This page may contain some of the same content as the DC Database article. A more complete and current article is at the DC Comics Database Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe). |
History
Nemesis was born Charis, a member of the Adrastea. They are like the normal Kherubim but they all have psychic powers (many, like Charis, are empaths). The group was originally a slave caste but became a powerful underground criminal organization.
Charis' first chronological appearance was when she met Mister Majestic on Khera. At the time, she was trying to steal his weapon so she could sell it after. After he caught her, they soon became friends and lovers, and Majestic was able to get her Coda training, something an Adrastean like Charis was normally not allowed due to intense disrimination. Unfortunately, since Charis was an Adrastea, Majestic being with her was frowned upon so they had to stay together in secret. However, their secret wasn't as well hidden as they thought. Kheran politicians, trying to make peace for their planet, chose Majestic to sleep with Zealot, an act that would unite the two most powerful factions on the planet, the Pantheon and the Coda. Majestic felt it was his duty as a Kherubim to do what he was asked of him for the sake of Khera, but the politicians would have blackmailed him by threatening to tell others about Charis if he didn't. Because of his "duty" Majestic and Charis separated, though they still loved each other. They ended up on Earth together though when their ship crashed on the planet.
Charis was part of the Coda on Earth but was betrayed by another faction (led by her new man Raven), the Brotherhood of the Blade. The Brotherhood had joined with some rogue Daemonites in a plan to overthrow both their people. The first step of this plan was to kill hundreds of Coda and frame Charis. They did, leaving only Charis (and Zealot, who had left before the attack) alive among the original Coda. After this, both Zealot and Majestic swore to hunt down Charis (now Nemesis), not knowing that she had also sworn to avenge her sisters. The whole betrayal had taken place in Ancient Greece, and Nemesis hadn't been seen since. However, she appeared under the radar in Europe, Japan, and American under various monikers, killing Daemonite enclaves, encountering figures like Majestic and Sherlock Holmes along the way. It wasn't until 2005 that she fully showed up again.
Majestic, Zealot, and the other Wildcats with them, found Nemesis in the middle of killing some Brotherhood assassins, though the Wildcats didn't know that was who they were. She had been hunting and killing Brotherhood members since the betrayal in Greece. After she had killed them, the Wildcats tried to stop her from kidnapping a child that was with the men, but Nemesis made short work of the team. She even managed to cut Majestic with a sword (the blade of the sword was made from the metal of a machine that was created to destroy the universe and could cut through anything). She escaped with the child (named Kara) but Majestic and the team eventually found her.
Before the Wildcats could arrive tough, Daemonites found Charis and Kara and managed to take them by surprise, but she was able to hold her own until Majestic arrived looking to take Kara back and to kill Charis. After surrounding herself and Kara with a forcefield, Charis blew up the building, with Daemonites and Majestic caught in the explosion. Majestic survived though and used his former relationship with Nemesis to take her down.
Majestros took both of them to a Halo Corporation building in New York City. While there, Charis revealed the truth behind her "betrayal" and also explained what was going on with the girl. The Brotherhood (and their Daemonite allies) had been mutating humanity (by polluting water all over the world) since they had betrayed the Coda and their people in Ancient Greece. The girl was created as an activator to trigger the mutations so Nemesis was keeping her safe so the Brotherhood couldn't use her to control humanity. Majestic and Zealot accepted her story (after some tests of their own), but before Nemesis could be released, a Brotherhood spacecraft (a Bladeship) emerged from a bleed portal and fired hundreds of projectiles into the Halo building with the Wildcats (and Nemesis) inside.
The projectiles were Scimitars, Brotherhood/Shaper hybrids, living weapons born and bred to kill. Majestros saved Nemesis at the last minute from being cut in half by a Scimitar. While Majestic was fighting some of the Scimitars, Kara was kidnapped and the Bladeship attacked. After the Brotherhood ship bombarded the building with plasma canons, Charis was the last one standing, thanks to her force field. Following the Scimitar that had captured Kara onto the ship, she came face to face with Raven, the leader of the Brotherhood. She was too late to stop him from activating the girl, and the resulting blast knocked her off the flying ship and to the ground. When she awoke, she was with Majestic, Zealot, Grifter and Savant. It was then that Majestic and Zealot called a truce with Nemesis and offered her the chance to finally avenge her slain sisters of the Coda. Majestic, Nemesis and the Wildcats battled the human mutates in New York City, while other Wildstorm teams fought mutates all over America.
Savant located the Brotherhood's battleship in space, and teleported all the Wildcats (except Majestic) using the Halo teleportation system. On board they found that Raven had the entire population of New Jersey frozen in status pods as hostages. He was ready to kill them if the Wildcats didn't surrender. Nemesis, being a Coda warrior, was unable to surrender, and threw out some special grenades, taking out the Brotherhood and buying time for her to send the hostages back to Earth and set the ship to self-destruct. Nemesis was able to locate Kara and free her, but she was attacked by a Daemonite and was about to be shot. Grifter, deeply in lust with Nemesis, took the hit for her. Savant tried to teleport the team back, but there weren't enough beacons to get them all back, so Nemesis gave hers to Kara. She also gave Grifter a goodbye kiss and told Zealot to tell Majestros that had she not sacrificed herself, she would have showed him what he had been missing for the past three millennia.
After the Wildcats were gone, Charis faced off against Raven. Raven also had a blade forged from the material that allowed Charis' blade to cut through anything, so when they fought, it was especially dangerous. They fought and Nemesis won, but in killing Raven, she had damaged the ship and she was sucked out into open space. It was then that Majestic returned, saving her from certain death since the forcefields she had activated when she was sucked out, were losing power. Back at the Halo Corporation building in New York City, Majestros asked Charis to stay with him and be with him as well as join the Wildcats. She turned him down, and after one last kiss went on her way to more adventures. Nemesis, now armed with two indestructible blades was on her own once again.
After some time the Void contacted Nemesis to inform her of the on-coming cataclysm that would bring about Armageddon. Void transports Nemesis to a future where the majority of the Earth is destroyed by powerful metahumans. Furthermore, she discovered that Majestros became a mad tyrant and sought to rebuild a "New Khera" on the ruined Earth, while becoming enemies of the Wildcats.[1] Returning to her own time Nemesis joins forces with Savant and Backlash (Jodi Slayton) in an attempt to stop that dark future from happening. Ultimately their lead led to a hidden missile bunker in western Utah and discovered that the American government had been weaponizing clones of The High known as Reapers (though Nemesis and her allies hardly recognize the resemblance). With the silo destroyed and having killed off an escaped Reaper, Nemesis was rescued by Mister Majestic. However, on the next day she realized too late that the destruction of the silo wasn't able to prevent the inevitable apocalypse, culminating into the events of Number of the Beast.
Nemesis found herself with the Wildcats when Armageddon hit, and guiltily believed that she herself allowed the cataclysm to happen. She stayed with them for a while, battling against Majestic who had begun a new Kheran empire on the islands of Hawaii. Majestic offered for her to join him in his new empire but she refused. However, after a battle against Lord Defile and his Daemonites, Nemesis and Jodi Slayton decided to take Majestic's offer and left the Wildcats to join him.[2]
However, it was later revealed that Nemesis and Jodi's reason for coming to "New Khera" as they were blackmailed by Majestic as he had imprisoned Savant for the breeding of pure Kherubim "heirs" via test tubes. Furthermore, Savant was also imprisoned for learning that there was something other than Armageddon that had driven Majestic mad.[3] After the Wildcats came to rescue the three women, Majestic attempted to stop them. Nemesis, alone, fought Majestic in order to give time for the others to escape. As the two reluctantly fought, their fight brought them over to an active volcano where Nemesis decided to sacrifice herself to kill her lover into the volcano. However, after the two plunged into the volcano's lava, Majestic was the first to emerge alive and believed that Nemesis didn't survive, forcing him to briefly take his anger out on the Wildcats.[4] Majestic later returned to the place of Nemesis' supposed death and searched vainly for her trace, but found only her swords.[5]
Unbeknownst to anyone, Nemesis was saved by someone when she fell into the volcano. Whoever saved her told her that she could have whatever she wanted and what she wanted most was Majestic. She came to UnLondon among the gathered heroes that were notified of the chance to leave Earth on the Authority's Carrier. Following the Carrier's departure and during the Knights of Khera's attack, Nemesis remained hidden throughout the conflict and rescued a wounded Majestic who was impaled in the neck by Sebastian.[6] She took him to recuperate at his Mount Rushmore hideout and chose to keep the mute/paralyzed Majestic against his will to conceive a child she desired, which would take years or more to conceive according to their Kherubim physiology. It became apparent that Nemesis's sudden change of personality was being controlled apparently by the individual who rescued her.[7][8] After the three month period of Earth's restoration (and for repeatedly raping Majestic), Nemesis finally became pregnant. She then decided that Majestic was in no condition to be a father, and sought the one who rescued her from the volcano to be her unborn child's father figure instead.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Kherubim Physiology Kherubim resemble humans in appearance, but are physically far stronger and more durable and extremely long-lived, nearly immortal. Her vocal cords are highly developed allowing a far wider range of tones than what is possible for a human being.
- Enhanced Senses: Charis has very high levels of senses. most notably sight and hearing. She is easily at human peak as far as her ability to note detailed objects. Her hearing, on the other hand, is very enhanced.
- Immortality: As a Kheran, Charis possesses virtual immortality. Her race is extremely long-lived and she has been on Earth for literally the whole of human civilization and is showing no sign of growing old anytime soon. However an evolutionary drawback to their near-immortality is that Kherans are almost infertile, only very rarely will a Kheran produce offspring. This effect is seen in real-world natural environments, as longer living organisms will have fewer offspring than organisms with short lifespans. This is a natural check against overpopulation.
- Enhanced Healing: She can regenerate damaged or destroyed bodily tissue with far greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. She can regenerate from anything, even injured tissue, brain cells (nerves), and organs. Gunshot and stab wounds, cuts, and broken bones can perfectly heal in a few minutes.
- Enhanced Immunity: Her body neutralizes all detrimental contaminants making him immune to all poisons, toxins, venom, viruses, bacteria, diseases, disorders, parasites, allergens, and radiations.
- Superhuman Durability:: As a Kheribum she is very very tough and durable. A regular bullet and gun will not adequately harm her and her skin could be considered super hard and dense to a normal human.
- Superhuman Speed:
- Telekinesis
- Telepathy
- Enhanced Strength: As a Kheran, Charis is naturally stronger than a normal human. She can lift/press up to two tons of weight with effort and in addition to this, knows how to best apply her strength.
- Empathy: As an Adrastean, she has psychic powers, the strongest of these being empathy, allowing her to sense others by sensing their feelings, as well as learn their past and secret desires among others things.
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Charis was trained as a Coda so she is a spectacular fighter in both armed and unarmed combat.
- Thievery
- Swordsmanship
Weaknesses
- Mental Illness: If she comes into contact the body of a murder victim, her empathic ability causes her to experience the feelings of pain and horror of the person who died and compel her to avenge them.[10]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Stealth Suit: She also wears a special stealth suit that lets her create forcefields.
- Pegasus: An assault hover-bike made from the finest technologies presumably from Khera, Daemon and earth; capable of launching ranged plasma blasts or mounting pickup upon voice command.
Weapons
- Creation Engine Blades: When fighting, Charis wields two blades forged from shards of the Creation Engine that can cut through any material in the universe.
- Genetic Concussion Grenades: Pieces of Kherubim ordinance that, once after detonation, horribly wrought ones genetic structure beyond comprehension. Agonizingly warping the recipients bodies apart as their D.N.A caustically disintegrates.
Trivia
- Nemesis once fell in love with Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, who was also the basis for one of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers character. She regretted being immortal while seeing him growing up to his old age.[11]
- It is stated in the 1939 edition of the Planetary Guide, that its author (Elijah Snow) had personally met Nemesis.[11]
- Nemesis was an acquaintance of Detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.[10]
- Nemesis sailed on the RMS Titanic and fought Daemonite/Brotherhood assassins who were responsible for sinking the ship.[12]
- According to Nemesis, she actually served as the inspiration to or the actual Greek Goddess of Vengeance in ancient times.[13]
Links and References
- 35 Appearances of Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe)
- Minor Appearances of Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe)
- Media Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe) was Mentioned in
- Images featuring Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe)
- 1 Quotations by or about Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe)
- Character Gallery: Lady Charis (Wildstorm Universe)
- ↑ Wildcats: Armageddon #1
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #7
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #10
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #11
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #15
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #21
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #22
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #23
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #26
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Wildcats: Nemesis #6
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wildcats: Nemesis #5
- ↑ Wildcats: Nemesis #7
- ↑ Wildcats: World's End #6
Footnotes
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