Fusion (Marvel Comics)

Fusion is a name of two fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Both characters are enemies of Spider-Man.

Fusion I (Twin Terror)

Fictional character biography

Hubert and Pinky Fusser are twins. Both born with dwarfism, one becomes a nuclear scientist, and one becomes janitor at the same privately owned research corporation where his brother works.

When an accident strikes Hubert (the scientist), his brother Pinky rushes to assist. The resulting radiation causes them to become one, a Fusion - a twin-headed radioactive being which contains both of their personalities.

As Fusion, Hubert wishes to pursue plans for extraordinary research which are not in the best interests of humanity. Pinky, however, wants to end the madness.

Eventually, they are separated by Spider-Man. They are presumably held as inmates at prison. Soon, an enemy of Quasar's freed many inmates, including Fusion, but all of them were returned.

Fusion II (Markley)

Fictional character biography

When he was a child, Markley discovered he had the mutant ability to persuade people into doing whatever he wanted, simultaneously manipulating their senses. Using his power, he made millions, using his money to develop systems to enhance his abilities even further, to the point where he became- in his own words- a "more-than-perfect killing machine".

After his son, Jeremy, dies as a result of trying to imitate Spider-Man, Fusion, unable to accept the fact that there was something his powers couldn't accomplish, decides to take revenge on Spider-Man. He is seen in a facility crammed with representations of various super-human weaponry.

Fusion sets up a hostage situation, fooling the police into believing a bomb-filled mannequin is a genuine victim. Spider-Man appears and battles the villain. He attacks and beats Spider-Man by seeming to morph his body parts into those of various heroes, his apparent abilities ranging between the Hulk, Thor and Mr Fantastic. He kills two police officers, seemingly commanding their equipment to detonate. The mannequin bomb goes off, killing three hundred people.^[1]

Fusion releases a message blaming Spider-Man for the deaths, but enough witnesses had seen Spider-Man trying to save, not take lives and he is not believed. Another message indicates more bombs would go off unless Spider-Man arrives for another fight; clues reveal it will take place at the warehouse where Fusion's son died. Again, Spider-Man is beaten and is tricked into believing he broke his neck.^[2] However, Spider-Man realizes that Fusion's powers are based on illusion when his refusal to give up prompts him to move his hand, allowing him to realise that his 'injuries' were actually fake. Fusion is then defeated.^[3]

When he next appears, Fusion had apparently forcibly recruited Doctor Octopus as his lackey, having discovered Octavius working in one of his factories under an assumed name and then "forcing" him to work for him, Octavius apparently convinced that Fusion possessed genuine powers. Having forced Octavius to create detailed cybernetic limbs that are capable of influencing the thoughts of their wearers - the limbs are linked up to the subject's nervous systems to better replace the original limbs, with the receiver capable of becoming a transmitter that sends thoughts back into the brain-, Fusion arranged for various military officials to lose their limbs in accidents with the aid of a corrupt senator, allowing him to gain the necessary contacts to track down the controlling computer of the radiation-tracking satellite "John Hancock"- originally used to identify where nuclear bombs had been detonated, more recently used by General Ryker to track the Hulk- with the intention of using it to track Spider-Man's unique radiation signature and then kill him.^[4] However, having acquired the device, Octavius revealed that he had simply pretended to be weak in order to acquire the "John Hancock" device to sell it to the highest bidder, subsequently beating Fusion half to death as he derided the other villain's foolish belief that he could ever be so pathetic.^[5] After finding Fusion's mangled body, Spider-Man called an ambulance and subsequently tracked Octavius to a construction site, defeating his old foe (While simultaneously destroying the John Hancock device to prevent it being used to track heroes such as himself and the Hulk in the future).^[6]

Powers and abilities

The Twin Terror brothers have superhuman strength. They can glow and emit radiation.

Markley can persuade people to do what he wants, to see what he wants, and to hear what he wants. Basically, he controls peoples' perceptions. This renders the Spider-Sense useless. He also has a lot of hi-tech equipment, including a small wand that can detonate at a given voice code, and that he throws persuading everybody else that it's Captain America's shield, or Thor's Mjolnir, or other famous weapons. However, this power can be thrown off once the person knows what Fusion really is, rendering them relatively useless in a fight once he has lost the initial advantage.

External links

References

1. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30
2. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #31
3. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #33
4. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #39
5. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #40
6. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #41