High-tech cyborgs built with lobotomized human brains by renegade scientist formerly from Cybertek Systems in France to sell as weapons. They were tracked by Deathlok at the request of Roxxon Corporation, that claimed to own the technology. Deathlok recruited his friend Silver Sable and the Wild Pack for help, and while fighting the Cyberwarriors in France, the artificial consciousness of Colonel John Kelly took control over one Cyberwarrior, becoming Siege. The Wild Pack and the Next Wave tracked Cyberwarriors sold to the terrorist organization Genesis Coalition, who wanted to use them to take over Wundagore Mountain, and those Cyberwarriors were defeated. Deathlok, Siege and another cyborg Coldblood-7, tracked a shipment of Cyberwarriors sold to the Iraqi military and stopped them from taking over Kuwait. SHIELD originally tried to obtain Cyberwarrior technology for their own use, but joined Deathlok to prevent the Cyberwarriors from being used against world peace.
History
France[]
Cybertek Systems, Inc. had been the applied cybernetics division owned by Roxxon Oil Corporation, developing and building advanced technology for sometimes military purposes.[4] Cybertek head Harlan Ryker kidnapped programmer Michael Collins to implant the latter's brain on their cyborg Deathlok; but Collins' consciousness recovered and took over the system. Opposing to Ryker and Cybertek, Deathlok contributed to expose Cybertek's illegal activities,[5] leading to the closure of Cybertek shortly after. Roxxon distanced from the scandal to avoid being damaged, but several members of Cybertek staff were either arrested[6] or had arrest warrants on them,[7] with international bounties on their heads.[8] (Ryker himself was imprisoned[6] but later was released or escaped). One of these people, Stanley Cross, believed that the U.S. government simply was trying to get a piece of the cake that Cybertek had earned.[7]
This led to several former Cybertek employees (Ryker, Cross, weapon designer Ben Jacobs, cyborg contractor Mainframe, cybersurgeons Drs. Kimble and Hu, and several others) to take refuge in France,[7][9] associating with other cybernetics specialists, including Fox and Borruso,[7] to execute a program developing and selling Cyberwarriors[7][9] to the highest bidder.[8] They had a main underground base under the city of Paris[7] and a secondary base in the outskirts, the later called Cyberbase.[10] Even before finishing the tests, they had already made pre-sales all over the world,[7] including to terrorist organization ULTIMATUM[8], to the terrorist Hydra-splinter branch Genesis Coalition (shipment already delivered at this point),[2] and to the Iraqi military.[11][10] The Cyberwarriors required lobotomized human brains as "wetware storage", allowing them to run their many programs.[2] To achieve this, they initially bribed medical institutions so that they supplied them with brains of recently-deceased patients to be used in the Cyberwarriors but, as this was ineffective, Ryker made coma-induced patients to be falsely diagnosed as in terminal state, so that their brains could be accessed - even thou Kimble complained at the immorality of the operation.[10]
Ryker was secretly in cahoots with[2] Roxxon's President of International Development Clayton Burr,[7] who would manipulate the events so that Deathlok visited the Cyberwarriors base, apparently to allow them to capture Deathlok and take over the cyborg technology.[2] Indeed, Burr recruited Deathlok to stop the secret Cyberwarrior operation in France, claiming that the Cyberwarrior technology belonged to Roxxon. To bait Deathlok beyond his morals (Deathlok opposed to those warrior cyborgs being sold around the world), Burr told him that Michael Collins' body was being kept in France by Dr. Hu, and that the brain could be restored,[7] which was true - Ryker was keeping Collins' body there. Burr had also warned Ryker that Deathlok would go the base, so he'd be on alert.[2] However, Burr also hired cyborg mercenary Coldblood-7 to murder both Deathlok and Ryker, betraying his ally for profit.[7][10] Simultaneous to all this, international law enforcement agency SHIELD wanted to obtain the Cyberwarrior technology to be used by them[12] while also going after Roxxon's illegal deals, and SHIELD's director Nick Fury tried to mislead Deathlok so that he would not go to Paris[7] by openly lying to him.[7]
Deathlok did go to Paris and called his former ally Silver Sable, leader of the mercenary group Wild Pack, for reinforcements. They discovered that a Parisian branch of ULTIMATUM had bought Cyberwarriors, and raided the ULTIMATUM base so that the terrorists would reveal the Cyberwarrior secret base location.[8] Meanwhile, Ryker arrived to the Paris base, to check the results of the final phases of his own plan,[7] witnessing, along with Cross and Jacobs, the Cyberwarriors being tested under controlled conditions. Jacobs was angry at Mainframe because the later had prevented him from killing Deathlok in the past; but Jacobs required a prosthetic super-strong armor to move, and Mainframe used his own powers to control Jacobs' armor, forcing him to work as a forklift for warehouse duty against his own wishes - Jacobs complained that he was better than the Cyberwarriors for Jacobs had an independent mind, but Mainframe countered that Jacobs was erratic and prone to not follow orders, making him far more useless than the Cyberwarriors in combat.[8] Jacobs was however in charge of controlling the Cyberwarriors during combat operations,[12] something similar to what he had done with Cybertek Worker Ants in Estrella, and during that fight Jacobs had knowingly disregarded Ryker's strategy to pursue his own ends.[13]
Deathlok and the Wild Pack raided the underground base through the warehouse where Jacobs and Mainframe were. Jacobs immediately wrestled Deathlok, being his match in a one-on-one, while Mainframe called in a squad of Cyberwarriors for reinforcements and directed them from his own force field-protected platform. The Wild Pack fought the Cyberwarriors, and Sable focused on Mainframe, correctly deducing he was controlling the enemies.[8][14] During the fight, the Wild Pack proved superior to the Cyberwarriors,[2] and the invaders also discovered that the Cyberwarriors were operated by human brains,[8] not knowing that those were lobotomized. Also during the fight, Deathlok tried to connect to a Cyberwarrior's software so as to override Mainframe's control over it - but at that point, the consciousness of the first Deathlok, John Kelly, was active in Deathlok's hardware as an artificially-intelligent software and, wanting more independence and mobility, Kelly took this chance to insert himself in the Cyberwarrior and control it. Taking the alias "Siege", Kelly used his new Cyberwarrior body against the other Cyberwarriors, contributing to turn the tide so that the Cyberwarriors were systematically being beaten and destroyed. Mainframe (wrongly believing that Siege was a glitched Cyberwarrior) contacted Ryker to report that, as expected, Deathlok had attacked but, not as expected, Deathlok and his allies were wrecking the stock of Cyberwarriors they intended to sell. Ryker ordered Mainframe to retreat and abandon the base, so as to protect as many Cyberwarriors as possible. As Jacobs insisted on fighting Deathlok, Mainframe captured Jacobs in his own force field, then wrecked a way out through the Seine River, flooding the base. While Sable obtained information about the secondary base from the computers, Siege and Deathlok continued their battle against the Cyberwarriors - both the Cyberwarriors and Siege flew over Paris near Notre Dame and several bystanders were killed. After the fight, Sable told Deathlok where the secondary Cyberwarrior base was, but she herself and the Wild Pack left to fight their own enemies, the Genesis Coalition, who had received a shipment of Cyberwarriors.[2]
Deathlok and Siege tried to blow up the remainder of the main Cyberwarrior base, but SHIELD appeared to stop them, so as to do a forensic analysis on the facility[2] and they even tried to apprehend Siege using Cyberwarrior-specific Sonic Neural Disruptors. The parties struggled, and Siege was accidentally buried alive - but he emerge unscathed soon afterward, after the others had left[10] so SHIELD believed Siege had been killed.[12] En route to the Cyberbase, Deathlok was ambushed by Coldblood-7, but the former managed to convince the later that they were both on the same side and that Roxxon had deceived Coldblood - so Coldblood allied with Deathlok,[10] both going after Ryker (Coldblood to get a bounty on Ryker's head).[10]
Iraq[]
The Cyberwarrior team and the remaining Cyberwarriors regrouped in the Cyberbase, where Jacobs told them that, for what he heard during the fight, the rogue Cyberwarrior was being controlled by Kelly's consciousness - making Mainframe and Ryker consider the commercial possibilities of compressing a human consciousness in a chip that could be inserted in a body. Dr. Kimble also complained openly about the unethical measurements they were taking,[10] and Ryker transported a shipment of Cyberwarriors to Baghdad, Iraq,[10] in a first attempt to sell those to the Iraqi military,[11] (specifically a Colonel Sinje)[12] which wanted to militarily recover Kuwait. This transaction was detected by SHIELD, and, expecting problems there, they took their Helicarrier to Iraq.[10]
The Cyberbase was first attacked by Siege, who wanted to kill Ryker and damaged Jacobs' armor. Soon afterward, Coldblood and Deathlok joined independently. Mainframe activated the Cyberwarriors as a defense. Ryker, wanting to recover control over the situation, murdered Hu and took Kimble hostage, saying that only Hu and Kimble could restore Deathlok's brain to his original body, which was kept in the Cyberbase; and, Ryker also activated a bomb in Deathlok's body that would trigger a nuclear warhead in the facility, with Ryker being the only person who could stop the detonation - thus, he thought, Deathlok would be forced to save Ryker's own life.[10] However, Kimble escaped Ryker's grasp, and Coldblood put his weapon on Ryker's head. Ryker then asked Jacobs for help, and both Jacobs and Ryker were teleported[12] to Iraq,[15] their other allies abandoned. The former Cybertek scientists worked with Deathlok and Coldblood to successfully stop the nuclear detonation and, once they did that, Siege tracked the Cyberwarrior signal using his own Cyberwarrior body; the three cyborgs agreed to go after them, and Deathlok even hacked SHIELD's communications to pinpoint the Cyberwarriors, as the Helicarrier had detected them in detail.[12]
In Iraq, Ryker and Jacobs met with Sinje in the secret basement of a military installation, where they coordinated to stage a 10-Cyberwarrior attack aiming to destroy the oil fields of northern Kuwait, with Jacobs controlling the attackers from a nearby bunker. The fields were surprisingly defended by airborne Siege and by Deathlok and Coldblood, both riding Deathlok's flying vehicle Dragonfly. Sinje was surprised seeing his Cyberwarriors destroyed. Overpowered, the Cyberwarriors retreated to attack a nearby American Military Outpost, where they were to destroy all the equipment and soldiers; but then even the Helicarrier joined the fray with artillery attacks. Deathlok's scanning found the source of the Cyberwarriors command and informed his allies. Deathlok literally surfed on a damaged, flying Cyberwarrior to attack the bunker, using the Cyberwarrior as a ram to break its wall (and knock Jacobs in the while), then battered Ryker; Nick Fury stopped Deathlok from killing Ryker, promising that Ryker and other traitors would be legally punished - and indeed Fury used Ryker to arrest Burr too.[12] The Cyberwarrior sale to Iraq was stopped,[11] and Siege left to track yet other Cyberwarrior shipment[12] while Deathlok, Coldblood and SHIELD returned to the United States.[12]
Atlas Mountains[]
Siege tracked several groups of Cyberwarriors, frequently by intercepting the Avengers's distress calls. The last of them before joining Silver Sable again was in the Atlas Mountains, Africa.[1]
Transia[]
In the Mediterranean Sea, the criminal organization Genesis Coalition received their shipment of several squads of Cyberwarriors onboard a stolen Hydra mobile base.[1] Coalition co-leader Dmitri Petrovich had been a firm believer in the Cyberwarriors' firepower and a supporter of the transaction, although not all of the Coalition leadership shared his trust.[3] The Coalition began a several-hour process to program the Cyberwarriors to send them on an attack against Wundagore Mountain, in the European country Transia,[1] which they intended to turn into their own headquarters to extend their power base from there, and maybe attack strategic targets in range like Latveria[3] Their activities, however, were detected by Hydra's Baron Strucker, who wanted revenge on the Coalition for betraying Hydra and hired mercenary group Next Wave[1] to recover the stolen base.[3] The Coalition was also found the Wild Pack and, as soon as "Uncle Morty" pinpointed the Genesis Coalition, he reported to Sable, who stopped any other activity to prepare her Stealthcraft and a cloaked submarine and lead the Wild Pack personally against the Coalition - even if this activity was unpaid and her own accounts were brittle. As this was a maritime operation, she obtained the help of aquatic superhero Stingray.[1]
Both Next Wave and the Wild Pack overcame the external security and raided the Genesis Coalition mobile base. At the alert, Petrovich ordered to seal other sub-sections and send a squad of Cyberwarriors, which would first fight Next Wave,[1] and then the Wild Pack[1][14] who arrived later. Coalition co-leader Ivan Trefkov then flooded the area, knowing that the Cyberwarriors would survive but the enemies, most of them being humans, would not; and several Cyberwarriors were already transferred safely via pneumatic tubes.[1] Wild Pack member Raul Quentino found escape pods for the intruders to evacuate safely, while the Genesis Coalition abandoned their base and, believing their enemies dead, started the Cyberwarrior attack against Wundagore.[3]
Siege tracked the Cyberwarriors to Transia, pretending to join them, then attack the other Cyberwarriors. The Knights of Wundagore were released to protect their home mountain against the attack. The Wild Pack joined the fray in their stealthcraft and, against Sable's wishes, Next Wave helped them. The Cyberwarriors were obliterated, and the Genesis Coalition retreated.[3]
Cyberwarriors have not been seen since, apparently having been discontinued.Paraphernalia
Equipment
Superhuman Strength: The Cyberwarriors have superhuman strength, which Silver Sable compared in level to Fin's.[3] Supposedly, they were stronger than Deathlok.[8]
Superhuman Endurance: Cyberwarriors have superhuman endurance. When the ceiling fell on Siege, burying him, he was unscathed, although it took him some time to get out.[10] Their armor is not enough to withstand attacks from weapons such as the Wild Pack's[2] or the Knights of Wundagore, nor they are powerful enough to resist Fin's superhuman strength.[3] They are specifically protected against Deathlok's plasma gun.[8]
Robotic/Cybernetic Construction: Cyberwarriors used human brains,[8][10] lobotomized, simply as "wetware storage" that allowed them to run up to thirty-seven simultaneous programs,[2] while having no mind of their own.[8] Their organic components were dead, including simply lumps of proteins that the cybernetic systems kept alive,[10] meaning that the Cyberwarrior felt nothing on its own - e.g., a Cyberwarrior would not feel adrenaline while in combat, and when Siege's consciousness took control of one, he compared it not to having a body of his own, but to driving a car or playing a video game.[10] The Cyberwarriors did not need to breathe, meaning that they can survive underwater, and they can be transported using pneumatic tubes and other technologies.[1] Even so, Cyberwarriors still had speech capabilities.[10][12]
Strategic Programming: Having no mind of their own,[8] the Cyberwarriors relied exclusively on their strategic programming written by weapons developer Ben Jacobs.[12] While having some autonomous capacities, the Cyberwarriors were systematically controlled by an operator, either cyborg Mainframe, who used his own powers for this purpose (meaning that a green glow surrounded both Mainframe and the Cyberwarriors receiving his commands during the process)[8] or Ben Jacobs from a terminal, using a broadcast that could be tracked by other cyborgs.[12] This dependence on software led to vulnerabilities. A computing expert with access to a functional Cyberwarrior could enter its system and circulate an overriding shut-down command affecting all the Cyberwarriors in the same squad and area,[3] and a Cyberwarrior could be accessed via cyberspace and controlled by another party such as an artificial intelligence.[2]
Suppleness: A Cyberwarrior can rotate its wrist up to at least 180 degrees, which allow them to suddenly confront an enemy on their back.[8]
Sensors: A Cyberwarrior had sensors that allowed it to find other Cyberwarriors in a very wide area, maybe worldwide.[12]Weapons
Transportation
Flight: Cyberwarriors have jet-propelled flight capabilities, allowing them to both dogfight in close distances[12] and to perform long-distance flights through several countries.[3]
Weaknesses[]
Cyberwarriors could be detected by advanced sensor technology such as the one used by SHIELD.[12]
SHIELD developed a specific technology called Sonic Neural Disruptor that could be used to paralyze a Cyberwarrior, short-range, using a 30 megavolt field. The target Cyberwarrior, however, recovered soon afterward (maybe because it was controlled by John Kelly's artificial consciousness).[10]Notes
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005, in Deathlok (Luther Manning from Earth-7484)'s profile, specifies that the Siege cyborg had been designed by Harlan Ryker. The Siege cyborg design is identical to the Cyberwarriors, different only because Siege is controlled by John Kelly's mind. That suggests that the Cyberwarriors were also designed by Ryker.
Trivia
See Also
- 8 appearance(s) of Cyberwarriors (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Cyberwarriors (Earth-616)
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Cyberwarriors (Earth-616)
- 9 image(s) of Cyberwarriors (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #11
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #19
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #12
- ↑ Deathlok #1
- ↑ Deathlok #4
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #18
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Marvel Atlas #1 ; France's profile
- ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 10.16 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #20
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Marvel Atlas #2 , Iraq's profile
- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 Deathlok (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ Deathlok #3
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1 ; Battlestar's profile
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1 ; Coldblood-7's profile