Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

Hey, nobody's perfect, not even Brubaker. Corvus suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. I can't believe he got the run he did.

Brubaker & Fraction are considered the two guys who most clearly indicate how difficult it is to write a good X-Men story anymore. Both of them made some very mediocre, often quite awful stuff (VULCAN is a Brubaker creation!), yet went on to write some of the best comics of the last 15 years!

[Jabroniville]

Okay... So we’ve got a nigh-omnipotent quasi-daemonic intergalactic force of evil that possesses hosts bestowing on them incalculable power including but not limited to the ability eat suns and fly.

And the sworn enemy of said quasi-daemonic intergalactic force of evil is... a dude with a sword.

I mean, it’s a big sword. But, like, Phoenix can fly. Korvus can’t win a fight with the Rocketeer let alone Phoenix.

I still love that he totally pulled a Mantis in his debut and wiped out a whole team of X-Men to prove how bad-ass he is. Does that trick work for ANYONE anymore?

[Batgirl III]

I still love that he totally pulled a Mantis in his debut and wiped out a whole team of X-Men to prove how bad-ass he is. Does that trick work for ANYONE anymore?

Did that trick work for anyone, ever?

The Mysterious Arch-Villain behind the Legion of Superheroes' The Great Darkness Saga delivers off-screen beat-downs to Big Bads Mordru and the Time Trapper... But, of course, they only string the reader along for a three or four issues before revealing that the mystery man is none other than Darksied himself. So kind of zig-zagged from the typical "Mantis'ing" there as Darkseid had the gravitas to pull it off.

Over in the X-Men books, Onslaught's debut act was to beat the snot out of the unstoppable Juggernaut, who was still considered one of the scariest members of the X-Men rogues' gallery. He'd spend the late Nineties and early Aughts are a jobber to the stars, before his brief Heel-Face Turn... But back then he was still legit. So when Onslaught went on to kick the crud out of Iron-Man, Captain America, the FF, and the Avengers it felt earned.

[Jabroniville]

THE BLACK ORDER:
-The Black Order (also inexplicably called the "Cull Obsidian" for no other reason than that's more pretentious, and Jon Hickman is writing) are probably comics' best and most recent example of Sketchpad Characters- interesting-looking bad guys with minimal characterization, a boss who's more important, and just enough distinctive battlefield traits to make for a one-off menace. They were formed under Thanos, as a new band of glorified Mooks to use against the Avengers. Given a lot of hype early on in the advertising, the Order really aren't that great- two of their number die in the early goings of this portion of Infinity (Hickman's mega-event), making them look like jobbers, and the rest are trapped in stasis by Thane, the son of Thanos.

Corvus Glaive forms another group of them, but Thanos returns and Glaive commits suicide rather than allow Thanos to kill him. Thanos forms a new Black Order along with the Black Swan who featured in so much of the Illuminati's Avengers book, and they engage in the mass destruction of entire worlds, in order to protect the universe from the incursions. Namor soon grows disgusted with their murderous activities, and abandons them on a doomed world- they barely escape with their lives, becoming a part of the Secret War event as minor backgrounders (Thanos is killed fighting God Doom). This version later loses some members against Hela, who forms a partnership with Thanos.

The group reappeared very recently in the No Surrender story-arc, involving all three Avengers teams combining together to fight the threat of The Grandmaster and The Challenger's game. Both Elders of the Universe had formed teams, with the Challenger forming a new Black Order, resurrecting some members. They managed to survive the story, and are still a threat.

Interestingly and fittingly, the Order was used to great effect in Avengers: Civil War, which featured them as essentially Elite Mooks- each one split up and took on one or two Avengers, giving us an interesting fight scene using unique powers, before they were ultimately killed to make the heroes look good. A PERFECT use of goons like this- they lacked characterization and notable personality traits, but this is basically Thanos: The Movie, so the group were effective at what they did- they made Thanos look tougher for having such powerful guys as his minions, they had interesting looks and powers so made for cool fight scenes, and they died "putting over" the Avengers so they had a lot of wins in the movie, making the Downer Ending much more impactful and less depressing than if it'd just been a movie of "Avengers Jobbing".

The Members:
Black Dwarf- White giant.
Corvus Glaive- Pike-wielding weirdo.
Ebony Maw- A manipulator supreme.
Proxima Midnight- Blue chick with a powerful weapon.
Supergiant- Telepathic woman.
The Coven- A trio of unnamed Witches who joined Glaive's version, and remained allied to Thanos when Glaive died.
Black Swan- I already built her- the vaguely-powered chick of vague personality and vague motivations. She's pretty vague.

[Ares]

Okay... So we’ve got a nigh-omnipotent quasi-daemonic intergalactic force of evil that possesses hosts bestowing on them incalculable power including but not limited to the ability eat suns and fly.

And the sworn enemy of said quasi-daemonic intergalactic force of evil is... a dude with a sword.

I mean, it’s a big sword. But, like, Phoenix can fly. Korvus can’t win a fight with the Rocketeer let alone Phoenix.

Clearly the Phoenix, being an old school sort of threat, subscribes to the Classical Code of Villain Chivalry. For instance, in said code, An Army of Nameless Mooks will only attack the hero in numbers that the hero can respond to, usually one or two at a time, rather than try to overwhelm the hero with sheer numbers.

Under flying enemies, the Code reads, "Any and all flying opponents will make use of their ability only enough to make the flight challenging, but not overwhelming. They will swoop in to attack, and conveniently place themselves within range of the hero’s melee attack.

They are allowed to fly no higher than any convenient nearby structures or landscape that the hero might scale in order to gain a similar height advantage to attack from. If they have a range attack, they will make use of it only if the hero has some cover to hide behind or other means of defending themselves.

[Ares]

Interestingly and fittingly, the Order was used to great effect in Avengers: Civil War,

Wrong war. Though that would have been kind of interesting to see, and probably would have put a stop to the heroes fighting immediately.

[Jabroniville]

BLACK DWARF
Created By: Jonathan Hickman & Mike Deodato, Jr.
First Appearance: New Avengers #8 (Sept. 2013)
Role: Powerhouse, Team Jobber
Group Affiliations: The Black Order/Cull Obsidian
PL 10 (110)
STRENGTH 12 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Expertise (Space Warrior) 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 3 (+4)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +13 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +13, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Black Order)
Responsibility (Pride)- Black Dwarf is humiliated by his failures, and will lash out if anyone mentions them.

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 9 / Defenses: 10 (110)

-Naturally, Black Dwarf is huge and white. He's the "Powerhouse" of the Black Order, but also kind of weirdly jobs out in his first battle, making the whole group look a bit weaker. It's kind of a "... huh?" moment when he goes down to kick T'Challa's ass in Wakanda and just gets taken out. He is expelled from the group by Thanos for his failure, but is given one last chance- defend "The Peak" from being reclaimed by the Avengers after a fight with The Builders- he fails, killed by Ronan the Accuser (who has heroically defied the Supreme Intelligence to side with Earth's heroes during Infinity). He is later resurrected by The Challenger for his own Black Order.

-As a character, he's really nothing. Just a big, strong, proud guy- ashamed and defensive over his failures.

-Black Dwarf is a pretty piss-poor fighter, having zero wins to his name, despite being a Powerhouse-type guy. Really, he couldn't even beat the Black Panther in his DEBUT AS A VILLAIN, so even "New Villain Stink" couldn't help him. I'm being nice just by making him PL 10, and assuming he's a "Thing-Class" Powerhouse- he seems like that kinda guy.

[KorokoMystia]

Black Dwarf's skin is supposedly unbreakable, too. He also had an axe but I doubt it'd boost his damage output too much.

[Ares]

BLACK DWARF
Created By: Jonathan Hickman & Mike Deodato, Jr.
First Appearance: New Avengers #8 (Sept. 2013)
Role: Powerhouse, Team Jobber
Group Affiliations: The Black Order/Cull Obsidian

Apparently he was re-named in the movie as "Cull Obsidian" because apparently some people felt that "Black Dwarf" would be offensive / racially insensitive.

. . . . . some people are stupid.

[RUSCHE]

BLACK DWARF
Created By: Jonathan Hickman & Mike Deodato, Jr.
First Appearance: New Avengers #8 (Sept. 2013)
Role: Powerhouse, Team Jobber
Group Affiliations: The Black Order/Cull Obsidian
PL 10 (110)
STRENGTH 12 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Expertise (Space Warrior) 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 3 (+4)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +13 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +13, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Black Order)
Responsibility (Pride)- Black Dwarf is humiliated by his failures, and will lash out if anyone mentions them.

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 9 / Defenses: 10 (110)

-Naturally, Black Dwarf is huge and white. He's the "Powerhouse" of the Black Order, but also kind of weirdly jobs out in his first battle, making the whole group look a bit weaker. It's kind of a "... huh?" moment when he goes down to kick T'Challa's ass in Wakanda and just gets taken out. He is expelled from the group by Thanos for his failure, but is given one last chance- defend "The Peak" from being reclaimed by the Avengers after a fight with The Builders- he fails, killed by Ronan the Accuser (who has heroically defied the Supreme Intelligence to side with Earth's heroes during Infinity). He is later resurrected by The Challenger for his own Black Order.

-As a character, he's really nothing. Just a big, strong, proud guy- ashamed and defensive over his failures.

-Black Dwarf is a pretty piss-poor fighter, having zero wins to his name, despite being a Powerhouse-type guy. Really, he couldn't even beat the Black Panther in his DEBUT AS A VILLAIN, so even "New Villain Stink" couldn't help him. I'm being nice just by making him PL 10, and assuming he's a "Thing-Class" Powerhouse- he seems like that kinda guy.

He never felt like a huge threat , just seemed to fill space.

[Hoid]

‘Black Dwarf’ is a term for a type of dead star. Thanos being death-obsessed and all...

[Ares]

‘Black Dwarf’ is a term for a type of dead star. Thanos being death-obsessed and all...

I know, but like I said . . . . stupid people.

[Jack of Spades]

And here I thought it was because "Black Dwarf" was a stupid name for a pale giant.

[HalloweenJack]

perhaps its all those things and more

[HalloweenJack]

also love the Dai-Majinn build