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Mythology vs Comiclogy: Svartálfaheimr

  Recently revealed, Tony Stark makes a deal with Odin to find a way to stop the Serpent and the Worthy. Odin's answer is sending Tony to the halls of Svartalfaheimr's workshop, where Thor's hammer and the various other hammers of the Worthy were first created. The plan is for Tony to create weapons that can counter the Serpent's minions. Most people have heard about the elf, Svartalfaheimr but not many people know that much about him.  

In Norse mythology, svartálfar (Old Norse "swart elves" or "black elves", singular svartálfr) are beings who dwell in Svartálfaheimr (Old Norse "world of the swart elves" or "world of the black elves"). Both the svartálfar and Svartálfaheimr are solely attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have noted that the svartálfar appear to be synonymous with dwarfs and potentially also the dökkálfar (Old Norse "dark elves").

The Svartálfar and Svartálfaheimr are solely attested in the Prose Edda, in which they are mentioned in two books; Gylfaginning (Svartálfaheimr) and Skáldskaparmál (svartálfar). In chapter 33 of Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of High tells of the binding of the wolf Fenrir. High relates that when Fenrir had grown so large that the gods began to grow concerned, the god Odin sent the god Freyr's messenger Skírnir down to Svartálfaheimr to "some dwarfs" who made the silky yet immensely strong fetter Gleipnir from six fantastical ingredients. Whereas the other fetters failed, Gleipnir succeeds in binding the wolf.

In chapter 35 of Skáldskaparmál, it is detailed that the half-god Loki once cut the lustrous golden hair of the goddess Sif, wife of the god Thor. Upon hearing of the shearing of his wife's locks, Thor, taking hold of Loki, intends to break every bone in Loki's body until Loki swears to get svartálfar to make "a head of hair out of gold that would grow like any other hair". Loki then goes to a group of dwarfs, the Sons of Ivaldi, who not only smith Sif's hair but also various other important objects owned by the gods, and the tale continues.

The most popular version of the creation of Mjölnir myth, found in Skáldskaparmál from Snorri's Edda, is as follows. In one story Loki sends up to the dwarves called the Sons of Ivaldi that create precious items for the gods: Odin's spear Gungnir, and Freyr's foldable boat Skíðblaðnir. Then Loki bets his head that the two Dwarves, Sindri (or Eitri) and his brother Brokkr would never succeed in making items more beautiful than those of Ivaldi's sons. The bet is accepted and the two brothers begin working. Thus Eitri puts a pig's skin in the forge and tells his brother (Brokkr) never to stop blowing until he comes and takes out what he put in.

  In Iron Man and Fear Itself, the stories all stand on their own, nothing really has changed but having Svartalfaheim seem to be more of a "potty mouth" work foreman for Asgard and much like the stories, takes great interest in helping forge weapons based on pieces of great attributes, and in Tony's stance, his repulsar technology. This is a nice modern twist on classic Norse and while the Worthy might be all original creations, their weapons are part of classic lore.

 Special Thanks:  Wiki

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Thor vs Hulk vs Thing


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Shown to be happening in Fear Itself #5 on Sale in August. The Mighty Thor must face the Worthy possessed Hulk and Thing who happen to not only be the most powerful members of the Worthy but also the two most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Forget Gladiator or Galactus, it's the Hulk and the Thing who are now Nul Breaker of Worlds and Angrir Breaker of Souls. If the Hulk wasn't the strongest their is before or the Thing being the strongest human on Earth. How can Thor hope to match these two powerhouses, especially when they have hammers similar to Thor's. Either way, someone isn't coming out of this in once piece.

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Green Lantern Movie Review


 It's taken a couple of weeks to finally get to this review, so we'll be short and sweet about it. 


The Story

Millions of years before the Earth was formed, a group of beings called the Guardians of the Universe used the green essence of willpower to create an intergalactic police force called the Green Lantern Corps. They split the universe into 3,600 sectors, with one Green Lantern per sector. One such Green Lantern, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison) of Sector 2814, defeated the fear-essence being Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown) and imprisoned him in the Lost Sector (Sector 666) on the ruined planet Ryut. However, in the present day, Parallax escapes from his prison. Six months later, after killing four Green Lanterns and destroying two planets, Parallax attacks Sector 2814 and mortally wounds Abin Sur, who escapes and crash-lands on Earth. The dying Abin Sur commands his ring to find a worthy successor on the planet.

Ferris Aircraft test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is chosen by the ring and transported to the crash site, where Abin Sur appoints him a Green Lantern, by telling him to take the lantern and speak the oath. At home he says the oath of the Green Lanterns while under trance from the glow of the lantern. After he gets attacked while leaving a bar Jordan swings to punch one of his attackers, letting out a huge fist of green energy, afterwards Jordan is whisked away to the Green Lantern Corps home planet of Oa, where he meets and trains with Tomar-Re (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) and Kilowog (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan). He encounters Corps leader Sinestro (Mark Strong), who is not pleased that a human - which is primitive compared to other species - has become a Green Lantern. With Sinestro seeing him as unfit and fearful, Jordan quits and returns to Earth, keeping the power ring and lantern. Meanwhile, after being summoned by his father Senator Robert Hammond (Tim Robbins) to a secret government facility, scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) performs an autopsy on Abin Sur's body. A piece of Parallax's DNA inside the corpse injects itself inside him, mutating the scientist and giving him telepathy and telekinetic powers, at the cost of his sanity. After discovering that he was only chosen due to his father's connections, Hammond resentfully attempts to kill his father by telekinetically sabotaging his helicopter at a party. However, Jordan uses his ring to save the senator and the party guests - including his childhood sweetheart, Ferris manager and fellow test pilot Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who later recognizes Jordan under the suit and mask. Shortly afterward, Jordan encounters Hammond, who succeeds in his second attempt to kill his father by burning him alive. Both Jordan and Hammond realize Parallax is on his way to Earth.


The Good

  Green Lantern the movie does grab you in the opening credits as Geoffrey Rush narrates the story about who and what the Green Lantern Corps are and about Parallax. It's a beautifully detailed and brings you into the story without making it too complicated or talking down to the audience. Hal Jordan's comic book origin stays completely intact with many nods to Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Ryan Reynolds portrays Hal Jordan very well. While there is more talk about how Hal feels fear and then no fear is well captivated but at the same time, it gets a bit heavy handed but more on that later. Blake Lively is a big surprise here as the former Sisterhood and Gossip Girl star really brings Carol Ferris to life extremely well and pulls off a great counter and love interest to Hal Jordan. Hector Hammon also becomes a very well rounded villain and Peter Sarsgaard plays him very well. There also nice knobs with Checkmate with Amandar Waller brought into the story and plenty of wonderful corps goodness when Hal is on Oa and the various Green Lanterns are shown around him from Ismot Kol to Ch'p. The Guardians of the Universe are also well played with being arrogant but not really too stupid. Plus, the relationship between Hal, Carol and Hector is well played by all the actors as they all grew up together and have all taken different paths. 


 The Bad

 Now, while others have brought on the bad, 52 Pick-up is going to be a bit more kind but will point out the flaws in this movie. First of all, we have Tim Robbins as Senator Hammond playing the usual hard politician who happened to be a crappy overbearing father. Been there and done that, and while this version of Hector Hammond is well played and has a natural move towards the film's secondary villain, it's too over played. Especially when Hector finally kills off his father. The corps is also not utilized enough, everything with Sinestro, Kilowog, Tomar-Re and the Guardians is nice but seeing them being pretty much torn apart by Parallax with little effort makes for a problem. Speaking of the main villain, while his origins for the movie are better played than in the comic with less complexity. Parallax comes off either too powerful but then gets weak for no reason through out the film. We never truly know how Parallax got imprisoned by Abin or how he was able to be defeated. Also, there is a lot of set up for the various emotional colors for the future color corps that really don't play off until Sinestro steals the yellow ring after the film credits. We needed more Sinestro and Hal Jordan interaction, not just on Oa but on Earth and elsewhere. Parallax is also defeated way to easy by Hal in the end, even if Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar save Hal in the last moments. There needed to be of an epic feel here but it falls apart until the aftermath.


Final Thoughts

Since a sequel is confirm despite a less than stellar box office return, over all this was an enjoyable movie. There needed a lot more fine tuning but with a film like this, it will fall more like the original Spider-man and X-men films. Loose but nice set up but falls apart in other story plots but will make up for it in a much better sequel. So, in the end, Green Lantern will be on the DVD buying list once it comes out later this year and Ryan Reynolds pulled off Hal Jordan very well, the FX were great and the story was there. It just fell due to story plots and cliche story elements that didn't have anything to reflect the comics or audience. 

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Attuma more worthy than ever


 He's been Namor's number 1 foe for decades and it seems that the warrior known as, Attuma seems to keep bouncing back at the worse times.  Attuma was born as a member of a tribe of barbaric Atlanteans, who were banished from Atlantis ages ago. For unknown reasons Attuma was born with strength, endurance, and speed far superior to those of any normal Atlantean. Attuma quickly became leader of his tribe and declared that he would conquer the city of Atlantis as an ancient prophecy predicted. Attuma had a daughter, Andromeda by his wife Gelva, but was disappointed that his only child was female. He wanted a male child to be his heir and ignored Andromeda, who would join the army of Atlantis. Attuma returned to his barbarian hordes and would make other attempts to conquer Atlantis and the surface world, but without any success. One such attempt would come after Attuma allied his Barbarian hordes with the forces of the futuristic conqueror Kang. His armies would pick Canada as their point of invasion; however they would be turned back by the superhero group, the Avengers.

Attuma attacked New York City with an undersea horde once again. He was confronted by the Sentry, but before Attuma could finish boasting of his plans, he was apparently beheaded by the Sentry.  During the  Dark Reign  storyline, Attuma is revived by Victor Von Doom (who manages to reattach Attuma's head to his body) and Attuma is offered a new chance of power in the vow of destroying Namor once and for all.  During the  Fear Itself  storyline, one of the seven Hammers of the Worthy lands near Attuma. He is able to lift it and becomes Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans.


  Unlike the other Worthy, Nerkodd and Attuma seem to have blended personas and their first targets are destroying the original Defenders, Namor, Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer and flooding Atlantis and seeking revenge on Marrina. Though, one could argue that Attuma seems to be leading the charge more than Nerkodd.

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Spider Shoppe Fashion Sense: The Scorpion



Ever since his debut in Amazing Spider-man #19 in December of 1964, Mac Gargon, better known as the Scorpion has plagued Spider-man and his friends in several different styles, each form more deadly than the previous one. Here is a look back at those costumes and powers over the years in all forms.




Original Costume

Mac Gargan, as the Scorpion, was given superhuman powers through chemical and radiological treatments which produced mutagenic effects. He has superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, stamina, and durability, and also has the ability to scale walls (he also punches holes in walls as a way to climb). He also has an exceptionally strong grip, reminiscent of a real scorpion's pincers. He wears a full-body battlesuit composed of two layers of light steel mesh separated by a thin layer of insulated rubber. In addition to his superhuman physique, he was traditionally armed with a cybernetically-controlled, seven-foot mechanical tail, with a tool steel articulated framework which can whip at 90 miles per hour



1st Upgrade


He was later hired by a spy ring to follow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, but was defeated by Captain America. Scorpion was acquired by Mr. Kline, who created android duplicates of the Scorpion and Mr. Hyde to dispatch against Daredevil. The real Scorpion and Mr. Hyde then launched a campaign of terror against S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but were defeated by Captain America and the Falcon. After being released from prison for good behavior, the Scorpion resumes his criminal career and encounters and defeats Spider-Man again. After realizing that the wall-crawler survived the encounter, he receives help from the Jackal who gives him Spider-Man's location. The Scorpion arrives at a hospital room finding Peter Parker and his Aunt May. Not realizing that he had Spider-Man right there, he threatens May and demands to know where Spider-Man is and, after she faints, Scorpion rampages through the hospital. A furious Spider-Man beats the Scorpion and forces him to apologize to May.



John Bryne Design

The Scorpion, through the course of his career, acquired a few items: a new costume, and several new tails: one that spurted acid, another that spurted tear gas, and one that can deliver electric blasts from the stinger. He also fought Ms. Marvel after a botched revenge attempt against Jameson; the Scorpion became more psychotic than usual after his battle with Ms. Marvel, resulting in his being dumped in acid. In the sewers, his sanity deteriorating, Scorpion came to believe that his costume couldn't come off. However, after a quick encounter, Spider-Man proved to him that his belief of being a monster was in his mind.




Roxxon Design


At one point, the Scorpion's constant defeats at the hands of Spider-Man drove him to depression. He wandered the sewers, his mind becoming clearer than it had been since his transformation and decided to quit being the Scorpion. He encountered a depressed and crisis-ridden Spider-Man. Ignoring Gargan's plea that he had changed, the wall-crawler beat him savagely. In his next appearance, Gargan was back to being psychopathic. He battled and was defeated by Spider-Man's clone Ben Reilly.

Scorpion temporarily worked for Roxxon and helped them in their phony "Rehabilitation Therapy". Roxxon updated the Scorpion's powers and costume and promised he would get back at his enemies. Spider-Man managed to convince Scorpion that he was only being used as Jameson had once before. Scorpion then turned on Roxxon and was then defeated by the web-slinger. Gargan reappeared during the aftermath of the Secret War that had been organized by Nick Fury against Latveria. He was among the supervillains who had been supplied with enhanced technology by Latverian dictator Lucia von Bardas and sent to attack the heroes who had been involved in Fury's Secret War. The villains' technologies were then hijacked by von Bardas, supplying her with power, potentially at the cost of the villains' lives, but the assembled heroes defeated von Bardas and apprehended Scorpion and the others.


Gargon becomes Venom

Later on through circumstances yet to be revealed, Norman Osborn reveals Spider-Man's true identity to Gargan and gives him orders to kidnap Peter's Aunt May should Osborn ever be captured and imprisoned. When Spider-Man defeats Osborn, he is imprisoned and Gargan carries out Osborn's orders in kidnapping Aunt May. Gargan eventually summons Peter and tells him the only way he can see his aunt again is to break Norman out of jail. Shortly thereafter, the Venom symbiote approaches Gargan, offering him new abilities, and Gargan becomes bonded with the creature. This would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve. Even with these additional powers he is still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man, as the Avengers deal with the rest of the Twelve. So far he remains bonded with the symbiote. Though incarcerated, Gargan is unfazed, as with his new powers came the respect of becoming an "A-list" villain.


The Scorpion Returns

Gargan reappears during the "New Ways to Die" arc of The Amazing Spider-Man, no longer possessing the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity. Gargan and the Thunderbolts are called back to New York to capture Spider-Man. While on a search for the wall-crawler, Gargan's symbiote senses a former host at the F.E.A.S.T center. Gargan suspects that it's Spider-Man and searches the place only to find Eddie Brock. The Venom symbiote attempts to leave Gargan to re-bond with Brock, much to Gargan's (and Brock's) dismay. However, upon making contact with Brock, Brock's skin is shown to be caustic to his former symbiote, and as a white substance seeps out of his pores covering his body, Brock becomes Anti-Venom and battles Gargan. With some help from Spider-Man, Brock subdues Gargan and nearly destroys the symbiote. Norman Osborn uses a sample of the Anti-Venom's symbiote from Mac Gargan and creates a poisonous counter to its healing powers by combining the sample with the immune system of Freak. Mac Gargan is injected with the "cure" and is given a new Scorpion battlesuit, which contains the poison, until the symbiote can recover. Anti-Venom tracks down Gargan at Oscorp. After a grueling battle "Ven-orpion" injects the poison into Anti-Venom and seemly kills the suit. He then attempts to kill Brock but the symbiote tries holding him back, still feeling love for its former host. The symbiote gains its strength and breaks though the Scorpion suit. Gargan gives up but promises that he will get past this problem and will someday finish Brock.


Sinister Spider-man

Norman Osborn forms his Dark Avengers, providing new identities to some of his former Thunderbolts. After feeding a Skrull to a hungry Venom that has become more bestial than human, Osborn gives him a medication that resets the symbiote to the size it was when it possessed Spider-Man originally. However, Gargan can transform into his Venom form at will. A special "medication" provided by Osborn allowed Venom to assume a smaller, more human-looking form similar to when Spider-Man had control of the symbiote. From this form, he is able to switch back to his larger, more feral form whenever he pleases. As Spider-Man, Mac seems to be even more agile than when he was as Venom. He also still has all of Venom's powers, minus the claws, tongue, and teeth, which he can regrow at will. However, his "medication" has also been shown to decrease his will to fight, making him more sympathetic.



Gargon is the Scorpion again


During the "Siege" storyline, Mac Gargan is with the Dark Avengers when Norman Osborn makes plans to invade Asgard. Mac Gargan and the rest of the Avengers protest. For fighting alongside the Initiative, Osborn promises to give the team their freedom from servitude. As a result, Gargan is among the mass of soldiers to launch an attack on Asgard following Loki's setup. He and the rest of the Avengers manage to overwhelm Thor. While fighting Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man after they arrive, Gargan is forcefully removed from the Venom symbiote, which takes over Ms. Marvel until Spider-Man defeats it. He along with the other Dark Avengers were arrested after Norman Osborn fell from power.Mac Gargan was later seen at the Raft where the Venom symbiote was removed from him. There, they plan to study the symbiote, instead of giving it to the private sector. As for Gargan, the symbiote's removal was causing medical problems, and Alistair Smythe broke him out of the Raft. Gargan was then fitted with a new Scorpion suit by Smythe, and convinced to join him in his plan for revenge on J. Jonah Jameson. Scorpion joins Alistair Smythe, a new villain named Fly-Girl, and some unnamed cyborg minions (each wanting revenge on J. Jonah Jameson) in attacking the launch site of John Jameson's latest space mission where they sabotage the launch and hold John Jameson for ransom.



90s Animated Series

Scorpion appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series voiced initially by Martin Landau and later by Richard Moll following Landau's Academy Award win and subsequent lack of availability. In his debut episode, "The Sting of the Scorpion", Mac Gargan is a neurotic, plump, and balding private eye working for J. Jonah Jameson. In an attempt to discover Spider-Man's real identity, Jameson convinces Gargan to be transformed into a capable superhero by Dr. Stillwell using the Neogenic Recombinator. As Scorpion, Gargan is able to defeat Spider-Man by pulling a water tower onto him, but before he can unmask the wall-crawler, Gargan is overcome with pain as he undergoes further uncontrolled mutations that give him green skin, yellow eyes, and talon-like fingers. Believing more radiation may stop his transformation and return him to normal, Gargan attempts to gain access to a nuclear reactor but is found and defeated by Spider-Man, resulting in the Scorpion being sent to jail. Scorpion reappears as a member of the Kingpin's Insidious Six, a supervillain team created to kill Spider-Man though he is again defeated by Spider-Man. Desperate to find a cure to his condition, Scorpion kidnaps Dr. Stillwell but Stillwell destroys the Neogenic Recombinator to prevent the creation of other beings like Scorpion. After meeting Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture, Scorpion kidnaps him from an exploding building and holds him hostage, believing him to be smart enough to undo the Scorpion transformation. Eventually, Alistair Smythe, requiring Scorpion's genetic code to further his own experiments, holds Black Cat hostage to coerce Spider-Man into bringing Scorpion to him. Scorpion eventually manages to escape Smythe's clutches due to the Vulture attacking and attempts to stay away from crime for the sake of his fiancée. Scorpion's final appearance is again as a member of the Insidious Six, who attempt to locate the Red Skull's doomsday device for the Kingpin. At the end of the episode, he is shown to have escaped the police.


Ultimate Scorpion

Scorpion is one of many clones of Peter Parker. He was held in the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four conducted research into his existence. It appeared that his costume was bullet proof. When Scorpion was awake enough to answer questions, Reed and Sue asked where he came from and how he came to be. His only response was asking where he was now. He asked if he was back in the "zoo".
While Scorpion didn't recognize Peter in the Spider-Man costume, he did seem to have some of Peter's memories. He repeated the phrase "Who are you, masked mystery man? Unveil yourself to the crowd!" which had been said to Peter Parker earlier. Also, Scorpion encountered Mary Jane Watson in the Baxter Building and said her name before passing out. These were the only indications Scorpion gave of having Peter's memories. Nick Fury had him and Gwen Stacy in containment. Fury told a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer to "get to work".


Scorpion II

Carmilla discovered her power when she was still in high school. During her prom her arm began to act up and it accidentally killed her prom date and turned her hair a dark green. Because she lived in a small town she decided there was no way she could stay. She went off into the world and became a strong, independent woman. Years later she was brought back to the town when she discovered her parents had been killed. While she was back she came across her Madripoor adoption certificate which amazed her because her parents claimed they knew nothing of her terrorist mother. While she was in the town she was attacked by A.I.M. but SHIELD managed to rescue her. When they got her Agent Khanata explained that A.I.M. killed her parents, who her mother was, and why they needed her. They gave her a gauntlet device that would not only contract, expand, and regulate her powers, but also help her keep in touch with SHIELD as an agent. She was then sent off to Madripoor to find out more about her mother. During the Superhuman Civil War, Carmilla remained loyal to the Pro-Registration forces, registering herself, and working with SHIELD to infiltrate the underground unregistered superhero network by portraying herself as such, so as to bring them down from within. On such one occasion, she was attacked by Mac Gargan, the former Scorpion and current host of the Venom Symbiote, who believes she will ruin his trademark as he is negotiating with a Hollywood studio for a biographical movie of himself. While the insane criminal manages to get the upper hand on her at one point, Carmilla's powers react to the webbing generated by the Symbiote, granting her a temporary "neo-symbiote" which acts as a biological armor, allowing her to defeat her ruthless namesake.


Osborn Costume

Following the incident in Madripoor, Carmilla seems to have taken up work as a superhuman mercenary, as she is sent to New York to retrieve the armour of the original Scorpion, now in the possession of the Hood. Now dressed in her own version of the classic costume, Carmilla tangles with the friendly neighbour-hood Spider-Man when he stumbles onto a gladiatorial contest between many of New York's common criminals for the honour of becoming the new Scorpion and getting a seat in the Hood's gang. Seeking to remove all interference, she temporarily disables his powers with SPIN Tech before going for the costume, but is caught by the Hood and badly beaten. Only saved by Spider-Man, having shaken off the effects of the nanites, Carmilla aids him in bringing down the assembly of criminals, before escaping with her prize. That night, she gives the costume to the Kravenoff family, who hired her to obtain it based on her totemic connection to the costume.


First Costume

Second Costume

Elaine Colls was a former mental patient in Hell's Kitchen who was given an enhanced version of Scorpion's suit and and recruited by Silvermane to retrieve the cyborg Deathlok. In the initial assault, in which she was assisted by Beetle and Hydro-Man, she was taken out by Spider-Man, but ultimately succeeded in bringing in a surrendered Deathlok after Silvermane revealed he had taken control of the city's computer systems. She was then ordered to ambush the infiltrated Spider-Man and Daredevil, who were trying to rescue Deathlok. She was holding her own aginst both heroes until she was betrayed and shot in the back by her own employer, now in control of Deathlok's body to gain his enemies' trust. Enraged at his betrayal, she swore revenge and followed them in hopes of finding Silvermane and exacting her vengeance against him. Once there, she attacked him, but her armor was taken over by Mainframe, another of Silvermane's henchmen. However, after Daredevil defeated Mainframe, she regained control over her body and resumed her attack on her former employer. Her revenge, though remained unfinished because of an explosion set off by the Punisher, and she was forced to flee the area.

Scorpia reappears sometime later when she goes after a man named Garrison Klum in Carnegie Hall. Scorpia takes out a few guards when Spider Man and the Black Cat arrive. The Black Cat manages to rip out Scorpia's tail with her grappling hook and Spider Man takes her out with a stomp to the head. Scorpia was being held in a cell at the Midtown North Precinct when Spider Man and the Black Cat dropped by. Spider Man told Scorpia that she would keep pegging her with web balls and have Felicia sing Memories from the Broadway show Cats until she tells the heroes who hired her to go after Klum. Scorpia tells them the information they needed and is left alone in her holding cell.


Special thanks to Comicvine for the images and needed info


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Mythology vs Comiclogy: The 11th Labor of Hercules


 As told in Herc #2, it was told that Hercules used his incredible demigod strength to carry the entire world on his shoulders to take the apples that were guarded by Atlas. In the story, Hercules now mortal finds himself unable to truly hold the weight of a collapsed building on his shoulders and only managers to escape thanks to a storm drain. The original story said that a fter Heracles completed his first ten Labours, Eurystheus gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because Iolaus helped Heracles) nor the Augean stables (either because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first of these two additional Labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located.

In some variations, Heracles, either at the start or at the end of his task, meets  Antaeus , who was invincible as long as he touched his mother,  Gaia , the earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bear hug.

Herodotus  claims that Heracles stopped in  Egypt , where  King Busiris  decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chain.


There is another variation to the story where Heracles was the only person to steal the apples, other than  Perseus , although  Athena  later returned the apples to their rightful place in the garden. They are considered by some to be the same "apples of joy" that tempted  Atalanta , as opposed to the " apple of discord " used by  Eris  to start a beauty contest on Olympus (which caused " The Siege of Troy ").Finally making his way to the Garden of the Hesperides, Heracles tricked  Atlas  into retrieving some of the golden apples for him, by offering to hold up the heavens for a little while (Atlas was able to take them as, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides). This would have made this task - like the Hydra and Augean stables - void because he had received help. Upon his return, Atlas decided that he did not want to take the heavens back, and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him again by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that Heracles could make his cloak more comfortable. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away, carrying the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew Ladon instead.

On  Attic  pottery, especially from the late fifth century, Heracles is depicted sitting in bliss in the Gardens of the Hesperides, attended by the maidens. The stories remain very close together, in either context. 

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Metallo Designs over the Decades


   

  Metallo has come a long way since his Golden Age appearance, he we was just a guy in a lead suit. Come join us as we stroll down memory lane about Superman's truly first super villain and how he became known as the man with a heart of kryptonite.


Golden Age

The Golden Age Superman battled an unnamed scientist calling himself "Metalo" (note the alternate spelling) who wore a powered suit of steel armor in a story titled "Man of Steel Versus Man of Metal". With a suit of armor and, Metalo had also taken a serum to increase his personal strength to superhuman levels. He exposed Superman to a ray that reduced the hero's power significantly, giving Metalo superior strength in their first battle. Superman engaged in a lengthy regimen of exercise and training to restore his powers and easily defeated Metalo. The design was pretty simple for the time, a super villain in an iron suit, hence the name, "Metalo" It was the 30s and this was a common look for criminals back then. They were either armored up or in strange colored costumes. 


Original Costume


 Sgt. John Corben served under Lois Lane's father, General Sam Lane. General Lane is trying to push his daughter, Lois into a relationship with Corben. Though they had one date, she does not return his feelings for her. Corben is next seen signing up for a military option to neutralize Superman (ostensibly with the help of a powersuit built by LexCorp). However, in his first encounter with Superman, a stray bullet hit the Kryptonite rock inside the suit, leading to a disastrous energy cascade within the battlesuit which almost killed Corben. But through the efforts of Lex Luthor and a crack team of scientists, Corben survived, part-man, part-machine, with the kryptonite rock functioning as his new 'heart'. Driven by a hatred for this alien invader, he became the villain known as Metallo. Metallo subsequently attacked Superman again in a rampage which endangered not only the citizens of Metropolis, but his own fellow soldiers.

  While many believed that Metallo never truly had a costume, he actually did since all super villains needed to have costumes back then, even Lex Luthor. While his origin was modernized in Secret Origin by Geoff Johns, artist Gary Frank took the original Metallo costume and streamed lined it a bit. Leaving the "M" belt buckle and having Corben encased in a special suit and turned into a human/cyborg combination with kryptonite powering his body. Both the Lexcorp battle suit and the original costume were part of a new alloy that could utilize the Green Kryptonite and focus it into an energy beam against Superman. Even his current costume is very reflective of these designs.


Modern Age 

After writer/artist John Byrne rewrote Superman's origins in the 1986 miniseries The Man of Steel, Metallo was also given an altered backstory. In the current version, John Corben was a small-time con man who was fatally injured in a car crash, but to his luck Professor Emmet Vale happened to pass by. Professor Vale was a pioneer in robotics, and erroneously believed that Superman was the first in a wave of superpowered Kryptonian invaders after recovering Superman's ship and erroneously translating Jor-El's message to his son. Vale transplanted Corben's brain into a robotic body, which was powered by a two-pound chunk of kryptonite, and instructed him to kill Superman. 

  This was Metallo's look for much of the late 80s and was the based design for Metallo later during the 90s Superman animated series. The design by Bryne was perfect, he was having an 80s badass look with fake skin over his robotic body. During most battles with Superman, Corben had his body ripped away piece by piece giving his more robotic look during the height of battle. This was to show just how inhuman Metallo was now and that Superman was not fighting a man anymore.


Underworld Unleashed

Metallo later received a major upgrade via an unholy bargain with the demon Neron. As a result, Metallo was now able to morph his body into any mechanical shape he could imagine (turning his hands into guns or "growing" a jet-pack from his back) and project his consciousness into any technological or metallic device (powers very similar to those of the Cyborg Superman). He could also now grow to monstrous size. During one battle, his gigantic fists were separated and later actually turned into housing by other superheroes. In another incident, Metallo was rendered more insane by the Joker and used his height to destroy an elevated train of commuters.

  Following the story line, the human factor of John Corben was completely removed and all was left was this robotic creature that could adapt and reconfigure his parts at will. The more darker gritty feel of the early to mid 90s worked in Metallo's favor but the story line where his head kept getting saved grew tiresome after so many years. Metallo was no longer a villain with a heart of kryptonite, he was just a evil robot, which took a lot away from the character.


Y2K


Brainiac 13 upgraded Metallo to tap into light spectra and energy frequencies. Metallo also used the technology to upgrade his body to monolithic proportions. This design was based off the Iron Giant movie that was popular at the time, bringing Metallo back to more traditional origin with his heart of kryptonite. This design was very popular but others grew tired of the giant version of Metallo and with the success of the animated series at that time, many wanted Metallo to back to his class look. In Superman/Batman #2 (November 2003), evidence was uncovered that implicated John Corben as the criminal who shot and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, the parents of Bruce Wayne. This proved to be a ruse by Lex Luthor, orchestrated in order to lure both Batman and Superman into a "final" confrontation. Later , Corben's mind was removed from the Metallo body, and placed into a cloned version of his original human body, by the (second, post-Crisis) Toyman, Hiro Okamura, whose family had invented the metallo alloy. Despite the fact he is once again just a man, he still intended to oppose Superman.


One Year Later

One year after the events of Infinite Crisis Metallo resurfaces, now in a fully human-looking body with an enhanced titanium-alloy frame and plastisteel musculature covered with forced-growth vat-clone organics.  Luthor, needing vast quantities of Kryptonite, incapacitated Metallo and removed his Kryptonite energy core (pulling exactly the same stunt on him as he had before). Luthor upgrades Metallo by placing green, blue, gold, and red kryptonite into Metallo's chest cavity, which he could individually expose at will. Metallo was recruited to be in Lex Luthor's Superman Revenge Squad along with Parasite and Bizarro. After General Zod and his fellow renegade Kryptonians escaped from the Phantom Zone they instead all teamed up with Superman to battle Zod and his minions. Metallo was able to kill six of the evil Kryptonians. Five were killed when he exposed them to power-draining gold kryptonite, while in mid flight and they fell to their deaths and one was exposed to red kryptonite, turning into a giant ant-like creature, and Metallo stomped him to death. Eventually, Superman ripped out all the kryptonite using a lead based battle suit, leaving Metallo without his powers.

  This was more of an updated version of the classic Metallo and adding the various kryptonite colors to his arsenal was a stroke of genius on both writers Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns parts. Sadly, despite losing his new abilities, it was all a set up for his return during the New Krypton story arc.


Metallo Now

Metallo was later recruited by the U.S. government to destroy the citizens of Kandor after the newly arriving Kryptonians killed five prison guards while breaking the Parasite out of prison so that they could instead place him within the Phantom Zone. Metallo is now portrayed as a normal man wearing a lead alloy armor with only a green kryptonite heart again. He is accompanied by Reactron, a character who is similar to this Metallo, except that he possess a gold kryptonite heart. The pair allow themselves to be captured by the Kandorians and then, while in Kandor, they expose the Kryptonians to their hidden kryptonite hearts and killing several of them, and then escape soon after. Metallo and Reactron later disguise themselves as Kryptonian sleeper agents, in order to capture Nightwing and Flamebird.

  With a new cloned body re-enforced with Metallo alloy around his skeleton and able to channel his kryptonite heart in both wide beams, arm blasts and now having a holographical disquise device built into his suit. Metallo truly returned to his roots and upgraded for a new century. The current design is very close to his original costume and allows Metallo still be a man but keep his cybernetic origins intact. 


Special thanks to Wiki for the added information

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John Bryne made Metallo who he is today


   


 There has been a lot of thoughts on how Metallo became the well established super villain that he is today in the Superman books. However, only one person really gets the credit of making it possible, John Bryne.  John has been a part of some of the most popular story lines of all time including: The Dark Phoenix story arc and Days of Future Past from the X-Men. He also had a memorable run doing the Fantastic Four which included the trial of Reed Richards after he saved the life of Galactus. In the 90's he also had a lengthy stint where he revitalized DC's flagship character, Superman. Byrne took a break from working at Marvel Comics and instead was hired by DC to do a retcon of the iconic superhero, Superman, which was needed after the Crisis of Infinite Earths storyline. This reworking of the superhero that is supposedly greater than any other in the eyes of the public got the media's attention and so articles were published everywhere including The New York Times. Byrne completely revamped Superman and himself stated that, "I'm taking Superman back to the basics...it's basically Siegel and Shuster's Superman meets the Fleischer Superman in 1986." Kal-El's mighty power was drastically reduced from his Silver Age version but he remained one of the mightiest beings in the DC Universe. Byrne changed the story so the Kents were still alive and often the support of Superman in his adult years. However Byrne got rid of Krypto, the Fortress of Solitude and the fact that Superman ever was Super-boy (which he regrets as it ruins the very idea of the Legion of Super-Heroes). John Byrne also made Clark Kent a man who actually fit in with society and was more of an ordinary human, or at least wished to be one, in his youth believing Earth to be his true home.  This Superman made his debut in The Man of Steel a six issue miniseries describing his origins. Byrne did a lot of work on almost all of Superman's titles, especially in 1988 when it was The Last Son of Krypton's 50th anniversary. He continued this routine for two years but quit as he felt no support, especially since the line of Superman merchandise differed from the version he had remade for the comics.

  With Superman relaunched, his first super villain encounter was not Lex Luthor but John Corben, better known as Metallo. Byrne established Metallo in his cyborg self with fake skin covering his robotic monker, and establshing that Corben had lost his humanity as time went on. This was reenforced more recently in the pages of Superman: Secret Origin with Metallo's retold origin, tying him in with General Lane and the rest of the Lane family and establishing just why he became obsessed with killing Superman all these years just as much as Lex Luthor or Darkseid have tried over the years. Hard to believe one simple story reestablished a villain and was the basis to who was today instead of a guy in a suit using kryptonite for a weapon.




 Special thanks to Comicvine for the extra info.

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Why Metallo going Retro Works

There has been a lot of talk about Geoff Johns using his coined "geoffcon" with well established characters. While some have been enjoyed, others have been frowned upon. One that seems to cause a bit of debate is having Metallo going back to a human/cyborg in a suit with his heart of kryptonite.  After Corben comes to Metropolis to visit Lois alongside Lane and is rebuked by her, Corben volunteers for a prototype of a large power lifter type exoskeleton developed by Lex Luthor for the US Military. The exoskeleton is coated in a special alloy developed by Emmet Vale, called Metallo. The suit is powered by a chunk of Kryptonite.


When the US Military assaults Superman in the Daily Planet building, Superman's laser vision strikes the armor, sending shards of Kryptonite into Corben's heart. Sam Lane asks Luthor to operate on Corben. Luthor agrees, transplanting a chunk of Kryptonite for his heart, as well as giving him a smaller suit of armor. Superman defeats the fledgling Metallo by welding a lead manhole cover to his chest, protecting him from the Kryptonite Radiation, and flying him into the upper atmosphere, as Corben still has to breathe oxygen to function. 

  The truth was, this was how people knew about Metallo for close to 20 years before John Bryne redid his origins. Metallo was able to escape using a back up power cell. He sold his soul to the demon Neron for more power and soon after, joined forces with Braniac 13. 

Corben's metallic body grew to giant proportions after absorbing Metropolis technological infrastructure. Metallo's body eventually downgraded to a more human size and he was also able to shape-shift his body into nearly any mechanical form imaginable. The truth was, it was a very good idea to update Metallo to his more robotic structure, which became the villains status for another 20 years. However, the truth was, he started becoming this giant robot that once was a man and had lost his humanity. The ball got rolling just before Infinite Crisis where John got a new human body that was cloned from his original but missing his heart once again for kryptonite. This took the character back to his roots and following "Up, Up and Away" the more traditional Metallo, a former man who was turned more cybernetic than human from his encounter with Superman took it's place again and it grounded the character again. Metallo being a man who has lost that part of his humanity thanks to Superman and Corbon's own ego makes him easier to identify with and makes him a stronger villain as a result. In this case, a man in a metallic suit with a heart of kryptonite where his heart used to be works very well and keeps him on top of one of Superman's greatest villains. 

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