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Flexo (Symbiote) (Earth-616)

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History

World War II[]

Flexo was a symbiote discovered inside of a meteor by scientist brothers Joel and Joshua Williams. Experimenting with what they dubbed live rubber, the brothers discovered that it could feed on adrenaline and phenethylamine, growing in size. The brothers sculpted the symbiote into a goofy-looking robot, using it to fight crime and righting wrongs during the 1940s.[2] In his first recorded use, Flexo was summoned to rescue his inventors when they were robbed of a radium sample and tracked it to the lab of mad scientist Dr. Murdo, who sought to create a death ray with the stolen element.[3] Shot by Murdo's henchmen, Flexo went berserk and devoured them.[2]

Interviewed by a reporter for Mystic Comics, who was publishing the exploits of heroic figures, Joshua claimed that Flexo was a robot built out of a malleable, rubber-like material, and operated by a remote control; ignoring Joel's attempts to clarify his statements. While Joshua recounted Flexo's rescue of them, the reporter asked what became of Murdo;[2] the brothers lying that Flexo had knocked out Murdo and his gang out with non-lethal "secret gas" and destroyed his equipment.[3] While Josh was eager to become famous and expressed interest in Flexo fighting on the frontlines of World War II, Joel was worried about what would happen to their creation after their deaths and how Flexo would react to someone other than them attempting to order him.[2]

Flexo (Symbiote) (Earth-616) from Mystic Comics Vol 1 1 001

Flexo's original appearance

When Josh was sent to Washington, D.C. with plans for a torpedo repeller, he was stopped by spies who left him tied to a tree to be eaten alive by wolves. Joel came to his rescue with Flexo, and the robot was then used to stop the thieves and reclaim the stolen plans to be brought to Washington.[4] Next, Flexo was used to stop insurance fraudster Iron Duke to cash in on fire insurance claims that were really the work of arson. During the course of this adventure, Flexo once more was used to rescue his inventors from danger.[5]

Flexo was then utilized by the Williams brothers to retrieve a deadly formula that was stolen by the nation of Teutonia to use as a weapon. Smuggling Flexo into the country, the Williams brothers used their robot to break into a government building and attempt to steal back the plans. They were captured and put before a firing squad; however, they used Flexo to rescue them and return the plans to America.[6]

Dispatched to fight in World War II, Flexo adopted a more intimidating form and was deployed against the Nazis and Hydra, tasked with assassinating Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking members of the Nazi Party. As he was being flown to Hitler's base, Eddie Brock and Doctor Doom landed on a Nazi-occupied village in France while they were time-hopping, and Doom began massacring the Nazis. Witnessing this, Brock used his King in Black powers to call out to Flexo, so that he would protect the civilians, causing him to abandon his previous mission. When Brock was giving Flexo instructions, however, he was getting no response, so he entered the symbiote's mind and learned he had accidentally prevented Flexo from ending World War II early, rushing out to beg Doom to help him undo what they'd done. As Brock and Doom fought over the Time Platform's controls and disappeared through the timestream, Flexo emerged from the church and surveilled the ruined village. A Doombot posing as Doom soon arrived and turned Flexo into a sleeper agent he could use to get revenge on Eddie through his son, Dylan.[7] It magically hypnotized Flexo and taught him a mental technique of the Ovoids that blocked others from transferring their consciousness. However, before the Doombot could further manipulate Flexo, the time-traveling Fantastic Four arrived to stop it. After battling within a time-loop, the heroes were able to defeat the Doombot, while the partially hypnotized Flexo proceeded to leave the area.[1]

Recaptured by the military, Flexo was returned to the Williams brothers, who were ordered to dispose of him due to the military believing he had gone AWOL and was responsible for the massacre. Bickering over what should be done, Joel and Joshua harvested a sample that was used to create a second more-obedient Flexo, placing the original into a stasis tank and freezing him with liquid nitrogen. Flexo remained in stasis in the Williams brothers' old laboratory for decades.[8] During a battle between Venom and the Gold Goblin, a pipe supplying liquid nitrogen to Flexo's stasis tank was damaged, enabling Flexo to thaw out and escape.[9] Confronted by Dylan Brock and the Venom symbiote disguised as Iron Man, Flexo initially mistook them for Doctor Doom and attacked them. Upon Venom revealing their true form, Flexo mistook them for Eddie and redoubled his attack until Venom impaled him with All-Black -- severing his link to the Symbiote Hive-Mind -- and carried him to safety through the sewers.[8]

Venom War[]

Some time later, Flexo confronted Eddie and his team of Kings in Black alongside Dylan, Bren Waters and Toxin, Sleeper, and Normie Osborn and Rascal in the Grand Garden Arena.[10] After Eddie bonded to Bedlam and devoured his other temporal counterparts, Flexo and Sleeper merged together and bonded to Dylan. Refusing to fight his son, Eddie separated from Bedlam, but in that moment Flexo used Dylan to mortally wound Brock by shooting with bullets that trapped him in his wounded body. Sleeper attempted to stop Flexo to no avail, prompting the robotic symbiote to throw him aside, and soon after Rascal separated him from Dylan and took him outside due to being secretly controlled by Kang the Conqueror.[11] Rascal attempted to kill Flexo, all the while the latter praising Doom. As the two mind-controlled symbiotes fought, the time-traveling Fantastic Four intervened by trapping the Doombots and Kang who were responsible for the mind-control in a time-loop. This freed the two symbiotes who returned to their normal selves, with Flexo apologizing for what he did.[1]

Attributes

Power Grid[14]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Bulletproof:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Symbiote Physiology: A symbiote sculpted into the shape of a humanoid robot, Flexo has "the speed of a bullet, the strength of an ox, and the ability to zoom through the air like a bird." He has a malleable body that allows him to stretch into different rudimentary shapes. Normally, bullets that are fired through him pass through and the "living rubber" compound that comprises his body reseals itself. The Williams brothers claimed that holes punctured through Flexo can release a powerful knockout gas, though this was a lie to cover up Flexo having eaten Dr. Murdo and his henchmen.[2]

  • Superhuman Strength: In his humanoid form Flexo can lift 10 tons.[12]
  • Superhuman Durability: Flexo is immune to most forms of injury and is virtually immune to fire.[12] Bullets simply pass through his body without damaging him.[2]
  • Shapeshifting: As a symbiote Flexo possesses a highly malleable body.[2]
    • Fangs: Flexo can generate a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth capable of devouring people.[2]
    • Claws: Flexo can generate sharp claws of the tip of his fingers capable of cutting even Venom.[8]
    • Elasticity: Flexo can stretch his body and contort it to pass through small openings.[2]
  • Spinning: Flexo can rotate his body at high speeds to hit multiple opponents at great speed.[12]
  • Constituent-Matter Generation: Unlike Venom who uses his symbiote to make webbing Flexo is capable of turning his arms into gatlings to shoot "web-bullets".[8]

Weaknesses

Originally, Flexo was purportedly unable to speak and seemingly incapable of independent action.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Flexo's Remote Control from Mystic Comics Vol 1 1 0001

Flexo's remote control

Flexo's Remote Control: Flexo was originally only able to be operated through a special remote control that was used by the Williams brothers. It was a dialed device with a push button. However, in truth the device was merely a signal that Flexo chose to obey due to the brothers feeding it, and technically never required it to function.[2]

Trivia

  • In his original design, Flexo purportedly had a highly rubberized body that made him bulletproof and highly damage resistant. The original version of Flexo could also fly, as well as move at superhuman speeds. The robot was also incredibly strong. When he was upgraded, he apparently lost many of his abilities, such as his ability to fly, but was still highly resistant to damage. His body was also outfitted with a chest compartment which he could store objects in.

See Also

Links and References

References

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