GEISTGEIST
Real Name: Nikolaus Geist
Identity/Class: Human (German) cyborg technology user (WW 2 Era, 1959 to modern era)
Occupation: Advisor, assistant
Group Membership: ICON (Axis Annie, Baron Blood, Brain Drain, Count von Blitzkrieg, DoctOrangutan, Fräulein Fatale, Hollow Men, Fritz Krone and his robots, Leopard Woman, Madame Mauser, Penny Panzer, Planner, Dieter Skul, Spider-Queen, Geoffrey Sydenham, Vunderknight, others);
formerly Nazi party
Affiliations: Former advisor to Adolf
Hitler and Felix Guillermo Caridad;
ally of Palo Caridad, the Shadow King,
Baron Strucker, Tiger Shark, and Lady Windermere; associate of
Prince Baran and General Nguyen Ngoc Coy;
under protection of the CIA (Jack Bascomb)
Enemies: Avengers Initiative (Blonde Phantom/Louise Mason, Dominic Fortune, Nick Fury, Kraven/Sergei Kravinoff, Powell McTeague, Namora, Sabretooth/Victor Creed), La Bandera, Magneto, Phoenix (Rachel Summers), Roughouse, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Sister Salvation, Spore, Wolverine
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Herr Geist; Ghost (translation from German)
Base of Operations: Currently unknown; formerly mobile, but specificaly Washington, DC; Tierra Verde; Berlin, Germany
First Appearance: Wolverine II#17 (November, 1989)
Abilities: Geist possesses a cybernetic left arm and an exoskleton which covers most of his body. While he does have a number of weapons and attachments, the bulk of his exoskeleton is dedicated to preserve his aged form. His physical form is in the neighborhood of 100 years old, and it is dependent on the exoskeleton for survival. His robotic left arm possesses a removavle hand, which can be replaced with a number of attachments. These include a conventional hand, dart gun, straight razors, and several others.
Geist is a shrewd negotiator and a valued advisor. However, he possesses loyalty only to himself, and will abandon a plot when it begins to turn sour. He's also got this major aversion to hair of any sort, and is always trying to shave everyone.
Height: 6'
Weight: 118 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White; (formerly) brown
History: The man known only as Geist is of German origin, and rose to the position of a highly trusted advisor within the Nazi party, serving Adolf Hitler himself.
(X-Men: True Friends#1-3) - In 1936, Geist accompanied Baron Strucker and other nazi soldiers to supervise the alliance and efforts with Amahl Farouk (secretly the Shadow King) and Lady Windermere--a plot which would call into question the lineage of King, and either replace him with Oswald Mosely and the British Fascist Party, who might become Germany's allies, or at least prevent England from actively opposing the Nazis. Their efforts were opposed by the time-traveling Phoenix and Shadowcat of the modern era, as well as Logan (not yet Wolverine) and Alasdair, Lord Kinross, of that time period. The heroes disrupted their plans, as well as their alliance with Farouk, who killed Windermere.
(OHotMU 2006#4 - BTS/Wolverine II#19 (fb) ) - Following this, Geist returned to Hitler's side in Berlin to become part of Hitler's Inner Circle.
(Wolverine II#23(fb)-BTS) - Geist visited the Nazi Concentration Camp in which Erik Lennsherr was held.
(Wolverine II#19(fb)) - Following World War II, Geist bartered German rocket scientists to the American OSS to escape war crimes prosecution.
(Avengers 1959#5 (fb) - BTS) - Geist joined Geoffrey Sydenham's secret US intelligence organization Icon around 1959.
(Avengers 1959#5) - Geist joined Sydenham in Washington DC alongside Baron Blood, Brain Drain, Spider Queen and some Hollow Men. They fought the Avengers, who attempted to take down Icon. Nick Fury knocked out Geist during the fight.
(Wolverine II#19(fb)) - Later, he made himself useful in questionable CIA operations, as well as to fascist rulers of others.
(OHotMU 2006#4) - The CIA sent Geist to infiltrate Felix Caridad's organisation.
(Wolverine II#18(fb)) - After viewing the American super-soldier Nuke in action, Caridad decided he wanted a super-powered agent of his own. Geist proposed using his CIA connections to obtain Nuke, but Caridad wanted a symbol for Tierra Verde. They later learned that the coccaine crop of el Jardin del Rey granted super-powers, but at a deadly price to a normal human.
(Wolverine II#17) - After Roughouse was defeated by Wolverine, Geist purchased the giant bodyguard from General Coy. Soon after, Geist paid Prince Baran to obtain a shipment of the confiscated coccaine crop from el Jardin del Rey. He also warned Baran that a man like "Patch" (Wolverine's fooling-nobody-alias) could shift the balance of power in Madripoor. When Roughouse awakened, bound in manacles, Geist gave him a dose of the coccaine and then shaved his head and face.
(Wolverine II#18) - Wolverine tracked Roughouse and confronted Geist, who revealed his connections to Caridad and their goals. He allowed Wolverine to free Roughouse, knowing the drugged giant would go beserk in a few seconds and attack the mutant. Geist shot Wolverine full of a sedative, to keep the fight even, and then did the same to Roughouse before he could kill his smaller opponent. Meanwhile, Geist had contacted Coy and Baran, who showed up one at a time, purchasing a sample of the coccaine and the body of Wolverine, respectively. Geist charged each of them the exact same price he had paid them earlier.
(Wolverine II#19) - Geist calmed Caridad after he was blown off by the Kingpin with a nice, relaxing shave. Afterwards, Wolverine (having survived Baran's attempts to kill him--surprise!!!) broke into Caridad's mansion and easily overpowered Geist, forcing him to lead him to Roughouse. Geist instead led him into a trap where he was ambushed by Tiger Shark (employed by Caridad, as part of the Acts of Vengeance).
(Wolverine II#20) - Geist returned to the safety of the mansion to deal with La Bandera, who was leading an uprising against Caridad (Tiger Shark returned from dealing with Wolverine and chased her off under his lead). Wolverine, of course, returned to the struggle, escaping with la Bandera, Roughouse, and Caridad's wife, Sister Salvation. However, as they took off, Geist used his dart gun attachment to pump Logan full of the coccaine.
(Wolverine II#21) - Geist led the efforts to recover Sister Salvation and Roughouse, which succeeded because Salvation left a trail--wanting to be returned to Caridad to be reunited with her son, Palo.
(Wolverine II#22) - Geist tried to convince Caridad that
Wolverine would be more tractable after being shaved, but Caridad
sent him off to more important tasks. Palo Caridad agreed to be
subjected to the coccaine, knowing his mother's power could help
protect him, and hoping to become Tierra Verde's national symbol.
Geist fired a number of the drugged darts at him, but Wolverine
got free (who'd a thunk it?) and deflected every single
one of the darts with his claws--right into Felix Caridad, and
then cut off Geist's robot arm at the wrist. The massive infusion
of the coccaine released the source of the drug's power, the
deviant mutate Spore, who consumed Caridad's form and ran rampant
through the city.
Realizing the plot had gone awry, Geist made like a baby--and
headed out.
(Wolverine II#23) - Geist returned to the palace, hoping to claim his emergency supplies before fleeing, but was confronted by Wolverine, who had expected he might try this. Wolverine sliced off Geist's exoskeleton, leaving him unable to even stand on his own, and sent the medics to take him in as a war criminal. However, Geist was revealed to have been a mole for the CIA, who then made a deal with the new government and had him spirited out of the hospital ward and out of the country.
Geist traveled to Washington, DC, to live in a safehouse arranged by the CIA, while rumors of his death were circulated. However, Magneto was anonymously alerted to Geist's survival and tracked him down, taking his vengeance on the man he had met so many years ago in the concentration camp.
(Wolverine II#176) - When Wolverine was badly injured, his
spirit seemed to access a sort of Purgatory where he was assaulted by a group of
Logan's apparently dead foes led by Lord Shingen: others included Cyber, Geist,
Cameron Hodge, Mastermind, Pyro, Roche, Scylla, Stonewall, Stryfe, Super Sabre and Professor Thorton. With the aid of Colossus (who was also apparently dead at the
time), Wolverine made short work of his enemies and then revived soon after.
It's possible the whole thing was a delusion.
Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin and John Byrne.
Geist, I believe, is German for "ghost." He described himself as "a Nazi Ghost who still haunts the Free World."
Given his history and associations, it seems quite likely that Geist would also have encountered the Red Skull, Heinrich Zemo, or perhaps Arnim Zola. This has not been shown, however.
Geist was an interesting character, but I'd only like to see him in ret-con/past stories, as with X-Men: True Friends. It's pretty hard to believe Magneto would have left any chance that the bastich would have survived.
If you want the story on the coccaine/Spore connection, check out the profile on Spore.
At the time of Wolverine II#17-23, the X-Men were believed to have been dead. Geist thought Wolverine was merely using the costume of Wolverine and was not the real thing. I'm not sure when he figured it out--probably around the time of the slice-and-dice.
If you can't figure out who anonymously alerted Magneto, then I'm not telling you!
Roughouse seemed to have some connection to Asgard initially, but this story made it seem like he was a human. He did receive some depths, personality, and a new life mission in this story, and became a more interesting character. When he appeared again, 100 issues later, in Wolv123, he was back to being a no-depth thug again. Those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it...
After seeing Austin Powers in Goldmember, I'll always have a different reaction when I hear the word...MOLE!!!!
Geist's real name was revealed in Marvel Atlas#1.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:
Appearances:
Wolverine II#17-18 (November-December, 1989) - Archie Goodwin (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Wolverine II#19 (December, 1989) - Archie Goodwin (writer), John Byrne (pencils), John Byrne (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Wolverine II#20-23 (January-April, 1990) - Archie Goodwin (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Wolverine II#176 (July, 2002) - Frank Tieri (writer), Sean Chen (penciler), Norm
Rapmund (inker), Mike Raicht (assistant editor), Mike Marts (editor)
X-Men: True Friends#1-3 (September-November, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Rick Leonardi (pencils), Al Williamson & Jimmy Palmiotti (#2) (inks), Ruben Diaz (editor)
Avengers 1959#5 (March, 2012) - Howard Chaykin (writer/artist), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
First Posted: 08/04/2002
Last updated: 04/07/2013
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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