NEVILLE ALCOTT NEVILLE ALCOTT senior intelligence officer at MI6, Neville has served as ’s A handler, as well as liaison to G.A.T.E. and . ENEMIES: The Shadow Seven, the Immortal Enemy, Livewire KNOWN ALLIES: Ninjak, , X-O Manowar, the BASE OF OPERATIONS: MI6 Headquarters, Vauxhall Cross FIRST APPEARANCE: X-O MANOWAR #8 CAPABILITIES: Highly Intelligent; Extensive Intelligence Assets and Training

HISTORY: Alcott’s connection Colin King, and even Angelina to Ninjak goes back to the Alcott, was simply gone. superspy’s earliest days in Years later, Colin King, now MI6. Alcott took over as Colin the agent known as Ninjak, King’s handler following the would help put Alcott in place death of his first training in the leadership of MI6 and agent, Angelina Alcott, Alcott would meet the deadly apparently at the hands of superspy for what he believed the acolytes of the Undead to be the first time. Monk. Working with King, In this position, he has the two of them located and played a vital role in respond- planned the infiltration of the ing to superpowered threats Monk’s remote monastery. around the world. When Live- Both men had loved Angelina wire went rogue, Alcott was and both wanted revenge on forced to put his friendship her killers. with Ninjak aside to hunt the When King disappeared, fugitive down. n Alcott followed, but his own encounter with the Undead RECOMMENDED READING: Monk left his memory altered. NINJAK VOL. 2: All recollection of the mission, THE SHADOW WARS TPB THE ALPHA THE ALPHA virtually immortal being with powerful psionic abilities, seemingly bent A on conquest. REAL NAME: Unknown ALIASES: Stormbringer; the Beast ENEMIES: The Brotherhood of Cuth, The Lantern-Eyed Monks, H.A.R.D. Corps BASE OF OPERATIONS: Hainan, People’s Republic of China FIRST APPEARANCE: RENEGADE #6 CAPABILITIES: Telepathy; Telekinesis; Life-Force Absorption; Superhuman Strength; Superhuman Durability; Virtual Immortality HISTORY: In the 11th century, to confront and capture the a child drew the attention of Beast. In the centuries since, the Knights of Cuth for his the imprisoned Beast was apparent superhuman abilities. delivered to the keeping of Reviled as a fierce demon, a monastery of the Lantern- capable of warping the minds Eyed Monks in Hainan. of his enemies,Sample this child In the present day, Alex- file nearly destroyed the armies ander Solomon sought the sent to kill him. creature, now known as “the Years later, in Salerno, Alpha” to bring about open Italy, the Knights of Cuth conflict between humans once again confronted this and psiots. After learning “demon,” but he managed to the Alpha’s location from the escape to Antioch, Turkey, Bleeding Monk, Solomon fed sault, the Alpha seized control RECOMMENDED READING: where he seized a castle. A OMEN false intelligence about of the minds of several H.A.R.D. HARBINGER RENEGADE VOL. 2: protracted siege managed to his own whereabouts, leading Corps team members, forcing MASSACRE TPB pierce the fortifications, allow- them directly to the Alpha’s the survivors to retreat. The ing Sir Gerald of Catalonia prison. Freed by the team’s as- Alpha remains at large. n

1 HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 1 ARCHER & ARMSTRONG

Sample file

2 THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION now as Armstrong. However, with fellow superhero Faith upon meeting his target, the Herbert, Archer has helped ARCHER & ARMSTRONG. naive young Archer realizes Armstrong tackle his many rmstrong is an immortal hedonist who’s partied and brawled his way he’s not an immortal demon, problems– including going Athrough the last ten millennia. Archer is a naive teenage combat just a drunk and irresponsible spelunking inside his magic savant raised by a malicious secret society to kill Armstrong. Despite that, lout, and that it is his parents satchel for a lost keepsake, they’ve become the best of friends and inseparable partners. who are evil. The two team up fighting a vengeful party god he and work together to stop the forgot was imprisoned inside REAL NAMES: Obadiah Archer and Aram Anni-Padda Archers from reassembling and said satchel, encountering an ALIASES: Prodigal (Archer); He Who Is Not To Be Named (Armstrong) reactivating the Boon. They entire circus spliced with his ENEMIES: The Sect; Nauka Traveling Circus; Bacchus; The Lizard King; succeed, but not soon enough DNA, and reconnecting with General Redacted to stop Archer’s parents from Armstrong’s immortal wife KNOWN ALLIES: Mary-Maria Archer; Andromeda; Gub Gub; Eternal Warrior; briefly activating the device, ac- (whom he also forgot about). n Ivar, ; ; Quantum and Woody cidentally killing the Geomancer BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile and themselves, as the Boon RECOMMENDED READING: FIRST APPEARANCE: ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #1 siphons off their life force and A&A: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPABILITIES: Archer – Master Martial Artist, Marksmanship, Instantaneous infuses it into Archer’s beloved ARCHER & ARMSTRONG VOL. 1: Skill Recall; Armstrong – Super Strength, Regenerative Healing, Immortality. sister, Mary-Maria. IN THE BAG TPB The accidental death of the HISTORY: Archer and that destroys the city, siphon- Geomancer leads to a con- Armstrong are an adven- ing off the life force of count- frontation and then a team-up turing duo who often find less people and channeling with Armstrong’s brother Gilad, themselves battling the Sect, it into the nearby Armstrong. the Eternal Warrior. The three an evil coalition of secret soci- Since then, Armstrong has work together to find the new eties. From fighting dinosaurs wandered the Earth, Geomancer and stop the and flying saucers to dealing coming afoul again reality-destroying with a city-wide frat party, and again of the DID YOU machinations of these two traveling trouble- conspiratorial KNOW… the Null. Since makers have proven that Sect, which then, they’ve Armstrong has – even if they don’t always aims to steal traveled back to collected a bottle of see eye to eye – no force can the secret of the Faraway to wine for every year he stand in their way so long as endless life from free Armstrong’s has been alive. they stick together. the freewheeling other brother Ivar; Born in the ancient city of immortal. been caught up in Ur, Armstrong is one of three In the modern day, the middle of a Sect Civil brothers and mighty champi- Congresswoman Thelma and War, with Archer managing ons of the ancient civilization. Reverend Joseph Archer – to take control of most of the On their greatest adventure, secret leaders of the Dominion organization (though he’d later the Anni-Paddas travel to the branch of the Sect – abduct a disband the part under his mysterious Faraway to retrieve gifted young child and adopt control); and have even gone a mystic device known as him into their large family. looking for Archer’s biological the Boon, but the youngest of Renamed Obadiah Archer, the parents in Hollywood inside the them, Gilad, dies in the attempt. young man spends his youth lair of the Lizard King, leader of On their return, the eldest, training alongside his 21 foster the celebrity-abducting Church Ivar, activates the Boon in an siblings to kill the Dominion’s of Retrology. attempt to return Gilad to life. ultimate enemy: He Who Is Not Most recently, in addition to What follows is a cataclysm to Be Named, better known beginning a budding romance FRIENDSSample AND FOES file

GUB GUB CONGRESSWOMAN AND ANDROMEDA BACCHUS MARY-MARIA ARCHER HIDEOUS REVEREND ARCHER ARMSTRONG’S IMMORTAL GREEK ARCHER’S SCIENCE EXPERIMENT ARCHER’S ESTRANGED WIFE PARTY “GOD” ADOPTIVE SISTER A once ordinary man ADOPTIVE PARENTS A 6,000-year-old immortal Armstrong’s greatest A master assassin and genetically spliced with One-time leaders of the Greek “goddess.” nemesis he forgot inside his leader of the Sisters of Armstrong’s DNA. Dominion. Their spirits were endless magic satchel for Perpetual Darkness. imbued into Mary-Maria by 3,000 years. the activation of the Boon.

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 3 ARMOR HUNTERS HISTORY: The Armor Hunters squads of hunters traversed with Unity when they are an elite fighting force of the universe purging planets came to Earth to destroy aliens recruited to combat infected by the X-O armors. the armor wielded by the growing menace repre- The Hunters’ main force even- Aric of Dacia. n sented by the spread of the tually fell to the combined sentient X-O Manowar armors onslaught of their quarry. The RECOMMENDED throughout the universe. last surviving team, led by READING: Based on the planet Gennin, Primary Reebo, fell in combat ARMOR HUNTERS TPB TEAM MEMBERS

PRIMARY REEBO QUARTZ HELIX LILT MERCENARY ZEALOT MINERALOID ALIEN LIVING ADAPTIVE DATA DRAGON ALIEN Leader of the last Last remaining Able to shift from A winged creature remaining squad of member of a race corporeal to an energy with a corrosive GIN-GR Armor Hunters; killed exterminated by the based form breath; killed by SENTIENT SPACECRAFT by Aric of Dacia. armors; currently a at will; currently a Bloodshot. Recruited from a race of giant self-aware prisoner of G.A.T.E. prisoner of G.A.T.E. robots; currently working with G.A.T.E. ARMORINES n elite military fighting force armed with high-tech armor suits Aoriginally designed by billionaire industrialist Philip Zahn to combat the perceived threat of X-O Manowar. REAL NAMES: Gunnery Sergeant Harold Lewis (Gold Leader); Staff Sergeant Michael Sirot (Number One); James Earl Williams (Number Two); Grissom (Number Three); Antonio Cordova (Number Four) GROUP AFFILIATION: Work under the command of G.A.T.E. KNOWN ALLIES: X-O Manowar FIRST APPEARANCE: X-O MANOWAR #30 CAPABILITIES: Varies by model including: Flight; Exoskeleton Enhanced Strength; Ion Cannons; Optical Camouflage; Size Manipulation

HISTORY: Inspired by X-O When Zahn’s plan failed, Manowar, the Armorine armor he was imprisoned, and the was created by billionaire Armorines program was ceded industrialist Phillip Zahn as to the Department of Defense. a next-generationSample weapons Since then, the Armorines file package to revolutionize the have been reconstituted as face of warfare. When G.A.T.E. a professional military team. consented to a U.N. inspection They have fought side by side of the X-O Manowar armor, Zahn with X-O Manowar on multiple saw a chance to unveil his new occasions, including against fighting force. He planned to use the bizarre alien menace his Armorines to overcome and known as the Torment. n execute X-O Manowar during the inspection, demonstrating RECOMMENDED READING: the potency of his technology to X-O MANOWAR VOL. 8: the world market. ENTER ARMORINES TPB

4 VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION BARON SAMEDI BARON SAMEDI he Voodoo ruler of the dead, Baron Samedi is a cunning and untrust- Tworthy negotiator – as dangerous an ally as he is an enemy. KNOWN ALLIES: Known to work with anyone that will aid his agenda. ENEMIES: Master Darque; The Brethren BASE OF OPERATIONS: The Deadside GROUP AFFILIATION: The Voodoo Loa FIRST APPEARANCE: #5 CAPABILITIES: Control of the Dead; Possession; Dimensional Travel

HISTORY: A member of the Master Darque, Samedi Voodoo pantheon, Baron sought Shadowman’s help Samedi is an overlord of to protect both the living the afterlife realm known and the dead from total as the Deadside. Like the annihilation. Samedi, along other Loa, Samedi is capable with the other Loa, later of possessing – or “riding” turned to Punk Mambo when – mortals, allowing him to a villain known as Azaire meddle in the affairs of the threatened to destroy the living or simply enjoy the Voodoo pantheon. Shrewd earthly pleasures of the living and self-serving, Baron world. While he is notorious Samedi remains an enigmatic for making bargains that figure whose desires can turn benefit him in unexpected him from friend to foe at a ways, circumstance has moment’s notice. n made him an occasional ally of both Shadowman and RECOMMENDED READING: Punk Mambo. SHADOWMAN (2018) VOL. 1: When the Deadside was FEAR OF THE DARK TPB threatened by a marauding BLEEDING MONK BLEEDING MONK n ancient psiot whose perceptions span space and time, the Bleeding AMonk advised Toyo Harada for decades. REAL NAME: Kyros GROUP AFFILIATION: The Lantern-Eyed Monks; the Harbinger Foundation (formerly) KNOWN ALLIES: Toyo Harada FIRST APPEARANCE: HARBINGER #1 CAPABILITIES: Precognition; Remote Viewing; Unaffected by Time HISTORY: Over two thousand bleeding wound that somehow years ago, a philosopher does not kill him. It was this named Kyros traveled with moment that unlocked his Alexander the Great’s armies. precognitive perception. Kyros spent years meditating Centuries later, the Bleed- and learning from a mysterious ing Monk was sought out by master, known as the Naked Toyo Harada. With the Monk’s Lover of Wisdom, to unlock guidance, Harada built his his latent psiotSample abilities. In global empire. But the two file the ages that followed, Kyros would split over the fated attracted followers possessing destiny of Peter Stanchek, the strange abilities like himself. one psiot with the ability to Eventually, he and his stu- oppose Harada. When Peter dents, known as the Lantern- rebelled the Monk left Harada, Eyed Monks, attracted too telling him his purpose was much attention, drawing the only to make a new age possi- ire of the Chinese emperor in ble, not to control it. n the 18th century. The emperor’s soldiers slew Kyros’s students RECOMMENDED READING: and left him with an endlessly HARBINGER VOL. 6: OMEGAS TPB

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 5 BLOODSHOT

Sample file

6 THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION named Magic from one of the resulted in Jessie rapidly aging nanite-infused killers. to adolescence. Following a BLOODSHOT After surviving a P.R.S. confrontation with the P.R.S. nfused with cutting-edge nanotechnology, Bloodshot was designed by triggered nanite outbreak successor organization OMEN Ihis former masters at private military contractor Project Rising Spirit to in New York, Ray and Magic and their nanite-powered be a nearly unstoppable killing machine. But after defying his program- settled down to raise their weapon named Rampage, Ray ming and escaping his captors, he now strives to be a hero and a man. newborn daughter, Jessie. was reunited with Magic and n REAL NAME: Ray Garrison But Ray was forced to become their daughter. KNOWN ALLIES: Unity; Bloodhound; Bloodshot Squad: MI6; Neville Alcott Bloodshot again when the ENEMIES: Project Rising Spirit; Rampage; Toyo Harada; OMEN nanites he carried threatened RECOMMENDED READING: BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile to kill his daughter. To save BLOODSHOT SALVATION VOL. 1: FIRST APPEARANCE: BLOODSHOT #1 her, Ray made a deal with the THE BOOK OF REVENGE TPB CAPABILITIES: Nanite-Enhanced Strength, Speed, and Endurance; voodoo loa Baron Samedi that Accelerated Healing; Alter Appearance; Machine Interface and Control; Comprehensive Military Training FAMILY AND FRIENDS HISTORY: Project Rising Spirit’s ots imprisoned there. This led to program to create the ultimate the Harbinger Wars confronta- nanite-powered soldier tion in Nevada between Blood- stretches back decades. shot, the Harbinger Renegades, Their most recent subject, and Toyo Harada’s Harbinger the man that believes himself Foundation. The fight in Las to be Ray Garrison, is their Vegas ended with Bloodshot in greatest success and worst Harada’s hands until the newly MAGIC JESSIE failure. Breaking free from the reactivated H.A.R.D. Corps broke RAY’S TRUE LOVE NANITE-INFUSED CHILD military contractor’s control, him out. Bloodshot briefly led A survivor of abuse Bloodshot and Magic’s Bloodshot has set out to right the H.A.R.D. Corps team, agree- and the mother of Ray’s daughter rapidly aged by exposure wrongs and be a hero on his ing to work with P.R.S. against daughter, Jessie. to the extra-dimensional energies own terms. Harada in exchange for Ray of the Deadside. Beginning at the Garrison’s full personnel height of WWI, files. the Bloodshot DID When P.R.S. program has YOU KNOW… again tried steadily Bloodshot’s nanites make to regain refined its him extraordinarily durable control of technology in though not inexhaustible, their errant every major as he requires a steady super-soldier, BLOODHOUND DIANE FESTIVAL conflict. It was supply of protein to Bloodshot FIRST ENHANCEMENT SUBJECT FBI PROFILER the develop- power them. vanished. He A very good boy A special agent who investigated ment of artificial resurfaced to technologically enhanced for the nanite-powered murderers in intelligence systems aid MI6 and the trench warfare in WWI. Colorado and uncovered the P.R.S. and implanted memory Eternal Warrior against plan to unleash a nanite plague. technology in the 90s that the Immortal Enemy. In that unlocked the full potential of fight Bloodshot was deployed the program. Now, they could to protect the Geomancer, implant false memories and Kay McHenry. Bloodshot was fully fabricated identities into not able to keep the Immortal their ultimate weapons to Enemy from killing Kay, who motivate them to succeed no used her dying breath to matter the cost. purge Bloodshot’s nanites When a P.R.S. scientist from his system, restoring to named Emmanuel Kuretich him his lost humanity. discovered his employer was In the short time he’d using Bloodshot to target and known Kay, Bloodshot had capture psiot children to ex- come to care for her deeply. periment onSample and exploit their Now an ordinary man, Ray file abilities, he turned against struggled with both her loss them. When the time was and the memories of every- right, Kuretich struck, breaking thing he’d done in the service Bloodshot free from P.R.S. of P.R.S. Ray was forced to control and releasing all of his reclaim his nanites when he false memories at once. discovered they were turning The now independent Blood- ordinary people into mass shot struck back at his former killers. In the course of this BLOODSHOT SQUAD VETERAN NANOTECH SOLDIERS masters, attacking their secret hunt, Ray found himself car- Tank Man, Quiet Man, Cold Man, and Viet Man are Ray’s Nevada facility and setting ing for someone again when surviving Project: Bloodshot Predecessors. loose the Generation Zero psi- he rescued a young woman

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 7 BRITANNIA HISTORY: In the year 60 A.D., empire in Britannia to solve the during the reign of Nero, the mysterious disappearances of Roman legionary Antonius Roman soldiers on the frontier. Axia serves as the world’s first There, Antonius and Bran un- detective. Trained in the art of covered another cult of Orkus detection by the Codex, sacred that had taken hold among the writings held in secret by the legionaries. Though the cult Vestal Virgins of Rome, Axia was rooted out, Antonius’s en- uses his skills in deduction counters in the wilds with the and training in the ways of the powers of the druids and what mind to solve mysteries that appeared to be Orkus himself confound his fellow Romans. left him questioning how many In an era ruled by superstition, of these fantastic visions were the detectioner faces menaces real and how many merely that defy reason and would visions of drug-addled minds. take a lesser mind past the These questions would arise brink of madness. again when, back in Rome, the Long hailed as the hero of sons and daughters of nobility the battle of Tigranocerta, began to die under mysterious Antonius Axia was a natural circumstances, apparently choice when Rubria, chief of the claimed by angry Roman gods. Vestal Virgins, needed someone With the help of Achillia, a to rescue one of her young slave woman condemned to die charges. The young woman had in the arena who had instead been captured and was soon to thrived there as one of its be sacrificed by followers of a deadliest gladiators, Antonius dark Etruscan god of the under- uncovered the plot. A vengeful world named Orkus. Antonius slave woman named Elissa saved the young Vestal from had been drugging the young her fate, but his encounter in nobles into believing they were the cave of Orkus left his mind seeing the gods before using fractured, either from the power their vision-addled state to of the demonic entity or per- take their lives one by one. haps merely because of toxic Antonius and Achillia would fumes that naturally seeped then be called on by Nero to from the walls of the cave. travel to Egypt to retrieve the Whatever the cause, Rubria had standards of a lost legion–a her Vestals heal the man, and loss that threatened the set about training him for her emperor’s reign. The two own purposes. succeeded, but that did little to Six years later, Antonius gain the trust of the mad em- had established a formidable peror, whose insanity Rubria’s reputation as an investigator. visions now lead her to believe Formidable enough that Nero will soon destroy Rome. n called for him and demanded that he and his manservant, RECOMMENDED READING: Bran, undertake a mission to BRITANNIA TPB the remote stretches of the ROMANSSample AND BARBARIANS file

ANTONIUS AXIA BRAN ACHILLIA RUBRIA NERO ORKUS THE DETECTIONER LOYAL MANSERVANT GLADIATRIX CHIEF VESTAL MAD EMPEROR CHTHONIC DEITY Hero of the Roman le- A Briton and slave who A slave whose work Guardian of the sacred A power-crazed despot An Etruscan god that gions trained in secret aids Antonius in his alongside Antonius fire of Rome, she using the detectioner’s Antonius does not be- arts of deduction and cases. has won her freedom, works in secret to unique skills to ferret lieve exists but plagues psychology. and his heart. undermine Nero. out threats. him nevertheless.

8 VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION THE DARQUES THE DARQUES win siblings Nicodemo and Sandria Darque were trained in the arts of Tnecromancy from a young age. A falling out set Nicodemo on the course to wipe out all of existence, and Sandria on the path to stop him. REAL NAMES: Nicodemo Darque; Sandria Darque ENEMIES: Shadowman; Ninjak KNOWN ALLIES: The Brethren (Master Darque) BASE OF OPERATIONS: The Deadside FIRST APPEARANCE: SHADOWMAN #1 (Master Daqrque), SHADOWMAN #0 (Sandria) CAPABILITIES: Necromancy; Dimensional Travel

HISTORY: Nicodemo and his home dimension, leaving Sandria Darque were born in Lyceum little more than Louisiana in 1812. Their mother blood and ashes in his wake. died in childbirth, leaving the But the intervention of the twins to be raised alone by newly appointed Shadow- their sorcerer father. He trained man, Jack Boniface, left them with a single purpose: to him trapped in the Dead- help him open the gates to the side, halfway between the mystic realm known as Lyce- realms of the living and the um. However, when they began dead. Eventually, Nicodemo the ritual on their 18th birthday, succeeded in capturing and Sandria and Nicodemo discov- chaining the Shadowman ered that their father’s plan to his will, binding Jack to all along had been to sacrifice the mission of retrieving the his children in order to travel scattered mystical artifacts to Lyceum. To save Sandria, of the library of Lyceum and Nicodemo killed their father destroying them. and siphoned off his power. Leaving Jack to this work, Leaving their father’s home Nicodemo set upon a new in ruins, the twins became scheme. With his necroman- traveling mystics, doling out tic powers, Darque attempted small blessings and curses for to subvert the power of a new a profit. During this time, Nico- Geomancer and set in motion demo developed a disdain for a cataclysm that would con- the wider world and life itself. sume the world. Thwarted by This terrified Sandria, driving another Geomancer, Tama, her to flee from her brother. It Nicodemo was left trapped was then she met and fell in in the form of a twisted tree. love with a man named Marius It was then Sandria emerged Boniface. When the jealous to end her brother’s life for Nicodemo finally tracked them good. With the aid of Ninjak down, Sandria was giving and the assassins of the birth to Marius’s child. To save Shadow Seven, Nicodemo her love, Sandria sacrificed was left little more than their child to bind the Shadow scattered bones. Loa to Marius, cursing him and Sandria recovered Nicode- his descendants to becoming mo’s bones, but fearing what the Shadowman. would happen if they fell into Spurned by his sister, Nico- the wrong hands, Jack Boni- demo then resolved to seek face pursued her to her secret out the power of Lyceum for lair in Scotland. During their himself. A centurySample later, now struggle, Sandria unbound file known as Master Darque, he Jack from the Shadow Loa, discovered that the pathway but he managed to trap her in to Lyceum lay through his a pocket dimension, alongside nemesis, the Shadowman. In Nicodemo’s remains. Jack a final climactic battle with then delivered that pocket Josiah Boniface, descendant dimension to the hands of of Marius, Nicodemo used the Baron Samedi. n power of the Shadowman to cross into the celestial realm. RECOMMENDED READING: Years later, Nicodemo SHADOWMAN (2018) VOL. 3: attempted to return at last to RAG AND BONE TPB

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 9 DIVINITY

Sample file

10 VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION where his efforts to create a free of the illusion and paradise on Earth attracted a convinced the maddened DIVINITY. group of devotees – led by a Kazmir that he could do so ecades ago, the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Abram Adams into deep space. wanderer named David Camp much more with his powers There, an encounter with the Unknown gifted him with godlike powers. – and brought him into conflict than resurrect a dead past, D with the super-team Unity. inspiring him to set off for REAL NAME: Abram Adams The heroes of Unity barely parts unknown. ENEMIES: David Camp; Kazmir; The Red Brigade managed to contain the cos- Having found peace, KNOWN ALLIES: Myshka; Unity; Atom-13; Tagg the Sky Goddess; The Past-Light monaut, who they codenamed Divinity and Myshka settled BASE OF OPERATIONS: Ugra National Park, Russia “Divinity.” The conflict ended down together in a remote FIRST APPEARANCE: DIVINITY #1 when Divinity consented to cabin in the Russian wilds. CAPABILITIES: Reality Warping; Matter Manipulation; Time Manipulation his own confinement. Their peace was inter- Eventually Myshka, rupted when alien forces HISTORY: Abram Adams was mission in all ways except now also possessing from the Unknown came to a cosmonaut who discovered one: he had a secret love, reality-warping abilities, abduct their child. The duo an interstellar domain called Eva, pregnant with his child. returned to Earth using power journeyed to the Unknown, the Unknown that granted him Forced to choose between siphoned from fellow cosmo- confronting David Camp reality-altering powers. When his duty and leaving Eva naut, Kazmir. On her return, in his mad scheme to take he returned to Earth, he was behind, Abram – alongside Myshka attempted to restore control of the vast forces of treated as a deity by some fellow cosmonauts Valentina the U.S.S.R. as a world power. the Unknown by assassinat- and a major threat by “Myshka” Volkov and Abram, feeling they should ing a cosmic caretaker called others. Despite the Kazmir – departed not use their powers to inter- the Observer. Divinity and impact someone DID YOU Earth in 1960. fere, confronted her and was Myshka foiled Camp’s plan this powerful KNOW… At the far end able to convince Myshka to and saved the alien realm could have, the Divinity is one of of the cosmos, end her conquest. from destruction by allowing former son of the few people to ever the trio awoke Unfortunately, it turned out their child to become the the state now reach a stalemate from their Kazmir was not dead. He took new Observer. n only wishes to with Toyo Harada. cryogenic sleep possession of Myshka’s body protect mankind. years earlier than and used their combined pow- RECOMMENDED READING: In 1941, Abram expected, having en- ers to rewrite history, creating DIVINITY TPB Adams was abandoned countered an anomalous an alternate reality where on a Russian citizen’s location they dubbed “the the Soviet Union won doorstep when he was just Unknown.” While exploring the Cold War. In this a baby, becoming a ward the phenomenon, for reasons new Stalinverse, of the state. Raised to be he could hardly explain, Abram was an exemplar of communist Abram removed his helmet. confined to a superiority, Abram eventually Exposure to the strange en- mental insti- joined the Soviet space pro- ergies of the place endowed tution. With gram, where he was selected him with new cosmic abilities the help and trained for a highly – abilities Abram used to of Ninjak classified mission to explore abandon the mission and and Toyo the furthest reaches of the return home alone. Harada, galaxy. Abram was uniquely Abram landed in Australia Abram suited to this decades-long over 50 years after he left, broke FRIENDS AND FOES Sample file

MYSHKA DAVID CAMP KAZMIR COPILOT TO THE UNKNOWN THE CARTOGRAPHER MAD GOD Once his adversary, now Abram’s A worshipper of Divinity who has The third cosmonaut to return from the love and mother of his son. now turned against him. Unknown. Creator of the Stalinverse timeline.

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 11 DEADSIDE

HISTORY: The Deadside is one in the mortal realm. However, border nearly all the known medi, the Deadside serves as of many nether realms and within its vast stretches, the worlds. For some, the Dead- a conduit for the supernatu- outer dimensions separated Deadside’s environment can side itself is the afterlife, ral power of the Shadowman. from Earth’s mortal plane vary widely. their final destination in the It was also used as a font of by the veil of worlds. This Its native inhabitants are hereafter; for others, it is harnessed soul energy by the shadowy realm exists as the souls of the departed, merely a waystation on the necromancer Master Darque a dark mirror of the lands though beings from many path to their final reward; in his schemes to destroy all of the living, with many other realms — and even the and to a few, it is a source of existence. n locations within the Dead- living — can be encountered mystical power. side appearing as gloomy there, as the Deadside’s Presided over by powers RECOMMENDED READING: reflections of counterparts dim and misty boundaries like the Voodoo Loa Baron Sa- RAPTURE TPB NOTABLE INHABITANTS Sample file

PALE MISTRESS LORD IVROS JAUNTY EMBER AMY BELU SOUL SOVEREIGN DESPOT OF THE TRICKSTER SPIRIT DEMON PRISONER DEMON DREAM REMNANT OF THE SEA SUNDERED PLAIN Once a guide to Assisted Master Friend of Tama the Rules a Deadside Imprisoned Hwen Leader of a Shadowman in the Darque in collecting Geomancer and inca- realm populated by Mirage’s soul. Deadside army. Deadside. magical artifacts. pable of telling a lie. “dead dreams.”

12 VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION DOCTOR MIRAGE DOCTOR MIRAGE han Fong-Mirage can talk to the dead, an ability she uses alongside her ghostly Shusband Hwen in her career as an occult detective and reality TV star. REAL NAME: Shan Fong-Mirage ENEMIES: Linton March; Lord Ivros; Denis de Walt; Master Darque KNOWN ALLIES: Li Hwen Mirage (ghostly spouse); Shadowman BASE OF OPERATIONS: Santa Barbara, CA FIRST APPEARANCE: SHADOWMAN #5 CAPABILITIES: Spirit Channeling; Occult Expertise

HISTORY: Doctor Mirage is an ocean domains named the expert on all things other- Pale Mistress had imprisoned worldly, aided by her natural her husband. Shan bargained ability to commune with the for Hwen’s release, but while deceased. With the ghost she was gone, several of of her husband by her side, Linton March’s fellow occult- she’s making up for lost ists kidnapped her body to time while also protecting prevent her from breaking the the Earth from otherworldly binding spell that extended threats and starring in her all their lives. To make matters own hit reality TV show about worse, a demon lord named her exploits as a real-life Ivros was amassing an army ghost hunter. for his conquest of the liv- Born with the ing realm. Shan and power to see, DID Hwen managed hear, and to defeat both even speak YOU KNOW… threats and with the Doctor Mirage’s costume finally reunite spirits of the was designed and warded by in the real dead, Shan Hwen while he was still alive world. studied the to protect her from super- Together occult and natural influences. again, the parapsychol- lovebirds began ogy for years to searching for a way master her innate to give Hwen a corporeal FRIENDS AND FOES abilities. Which was how she form. Their research led them to met paranormal investigator the Vita Secunda scroll, bringing Li Hwen Mirage. Together the them into conflict with the spirit two became world-renowned of a powerful occultist from investigators and co-stars the 1920s called Denis de Walt. of a popular reality TV show Complicating matters further, about their adventures, and Mirage’s agent was working on eventually, man and wife. But reviving their old TV show, only that all came to a tragic end with a new co-star to stand when Hwen drowned in a fight in for her ghostly husband. THE PRISONER LINTON MARCH with an interdimensional scav- Ultimately, Shan imprisoned de FORMER AGENT OF LYCEUM CORRUPT OCCULTIST enger. Worse yet, Shan found Walt back in the scroll, and the A mystic entity once used A potent mystic augmented herself unable to even contact couple continues their search by March and his fellows to by the bound souls of his Hwen’s spirit. for a way to restore Hwen fully extend their lives. former partners. Shan struggled for years to back to life. come to term with this loss, When not working her own until her agent convinced cases, Mirage is often lending her she needed to take on a a hand to other superheroes wealthy clientSample named Linton in need of her unique occult file March to save her home from expertise; including joining a foreclosure. March wanted to team led by Ninjak, battling hire Mirage to remove a spell literal nightmares with Faith, binding him to an otherworldly and helping the Eternal Warrior servant. Mirage agreed, but save the young Geomancer, only because the creature Tama, from the invading forces ALEX HUANG n DENIS DE WALT told her doing so would help of Imperatrix Virago. HWEN’S DOUBLE EVIL SPIRIT her locate Hwen’s spirit. Hwen’s TV stand-in; has been An actor and occultist from the Shan projected her spirit RECOMMENDED READING: mysteriously changed by his 1920s trying to live again. into the Deadside, where she THE DEATH-DEFYING contact with the supernatural. discovered that a spirit of the DR. MIRAGE TPB

THE VALIANT UNIVERSE HANDBOOK 2019 EDITION 13