Century (comics)

Century is a fictional character, a comic book superhero who is a member of Force Works in the comic series of the same name from 1994–1996.

Publication history

Century first appeared in issue #1 of Force Works and was created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Tom Tenney.

Fictional character biography

Century was a genetic creation consisting of the minds of the hundred strongest and most able of the surviving alien Hodomurians. He possessed all their memories and instinctively used the knowledge he needed. Therefore, he was an expert on many topics and a very skilled fighter especially with his battle-staff, Parallax. His lifespan was apparently fixed at 100 years. He was sometimes seen levitating while in a deep meditative trance. He had a symbiotic rapport with Parallax, an entity which bound the multiple personalities of Century into a unified self.

Since becoming amnesic from Broker's mind-wipe and interdimensional traveling, Century couldn't remember much about his past and often had to search for the right words which led to Century sounding like a thesaurus when he often used three similar words to express himself. Single memories returned when he was confronted with something from his past or he dreamt about it. After losing Parallax for a while, memories of his composite minds loosened and even after Parallax was returned to him he continued to remember bits from the lives of the Hodomur he was composed of.

To defeat the evil Nexus Being named Lore, responsible for the destruction of their world, the Hodomur race created Century, a being composed by the best 100 surviving Hodomur warriors. Possessing all of their memories, he was able to solve situations in many topics. He started a mission to track down Lore, but during interdimensional travel he was enslaved by Broker and brainwashed. Only the urge to find Lore was maintained on his mind. He soon became a "scout" for the evil alien race of the Scatter, that bought him from Broket. Following constantly Century, the Scatter could feast on the leftovers of the worlds destroyed by Lore. Century first encountered the superhero team Force Works when Scarlet Witch's magic brought the alien on Earth-616 following a battle against the Kree. Century knocked out Kalum Lo, then when questioned by Scarlet about his whereabouts, was able to say only his name. A few minutes later Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman and U.S.Agent were all captured by the Scatter, that arriving on Earth following Century, caused also Wonder Man's apparent death. Iron Man questioned Century about the Scatter's whereabouts but Century knew only the name of their race and their evil goals, causing Stark to leave him behind. He was next to be brought to the Vault but escaped and teleported to Iron Man. Using the teleportation powers of his staff Parallax, Century helped Iron Man to rescue the team from an unknown world ravaged by the Scatter. He helped Force Works defeat these aliens. Getting quarter to the Works, he soon joined the team on a full basis participating to missions to Slorenia, China, Australia, and defeating the menace of the Starstealth once and for at all. During a brief travel to space aboard the ship of Broker, he was captured by the foe and sold to the mysterious Imogen. He was then freed by Azimuth, that was next to reveal the truth on his origins and life, but she was stricken by an energy blast of Imogen and fell comatose. After killing Broker for good, he returned to Earth, rejoining Force Works in time to help them unravel the plot of Kang (Immortus in disguise) that had on his side a corrupted Iron Man and Cybermancer, alternate version of scientist Suzi Endo. After Stark sacrificed himself to prevent Kang's plans, Force Works had to endure a last fight against alternate universe versions of Wonder Man, and Ultron, belonging to Cybermancer's reality. Force Works managed to resolve this situation. Before the team was disbanded, Century expressed the desire to learn more about his new homeworld, Earth. Force Works then responded to an emergency call starting for a final mission whose result remained unknown.

Century is later recruited by Wonder Man (whose ionic energy leaking problem was affecting his judgement) to join his Revengers in a plot to defeat the Avengers. He was easily defeated by the New Avengers.^[1] While incarcerated at the Raft, Century and the rest of Wonder Man's followers were interrogated about their motivations for joining the Revengers. Century stated that he sided with Wonder Man out of sense of honor to him and recognition of the cycle of life.^[2]

Powers and abilities

As his name and some of his history indicated, Century was meant to be the best of the 100 beings that made him up.

He was shown to have greater than human strength, agility, and endurance. Additionally by using Parallax, he was able to teleport through interdimensional space. He's also an expert hand-to-hand combatant.

He was often drawn as being taller than Iron Man or Hawkeye with long white hair and red markings over various parts of his body.

In other media

Television

Century (first right next to Iron Man) with Force Works as seen in the Iron Man episode "And the Sea Shall Give Up the Dead."

• Century was part of the supporting cast in the 1994–1996 Iron Man animated series voiced by James Warwick in Season One, Jim Cummings in "The Beast Within," and by Tom Kane in the two-part series finale. A scene in the episode "Data In, Chaos Out" gives Century a civilian identity as a man named Woody where he sports shades and a broad-brimmed hat. In "The Beast Within," Century was the one who told Iron Man that the Force Works team is relocating from Stark Industries following Iron Man's team-up with the Mandarin to stop Fin Fang Foom. In the two-part episode "Hands of the Mandarin," Century rejoins Force Works when Mandarin uses the Heart of Darkness crystal to disable all technology. He appeared to knock out Hypnotia when she was using her powers on Iron Man and War Machine.

References

External links

• Century at Marvel.com
• Century at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe