CHECHE
Real Name: Che (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human mutate, technology
user;
Canadian citizen
Occupation: Shadow Rider;
former Warhead
Group Membership:
Shadow
Riders
(Boot, Goodfellow, Grunt,
Roadie, Stranger,
Vorin);
former member of the
Warheads:
Malkuth (former troop leader) and
then
Kether Troop (Stacy Arnheim, Tigon Liger, Leona McBride, Perez,
Gregory, Misha, among others);
Affiliations: Cable,
Death's Head
(Minion), Tuck, X-Men (Psylocke,
Wolverine (antagonists));
formerly
Mys-Tech
Enemies: Abadon,
Audit, Blackheart, Death's Head (Minion),
Ghenghis, Mephisto, Mys-Tech,
Slaughterhouse Six;
formerly Death's Head (Minion), Tuck
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Various Shadow
Riders' bases scattered across the Earth (primarily the HQ in North-West
England), active on other planets
as well;
formerly the Mys-Tech Central/Museum of Pagan
Antiquities, London, England;
formerly Tibet;
formerly Toronto, Canada
First Appearance: (Mentioned) Warheads#2 (July, 1992);
(pictured) Warheads#5 (October, 1992);
(full appearance) Warheads#6 (November, 1992)
Powers:
Prior to his death and transformation, Che was immune to all
forms of magical attack. This immunity was innate to his character. He was also
invisible to magic. He had athletic agility, durability, reflexes, speed, and
stamina. He was strong, having athlete or peak human strength.
Since his transformation he has enhanced human durability, reflexes, speed, and stamina, including a radically reduced need for sleep. He has enhanced supra-dense skin and claws (see comments). He can meld with backgrounds at will. The transformation also released a limited ability to perform mudrã; (hand magic), and he also has limited psychometric abilities. In his new form, his immunity to magic is sporadic.
He is of gifted intelligence and has advanced understanding of medicine and human anatomy, as well as leadership skills. Che has an eye for detail and is often quick to spot when something is wrong, being the only Warhead to avoid ambush in Genghis's citadel and the first of the troop to sense that "Doctor Strange" (Blackheart) wasn't who he said he was. He is an excellent hand to hand combatant, a master martial artist skilled in ninjutsu (Ninja) abilities. He can focus his "chi" force, enabling him to hit an opponent or object with even greater impact than normal. This appears similar to Iron Fist's ability. Che cannot use his "Chi" force more than once in an hour.
As a Warhead, Che was trained even further and gained experience of wormhole travel. He used a variety of conventional and unconventional firearms, as well as other weapons. One such weapon was a hand gun (either an energy or projectile weapon, its unclear) capable of penetrating the thick hide of Mephisto's demons. Unlike most Warheads, he simply wore normal clothing with a pouched belt, as opposed to the body armor favored by others. He carried a medical kit, and his personal weaponry included shuriken and a sword.
Che has what appears to be a facial tattoo over his left eye, a thick black line crossing from above to below the eye. This is still visible after his transformation.
Height: 6'5'' (see comments)
Weight: 300 lbs. (see comments)
Eyes: Unrevealed (see comments)
Hair: White
History:
(John Freeman's Che Character Profile) - Che was born in Toronto. He never
married.
(Shadow Riders Guide) - Che trained in Tibet where he befriended some warrior monks.
(Warheads#6 (fb) -BTS) - He had some training from a Shaolin Priest who taught him how to summon his chi strength.
(Shadow Riders Guide) - A Mys-Tech team was responsible for the death's of Che's warrior monk friends. Wanting to find out why, and to a lesser extent wanting revenge, Che infiltrated Mys-Tech and became a Warhead.
(Warheads#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Che joined Malkuth troop.
(Shadow Riders#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - He became Malkuth's troop leader, often working alongside another man known as Boot.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) - BTS) - Che became one of Mys-Tech's best Warheads.
(Shadow Riders#1/2) - During one mission, Malkuth troop traveled to a wormhole which apparently brought them into conflict with Cable, apparently aboard his then orbiting satellite Greymalkin. All other members of the Troop were killed, including Boot. Boot was forced back through the wormhole, where he was taken by Vorin to become one of his Shadow Riders, resurrected warriors assisting his battle against Mys-Tech. Che was captured and questioned by Cable.
(Shadow Riders Guide) - As Che was already against Mys-Tech, he agreed to help Cable.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - So Cable recruited Che to his services as his man inside Mys-Tech.
(Shadow Riders#4 (fb) - BTS) - However, Che never told Cable his real reasons for joining Mys-Tech.
(Warheads#2 - BTS) Mys-Tech were unable to check Che's story regarding the slaughter of his troop as their recorders failed.
(Warheads#5 - BTS) - One of the heads of Mys-Tech, Rathcoole, ordered Che's death as punishment for "sloppiness." Mys-Tech member Mr. Grant received the order, but was at the time under the influence of an extradimensional Golem, who ordered him to instead transfer Che to Kether Troop.
(Warheads#6) - Rathcoole learned that Che was alive, but changed his mind regarding his termination. Rathcoole ordered Mr. Grant to send Che to him thinking to use him to kill Mephisto. Mr. Grant disobeyed, still under the influence of the Golem. Meanwhile, Che was in the rehearsal room while Colonel Liger supervised the training of some new recruits to Kether Troop. One new recruit called Desmond was highly suspicious of Che, having heard about the loss of Malkuth troop. Regardless, Kether Troop was sent to Paris for a jump. The jump took them to the tower palace of Genghis, Wizard Majestrix. When the troop was ambushed, Che was the only one to avoid capture. He ran a gauntlet through a variety of mystical threats, and used Liger's gun Clementine to slay Genghis. Clementine located the source of the wizard's magic, the Sapphire Lotus, and upgraded its abilities. Just then Death's Head and Tuck showed up to claim Clementine, and an army appeared in the distance.
(Warheads#7) - Che and the surviving members of the mission fought the army alongside Death's Head and Tuck. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Mr. Grant and his Golem merged into a new entity called Audit. Audit traveled to the same planet as Che and his companions. Fortunately, other members of Kether Troop arrived and blasted Audit before he could do any harm. The army left when they saw Kether Troop channeling the power of the Lotus, and Liger used Clementine to stun Death's Head and Tuck. Just when it seemed like things were getting better, the entities Brother Chaos and Brother Order (apparent aliases of Lord Chaos and Master Order) appeared. During the confusion, Death's Head and Tuck disappeared with the Lotus. The Warheads then realized they had been separated from the wormhole that could take them home.
(Warheads#8) - Gregory and Stacey combined their powers to pull the wormhole closer, and the Warhead's used it to escape. They somehow interacted with a dream of Wolverine's.
(Warheads#9) - Wolverine's dream brought them into conflict with dream versions of Cyclops, Storm and Psylocke. Wolverine was actually dream-sharing with Psylocke, and when his dream ended, the Warhead's found themselves in a new environment. This turned out to be Psylocke's dream, which was about the villain Slaymaster. Che immediately noticed that Slaymaster had been trained in Taijutsu (or to put it in other words that he was a ninja warrior). He and Perez followed the "dream" Slaymaster, who Che killed with a flying kick. Misha helped Psylocke remember that this was all a dream. Psylocke helped Gregory draw the wormhole to them so they could leave. The Warheads returned to Mys-Tech, where they were introduced to Mr. Grant's replacement, Mr. Lee. Three hours later, they had a session in the rehearsal room. Che's immunity to magic redirected an assault that instead hur Misha, but he was able to save her from a construct of the Hulk using his chi strength. The exercise was aborted by Crowe.
(Warheads#10) - Rathcoole sent the Warheads to Hell, the domain of Mephisto, in hopes of attaining a sword able to slay Mephisto. He cast a spell on the troop to burn them with eldritch fire if they disobeyed him (see comments). On arrival in Hell they were besieged by demons. Misha led Che and Liger to the source of her voice, which appeared to be Doctor Strange. However, Che had his doubts. Meanwhile, Gregory, who had been searching with Leona and Perez, located the sword they were looking for. Unfortunately, however, Perez was struck down by a demon. Che, Misha and Liger arrived on the scene to find they were too late to help their comrade in arms. They were silent for a moment in respect, but "Doctor Strange" became angry saying that he needed seven mortals to use the sword against Mephisto. This confirmed Che's suspicions that it wasn't truly Doctor Strange, and Che punched him. It was in fact Mephisto's son, Blackheart. Che attempted to use the sword against Blackheart, but had it knocked from his grasp. Mephisto sent the Warheads back to Mys-Tech Central, where they were greeted by Porlock and Rathcoole. Porlock explained that Rathcoole had been under the influence of Blackheart, and therefore let the Warheads go unpunished. They were then informed of a wormhole due to open in Amsterdam in two hours and told to get to it, with no time to mourn the loss of Perez (see comments).
(Genetix#5 (fb) - BTS) - Liger and Che were active with Kether Troop when they lost two good Warheads while obtaining samples of alien DNA for Mys-Tech.
(Genetix#5 (fb)) - Liger and Che delivered the alien DNA samples to Gena-Sys. In the course of time this DNA would be used to create Tektos.
(Motormouth and Killpower#6 - BTS) - Cable's investigations of Mys-Tech led to him encountering Nick Fury and Badhand. Cable offered to help their infiltration of Mys-Tech's headquarters, saying that his contact inside could blind their defenses (see comments).
(Motormouth and Killpower#7 - BTS) - Che shut down Mys-Tech's alarms and scanners so that Cable could infiltrate their headquarters, with Badhand nearby for back up. To do this he used a computer virus, level twelve technology, which jammed all systems so that Mys-Tech weren't even able to operate their back up systems. Anti-virus procedure were initiated and a trace was placed to find out who had put the virus into the systems. The virus was cleared, but they were unable to restore full systems for another sixteen minutes.
(Motormouth and Killpower#8 - BTS) - The full systems remained down long enough for Cable and his ally Badhand to escape. Che's involvement wasn't detected by Mys-Tech.
(Warheads#11) - The Warheads were sent to Unearth to eradicate an anomaly, which turned out to be Death's Head. After a brief battle, they needed his help to free Misha from one of the demons of Unearth. Liger was still in favor of killing Death's Head, but Che reminded him of all the times Misha had saved their lives. Ultimately Misha freed herself, but they still teamed up with Death's Head against three more of the remaining demons. They formed a septugram in order to defeat them. When Death's Head made them realize that the Mys-Tech board planned to sacrifice earth to those demons, they returned to Mys-Tech HQ with him in order to stop the plot.
(Warheads#12) - Arnheim, Che, Liger, and McBride joined a bunch of trainees in a testing exercise for the new armor, but the Warheads were kept unaware that the "drones" they were destroying were actually hypnotically reprogrammed enemies of Mys-Tech, targeted for disposal by Rathcoole.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) -BTS) - Che began serving as a trainer for future Warheads.
He worked with a particular group of trainees whom he felt were the best
recruits they'd had for a while. He rated Hawthorne as an excellent psi-scout
who would've been ideal for the new Kether Troop.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) - BTS) - By this point, Che had survived nearly 50 missions to other worlds.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) - BTS) - However, Che's loyalty to Mys-Tech came under close scrutiny, and the missions he was sent on became increasingly dangerous.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - Cable insisted Che investigate a chamber within Mys-Tech HQ where he thought a powerful mutant (though actually it was Abadon, aka Matt Ryan) was being contained. Che agreed and went to investigate.
(Shadow Riders#2) - Disguised as Porlock, the Shadow Rider called Stranger walked past Che . Unaware it was a disguise, Che was surprised that "Porlock" didn't ask why he was there. He was even more surprised to see Boot in the chamber, having thought Boot dead.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - Che witnessed the Shadow Riders liberating Matt Ryan. He evaded Mys-Tech security with much difficulty to report to Cable.
(Shadow Riders#2) - Cable chided Che for being late before listening to his report.
(Shadow Riders#3) - Che and some trainees traveled to Arena World. Che's trainees were slain by the Slaughterhouse Six, agents of Porlock, as a test of their powers. Porlock ordered them to stop before killing Che, however. He had Che and some other Warheads assist in efforts against Cable and the Shadow Riders. Che secretly kept himself open to ways to help Cable without blowing his cover.
(Shadow Riders#4) - When the Shadow Riders friend Goodfellow attacked Porlock's minion, Abadon, Che deliberately kept his fellow Warheads from helping. He told them to wait for Porlock's command, thinking that he owed the villain for wiping out his trainees and hoping to allow Cable to escape. When the Shadow Riders used a time bubble to hide from the enemy, Cable hid Che with them so Abadon would not discover he was a traitor to Mys-Tech. Alongside the Shadow Riders and Cable, Che assaulted Abadon after the time bubble wore off. Returning to Earth through Mys-Tech's portal, Che was slain by Mys-Tech's guards but transported back to the Shadow Riders base by Cable.
(Shadow Riders#4 - BTS) - Vorin then resurrected Che in mutated form to become one of his Shadow Riders.
(Shadow Riders#4) - Vorin welcomed him to the team and promised they would take the fight back to Mys-Tech.
(Revolutionary War: Warheads#1 (fb) - BTS) - Che somehow reverted to human form.
(Revolutionary War: Warheads#1 (fb) - BTS) - Che was recruited back into Colonel Liger's Kether Troop.
(Revolutionary War: Warheads #1 (fb)) - Che was with Kether Troop when they journeyed into Hell. Their mission was to protect the gateway until Dark Angel sent a signal. Both sides of the gateway needed to be destroyed at the exact same moment if Mys-Tech's plans were to be stopped. After a fierce battle, charges were set to destroy the gateway. Leona told the troop they needed to leave, but they were attacked by Gevurah, Omega and Malkuth troops, Warheads loyal to Mys-Tech. Misha sensed that if Kether Troop left at that point there was a 90% probability that the enemy would disarm the charges. Gregory revealed that he had informed Mys-Tech of Kether Troops plans, at which point Liger shot him. Liger was prepared to hold off the enemy alone, but Leona and Misha pushed him through the gateway.
(Revolutionary War: Warheads#1 - BTS) - Liger and Master Key located what they believed to be Kether Troops location in the multiverse. They opened a new gateway in an attempt bring the troop home. However, the gateway was used by Killpower and his troops. See comments.
(Revolutionary War: Omega#1 - BTS) - Liger recruited Agent Keller to help him locate his friends from Kether Troop, and they entered a gateway to begin their search.
Comments: Created by Nick Vince, Stuart Jennett and David Leach. Modified by John Freeman, Brian Williamson, and Ross Dearsley.
Che is his real name, as confirmed by John Freeman's profile, but it could be his first or last name as no other name has been given. The information on all of Che's powers in his mutated Shadow Rider's form come from the same profile, as he was never seen in action in that form. The limits of his supra dense skin aren't described. I suspect that like his fellow Shadow Rider , Grunt, Che's skin is "invulnerable to small arms projectile weapons and most hand-held lasers." Che's height and weight statistics also came from John's information. The height of 6'5'' may only be accurate for Che after his transformation, though looking at his appearances there are a couple of instances where he appears to be a few inches taller than Liger (who is 6'2'') so it could be that his height didn't change. I imagine that his pre-transformation form was lighter, however, as he now has some cyborg parts and gained muscle mass/tentacle like things around his neck. His eye color is unlisted, though there was a note to "check with Bambos". His hair was listed there too, though that is fairly obvious from the comics anyway.
Che doesn't actually appear in the Motormouth issues, nor is he even named as being Cable's contact at Mys-Tech. However, internal documents from Marvel UK at that time confirm it was Che. Which I'd suspected anyway, as having read all of Cable's appearances in the Marvel UK stories I'm not aware of him having any other contacts inside Mys-Tech. This was further confirmed in Mys-Tech's updated profile in the OHotMU A-Z#8.
The dreamscape trap in Warhead's#8 and#9 were arranged by Blackheart in an attempt to kill Che. Because he was invisible to Blackheart's magics, Che was considered a threat to his plans. Blackheart also hoped for Che to die in the rehearsal room exercise in#9. Che never learned of this.
Although Che's immunity to magic isn't mentioned when a spell is placed on the team in Warhead's#10, it doesn't necessarily mean that Rathcoole was able to overcome that immunity. The spell was meant to keep the troop in line, and as his teammates were affected, Che could simply have been playing along. As the spell was cast upon a group, his immunity wouldn't have protected his friends. It could be that if he'd disobeyed Rathcoole, the others would've suffered the consequences. Alternatively, it could be that he was affected by the spell and his immunity just isn't all powerful, it has limits. However, as he had successfully ignored Rathcoole's mystical blast in a previous issue, I don't think that is the case here.
In Warheads#10, they are informed of a wormhole opening in Amsterdam, but we never see that mission. This can't be the mission that Che has returned from in Genetix#5 as they lose two Warhead on that mission, but none of his teammates from#10 are missing in later Warhead's issues. Still, this is the best place to put the Genetix story as it is the first decent break in between missions since Che joined. The Warheads are given a rest period between#9 and#10 but it's clearly only a short one, not really time for Che and Liger to go off on another mission on the side. I placed the Motormouth story directly before Warheads#11, the Mys-Tech Wars tie in story, because the action in the Motormouth issues leads right up to that series Mys-Tech tie in as well. This works well with Che not being with the rest of the troop in Mys-Tech Wars#1 when they are confined to barracks. He's not visible in Mys-Tech Wars#2-4 either, though he would've been there behind the scenes.
Che
briefly tested out new Warhead's armor, but as he tended not to wear armor on
missions I've not described that armor in detail here or the other Warhead's
armor. It's difficult to say which is Che in the shots of the troop in full
armor, but there was a close up where you see his name tag and dog tags, as
you'll see to the right (thanks to Markus Raymond for the scan). Che must be pretty hardcore to have gone up against the
odds he would've faced as a Warhead without added protection. Considering that
his mutated form now has innate protection in the form of his supra dense skin,
he would now be a very formidable opponent. Furthermore, with his natural
strength now being enhanced human, the power of his chi strength would've
increased similarly too. It's a terrible shame that
further Shadow Rider's stories didn't get produced, because what was planned
looks very interesting. In particular, Che's back story would've been fleshed
out. The information in the history section listed under "Shadow Riders
Guide" is from John Freeman's notes on what would've been follow ups to the
original Shadow Rider's series.
Che appears unique amongst the Shadow Riders to date in that he was predicted to die by Vorin but didn't die when he was expected too. Then later on he eventually did die and ended up becoming a Shadow Rider anyway. Che's life was saved by Mr. Grant's Golem, who was an agent of Chaos and seemed to have a particular interest in keeping Che with Kether Troop. Perhaps it was that element of Chaos that affected Vorin's predictions. Another unique factor is that his Vorin-induced transformation left him looking is far less human than the others. This would seem to be because of the difficulty Vorin had in circumnavigating Che's resistance to magic.
Che briefly reappears in Revolutionary War: Warheads, apparently having reverted to his human form. Although Liger's attempt to free Che and his friends from Hell failed, I have included the part where he apparently finds the location of Kether Troop in the multiverse. Although the gateway was used by Killpower instead, it could be that the location was correct but the gateway was usurped in some manner. Revolutionary War: Omega doesn't actually feature Che at all, but Liger heads off into the sunset (metaphorically speaking) to search for Kether Troop so it is relevant to Che hence I have also included that as behind the scenes information.
Clarifications:
Che has no known connection to:
The Golem that affected Mr.Grant has no known connection to:
images: (without ads)
Shadow Riders#4, p20, pan4 (main image)
Shadow Riders#3, p6, pan3 (second image)
Shadow Riders#2, p22, pan4 (third image)
Warheads#12, p16, pan5 (fourth image)
Appearances:
Warheads#2 (July, 1992) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Lee Sullivan (artist), Steve
White (color), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Warheads#6 (November, 1992) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Simon
Coleby (artist), David Leach (color), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary
(editor-in-chief)
Motormouth & Killpower#6 (November, 1992) - Graham Marks (story), Gary Frank
and Dave Taylor (Pencils), Sophie Heath (colors), Jacqui Papp (editor), Paul
Neary (editor-in-chief)
Warheads#7 (December, 1992) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Simon
Coleby (artist), David Leach (colors), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary
(editor-in-chief)
Motormouth & Killpower#7 (December, 1992) - Graham Marks (story), Edmund
Perryman (Pencils), Sophie Heath (colors), Jacqui Papp (editor), Paul Neary
(editor-in-chief)
Warheads#8 (January, 1993) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Simon Coleby
(pencils), Bambos Georgiou, Sean Hardy & Rodney Ramos (inks), David Leach
(color), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Motormouth & Killpower#8 (January, 1993) - Graham Marks (plot), John Freeman
(script), Del Barras (art), Sophie Heath (colors), Jacqui Papp (editor), Paul
Neary (editor-in-chief)
Warheads#9 (February, 1993) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Simon Coleby
(pencils), Bambos Georgiou, Sean Hardy & Rodney Ramos (inks), David Leach
(color), John Freeman (editor)
Warheads#10 (March, 1993) - Nicholas Vince (writer), Jerry Cruz (artist), Sophie
Heath (colors), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Warheads#11 (May, 1993) - Nicholas Vince (writer), David Taylor (artist), Lesley
Dalton (colors), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Warheads#12 (June, 1993) - John Freeman (writer), Craig Huston (pencils),
Adolfo Buylla (inks), David Leach (color), John Freeman (editor), Paul Neary
(editor-in-chief)
Shadow Riders#1 (June-July, 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson
(writers), Ross Dearsley (artist), Euan Peters (colors), Stuart Bartlett (editor),
Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Shadow Riders#2 (July, 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson
(writers), Ross Dearsley (artist), Euan Peters (colors), Stuart Bartlett (editor),
Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Shadow Riders#3 (August, 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson
(writers), Ross Dearsley (artist), Euan Peters (colors), Stuart Bartlett (editor),
Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Shadow Riders#4 (September, 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson
(writers), Ross Dearsley (artist), Euan Peters (colors), Stuart Bartlett (editor),
Paul Neary (editor-in-chief)
Genetix#5 (February, 1994) - Graham Marks and Andy Lanning (Script), Phil
Gascoine (Pencils), Robin Riggs (Inks), Pat Prentice (Letters), Helen Nally
(Colours), Bambos Georgiou (Editor), Paul Neary (Editor in Chief)
Revolutionary War: Warheads #1 (May, 2014) - Andy Lanning & Alan Cowsill
(Writers), Gary Erskine (Artist), Yel Zamor (Color Artist), Devin Lewis &
Stephen Wacker (Editors), Axel Alonso (Editor in Chief)
Revolutionary War: Warheads #1 (May, 2014) - Andy Lanning & Alan Cowsill
(Writers), Rich Elson (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Color Artist), Devin Lewis &
Stephen Wacker (Editors), Axel Alonso (Editor in Chief)
First Posted: 09/15/2001
Last updated: 04/11/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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