Jab's Builds: He-Man, Teela, Man-at-Arms, Horde Troops

[Jabroniville]

"CROSS-FIRE!! You'll get caught up in the-- Cross-FIRE!"

CROSSFIRE (William Cross)
Created By: Steven Grant & Jim Craig
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #52 (June 1979)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: Cross Technological Enterprises, The Villains For Hire, The C.I.A.
PL 9 (153)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+8)
Athletics 5 (+7)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Spy) 7 (+11)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+10)
Insight 6 (+9)
Investigation 8 (+11)
Perception 7 (+10)
Persuasion 5 (+7)
Sleight of Hand 6 (+12)
Stealth 10 (+14)
Technology 9 (+14)
Vehicles 2 (+8)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 5 (Spy Gear, Suit, Pistol), Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Pistol), Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Ranged Attack 5, Skill Mastery 2 (Spy, Deception), Ultimate Spy Skill, Well-Informed

Powers:
"Cybernetics"
Senses 4 (Enhanced & Ultra-Hearing, Extended Sight, Infra-Vision) [4]
"Partially Deaf Without Sensors" Immunity 3 (Hearing-Based Dazzles, Ultrasonics) [3]

Equipment:
"Twin Handguns" Blast 6 (Feats: Split) (13) -- (14)

AE: "Sniper Rifle" Blast 6 (Feats: Increased Range 2) (Flaws: Distracting) (8)

"Suit" Protection 2 (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns 11 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+6 Suit), Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Killing)- At first a mere greedy criminal, Laughton is now just flat-out nuts.
Responsibility (Insane)- Laughton’s personality and powers are prone to be different in almost every incarnation, and are generally not under his control.

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 80--40 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 6 / Defenses: 12 (150)

-Crossfire started out as a generic villain for guys like Hawkeye (and debuted the way MANY aimless gimmick villains did- fighting in one of those Combo Hero books like Marvel Team-Up or Two-In-One), essentially being a Spymaster-type dude with some extra stuff. For some reason, in modern times he's become a much bigger deal, showing up all over the place as one of The Hood's key operatives (though again mostly fighting Hawkeye). I guess that's what happens when you focus on Intel gathering instead of just beating ass.

-Crossfire is equal parts Skillmonkey from Hell, and PL 8.5 Long-Range guy. He's good with a gun, but nowhere near Bullseye levels, so he's barely a moderate threat in combat. He's a Tech Guy who has a tendency towards using stuff like The Undertaker Machine, which can control people's minds over a wide area, so he could be gathering Devices or just sit-down and plug-in stuff for such purposes.

[Jabroniville]

RAZOR-FIST III (William Scott)
Created By: Doug Moench & Paul Gulacy
First Appearance: Master of Kung-Fu #105 (Oct. 1981)
Role: Jobber Villain, Journeyman Villain
PL 9 (108)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+10)
Athletics 7 (+10)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+6)
Insight 5 (+7)
Intimidation 5 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 4 (+5)
Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+5)
Perception 6 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Benefit (Ambidexterity), Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Improved Critical (Hand-Knives), Instant Up, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Takedown

Powers:
"Hand-Knives" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Improved Critical, Split) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knives +12 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Disabled (No Hands)- Razor-Fist needs a bit of assistance to engage in ordinary activities, like wiping his own bum.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 11 (108)

-Alongside Barrage of Apocalypse's Dark Riders, Razor-Fist may be the only comic book character to be incapable of going to the bathroom without assistance. Of course in the "Bad Ass" age of comics, we'd get this goofy Shang-Chi villain (started out as one guy who was quickly killed, then two brothers, then only one brother remained after the others were accidentally shot in a recurring theme) turned into a self-cutting expert and dark, grim evil type. Not that it made him any more competent- he's never beaten anybody good.

-A low-pointed PL 8-8.5 Martial Artist, Razor-Fist is more of an annoyance than anything else, but he's able to modify all his caps in just about every kind of way, which makes him a bit more versatile. Even so, he's dependent on one type of attack almost completely, and wouldn't give someone like Shang-Chi or Captain America (both around +15 to +17 in Attack Bonus) much of a headache beyond a simple brawl. Even lower-tier fighters like Colleen Wing have handily defeated him, so he could theoretically be even weaker than this. The original two Razor-Fists were even WEAKER- PL 6-7 Goons who died immediately.

[Jabroniville]

WHIPLASH I, aka BLACKLASH (Mark Scarlotti)
Created By: Stan Lee & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #97 (Jan. 1968)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: The Maggia, The Death Squad, The Sinister Syndicate
PL 10 (144)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 3 (+6)
Close Combat (Whips) 1 (+9)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+11)
Expertise (Criminal) 1 (+6)
Insight 1 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Perception 2 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+5)
Technology 6 (+11)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Daze (Intimidation), Improved Critical (Whips) 2, Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 5, Startle

Powers:
"Titanium Whips & Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [26]
"Strength-Damage +7 (Feats: Reach 4, Penetrating 8) (19) -- (21)

AE: "Vaulting Pole" Leaping 4 (4)
AE: Deflect 10 (10)

"Bulletproof" Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 7) (11)
-- (32 points)

"Devices" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [11]
"Anti-Gravity Bolas" Snare 6 (18 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Whips +9 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+8 Costume), Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Iron Man)
Responsibility (Manic-Depressive)
Relationship (Son)- Scarlotti returns to a life of crime to provide for his son.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 37 / Defenses: 15 (144)

-The original Whiplash was a semi-recurring Iron Man villain, but nothing major- an ex-Stark scientist who got bitter about Tony's fame and repute, and so he struck out on his own as an assassin. At one point, he gave up the Whiplash persona to become "Blacklash", a very generic Journeyman Villain who fought various guys over the years (usually Journeyman-Villain-Magnets like Spider-Man & Captain America), but he eventually went back to his old form, at which point he was crushed to death by a rogue Sentient Armour that was currently a running plot in the "Iron Man" book- a pretty cool story, actually.

-AAAAAAND of course the character is now a lot more famous thanks to the second "Iron Man" movie, which combines the secret I.D. of the original Crimson Dynamo (Ivan Vanko) with the name & powers of Whiplash, while ALSO making them an entirely new character, since Iron Man has very few "movie-worthy" villains that don't break the whole "Grounded-In-Reality Science-Fiction Hero" thing (Fin Fang Foom & The Mandarin are kinda... anti-thematic, at least until "The Avengers" came out). As a reaction to this, Marvel did it's standard "Be Like The Movies" trick by creating a NEW Whiplash actually NAMED Ivan Vanko (not sure how they explained it, other than as a coincidence).

-Scarlotti is more powerful than your typical Jobber, being pretty tough and PL 9.5 and everything. Most guys like him are PL 8-9, but when you consider that his recurring foe is IRON MAN (a PL 11-12 guy for almost all of his career), and he can still provide a one-on-one challenge to Spidey & Cap after all these years, you've got a slightly-tougher Journeyman Villain.

[Jabroniville]

CHEMISTRO I (Curtis Carr)
Created By: Steve Englehart & George Tuska
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #12 (Aug. 1973)
Role: Jobber Villain, Proof That Marvel Has Too Many Top-Tier Geniuses
PL 9 (145)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+7)
Expertise (Science) 9 (+14)
Perception 4 (+5)
Technology 8 (+13)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Alchemy Gun" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [73]
All Powers Linked
Transform 9 (Anything to Anything Else) (Extras: Ranged, Continuous) (63) -- (64)

AE: Affliction 10 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Other Material) (Extras: Continuous +3, Ranged) (50)

"Objects Disintegrate" Blast 8 Linked to Weaken Toughness 8 (Extras: Affects Objects, Ranged, Progressive +2) (Feats: Incurable, Triggered by Transform After A Period of Time or Heat) (57)
-- (121 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Alchemy Gun +7 (+10 Affliction, +8 Ranged Damage & Weaken, DC 20, 18 & 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Revenge)- Carr was fired from his job at a car manufacturer when he tried to keep his Alchemy Gun for himself, since it was invented on "company time".
Power Loss (Alchemy Gun)- Powders can be applied to objects that render them immune to Transmutation. Chemistro's own gun, for example, has been made immune.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 72 / Defenses: 15 (145)

-Comics are so funny sometimes. Where else can a guy who invents an ALCHEMY GUN just be considered a minor scientist, who isn't really notable in the grand scheme of things? Seriously, a gun that can CHANGE ANYTHING INTO ANYTHING ELSE, and he's just some schnook. I guess that's what happens when you're a "Luke Cage" villain; you get easily glossed-over and forgotten. Poor Curtis Carr has actually been replaced as Chemistro TWICE, once by a fellow inmate, and once by his own brother, and he since turned to the side of the angels (he was a classic put-upon scientist screwed over by his employer- not really that bad a guy). I just include him in these builds because I find the goofy costume, the name and the super-devastating weapon fascinating. This guy's also a CLASSIC 1970s villain, as the great age of the '60s gave way to lots of lower-tier Marvel books, from which we gained a HUGE chunk of the Jobber Nobodies who later came to populate the Marvel Universe.

-It's a good thing that Alchemy Gun is Easy to Lose, otherwise it'd cost a disgusting amount of points. It's notable because though it can Transform stuff to other stuff in Continuous manner, it's properties will wear off on their own, resulting in the object crumbling to dust. This means that he can't turn lead to gold for easy money, and also can't REVERSE his changes- this is basically Transform/Affliction (since those are different Powers in 3e) Linked to Triggered Disintegration (Progressive since you can't really just reverse it). Like most Jobber Villains, he's really not that great a fighter on his own (PL 5), and can't take a beating either- he was beaten by his cellmate into giving up the secrets of his Alchemy Gun.

-Common tricks with the gun include turning stairs to Paper (resulting in a big drop when the paper's low toughness is shredded by human footsteps), walls to Molasses (basically an Area Snare), or just shooting people (Carr disintegrated his own FOOT when he accidentally fired his gun too low).

---

CHEMISTRO II (Archibald Morton)
Created By: Marv Wolfman & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: Power Man #37 (Nov. 1976)
Role: Jobber Villain
PL 9 (187)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 1 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+2)
Technology 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Alchemy Hand"
All Powers Linked
Transform 9 (Anything to Anything Else) (Extras: Ranged, Continuous) (63) -- [64]

AE: Affliction 10 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Other Material) (Extras: Continuous +3, Ranged) (50)

"Objects Disintegrate" Blast 8 Linked to Weaken Toughness 8 (Extras: Affects Objects, Ranged, Progressive +2) (Feats: Incurable, Triggered by Transform After A Period of Time or Heat) [57]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Alchemy Hand +7 (+10 Affliction, +8 Ranged Damage & Weaken, DC 20, 18 & 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Morton is just a simple crook, out for money. When he discovered his cellmate in prison had developed a powerful Alchemy Gun, he sought to copy it and use it to steal.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 120 / Defenses: 9 (187)

-The second Chemistro is just a one-shot villain, copying the Blackie Drago School of Replacing Older Villains- much like the second Vulture, he got some secrets & powers from sharing a cell with his predecessor, and later got his butt kicked by him. He literally only appeared in a single arc- beating up Carr to discover the secret of the Alchemy Gun, the new device exploded in his hand, granting him the ability to use the Alchemy Power just through his hands. He fought Luke Cage and had him beat several times, but Curtis Carr returned, and built a Nullifier to remove the transmutations, resulting in Morton's defeat. He never appeared again, having shown up in a total of three issues for his entire run.

-Archibald here is ludicrously expensive for a mere Jobber, but the Alchemy Gun is a REALLY powerful effect, and losing the Device Flaw makes it a LOT more useful. You can't just disarm him. However, removing the power of his Transmutations can render him pretty useless.

---



CHEMISTRO III (Calvin Carr)
Created By: Marv Wolfman & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: Power Man and Iron Fist #93 (June 1983)
Role: Jobber Villain
PL 9 (187)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 1 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+2)
Technology 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Alchemy Wrist-Blasters" (Flaws: Removable) [97]
All Powers Linked
Transform 9 (Anything to Anything Else) (Extras: Ranged, Continuous) (63) -- (64)

AE: Affliction 10 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Other Material) (Extras: Continuous +3, Ranged) (50)

"Objects Disintegrate" Blast 8 Linked to Weaken Toughness 8 (Extras: Affects Objects, Ranged, Progressive +2) (Feats: Incurable, Triggered by Transform After A Period of Time or Heat) (57)
-- (121 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Alchemy Hand +7 (+10 Affliction, +8 Ranged Damage & Weaken, DC 20, 18 & 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Calvin is just a simple crook, out for money.
Enemy (Curtis Carr)- The original Chemistro doesn't get along with his younger brother.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 97 / Defenses: 9 (187)

-What is it with Rookie Comic Book Writers inventing Chemistros, then going on to greater fame with classic runs on team books? The third (and longest-lasting) Chemistro is the younger brother of the first, and stole the Alchemy Gun for his own ends. During "Acts of Vengeance", he got his Gun turned into Wrist-Blasters by The Wizard (who for some reason never just copied the Gun for his OWN uses, since it's way better than any of The Wizard's weapons- is there some sort of Copywrite Infringement Gentleman's Agreement among super-villains?) and was sent against Iron Man. He's been most-often seen in large Villain Gangs in The Red Hood's employ in recent years, as he was never a major villain on any level.

[Kreuzritter]

ah chemistro, punched in the face by hawkeye, beaten up by elves, then turned to living gold by a pissed off enchantress

meanwhile crossfire and the rest of the luke cage rogues get their asses handed to em by Luke, Iron fist and the new AntMan

god i love Avengers: EMH

[scc]

I know this is a little late but here you go. This is Gaea laying the smack down on the Defenders. I feel like I am on one of those annoying battle forums. The first picture is just eye candy.

[Skavenger]

Loved the god builds, Jab. I'm a little surprised you didn't do Sekhmet/Hathor after her appearance in Hercules, but you gave me the Fenris Wolf so I can't complain! Looking forward to seeing what comes next (still holding out hope for Astro City one day. )

I am curious, however, about one thing. I noticed the Ymir and Surtur power levels and I can't help but wonder what you think the equivalent power levels in DC should be. In the books Darkseid was PL 16, Mordru was 16, and Monarch was 17. In your opinion, are the DC builds built low, or are the Marvel Agardian threats just simply that much more powerful?

Also, I seem remember a Thor story arc involving the original valkyries or something, and he had to travel to Mephisto's realm to get the one weapon that could slay them, which was stuck in Gaea's body. She cheated the whole "only one can draw this weapon" story bit by letting Thor hold the sword in place and simply moving herself away from it, but it left me wondering what the Earth Goddess was doing in Hell. Am I misremembering?

[Jabroniville]

Hm, I sorta forgot about Hathor/Sekhmet. She seemed to be in that weird zone of "Strong enough that Thor & Cho combined were running away, yet probably weak enough that she'd lose a second fight". I can rustle up a build pretty easily though, given that most of the legwork was done.

Astro City will probably be after the Gargoyles and possibly the Cosmic Marvel builds.

Assessing Marvel's uber-villains versus DC's, I find the DC guys to usually just be a SMALL bit above some of the heroes- Darkseid is barely better than Superman, and FREQUENTLY takes beatings from him. There is no way in HELL that Thor could ever beat Surtur one-on-one like that. Mordru is a Teamwrecker (and the definition of Variable Power at times), but still manages to get beaten, and fights a lower-level of opponent (groups of PL 10-12 heroes mostly), versus the powers of Thor, Odin & Loki combined. The only ways the two Norse Giants ever get beaten are because of Teleporting Away, Attacking Each Other, or Odin going full-on Skyfather. Those guys are near-Cosmic Entity/Elder God powerful.

I would consider the DC builds fairly accurate in PL (though I don't see much of Monarch fighting- he seemed near-omnipotent and beyond even PL 17 by re-writing all reality)- I don't view Darkseid or Mordru at the Skyfather level (nor is Darkseid's Marvel counterpart, Thanos), but they're still enough to beat down a ton of heroes.

Scc: Haha, check out Gaea showing off the giga-cleavage. And to just STAND THERE while all those guys are Blasting away... geez, Skyfather level may not even cut it. And yet this "Yandroth" fellow was able to beat on her? What was HE carrying?

Some notes about the "Marvel Handbooks" & "Who's Who"

* Both books have a double-sided cover featuring all of the characters appearing within, with the most-prominent character usually being the most important ("C" has Captain America, "S" has either Superman or Spider-Man, based off of the company). DC has some odd choices for "Centre Page", though- the "Q-R" one ignores the Jason Todd Robin for the most part, and instead uses as a central image... Red Tornado and... Quakemaster?
* Funny thing- I was looking at their page image for Queen Bee, and noted how the close-up of her face actually draws in all of her teeth individually. See, most artists, when drawing women, will NEVER draw all the lines to represent separate teeth unless it's a MAJOR close-up- it's a shorthand technique, and drawing all the teeth generally looks kind of ugly. Instead, they'll draw a couple teeth in at the corners of the mouth, and leave the rest mostly plain white (Archie Comics has the extreme version of this, while most comics typically use the method I described). But ALL the teeth? I thought it looked sorta familiar, then checked the artist- STEVE DILLON, the "Preacher" guy who notably drew ALL his female characters like that (making them look realistic, but also rather plain/homely at the same time. Huh- I didn't realize he was drawing stuff back then. His art looks pretty different (more "Generic Comic Book Art" than "Steve Dillon") save this one aspect.
* Art in general is odd- Marvel's looks more plain with a "generic standing pose", but DC uses wilder poses but often weaker artists- Marvel just SODOMIZED DC in this category for much of both companies' existence, really. And the late-80s were very unkind to the Silver Age pencillers- Kirby & Ditko's stuff looks AWFUL in the DC books.

* The books really reflect poorly on DC- for every good character, there seems to be six awful ones. BLATANTLY goofy characters are all over the place, giving you the impression that DC was full of goofy crap. To be fair, these were largely Golden & Silver Age characters and weren't around anymore, but what would you- if introduced to DC Comics through these Bio-books- do as a fan if you saw Mr. Talky-Tawny, Tommy Tomorrow & The Red Bee in these? You'd assume that DC stank, and that Marvel was awesome (they had enough top-tier characters to leave out obvious Morts most of the time).
* There's a lot of "Generic Teams of Adventurers" in DC. I know the Challengers of the Unknown were the BIG one, but there's also the Sea-Devils (undersea explorers), Cave Carson and his underground explorer-buddies, The Secret Six (then a group blackmailed by Mockingbird- who was secretly ONE of them but nobody ever knew which- doing mercenary work), The Suicide Squad (then a WWII/Anti-Communist unit, not a Super-Villain one), etc.
* The original Kid Eternity is a bit weird- he's the twin brother of Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel, Jr.) and gets his powers due to a cosmic mix-up (Freddy was supposed to die instead of Christopher, and so in compensation he was given Summoning Powers).

* DC & Marvel have very different ways of assessing skills, and DC has almost an inferiority complex regarding their characters. Nearly everyone in Marvel "engages in regular intensive physical excercise", whereas an astonishing number of DC characters are merely "above average combatants", or, even worse- "below-average"! People like Kole are said to be "unskilled" at hand-to-hand, and many Legionnaires are described in such poor terms as well.

Heights & Weights:
* Both books list heights and weights, which is always fun business. Mark Gruenwald described this process as basically finding someone at the office "the right size" and adding weight from there (which he admitted was more difficult at DC, when most editors were "the size of a Baby Grand Piano"). It leads to some curiosities, though- since in comics, nearly every artist makes everyone of the same gender the same height, a lot of it is quite iffy. Many male characters are made so light so as to lack real hitting power (would Robin as a Flyweight Boxer really be a challenge to a grown man), but then, comics has never had an accurate depiction of human-level fighting anyhow.
* I'll add up some particularly weird ones. Katana, a bad-ass martial artist, is 5'2" and NINETY-SIX POUNDS, making her three inches taller than actress Kristin Chenoweth, but the same weight. And those who've seen "Cheno" know that she is TINY. It's beyond reason for anyone that tiny to be an ass-kicker. Many women are given tiny heights, which is a bit odd, given how Amazonian most comic book women are (Killer Frost is only 5'4", despite looking nearly as tall as Firestorm most of the time). Ms. Marvel is listed at 5'11" (amazonian), but only 119 lbs., which is RIDICULOUS, given her height. She'd be built like a runway model, not a fighter. Black Cat's basically the same size (one inch shorter, one pound heavier), which is slightly more realistic, but still not that close to reality.

* Marvel's men on the other hand tend to be a bit beefier- DC's boys are usually around 170-180 lbs., whereas Sebastian Shaw is 210, and Blacklash is 215. This makes them basically the size of undersized Pro Wrestlers which, given the two businesses' appreciation for larger-than-life-physiques, is fairly accurate. Any guy over six feet tall who is REALLY muscular is probably gonna hit 200 lbs. pretty handily (look at Heavyweight Boxing, where the limit is 200 lbs.- most guys are built more or less like comic book characters, and about 6'2" or taller. Hm, some of these guys are still too light- The Black Panther definitely isn't built like a mere 185 lbs. on a 6' frame. Is he really sixty pounds lighter than The Black Talon? That would make the latter guy HUGE.
* Geez, even Captain Britain ain't heavy enough- 5'11" and 180 lbs? He's the same freaking size as ME?? LOOK AT THIS GUY'S BUILD!! He looks like a gorilla and the Union Jack did the nasty and produced offspring! Same thing with DC's Ultra Boy- a mere 190 lbs. isn't gonna cut it at THAT size.

[Jabroniville]

ARCADE (Real Name Unknown)
Created By: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #65 (Jan. 1978)
Role: Unusually-Unsuccessful Assassin
PL 2 (108), PL 6 (108) Inventor
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+3)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 7 (+13)
Expertise (Assassin) 6 (+12)
Perception 2 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+4)
Technology 10 (+16)
Vehicles 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 4 (Wealthy), Benefit (Is Usually a Robot All Along), Inventor, Ranged Attack 4

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Kicks)- Arcade got into the assassination game out of boredom. And he's no simple killer: Any idiot can just walk up to someone and shoot them- he wants to make a GAME of it.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 4 (108)

-Arcade is one of those characters that gets trotted out for the occasional one-shot appearance, given that he's a natural for the funny books or a TV series- a gamesman who throws the heroes into a World of Wonders full of robots, poison gas, bizarre settings and difficult puzzles. He's sort of like The Riddler, but with a much bigger gameboard (of course, Edward Nygma got an episode like this on "Batman: The Animated Series", and there was a "G.I. Joe" episode with The Gamesmaster as well). I never really liked Arcade stories as a kid, because I found the character genuinely annoying (sort of like a villainous Spider-Man but with worse jokes), poorly-designed, and his Murderworld things were usually easily-overcome. I mean, this guy is the worst assassin in comic book history- HE NEVER ACTUALLY KILLS ANYONE, despite having appeared in upwards of thirty comic book stories over the past fourty years- his only confirmed kills are random backstory people.

-Arcade adventures typically involve poison gas, drowning in giant vats, Robotic Versions of common heroes (basically take a modern Superhero, make him a robot, and lower him to PL 7-8 or so- they're pretty fragile folk), illusory battlefields and the like. It's pretty much a GM's paradise (or an inventive writer's), and Arcade himself is generally a useless non-combatant who either flees from trouble, or turns out to have been a robot all along (a Benefit Advantage that I felt like using).

[Jabroniville]

"My name is Doc Samson- I'm the second-coolest character who's name rhymes with "Ock Samson".

DOC SAMSON (Dr. Leonard Samson, formerly Leonard Skivorski, Jr.)
Created By: Roy Thomas & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #141 (July 1971)
Role: Official Psychiatrist to the Super-Heroes
PL 11 (153), PL 12 (153) Saves
STRENGTH 13 STAMINA 13 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9)
Deception 6 (+10)
Expertise (Psychiatrist) 10 (+15)
Insight 10 (+14)
Intimidation 4 (+8)
Perception 3 (+7)
Persuasion 5 (+9)
Ranged Combat (Thrown Objects) 2 (+7)
Technology 1 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
Impervious Toughness 9 [9]
Immunity 5 (Heat, Cold, Radiation, Disease, Poison) [5]
Leaping 5 (250 mph) [5]
"Supreme Knowledge of the Mind" Enhanced Will 3 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks/Mind-Reading) [1.5]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +13 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +13, Will +8 (+11 vs. Mental Effects)

Complications:
Motivation (Psychiatric Care)- Samson is a devoted shrink, and is authentically interested in the psychological well-being of Bruce Banner and Robbie "Speedball" Baldwin, among others. He engages in regular therapy groups with the members of X-Factor and those who were replaced by Skrulls during "The Secret Invasion".
Responsibility (Gamma-Powered)- Samson usually ends up mixed-in with other Gamma-powered characters, and may be "overloaded" with the radiation and turned stronger and crazy.
Power Loss (All Powers- Cut Hair)- In his early days, Doc Samson would be rendered powerless if his long green hair were cut. This fell away relatively quickly, perhaps being too goofy for a world in which Apes were super-villains and having Maggots for a stomach is a super-power.
Involuntary Transformation (Multiple Personalities)- Like other Gamma-powered characters, Samson eventually became afflicted with multiple personalities. By giving up his intellect, Samson grew much stronger (into a PL 12-13 creature).

Total: Abilities: 98 / Skills: 45--22.5 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 11.5 / Defenses: 12 (153)

-As a kid, I thought Doc Samson was flat-out dumb ("retarded" would be the usual parlance of the times)- a Psychiatrist Hero who has long green hair because of Gamma Radiation that fights or cures The Hulk at random? Goofy stuff. Later writers have used him as one of those weird "Comic Book Things", in a world where people use a blind martial artist or a Gamma-powered green lady as a Lawyer, a Sorceror Supreme as an M.D. referrer, and a Gamma-powered green-haired guy as a sit-down Psychiatrist. They actually do a bit of good work with him, and Warren Ellis made him kind of funny and personable (if a bit obnoxiously competent in a Mary Sue sort of way) in his "Thunderbolts" run, but part of me still likes watching this guy get the living crap beaten out of him. I was a bit surprised to discover he'd recently died in some Hulk thing I'd never heard of, involving "Hulked-Out Heroes" (aka "cool idea, but one used for a single arc and probably just to sell toys").

-Doc Samson is gamma-powered, meaning he's a toughie around She-Hulk or The Thing's level. Most of the Upper-Tier Powerhouses in Marvel are PL 11 in my opinion- putting them a bit above the Street Levellers of the world, but they're a level below a Standard Hulk, and WELL below a Thunder God or a Raging Hulk.

[BS Digital Q]

Scc: Haha, check out Gaea showing off the giga-cleavage. And to just STAND THERE while all those guys are Blasting away... geez, Skyfather level may not even cut it. And yet this "Yandroth" fellow was able to beat on her? What was HE carrying?

Yandroth's just a dime-store Dr. Doom wannabe really. Even moreso than other characters like Kang or the Master of the World, cause he was both an uber-scientist character AND an accomplished sorcerer (he started out as a Dr. Strange opponent before becoming a Defenders enemy by proxy). And like Doom, one of his big moments involved stealing the power of a significantly more powerful cosmic being, Gaea in this case.

[Kreuzritter]

iirc, Samson's back to life as of Chaos War

[Skavenger]

For my money, Doc Samson's greatest moment came from Incredible Hulk #406. It has Cap vs. Smart Hulk, Rick Jones having a wet dream about Betty, and my favorite moment:

Doc Samson comes upon a small boy who gets his head stuck in a metal fence. He pulls the bars apart and keeps walking, and he asks his mother who he was. Her response: "I think that was one of those Superman clones."

[Jabroniville]

Hahahahahaha this guy's costume SUCKS.

DIAMONDHEAD (Archie "Arch" Dyker)
Created By: Marv Wolfman & Sal Buscema
First Appearance: Nova #3 (Nov. 1976)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: The Terrible Trio
PL 9 (110)
STRENGTH 10 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 5 (+5)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 3 (+3)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Diamond Body"
"Immovable" Features 3: Increased Mass 3 [3]
Protection 11 (Extras: Impervious 13) [24]
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Regeneration 2 (Feats: Regrowth) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +11, Fortitude --, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (The Man Called Nova)
Prejudice (Obvious Superhuman)- Being one large diamond, Diamondhead cannot pass for an ordinary human.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 60 / Defenses: 9 (110)

-Diamondhead's pretty much a piece of crap villain, being a common criminal who got turned into a super-strong diamond-hard dude after being shot by a "Diamond-Powered Laser"... not sure how that works, but it looks like the Nova series in general was kind of goofy stuff. There's a reason why Richard Rider (don't call him Dick... it makes his name way too hilarious) vanished from comics until 1991, and then again until 2002. He was downgraded as a threat so much that by the time Nova Prime came back to Earth, he dusted off Diamondhead in about two seconds with a hand-shattering Gravimetric Pulse. Totally a joke villain- not sure if he was ever anything else.

-He was gonna be a PL 9 threat, but I ultimately realized he was just way too crappy for that, so he's PL 8 everywhere but for his Parry Defense, which is PL 8.5. Nova pretty much beat him with one punch, and even though he's a PL 12 super-god now, Diamondhead likely wouldn't fare too well against any other super-hero. He'd lose to most of the Young X-Men, though he's still okay enough to do some damage.

[Jabroniville]

THE JESTER (Chuck Lane)
Created By: Paul Gustavson
First Appearance: Smash Comics #22 (May 1941)
Role: Forgotten Golden Age Hero
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 6 (89)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+7)
Athletics 5 (+7)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Police Officer) 5 (+7)
Insight 3 (+6)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Intimidation 5 (+8)
Perception 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit (Quick Change), Equipment 2 (Policeman's Pistol), Defensive Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Ranged Attack 2, Startle, Takedown

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +6 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)- Chuck Lane did not feel he was doing enough as a police officer to stem the tide of crime, and so he became a cruelly-frightening vigilante instead.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (89)

-The Jester is probably one of the weirdest but most interesting forgotten Golden Age designs. Essentially a Quality Comics version of a heroic Joker, he was a cop who also fought crime on the side in a jester costume after discovering he came from a lineage of court jesters. No, really. He showed up in All-Star Squadron a couple times, and is most well-known for the "WTF? Who's THAT guy?" reaction readers would give upon seeing him in giant action shots of the team. Apparently a modern-day writer featured an aged Jester being part of an anti-government group, who suicidally-killed several government agents. Sounds like something from that modern "Freedom Fighters" series- I hate those guys, but Jester could've been cool, despite not being a success in any era of comic books.

-Low-end super-hero (he was a random background guy, after all), only makes PL 5.5(and that's with his gun and on Defense), making him ironically a more powerful cop than super-hero. His police training gives him a pretty good handful of skills, and it's stated that his specialty is in creeping out criminals with his jingling bells and eerie laugh, and his reputation as a 'weird' super-hero who did crazy stuff to bad guys. He's actually kind of a Proto-Slapstick, taking that hero's role, but in the '40s.