ANNEX

Real Name: Alexander Ellis

Identity/Class: Human, cyborg/technology user

Occupation: Former soldier in US Army

Group Membership: Mavericks (Geiger, She-Thing), Initiative (Annex, Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Batwing, Bengal, Constrictor, Crusader (Z'Reg), Diamondback (Rachel Leighton), Gauntlet (Joseph Green), Geiger, Gorilla Girl, Hellcat, Melee, Prodigy, Proton, Red Nine, Stature, Stingray, Sunstreak (Andrea Roarke), Taskmaster, 3-D Man (Delroy Garrett), Tigra, Trauma, War Machine (James Rhodes))

Affiliations: Dr. Hillman Barto, Melody Barto, Butterball (Emery Schaub), New Warriors (Debrii, Justice, Night Thrasher, Rage, Scarlet Spiders, Slapstick), Skrull Kill Krew (Catwalk, Dice, Moonstomp, Riot, Ryder), Secret Warriors (Druid, Nick Fury, Hellfire, Phobos, Quake, Stonewall, Yo-Yo), Wasp, Young Avengers (Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling, Patriot (Eli Bradley), Speed, Rebecca Taylor, Vision (Jonas), Wiccan), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Vengeance

Enemies: Adarco, Big Game Posse, Brace, Sam Buchanan, Abner Dunson, Firebrand, King Cobra, MAULER, Mr. Hyde, Platoon, Ragnarok (Thor clone), Ren-Tech, Skrulls, Yellowjacket (Skrull imposter, Criti Noll)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27 (1993)

Powers/Abilities: Annex possesses the ability to tap into the BREW--Bio-Regenerative Energy Well--which is filled with transmissible biological material, living matter that can be transmitted over ultra high frequency radio waves and configured into any shape. Initially he required the Annex armor to do this, but he later had implants installed that allowed him to directly tap the BREW and recreate the armor at will.
Theoretically, the BREW enables him to form any shape or mechanical device, providing two things: 1) the component molecules of the device exist within the BREW, 2) the armor has analyzed a replica or schematic of its target creation. Using the BREW, he forms a prosthetic limb to replace his missing lower leg. He can access the extensive munitions design files from Adarco. He can generate a variety of weapons and devices, including even high-tech/magical devices such as Linda/the Exorcist, the gun formerly used by Frank Drake, which uses nanotechnology to attack beings of magical nature. He has also formed inertia dampening shields, energy nets, a variety of energy weapons, etc.
The majority of the armor's powers require transmissions to and from the BREW, but it has a few inherent abilities. The armor also allows him to fly, protects him from a certain degree of injury, and granting him superhuman strength (Class 10?). It can also magnetize its surface, with sufficient power to tear a weapon from a foe's hand.

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185 (without armor), 300 lbs (in armored form)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27 (fb)) - During a US military action in the Middle East, Alex Ellis took a bullet in the calf muscle. He helped his friend Davey Dunson to safety, but Davey died anyway, and Alex ended up needing to have his leg amputated due to the extensive damage and delayed treatment. Back in the US, Alex was very disappointed in the prostheses available to him, but was eventually put in touch with Adarco, where Dr. Hillman Barto introduced him to the Annexing unit. Upon donning the armor, Ellis was able to form a new leg, suddenly, however, a large amount of software began to download into Ellis' mind, submerging his personality and allowing the armor's programming to dominate. Annex then went on a rampage.

(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27) - Spider-Man encountered Annex, and after a brief skirmish followed him back to Barto's lab. Barto helped Ellis regain his own mind, and they learned that the mass software download was actually the brain patterns and memories of Davey Dunson. Davey's father, Abner, was the president of Adarco, and had designed the Annexing unit and placed the software placed in an effort to restore his son to life. After learning this, Annex went after Abner Dunson, who donned a similar Annexing unit helmet. Dunson tried to force Annex to allow Davey's personality to be downloaded, but as this happened, Davey told his father that his grief had corrupted him and that what he was doing was wrong. Abner Dunson madly fired at Annex, but instead destroyed one of the computer terminals from which he was accessing files. Gigabytes of gibberish were downloaded into Abner's brain, incapacitating him.

(Spider-Man Unlimited I#3/3) - Ellis again activated the Annex unit, to stop Ren-Tech from stealing the weapons stores from Adarco. Ren-Tech member Theodore Bolton correctly deduced that Annex's powers required a connection to the BREW, and jammed those transmissions. With the majority of his abilities blocked, Annex still managed to magnetize his armor, pulling Ren-Tech's weapons from their hand. He then destroyed the jammer and captured them with a stun pistol.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#153/3-155/3) - Annex came across a struggle between Vengeance and the Big Game Posse. The Posse activated their cloaking devices to make it appear as if Annex had assaulted Rebecca Taylor. After the usual mistaken super-hero battle, Annex took Rebecca to the hospital. However, the Big Gam Posse then captured Annex and hooked his armor into their computers, enabling them to replicate the Exorcist anti-occult gun, which they had obtained from Sam Buchanan.
The Posse used these weapons against Vengeance, nearly destroying him. Annex found himself unable to reduce the power flow from the BREW, but he did manage to amplify it beyond the Posse's control, lighting them up with energy and effectively neutralizing their cloaking ability. Now able to see his foes, Vengeance defeated the rest of the Posse. As their leader fled, Annex broke free and destroyed their base to prevent them from replicating the Exorcist or accessing the BREW in the future.

(Annex#1-2) - Adarco attempted to capture or kill Dr. Hillman Barto to regain the lost Annexing technology. In the process, Annex encountered and battled their assassin, Brace; received an implant that enabled him to recreate the armor at will so that he no longer had to travel to Barto's lab to don and remove the armor; and learned that the Annexing technology was actually designed to be used as a weapon rather than for prostheses.

(Annex#3-4) - Annex fought off one of AIM/ARMS' Platoon agents, who had been hired by Adarco to capture him. He used a hyper-sonic weapon to incapacitate Platoon and force him to reveal where Barto and his family were being held. Annex morphed a copy of the Platoon armor to try to sneak back into Adarco unsuspected, but they quickly discovered the truth and sent Brace after him again. While Annex battled Brace, Spider-Man (who had followed what he thought was Platoon to Adarco's base) freed Dr. Barto. Brace donned Annex's original armor, but Barto began overriding its control, restoring Brace's organic body parts, which had been replaced by cybernetic ones by Adarco. As Brace regained his humanity--which Adarco had told him was forever lost--he turned against Adarco and attacked them. When Adarco tried to deactivate Brace, a feedback resulted which killed both Brace and his former superiors. Annex formed a shield which protected he and Barto, but Barto died from his injuries anyway. Alex vowed that Barto's ideals would live on in Annex.

(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark considered Annex as a potential Initiative recruit.

(Avengers: The Initiative#13 (fb) - BTS) - Despite his military training, Annex was recruited by the Initiative and required to undergo training at Camp Hammond.

(Avengers: The Initiative#13) - On the bus ride to Camp Hammond, new recruits Annex, Batwing, Gorilla Girl, Prodigy, and Sunstreak were embarrassed by the enthusiastic Emery Schaub, and surprised by the lack of enthusiasm of the residents of Stamford, Connecticut. They were soon greeted at base by Yellowjacket (secretly the Skrull Criti Noll) and Taskmaster, who code-named Schaub Butterball. Over the following weeks they were constantly embarrassed by Schaub, who forced them to undergo extra punishments constantly with his naivety. They even tried hazing him, but his invulnerability allowed him to sleep through it. Bored one night, the six trainees decided to sneak off-base, convincing Schaub to use his powers to help them sneak off the base in a jeep. They drove to a local beach, built a fire, had beer (except Batwing, who was too young), and went skinny-dipping (Gorilla Girl in her gorilla form, disappointing the others). When Sunstreak made a pass at Schaub on the beach because he couldn't be burned by her, he got upset and drove away with the others in quick pursuit. They all felt bad when the learned he was willing to take the rap for them, after Yellowjacket, War Machine, Taskmaster, and Constrictor tracked them down. Suddenly, King Cobra, Firebrand, MAULER, and Mr. Hyde attacked, seeking to kill Taskmaster. The recruits leapt into battle despite the warnings of their instructors and the villains quickly escaped; in the battle, Annex briefly hit King Cobra with sonics, but was soon knocked back by Prodigy, who was thrown by Hyde. Back at base, Schaub was kicked out of the Initiative, making his fellow recruits jealous.

(Avengers: The Initiative#14) - 3-D Man showed up at the Initiative base, claiming there was an invasion of shape-shifters.

(Avengers: The Initiative#15) - 3-D Man panicked and made a hasty retreat.

(Avengers: The Initiative#15/Secret Invasion#3/Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers#1)- Soon, the Stark technology in the base was rendered inert and Yellowjacket announced the Skrulls had attacked  New York. The recruits, under Gauntlet's command, were thrown into action. The recruits fought a deadly battle, alongside the Young Avengers, against the Skrulls in New York City and were quickly overwhelmed.

(Avengers: The Initiative#16/Secret Invasion#4) - The Skrulls killed Proton before the Secret Warriors (Druid, Nick Fury, Hellfire, Phobos, Quake, Stonewall, Yo-Yo) attacked.

(Avengers: The Initiative#17/Secret Invasion#5) - The cadets and their allies, in Nick Fury's safehouse while regrouping, heard "Yellowjacket" announce the Skrull invasion to the world on the television.

(Avengers: The Initiative#18/Secret Invasion#6) - Prodigy nearly came to blows with Wiccan when he feared Hulkling might be a sleeper agent, but Crusader inspired them to put aside their differences. Fury then moved them in to final battle, joining dozens of other heroes and villains in the final battle for New York City.

(Avengers: The Initiative#19/Secret Invasion#7-8) - The massive battle continued. As the battle ended, Crusader rushed after the Yellowjacket Skrull back to Camp Hammond, where he was killed along with the other Skrulls by the Skrull Kill Krew. The Wasp was killed in the battle.

(Avengers: The Initiative#20) - Back at Camp Hammond, Annex and the others watched as 3-D Man left, angry with him for killing Crusader.

(Avengers: The Initiative#21) - Annex was thrilled to open his graduation papers and learn he was being assigned to the New Mexico Mavericks, alongside Geiger. As he saw the others less than thrilled with their assignments and the people picketing outside, Annex's enthusiasm waned.

(Avengers: The Initiative#22) - When the evil Thor clone, Ragnarok, attacked, Annex aided in the battle alongside his fellow recruits and the New Warriors (Debrii, Justice, Night Thrasher, Rage, Scarlet Spiders, Slapstick).

(Avengers: The Initiative#23) - Annex helped with the cleanup in Camp Hammond after the battle with Ragnarok. He was later present when Norman Osborn arrived to shut down Camp Hammond forever.

Comments: Created by Jack Harris and Tom Lyle.

Annex's history in the Gulf War in 1990 is topical, but there's certainly any number of military actions in the Middle East since then that could just as easily fit the bill.

I'm not sure what Alex's military rank was, but I'd guess Lieutenant.

Annex was yet another of the 1993 Annual characters that were supposed to take the Marvel Universe by storm. Actually, he's one of the most successful of the group, many of whom haven't appeared since their premiere. The only guy to really make it big was Legacy, better known as Genis-Vell, Captain Marvel.

Annex has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Alex Ellis, Annex, has no known connection to:

• Ken Ellis, a former reporter for the Daily Bugle, @ Web of Spider-Man#118

The BREW has no known connection to:

• Brew, Dr. Railsback, of Project: Glamor, @ Marvel Comics Presents#2

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27 (1993) - Jack Harris (writer), Tom Lyle (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#3 (November, 1993) - Jack Harris (writer), Jesse Orozco (pencils), Mark Stegbauer (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents I#153-155 (May, 1994) - Chris Cooper (writer), Reggie Jones (pencils), Fred Harper (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Annex#1 (August, 1994) - Jack Harris (writer), Walter McDaniel (pencils), Matt Banning, Don Hudson, Paris Karounos, Scott Koblish, Michael Kraiger & Yancey Labat (inks)
Annex#2 (September, 1994) - Jack Harris (writer), Paris Karounos (pencils), Matt Banning, Vince Evans, Yancey Labat & Rodney Ramos (inks)
Annex#3 (October, 1994) - Jack Harris (writer), Dave Chlystek (pencils), Vince Evans & Thomas Florimonte Jr. (inks)
Annex#4 (November, 1994) - Jack Harris (writer), Paris Karounos (pencils), John Nyberg (inks)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
Avengers: The Initiative#13 (July, 2008) - Christos Gage (writer), Steve Uy (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort  Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Harvey Talibao (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#14 (August, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers#1 (August, 2008) - Chris Yost (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#15 (September, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Harvey Talibao (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#3 (August, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#16 (October, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#4 (September, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#17 (November, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Harvey Talibao (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#5 (October, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#18 (December, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Steve Kurth (penciler), Drew Hennessey (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#6 (November, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#19 (January, 2009) - Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Harvey Talibao, Bong Dazo (pencilers/inkers), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#7-8 (December, 2008-January, 2009) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#20 (February, 2009) - Christos N. Gage & Dan Slott (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Drew Hennessy (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#21-22 (March-April, 2009) - Christos N. Gage (writer), Humberto Ramos (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative#23 (June, 2009) - Christos N. Gage (writer), Humberto Ramos (penciler/inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 12/12/2002
Last updated: 06/15/2012