WARNING: There may be unmarked spoilers on these sheets for most of the Morituri series, and spoiler tagging on this page is not currently consistent. Certain characters are also walking spoilers. Proceed with care.
Characters from the Marvel Comics series Strikeforce: Morituri and its sequel, Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow.
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The Morituri
In general
In general
- Combo Platter Powers: Thanks to the unpredictable nature of the second phase of the Morituri process, recipients may get anything from pyrokinesis or Super-Speed to the power to make flowers bloom. Sometimes their power turns out to be more than it first appears (e.g. Scanner's "enhanced senses" are actually full-on Psychic Powers).
- Deadly Upgrade: Shortly before the Morituri Effect takes their lives, a Morituri gets a strong spike upwards in their level of power, although this itself is (usually) not fatal, only a symptom of their imminent death.
- Fanservice Pack: Justified, as the first phase of the Morituri Process grants the Required Secondary Powers and puts the subject into better-than-perfect health, usually adding height and muscle, and can cause other physical alterations as well. Blackthorn was particularly enthused about her newly-cleared skin and slight bust enhancement.
- Lightning Bruiser: As part of the Morituri Process, all Morituri gain a powerful overall physical enhancement in order to prepare their bodies for the second phase, and thus have a degree of Super-Strength, a very low level of Super-Speed, some Super-Reflexes, and Super-Toughness.
- Multinational Team: The members of the Strikeforce are drawn from different backgrounds, nations, and cultures. Justified as the rare people who qualify for the process could come from anywhere in the world.
- Power Degeneration:
- The powers granted by the Morituri Process are incompatible with the human body, so the subject has a year or less to live before the "Morituri Effect" kills them. This applies even if they don't use the powers. The nature of their death tends to reflect their powers and mental state - it could be an explosive Super-Power Meltdown, they might dissolve into gory goo, or they might fall into a coma and peacefully slip away. A cure is eventually discovered, so this isn't an issue in the Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow series, but most of the Morituri are already dead by then.
- At one point it's stated that if a candidate only completes part one of the Morituri Process, gaining the low level Super-Strength and other Required Secondary Powers, those enhancements would burn out their body within a month without phase two.
- Propaganda Hero: There's a lot of media in-universe about the Morituri, intended to bolster Earth's morals during the war against the Horde (and also increase their trust in the Paideia).
- Required Secondary Powers: The first stage of the Morituri Process grants some level of Super-Strength, Super-Toughness and a very small amount of Super-Speed and Super-Reflexes. Without those enhancements their system wouldn't be able to survive the second phase - and without the second phase, the initial physical enhancements would burn out their bodies within a month.
- Superpower Meltdown: Depending on the person's powers and state of mind, death due to the Morituri Effect's Power Degeneration can be very explosive. Some of the Morituri actively use it as a final Taking You with Me option.
- Super-Speed: It's a very downplayed example, but the first stage of the Morituri Process boosts the recipient's speed. They're faster than normal humans, but not nearly fast enough to use any of the usual super-speed tricks. However, some candidates (such as Scaredycat and Wind) also acquire traditional super-speed from the second phase of the process.
- Super-Strength: Stage one of the Morituri Process gives the recipients some level of super-strength, as well as a very small dose of Super-Speed and toughness. Stage two then adds something extra - for some (e.g. Brava) that's even more strength, but for most it's something very different.
- Taking You with Me: At least one Morituri manages to weaponize the Super-Power Meltdown variant of the Morituri Effect's Power Degeneration, destroying themselves and their foes in an explosion of energy.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: In many cases the superpowers granted by the second phase of the Morituri Process don't immediately develop unless the subject faces a high amount of stress. As they can't afford to wait (not least because of the Power Degeneration that will kill the candidates within months), Dr. Tuolema and Commander Nion develop The Garden, a Deadly Training Area, to rapidly activate new Morituri's abilities.
The Black Watch
From left to right: Aaron Ray Leonard, Bruce Higashi, Clinton Rogers, Woodrow Green, and Patricia Lynn Sobrero.
The predecessors of the Morituri program, the Black Watch consisted of five professional soldiers granted abilities by Tuolema's experimental process. Two of them died in training, and none of the others survived their first mission, but they are remembered as famous heroes.
Unlike their successors, they were treated as an elite military squad and weren't assigned individual costumes or codenames.
In general
- Famed In-Story: The Last Stand of the Black Watch is a popular comic retelling the Black Watch's raid on the Horde, portraying them as Defiant to the End during the titular Last Stand. It's also a Propaganda Piece to help recruit their successors, and doesn't tell the true story of their deaths.
- Flawed Prototype: Dr, Tuolema wasn't aware of the optimum age for the Morituri Process when the Black Watch was created, so the programme selected older professional soldiers. This shortened their lives to weeks rather than months.
- Posthumous Character: All of the Black Watch are dead before the first issue of the comic, so they don't get a chance to meet their first wave successors. Subverted with the later reveal that Higashi is still alive as a Horde prisoner.
Woody Green
Woodrow "Woody" Green
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A soldier with eye-blasting powers.- Eye Beams: He was able to shoot energy beams out of his eyes.
- Last Stand: According to an official Paideia comic book, he died from being shot by a Horde heavy energy cannon. This is a lie.
- Superpower Meltdown: Woody was killed when the Morituri Effect overloaded his Eye Beams, with an explosion of uncontrolled energy reducing his head to a scorched skull.
Bruce Higashi
Bruce Higashi
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A Japanese-American soldier.- A Fate Worse Than Death: The Horde figures out a way to keep him alive past the point where the Morituri Effect would have killed them, but he is kept shackled and tortured the whole time.
- Last Stand: According to an official Paideia comic book, he died from being shot by a Horde heavy energy cannon.
- Super-Strength: All Morituri gain some level of superhuman strength, but Bruce was seemingly much stronger than most - strong enough to hurl a piece of Horde mobile artillery high into the sky.
Aaron Ray Leonard
Aaron Ray Leonard
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
An American soldier and one of the first volunteers of the Morituri process.- Unperson: A downplayed example. The Black Watch are remembered as a heroic trio, and there seems to be no public awareness that Leonard was ever a member of the squad. However, his name is inscribed on the military's memorial.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Although he's mentioned and shown in a single image earlier in the series, it's not until #27 that Aaron's shown in a flashback. He's the second recruit to die in training, crushed in the Garden when he freezes for a moment after teammate Lynn Sobrero is killed in front of him. Aaron gets very little dialogue and no backstory before this happens.
Clinton Rogers
Clinton Rogers
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A superhumanly-strong American soldier.- Heroes Fight Barehanded: He kills the Horde leader in South Africa with a bare-handed Neck Snap.
- Last Stand: According to an official Paideia comic book, he died from being shot by a Horde heavy energy cannon. He actually dies from getting an axe throwin into his chest.
- Super-Strength: Like all Morituri, he had superhuman strength.
Patricia Lynn Sobrero
Patricia Lynn Sobrero
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
An American soldier and one of the first volunteers for the Morituri process. Patricia was one of the two Black Watch trainees killed in The Garden while trying to activate her new powers.- Unperson: A downplayed example. The Black Watch are remembered as a heroic trio, and there seems to be no public awareness that Sobrero was ever a member of the squad. However, her name is inscribed on the military's own memorial.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Although she's mentioned and shown in a single image earlier in the series, it's not until #27 that Patricia's shown in a flashback. She's the first of two recruits to die in training, a page after her first appearance, and only gets one line of dialogue.
The First Wave
Clockwise from upper right: Marathon, Snapdragon, Blackthorn, Adept, Vyking, and Radian.
Adept
Adept (Jelene Anderson)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A devout Christian with the ability to intuitively understand anything she touches.- Healing Hands: She can synthesize antidotes and cures within her body by touching an infected person.
- The Heart: She is the one who holds the original team together. Much of the reason why the second team is so dysfunctional is because they don't have someone like her on their team.
- Instant Expert: She learns how to fly an aircraft just by touching the controls. On the other hand, figuring out how to use alien artifacts taken from the Horde takes her weeks of study.
- Martial Pacifist: Despite her enhanced strength, Jelene almost never uses violence, even while raiding a Horde space station.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: She remains almost as slim (albeit well-toned) as she was before the process, but she's as strong as most of her more muscular teammates.
- Nice Girl: She is the nicest, sweetest Morituri ever. Even Harold Everson's parents, who otherwise despise the Morituri for failing to protect their son, think she's a lovely girl.
- Personality Powers: The sweet Christian girl-next-door get a power that lets her heal people.
- Possession Implies Mastery: She is able to intuitively understand anything she touches. This proves very useful when the team raids a Horde ship.
- Religious Bruiser: Although the "bruiser" part is downplayed as her power makes her more useful as an analyst, she's religious and has the same physical enhancements as her teammates.
- There Is a God!: Although she was already a devout Christian, she describes gaining the ability to analyze anything as allowing her appreciate the hand of God in everything more than she ever could before.
- Token Religious Teammate: While many of the Morituri members are religious to varying degrees, Adept wears her faith up front. Her costume bears a heavy resemblance to priestly robes, and she often prays for guidance during stressful situations.
Blackthorn
Blackthorn (Aline Pagrovna)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A young woman with the ability to break down solid matter.- Death by Childbirth: She dies after giving birth to Guy Harding's child. However, this is also potentially an inversion: since she survived past the one-year mark and only died after the child was born, her pregnancy might have been the only thing keeping her alive.
- Despair Event Horizon: The death of Jelene sends her right up against the edge, and then Radian's murder at the hands of Shear sends her right over.
- Go Out with a Smile: Aline dies in the arms of her lover, knowing their child will be able to develop normally in Dr. Tulolema's incubator and at peace with her death. Instead of exploding like so many others, she gently dissolves into nothing.
- Make Them Rot: She can break down the molecular bonds in solid matter, causing things to rot and melt.
- The Nondescript: She explains that she volunteered for the Morituri process to avoid this trope; she was perpetually ignored as uninteresting by everyone else around her, and decided a year of attention was preferable to an apathetic life.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She quits the team after Shear murders Radian.
Marathon
Marathon (Robert Greenbaum)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
"Nothing's wrong, nothing's right. There's no room for any of that. We fight and die, and all that matters is how many of the enemy we can kill first."
A hulking recruit with superhuman strength, endurance, and agility over and above his teammates.— Marathon, Strikeforce Morituri #6
- The Berserker: After Lorna's death, he starts to grow cold and merciless. The death of Vyking pushes him into an obsession to kill the Horde at all costs.
- Big Eater: While his body was growing larger and more powerful, he was also constantly hungry.
- The Big Guy: He's the largest of the Morituri recruits.
- The Dreaded: He slides deeper and deeper into fury, becoming this to the Horde.
- Facial Markings: He uses an industrial laser to burn a large "M" onto his face.
- Doubles as a Company Cameo, as it's the same stylized "M" used by Marvel Comics at the time.
- Last Stand: He dies while destroying a major Horde ship in Jupiter's orbit.
- Super-Strength: He has a variation; his strength increases the longer he refrains from using it.
- Taking You with Me: As he felt the beginnings of the Morituri Effect, he stored up his strength for a day or two, then combined the energy he'd been saving up with the explosive Effect, destroying a Horde ship.
Radian
Radian (Louis Armanetti)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A man with energy-projection abilities.- Batman Gambit: Afraid that death by the Morituri process would constitute suicide, and fearing for the life of Aline and her unborn child, he betrays the team in order to find out if the Horde's rumored cure is true. When he finds that the Horde was lying about a cure by bluffing them, he returns to the team, where Shear picks a fight with him and kills him, allowing him to die in battle as he wished.
- Blinded by the Light: Part of his ability to project along the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Dirty Coward: Deconstructed; when he learns that the Horde may have a cure for the Morituri effect, he is the first to consider making a deal for it, but when he actually does take the deal, it's not for himself, but to find out if there's a cure so that Aline and her unborn child could survive.
- Hand Blast: He can beam energy from the entire electromagnetic spectrum. He wears focusing sleeves on his forearms to direct them.
- Playing with Fire: My combining his EM-projection with a source of plasma, such as Snapdragon's power or one of the Horde's welders, he can project flame.
- Religious Bruiser: He re-develops some religious beliefs after his near-death experience in The Garden, and ultimately decides that waiting for the Morituri process to kill him would be the same as suicide, a mortal sin, even though a priest assured him otherwise.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Radian is killed by Shear when the latter believes he became a traitor to the Horde. In reality, Radian had feared that succumbing to the Morituri effect would be tantamount to the mortal sin of suicide, and he wanted to die in battle instead.
- There Is a God!: Although he was apparently raised religious, he lapsed in later life. This changed in The Garden when he was paralyzed and at the brink of death after he became terrified at the prospect of burning for eternity. The fear both unleashed his secondary powers and started him wrestling with some heavy concepts.
- Time to Step Up, Commander: He replaces Vyking as the de facto leader after the latter's death.
- Walkie-Talkie Static: He can use his microwave powers to transmit a landline phone signal, though the first time he tries it it's very faint and staticky.
Snapdragon
Snapdragon (Lorna Raeburn)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
The first member of the first wave to die. Little is said about Lorna's background, but she seems to be confident and determined. Lorna apparently talked about her past with her teammate Aline, but the only thing revealed to readers is that she'd had some relationships with men.- Hand Blast: Snapdragon can throw plasma blasts from her forearms. Her costume includes wrist-mounted projectors to help focus and aim them.
- Playing with Fire: She can create a flamethrower effect by combining her plasma bursts with Radian's energy projection powers.
- Sacrificial Lion: She's the first member of the first wave to die, and she's killed by the Morituri Effect's Power Degeneration, not enemy action. Her death hits the rest of the team hard, and the next issue focuses on their reactions in a way that doesn't really happen for subsequent fatalities.
- Super-Power Meltdown: After a battle in which her plasma blasts seem to get more powerful, she doubles over in pain, realises that she's dying from the Morituri Effect, and has just enough time to get clear of her friends before she explodes in a flash of light. All that's left behind is a plume of smoke, not even a body.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Lorna's introduced in issue #1 and killed off by the Morituri Effect in issue #4. She's friendly with Harold, and Marathon later mentions that he has a crush on her, but we learn very little about Lorna, and nothing about her history or reasons for signing up.
Vyking
Vyking (Harold Carl Everson)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
An aspiring writer and de facto leader of the first wave.- Attack Reflector: He can absorb and reflect energy attacks.
- Aura Vision: He can see the "auras" of any lifeforms nearby, and identify them, this allows him to keep track of his teammates location and status.
- Decoy Protagonist: He's the main character until he abruptly dies in issue 6.
-
Died During Production: He was writing a book about his experiences, but the Morituri Effect caught up with him on a mission. - Hot-Blooded: Even before getting his full powers, he is just itching for a fight.
- The Leader: He becomes the leader of the first wave because of his hot-blooded nature and ability to bark out orders.
- Mistaken for an Imposter: When out for the night in a civilian outfit, he gets mistaken for Greg Mattingly, the actor who plays him on the Morituri TV show.
- Would Hit a Girl: After his teammates are nearly killed in The Garden, he becomes convinced that Commander Nion is a Horde plant who's trying to kill them off before they can become a threat and savagely beats her before he's stopped. Given the horrifically stressful circumstances he was under, she finds it perfectly understandable and forgives him.
The Second Wave
From left to right: Toxyn, Scatterbrain, and Scaredycat.
Scaredycat
Scaredycat (Pilar Lisieux)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #6
A speedster with the ability to cause panic in others.- Condescending Compassion: In her Day in the Limelight, she expresses pity for Jelene for dying as a Christian, feeling that her faith blinded her to the truth about the world beyond.
- Embarrassing Nickname: She and Scatterbrain dared each other to give each other the worst codenames they could think of.
- Emotion Bomb: She can broadcast fear and panic into anyone nearby.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She accidentally kills Wildcard when she jumps on his shoulders and squeezes his throat with her thighs. He panics and over-exerts himself trying to find a power that would allow him to shake her off.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: She is a mystic. This causes some friction with the devout Christian Jelene, who is a bit put off when Pilar refers to Jesus Christ as "one of the Great Masters". She also gets on Brava's nerves when she asks her about astronomy (Brava's former profession) and then actually tries to question her expertise when Brava presents a thoroughly unromantic view of the universe.
- Ship Tease: She and Scatterbrain are hinted, though his descent keeps this from happening.
- Super-Speed: She is the fastest member from either the first or second wave.
Scatterbrain
Scatterbrain (William Deguchi)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #6
A telepath with the ability to send and receive thoughts.- Almost Dead Guy: Will telepathically delivers a warning to Dan Baker right before he dies.
- Deadly Upgrade: After contacting the mind of one of the monstrous failed Morituri he becomes unable to turn off his powers, which begin developing rapidly until he starts being able to remotely sense things from great distances. Unfortunately, he becomes obsessed with death and begins exploring what happened to people as they died, which led to him retreating into himself and falling into a coma.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crosses this after discovering the failed Morituri.
- Embarrassing Nickname: He and Scaredycat dared each other to give each other the worst codenames they could think of.
- Emotion Bomb: He can broadcast mental states to anyone nearby."I'm going to broadcast memories of the first time I drank a whole bottle of vodka!"
- Handicapped Badass: During his empowering, he sustained an injury that required him to permanently wear a leg brace.
- Heroic BSoD: As mentioned, following his contact with the failed Morituri, he started to become obsessed with death, eventually shuttering himself into his own mind.
- Heroic RRoD: After languishing in a coma for a while, he burns out the last of his powers delivering a telepathic warning to Scanner.
- Mad Oracle: As his powers began expanding and he grows obsessed with death, his sanity starts slipping in a case of rapid-onset depression.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally a mild-mannered Nice Guy, when he sees that the Paideia tried to make Morituri without Tulolema's supervision—and instead created twisted, agonized failures—Deguchi ends up killing the man in charge of the project—which starts a downward spiral for him.
- Power Incontinence: His control over his abilities is limited to turning them on and off; when his powers are active, any thought or emotion he sends out will be received by anyone within range, and he picks up the thoughts of anyone nearby. Later, he finds it increasingly difficult to turn this power off, and ends up putting himself into a coma after it becomes too much for him.
- Ship Tease: Has it with Scaredycat until he goes into a coma not even her entreaties can snap him out of.
- Telepathy: He can broadcast thoughts and emotions indiscriminately to anyone within range. He also figures out how to read other people's thoughts, but this is also indiscriminate, so it doesn't help him as much as one would expect.
Toxyn
Toxyn (Ruth Mastorakis)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #6
A confident young woman with the ability to generate various chemicals and toxins.- Ambiguously Bi: She doesn't need to kiss other girls in order to administer her chemicals (she could transmit those chemicals via touch or breath), but she does it anyway.
- Breath Weapon: She can load her breath (technically her saliva) with a chemical (such as Knockout Gas) and exhale it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She was spurred to join the Morituri by a relationship that went horribly wrong. It seems she was involved with a man named Niko who ended up beating and humiliating her when she brought up the prospect of marriage.
- Dying Declaration of Love: After Jason Edwards (the future Revenge) helped her and the rest of the Morituri escape from a Horde ship, she confessed that she was attracted to Jason and they shared a kiss. Then to their despair, the Morituri Effect hit and she had to flee before she detonated. Her last words were to declare that she loved him.
- Healing Hands/Poisonous Person: She can generate a variety of helpful or harmful biochemicals after touching someone.
- Kiss of Death: She can administer one of these by altering the chemical composition of her saliva.
- Love at First Sight: She and Jason Edwards felt an immediate attraction but they didn't get to act on it beyond kissing and making a date.
- Time to Step Up, Commander: When the Horde attack San Francisco in issue #8, Ruth suddenly finds herself leading the Morituri because everyone else took her impromptu ideas as leadership — which she doesn't want.Toxyn: She wants me to tell her what to do? Me? I can't be responsible!
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In her first mission, she disarms a Hordian by pretending to surrender and then generating a contact paralytic.
The Third Wave
Back row: Hardcase, Backhand, and Brava.
Front row: Silencer, Wildcard, and Shear.
Front row: Silencer, Wildcard, and Shear.
Backhand
Backhand (Greg Mattingly)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #4
A holovision actor who previously played Vyking on the Strikeforce: Morituri television show. After Harold Everson's death, he joined the Morituri program, and now has the ability to absorb and reflect energies directed at him.- Heroic Sacrifice: Feeling the Morituri Effect coming on him during a losing battle, he harnessed the power spike it gave him into an self-explosion that turned things around for the team.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Intended to be a replacement for Vyking, he turns out to be far less competent and less brave than Everson, and ends up being a second-stringer in the new team.
- Purple Prose: Occasionally he has outbursts of overblown dialogue more fitting for his old job and has to be reminded to rein it in.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He looks a lot like Harold Everson, and has similar powers to him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It's hinted that his self-explosion somehow (radioactivity?) caused Shear to develop the brain tumor that drove him mad.
Brava
Brava (Domenica Contrera)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
A Spanish giantess with superhuman strength and endurance greater than those of the other members. She becomes the new leader after Radian's death.- Amazonian Beauty: She's just shy of seven feet tall, with a muscular build, sculpted European features, flowing black hair, and a very flattering blue leotard for a costume. She's well aware of the attention she gets and likes it.
- Distaff Counterpart: Her powers basically make her a female version of Marathon.
- Genius Bruiser: She was an astronomer before the Horde invaded.
- Ice Queen: Scatterbrain compares her to a very cold mountain.
- Lightning Bruiser: Her secondary "power" is to develop more physical prowess than the usual Morituri subject, though she's not quite at Marathon's baseline level, and lacks his ability to build up power.
- Retirony: Shortly after leaving the team to spend her last days living peacefully in Spain, she assassinated by Tiger, working with the conspiracy.
- Super-Strength: She is the strongest Morituri after Marathon passes.
- Survivor's Guilt: Following the death of Shear, she becomes the last surviving member of the Second Team, and the only one to live to see the Horde's defeat.
- The Leader: After it becomes clear that Walther isn't cut out to lead, she takes over as the team's leader.
Hardcase
Hardcase (Lt. Burke O'Halloran)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
A former West Point cadet and 2nd lieutenant in the defense forces. He gets the ability to harden any substance by touching it.- Blood Knight: He's never happier than when he's battling the Horde. When the Paideia orders the Morituri to shelter in place, Hardcase is outraged.
- Combat Pragmatist: He can fight really dirty when he wants to. During the showdown with the previous Morituri, he uses his powers to harden Aline's skin, rendering her incapable of breathing too deeply without risking severe internal injuries.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He and Silencer are burned alive by a microwave blast.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: In any conflict between the Paideia and his peers, he instinctively takes the Paideia's side.
- Consummate Professional: A professional soldier before he joined, he follows the orders of his superiors even when he doesn't like them.
- Genre Savvy: Having been a military officer, he has a special insight on some of the Horde's similar techniques, as well as being able to understand Pogorelich's training methods.
- Sex Equals Death: He dies shortly after losing his virginity to Silencer.
- Super-Toughness: He can increase the density of anything he touches to produce this effect, and use it to incapacitate enemies.
Shear
Shear (Walther Feyzioglu)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
A Turkish-German hothead with the power to telekinetically cut through matter. He ends up becoming the new leader after Radian's death, much to his chagrin.- Blood Knight: During a talk show appearance, he talk about how much he loves tearing his enemies apart in great detail.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He is constantly pissed off about something. Scatterbrain describes him as "violence that eats itself." After his death, the scientists discover that he had an inoperable brain tumor that was slowly destroying his judgment.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: As his death grows nearer, he gets increasingly violent and paranoid, before finally snapping and killing Pogorelich.
- Klingon Promotion: He is nearly promoted to team leader after killing Radian, but declines.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Despite the fact that he serves in the Morituri, he hates the Paideia, as their One World Government overlooks the poor and displaced like his family.
- Sanity Slippage: As mentioned, he slowly grows insane over time thanks to the malignant tumor in his brain.
- Secretly Dying: After his death, it's discovered that he had a brain tumor that was slowly killing him.
- Shout-Out: An in-universe case, as he based his costume off an old Comic Book character called The Punisher.
- Smug Super: As Walther's malignant tumor gets worse, he increasingly proclaims himself to be the best Morituri ever.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A variant in that he gets along well enough with the rest of the team, but he resents the Paideia (the world government sponsoring the Morituri) for allowing Turks like himself to be treated as second-class citizens in his native Germany, and for keeping the poor struggling while the rich thrive.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: He is horrified when Pogorelich wants to promote him as a reward for killing Radian, as he despises the Paideia and does not want to be their puppet.
Silencer
Silencer (Akiya Badaranaike)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
A refugee from Gabon with the ability to silence all sound within a certain range.- Beware the Quiet Ones: Her powers basically involve stopping vibrations. She quickly figures out a deadly use for this ability — stopping heartbeats.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her family and her lover were slaughtered by the Horde.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She and Hardcase die when the Horde blast them with microwaves from a satellite. It's one of the most unpleasant deaths in the series.
- Painting the Medium: When she uses her powers, the color is removed from the area she's silencing, to represent the lack of sound.
- Sex Equals Death: She and Hardcase both die after having sex.
- Sex for Solace: She offers to have sex with Hardcase after learning that he's never even had a girlfriend.
- The Stoic: According to William, Akiya is filled with rage and grief for her homeland that would consume her if she ever expressed it.
Wildcard
Wildcard (John Crenella)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
- Facial Markings: He paints a black diamond over his right eye.
- Heroic Sacrifice: His dying act is to absorb Blackthorn's power, which combined with her pregnancy staves off her death from the Morituri effect. It's unclear if this was an intentional dying gesture or just random chance .
- It's Personal: He chose to become a Morituri because his father was enslaved by he Horde.
- Power Copying: He could duplicate the ability of any other Morituri member nearby.
- Sacrificial Lion: He is the first member of the second wave to die.
- Superhero Packing Heat: Carries a hand weapon of some sort in a hip holster — one of the only Morituri to do so.
- Too Dumb to Live: He constantly misapplies his powers, which causes his powers to burn him out during his fight with the first team.
The Fourth Wave
The Fourth Wave (a.k.a. the Morituri Monsters, the Mutant Morituri)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #16
The fourth wave of Morituri were created by the Padeia Institute without the knowledge of Dr. Tuolema. Unfortunately, without his supervision, the Morituri effect mutated the subjects into horribly disfigured forms, and were kept locked up by the Padeia.- Death Seeker: When the morituri monsters were found by the other members of the team, their request is to be killed and freed from their suffering.
- Energy Beings: One of the members of the fourth wave has mutated into an unstable energy form, and is confined inside a shielded area.
- No Name Given: The members of the fourth wave are never named in the comic. Other sources have named three of the characters as Carol Rayweick, Victor Leroy Long and Macintire Kenlin.
- Psi Blast: They are able to unleash a powerful psychic blast that instantly kills a squad of attacking Hordians.
- Too Powerful to Live: The monster morituri are able to instantly kill a half-dozen Hordians with a single psychic blast. Backhand uses this to justify euthanizing them, as to do otherwise would simple allow the Padeia to exploit their power.
- Tortured Monster: Though not stated outright, it is implied that the members of the fourth wave are suffering in pain and fear from their condition.
The Fifth Wave
Burn, Scanner, and Lifter.
Burn
Burn (Yoko Wantanabe)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #25
A Japanese pyrokinetic.- Gratuitous Japanese: Though she is fluent in English, Yoko sprinkles her speech with bits of Japanese."Konichi-wa. I am very pleased to be here."
- Flat Character: Her characterization is almost non-existent.
- Mama Bear: Yoko gets murderous when her children are threatened.
- Playing with Fire: She is a standard pyrokinetic.
Lifter
Lifter (Fiona Windsor)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #25
An English-born telekinetic.- Fiery Redhead: Fiona has red hair and a hair-trigger temper.
- Flat Character: Her characterization is nearly non-existent, especially compared to the other Morituri.
- Mind over Matter: She has telekinetic abilities.
Revenge
Revenge (Jason Edwards)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #21
Originally an Earth soldier from Edmonton, Canada, Jason Edwards was captured in his first battle against the Horde. He was taken as a prisoner and slave, and was later freed by Toxyn when the Morituri raided a Horde ship. Though he is extremely knowledgeable about the Va-Shakk and their culture, the Paideia views him with suspicion, and thus forced him to undergo the Morituri process. He ended up receiving the power to make objects explode by touching them.- Boxed Crook: Unlike the other recruits, his recruitment was less than voluntary; he had been a soldier before his capture, and thus when he returned, the Paideia accused him of desertion and gave him the choice between execution and service in the Morituri.
- Cassandra Truth: Try as he might to explain that he was kidnapped and enslaved by the Horde and rescued the Morituri by hijacking a Horde vehicle, the Paideia still treat him like a deserter and willing collaborator.
- Chekhov's Skill: His time as a slave of the Horde gave him a lot of valuable insight into their culture.
- Frame-Up: When the conspiracy within the Paideia tries to kill the other members of the team by bombing the bridge their train is about go go over, he manages to reach the train just too late to stop the bridge from blowing and is attacked by Ghost. Thanks to Edwards's explosive powers and the fact that it looked like he was using them on nothing, it was easy for the conspirators to frame him.
- Love at First Sight: He and Toxyn felt an immediate, powerful attraction but they didn't get to act on it beyond kissing and making a date before the Morituri effect blew her up.
- Made of Explodium: He can convert anything to energy by touching it. He once managed to kill someone with super speed just by touching them once.
- Sole Survivor: Of his unit. After being overlooked during the Curb-Stomp Battle they suffered, he swiped some civilian clothing (knowing the Horde would kill a soldier on sight) but still got caught while trying to escape.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He just happens to join the team shortly after Backhand's death, with powers comparable to Backhand's.
Scanner
Scanner (Dan Baker)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #22
One of the few survivors of a Horde attack on Utah. As luck would have it, he was deemed suitable for the Morituri process, and gained clairsentience.- Death Seeker: After his hometown, family, friends and pregnant fiancee were all wiped out by a badly-targeted bomb, he volunteered to become a Morituri, seeing it as a long suicide.
- Doomed Hometown: His hometown of Pinecrest, Utah, was wiped out by the Horde.
- Lost Lenore: His beloved girlfriend was killed by aerial bombardment.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Scanner has clairsentience, though he initially thinks it's super senses until the psychic aspect became known.
- Ominous Message from the Future: He receives a psychic message from Scatterbrain telling him to "beware of the new ones". As a result, he is suspicious of his fellow teammates, which causes problems later on.
- Second Love: He eventually falls in mutual love with Burn.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He happens to join just as Scatterbrain is about to die, and just happens to have telepathy as part of his power set.
- Technopath: A neural jack installed in his head allows him some control over machines.
The Sixth Wave
The Sixth Wave (a.k.a. the Killer Morituri, the Morituri Assassins)
From left to right: the Ghost, the Tiger, and the Wind
In the wake of the VXX199's sudden appearance and the abrupt end of Earth's war with the Horde, the Paideia feared that their government would be declared obsolete, and thus commissioned a trio of hardened criminals to be given powers to protect their interests.
The Ghost
Ghost (Tam Van Ok)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #24
A former Cambodian assassin with invisibility powers.- Affably Evil: After he kills off the conspirators who cheated him, he reveals himself to the Morituri, apologizes for trying to kill them, and teams up with them to hunt down Lamont.
- Consummate Professional: A masterful assassin who follows his contracts — as long as he isn't cheated. He also doesn't murder innocent bystanders, and puts Wind on his kill list after learning that he has.
- Exact Eavesdropping: While at Guy Harding's house to kill Tuolema, he happens to hear Tuolema talking about how they have no idea whether or not the closest thing they had to a cure for the Morituri Effect would even work, which gives Ghost pause. He's about to try again, when Tuolema mentions that the cure is actually a benign virus which he'd spread to Guy (and, unknowingly, Ghost) by being in their presence. This makes him spare Tuolema, likely out of pragmatism or a sense of fairness.
- Invisibility: This is the power he gained as a result of the Morituri Process, and it works via psychically confusing the senses so they can't detect him. It even works on electronic devices! But not psychic powers.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His POV mentions being able to do things like read peoples' thoughts and cloud their minds before the Morituri treatment. It's unclear if he somehow had powers of some sort beforehand or was "just" ridiculously perceptive and skilled.
- Noble Demon: An assassin, but with standards.
- Stealth Expert: He was a master at not being seen before he could actually be invisible.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The government told him that the Morituri process was safe because it could be cured. They didn't mention that no one was sure if the cure actually worked or was safe. Upon learning that he was tricked, he decided to kill the conspirators who'd hired him.
The Tiger
Tiger (Zakir Shastri)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #24
A Pakistani mercenary with the ability to generate energy blades from his fingers.- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Takes over India once the Paideia collapses.
- Blood Knight: "Death sounds are my music. Sex and drugs are no substitute for hot adrenalin."
- Carpet of Virility: A hairy, hairy man.
- Karma Houdini: At the end of Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow he's still ruling India, with no consequences for his crimes. Will's final speech to the Morituri states that Tiger's going to be a problem they need to deal with - but nothing further is shown.
- Laser Cutter: His powers allow him to generate energy blades around his hands.
- Make Them Rot: In addition to cutting, his energy "claws" break down molecular bonds, much like Blackthorn's power.
- Professional Killer: He has no qualms about killing women and children as long as the Paideia's paying him.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Before killing Brava he tells her to "submit" to him, and after she starts fighting, he tells her if she'd let him have his way with her he might have spared her a little longer.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Like Ghost, the government lied to him about a cure for the Morituri Effect, and he'd've killed the conspirators who'd hired him if Ghost hadn't gotten to them first.
- Would Hurt a Child: Even before he received super-powers, Shastri did not hesitate to slaughter a cave full of unarmed women and children as they were related to a village of bandits.
The Wind
Wind (Julio Diego Gonzales, a.k.a. Red Cougar)
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #24
A serial killer of Mexican, possibly Native American descent, with superhuman speed powers.- A God Am I: Starts believing this after the Morituri treatment.
- Ax-Crazy: Your typical insane serial killer-type.
- Boxed Crook: The Paideia was willing to overlook his criminal past in exchange for his service in their black-ops squad.
- Insane Equals Violent: Because people going quietly insane doesn't work for a superhero comic.
- Insistent Terminology: Beat up a guy for not calling him "Red Cougar". That's pretty insistent.
- Magical Native American: He thinks he's one, first believing himself to be The Chosen One, then believing himself an actual God.
- Recruiting the Criminal: Before being recruited, he was serving a life sentence for murdering transients.
- Super-Speed: His powers allow him to run at high speeds.
- Why Am I Ticking?: He dies after punching Revenge, unaware that doing so allows Revenge to convert him into energy.
- Windmill Crusader: He believes that he's a Native chief named "Red Cougar" who's on a divine mission to keep the world from being overrun by "broken people" (i.e. transients).
Other humans
The Paideia
Originally an education reform organization called the Paideia Institute, it later replaced the United Nations as a worldwide mediation and arbitration service. It eventually became a de facto One World Government through contracts with all of the nations of the world, and served that role at the time of the Horde invasion. Dr Tuolema
Dr. Kimo Tuolema
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
The scientist who originally discovered the Morituri Process.- Frame-Up: The conspirators within the Paideia frame him for their crimes, claiming that he used the Morituri Process to make terrorists in order to overthrow the government.
- It's Personal: After the Morituri effect killed the Black Watch on their first mission, Tuolema quit the project... but then his only child was killed in a Horde invasion.
- My Greatest Failure: He regrets allowing the military to have the Morituri Process before figuring out a way to prevent the Morituri from dying.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- He helps create an incubator for Aline's unborn baby so it can live on after her.
- He steals an alien signaling device from the Paideia and activates it, hoping to find some other beings who can help stop the Horde.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He deserts the Paideia after they continually ignore his scientific and moral objections to their actions.
Commander Nion
Commander Beth Luis Nion
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #1
A former television network producer, and the first commander of the Morituri.- Action Girl: She doesn't hesitate to jump into a firefight when necessary.
- Blessed with Suck: She secretly went through the Morituri Process alongside the Black Watch - and the second phase gave her the ability to make flowers bloom. And that's all. She still dies from the usual Morituri Effect Power Degeneration, too.
- Chekhov's Skill: Her former ties to the media world allow her to make the team into celebrities, which also has the knock-on effect of forcing the Paideia to keep the team public instead of letting it be turned into a black-ops program.
- A Father to His Men: She becomes a mother figure to her team, to the point of undergoing the Morituri Process herself in the hopes of being able to contribute. Unfortunately, it doesn't work properly in her case.
- Green Thumb: Her secret Morituri power is the ability to make flowers bloom.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is tough and demanding, but also cares about the Morituri under her command.
- Secretly Dying: Before becoming the team's commander, she underwent the Morituri process, but ended up with the relatively useless power of making flowers bloom, leaving her with a power that she couldn't use to fight the Horde, and not more than a year left to live.
- Shoot the Dog: She acquiesces to put the budding Morituri through The Garden, a potentially-fatal training room which has killed two people already, in the hopes of jump-starting their secondary powers. They very nearly do die to The Garden's threats, but she keeps the simulation going until they demonstrate said powers, much to her later guilt.
- Team Mom: A major reason why the first team was so successful was the fact that she was around to keep them together.
Commander Pogorelich
Commander Yuri Pogorelich
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #13
A career soldier in the Paideia, and the second commander of the Strikeforce Morituri.- Creator Cameo: He is modelled after series co-creator Peter Gillis.
- Husky Russkie: Pogorelich is a proud Russian, and has a stout build, beer belly, and full beard.
- Mother Russia Makes You Strong: He follows his orders without question or hesitation, even if he disagrees with them."Like a Russian, I do what I'm ordered to. But like a Russian... I think what I think."
- Too Clever by Half: He turned the Strikeforce into a lean, efficient machine for fighting and killing the Horde. Unfortunately for him, his higher-ups suddenly decide to switch to a defensive posture, leaving him with a team full of restless soldiers with severe anger-management problems. It does not end well for him.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: In sharp contrast to Nion, Pogorelich cares only about discipline, results and victories. This attitude ends up biting him in the ass when, after months of trying to groom the violent and unstable Walther to take over the squad, based purely on Walther's violent instincts, Walther instead snaps and murders him, convinced that Pogorelich is planning to kill him.
Andre Lamont
Andre Lamont
First Appearance:
Director of Earth Defense Forces and a member of the Paidean Council, Lamont is second in command to the Prime Minister. He was one of Dr. Tuolema's original backers, when the Morituri Process was first designed, and his government role makes him the highest authority in the Morituri's chain of command.- Bad Boss: From his very first appearance it's clear that Lamont's willing to sacrifice the Morituri for his own personal gain, stopping them from winning a very profitable war too quickly. Once the war is no longer a factor, he orders the assassination of the surviving Morituri, at least partly because he's worried about Scanner's psychic powers. He also sets up his own secret team of Morituri assassins, lying to them about the reliability of the cure - and is quick to order their deaths when he suspects they may have realized the truth.
- Brainwashed: Lamont was always a Corrupt Politician, but the alien VXX-199 also replaced his mistress with a genetic construct, who then used some form of Psychic Powers to subtly steer his actions. This also doomed his attempt at World Domination, as the aliens wanted his exposure and downfall to split the world government, triggering a decade of chaos.
- Corrupt Politician: Lamont's been working with Herman Szell and Junzo Tanaka ever since the Morituri were first created, limiting their successes and trying to ensure that the war with the Horde remains winnable, but isn't actually won as long as it remains profitable. When the war approaches its end, he starts setting up a secret team of Morituri to murder his political enemies.
- Klingon Promotion: Lamont sends a Morituri assassin, The Wind, to murder the Paideia's Prime Minister so that he can become the new world leader. The murder succeeds, but Lamont's plan immediately falls apart afterwards.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Lamont's plan falls apart, he surrenders to the Morituri and the authorities and names some of his co-conspirators (although not Tanaka or Szell). Subverted by the implication that surrender wasn't his own choice - his bodyguards were replaced by VAX-117's genetic copies and told him to surrender, possibly with direct Mind Control added to the long-term Brainwashing the aliens had previously used to influence him.
- Take Over the World: Lamont's ultimate goal is to become leader of the Paideia and rule the world, for his own profit, alongside his allies Szell and Tanaka. The very public failure of that plan, immediately after the Prime Minister's assassination, causes the Paideia to collapse and splinter, ending the single world government... exactly as the alien VAX-117 had planned.
Vic West
Vic West
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #21
A government agent who is an aide to Andre Lamont. His actual duties are to carry out Lamont's covert operations.- Exact Eavesdropping: He is overheard by the Ghost talking to Lamont about their plans to betray the Morituri Assassins. That proves to be fatal.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Vic is always seen wearing a black suit and tie.
- Obviously Evil: He plays this trope straight, implementing Lamont's orders without any signs of discretion.
- Second-Face Smoke: When Vic interrogates Jason Edwards, he blows smoke in his face before yelling at him.
- Too Dumb to Live: He uses a speakerphone to discusse plans with his boss on how to manipulate and then kill an invisible assassin without using code names, euphemisms, or any sort of obfuscating safeguards. Guess where the assassin is during the call?
Herman Szell
Herman Szell
First Appearance:
An international arms merchant.- Karma Houdini: At the end of Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow he's still a techno-baron and world leader, with no consequences for his crimes. Will's final speech to the Morituri suggests that they'll need to deal with Szell at some point, and that he'll probably be at war with Tanaka soon - but nothing further is shown.
- Take Over the World: Hs is working with Andre Lamont to take over the Paideia so he can profit from the ensuing public discomfort. By the time of Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow, he controls half of the world under fascist rule.
- War for Fun and Profit: He has gotten rich from selling weapons to the Paideia to fight the Horde. When the Horde are defeated, he looks for new ways to exploit the Morituri to continue his revenue stream.
Junzo Tanaka
Junzo Tanaka
First Appearance:
A Japanese multi-billionaire and member of the Paideia.- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He has gotten richer from selling Morituri-related merchandise, and plots with other corrupt leaders in the Paideia to prolong the war for his own benefit.
- Japan Takes Over the World: He's a Japanese businessman who's plotting to Take Over the World and become rich(er). Ten years after the fall of the Paideia, he owns most of Asia and Siberia, and is preparing to buy Korea.
- Karma Houdini: At the end of Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow he's still a techno-baron and world leader, with no consequences for his crimes. Will's final speech to the Morituri suggests that they'll need to deal with Tanaka at some point, and that he'll probably be at war with Szell soon - but nothing further is shown.
- Merchandise-Driven: He was already rich before the Horde invaded Earth, but has gotten even richer from selling action figures, comic books, and other Morituri-related merchandise.
- Take Over the World: Hs is working with Andre Lamont to take over the Paideia. By the time of Strikeforce Morituri: Electric Undertow, he is said to control half of the world.
Aliens
The Horde
A race of barbarian Planet Looters who plunder inhabited worlds for supplies, equipment, technology, and sport. They view the Earth as a vulnerable beast ripe for exploitation.
In general
In general
- Challenging the Chief: It's possible to formally challenge a warlord for their position, with a duel overseen by the Horde's elders.
- No Blood Ties: It is implied that the Horde have little attachment to their families, as they find it bizarre that humans are attached to their parents and families.
- No Woman's Land: Horde society is strongly patriarchal. All of the warriors, technicians, and leaders are male and in orbit around Earth, while the women and children are left with the main fleet around Jupiter. It's also implied that they see women as disposable, and Horde leaders often express surprise that human women can actually fight.
- Space Nomads: The Horde travel between worlds in a fleet of mismatched ships, using stolen technology from several different races.
Gentle Inquirer
Gentle Inquirer
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #3
- The Chessmaster: He plays subtle games of power and influence among the Horde leadership to protect his own interests.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite his prominent role in the Horde machinations, the Gentle Inquirer is never seen nor referenced again after issue #20, when writer James Hudnall took over the series.
- The Dreaded: Believes the best way for the Horde to exploit humans is through terror tactics, as direct assaults will simply provoke humanity to torch the planet out of spite.
- Hope Crusher: Fancies himself as this, preferring to spiritually break his opponents into submission.
- Mad Doctor: He tortures decapitated human heads to find out how much pain they can endure before total brain death, then uses those heads to drive berserker robots. He cheerfully admits that if he weren't torturing humans, he'd be torturing his fellow Horde members instead.
- The Starscream: He seeks to become the leader of the Horde by overthrowing the ones above him, using subterfuge to do so.
Stark Fist
Stark Fist
First Appearance: Strikeforce: Morituri #2
Warlord of all Tents and Provider of the Race, Stark Fist was the supreme leader of the Horde when the first Morituri were created- Cruella to Animals: The floor of the Stark Fist's private chambers is covered with the furs of various Earth animals.
- Decapitation Presentation: He has kept the head of Black Watch member Clinton Rogers as a trophy, and gleefully shows it to Blackthorn when she charges into his chambers.
- Killed Offscreen: After his battle with Blackthorn, we don't see him again before the Horde flagship explodes after Marathon damages it. During the Horde's next attack on Earth it's confirmed that the Stark Fist is dead, and was onboard when it exploded. Subverted later, when a flashback actually shows Marathon killing him before the ship exploded.
- Not So Stoic: The Stark Fist acts smug and confident when Blackthorn confronts him, but immediately flies into an explosive rage when she manages to wound him.
- Sadist: He is boastful of his fighting abilities, and enjoys seeing the fear of his opponents before he kills them."Here I will kill you and feel your fear melt in your death."
- Slouch of Villainy: Spends his free time in his quarters draped in his chair while admiring his treasures.
- Strength Equals Worthiness: He claims that what he respects in others is their strength.
Thundercrush
Thundercrush
First Appearance:
Thundercrush of the Chasm Tent is appointed as the warlord of the Horde after the death of Stark Fist, a decision that upsets the Gentle Inquirer.- Adipose Rex: He is noticeably fatter and stouter than most other Hordians.
- Stout Strength: Despite his large size, Thundercrush is willing and very able to lay hands on anyone who displeases him. At one point he picks up a subordinate by the throat, single-handed, and then hurls him across the room.
- Unstoppable Rage: When he believes that his tentmate Hammersmith has been kidnapped and slain by the Morituri, Thundercrush immediately orders the Horde to launch all of their nuclear missiles in a 200-mile radius of the area the Horde believe contains the hidden Morituri base.
