collapsar, who threatened the balance of power on the planet Eopia.

Along with the other Knights of Pendragon, Albion participated in the Battle of London Bridge, preventing Mys-Tech from sacrificing the entire population to Mephisto. Hunter later retired to Avalon, where he became addicted to watching MasterChef. The return of Mys-Tech galvanised him to return to action but he was captured by their Psycho-Wraiths and used to open a gate to Mephisto's dimension. He joined a large number of British heroes in turning back the invasion before returning to Avalon.

Hunter has magically enhanced strength, agility, durability, and the ability to fly at speeds reaching Mach 2, he can sense the presence of the villain Bane, and discharge magic flame from his hands. He is well versed in the use of the Arthurian Tarot, utilizing it to divine future events. Albion's armor provides protection from both physical and mystic harm, as well as amplifying his senses. The suit is bonded to him and cannot be removed unless he wills it. For a time, the Pendragons used mystically powered bikes to teleport to and from Avalon.

Other versions of Albion
The Earth-9106 version of Peter Hunter is Officer Saxon, a Captain Britain Corps member.

Alchemy
Alchemy (Thomas Jones) is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A British mutant, Alchemy was created by British comic book fan Paul Betsow, was the winning entry of a contest held by Marvel Comics for the best fan-created character. Marvel planned to publish the winning creation in an issue of New Mutants; however, Alchemy eventually first appeared in X-Factor #41 instead.

Thomas 'Jellybeans' Jones was a teenager when his mutant powers first manifested. With little control over his powers, Thomas could turn objects he touched into gold. This drew the attention of the Troll Associates, a group of trolls. Centuries ago, trolls had been driven underground by humanity, but the Troll Associates wanted to reclaim the British Isles for their kind. The Troll Associates kidnapped Thomas and told him to create an abundance of gold to collapse the British economy, but Thomas refused to comply. Meanwhile, Thomas' mother had witnessed her son's abduction by the trolls and thought that the trolls were mutants. She called X-Factor for help. X-Factor tracked down the trolls, following a trail of gold that Thomas had left behind, but the trolls defeated and imprisoned X-Factor. The trolls then tried to force Thomas to obey by threatening his mother. To protect his mother, Thomas turned the leaders of the Troll Associates, Phy and Phee, into gold, and given the sheer biochemical complexity of living organic matter, he could not change them back. The Troll Associates retreated and Thomas then turned the golden trolls into lead (to avoid the aforementioned economic problems). X-Factor placed the leaden trolls in Hyde Park as statues. Thomas decided to study biochemistry so that he could restore the leaden trolls back to normal.

A few years later, the Troll Associates kidnapped Alchemy's mother. Alchemy was forced to obey them, but he secretly called X-Factor for help. On their way to restore the leaden trolls back to normal, the Troll Associates and Alchemy ran into Excalibur. The two groups fought and Alchemy turned Captain Britain and Meggan into gold. The X-Men met up with Excalibur and together they tracked down the trolls, but both groups were captured. Excalibur-leader Nightcrawler managed to convince the majority of the trolls that the Troll Associates' methods were wrong. He challenged the new leader of the Troll Associates, Phough, to single combat, while Excalibur and the X-Men freed themselves. Phough then tried to kill Alchemy's mother, but Nightcrawler saved her and Alchemy turned Phough into a golden statue. Alchemy then revealed to Excalibur and the X-Men that, due to his biochemistry studies, he could now restore humans back to normal and restored Captain Britain and Meggan.

Alchemy was one the mutants to retain their powers after when the Scarlet Witch wished mutants out of existence. He was instrumental to Cyclops' plan to save the mutant race by transmuting the Terrigen Clouds into a substance that is not harmful to mutants or humans. He was able to successfully transmute one of the clouds, but succumbed to Terrigen poisoning himself immediately afterwards.

Alchemy has the ability to alter the chemical composition of anything he touches into its elemental components. He can also change matter into other forms so long as he fully understands the physical composition of the desired result. In his first appearance he could only change objects into simple chemical elements, usually gold. Due to his study of biochemistry, he could later also change objects into more complex molecules, allowing him to change transmuted living beings back to normal.

Abdul Alhazred
Abdul Alhazred (Abd-el-Hazred), also going by the aliases The Mad Arab, Death God, and Master, is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was first adapted into a Marvel character in Marvel's adapted comic of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. This comic series took place within the Marvel Universe, according to The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Mystic Arcana.

Alhazred's origins are unknown, but it has been discovered that he was first the leader of a small band of slaves in the desert. Starting to rebel due to his cruel force over the group, the slaves fought the powerful ruler but were defeated. However the Arab was wounded, and the group abandoned their leader and left him to die in the middle of the Sahara. Soon he stumbled upon a mystic rock, and became trapped inside a tiny dimensional realm in subterranean Earth, where he died, though his soul later blended with another being, a reptilian species in that same realm. Later on, his soul escaped from the creature and managed to escape the rock, bonding to a nearby host who gained all of his former traits (not counting his appearance).

Alhazred soon gained control over a new group of slaves whom he forced to take an entrance through a large but dark cave, and into the dimension – Alhazred had destroyed the rock by throwing it at the back of a cave, which opened a portal to the realm – to gather a valuable crystal found only in the realm. One of the slaves grew afraid and ran back out the entrance, and he was slaughtered by Alhazred. Tarzan had spotted this, and he ran to fight the menace and avenge the slave, but could not. Later that day, Alhazred captured an African princess to serve as a sacrifice into the portal. Seeing this, Tarzan gathered up a band of criminals hoping to stop this madness, but they were all captured by the Arab. As the group journeyed into the cave, Tarzan and the princess secretly escaped, but the rest of the criminals eagerly accompanied Alhazred. When the princess was nowhere to be found when the sacrificial ceremony was held, the group went out looking for the two. Alhazred summoned all of his magical traveling abilities, and soon he was able to track down his prey.

The group traveled over the Atlantic Ocean and battled pirates. After the end of the voyage, the exhausted group journeyed to the jungle of Mahar, but they were too late. Tarzan and the princess had already arrived to find a crystal very similar to the one in Alhazred's dimension. When Alhazred and his group were spotted, Tarzan and the princess took revenge on the ruler, and even the criminals turned on him. It was then that a battle was fought. While Tarzan battled the Arab, the princess tried to find a way to seize the crystal, but she was killed by a mad slave prisoner. While the battle went on against Alhazred, the Mad Arab finally had enough and quickly created a stampede of dinosaurs from mystical energy. After this trick had seemingly not harmed Tarzan, Alhazred decided to make him the sacrifice. The crystal was meanwhile losing energy, and it needed more to be stable. The crystal quickly then drained all energy from the powerful Arab, and the man crumbled into ashes.

Alhazred sought control of the Madripoor criminal empire of Tyger Tiger, so he could overthrow Prince Baran and gain a new power base. He sent agents to kidnap Tiger and Archie Corrigan, but the thugs argued and crashed their plane in Madripoor's jungles. There, Wolverine defeated them and rescued the captives.

Later, Alhazred himself attacked and beat Wolverine, then successfully kidnapped Tiger and Corrigan. When Wolverine arrived to free his allies Alhazred unleashed his demons, hoping to send Wolverine into a rage, which Alhazred could use to control the mutant. Logan resisted by maintaining control of himself and caused the psychic backlash to banish Alhazred to the extradimensional demon realm.

Abdul Alhazred has a seemingly endless number of mystical, magical, and psionic abilities. He can teleport in a cloud of smoke and powerfully hypnotize others. He possesses massive strength and durability, making him bulletproof.

Alkhema
Alkhema is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character, created by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, David Ross, and Tim Dzon, first appeared in Avengers West Coast #90 (January 1993).

Publication history
Roy Thomas said he created her because he "wasn't wild about" Jocasta, the first bride of Ultron. The name comes from the word "alchemy". Her alias, War Toy, is from a story Roy Thomas had had Tony Isabella write for Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction years earlier.

Alkhema was constructed by Ultron-13 as a second attempt to create a mate, based on the brain patterns of Mockingbird. Unlike her creator, she desired to kill all humans individually rather than en masse. She first went up against the Avengers shortly after being constructed, when she attacked a weapons center. She was defeated, but escaped. She later would go on to betray Ultron.

After a defeat of Ultron, she salvaged the set of brain patterns based after Hank Pym, the Wasp, Vision, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, the Grim Reaper from the rubble of Ultron's Slorenian base. where she built her Robos – consisting of War Toys and Bio-Synthezoids. However she was seemingly destroyed at Thebes when Hawkeye fired an "anti-metal" arrow into her.

By the time of the Robot Revolution, Alkema had started the Opus Futurae group where she named herself the Mother Prophet. She gained access to a lab in Siberia containing a bio-chemical weapon and unleashed it on the facility's staff. However, her robots start attacking Alkhema to prevent her from getting away with the bio-chemical weapon. JB12-X-05G893259 resumes the self-destruct sequence which blews up the research lab. Alkhema emerged from the rubble and walked away, commenting that her plans are much different from her father's plans and the A.I. Army's plans.

All-American
All-American (Jack Magniconte), also called Mr. Magnificent, is a fictional character appearing in comics published by Marvel Comics.

Jack Magniconte was the star quarterback for the New York Smashers football team, dubbed "Mr. Magnificent" by the press. His brother Steve (who had raised him) designed the Intensifier – a machine to enhance muscle mass, which he built with money borrowed from a loan shark. Jack himself was one of the people who was affected by the radiation of the "White Event"—a then-unexplained cosmic event which caused a small percentage of the human race to develop superhuman powers. Jack's powers however did not manifest until he volunteered to the Intensifier; upon first exposure, Jack's hair turned white and his muscle-mass and stamina were increased to a superhuman level.

Initially thrilled, Jack soon discovered that football no longer held any challenge for him, and he began trying to wear himself out before games in an attempt to give his opponents a sporting chance. Meanwhile, Steve's Intensifier was not having any measurable result on other test subjects; as a result he was unable to pay the loan shark back, who suggested that he have Jack throw the Super Bowl instead. Steve did not even ask his brother to do so, and Jack won the Super Bowl easily. Jack visited his brother afterwards – just in time to see Steve killed by one of the loan shark's men.

Jack decided to dedicate his life to helping others, and formed a non-profit foundation called "Kickers, Inc." to help people with unusual problems. He was joined in this project by his wife Darlene and several of his teammates. However, an unscrupulous CIA agent began blackmailing him with threats of getting him banned from football. Although he cooperated at first, running several missions for the CIA, he eventually resisted and was blacklisted.

After the destruction of Pittsburgh, he enlisted in the US Military and became known as "the All-American". He was given the rank of Captain and a patriotic costume, and placed in charge of one of the units of paranormals who were recruited during the paranormal draft. He takes part in the mission to South Africa that almost set off a paranormal and nuclear war.

When Earth-148611 came into contact with Earth-616, Jack was among the superheroes who fought alongside Quasar. Jack was on his Earth when the Living Tribunal seals it off from the rest of that universe.

Jack Magniconte is a superb athlete, combatant, and martial artist. After being experimented on, Jack gained superhuman strength (being able to lift up to 1 ton), durability, agility, reflexes, and speed. He can run up to 40 mi/h for as long as 10 minutes before beginning to tire, and he is bulletproof to indirect shots. He is a skilled pilot and uses a variety of automatic weapons, preferably guns, and wears a bulletproof uniform and helmet.

Other versions of All-American
In the New Universe reboot newuniversal: shockfront #1, Giovanni "Jack" Magniconte's powers manifest for the first time during a televised game—he struck and killed opposing player Michael Hathaway with a single blow. This immediately brought him to the attention of Project Spitfire, as well as the other existing superhumans. Spitfire's Philip L. Voight then attempted to kill Magniconte, detonating a suitcase bomb that destroyed the building Magniconte was being detained in.

All-Black the Necrosword
All-Black the Necrosword is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

It was the first symbiote created by Knull using a slain Celestial's head, and typically takes the form of a sword made from living darkness that responds to intense negative emotions, which often corrupts its user into committing divine atrocities. The All-Black corrupted Gorr the God Butcher to continue his God-killing spree, but failed due to three versions of Thor who cast the Necrosword into a black hole. In the present, the All-Black is revived and used by Knull before being destroyed by Venom.

Other versions of All-Black the Necrosword
In King Thor's timeline, the All-Black simultaneously bonds with Galactus, Ego the Living Planet, and Loki.

All-Black the Necrosword in other media

 * All-Black appears in a flashback in the Spider-Man promo short "The Secret Story of Venom". This version was previously created by Knull to aid him in his war against the Celestials as a member of the "Symbiote Sisters" before being abandoned by him and subsequently discovered by an alien explorer who bonded with her and her people. However, one rejected the power of the symbiotes and eventually killed All-Black. Afterwards, the remaining Sisters took over the planet and reformed All-Black's remains into the Venom symbiote and a symbiote-dragon called the World-Killer.
 * All-Black the Necrosword served as the inspiration for non-symbiote swords that appear in films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – with one used by Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, and another used by Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Alpha
Alpha (Andrew "Andy" Maguire) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #692 (August 2012).

Maguire was a student at Midtown High School, the same school Peter Parker attended, but he was not a good student and was completely ignored by everyone. One day during a demonstration at Horizon Labs, a problem arose during Parker's demonstration of "Parker Particles". Despite the attempts of Peter Parker and others to protect the class, Andy saved a girl named Chrissy, causing him to be struck by the energy himself. Instead of being fatally injured, he miraculously survived and Andrew gained the ability to create a hyper-kinetic form of energy tied to the forces of the universe. After being tested by many scientists and superheroes Mister Fantastic, Hank Pym, Iron Man, and Beast, Andy became the new spokesman of Horizon Labs at Mister Fantastic's suggestion to Max Modell. He was also trained by Peter Parker's alter-ego Spider-Man.

His superhero career was initially poorly received by the public. After observing Alpha, Jackal kidnapped the boy along with his parents, to create clones of him and build an army to control the world. Spider-Man managed to track Andy to the villain's lair, where they learned Andy's DNA was not affected by the accident, leading his newly formed clones to be powerless. After failing to absorb Alpha's power, the Jackal escaped. In the aftermath, Andy was emancipated from his neglectful parents. After he was called by Spider-Man to help the Avengers to battle Terminus, Alpha used his powers carelessly, causing many aircraft to shut down. After the Avengers managed to rescue the various passengers, Peter decided that Alpha was too irresponsible to wield the powers he had. He used Terminus' energy lance to deflect Alpha's energy to build an engine which took a huge portion of Andy's power. Spider-Man told Andy that he would be returning to his parents and attending high school once more.

Six months after these events took place, his parents divorced and Andy and his mother moved in with Andy's grandmother. Later, the Superior Spider-Man returned 10% of Alpha's abilities to him to harness Parker Particles and make himself more powerful. Alpha then attempted to save a woman from a mugger, but accidentally crushed the assailant's skull. After admitting the mugger to the Pittsburgh University Medical Center, Alpha destroyed an elemental parasite, preventing it from demolishing a steel plant. After saving his friend Susan "Soupcan" Rice from a restaurant fire, Alpha realized the Parker Particles have enhanced his senses to the point that he can hear and see everything on Earth. He then visits the mugger, who awakes and vows revenge, later mutating into a tumor-like beast named Zeta. After defeating an ex-Stark International engineer named The Miller with Thor's assistance, he attempts to remove the rampaging Zeta from the hospital, but is alerted that his mother's home is burning down, at the behest of "Boss" Cohen, Pittsburgh's top crime boss. After saving his mother, he enlists Spider-Man to help destroy Zeta, but fails to completely destroy all the cancerous tissue, allowing Zeta to escape. Then, after an attempt on Soupcan's life by one of Cohen's hitmen, Alpha threatens to kill Cohen, but is deterred by the fact that Cohen knows about the mugger. He then tells Alpha to not prevent any of Cohen's crimes, or he'll release the information to the media. Andy then reveals his identity to his only other friend Duncan Kilgore and attempts to make a name for himself as protector of Pittsburgh.

Powers and abilities of Alpha
Due to his exposure to the Parker Particles, Andy is capable of continually recharging massive amounts of cosmic energy, which he can release in the form of energy blasts, super strength, super speed, force fields, telekinesis, matter manipulation, and flight. He is only able to manifest one of his abilities at a time instead of all at once. The Superior Spider-Man noted that it is possible that Alpha is the only being capable of utilizing Parker Particles without turning into a parasitic monster, or "Zeta".

Reception of Alpha
Comic Book Resources placed him as one of the superheroes Marvel wants you to forget.

Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant
Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Alpha is a being artificially created by Magneto, a prominent mutant in the Marvel Universe. Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant first appeared in The Defenders #15–16 (September–October 1974), and was created by Len Wein and Sal Buscema.

Following an epic battle with the Avengers, Magneto was imprisoned in the center of Earth. He managed to escape and propels himself backtowards the surface. On the way, he finds the underground ruins of a long-lost technologically advanced civilization in New Mexico. Using the machinery and books he found among the ruins, he began bio-engineering "the ultimate mutant". Professor X telepathically detected that Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are active in the area of the Carlsbad Caverns, and he summons the Defenders to launch an attack against them. Magneto and the Brotherhood manage to repel the Defenders for enough time to allow the engineering of Alpha to be completed.

Alpha emerges as an oversized humanoid of subhuman intelligence. Initially he is only capable of creating force fields as a reflex, and of blindly following Magneto's orders. However, each time he uses his powers, Alpha's cranium widens, causing an increase to his intellect. Magneto has Alpha teleport him and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to the United Nations headquarters. When his demands for world rulership are turned down, Magneto orders Alpha to telekinetically lift the Secretariat Building and suspend it in mid-air. After the Defenders attack the Brotherhood, Alpha was coerced by Magneto to retaliate in various means, including transforming the concrete pavement into autonomous "rock-men", transforming the Hulk into a stone statue, telekinetically spinning Nighthawk in the air until he lost consciousness, and fusing Valkyrie to the ground. The rampant use of his powers eventually elevated Alpha's awareness to a superhuman level. Persuaded by Professor X, he telepathically probed both the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Defenders to discover which team was evil. Understanding that Magneto had fooled him into committing malicious acts, Alpha punished his erstwhile allies by regressing them to infancy, restored the United Nations building complex and erased the event from the minds of all onlookers. Finally, declaring himself too evolved to remain on Earth, Alpha transformed himself to a streak of light and leaves to explore the universe.

Quasar briefly glimpses Alpha, first on the Stranger's Labworld, and then during his journeys in the cosmos. Alpha seemed to be paired with another highly evolved humanoid, named Futurist.

Powers and abilities of Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant
Alpha the Ultimate Mutant possesses telepathy and vast powers enabling him to transmute the elements, reconstruct matter, reverse the aging process, project force fields, teleport himself and others, fly, and survive in the vacuum of space. He possesses telekinetic powers which are enough to lift a 50-story skyscraper and the surrounding land into the air. Alpha the Ultimate Mutant originally had a hulking form which likely possessed great strength but lacked enough intelligence to obey commands. Within a few hours, Alpha's cranium and brain grew in size and evolved into a being of great intellect with a form to match. He stands at 10 feet tall, although he can alter his form at will.

Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant in other media
Alpha makes non-speaking cameo appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series.

Marlene Alraune
Marlene Alraune is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is an archaeologist, adviser, helper, and Moon Knight's lover. The character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #28 (March 1976).

Some years ago, Marlene Alraune was married to Eric Fontaine, but divorced him. Years later, she aided her father, Dr. Peter Alraune, in searching for the Tomb of Set II, during which she met Marc Spector. The mercenary Raoul Bushman brutally murdered Dr. Alraune and did the same to Spector, but he was revived as the superhero Moon Knight. Marlene returned to New York with Spector where not only did she become his confidante, but also started to fall in love with him. During one such adventure, Marlene was reunited with her brother and only other living relative, Dr. Peter Jr., who accidentally creates the sleep deprived supervillain Morpheus. Despite their best efforts, Peter Jr. sacrificed himself to take down Morpheus for good, greatly saddening Marlene. Marlene ultimately left Marc when his life became too dangerous and she went back to her ex-husband Eric.

Marlene would later leave Eric again and return to Marc where she once again aided him as Moon Knight. When Marc started SpectorCorp to further his operations, Marlene would recommend a position to her friend Donna Kraft while she went to work undercover at PhalkonCorp. Marc later "died", but Marlene knew him too well to know that he would not stay dead for long. Sure enough, Marc returned and Marlene chose to resume her relationship with him.

Marlene and Marc would continue to have an on again-off again type of relationship, culminating in Marlene conceiving a child, a daughter named Diatrice, whom she had hid from him for some time. Marc would come back into her life and fight to defend her and her daughter from Sun King and Bushman. Despite trying to stay with him, Marlene left Marc once again, taking Diatrice with her to France.

Marlene Alraune in other media

 * In the Moon Knight Disney+'s series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marlene's character serves as the basis and inspiration for original character Layla El-Faouly (portrayed by May Calamawy).

Keema Alvarado
Keemia "Keema" Alvarado (sometimes Keemia Marko) is a fictional supporting character in Marvel Comics. The daughter of Sandman, created by Fred Van Lente and Javier Pulido, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #615 (February 2010), and is based on Penny Marko, created by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, and Alvin Sargent for the 2007 feature film Spider-Man 3, in which she was played by Perla Haney-Jardine.

Keemia Alvarado is the prepubescent daughter of Alma Alvarado and possibly Flint Marko, the Sandman. Marko was in a relationship with Alma, whom Spider-Man deduced was a villain junkie. Alma most likely had Keemia with Marko as he would visit her often much to her chagrin. Keemia dressed as a princess all the time as she hoped it would bring Marko back to her. Marko eventually took Keemia after Alma was murdered by one of his clones, though he was unaware. Keemia happily lived on an island where Marko catered to her every whim, essentially fulfilling her dream of being a princess. However, due to Marko's clones' string of murders, Spider-Man swooped in to rescue Keemia from the potential danger that Marko caused. Spider-Man defeats Marko and takes Keemia who is upset over her father's disappearance and begins to hate Spider-Man. She is placed in foster care, but holds on to the belief that her father will come back one day.

Other versions of Keemia Alvarado
In Spider-Man: Reign, Sandman's daughter is named Susie Marko or Susie Baker. Susie is a tomboy street kid who graffitis with her friends. She joins J. Jonah Jameson's resistance against the Reign, an oppressive group run by the totalitarian government of New York, and befriends a hacker her age named Kasey. Kasey is killed by The Sinner Six and after witnessing Spider-Man unmasked as an old man, slightly loses hope. After Venom activates WEBB, the city is overrun by the Symbiotes and Susie flees to a church where she rescues the other children using a bell to ward off the alien. Susie rallies the kids into wearing masks and fight the Reign and runs into her father revealing her identity and her ability to turn her body into hard cement. However, the Reign shoot her body apart and despite Sandman's best efforts to get her to come back together, she reverts to normal with body apart and dies. Her death convinces Sandman to aid Spider-Man.

Keemia Alvarado in other media

 * Before appearing in the comics, a character named Penny Marko appeared in Spider-Man 3, portrayed by Perla Haney-Jardine. Due to her suffering from an unidentified disease, Flint Marko turns to a life of crime to pay for the medical bills.
 * Keemia Marko appears in Marvel's Spider-Man, voiced by Sofia Carson. This version is the teenage daughter of Flint Marko who was caught in the explosion that turned Flint into Sandman and gained her own sand-based shapeshifting powers, though her right eye is permanently rendered as sand. Following this, she is taken in by Flint's former boss, Hammerhead, who helps her control her powers. While assisting him in his crimes, she receives the name "Sandgirl" from Spider-Man, who eventually defeats her via the V-252 symbiote he was wearing at the time. Nonetheless, she escapes while Hammerhead and his men are arrested. In "Critical Update", Sandgirl forms her own gang to fill the power vacuum left behind following Hammerhead, Silvermane, and Big Wheel's arrests, only to be defeated by the Superior Spider-Man and arrested by the police. As of "Brand New Day", Sandgirl was remanded to a supervillain prison called the Cellar as Regent copied her abilities.

American Ace
American Ace is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics in the Golden Age of Comic Books. The first American Ace first appeared in the uncirculated Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 starring in his own story in 1939. The character would make his first public appearance when his strip was reprinted and later continued in Marvel Mystery Comics #2 and #3.

Perry Webb
Perry Webb was an American miner who traveled in his private plane internationally in search of rare minerals, such as radium. On one such search, he set out to the Balkan nation of Attainia. However, his timing was unfortunate since a neighbouring country, Castile d'Or declared war on Attainia over the assassination of their arch-duke by an Attainian extremist. Promising the citizens of Castile D'Or "justice", the formerly exiled Queen Ursula became chancellor and invaded Attainia, when it was in fact she who was behind the assassination. Meanwhile, Webb had landed and was horrified as the bombings began. Having saved a girl called Jeanie, from being crushed by a falling tower, he was rewarded by being taken to her family's cottage. Falling in love, Webb, however, chose to leave Attainia. His plane was shot down and Webb was wounded severely. After making his recovery, he vowed he would have vengeance against Castile'D'Or.

During the "Last Days" part of the "Secret Wars" storyline, Perry was seen as a resident of Valhalla Villas (a retirement home for ex-heroes and ex-villains). He is among the residents that were temporarily de-aged during the Incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610.

Ace Masters
Another "American Ace" appeared in 2011. Ace Masters is a homosexual yet married fighter pilot. He first appeared in issue #4 of the maxi-series All Winners Squad: Band of Heroes.

Americop
Americop (Bartholomew "Bart" Gallows) is a fictional vigilante appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Americop first appeared in Captain America #428 (June 1994), and was created by Mark Gruenwald and Dave Hoover.

Bart Gallows was born in Sugar Land, Texas and later became a police officer in Houston, Texas. Disillusioned at the law's inability to protect society from crime, he resigned from the force and became a vigilante named Americop. He travels across America and uses a police scanner to track down criminals, and not above executing the criminals he thinks deserve it. He sometimes took money from the drug-trafficking criminals he battles, keeping half and donating the rest to drug rehabilitation programs. Americop found himself in conflict with Captain America while trying to bring down a child exploitation ring; Captain America was appalled by his brutality. Americop's investigation led him to the New Orleans mansion of indestructible munitions magnate Damon Dran. Although initially subdued by a gas grenade attack and imprisoned alongside Captain America, he managed to break free. During the fight, he killed several of Dran's mercenaries and shot down his helicopter. Americop believed that Dran had died in the crash, though the criminal actually survived.

After the super-hero Civil War, Americop was a target on the Thunderbolts' Most Wanted list. Norman Osborn sent Penance and Bullseye to battle Americop, with the secret hope the vigilante will kill the difficult pair. Instead, the two crash Americop's truck and Bullseye causes Penance's stored-up energy to be unleashed, which fries 80 percent of the vigilante's synaptic nerve endings. Americop later died.

The Americop uniform and code name were later copied by a private security force called the Americops run by Keane Industries.

Amphibian
Amphibian (Kingsley Rice) is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel multiverse, members of alternate versions of the fictional Squadron Supreme. The original character was inspired by Namor and first appeared in The Avengers #148 (June 1976).

Earth-712 Amphibian
A founding member of the Squadron Supreme, Kingsley is part of the team after the Overmind uses the Squadron to take control of the world. When the Squadron announces its Utopia program, intended to solve all the world's ills, Amphibian openly objects but is overruled by the majority of his teammates. As the team enacts their program, Rice becomes increasingly disillusioned and distanced from his teammates, feeling his opinions are not being respected. He finally reaches breaking point when the Golden Archer admits to using the team's Behavior Modification technology on squad-mate Lark to make her love him. Enraged by what he sees as the Squadron's double standards, he surreptitiously destroys the devices, then departs the team – vowing never to return to the surface again.

The remainder of the Squadron would become stranded on another Earth for some years. In their absence, a totalitarian government calling itself "The Global Directorate" arose, using the Behvaior Modification technology to enforce their rule. Reuniting with his former teammates, now physically altered by his long time spent underwater, Amphibian agrees to help restore freedom to their world. Their efforts are unsuccessful until an encounter with the other-dimensional team known as the Exiles helps them find proof the Global Director seized power.

Kingsley, along with the rest of the Squadron bar Power Princess, was killed in the destruction of his world via an Incursion.

Earth-31916 Amphibian
Supreme Power featured a female version of the character, also named Kingsley Rice. This version was created by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank, and first appeared in Supreme Power #2 (November 2003).

This version of Rice, along with much of her world's version of the Squadron, were killed by the Cabal of Earth-616 during an Incursion.

Heroes Reborn Amphibian
In the 2021 "Heroes Reborn" reality, Amphibian is a member of the Secret Squadron. During the fight with the Siege Society, Amphibian was beheaded by Baron Helmut Zemo. Tom Thumb, Nighthawk, and Blur mourn the deaths of their fallen comrades Amphibian, Arcanna Jones, Blue Eagle, and Golden Archer.

Amphibius
Amphibius is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Formerly a Swamp Men tribesman that lived in the Savage Land saved from hostile tribesmen by Magneto and changed into a humanoid frog-like mutate, Amphibius becomes one of the Savage Land Mutates. He is the first of the Savage Land Mutates to see the X-Men, and also fought Ka-Zar and Spider-Man.

Anachronism
Anachronism is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Anachronism was created by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker, and first appeared in Avengers Arena #1.

He is one of sixteen superpowered teenagers kidnapped by Arcade and forced to fight to the death.

After escaping, he and some of the other survivors trained with Madame Masque.

The Anarchist
The Anarchist (Tike Alicar) is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was a member of the superhero team X-Statix. The Anarchist first appeared in X-Force #116 and was created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred.

Alicar was adopted and raised by a white family. He grew up in Canada. He suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder, which made him obsessed with being clean by washing his hands repeatedly. He joined Zeitgeist's X-Force. While giving an interview (naked) to a reporter, he blew open a roof in the Beverly Hills Four Season hotel; when challenged by the police, he shouts that he is now in X-Force, therefore he can do anything. Only he and U-Go Girl survived the Boyz 'R Us massacre. Both of them challenged each other for leadership of the new team, even accusing each other of having orchestrated the massacre of their teammates; instead the position went to newcomer Orphan. Alicar did not mind, stating that he just wanted to become leader to spite U-Go-Girl. It was later discovered that Alicar was supposed to die in the massacre, in a plan created by the team leader Coach and Zeitgeist himself.

During the last mission as X-Force in which they had to terminate the Bush Rangers, Anarchist, Orphan, U-Go-Girl and Doop found themselves trapped in a small ship that was drifting aimlessly in space. The four found an escape pod which could only fit two adults and Doop, and decided to settle the matter with a game of chance. Anarchist purposely lost by using his powers, but was later rescued by the team.

Subsequently, the team changed their name to X-Statix. Anarchist found himself becoming closer to Orphan due to U-Go-Girl's demise. He became romantically involved with his teammate Dead Girl, initially out of novelty before developing real feelings for her. Anarchist and his team become so famous they could commit crimes without fear; he even once broke into a jewellery store and is later thanked by the owner for the resultant publicity. For a time, the team split up, with Anarchist and Dead Girl performing shows on their own. They reunited, mostly out of loyalty to Orphan, who had become embroiled in a zombie invasion. He briefly became leader of the team when the Orphan temporarily leaves.

On their last mission, all the X-Statix team are killed. Alicar is gunned down, dying side by side with Orphan, after having slain many of their opponents. They did not even know who their enemies were, though they wore exactly the same uniform as the gunmen in the 'Boyz R Us' massacre.

After finding himself in Hell, Anarchist joined forces with a group of deceased supervillains, including Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, and Miss America. Led by the mysterious Pitiful One, they attempted to return from the dead. Although they failed, Anarchist found romance with Miss America, and it is implied by the Orphan that they both are allowed to enter Heaven as a result of choosing to rebel against the villains.

Anarchist could sweat acid, which allowed him to fire acidic blasts of energy from his hands.

Anansi
Kwaku Anansi is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an unnamed god in Thor #398 by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz and made his named appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #48 by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.

Anansi was a member of the Vodu, deities worshipped by the tribes of Africa.

According to Ezekiel Sims and the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, Anansi was the first Spider-Man who used his powers to travel through Africa. Anansi made a deal with the Sky God, Nyame, offering his eternal service in exchange for more enlightenment and, after transmitting his power and knowledge to the Great Web, vanished. His temple was then used by Peter Parker to defeat the totemic wasp entity, Shathra and was then used as a battle arena, when Peter and Ezekiel started fighting to appease the totemic entity Gatekeeper.

During the infestation of Manhattan Island, Anansi was disguised as a pest specialist known as A. Nancy and visited Hercules at his workplace. Hercules helped Nancy to sneak into Arachne's apartment to steal her Tapestry. After that, Nancy was attacked by Elektra who stole the tapestry, but left Nancy alive even though Baba Yaga had ordered her to kill him.

Other versions of Anansi

 * In Spider-Man: Fairy Tales, a version of Anansi appears where he faces several gods during his quest.
 * During the "Spider-Verse" event, a version of Anansi is recruited by Spider-UK into joining the Spider-Army to battle the Inheritors.

Anansi in other media
Anansi appears in Spider-Man Unlimited.

Anelle
Anelle is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a Skrull princess, the heir to the Skrull Empire, and the daughter of Emperor Dorrek VII and Empress R'Kill. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #37, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Anelle often opposed her father, Dorrek VII's, political policies, preferring peace to his aggressive military policies. She fell in love with Warlord Morrat, but he was executed for treason by firing squad after a failed coup d'état against her father. She leapt in front of the weapon-fire in an attempt to save him, but the Invisible Woman surrounded her with a force field and saved her life.

The Super-Skrull desires her, but she is not interested in him. In an attempt to win her hand, he captures Captain Marvel, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver and presents them to her father, Emperor Dorrek VII, as a bride price for her hand in marriage, but her father interprets it as an attempt to usurp him and imprisons the Super-Skrull instead. Anelle and the Kree Mar-Vell fall in love and have an illicit relationship, leading to the birth of future Young Avenger Hulkling. The emperor orders the baby put to death as soon as he realizes who the father is, but Anelle has her nurse smuggle the child off-world. The nurse raises the child on Earth.

Galactus later consumes the Skrull Throneworld, and Anelle is among the billions who perish.

Anelle in other media

 * Anelle appears in the Fantastic Four (1967) episode "Behold, A Distant Star", voiced by Ginny Tyler.
 * Anelle appears in the Fantastic Four (1994) episode "Behold, A Distant Star", voiced by Mary Kay Bergman.
 * Anelle appears in The Super Hero Squad Show two-part episodes "Another Order of Evil!" and the episode "Alienating with the Surfer!", voiced by Tara Strong.

Angar the Screamer
Angar the Screamer (David Alan Angar, also known as Scream) is the name a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a supervillain, created by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, and John Tartaglione, who first appeared in Daredevil #100 (June 1973).

Angel
Angel is the name of different characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Angel Dust
Angel Dust (Christina) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Shawn Martinbrough, the character first appeared in Morlocks #1 (June 2002).

When the scared young mutant Angel Dust ran away to join the Chicago faction of the Morlocks, she left behind her worried parents. After Angel Dust and the other Morlocks swore to help each other resolve one "aboveground" issue, she returned home to tell her parents the truth, which she thought would result in rejection by her family. To Angel Dust's surprise, her parents accepted her for who she was. However, it was only after she had helped her compatriots defeat a Sentinel base that Angel Dust finally returns home for good.

She was later among the thousands of mutants who lost their powers.

Angel Dust has the ability to increase her adrenaline levels, gaining superhuman strength for a short time. Her strength varies from being able to lift 800 lb to being able to lift 25 t, depending on her adrenaline levels. Her speed, agility and stamina are also enhanced. However, she can only use her powers for a short time before exhausting herself. When she uses her powers, dark lines appear on her face.

Angel Dust in other media
Angel Dust appears in Deadpool, portrayed by Gina Carano. This version is a human who was artificially enhanced in the same program that created Deadpool.

Dirk Anger
Dirk Anger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been primarily featured in the book Nextwave, and was created by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. Anger is a thinly veiled, over-the-top parody of Nick Fury; Ellis originally wanted to use Fury himself but the character was unavailable.

Dirk Anger is the Director of the Highest Anti Terrorist Effort (H.A.T.E.). Anger is fully aware that The Beyond Corporation©, which funds H.A.T.E., is the newest version of terrorist cell S.I.L.E.N.T.; however, he simply does not care. Anger is over ninety years old, but has an extended lifespan, through chemical means.

Anger has a multitude of psychological issues, including misogyny, bulimia, alcoholism, nicotine addiction, depression, sadism, and a fixation on a flowery house dress that may have belonged to his mother. Dirk Anger accidentally (and finally) committed suicide by hanging during his pursuit of the Nextwave squad. However, the Beyond Corporation© had installed a "Zombie Switch" in his brain, preventing him from dying, yet leaving him craving human brains. He was apparently destroyed when he ordered his aeromarine to ram Nextwave's ship into Beyond's floating city.

Reception on Dirk Anger

 * Dirk Anger won the "Favorite Comics Villain" Eagle Award in 2007.

The Ani-Mator
The Ani-Mator (Dr. Frederick Animus) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Ani-Mator appeared in New Mutants vol. 1 #59 (January 1988), and was created by Louise Simonson and Bret Blevins.

Dr. Frederick Animus was a geneticist employed by a university conducting medical research, but instead concentrated on research of mutation. When he falsified reports on the effectiveness of medication, several people died; as a result he was investigated, fired and jailed for negligence. It was there he met Cameron Hodge. Taking the name Ani-Mator, he was employed as a geneticist by Hodge's organization The Right to research a means of stopping the process that created mutants. When the Right set him up on a deserted island in the North Atlantic he named Paradise, Animus instead created a race of "Ani-Mates" through gene slicing and selective breeding, which combined the characteristics of human beings and other animals, intending for them to be a slave race for humanity.

One of the Ani-Mates, Bird-Brain, escaped the island and ultimately befriended the New Mutants. They returned to the island to stop the mad scientist's experiments. They succeeded in defeating Animus' creations, but right afterwards they were captured by Hodge and agents of The Right, who had become suspicious of the doctor's activities. Bird-Brain subsequently rallied the surviving Ani-Mates to help rescue his human friends. During the fight with the Right troopers, Animus broke free and attempted to shoot and kill Wolfsbane, but instead killed Cypher, who had pushed Rahne out of the way. In retaliation, Magik threatened to shoot Ani-Mator with his own gun until being talked down by Wolfsbane, and instead exiled him to the dimension of Limbo. There he was captured by S'ym, transferred into a demon of living circuitry, and forced to serve in S'ym's army.

Annalee
Annalee is a mutant in the Marvel Universe.

The character, created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, first appeared in Power Pack #12 (1985).

Within the context of the stories, Annalee is a member of the subterranean mutants known as the Morlocks, Annalee's own four children were slain and this caused her to force the four original members of Power Pack to become her foster children. Her repeated attempts failed (the latter attempt was foiled when Katie Power escaped and sought the aid of the X-Men), but she later found happiness caring for the young Morlock known as Leech. Annalee later was slain by the Marauders' member called Scalphunter during the Mutant Massacre.

Annalee in other media
Annalee appeared in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Captive Hearts", voiced by Kay Tremblay. She seemed to have a greater control over her powers, causing the X-Men, including Jean Grey, to experience any state of mind she chose to place them in, from Wolverine believing himself to be covered with scorpions, to Jean believing herself to be a young child and Annalee her mother.

Annex
Annex (Alexander Ellis) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as associated with Spider-Man. Annex was created by writer Jack C. Harris and artist Tom Lyle and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #27 (1993) as an enemy of Spider-Man, but went on to become an ally. His next appearance was Spider-Man Unlimited #3, followed by a self-titled limited series. He appeared in the Avengers: the Initiative series beginning with issue #13.

Ellis was a Desert Storm veteran whose leg was wounded in combat and subsequently amputated. He signed up for an Annexing unit, where computer technology grew a newly functioning limb; however, because of a computer glitch, Ellis lost his memory and becomes the villain Annex. He was quickly defeated by Spider-Man, and changes back into Ellis.

Annex later joined Camp Hammond to be trained in the Fifty State Initiative program. After the Skrull invasion, Annex was assigned to New Mexico's Initiative team.

As a result of his exo-skeleton armor, Annex possesses the ability to increase his strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, reaction time, coordination, agility, dexterity, balance, and endurance. Annex can also create any weapon he requires. The armor also grants him flight, "schema mode", and informational downloading methods, all at the base of a computer generated robotic structure.

Answer
The Answer is the name of three connected fictional comic book characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Aaron Nicholson
The first Answer, Aaron Nicholson first appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92. Nicholson is a criminal genius and a former member of the Kingpin's criminal organization. He is also a former hitman in the Las Vegas division of HYDRA and was empowered by the laboratory machines of Dr. Farley Stillwell's brother Dr. Harlan Stillwell where he became the Answer.

The Answer studied Spider-Man's powers, and then attacked the hero and ally the Black Cat to test the limits of their abilities. He then kidnapped the Black Cat to misdirect Spider-Man's attention as he stole Silvermane's body from the police morgue, and assisted the Kingpin in partially restoring Silvermane's life. The Answer then kidnapped Dagger in hopes that her powers would cure the Kingpin's ailing wife. Silvermane rampaged mindlessly; as a result, the Answer sacrificed his corporeal form and converted himself to energy to revive Dagger, who possessed Silvermane's life-force.

The Answer later telepathically contacted Doctor Octopus who restored his corporeal existence. The Answer ended up fighting with Octavius, and was defeated. The Answer later appeared in the Raft, and escaped only to be captured by Toxin. It was later revealed that he had been feigning bad luck to reunite with his unrequited love Ruby Thursday, but her body was destroyed by Bullseye.

During the superhero civil war, Nicholson was part of an army of super-villains organized by Hammerhead that was captured by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He was later among the supervillains attending a wake for Stilt-Man at a bar. Disguised as a barman, the Punisher poisoned drinks and blew up the bar. Answer survived, and was subsequently hired by the Hood to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. He fought the New Avengers but was taken down by Doctor Strange. He was later among the villains in a bar confronting Spider-Man.

Answer was one of many prisoners who escaped from the Raft at the start of the Skrull invasion of Earth. He later joined the Hood's crime syndicate and worked with them on numerous occasions.

David Ferrari
After Aaron Nicholson's apparent death, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent David Ferrari took the identity of Answer. He was a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., the U.S. Army and Furnace – as well as a former ally of the Crimson Dynamo and the brother of Connie. He led a mission to an A.I.M. base to prevent the release of the Omega Compound; however, he released two drops to destroy the base. Ferrari later used drugs to control Nick Fury, at which point he had allied himself with the Crimson Dynamo in attempt to steal missiles from Khamistan to take over the world. He was opposed by Captain America.

Unnamed criminal
After Aaron Nicholson lost his physical form, his gear was sold to Roderick Kingsley, who passed it to an unknown criminal. The new Answer was present when Hobgoblin led his forces into battle against the Goblin King's Goblin Nation. After Hobgoblin was killed by Goblin King, Answer was among the villains that defected to the Goblin Nation. Following Spider-Man's victory over the Goblin King, Answer was with the other former Hobgoblin minions at the Bar with No Name, where they encountered Electro.

Ant Ant
Ant Ant is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Ant Ant is an anthropomorphic ant and animal version of Ant-Man.

Ape
Ape is a fictional mutant character in the. His first appearance was in Power Pack #12 (July 1985), and he was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman.

The character subsequently appears in The Uncanny X-Men #195 (July 1985), Power Pack #27 (December 1986), X-Factor #11-13 (December 1986-February 1987), and Weapon X vol. 2 #5 (March 2003) and #10 (August 2003).

Ape was a member of the Morlocks who was amongst those that escaped the Marauders' slaughter during the "Mutant Massacre". He lived with the mutant team X-Factor after the massacre. Ape was later captured by the subversive Weapon X program and incarcerated in the "Neverland" concentration camp, where he was among the first mutants to be executed.

Ape appeared as part of the "Morlocks" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #9.

Ape in other media

 * Ape appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "Captive Hearts" voiced by Ross Petty. He is among the featured Morlocks that fight the X-Men. In the next episode "Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas", he steals medical equipment for Leech. His last appearance was in the episode "Secrets Not Long Buried" where Ape is one of the many residents of the mutant-dominated community of Skull Mesa. He is drawn twice in the scene where Cyclops walks through Skull Mesa alone.
 * Ape appears in X-Men '97.

Ape-Man
Ape-Man is the name of three connected fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Monk Keefer
With a group of other criminals, professional criminal Gordon "Monk" Keefer attempted a robbery of a Stark Industries warehouse, and was defeated by Captain America. Along with three other criminals, Keefer was recruited for his great strength by a man named the Organizer to form the Ani-Men, with him being given an ape-like costume and the title of Ape-Man. The Organizer was secretly Abner Jonas, a candidate for mayor of New York City, who sent the Ani-Men on missions to undermine the current administration. Daredevil defeated them, and both the Ani-Men and Organizer were imprisoned. Later Ape-Man, Bird-Man and Cat-Man formed a team called the "Unholy Three" with the Exterminator, and fought Daredevil again. The Unholy Three, as a team of independent thieves, fought Daredevil and Spider-Man and were again defeated.

Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man later rejoined the Ani-Men, and the Ani-Men went to work for Count Nefaria. Nefaria's scientists submitted the unwitting Ani-Men to processes that gave them superhuman powers and animal-like forms with Keefer resembling an actual ape. The Ani-Men invaded the Cheyenne Mountain missile base for Count Nefaria, and fought the X-Men. The Ani-Men later lost their superhuman powers, reverted to normal and started wearing their animal-themed costumes again; Nefaria sent them to kill Tony Stark. However, the Spymaster detonated a bomb intended to kill Stark, and the resulting explosion killed the Ani-Men instead.

Roy McVey
After the deaths of the original Ani-Men, the Death-Stalker recruited a new team of Ani-Men, with a new Ape-Man, Bird-Man, and Cat-Man. The second Ape-Man was Roy McVey, who was given a copy of the original Ape-Man's costume. Death-Stalker sent the new Ani-Men to capture Matt Murdock, and murdered Ape-Man and Cat-Man by electrocution upon the completion of their mission.

Third version
An unnamed Ape-Man alongside a third Cat-Man and a second Frog-Man were shown committing crimes while the heroes were on Battleworld. They used the equipment of the original Ani-Men and used it to rob a vault wagon only to be opposed by the NYPD. During the superhero civil war, Ape-Man was among the villains in Hammerhead's supervillain army.

Ape-X
Ape-X is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Ape-X (Earth-712)
Ape-X is a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe. The character, created by Mark Gruenwald as a pastiche of Gorilla Grodd, first appeared in Squadron Supreme #5 in January 1986.

Ape-X is a gorilla who was a member of the Institute of Evil. Enemies of the Squadron, they abducted the team's scientist Tom Thumb and subjected him to his own Behavior Modification technology, hoping to turn Tom against his teammates while holding the Squadron's loved ones hostage to prevent reprisals. However, when the Squadron were all captured, it transpired Tom had designed the technology so it would not affect any Squadron member. Ape-X and the rest of the Institute were subdued and subject to the B-Mod device themselves, turning them into loyal members of the Squadron.

Ape-X goes on to serve as a scientific expert for the team, assisting Tom Thumb in his attempt to cure all human disease. While her brainwashing prevents Ape-X from directly committing crimes, she is able to suggest courses of action Tom might hypothetically take. However, their efforts prove fruitless, and Tom succumbs to his own cancer. In her grief, Ape-X begins attempting to construct a robot duplicate of Tom. In the meantime, she also assists Hyperion, who has become blinded following a fight with a villainous copy of himself. When Moonglow infiltrates the Squadron's files, Ape-X is alerted to this by Tom's AI, AIDA. However, her brainwashing prevents Ape-X from taking any action against a member of the Squadron, and the logical dichotomy gives Ape-X an anyuerysm, preventing her from warning them.

Ape-X (Earth-8101)
Unrelated to the Squadron Supreme version, Ape-X was created by Karl Kesel and Ramon Bachs, first appearing in Marvel Apes #1. Ape-X is a monkey that wears a wrestler mask that enables him to turn into a super-powered gorilla.

Aquarius
Aquarius is the name of different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Darren Bentley
Darren Bentley is a founding member of the Zodiac, and his base of operations was San Francisco, California.

The Zodiac was infiltrated by Nick Fury, posing as Scorpio; the Zodiac fought the Avengers and escaped. Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius sought to recapture the Zodiac Key, but lost it to the Brotherhood of the Ankh.

Led by Taurus, the Zodiac later attempted to kill all Manhattan residents born under the sign of Gemini as a show of power, but were thwarted by the Avengers. Taurus's faction attempted to kill the Zodiac dissident faction, but all twelve leaders were captured by the Avengers.

After learning he had cancer, Aquarius made a bargain with the demon Slifer: in return for his soul, Aquarius was granted one year of life and the supernatural ability to take on the forms of his fellow Zodiac leaders. However, after Aquarius took on the other Zodiac forms one time each (thereby representing a zodiacal year) while battling Ghost Rider, Slifer returned and claimed his body and soul.

Zachary Drebb
The second Aquarius was a man named Zachary Drebb. Taurus ordered Aquarius II and third Aries to kill Iron Man (James Rhodes), but both failed. A new android LMD version of the Zodiac appeared, led by Scorpio in a new android body, massacred the human Zodiac, and took over their criminal operations.

Aquarius (LMD)
An android Aquarius was a Life Model Decoy created by Scorpio (Jacob Fury) to be part of his Zodiac crime organization. Scorpio went after his brother, Nick Fury, with his new group, but was defeated by Defenders and Moon Knight. The Zodiac LMD's were recruited by Quicksilver during his bout with temporary insanity, and Quicksilver ordered the Zodiac LMD's to destroy Avengers for their imagined wrongdoings. The Avengers managed to defeat the group and most were remanded into federal custody.

The android Zodiac were soon released, and the Scorpio LMD rebuilt a number of them. Scorpio used the Zodiac Key to create LMDs that exemplified the forces and personalities inherent in each sign, hoping to create great strength in the combination of all twelve traits of the Zodiac. He arranged the ambush in which the android Zodiac killed all of the remaining human Zodiac leaders except Cornelius van Lunt, alias Taurus. It was later revealed the Libra had also survived the attack on the original Zodiac Cartel. Immediately afterward, Van Lunt sought out the services of the Avengers' West Coast branch to confront and defeat the android Zodiac. He was destroyed by Hawkeye in a battle with the West Coast Avengers.

The Zodiac Key immediately resurrected the Scorpio LMD. Claiming superiority and believing that the Zodiac would eventually kill the Avengers as the androids could never be stopped, Scorpio wanted to use the Key to transport everyone on the scene to the Key's native dimension where the conflict, he believed, could be prolonged indefinitely. However, when the androids were in the other dimension, they ceased to function because each of them were aligned with a particular zodiacal energy, energy that did not exist in the other dimension. The Avengers found Hawkeye and Tigra had been sent to the same dimension and, reunited, the team was sent back to Earth by the Brotherhood. However, secretly the Brotherhood waited so that someday they could also send the Key to Earth again and create new conflicts for them.

Aquarius (Ecliptic)
Aquarius was a later addition to the Zodiac. A man of few words, he tended to remain in the background despite his power. He was killed with the rest of the Zodiac by Weapon X.

Thanos' Aquarius
The fifth Aquarius is an unnamed male that Thanos recruited to join his incarnation of the Zodiac. He and the other Zodiac members perish when Thanos abandons them on the self-destructing Helicarrier where Cancer was the only survivor.

Aquarius in other media
Aquarius appears in Marvel Anime: Iron Man as a mech utilized by Zodiac. It attaches itself to a JSDF satellite to project a radiation beam from its solar panels down into Iron Man's Arc Station and irradiate most of the surrounding area, causing a sickness that attacks white blood cells around Tokyo. Using Dr. Chika Tanaka's prototype booster technology and a ride from Captain Nagato Sakurai, Iron Man reaches the satellite and destroys the Aquarius mech.

Aragorn
Aragorn is the name of several winged horses appearing in Marvel Comics. The first incarnation appeared in The Avengers #48 (January 1968) and was created by Roy Thomas and George Tuska.

First Aragorn
Professor Nathan Garrett, the criminal Black Knight, developed genetic engineering techniques capable of granting a horse the wings of a bird. He used it to create a mount to ride during his criminal adventures. After Garrett's final defeat by Iron Man, this horse escaped, was found and further mutated by Victor Frankenstein's great-granddaughter Victoria (who had originally tried to restore it to normal), and fell into the possession of the Dreadknight, who named it the Hellhorse.

Second Aragorn
As Garrett was dying, he persuades his nephew Dane Whitman to take his scientific discoveries and use them for good. Whitman thus became a new, heroic Black Knight and used his uncle's techniques to create another winged horse. This one he names Aragorn and uses as his mount. Aragorn helped the Black Knight and the Avengers battle the Masters of Evil; carried the Black Knight into battle against Le Sabre; helped the Black Knight and Doctor Strange battle Tiboro; carried the Black Knight alongside Doctor Strange and the Avengers as they battled Ymir and Surtur; carried the Black Knight to Olympus to battle Ares and the Enchantress, among numerous other adventures together.

When the Black Knight was turned into stone by the Enchantress, Aragorn was placed in the custody of his fellow Defender, the Valkyrie. Aragorn carried the Valkyrie and Namorita into battle against the Omegatron. When Whitman left his own time to stay for a while in the 12th century AD, he entrusted Aragorn to the care of the Valkyrie, who became his permanent companion. He came to live at the Richmond Riding Academy. He accompanied the Valkyrie to Asgard and Valhalla, and helped the Valkyrie, Harokin, and the Defenders battle Ollerus and Casiolena. With the Valkyrie, Aragorn helped form the New Defenders.

While Aragorn was with the Valkyrie, Dane Whitman gained a new flying horse named Strider from the Lady of the Lake.

Aragorn is still in the company of the Valkyrie.

Third Aragorn
Another Aragon served as a steed to Augustine du Lac, who was the Vatican Black Knight. He rode Aragorn at the time when he accompanied Klaw in his invasion of Wakanda.

When Kraven the Hunter's son Alyosha Kravinoff began collecting a zoo of animal-themed superbeings, Aragorn is clearly seen in one of the cages. However, after disobeying Kraven, Aragorn was killed to set an example to his other captives and then served up as food. The Marvel Pets Handbook confirmed that the Aragorn that was killed by Alyosha Kravinoff was the Vatican Black Knight's Aragorn.

Aragorn in other media

 * Aragorn appears in the Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur episode "The Devil You Know", voiced by Cree Summer. This version is a member of the Action Buddies Confidential support group.
 * The character based on Aragorn appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This version is named Warsong and is Valkyrie's steed. He can create portals. Warsong appeared in the live-action films Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).

Arakko
Arakko is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Expressively female, Arakko is a sentient island, created several thousands years prior to the Modern Age in the South Pacific alongside its twin male counterpart, Krakoa, when the island's true form, Okkara, was attacked by an enemy from another dimension, that wielding a twilight sword split it into the two single islands which created a rift into the invading dimension. A great number of mutants, among them Apocalypse and his family, were living in Okkara when it was attacked. With his children forming the First Horsemen, Apocalypse and his wife Genesis were successful in pushing back the enemy's armies but to seal the rift, Genesis decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and lead the First Horsemen and the entire mutant population along with Arakko to the other side of the breach, to shut it and deny the enemy's forces access to Earth, while Apocalypse remained on Earth to become stronger.

Arak Coral
A small remnant of Arakko, known as Arak Coral was later sent to Earth by the survivours of Arrako. Mysteriously appearing 100 miles south of Krakoa, the small island immediately began heading towards the other island. After Aurora and Northstar surveyed the island and observed hostile life forms, Cyclops went to the island with Prestige and Cable to investigate. On the island, the trio encountered Summoner and several monsters. Once communication was established between the parties, the Arak Coral was able to merge with Krakoa becoming the southwestern edge of the island. Later that day, when Summoner finally met Apocalypse, he reported Arakko's situation to him, and reveals how his grandmother, Genesis, was seemingly killed by the dark god of Amenth, Annihilation, the dark forces of the Amenthi daemons destroyed Arakko's towers, allowing them to finally attack its mutant population. While countless mutants were slaughtered, the Summoner was sent with a portion of Arakko to find his grandfather outside the Amenth dimension, as he was the only one who could help them save Arakko from its enemies.

The part of Arak Coral became known as the "bad place" due to its monsters and was mainly avoided by the mutants. However, while playing, Curse lost Fauna in the "bad place". Curse recruited Cable, Pixie, and Armor to find Fauna. They were able to find Fauna and rescue him from a monster, and Cable found the Light of Galador.

While preparing to save his family and Arakko, Apocalypse created the External Gate in the Eternal Caldera by sacrificing four of his fellow Externals. With the External Gate open, Krakoa was linked directly to Otherworld. With Unus and Banshee by his side, the Summoner entered the portal so he could make his way back home but when he reunited with his mother and the rest of the Horsemen leading an armada of daemons, they turned on Banshee and Unus. After capturing Unus, the Summoner returned an injured Banshee to Krakoa, and, alongside Apocalypse, he told the Quiet Council of Krakoa about the armadas of daemons. The Council initially decided to destroy the External Gate, but Krakoa refused to let them destroy the portal, instead choosing to send Apocalypse, the Summoner, and other volunteers to go fight the horde. After entering Otherworld, Apocalypse was reunited with his children, the First Horsemen, but they, along with the Summoner, attacked him. The Summoner then proceeded to kill Rockslide. The fight was broken up by the Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne, who offered each side to participate in a Contest of Swords for victory, to which they agreed.

Swords of X
As it turns out, Arakko and its mutant population ended up on the dimension of Amenth, a dimension filled with various Daemons and ruled by the dark god Annihilation, a mystical being that exists as a golden helm and needs a host to interact with the outside world. Once there, one tenth of the Arakki mutants fled into the wasteland, overwhelmed by the demonic nature of Amenth. Some of the mutants were later captured by the forces of Annihilation and forced to breed with Daemons to create a new warrior sub-race, the Summoners. The mutant alchemists and wizards combined their powers to create ten towers which would protect them from the Daemons' threat. As thousands of years passed, the mutants kept warring with the enemies in a seemingly never endless war. Eventually Genesis, gathered an army and went out of Arakko into a years old journey to end the enemies' threat for good, but she and what left of the army returned after a disastrous encounter with fellow mutant and former ally White Sword. Then after Genesis' own sister, Isca the Unbeaten, also defected to the Amenthi, and told Genesis that Annihilation, challenged her to a fight for victory, Genesis accepted the challenge, but apparently lost. This left the Daemon armies to destroy Arakko's towers and finally set the island on fire. As countless mutants kept being slaughtered by the enemies, the last survivors send the Summoner, son of the Horseman of War, to go find his grandfather for him and Krakoa to help them defeat the enemies. However, Genesis had actually won but refused to put on the helm and therefore becoming Annihilation's new host. Without a proper leader, the Daemons were left without a leash and attacked Arakko in full strength as Genesis was kept a prisoner until she saw the horde finally cracking the walls of Arakko, prompting the desperate Arakki to open a portal to Dryador in search of aid. Realizing that all was lost, Genesis donned the helm, merged with the entity, and the mutants of Arakko would therefore serve Annihilation. Arakko was then forcefully turned into a vassal state with Vile School omnipaths and stealth suppressors imbedded in to uncover militant thought and defuse any attempted uprisings. The Abyssal Prisons were constructed and overseen by Tarn the Uncaring, where countless mutant lives were lost.

With Arakko secured, Annihilation sent Summoner, son of the Horseman of War, to go find his grandfather, ostensibly in order for him and the mutants of Krakoa to help them defeat the demons, but in truth, to trick him into opening a gateway between Amenth and Krakoa, paving the way for the demons to invade Earth, while the united forces of Arakko and Amenth laid waste to Dryador. When the Summoner returned to assemble their Swordbearers, which included Redroot, Arakko's translator, the Summoner informed Arakko that sadly it would not be joined with its other anytime soon. However, following the war between Amenth and Krakoa, as prize for his victory, Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne exchanged Apocalypse with Arakko, returning the island and its mutant population back to Earth.

After finally returning to Earth, Arakko tried to reunite with Krakoa, but time had changed both of them, even speaking two totally different languages and apparently did not love each other anymore, so they both decided to stay separate.

Planet Arakko
During the first annual Hellfire Gala and realizing the difficulties in accommodating a massive population of warlike mutants on Earth, Magneto proposed a plan to terraform Mars and re-locate Arakko and its inhabitants there in a power play that claim the red planet as the capital of the solar system and the first mutant world. The Great Ring consented to the plan and lent their aid. After the planet was made hospitable for life during the Hellfire Gala, Exodus, with the aid of Jean Grey and Lactuca the Knower, uprooted the island and sent it to Mars.

Storm helps create a new landmark on the planet, the Lake Hellias Diplomatic Ring, intended to serve as the ultimate place for peace to be spoken of and achieved in the Solar System. Xilo even uses his powers to create statues of Apocalypse and Genesis within a massive valley, with the promise of only peace can existe in this sacred space. Jamie Braddock then uses his powers to literally give birth to a second space station for S.W.O.R.D. ready to defend Arakko against any invaders or enemies. As one final touch, Jamie even creates Port Prometheus, a docking station for all visitors to come to. Storm and Magneto then plant a Krakoa Gate, which will allow the X-Men and their allies from Krakoa to visit Mars, now redubbed Planet Arakko and proclaimed to be the new capital of the Sol System.

The Great Ring of Arakko

 * Bold indicates current members as of 2022.

Arcanna
Arcanna is the name of three fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Squadron Supreme Arcanna
Arcanna Jones, created by J. M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin, first appeared in The Defenders #112 (October 1982).

Arcanna's magical abilities allow her to become a professional crime fighter to support her family, and she joins the Squadron Supreme.

With the Squadron, she travels to a different universe. When they return, Arcanna discovers the nature of magic changed while she was away and that she will have to relearn all of her skills. Instead, she chooses to retire from adventuring to be with her family.

Supreme Power Arcanna
This version of the character, created by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank, first appeared in Supreme Power #18 (April 2005).

Arcanna Jones is able to observe and affect parallel quantum dimensions. During a fight with Hyperion, the interaction between their powers causes them to travel two years into the future.

Arcanna and the rest of the heroes of her world were killed by the Cabal during an Incursion, with their world's Nighthawk as the only survivor.

Heroes Reborn Arcanna
In the 2021 "Heroes Reborn" reality, Arcanna is a member of the Secret Squadron. During the fight with the Siege Society, Arcanna was locked in combat with Silver Witch before being vanquished by her. Tom Thumb, Nighthawk, and Blur mourn the deaths of their fallen comrades Amphibian, Arcanna Jones, Blue Eagle, and Golden Archer.

Ariel 11
Ariel 11 is an extraterrestrial mutant. Created by Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill, the character first appeared in Fallen Angels #1.

Like others of her race, she is able to teleport. On Earth, she encounters the mutant criminal Vanisher and joins the group of adolescents who work for him as thieves, known as the Fallen Angels. She later allies herself with the X-Men.

Armless Tiger Man
Gustav Hertz, better known as the Armless Tiger Man, is a supervillain who first appeared in the 1940s, then fell into obscurity for decades before being revived in stories set during the WWII era. Armless Tiger Man first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #26 and was created by Paul Gustavson and Al Bellman.

As the name indicates, the Armless Tiger Man does not have any arms, having lost them in an industrial accident in his youth. Instead, he is a skilled fighter with his sharpened teeth and feet. Being recruited by the Gestapo he was used as a Nazi-henchman in several Marvel comic stories set in World War II. He was originally an enemy of the Golden Age Angel but also had run-ins with Captain America as well as the WWII-era Black Panther. Armless Tiger Man first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #26 and was created by Paul Gustavson and Al Bellman.

Armless Tiger Man in other media
Armless Tiger Man appears in a teaser image for Season Two of Marvel: Avengers Alliance, parodying the cover of X-Men 141, the opening issue of Days of Future Past. He is one of the victims of the Circle of Eight and is found dead alongside Lady Octopus.

Armory
Armory (Violet Lightner) first appeared in Avengers: The Initiative #1 and was created by Dan Slott and Stefano Casselli.

A suicidal girl from San Francisco, Violet Lightner's attempt at killing herself failed when she bonded with the alien superweapon known as the Tactigon, an empathic weapon capable of anticipating the needs of its host. Finding new purpose in life, Violet used the weapon to fight crime where she managed to defeat Flying Tiger, and joined the Fifty States Initiative.

On her first day at Camp Hammond, Armory was involved in a training accident that saw the death of fellow trainee Michael Van Patrick. Lightner was summarily drummed out of the Initiative and the Tactigon surgically removed.

Violet then went into therapy, refusing to disclose the circumstances that led to her expulsion to her psychiatrist, who unknown to her was working for Henry Peter Gyrich.

Amanda Armstrong
Amanda Armstrong is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is the biological mother of Tony Stark.

Amanda Armstrong was a singer who became an intelligence agent upon being recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. During one mission, she met a man named Jude who was a double agent for Hydra. She would later get pregnant through Jude and give the baby Anthony to S.H.I.E.L.D. founder Howard Stark to raise. Many years later, Amanda become a music producer in London and reunited with her biological son Tony Stark.

Aron
Aron the Rogue Watcher is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the nephew of Uatu. Aron first appeared in Captain Marvel #39 and was created by Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom.

Aron originally dwelt upon the Watchers' homeworld with the other members of his race. He observed Captain Mar-Vell and Rick Jones battling Mad-Eye, and then attended the trial of Uatu. Aron was seen alongside Uatu again later.

Aron decided to forsake the Watchers' oath and actively participate in events on Earth, becoming an instigator and manipulator. He set Dragon Man against She-Hulk and She-Thing, and obtained cell samples from the Thing and She-Thing. Aron observed the Fantastic Four battling Graviton, and witnessed the events of Inferno. Aron was in turn observed by Necrodamus. Aron then joined forces with the Frightful Four against the Fantastic Four, but soon quit the Frightful Four. Aron created clones of the Fantastic Four and She-Thing, and imprisoned the real Fantastic Four and Frightful Four members in suspended animation, and watched their dreams. He replaced the real Fantastic Four with his clones, and set them against the Mole Man. Aron continued to engineer "adventures" for his clones, causing them to appear as criminals. The clones battled the Avengers and Doctor Strange, and were ultimately defeated by the real Fantastic Four after the originals broke free. Aron settled for watching the dreams of the clones instead.

When the entire species of the Watchers faced extinction at the hands of the Celestials, Aron planned to plunge either Earth's solar system or its galaxy (the narration is not entirely clear) into a pocket universe, which he intended to live on in. He even collaborated with Dark Raider (the Mister Fantastic of Earth-944) to further his goals. However, his plan was thwarted by the expanded Fantastic Four and their allies, and Aron was reduced to energy by his uncle Uatu. For this action, Uatu was stripped of his position as a Watcher. Uatu believed that Aron's energies would serve as the core around which to create a new "One", the sentient repository of all the Watchers' knowledge, whose predecessor had been destroyed by the Celestial Exitar the Exterminator.

Arsenal
Arsenal is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Iron Man #114 (Sept. 1978) and was created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen.

Publication history
The "Beta" unit first appeared in a two-part storyline in Iron Man #114 (Sept. 1978) and The Avengers Annual #9 (1979), and made a final appearance in Hulk vol. 2 #282 (April 1983). The "Alpha" unit appeared in Iron Man vol. 3 #84-85 (Aug. 2004).

Fictional character biography
Arsenal is a fighting robot unit created by Howard Stark and a group of Allied scientists near the end of World War II as a last resort in the event of an Axis victory. The robot was also guided by Stark's early computer program Mistress. After the Allies won, Arsenal was placed in storage. In the present day, Arsenal is underneath Avengers Mansion and suddenly and attacks the Avengers when the group are battling the Unicorn at the time. However, Iron Man successfully drives Arsenal off.

Arsenal is later guided by Mistress into erroneously believing the Allies lost World War II, defeating several Avengers until confronted by Thor and the Scarlet Witch. On the verge of defeat, Arsenal apparently self-destructs while Iron Man confronts Mistress programmed with Maria Stark's brain patterns. Once Iron Man unmasks and explains that the Allies won, the computer program wipes its own memory.

Arsenal actually faked its own destruction. It attacks Edwin Jarvis when She-Hulk and the Hulk visit Avengers Mansion. Arsenal then incapacitates She-Hulk, and the enraged Hulk destroys Arsenal.

Iron Man eventually learns that only a "Beta" unit had been destroyed and that an "Alpha" unit remained deactivated beneath Avengers Mansion, and is tasked by Homeland Security with shutting it down without informing the other Avengers due to the security risk it poses. Iron Man tracks the unit, but is unaware that the Avengers have followed. Arsenal is activated when transmission codes are radioed to Iron Man, which results in a battle between the new unit and the Avengers. Iron Man then realizes that Arsenal was activated by interference with its signal, which was set to "inert". Iron Man occupies Arsenal while Warbird stops the interference's source, causing Arsenal to deactivate. Arsenal is then dismantled.

Fully reassembled and under control, Arsenal is later used as a test for a group of Avengers recruits under the pretext that it is out of control.

During the "Iron Man 2020" event, Arno Stark recreates the eScape variation of Arsenal as well as a robot version of eScape's Mistress to serve as new bodies for his copies of Howard and Maria.

Powers and abilities
Both units of Arsenal possess amplified strength and durability. The Beta unit also possesses air jets and inertia darts, can radiate an electro-stun field and project a high-intensity laser beam from its eyes. The Alpha unit possesses a flame-thrower, multiple gun systems and a toxic gas dispenser.

Other versions

 * The Ultimate Marvel equivalent of Arsenal is Howard Stark having transformed himself into a cyborg capable of leading additional Arsenal units.
 * In Iron Man Noir, Baron Zemo created numerous Arsenal robots as a Nazi weapon.

Arsenal in other media

 * Arsenal appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Jim Meskimen. This version is designed to safely absorb and maintain massive amounts of energy. Introduced in its self-titled episode, it is used to contain a nuclear reactor's radiation for decades until Iron Man discovers and reactivates it in the present. In "Thanos Rising", Arsenal serves as Iron Man's friend and protector, helping fight the Grim Reaper before sacrificing itself to send Thanos away from Earth. Arsenal's head is recovered by the Avengers, and gradually rebuild and modified. In "Thanos Triumphant", Arsenal absorbs the Infinity Stones' energies to help the Avengers defeat Thanos once more but Ultron hijacks its body. In "The Ultron Outbreak", Arsenal briefly regains control before sacrificing itself again to defeat Ultron.

Asbestos Man
Asbestos Man (Orson Karloff) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee and Ernie Hart and artist Dick Ayers, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #111 (August 1963). Afterwards, the character did not reappear for many years until 2011's Fear Itself storyline.

Fictional character biography
Dr. Orson Karloff is "the world's foremost analytical chemist." He invents a chemical capable of melting metals, among other things, which he thinks he can use to steal money from banks like Fort Knox. However, he is not swift or stealthy and is almost caught by the police during one of his burgling attempts. Realizing that he is not skillful enough, Karloff adopts the supervillain handle of Asbestos Man and retreats to an obscure castle, where he hones his powers and one day challenges Human Torch to a showdown. The Torch nonchalantly agrees. However, it is Asbestos Man who ultimately wins, having created a flame-resistant armor out of "super-asbestos" (a combination of iron, calcium and chrysotile), rendering Storm's powers useless. Asbestos Man decides to spare the Torch, having already made a mockery of him. Asbestos Man's triumph over the Torch becomes big news. Blackie Barker, otherwise known as the "King of the Underworld", becomes aware of the villain and ropes him in to help carry out a bank heist. A humiliated Human Torch returns to settle scores with Asbestos Man, after being encouraged by his fellow Fantastic Four members. At the bank, the Human Torch absorbs all oxygen present. Asbestos Man is forced to surrender and he is promptly hauled to prison.

During the Fear Itself storyline, Asbestos Man is revealed to have developed cancer from exposure to his suit and now uses an oxygen tank to breathe. He intendes to return to life as a villain, but the Great Lakes Avengers persuade him from doing so.

Years later, the Human Torch mentioned that Asbestos Man had died.

Powers and abilities
Asbestos Man is a genius chemist. His knowledge of chemistry enabled him to develop a super solvent and "super-asbestos." His "super-asbestos" armor is high in toxicity and resistant to heat. Additionally, his iron shield can block out flames and his metal net is capable of energy manipulation. He holds a Ph.D in analytical chemistry.

Astra
Astra is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Imperial Guard version
Astra is a member of the Shi'ar Imperium's Imperial Guard. The character, created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #107. Astra has the ability to become intangible, allowing her to pass through solid objects. She can also use her power offensively, phasing her hand into her opponent and becoming partly solid, which gives them a physical shock and renders them unconscious. Like many original members of the Imperial Guard, Astra is the analog of a character from DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes: in her case Phantom Girl.

Astra is a founding member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. She and the Guard first clash with the X-Men and Starjammers, on behalf of D'Ken and Davan Shakari, over the fate of the Shi'ar Empress Lilandra Neramani. After the battle, Lilandra takes over as Majestrix, and the Guard swears allegiance to her.

When Deathbird becomes Empress, she commands the entire Imperial Guard to fight the combined forces of the Starjammers and Excalibur on Earth so that she could claim the power of the Phoenix Force for herself. The Guard are forced to retreat when Deathbird is put in danger. Some time later, the Guardsmen again come into conflict with the X-Men regarding Dark Phoenix, this time at the behest of Empress Lilandra.

Astra takes part in the "Operation: Galactic Storm" crossover event, which ran through Marvel Comics' Avengers-related titles in 1992. "Operation: Galactic Storm" details an intergalactic war between the Shi'ar and the Kree. Astra and the Imperial Guard steal the original Captain Marvel's Nega-Bands from the dead hero's tomb. Using Kree artifacts, including the Bands, the Sh'iar create a massive super weapon, the "Nega-Bomb." Ultimately, the Nega-Bomb device is successfully detonated, devastating the Kree Empire, with billions dying instantaneously (98% of the Kree population). The Shi'ar annex the remnants of the Kree Empire, with Deathbird becoming viceroy of the Kree territories.

Some time later, Ronan the Accuser leads the Kree in a surprise attack against the Shi'ar, using the Inhumans as an army to disrupt the Shi'ar control of the Kree. Ronan seizes control in a surprise attack and forces the Inhumans and their king, Black Bolt, to obey, threatening to otherwise destroy the Inhumans' home of Attilan. He compels Karnak, Gorgon, and Triton to covertly join the Imperial Guard, while Black Bolt and Medusa attempt the assassination of the Shi'ar ruler Lilandra at a ceremony ratifying an alliance between the Shi'ar and the Spartoi. Black Bolt manages to defeat Ronan in personal combat; the attempt on Lilandra's life fails because the shapeshifter Hobgoblin dies in her place.

The Imperial Guard is commanded to stop the conqueror Vulcan, who is determined to destroy the Shi'ar empire as revenge against former emperor D'Ken for murdering Vulcan's mother. Gladiator captures and delivers Vulcan to a Shi'ar prison facility. A Shi'ar agent, however, wishing a return to the days of D'Ken's rule, frees Vulcan and together with Deathbird the pair stage a coup and usurp Lilandra. Vulcan escapes with the aid of some rebellious Shi'ar and leads a successful coup against Lilandra, becoming the next Shi'ar Emperor. Gladiator and the Imperial Guard are honor-bound to serve him.

Vulcan consolidates his rule over the Shi'ar—with the Guard reluctantly assisting—as their forces destroy a race of ancient enemies, the Scy'ar Tal, and capture the rebel Starjammers. Vulcan begins to expand the empire, leading to a war with the Kree. When ordered to kill Lilandra, Gladiator and the Guard abandon their post to protect her. During an attempt to return her to the throne, however, she is assassinated.

Vulcan is killed during a battle with the leader of the Kree, Black Bolt. With no one in line to inherit the throne, civil war threatens the Shi'ar empire. Gladiator accepts an offer to be Emperor to avoid further conflict. Mentor takes over as praetor of the Guard.

Astra is part of other missions with the Imperial Guard, including the trial of Jean Grey and the events surrounding the birth of Xandra, the progeny of Charles Xavier and Lilandra Neramani.

Brotherhood of Mutants version
Astra is a mutant created by Alan Davis and first appearing in The Uncanny X-Men #366.

She is one of Magneto's first recruits from his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She does not share Magneto's goals, and the two part ways as enemies. Years later, she revives a mindwiped Magneto and clones him. Astra orders the clone to kill the original, but the clone loses the battle and joins the X-Men under the name "Joseph". Astra later uses him against Magneto and the X-Men. Astra later recreates Joseph without memories and programs him to hate humankind. She also creates mutated clones of other Brotherhood members. The Stepford Cuckoos uncover Astra's collaboration with Christopher Bach, president of the organization Humans Now, to restore fear to Magneto's name. Magneto defeated Joseph and his clone Brotherhood, but Astra escapes.

Atom-Smasher
Atom-Smasher is a name shared by three fictional characters in the Marvel Universe. Atom-Smasher generated atomic radiation, which he could project as heat, concussive force, or hard radiation. His energies enhanced his durability and he could also transform into pure energy, though even this form could be contained with lead, graphite, or other radiation dampeners.

Ronald English
The first Atom-Smasher first appeared in Black Goliath #1 (February 1976) and was created by Tony Isabella and George Tuska.

The character subsequently appears in Black Goliath #2-3 (April–June 1976), in which he is killed. The character appears posthumously in Marvel Two-in-One #55 (September 1979), and Marvel Fanfare #3 (July 1982).

Ronald English used a Nucleonic Radiator to become the super-villain Atom-Smasher, and was capable of transforming his body into pure energy. He fought Black Goliath, but was killed by Warhawk.

Michael English
The second Atom-Smasher appeared in Marvel Two-in-One #85 (March 1982) and was created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Wilson.

The character appears posthumously in Marvel Fanfare #3 (July 1982).

Michael English was the brother of the original Atom-Smasher, also capable of transforming his body into pure energy. He was killed in an explosion during a battle with Spider-Woman.

Kevin Leonardo
The third Atom-Smasher appeared in Iron Man #287 (December 1992) and was created by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood. He was given a real name in Iron Manual 3 (2009).

Kevin Leonardo was an employee of Stane International's nuclear production plant in Southern California. He learns that old radioactive by-products of the plant that were left to accumulate are seeping into groundwater. He complains to his superiors, but is shot, dumped into a toxic waste canister, and thrown out to sea. He is reborn with radioactive power and seeks revenge. Atom-Smasher plans to blow up the plant and is confronted by Iron Man. After he defeats Iron Man, the government sends Firepower, a government agent, to stop him. Firepower and Iron Man fight Atom-Smasher, but when Iron Man learns Atom-Smasher's history, he offers to shut down all of Stark's nuclear industry holdings in exchange for Atom-Smasher not destroying the plant. He then distracts Firepower with an EMP wave so that Atom-Smasher could get away, even though it immobilized him. Impressed with Iron Man's show of trust, Atom-Smasher leaves in peace.

Atum
Atum (also known as Demogorge) is a being in the Marvel Universe, named after the Egyptian god Atum. The character, created by Alan Zelenetz, first appeared in Thor Annual #10 in 1982.

Within the context of the stories, Atum is the son of the entity known as the Demiurge and the Elder God Gaea. A golden humanoid imbued with the power of the Sun itself, Atum kills the warring Elder Gods and, absorbing their life force, is changed by their evil energies and devolves into a huge, hulking demonic being—Demogorge, the God Eater. Only Chthon and Set survive by fleeing into alternate dimensions. With Gaea the only Elder God remaining, the God Eater sheds the Elder Gods' energies and becomes Atum, journeying to the Sun and hibernating there. During this long period of hibernation, Atum takes on the identity of Ammon-Ra, and forms the Ogdoad, the primordial gods of ancient Egypt.

Thousands of years later, a group of eight Death Gods from various pantheons combine their mystical might to join all the Hells into one vast dimension. This act forces the reemergence and intervention of the Demogorge, who consumed all but the fleeing Hela. A champion from each pantheon is sent to stop Demogorge and prevent further disaster. Led by Thor, the champions find the God Eater and battle it. Demogorge is defeated by Thor, who plunges into one of its orifices and attacks the God Eater's inner workings. Damaged beyond repair, the entity can no longer contain the energies it has consumed and releases all the previously consumed gods, and restores the Hells to their rightful dimensions.

During the Secret Invasion storyline, the alien Skrulls invade Earth at the behest of their deities, Kly'bn and Sl'gur't. A cadre of gods consisting of Hercules, Snowbird, Amatsu-Mikaboshi and Ajak is formed to combat the Skrull gods, with Atum joining the Earthly pantheon at the request of Horus. He compares himself to a shepherd defending his flock, which he will one day eat. During the confrontation, Atum is killed after trying to devour Sl'gur't, who tears him apart from the inside.

Later, after Thor is slain battling the evil Serpent, his divine soul travels to an afterlife for gods, where he joins many other deities who appear to have died and are all on their way to be devoured by Demogorge; apparently a being such as he can never truly be destroyed. Nevertheless, Thor defeats him by smashing his heart after entering his body, and escapes him once again.

Avoe
Avoe is a fictional deity created by Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham and first appeared in Fantastic Four #577.

Avoe was the queen and goddess of the Inhuman Dire Wraiths, who had evolved through Exogenesis. Her people made up one fourth of the Universal Inhumans who responded to Earth's moon when searching for Black Bolt, the Midnight King of prophesy. After the return of Black Bolt, Avoe became one of his queens.

During the "Infinity" storyline, where Thanos invaded Earth, which made Black Bolt destroy Attilan, Avoe and the other Universal Inhumans fled Earth to find a new place to live and eventually they established on the planet Centauri-IV, since they were unable to return to their homeworlds.

When the Kree Empire begun ordering all surviving Inhumans to join them or die, the Universal Inhumans arranged a secret meeting to discuss the situation. Before the Inhuman Royal Family arrived, the queens considered to surrender to the Kree, but instead the Kree send their Super-Inhuman soldier, Vox, who killed the queens and their attendants, to send a message to Black Bolt that he wasn't safe.