John McIver (Earth-616)

Bushmaster
Name	John McIver
Current Alias	Bushmaster
Aliases	Power Master; John Bushmaster
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Maggia
Relatives	Quincy McIver aka Bushmaster II (brother); Cruz McIver (son, deceased)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′1″ (1.85 m) (originally), 6′7″ (2.01 m) (mutated), 8′1″ (2.46 m) (as Power Master)
Weight	210 lbs (95.25 kg) (originally), 455 lbs (206.38 kg) (mutated), 705 lbs (319.78 kg) (as Power Master)
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black, Grey-haired stripes on sides and back
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human mutated by a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum developed by Noah Burstein.
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Professional criminal, crimelord
Base of Operations	Harlem, Manhattan, New York City
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, John Byrne
First	Iron Fist #15 (May, 1977)
First	Iron Fist #15 (May, 1977)
Death	Cage #12 (January, 1993)
Death	Cage #12 (January, 1993)

History

Early Life

John McIver was born into poverty on Saint Croix in the Caribbean Sea. He and his younger brother Quincy were street-smart urchins who had to steal to survive. John possessed a violent temper, though, and in one incident he viciously slew a shopkeeper in a robbery gone wrong. Finding himself involved in street-level crime, he rose though the criminal ladder quickly and attained high status as a gang lord.

Bushmaster

During this time, he adopted the name of Bushmaster and had some experience and association with the Maggia. John was a powerful crime boss, criminal financier, and organizer, and was often confronted by the super-hero Iron Fist.

Misty Knight

McIver is best known for his attempts to lure Misty Knight to his side. Misty even faked a relationship once in an attempt to bring Bushmaster down.

Power Man

In an attempt to exact revenge on Knight, he hired Luke Cage to kidnap her and bring her to him. As an added incentive, he promised evidence that Cage was framed for the heroin possession charge he was imprisoned for, as well as holding Claire Temple and Dr. Noah Burstein hostage. Bushmaster forced Burstein to mutate him as he had Cage, but was nonetheless defeated and soon became paralyzed by the process.

Death

Bushmaster later died when he was turned into a metal-like substance after his last-ditch effort to find a cure by reversing the process that gave Cage his powers failed, reverting to a permanently-immobilized statue (although his experiments briefly resulted in Cage temporarily losing his powers).

Cruz

At a later date, John Bushmaster's son Cruz tried to regain his father's fortune. He initiated a plan to augment himself in a similar manner to his father, involving his father's apparent corpse, but his plan backfired and only granted more power to his father. McIver used that power to kill his own son and also drain Iron Fist of his powers, but the absorption and accumulation of so much power was too great for Bushmaster and he exploded.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Burnstein Process: He possesses various superhuman physical attributes after undergoing an experiment designed to increases his body's cellular regeneration process.
  • Superhuman Strength: After undergoing the original experiment, his strength was increased to superhuman levels greater than those of Luke Cage back then (Class 10). As Power Master his strength reached even higher levels (Class 50).
  • Superhuman Stamina: His muscles generate fewer fatigue toxins than the muscles of ordinary humans, granting him superhuman stamina. He can exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to affect him.
  • Superhuman Durability: His skin is as hard as titanium steel and his muscle and bone tissues are considerably denser than the tissues of an ordinary human, granting him much greater resistance to physical injury than an ordinary human. He can withstand conventional handgun fire at a range of 4 feet and cannot be cut by any blade forged of conventional material, although in the event of required surgery his skin can be lacerated by an overpowered medical laser. He can withstand up to one-ton impacts or blasts of 150 pounds of TNT without serious injury, and is highly resistant to extreme temperatures and electrical shocks.
  • Energy Absorption: He possesses the ability to drain energy from other sources to amplify his abilities.

Notes

• His code-name was later honored by his younger brother, Quincy.

See Also

• 7 appearance(s) of John McIver (Earth-616)
• 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of John McIver (Earth-616)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of John McIver (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of John McIver (Earth-616)
• 5 image(s) of John McIver (Earth-616)

Links and References

• John McIver on Marvel.com