Manslaughter

Origin

Manslaughter was a poor street urchin who, at some point, discovered his latent psychic abilities. He used his newly discovered powers to track down the Interloper, an Earth Eternal. Manslaughter was the first human to find Interloper in all of the centuries that the Eternal had been wandering the planet. Interloper was so impressed with this feat that he taught Manslaughter fighting skills and trained him in the use of his psychic abilities. Realizing that Manslaughter was insane and potentially dangerous, Interloper but kept some things from him. Eventually, Manslaughter left and decided to become an assassin.

Manslaughter gained a reputation as a deadly villain. He was very serious and planned everything with the utmost care. He elated in the joy he found in trapping and killing his victims rather than in the money. Though he was taken into custody several times he always managed to escape, no matter how secure the jail or prison.

Creation

Manslaughter was created by Peter B. Gillis and Alan Kupperberg and first appeared in (New) Defenders issue 133 (July 1984).

Major Story Arcs

Killer for Hire

Hired to kill the Defenders, Manslaughter gladly took on the task, eager to see if killing an entire hero team would be fun. He stalked them in their own mansion, using elaborate traps on each of them, only to be defeated primarily by the varied powers of Cloud. Cloud had turned her neck to vapor when Manslaughter had attempted to cut it and then she had pretended to be Iceman when Manslaughter stalked and attempted to break his neck. Just as Manslaughter had turned the tables on Moondragon, by using her telepathic blast to create a telepathic link which allowed him to overwhelm her with shared pain, Cloud hit him with a lightning bolt and Iceman froze him in a block of ice.

Joining the New Defenders

Months later Manslaughter invaded Defenders’ Mansion again. This time, after kidnapping Candy Southern and knocking Angel unconscious, he asked to join their team. When they refused he attacked them all separately, as before, with traps he set up for them and was only finally stopped after setting fire to the mansion and threatening to let Angel burn to death unless he was granted membership. The Interloper arrived, putting out the flames and informing the team that Manslaughter must be allowed to join because they would need him against the Dragon of the Moon.

Death

The Dragon of the Moon was an alien entity possessing Moondragon and it attacked the Defenders shortly after the Interloper showed up. Manslaughter proved pivotal in defeating the Dragon of the Moon. At the very end he and Andromeda were used as mortal foci for the immortal powers of Interloper and Valkyrie and the Dragon of the Moon was finally defeated. Interloper, Valkyrie, Manslaughter and Andromeda had to give up their lives to defeat the Dragon of the Moon and they all did so willingly, finally making Manslaughter the hero that he had wanted to be since losing to the Defenders.

Back to life

The souls of the four deceased Defenders helped Doctor Strange a couple of times before being called on to vanquish the last of the corrupted spirits from the spirit dimension in a last effort to keep the Dragon of the Moon from returning to Earth. The Vishanti offered them a reward and the deceased Defenders chose to live again.

Powers and Abilities:

Manslaughter has limited telepathy that enables him to manipulate the nervous systems of other people. With this power he influences other’s peripheral vision and hearing, effectively making himself invisible unless looked at directly. He can also use his telepathy to transfer emotions and pain through psychic links.

Manslaughter is a minor telepath, capable of hiding his presence from a person's peripheral senses, completely preventing them from noticing him as long as he stays out of their direct line of sight and moves in a stealthy manor.Manslaughter is obsessed with murder, which is both art and science to him. He immerses himself in studying his targets so that he can devise specific methods of execution for each one. Using his telepathic power he can stalk his prey and get close enough that when his presence is revealed it's too late for his victims to escape.

Manslaughter died but his soul now shares a body with Roger Loomis, with himself in control almost all of the time. Manslaughter is skilled with electronics, laying traps, with various types of weapons, and is also very agile. His major drawback is that he is a lunatic.

Statistics

Height: 5’7”

Weight: 115 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Red-blond