History
Early Life[]
Joseph Hauer was the son of a Dutch refugee, but by the time he joined the military he had no living relatives.[1]
By 1982, he was a captain in the S.A.S. and was fighting in the Falkland War, where he suffered a dramatic brain injury after being shot in the head. He was drafted in the British Super-Soldier program and underwent a procedure to give him abilities similar to those of Nuke.[2]
Super Soldiers[]
Reprogrammed by the government he and five other individuals were forced to do the United Kingdom's dirty work. During one of their missions, they were sent on the Thai/Cambodian border where his psychopathic teammate Childs lost his mind and killed most of his team and several civilians. Hauer managed to subdue Childs but was injured in the battle and the British government decided to cut their losses by putting him under ice and reporting Childs as K.I.A. and his other surviving teammate Dalton M.I.A.[1]
Joseph spent years in cryogenic sleep but woke up when the equipment that kept him frozen started to malfunction. He woke up confused, furious, and without any memories, obsessed with some man named "Childs". He quickly recovered his equipment and made short work of any soldier he found before running away and encountering a journalist outside the military base he was kept in, Sarah Wilde, who accepted to take him away under threat. The British committee for superhuman activities then ordered Sir Marcus Grantby-Fox, the CEO of the company that had created the super-soldiers to track down and kill Hauer who had meanwhile decided to help Sarah chase her story after learning that he could have shed light on his past. Together they travelled to a lonely geneticist that admitted to being partially responsible for what had happened to him, but he was killed before he could tell them the entire story by a S.A.S. commando.[1]
Hauer made short work of the commando, but Sir Marcus convinced Henry Gyrich to trick U.S.Agent into attacking Hauer, who had tracked down his old teammate Dalton. Hauer and U.S.Agent fought and U.S.Agent emerged victorious, but a restless Childs ordered the discarded prototype super-soldiers to attack them.[3] When U.S.Agent saw that Hauer had been attacked, he realized that he had been tricked and together they fought off the enemies and even managed to set one free from his conditioning, Gog, who accepted to join them.[4]
They tracked down Sir Marcus and Hauer managed to kill Childs by throwing him under a train but, while he wanted to also kill Marcus, Captain America intervened and convinced him to arrest him. Captain America then joined Hauer in front of his tombstone and convinced him to move forward with his life.[5]
Hauer got promoted to major and with Dalton, Sarah, and Gog decided to become agents for the British government and moved to an abandoned bunker to use it as a base. The government sent Nick Fury to evaluate them and with him they tracked down and killed a high-ranking Hydra officer during a martial arts tournament and recruited in their ranks three other participants: the skilled warrior Xantia, the invulnerable mutant Guvnor, and martial arts master Dragonfly.[6]
After performing a U.N. peacekeeping mission, they returned to base only to discover that due to cuts to the defense budget they had been privatized and sold to the Mercy Corporation, a shady private security organization that employed superhumans.[7]Attributes
Powers
- Artificially Enhanced Physiology: Hauuer's appendix was replaced with an artificial organ created to naturally produce the drugs that enhanced Nuke's metabolism. These drugs are naturally released in his body in reaction to stimuli: a "red" amphetamine when he becomes exited, a "white" sedative to calm him down, and a "blue" neurotranmitter when he is relaxed.[2]
- Superhuman Strength: Hauer possesses Class 10 superhuman strength[8] and can easily smash down a vault door with his bare hands.[2] He can lift and throw a car with no effort[1] and his blows were capable of stunning U.S.Agent.[3]
- Superhuman Stamina: While under the effects of his "red" amphetamine, Hauer can fight tirelessly.[2]
- Superhuman Durability: Hauer's resistance to damage has been enhanced to superhuman levels and can survive having an helicopter crashing on himself without apparent damage.[2] Despite his great resistance to injury, he is not bulletproof[4] and similarly enhanced opponents like U.S.Agent can cause him damage with their blows.[3]
- Pain Resistance: Hauer is mostly immune to pain and only major traumas can make him feel something.[3]
- Superhuman Speed: While under the effects of his "red" amphetamine, Hauer can move at such speed that everything appears to him in slow-motion.[2]
- Superhuman Reflexes: Hauer's reflexes have been enhanced to superhuman levels.[8]
- Accelerated Healing Factor: Hauer can recover from injuries at an accelerated rate.[8]
Abilities
- Trained Fighter: Hauer's combination of military training and superhuman strength and speed make him an extremely dangerous opponent, easily able to overpower multiple armed assailants in seconds.[2]
Paraphernalia
Weapons
- Various guns
See Also
- 13 appearance(s) of Joseph Hauer (Earth-616)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Joseph Hauer (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Joseph Hauer (Earth-616)
- 13 image(s) of Joseph Hauer (Earth-616)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Joseph Hauer (Earth-616)