HURRICANE
Real Name: Albert Potter
Identity/Class: Human mutate, technology user
Occupation: Currently unemployed;
former megalomaniac, meteorologist, former
employee of the London Weather Research Centre
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible
Woman, Mister Fantastic, Thing);
former ally, later enemy
of Mys-Tech (specifically, Crowe and Wychwood)
Enemies: Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), the Gene Dogs, Samuel Merrick, Otomo, the Q7 Strike Force, STORM (Special Taskforce Omega Response Mandate);
formerly the Fantastic Four
Known Relatives: Buford Potter (son), Mercy Potter (daughter), unidentified wife
Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, U.K.
Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York
formerly STORM HQ;
formerly Otomo's Space Station;
formerly the Museum of Pagan Antiquities,
London, England;
formerly a STORM Hospital;
formerly Darkmoor
prison;
formerly Heathrow/London Airport, London, England, United
Kingdom
Education: Ph.D. in Meteorology
First Appearances: Captain Britain I#3, 4 (October 27, 1976)
Powers: Potter's body was enhanced by radioactive energy which increased his size and strength (@ enhanced human), as well as causing his hair to fall out. His battlesuit protected him from most forms of conventional injury: it is not certain if it is bulletproof. Hurricane could generate and control winds of great power, greater than 200 mph, and 30 meters in diameter. He can project focal hurricane blasts that can cause local destruction. He can also use the suction produced to generate a vacuum. He can fly at great speeds, at least 200 mph. After his further mutation, Potter gained greater control of his powers. He could absorb and project blasts of energy. He could also control other weather patterns, creating blizzards, ice, lightning bolts, torrential rains, etc. Hurricane also possessed an insect's hive mentality abilities, and could force others to follow his commands, and even to work cohesively along with him. Those with sufficiently strong wills could eventually overcome his control. In addition, Hurricane is dangerously insane, and an unpredictable foe.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Bald, formerly ginger
History:
(Captain Britain I#7 (fb)) - Albert Potter was originally a
meteorologist at London Weather Research Centre who sought to
learn how to diffuse hurricanes. Despite numerous failures and
the mocking of his colleagues he continued his efforts.
Eventually, he was fired by the project director for spending too
much money and producing too few results. Potter, however, had
completed his experimental weather control craft and decided to
test it out himself in an effort to prove his theories.
Potter flew the experimental craft into the heart of Hurricane
Linda, fifteen hundred miles south-west of the Azores. He used
the craft to try to diffuse the storm, and was having some
measure of success until his craft was struck repeatedly by
lightning. The electrical surge caused the power-cells of the
craft to short out and overload, bathing him in an energy
feedback. The craft was torn apart by the Storm, but Potter
survived, his body forever changed by the energy to which it had
been exposed. Potter floated in the sea in which he had fallen
for two days before being rescued by an ocean liner which came
across his floating form.
(Hulk Comic#32 (fb) - BTS) - Nethergods were involved in
creating / molding Potter into a weapon to use against Captain Britain.
(Captain Britain I#7 (fb)) - Potter was never the most stable person, but his mind may have been further damaged in the energy overload. He blamed the other meteorologists for sabotaging his otherwise fail-proof craft, and even believed that the storm had actually deliberately attacked him. Blaming mankind for the scorn and ridicule he had received over the course of his life, and believing that the hurricane had made him one with itself, he set out to gain his vengeance. He hid out for the next several months, testing his power and building a harness to allow him to control it.
(Captain Britain I#3-7) - Potter planned to travel to the USA to test his
powers against an American super-hero, but when he learned that
Captain Britain was no an active super-hero in England, he
decided to face him instead. As the Hurricane, Potter attacked
the Thames University Campus where Captain Britain had previously
been seen. Captain Britain appeared and confronted the Hurricane,
but was quickly and easily overpowered by a powerful wind vortex
which battered him into unconsciousness, as well as badly
damaging several buildings.
After recovering from his defeat and assisting
in the rescue of others injured in the attack, Captain Britain
discovered that the Hurricane's powers were radioactive in nature
due to the way they fogged the camera film that had been used to
take a picture of him. Captain Britain built a tracer tuned to
the Hurricane's energy trail back to his airport base. After a
second, closer struggler, the Hurricane again got the better of
Captain Britain, by surrounding him with a vacuum.
Rather than simply kill the hero while he was
unconscious, the Hurricane strapped him to the air intake of a
Concord jet for a more dramatic finish. Potter then proceeded to
tell his origins to the seemingly doomed hero. However,
surprisingly enough, Captain Britain escaped the deathtrap and
again confronted the villain. Using the knowledge gained from
their previous battle that the Hurricane was dependent on his
backpack to control his power, Captain Britain tore the backpack
off. Without the cooling systems of the backpack, Potter quickly
"burned himself out" from the immense heat and
radiation he generated. Potter, now unconscious and essentially
powerless was carted away by the authorities and taken to
Darkmoor prison.
(Daredevils#9 - BTS) -Hurricane was next seen on Merlyn's chessboard as the mage plays his daughter Roma during the madness of the Jaspers Warp. Since all the other characters on the board are actually involved in the story, it would appear that he is present somewhere behind the scenes.
(Gene Dogs#2(fb)) -
After a few years in prison, Potter agreed to
become a test subject for medical experiments under Dr. Samuel
Merrick, a genetic researcher for STORM. This was one of
Merrick's earliest attempts at gene matching, and Potter, who was
gene spliced with the DNA of a soldier ant, was left a withered
husk by the process. More dead than alive, Potter was placed in a
STORM hospital where he was kept alive only by mechanical means.
Some time after this, Potter was taken from the STORM hospital by
agents of Mys-Tech, a placed in cryogenic storage for later use.
(Gene Dogs#1-4) -
Algernon Crowe, one of the Techno-Wizards who ruled Mys-Tech,
sought to dupe an opponent, Otomo, into stealing a Gene Scanner
from Mys-Tech. In reality, the "Scanner" was actually a
bomb that would detonate and destroy Otomo's base when it arrived
there. Otomo's group, the Q& Strikeforce sought to steal the
Scanner, but were thwarted by a group of agents of STORM, the
Gene Dogs. Crowe revived Potter and restored him to his full
vitality, and then some. However, Potter's paranoia and psychoses
had been magnified by his experiences, and he now was dangerously
unstable.
Hurricane stole the Scanner from STORM, but Suyin, a spy within Mys-Tech informed Otomo of this planned attack. Hurricane also abducted Merrick, planning to gain vengeance for his suffering following his mutations, but was then ambushed and captured by the Q7 Strikeforce and brought to Otomo's Siberian HQ. Crowe was well aware of the traitor in his ranks and allowed Hurricane to be captured, as it accomplished two goals at once: bringing the Scanner to Otomo's HQ, and ridding himself of Hurricane, another potential threat.
Otomo's men sought to torture Hurricane, but he proved able to absorb the energies they used, and he broke free. He then took control of the Q7 Strikeforce, and sent them to defeat the Gene Dogs, who had been sent to retrieve the Scanner. Hurricane and his pawns defeated the Gene Dogs, and then he imprisoned both groups and brought them all to Otomo's space station. Still believing Crowe's initial explanation that the Gene Scanner was able to affect the genetic structure of people, Hurricane sought to use it to cause widespread mutation on Earth.
The Gene Dogs and the Strikeforce teamed up, broke out of Hurricane's prison, and attacked him. Gene Dog member Cat temporarily neutralized his mind control abilities, while the other generated intense heat within Hurricane's cold wind vortex, causing an implosion. Otomo then sought to use the Scanner for his own ends, but soon realized that it was actually a bomb. The Scanner exploded, destroying Otomo's space station, but Tanuta Umbotha of the Strikeforce teleported everyone present to safety. Incapacitated once again, Hurricane was returned to cryo-sleep while Merrick investigated the possibility of reversing the damage done to him.
(Marvel Holiday Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - Apparently cured and rehabilitated, Potter was released from the S.T.O.R.M. facility. He moved to New York City, married, and had two kids, Buford and Mercy. However, his previous criminal record made it hard for him to get a job.
(Marvel Holiday Special#1) - Unemployed and broke, Albert was nonetheless commanded by his wife to get some presents for the kids. Not knowing how else to do so, Potter put on his original Hurricane costume and robbed at toy store, taking an iPod for Buford and a Chatty Britney doll for Mercy. Discovered and attacked by the Fantastic Four, he gave a good account of himself until finally being defeated when he was knocked into a kiddie pool, which shorted out his generators. When the Fantastic Four saw that he was only stealing presents for his kids, they decided not to report as long as he promised to never do it again. They accompanied him back to his apartment and celebrated Christmas with his family.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark considered Hurricane as a potential Initiative recruit.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe.
I always enjoy the return of a lost character...17 years between appearances, and then another appearance 13 years later.. Maybe he'll be back again @ 2015. Or not.
Clarifications: Hurricane is not to be confused with:
Appearances:
Captain Britain I#3-7 (October, 27th - November 24th, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Fred Kida (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Hulk Comic#32 (October, 10th, 1979)
Daredevils#9 (September, 1983) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (artist), Bernie Jaye (editor)
Gene Dogs#1-4 (October, 1993 - January, 1994) - John Freeman (writer), David Taylor (pencils), Stephen Baskerville (inks)
Marvel Holiday Special#1 (January, 2006) - Mike Carey (writer), Mike Perkins, Laura Martin, Dave Lamphear, John Barber (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
First Posted: 09/03/2004
Last updated: 12/05/2005
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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