Monolith's Power Descriptions

The first team of trainees seen in the Initiative camp were Cloud 9, Trauma, Komodo, Rage, Slapstick, Bengal, Ultra Girl, Armory, Hardball and Thor Girl. Rage and Ultra Girl can be found on page 19 of the Archives, and Slapstick on page 17.

 

Armory wore a metallic sleeve called the Tactigon, a multi-dimensional war chest capable of manifesting all kinds of weapons for her to use. It can shift and expand to create solid shapes like blades or battleaxes, or more advanced weapons like particle beams, laser cannons, and so forth. It could also form other mechanical forms, such as wire-guided grappling hooks or cybernetic jacks enabling the user to plug into computer systems to access and manipulate stored information. Armory claimed that the Tactigon had an internal safety mechanism, allowing her to mentally program the amount of force used by her weapon constructions: stun, kill, immolate, etc.

 

Komodo experimented with Curt Connors' regenerative serum, transforming herself into a variation of the Lizard. She developed green scales, talons, a prehensile tail, and a frilled membrane down her spine. She also had augmented strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, razor sharp claws, and hyper-regenerative powers, enabling her to completely regrow a lost limb within seconds. She seems to possess the power to transform back and forth between human and reptilian forms at will, though prefers to remain in Lizard mode because her human form still has no legs below the knees.

 

Cloud-9 has an unidentified ability to create and maintain a tangible mass of vapor. Its full range of uses are undetermined, but so far she primarily uses her power to materialize a small mass of "cloud" beneath her feet, which she then manipulates to carry and propel herself through the air. She can create a cloud mass large enough to carry several people at once, or create multiple masses to support herself on one cloud and other people on a second one. Her cloud can also be used like a smokescreen, hiding her under an opaque layer of vapor, or cast down an opponent's throat to asphyxiate them, leaving her victim gasping for air.

 

Hardball's abilities were engineered for him by the new Power Broker. He is able to generate a sphere of concentrated energy on command, usually around his fist although he can form a sphere around his foot, head, elbow, or anywhere else. His typical sphere glows red and functions as a solid force amplifier -- he can use it to deflect energy beams or other assaults aimed at him, or significantly magnify the strength of his blows on impact. Hardball recently learned how to expand these spheres large enough to completely encompass his body for protection. Additionally, he can generate blue electromagnetic energy spheres. These spheres can be materialized at a distance, surrounding anything of an electronic nature and allowing him to override or disrupt its operating functions.

 

Thor Girl is otherwise known as Tarene, the Designate, prophesized at the dawn of time to usher all life in the universe into the next stage of cosmic evolution. Tarene lived an unassuming life on an unnamed and hidden planet, her people aware that the Designate would one day rise from their race, but not knowing who or when. It wasn't until Thanos arrived to co-opt and corrupt the power of the Designate that Tarene was revealed as the future goddess by the power of the Illumination Stone. After this, it seemed that some of the infinite power of the Designate was shaken loose before its time, giving Tarene the ability to access unfathomable cosmic power as she saw fit. Touched by the honor and nobility of the Odinson, Tarene chose to walk his path as a heroine among the mortals of Earth, and used her power to formulate the means of mimicking his abilities. She created twin forms for herself -- those of Tara Olsen (cousin of Thor's then-human form Jake Olsen) and Thor Girl, a body augmented by the inherent magics of the Asgardian people. She could switch between these two forms at will. As Thor Girl, she possessed at least Class 75 strength, superhuman endurance, reflexes, and considerable resistance to all manner of physical injury. She also materialized a hammer based on Mjolnir whenever she became Thor Girl, and it had many of the same properties, including the ability to return to her grasp after being thrown. She used the hammer to perform various feats such as flight, casting bolts of cosmic force energy, and teleportation within or between dimensions. The hammer was in fact merely a prop, however, and Tarene could easily perform any of these tasks without it. Tarene demonstrated other powers as well, such as radical healing powers, the ability to cast illusions to distort sights and sounds, and a form of intuitive knowledge gleaned from her inherent connection to life in the universe. This enabled her to occasionally read the thoughts and true nature of people around her, and derive instinctive understanding of a wide variety of subjects, securing her a perfect GPA when she attended high school. After using her infinite energy as a power booster for both Thor and Odin during the Surtur War, however, Tarene burned out her excess power as the Designate. She could no longer perform any feats beyond those she specifically had crafted into her Thor Girl form and hammer.

 

The Shadow Initiative is a black ops unit assembled at Camp Hammond by Henry Peter Gyrich. It included Constrictor, new recruits Bengal and Trauma, and special operatives Mutant Zero and the Scarlet Spiders.

 

Bengal is a highly trained tracker and hand-to-hand combatant. He possesses either upper level or enhanced levels of strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes and senses. He has used various weapons in the past such as nunchaku, sai daggers, shuriken, and a bow and arrows.

 

The Constrictor wears a bullet-proof body suit equipped with infrared telephoto lenses. He was originally equipped with retractable adamantium coils which extended out from slots on the backs of his hands. A micro generator built into his suit was capable of producing high-voltage electricity and conducting it along the length of his coils to shock and incapacitate his victims. The first coils were replaced by a set of vibranium coils which, thanks to the vibration-absorbing properties of that metal, moved completely silently and siphoned off kinetic force used against them. Recently, his arms were amputated by KIA's razor-wire, forcing him to adapt new bionic appendages. These new cybernetic arms give him a measure of superhuman strength and can extend highly dexterous metal coils, allowing him to grab and manipulate the tiniest of objects by mentally manipulated the coils' movements.

 

Michael van Patrick was the great-grandson of Abraham Erskine, the mind behind Captain America's super-soldier serum. Known originally as MVP, Michael was able to achieve the pinnacle of human perfection solely by a lifetime of isometrics, exercise and properly prepared food. He possessed peak human strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, vision, hearing, and immunities.

 

After his death, MVP was reborn through the cloning work of Baron von Blitzschlag as Mike, Van, and Pat -- triplate brothers known as the Scarlet Spiders or by their call signs, Red Team One, Two and Three. Using Taskmaster's photographic reflexes to mimic the actions of MVP and Spider-Man, combined with telemetry circuits to record and analyze his movements, the Scarlet Spiders are not only perfect physical specimens but were also pre-programmed with the moves and fighting styles of both men. Each Spider wears a variation of the Stark-Tech "Iron Spider" costume given to Peter Parker by Iron Man. This provides them with infrared and telescopic vision, ultrasonic auditory enhancers, GPS locating abilities, radar scanning, radio transmission and reception, oxygen filters to protect them from toxic vapors, and a computer uplink between the three suits, allowing them to share information and picture-in-picture of each others' vision. The suits also come equipped with wall-crawling abilities and web-shooters built into the wrists. In addition, nanotech holo-casting abilities allow the Scarlet Spiders to shift the costume into various other Spidey costumes, regular street clothes, or a stealth mode that renders them invisible to detection. Unlike the original Iron Spider, these suits come with four, not three, additional arms which extend from their backside. These arms are highly prehensile, equipped with visual scanners to see around corners, and their nanomer alloy can also manifest weapon systems, such as pulse cannons or repulsor grenades.

 

KIA is another clone of Michael van Patrick, who has adopted the Tactigon previously worn by Armory. He killed one of the three Scarlet Spiders.

 

Trauma is an empathic metamorph, able to physically transform himself into a representation of someone's personal fears and nightmares. He tends to also express his target's fear verbally -- this could be done as simply as turning into a giant spider and saying "Ah, you're afraid of spiders", or with greater exposition such as turning into the corpse of a dead friend and then confronting his target with their feelings that they were responsible for their friend's death. There seems to be little or no limitations for shape, mass, or human anatomy when he transforms himself. Trauma derives not only shape but power from his transformations; he once manifested the super-powers of Thor, God of Thunder, in addition to his appearance. His power works better when someone is already in an agitated or tense state, though it is apparently possible for him to access his transformations otherwise. At first, it did not seem as if Trauma could access fear-based information from the minds of others without initiating his transformation process, meaning he is only aware of the nature of their fear as he assumes that form and possesses no additionally special insight into their inner torment beyond what he verbalizes in his altered states. This has changed thanks to Trauma's studying with Dani Moonstar, as he can now manifest fear-forms while maintaing his calm and probe the minds of others for fear-based information without reflexively manifesting that fear. As a sidenote, while most of his victims react with shock and panic, this is apparently only a natural response to being confronted with their primal fears, and not an inherent psychic "push" on his part. He also seems to have trouble dying.

 

Mutant Zero is a mystery wrapped in an enigma dressed up in a riddle. So far, she carries a sword and a retractable blade in her gauntlet. She can also apparently render herself and other people temporarily invisible through psionic means. More detail is, presumably, forthcoming.

 

The second trainee class seen in the Initiative was Diamondback, G.I. Ant-Man, Geiger, Red 9, Proton, Melee, Dragon Lord and Crusader. Diamondback is listed under the Serpent Society on page 8 of the Archives.

 

Eric O'Grady wears a special suit designed by Hank Pym for espionage and combat, the G.I. Ant-Man costume. Covering him from head-to-toe, the suit gives him shrinking abilities thanks to a stored quantity of Pym Particles inside the helmet. Depressing one of the buttons on the side of the helmet releases a short spray of Pym Particles inside the suit, shrinking Eric and the costume down to "ant-size". Eric appears to be able to cybernetically control the extent of his shrinking, allowing him to choose to become less than an inch tall, or remain a few inches tall so that other people can see and hear him. Ant-Man retains his full-sized strength at ant-size, allowing him to exert a surprising amount of leverage and compact force against his opponents. Depressing the same button again allows him to return to normal size. A second button on the helmet has a "storage" function, retracting and collapsing the rest of the suit into the helmet. This makes the helmet the only part of the suit that needs to be carried for travel -- in civilian clothes, Eric just needs to throw on the helmet and trigger the second button to instantly shrink down to ant-size and become full clothed in the costume. A third button on the helmet pops open the mask to expose his face. Eric has also recently learned how to use Pym Particles for growing to giant size. In addition to his size-changing powers, the suit is also bulletproof against at least small calibre firearms, and enables him to cybernetically communicate with insects over a distance. He can, however, only talk to insects and not forcibly command their actions. Finally, the suit has a set of retractable cybernetic legs that extend out from the backpack. More than twice as long as his body, these legs can lift Eric off the ground and propel him forward much faster than he could normally run. They can support considerable extra weight, and so can be used to prop up heavy objects and move large debris off of civilians in a disaster area. The legs have suction plates on their tips, allowing Ant-Man to climb across walls and ceilings. Furthermore, the tips also contain powerful thrusters, letting them double as a jet pack. Ant-Man can not only fly with these jets, he can also use them offensively, causing painful laser burns on his opponents or "laser cutting" through solid metal.

 

Dragon Lord is a skilled conjurer, able to create magical effects by mixing exotic herbs and potions in his cauldron and reciting incantations over the mixture. The focus of his skills has primarily been the summoning and control of mystical creatures. He is able to grant shape and substance to the mist which rises from his cauldron, forming it into various kinds of tangible dragons or monsters which respond to his will. These creatures can demonstrate tremendous physical strength and power. Dragon Lord can also command pre-existing dragons if the situation calls for it, by brewing a special mixture and breathing in the vapors it releases. This gives him a voice of authority that compels dragons to do his bidding. He has also summoned a tangible mist which ensnared a dragon from miles away and dragged it unwillingly to his side. Dragon Lord has occasionally used his cauldron for other purposes, such as viewing distant events by magically materializing images in his cauldron's smoke, but the full extent of his powers was never revealed.

 

Melee's "power" allegedly gives her mastery of all forms of physical combat and martial arts techniques. Whether this power is intuitive, psychomimetic, or something else altogether is unclear.

 

Proton can generate spheres of energy in his hands, and then toss them at his opponents as explosive projectiles.

 

Geiger was caught in the backlash of a gamma particle accelerator, making her sensitive to other superhuman gamma patterns in her vicinity. Her physiology will absorb and imprint the radiation signature of other gamma mutates, giving her the altered physical characteristics and powers they possess. Therefore, while mimicing the grotesque Patchwork she would become virtually identical to him, whereas mimicing Doc Samson only added Doc's gamma features to her own: long green hair and enhanced musculature. Because gamma forms are inherently tied into the psychological condition of the mutate, Geiger's mental characteristics would also change based on her template, giving her traits like Patchwork's psychosis or Doc's self-assurance. In this manner, her power could be used as a window into the mind of another gamma mutate -- she could not only track them down to a given location, but also sense whatever the other mutate was seeing or experiencing first-hand. In order to keep her from being thrown off-centre by dangerous or unstable patterns, Doc Samson gave Geiger a sample of his hair for her to focus on whenever she needed, allowing her to assume a Samson-based gamma form at will, or use his gamma pattern to fight off the influence of another one. Therefore, she typically possesses roughly Class 75 strength, superhuman endurance, reflexes, leaping ability, and resistance to all manner of physical harm, so long as she keeps the hair sample nearby to lock onto.

 

Red 9 wears a prototype gravicosmic (or is it cosmigravic?) suit designed for NASA. The suit's energy source is unknown, but it augments his strength to superhuman levels, can project energy bolts from the wrist units, has ankle jets enabling him to fly, and produces a force field aura that protects him from direct physical injury and is slippery to the touch, making it difficult to grab hold of Red and causes Spider-Man's webbing to slide right off.

 

Freedom Ring was an extremely short-lived super-hero who used a ring forged out of a fragment of the Cosmic Cube. When wearing the ring, he could alter reality within a fifteen foot radius of his body by concentrating. Initially, he employed the power mostly for materializing objects and other forms of matter -- creating food to eat, summoning animals, his costume, stone walls for protection or giant blocks to crush opponents, etc. He could also create any weapon he could imagine, anything from a bazooka to a NERF bazooka. His range was still limited, however, and so any bullets or other projectiles would quickly fade out of existence after they got fifteen feet away. After being crippled in battle after his first outting, Freedom Ring began thinking of other ways to alter reality, and began augmenting himself with his powers. He restored his ability to walk, could become invulnerable at will, gain superhuman strength, and could quickly heal from injuries. Didn't stop him from getting killed off.

 

Crusader is a Skrull who hides his true nature, but still uses his shape-changing powers as hero. He can increase his strength and resilience to a certainly degree by changing into more durable substances, and can use his shifting powers to heal himself from major injuries, even reattach severed limbs. Crusader can stretch his body, convert his hands into giant crystal spikes, or even expand himself into a giant cushion to catch falling objects safely. He can also take on a variety of different physical appearances, disguising himself as anyone he meets. Crusader picked up the ring after Freedom Ring died and began using it himself, but secretly.

 

The third trainee class seen in the Initiative was Butterball, Sunstreak, Prodigy, Gorilla Girl, Batwing and Annex the Augmented Man. Prodigy is listed under the Slingers on page 1 of the Archives, and Annex in the 1993 Marvel Annuals on page 20.