History
Origin[]
Steele was captured by Cruz Bushmaster's agents and mutated by Noah Burstein for his “power man” project. He was then told that the process was fatal after a small amount of time and that, unless he helped them acquire subjects to perfect the process, then he and the other power man would die. He obeyed orders for Cruz and his agent Hardcore and acted as one of Cruz’s Power Men. He was a guard at The Black Hole facility and would pose as a police officer. Steele pulled over Jordan Hamlin and after running a background check learned that Hamlin was a fugitive and would not be missed, Steele brought him to the Black Hole facility where Hamlin was used as a test subject for the process.[1] [2]
Power Man[]
One day Luke Cage went with his partner Mick Hamilton to investigate the disappearance of Anders but were pulled over by Steele and attacked, after the scuffle Steele lit the fuel line that leaked from cage’s car and caused a landslide with the cars explosion leaving Cage incapacitated. Steele brought Cage into the facility and put him in a cell when one of the Power Man guard’s powered out and died, Cage took this opportunity and attempted to free himself but was subdued by Steele and his guard’s with electric prods.[3]
After a week of imprisonment cage ambushed two Power Men as they opened his cell door, after a brief fight, he was able to convince them that he could take down the head of the Black Hole and put an end to the madness. Steele found Cage as he approached the testing center and sucker punched him but Cage tackled Steele and forced his way into the chamber only to be subdued by Hardcore.[4]
Later on, he was able to break free again and both he and Anders began to destroy the lab. Furious that they were killing the only chance for a cure Steele attacks them both. Cage overpowered the enraged Steele and told him that he should stop blaming him for the “Power” that was killing him and to look to himself to find his survival. Steele took Cage’s advice too literally and took the last three vials of the Power Man treatment which was re-synthesized into viral form. While Cage continued to fight with Hardcore, Steele escaped with the vials and tossed them into the reservoir.[5] Steele believed that if a large part of the population was turned into Power Men it would become a worldwide priority to find a cure. Cage found Steele and stopped him before he could throw the last vial into the water supply, the gelatin vials would dissolve in less than an hour and spread the epidemic but Iron Man was able to find one vial while Cage tried to convince Steele to reveal to him where the last vial was located. Finally after some talking to, Steele told him the location. Iron Man and Cage found and destroyed the last vial before it was able to leak its contents but when Cage returned to pick up Steele he found a powered out dead Steele on the floor.[6]Attributes
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 sufficient to lift approximately 3 tons.
- Superhuman Stamina: His muscles generate less 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.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: Despite his near invulnerability, it is possible for him to be hurt. If injured, he is capable of recovering from mild injuries in 1/3rd the time it would take an ordinary human.