History
Origin[]
Carmilla is a genetically engineered human, created by Advanced Idea Mechanics. Though AIM Scientist Supreme Monica Rappaccini considered her a daughter, she grew up with adoptive parents (also agents of AIM), never knowing of her or their involvement with the organization.[citation needed]
Carmilla considered herself a normal teen until her powers kicked in when she was 16 the night of her homecoming dance. Her mutated arm (which she would take to calling her "stinger") first discharged a highly concentrated dosage of toxins, killing her boyfriend. Scared of the social and legal backlash she would suffer, she fled her small hometown. She lived on the streets, surviving however she could, living a nomadic life. When she learned her adoptive parents had been murdered, she returned home once more.[citation needed]
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent[]
At this point, she came to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. may have killed her parents, as well as finding a birth certificate suggesting she was a princess of the Madripoor Royal Family. After she was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., she learned that her parents were actually AIM agents, and she herself became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.[citation needed]
Following information leading to her birth mother, Carmilla learned her mother was 'Scientist Supreme' of AIM, Monica Rappaccini. Carmilla infiltrated the organization, learning that she was engineered to survive disease and nuclear fallout, and that there were others like her.[citation needed]
These teens were designed to survive any situation they may encounter, from a global plague intended to collapse industrial society to nuclear fallout. While the other teens are chemically-induced to be completely loyal to AIM, Carmilla discovers the mutation which gave her her "stinger" also made her immune. Carmilla lost her cover in the organization when she stopped an assassination attempt on the Vice President involving a biological weapon.[citation needed]
Scorpion was next seen assigned to a mission to thwart AIM's attempt to harness the Uni-Power, a vast but damaged cosmic energy. Finding it had merged with X-23 she and Laura tracked down the AIM base that held their files on the Uni-Power and, upon overhearing that S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted the files intact for its own use from Carmilla's radio link, X-23 destroyed the base. Knowing her bosses wouldn't be happy about that, Carmilla reported X-23 lost in the destruction of the base after they escaped together.[4]
Following House of M, Monica Rappaccini was sighted in Australia with the Hulk and Scorpion was dispatched to attempt capture of her mother. Carmilla using her stinger to knock aside Bruce Banner and keep him out of the way, but succeeded only in temporarily incapacitating him. Hulking out when he recovered, the brief ensuing fight led to the outbreak of a large fire. This conflagration allowed Monica to escape, after which Carmilla and Banner parted ways.[5]
Civil War[]
During the first Superhuman civil war, Carmilla Black engaged in visible superhero activities as part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation to get her recruited by anti-registration heroes. Instead she attracted the attention of Mac Gargan, the former Scorpion, who had recently acquired the Venom symbiote but was still protective of his old name and outraged she was using it. Though physically outmatched, her stinger created a neo-symbiote from Venom's webs and proved very harmful to the Venom symbiote itself, allowing her to quickly turn the tide and send him fleeing. The neo-symbiote rapidly died as her body was too toxic to sustain it for more than a few minutes.[6]
World War Hulk[]
During World War Hulk, Scorpion was assigned a mission to first retrieve deadly thallium poison from an ultra-secure facility that was, when combined with her stinger, believed to be enough to take down the rampaging Hulk due to it getting stronger the more he fought it, then find Hulk and use it. In the first part of her mission she was confronted by Paladin and believed she killed him after a fight in the facility full of deadly gear from many supervillains, though this was merely a ruse by Paladin and her superiors to ensure she wouldn't hesitate in the real operation. In the second part of the operation Scorpion did successfully use her stinger with the poison to introduce it to the Hulk and briefly it appeared to succeed, but Amadeus Cho managed to enrage Hulk enough that his immune system managed to throw even the thallium poison off. Black and her handler Derek Khanata also assisted in the evacuation of civilians.[7][8]
Dark Reign[]
Carmilla became the lover of Hardball and co-leader of a Hydra training camp in Madripoor. The Shadow Initiative was sent to bring in the latter but Komodo was disabled by Hydra's upgraded S.P.I.N. Tech darts. However, Carmilla could tell that Hardball held no true loyalty to Hydra and only wanted Komodo to be safe. She also revealed herself as a double agent for an unknown group, giving Hardball one last kiss, while stealing his S.P.I.N. Tech dart, which he noticed after he destroyed the rest.[9]
The Gauntlet[]
Following the incident in Madripoor, Carmilla seemed to have taken up work as a superhuman mercenary, as she was sent to New York to retrieve the armor of the original Scorpion, now in the possession of the Hood. Dressed in her own version of the classic costume, Carmilla tangled with the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when he stumbled onto a gladiatorial contest between many of New York's common criminals for the honor of becoming the new Scorpion and getting a seat in the Hood's gang. Seeking to remove all interference, she temporarily disabled his powers with SPIN Tech before going for the costume, but was caught by the Hood and badly beaten. Only saved by Spider-Man, having shaken off the effects of the nanites, Carmilla aided him in bringing down the assembly of criminals before escaping with her prize. That night, she gave the costume to the Kravinoff family, who hired her to obtain it based on her totemic connection to the costume.[10]Attributes
Powers
A.I.M. genetically modified Carmilla’s body while she was still in an embryonic state. As a result, she is completely immune to all known toxic effects of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons.[11]
- Full Immunity: Carmilla's entire body functions to make her immune to many toxins. Her lymphatic system produces chemicals to counteract toxins. Her eyes spontaneously generate nictitating membranes, allowing her to see in a cloud of tear gas. Her trachea is lined with highly absorptive cilia, which filter and neutralize harmful particles such as smoke. Together, this combination is so effective that she could survive completely unharmed in an irradiated zone of nuclear fallout. She has atropine to defend against nerve gas, and amyl to overcome blood agents like cyanide. Her sweat glands excrete dimercaprol and chloramine to counteract blistering agents such as mustard gas. Her cell nuclei float in a solution of iodized salt to deflect gamma rays and other radiation.[citation needed]
- Stun Immunity: Carmilla possesses the same electrolyte myogenic organ as an electric eel. This allows her to metabolize stun blasts in the form of electrical discharges almost instantly.[11]
- Toxic Absorption: Unforeseen by A.I.M., Carmilla developed abilities independent of her genetic modifications. A mutated axillary lymph node situated in her left armpit naturally absorbs all harmful toxins in her system.[citation needed]
- Stinger: All toxins absorbed are converted into her own biological weapon in the form of her left arm to generate a powerful toxin that can stun or at its peak, even kill an adult human.[11]
- Idealized Physique: A side-effect of her powers, Carmilla is in peak physical condition as her body's unique chemistry keeps her in top physical shape regardless of what she ingests. She has an increased endurance and can exert herself far longer than most because her body absorbs and converts lactic acid build ups into nutrients that she can use, making fatigue a rare thing for her to encounter. She requires less sleep than the average person, as well.[citation needed]
- Power Neutralizer: After Madripoor, she had absorbed samples of S.P.I.N. Tech, allowing her to use her stinger to temporarily disable DNA base powers for 30 minutes.[9]
Abilities
Carmilla has developed a formidable set of fighting and acrobatic skills in her life as a runaway. The extent of any additional S.H.I.E.L.D. training remains unclear.
- Espionage: Carmilla's time with both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra have afforded her being trained by both in espionage and acting.
- Investigative Skills: Carmilla was taught to be a detective.
- Martial Arts: Carmilla's professional training also included copious combat training in a variety of different martial arts disciplines. She was taught a meld of such different styles that her fighting style is something all her own and is not strictly one discipline or another. It blends a wide array of things including dance and gymnastics, allowing her to fight with high agility and fluidity.
- Acrobatics: Carmilla was already something of an acrobat before her predicament arose. Now she's melded her natural agility and skill with hard training to become very fast and mobile.
- Languages: Being of royal Madripoorian descent, one of the first things bestowed upon Carmilla by Hydra was language training. Through psi-cognitive learning Carmilla has been taught a variety of Asian languages that were deemed useful including Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and others.
- Thieving: Carmilla's time on the street taught her that in order to survive she would have to learn new skills. Pick-pocketing, lock-picking, and breaking-and-entering have all been added to her skill set and she's unashamed of having to use them. To her, the fact that she survived through use of her wit rather than sale of her body or other activities she deemed "below her" put her above and beyond all of the other kids that she saw ending up on the street.
- Streetwise: Three years on the streets at a formative point in her life taught Carmilla a lot. Urban survival is something she has come to excel at through being forced to take care of herself without assistance for so long.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Carmilla wears a S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued gauntlet on her left arm, which can be retracted to appears as a small, innocuous bracelet, or expand to armor her arm. The gauntlet allows her to better control her stinger, and a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. R&D had suggested a future version may even allow her to convert her stinger into a formidable ranged attack, though later events make this upgrade unlikely.
Her second costume includes a tail which is designed to channel the effects of her stinger to give her additional reach.Notes
- Most of the time she worked with L-5 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Derek Khanata who provided her with intel on her operations.
- The toxin produced by her arm has been theorized to work like the poisonous metal, Thallium. Thallium, when it is exposed to intense radiation, breaks down into microscopic powder that is nearly impossible to purge from skin tissue. This toxin is permanently embedded in her skin and by increasing the dosage to her stinger she makes her arm secrete a higher level, and since her arm is already saturated, the excess is released into the air around her arm. Therefore, when the dosage provided to her ‘stinging touch’ is increased below its bottom register the area around her arm glows with a toxic green color and looks cloudy. Likewise, a toxic green cloud would envelope the area of which she made contact on a victim. This toxin, unless used to kill, is not permanent and dissipates through the skin after a period of time.
- If Bruce Banner really is her father it can be assumed the mutation which allowed her to absorb the toxins in her body is the same one that saved Banner after the gamma bomb in a similar fashion.
- Her ‘Stinger’, as she has dubbed her left arm, always secretes toxins, and although she can control the concentration of toxin she can never completely turn the ability off. This takes a lot of effort to control, and even if she subdued it to the best of her ability, continued exposure for more than several weeks can sicken most people if her gauntlet does not sheath it and even three days exposure to her will cause people to become nauseous.
Trivia
- The last name of Rappaccini is probably a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story Rappaccini's Daughter. The title character of that story is a beautiful young woman whose breath and touch have been rendered poisonous by the experiments of her father.
- Fred Van Lente originally pitched her character as a young woman who discovered she was the daughter of Viper and the Silver Samurai but was unable to use either of the characters when he actually wrote her story.[1]
See Also
- 29 appearance(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
- 5 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
- 2 minor appearance(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
- 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
- 27 image(s) of Carmilla Black (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Amazing Fantasy (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Amazing Fantasy (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ Doc Samson (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Captain Universe: X-23 #1
- ↑ Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #87
- ↑ Spider-Man Family (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Heroes for Hire (Vol. 2) #11–13
- ↑ Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #110
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Avengers: The Initiative #24
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #626
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Heroes for Hire (Vol. 2) #11
- ↑ All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #9
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 10