History
The Troubleshooters were five brilliant students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, being tutored by Professor Jennifer Swensen. The quintet decided to help Swensen after she became a fugitive for stealing her father's MAX armor in order to stop it from falling into the hands of the corrupt businessman Fritz Krotze. In helping her they also made themselves a target for Swensen's enemies, Krotze and his employers The Club (a shadowy terrorist organization).
They decided they needed an edge if they were to be effective and so used their scientific expertise to develop individual MAX based weapons by reverse engineering the MAX armor's designs: weightlifter Eduardo Giotti created a set of exoskeletal 'gloves' he called his 'Strong Arms' which had incredible strength, Teresa Roberts developed a cybernetic helmet called 'Think-Tank' which enabled her to interface directly with electronic systems, track & field hero Tim Ferris invented a set of mechanical leg exoskeletons called 'Fastball' which enabled him to run at up to 140 MPH, and the supposedly pacifistic and non-confrontational Andy Meadows created a wrist-mounted laser gun he called 'Beamsplitter'. Only Eric Chin had no mechanical assistance, and wanted none.
The Troubleshooters assisted Swensen for several weeks, but at heart they were students, not heroes, and did not actively seek out trouble despite their name; in addition, Roberts was in love with Giotti and resented Swensen because of his attraction to her. Their attempts to help Swensen also tended to backfire, as when Giotti donned the MAX armor in order to steal it back from the police after Swensen's capture and had to be saved from blowing himself up by Ken Connell, the superhuman who possessed the Star Brand, since the suit's power pack was damaged.
Eventually, the group decided to disband, but unfortunately they had by then made enemies of The Club, who sent the sadistic assassin Arun Bahkti to kill them. Bahkti targeted the Troubleshooters when they were divided, first blowing up Ferris's leg armor with a grenade launcher while he was wearing it, leaving him in critical condition and necessitating the amputation of his legs, and then attacking Meadows, Giotti and Roberts in the woods, and killing Meadows with his own Beamsplitter before leaving in order to leave the others wondering which of them would be next. Eric Chin, who had found the injured Ferris, declared that he wanted no more part of the Troubleshooters and left after Meadows' funeral.
Giotti, against Roberts' advice but with her grudging assistance, tracked down Bahkti and almost beat him to death with his Strong Arms. Before he could finish the job however, Bahkti's girlfriend Varna appeared and carried the unconscious Bahkti off, covering her tracks with a Molotov cocktail which almost killed Giotti. Finally realizing he was out of his league, Giotti subsequently destroyed his Strong Arms and he and Roberts decided that friend or not, they wanted no more involvement with Jenny Swensen or her MAX technology. However, Varna had already sworn revenge on Giotti and the remaining Troubleshooters for the injuries inflicted on Bahkti, who was suspected to be brain damaged. Whether she ever got that revenge remains unrevealed.Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
See Also
- 3 appearance(s) of Troubleshooters (Earth-148611)
- 1 image(s) of Troubleshooters (Earth-148611)
- 6 member(s) of Troubleshooters (Earth-148611)