Cathode (Earth-616)

Cathode
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	Cathode
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Leader of her own guards and robots
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human technology user
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Japan
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Occupation	Thief, self-claimed collector
Base of Operations	A secret base hidden in the Grand Canyon (now destroyed)
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Greg Wright, Steve Carr
First	Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #6 (September, 1992)
First	Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #6 (September, 1992)

History

Cathode was a villain and technology genius. She developed the transmission beam that dematerialized objects, transmitted them to another location, and rematerialized them in miniature, as well as robot guards that could teleport and become intangible to avoid attacks they detected. Cathode built himself a hidden base in the Grand Canyon, populated with her robots, her devices, and various hired guards whom she equipped with her technology; she was frequently seen on a full-body harness that allowed her to control all the automation in the base. Cathode began stealing items, including a fighter plane and a space shuttle, to store in her museum. She also occasionally stole smaller but collectible items, and sometimes kidnapped people to hold them in glass containers. Motivated by her collecting ambition of hers, Cathode stole the Statue of Liberty and hid it in her base.

The authorities hired the Wild Pack mercenary team, led by the reputable Silver Sable (and at that point including Battlestar (Lemar Hoskins), Amy Chen, Crippler (Carl Striklan), Doug Powell, and Raul Quentino), to find the statue. Unable to call upon her most powerful agents, the Sandman and Paladin, Sable hired the cyborg Deathlok, recommended by Wild Pack member Quentino. Deathlok reprogrammed artificial satellites to track the Statue to the Grand Canyon; and so he, Sable, and the Wild Pack traveled there, where they raided the Cathode base. Cathode's robots and guards tried to intercept them, but Sable figured out a way to defeat the robots. The guards, however, launched their transmission beam at the Wild Pack, miniaturizing and imprisoning them elsewhere in the base, but giving the impression that they had been disintegrated. Deathlok and Sable avoided the beam, and then Cathode stepped forward to threaten the intruders with adding them to her collection. While Deathlok engaged the guards, Sable engaged Cathode, who was protected by a force field. In a display of power, Cathode used her transmission beam on Sable's weapons; but, when Sable attempted to fight Cathode bare-handed, Cathode had a guard use the transmission beam on herself, teleporting to safety.

Sable scouted the base, killing several guards with a rifle she had taken from one of them, while Deathlok used non-lethal methods and found the Wild Pack; soon after, Deathlok figured out how to restore the Wild Pack to normal size. Meanwhile, Sable found Cathode again and, before the latter could throw her transmission beam at her, Sable attacked her, taking advantage of the fact that Cathode had lowered her force field to try to attack her. Cathode activated her base's self-destruct system, but then Deathlok joined the fight and, along with Sable, destroyed Cathode's harness, immobilizing her.

Sable knocked Cathode unconscious, and handed her over to Wild Pack member Powell to get her out of the base before destroying it. Deathlok and Sable stayed behind and used the transmission beam to rescue the guards and the stolen items before the base exploded. The Statue of Liberty was returned to her position, Sable collected her wages, and apparently Cathode and her guards were sent to jail.

Not much later, Deathlok asked Sable to repay the favor she owed him due to him having helped in the Cathode operation, by having Sable and the Pack help him finding a team of rogue cybernetics specialists in Paris, France. During such mission, Sable discovered that Deathlok's enemies had sold advanced Cyberwarriors to Sable's enemy the Genesis Coalition.

Attributes

Abilities

A technological genius, Cathode designed her own equipment, including the transmission beams and the robots guarding her bease. Those robots were armed with energy swords, moved via hovering and teleportation, and could become intangible to avoid attacks they were aware of. However, their sensors were limited and the robots were only aware of threats in their vision field; Silver Sable discovered that she could sneak or somersault behind the robots' backs, then attack from there.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Cathode had several devices, designed by her, that give her extraordinary abilities:

• Force field: Her skimpy suit had a force field that protected from physical and energy attacks. However, she had to lower to fire the transmission beam, meaning she was vulnerable for a moment.
• Harness: Cathode was frequently standing on a full-body, floating harness that allowed her to control many devices in her base.
• Transmission beam: The transmission beam was an energy beam that dematerialized the objects it it, then transmitted the object to a different location in Cathode's base, where the object would be re-materialized, in miniature and probably in a controlled situation; humans affected by the beam ended up in some kind of prison. The beam could alter its size and range to affect huge items, such as the Statue of Liberty, or smaller items, such as a bullet in motion. The same beam could be used to revert the effect, if one managed to understand its working (Deathlok, a cyborg and trained programmer, did so).

The transmission beam could be shot from Cathode's visor. She also provided some of her guards with one-man hovering vehicles from where they could shoot the beam.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Cathode (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Cathode (Earth-616)
• 1 image(s) of Cathode (Earth-616)