Henrique Gallante (Earth-616)

Asylum
Name	Henrique Manuel Gallante
Current Alias	Asylum
Aliases	Darkling
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Psionex
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′9″ (1.75 m)
Weight	155 lbs (70.31 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Brown
Unusual Features	Full black when using his powers
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Registered "hero", formerly terrorist, asylum patient
Base of Operations	Formerly Wiley Institute for Debilitative Mental Health, Bronx; Genetech Research Facility, Long Island; Manhattan
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Fabian Nicieza, Darick Robertson
First	New Warriors #32 (December, 1992)
First	New Warriors #32 (December, 1992)

History

Origin

Born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Henrique Gallante was raised in an abusive home. Constantly mistreated and abused, he turned inward, becoming one with his own mental darkness. As he aged, he turned to drugs to try to kill the pain he felt he was in. He spent much of his youth struggling with his drug dependency. This dependency eventually caused him to snap and manifest his own internal darkness in a physical form by unconsciously tapping into the Darkforce dimension. Reveling in this manifestation, Gallante used his powers as often as he felt like it, eventually becoming one with the darkness, giving into his darkest desires and wrapping his physical form in the Darkforce energy.

Darkling

Eventually, the constant abuse of his powers caused Gallante's powers to erupt in New York and he became Darkling, washing over everyone and bringing out their darkest desires while physically covering them with Darkforce energy. This eruption of dark energies caused the city's heroes (most notably the New Warriors, Fantastic Four, Cloak, Dagger, Spider-Man, Avengers, and Archangel) to band together to try and stop him.

Battling the villain, many of the heroes fell to him, becoming encased in Darkforce energy and succumbing to their dark feelings (Cloak and Silhouette were exceptionally susceptible because of their Darkforce-based powers).

A number of the heroes managed to remain in control of themselves (most notably Dagger and Firestar, whose powers proved most effective against Gallante) and fought against Gallante. Eventually, by showing him that his actions were just as bad as the people who had abused him, Gallante briefly attained a moment of clarity, then snapped. Gallante reclaimed all of the Darkforce energy he had released and collapsed upon himself into the Darkforce dimension.

Asylum

Gallante eventually returned from the Darkforce dimension and took on the new identity of Asylum. He recruited Psionex, the original Asylum's former teammates, to fight with him as street-level vigilantes. During one of their patrols, however, Psionex saw what appeared to be a group of kids threatening each other with guns. When Asylum attacked the "punks", he swallowed one up in his trauma-inducing Darkforce before Impulse realized they were just squirt guns. Asylum's victim had a pre-existing medical condition which caused him to die as a result of Gallante's Darkforce assault. Asylum fled prosecution, but was eventually brought in by Night Thrasher and the New Warriors to answer for the boy's death.

After M-Day

Henrique retained his powers after M-Day, and was found by the Thunderbolts (Mach-IV, Blizzard, and Fixer) in the Wiley Institute for Debilitative Mental Health in the Bronx, seemingly unstable. Fixer managed to make Gallante open a Darkforce portal for the Thunderbolts to travel through the Darkforce dimension and bring back Blackout (Marcus Daniels), and was seemingly recruited.

His current whereabouts are unknown.

Attributes

Powers

Darkforce Manipulation: Gallante is a mutant with the psionic ability to tap into the Darkforce dimension, an energy based on darkness. So powerful is his access that Gallante was able to open a rift the size of Manhattan between his dimension and the Darkforce's. Although initially Gallante could not consciously control the Darkforce he released, it would often act as a part of his subconscious desire, such as flooding and destroying the world or releasing the dark impulses of others.

He could surround himself in Darkforce, creating a separate, giant-sized body, and could manipulate masses of Darkforce as he desired, creating shapes, tendrils, and blasts of energy. After regaining some control over his abilities, Gallante could even teleport himself and others by using his body as a portal to the Darkforce Dimension. Once inside the dimension, Gallante's victims would be confronted with their greatest fears as the Darkforce heightened and fed off the "darkness" within their psyches.

Notes

• The card that accompanied New Warriors Annual #3 incorrectly listed the annual itself as his first appearance.
  • This may be because every other annual that year came with cards for new characters introduced in those annuals.

See Also

• 7 appearance(s) of Henrique Gallante (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Henrique Gallante (Earth-616)
• 7 image(s) of Henrique Gallante (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Henrique Gallante (Earth-616)