8-Ball

(for Eight-ball, the young boy from the skater group named Fatboys whom often met Daredevil, click here).

Origin

Brilliant inventor and designer, Jeff Hagees was once a creator of missile propulsion technologies for a defense contractor. The stress of his job became too much to bare so he developed a habit. The bad habit of gambling. He had lost thousands in the pool halls. His gambling problem eventually spilled over into the work place and when his employers got wind of it they fired him. The feared he had been trading company secrets to pay of his debts.

They were wrong. He used his intellect and knowledge of the defenses he had created to give birth to the persona, 8-Ball. To get back all the money he had lost and make some sort of living 8-Ball organized a criminal syndicate and went on a crime spree in the New York area.

Creation

Eightball was created by Bob Budiansky and Bret Blevins in 1991 and first appeared in Sleepwalker #1.

Major Story Arcs

Sleepwalker

His recent capers led to him encountering his future nemesis, Sleepwalker. On two different occasions, Sleepwalker failed to capture 8-Ball, allowing his criminal activities to go on. 8-Ball became a patron of the Underworld, where he would play pool at no name bars with other villains such as Oddball. In one instance 8-Ball stole a solid gold, pool trophy and planned to have a tournament in pool for 100,000 dollars. His challenger in this tournament would be the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin didn't want the money though. He wanted to play for whom would be the one to kill Sleepwalker. They competed against each other and a competition to take out Sleepwalker first but they had come to realize that they weren't fighting the actual Sleepwalker and they both backed out.

The Big House

When Sleepwalker finally captured 8-Ball he was sent to a prison where he was shrunk down by Pym Particles. He was later part of a mass escape, orchestrated by the Mad Thinker. 8-Ball and the other escapees were faced with the She-Hulk when she became aware of the plan. Later, 8-Ball turned his crimes to something different. He no longer did it for the gambling debt money or money to gamble with, he had to support his grandmother.

Daughters of the Dragon

At some point, 8-Ball is finally captured and imprisoned. He teams up with a number of other villains against the She-Hulk, and were handily defeated. 8-Ball joins up with Freezer Burn, Humbug (later an ally of Misty & Colleen), and Whirlwind. They steal from Ricadonna whom is apparently very rich, by breaking into her home later at night while she is at a party. They leave with what is unwittingly a dangerous computer virus; they are caught by a hidden camera. As an act of revenge Ricadonna sent assassins and bounty hunters after these villains. 8-ball was killed by a grenade used by the Wrecker.

Midnight Mission

8-Ball was resurrected by The Hood to join his gang, but not being much of a follower, 8-Ball split as soon as he could. This led to a number of run-ins with Moon Knight while he was operating the Midnight Mission, including being Moon Knight's cellmate in The Myrmidon when Kingpin outlawed superheroes in New York. Eventually, 8-Ball was approached by a new Black Spectre, who was enlisting the help of every thug and superhuman that the Midnight Mission had confronted to enact revenge on Moon Knight. 8-Ball's role was to go to The Midnight Mission looking for help against the Black Spectre and lure Moon Knight to his trap at the potter's field on Hart Island.

8-Ball did so reluctantly under threat of death and apologized to Moon Knight as he retreated after Black Spectre's reveal. However, during their boat trip to the island, Moon Knight took an interest in 8-Ball's abilities as a pilot and an engineer and also sympathized with the feelings that led 8-Ball to a life of crime. Because of this, 8-Ball ultimately returned to help Moon Knight fight his way through Black Spectre's gauntlet.

The Last Days of Moon Knight

After saving Moon Knight from the Black Spectre's gauntlet, 8-Ball became the Midnight Mission's resident pilot. Moon Knight had tracked Black Spectre to The Mount, a skyscraper in New York, and 8-Ball would fly Moon Knight, Hunter's Moon, and Tigra to it in his Hover-Rack. Even though Black Spectre's men were able to shoot down the Hover-Rack, 8-Ball crashed landed into the building, giving the team a chance to infiltrate. 8-Ball broke his arm in the crash though, so Moon Knight told him to stay by the crash site.

The team fought hard, but they were immediately separated. Confronting Black Spectre alone, Moon Knight had no other choice but to sacrifice himself to take out the weapon. Per his last request, Reese took over the Mission for Moon Knight, with 8-Ball staying on as a team member.

Vengeance of Moon Knight

While trying to protect their part of New York, the Midnight Mission is attacked by a masked mystery man claiming to be the new Moon Knight. He had already attacked 8-Ball and was looking to target the rest for being too ineffectual or monstrous to carry on the legacy. He easily fought off the whole team, however, when he entered the Mission, the sentient building rejected him completely. This forced the new Moon Knight to give up on taking back the storefront but warned them to stay out of his way.

Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the problem. This new Moon Knight went after masked criminals so aggressively, that those masked criminals started targeting the Midnight Mission, putting the community they protect in danger. They were forced to approach Lady Yulan and call in the favor they earned taking out The Structure. She led them to his daylight hiding spot where it was revealed he was The Shroud.

Powers and Abilities

Skill: 8-Ball doesn't have any actual powers or abilities. All of his offensive and defensive abilities came from the use of his weapons and equipment.

• Intelligence: 8-ball is gifted intellectually, just below genius. He is an experienced designer of missile propulsion systems
• Athlete: He is an elite pool player and skilled gymnast. As a fighter, he has no training\limited MA knowledge. His strength, speed, and stamina is of an average athlete of his general size.

Weapons: Synthetic and bulletproof stretch fabric costume, metal 8-ball helmet.

• Billiard Ball Bombs: Various different effects (explosions, gas, fireworks, smoke)
• Cue Stick: Amplifies the force against a struck target

Transportation: As an experienced jet propulsion engineer, he has designed his own personal aircrafts.

• The Hover-Rack: A four man hover vehicle in the shape of a pool rack
• The Floating 8-Ball: A giant hovering 8 ball

Alternate Versions

8-Ball II (Earth-616)

A second 8-Ball appeared as one of the franchise villains working for Roderick Kingsley and took part in the assault on the Goblin Cult's territory. After the Hobgoblin 'appeared' to die 8-Ball and the other defected and he was later seen as part of Norman Osborn's show of force when he greeted the Superior Spider-Man to his lair. He was also most likely apart of Black Cat's Gang and a version of The Sinister Six led by Swarm.