JOYSTICK

Real Name: Janice Olivia Yanizeski

Identity/Class: Human mutate; former technology user

Occupation: Criminal; former director of marketing at Chi-Huan Associates, mercenary

Group Membership: Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts (Atlas, Blizzard (Donny Gill), MACH-IV, Nighthawk, Photon (Genis-Vell), Radioactive Man, Smuggler, Songbird, Speed Demon, U-Foes, Baron Helmut Zemo)
former player in the "Great Game," former employee of Chi Huan Associates

Affiliations: Bud Adams, Black Widow (Natasha Romanova), Commission on Superhuman Activities, Doc Samson, Fantastic Four (Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing), Grandmaster, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), She-Hulk, S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Sub-Mariner, Tigra, the Unwanted, Wonder Man, Yellowjacket (Henry Pym)

Enemies: A.I.M., Batroc's Brigade (Batroc, Machete, Maximillian Zaran), Brotherhood of the Wellspring, Cable, Luke Cage, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Cloak, Dagger, Doctor Spectrum (Martha Gomes), Falcon, Fathom Five (Bloodtide, Dragonrider, Llyron, Manowar, Sea Leopard), Green Goblin (Phil Urich), Justin Hammer, Hercules, Hydra, Iron Fist, Kaine (Spider-Man clone), Shannon Fitzpatrick, Goliath (Bill Foster), Iron Maiden, Mr. Hyde, Muse, Polestar, the Purple Man, the Rhino, Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Supreme Power (Doctor Spectrum/Alice Nugent, Hyperion/Zhib Ran, Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond, Speed Demon/James Sanders), Swordsman (Andreas von Strucker), El Toro Negro, Tremolo, U-Foes, Young Avengers (Hawkeye, Hulkling, Patriot, Stature, Vision, Wiccan);
formerly Thunderbolts (Atlas (Josten), Charcoal, Citizen V (Zemo), Hawkeye, MACH-I, Jolt, Meteorite (Sofen), Songbird, Techno)

Known Relatives: Walter (father), Olivia (mother)

Aliases: None

Place of Birth: Unrevealed

Base of Operations: Baron Zemo's Folding Castle, Germany
formerly Kyle Richmond's Riding Academy, Long Island, New York
formerly Thunderbolts headquarters, Brooklyn, New York

Education: University of Arizona (unfinished)

First Appearance: Amazing Scarlet Spider#2 (December, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Joystick possesses superhuman strength (lifting up to 1 ton), speed, and agility roughly equivalent to that of Spider-Man. She can become a being of "pure action" at will, further enhancing her speed, agility and reflexes. While she does not (and possibly cannot) channel this peak speed into the act of sustained running while in "pure action" mode, she can channel her peak speed into an ongoing series of shorter motions such as jabs, kicks, flips, twists, dodges and leaps to counter and fight even super speedsters like Speed Demon; in her "pure action" mode, these hyper-fast movements are automatic and instinctive rather than guided by conscious thought. Most of the time she keeps the true extent of her abilities hidden so that she can gain an advantage over others when she needs to. She also uses physical truncheons she can charge with energy that is released on impact, or as energy blasts generated by striking the batons together.

   She temporarily utilized a staff from the Elder of the Universe Grandmaster designed to disperse and channel the energies released from the Universal Wellspring.

   She has the knowledge to hack computer systems without need of guidance, which suggests she might have been fairly smart, academically, even though she hides that from others now by playing dumb, so that her opponents will underestimate her.

   As part of the Great Game she wore gauntlets that could generate truncheons of coherent energy, powered by strontium chips. These batons can be swung or hurled with great concussive force, sufficient to damage concrete. In addition, by striking the batons against one another, Joystick can project a powerful concussive force beam at a target, and possesses wires to hack into computers within her gauntlets. Her costume formerly contained an explosive device which would be activated with a 2 minute countdown by the controllers of the Great Game. The mechanism of the devices is unknown, as is their exact composition.

Height: 5'8 "
Weight: 143 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown

History: (Thunderbolts II#102 (fb)) - Janice was the daughter of a gambler. When she was thirteen she discovered where her father kept his secret stash of money. When she later became a gambler herself, she had her debtors beat her father and take his stash to pay off her debts.

(New Thunderbolts#6-7 (fb) - BTS) -Janice Olivia Yanizeski was once a student at the University of Arizona, living a life she later considered to be a bore. After her sophomore year, something happened to change her, apparently resulting in her death; in her "new life," she became determined to live life on the edge, and began taking extreme risks. She then disappeared for three years before reappearing as Joystick.

(Spider-Man Unlimited I#14 (fb)) - Yanizeski was a participant in the so-called "Great Game," a competition in which various wealthy individuals placed bets on the outcomes of battles between various superhumanly powerful individuals. Like many players in the game, Yanizeski was sponsored by a corporate head, in her case Chu Chi Huan of Chi-Huan Associates. Chi-Huan financed Yanizeski's equipment and travel expenses, and shared a portion of Yanizeski's winnings with her in accordance with the game's rules. The players in the game fought other sponsored players as well as designated superhuman beings, many of whom were unaware of the game's existence, in hopes of winning the "ultimate prize" promised by the game's supposed architect, James Johnsmeyer.

(Amazing Scarlet Spider#2) - After Joystick defeated El Toro Negro, she was assigned to battle the unwitting Scarlet Spider, who was actually a clone of Spider-Man called Ben Reilly (Much to her disappointment, as she really wanted to battle Spider-Man himself). In her civilian identity, Joystick went to the Daily Bugle hoping for a line on the Scarlet Spider, seeking reporter Ken Ellis. While there, she met Phil Urich, who tried to flirt with her. Urich, for unrelated reasons, decided to use his other identity as a heroic Green Goblin to harrass Ellis, who was in turn being followed by Joystick and the Scarlet Spider. Joystick attacked the Scarlet Spider and engaged him in a "warning" skirmish per the rules of the game. However, she was forced to blind her foe and break off the preliminary combat early when Urich arrived on the scene as the Goblin.

(Green Goblin#3) - The night after their encounter, Urich, as the Goblin, tracked Joystick to her hotel room using the contact information she'd given him, only to set off a gas bomb. In the process, he found a note meant to lure the Spider to a power plant for Joystick's real match with him, which he decided to share with the Scarlet Spider. Meanwhile, Joystick recieved word that El Toro Negro had gone rogue and was seeking her out. After the Scarlet Spider told the Goblin he had no intention of playing in Joystick's game, the Goblin went to the power plant and engaged an infuriated Joystick in a sort of light battle, while flirting with her. However, El Toro Negro appeared on the scene and quickly thrashed Joystick. However, the Scarlet Spider also appeared, who hadn't trusted the Goblin to stay away. Joystick, competitive in the extreme, still tried to battle the Scarlet Spider, leaving herself open to El Toro Negro. Fortunately, the infatuated Goblin saved her. Joystick convinced the Goblin to let her escape, rewarding him with a kiss.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#409) - Some weeks later, Joystick was one of several players in "the Great Game" sent to battle Kaine, whom Johnsmeyer was trying to manipulate into becoming a player in the game. In the melee that followed, she encountered Ben Reilly during the period when the latter had taken on the identity of Spider-Man, though Joystick remained unaware that the Spider-Man she met was also the Scarlet Spider and instead assumed him to be the original Spider-Man. Yanizeski was involved in a melee with several other players in the game, Reilly, and Kaine in the course of Johnsmeyer's attempts to involve Kaine in the game against the latter's will. Joystick kicked Muse in the face when the latter briefly mesmerized Polestar. Reilly managed to smash Joystick's wrist devices and thus defeat her, and she escaped in the confusion.

(Spider-Man Unlimited I#14) - El Toro Negro began killing everyone linked to "the Great Game," player or sponsor, and soon after Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) began tracking him. Reilly, following an address to Chi-Huan Associates, encountered Joystick and traded one or two punches with her. Joystick explained that Chu Chi Huan had gone missing before escaping. Hours later, Joystick appeared at Johnsmeyer's business headquarters to aid Reilly in battling El Toro Negro. El Toro revealed that he had intentionally lost in battle with Joystick, and that he was actually killing off the Game's sponsors so that Johnsmeyer and Johnsmeyer's backer Justin Hammer could easily move in on their businesses. However, Reilly had linked video hookups in Johnsmeyer's headquarters and transimtted El Toro's admission to all the sponsors, who promptly ended the game. Joystick, beaten and dazed, forgave Reilly for using her to prompt the confession, reasoning that she had in some sense beaten El Toro Negro that night.

BTS- Joystick apparently lost her job at Chi-Huan, along with whatever she had invested in the game.

(Thunderbolts I#24-25) - Joystick joined the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil in their massive extortion scheme, hoping to regain some of the money she'd lost in the collapse of the Great Game. She was one of the Masters ambushed and stripped by the Thunderbolts as part of their plan to inflitrate the Cowl's base. After being pounded unconscious by Songbird, Joystick was left in a heap with a few of her teammates. Jolt, who had taken her costume, remarked that Joystick might regret being the type who doesn't wear underwear.

(New Thunderbolts#2) - Once again affiliated with the Great Game, Joystick was sent to the United Nations alongside a new Polestar and Tremolo to confront the Sub-Mariner, Mr. Fantastic and Thunderbolts, as part of the game. When the gaming council activated the players' two-minute warning, threatening to blow them up, Joystick was convinced to help the heroes deactivate the devices in exchange for protection from the gaming council. Joystick helped Mr. Fantastic block the signal, but the devices continued their countdown, and they went off.

(New Thunderbolts#3) - Joystick and the others were saved by Songbird, who encased them within a sonic field. Songbird provided Joystick with a hard-sound chute to drag through the debris of the UN building so that they could lead the civilians out of danger, and managed to coerce Joystick into trying by saying she didn't think she could do it. Joystick accepted the challenge, and succeeded.

(New Thunderbolts#4) - While taking a shower at the Thunderbolts base, Joystick was visited by her new teammate Speed Demon, who invited her out to a bar with him and Blizzard. MACH-4 refused to permit them to leave until he had cleared their status with his parole officer, but as soon as he went out to meet with her, they stole off.

(New Thunderbolts#5) - At the Big Apple Gentlemen's Club, Joystick, Blizzard and Speed Demon learned from a television that MACH-4 was under attack by the Atlantean terrorists Fathom Five. Blizzard felt they should go help them, but Speed Demon and Joystick put him off because Joystick wanted to wait until she was half-loaded in order to make the fight interesting. After she had drunk enough, she agreed to join the other Thunderbolts.

(New Thunderbolts#6) - After stopping off so that Blizzard could collect his costume, Joystick joined the Thunderbolts against the forces of HYDRA, which were in the midst of an assault on New York designed to spread chaos. Needing to get someone inside of a HYDRA craft, Atlas launched Joystick at the command ship, and she began to hack into the ship's network. Joystick succeeded in her mission, even though she alerted HYDRA agents to her location just to make it more interesting for her. The HYDRA plot to detonate nuclear weapons throughout New York was finally halted by the Thunderbolts and Photon (Genis-Vell), and the Thunderbolts were hailed as heroes.

(New Thunderbolts#7) - Joystick put in an appearance on the "Today Show," enjoying her status as a hero, and made bold claims of the Thunderbolts' capabilities, then kissed the anchor and departed. Later, she sparred and flirted with Photon at the Thunderbolts base.

(New Thunderbolts#8) - Joystick joined the Thunderbolts in battling Batroc's Brigade, who were eventually defeated by Speed Demon and Photon. Afterwards, she played video games with Atlas at their headquarters.

(New Thunderbolts#9 (fb)) - When Atlanteans led by the Sub-Mariner broke into their base later that night, Joystick fought with them, until Atlas halted the fight. Most of the team then departed to Atlantis to investigate the effects of the Radioactive Man's radiation poisoning on Atlantis. Joystick, Photon and Speed Demon stayed behind, and Photon suggested a game of strip air hockey with her, but departed when he heard that Photon (Monica Rambeau) was looking for him. Speed Demon offered to play strip air hockey with her, but she turned him down.

(New Thunderbolts#10) - When Songbird and the Swordsman were assaulted by the people of Manhattan who had been manipulated by the Purple Man, Joystick joined the Thunderbolts to confront the duo, and she eagerly went into battle against the Swordsman, who managed to hold his own against the entire team, even as they learned that the Purple Man was controlling his victims through the local water supply.

(New Thunderbolts#12) - After some time of opposing the Purple Man's forces in Manhattan, Joystick was sent to steal a chemical analyzer from the Baxter Building, fighting her way past the enslaved Fantastic Four, whom she stalled by releasing dangerous tetraspatial particles from the laboratory. She brought the analyzer to Speed Demon, who used it to find an inoculation against Purple Man's pheromones. They finally confronted the Purple Man himself, who was brought down by Photon.

(New Thunderbolts#13 (fb) - BTS) - Joystick aided the Thunderbolts (now led by Songbird) against menaces such as the U-Foes, Mr. Hyde and AIM, even though Songbird was trying to find a way to have her taken off the team.

(New Thunderbolts#13 (fb)) - Joystick aided the Thunderbolts against the new Dr. Spectrum. Later, she watched Atlas as he met with his ex-girlfriend Dallas Riordan, representing the Commission on Superhuman Activities, and advised Atlas that "love's the only game I don't play, big guy. You can never win." then participated with the team in an attack on the Avengers on behalf of the Commission on Superhuman Activities. Joystick's mission was to invade the Avengers' new base, the Avengers Tower, and deposit miniaturized cameras. Althought most of the Avengers were occupied battling the other Thunderbolts, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) was still present, and began to fight Joystick.

(New Thunderbolts#14) - Joystick fought back against Spider-Woman, but although she was outmatched, in her mind she won the battle because Spider-Woman never learned her purpose in breaking-in, and she escaped without being captured.

(New Thunderbolts#15) - Joystick sparred with Speed Demon to test his speed, only for him to remove her top before she could react. Later, she and the other Thunderbolts confronted Nighthawk when he broke into their base to face Speed Demon, but they were interrupted when Hyperion and Dr. Spectrum (Alice Nugent) broke in.

(New Thunderbolts#16) - Joystick fought back against the new Squadron Sinister (called "Supreme Power"), but they escaped with Speed Demon and Nighthawk, temporarily trapping Joystick and the other Thunderbolts in Dr. Spectrum's force fields. They eventually escaped and pursued the Supreme Power, rescuing Nighthawk, but Songbird subsequently fired Speed Demon from the team for stealing money. She then invited Nighthawk to join the team.

(New Thunderbolts#17) - Joystick sorted through the debris of the Thunderbolts' ruined headquarters with the rest of the team.

(New Thunderbolts#18) - As the Thunderbolts trained at their new base, Photon's powers suddenly went out of control. After learning that Photon had seen himself destroy the universe, Joystick offered to kill him, but they decided to sedate him for the time being. Suddenly, the Swordsman arrived at their base, with Moonstone in pursuit.

(Thunderbolts II#100 (fb)) - The Thunderbolts were sent into another dimension by Moonstone. As they discussed the situation, Joystick proposed killing Photon so that Zemo would leave them alone. When Nighthawk opposed her, she struck him down. When Zemo finally came to confront Photon, the Thunderbolts fought him and his allies, which included Blackout, Fixer, Man-Killer, Blizzard and MACH-4. Joystick was just happy to have a fight, and fought Fixer. Ultimately, Zemo slew Photon.

(Thunderbolts II#101) - Joystick worked out with Zemo at his Folding Castle, the Thunderbolts' new headquarters. She made a pass at Zemo, and managed to knock him down during a training bout. Zemo identified Joystick as a superhuman, and the "the living, breathing embodiment of action!"

(Thunderbolts II#102) - Joystick interrogated members of the Brotherhood of the Wellspring in Tokyo on behalf of Zemo. To learn how much the Squadron Sinister knew about the Wellspring, Joystick was sent to take out the Brotherhood in Constantinople and defeat Speed Demon when he arrived on the scene, ultimately breaking both of his legs. Unknown to Zemo, however, she was secretly working on behalf of the Grandmaster.

(Thunderbolts II#103) - As the Thunderbolts began collecting super-villains on behalf of the CSA, Joystick helped the team against Quicksand, and three college students wearing MACH-4's old Beetle armors. When she heard that one of the three Beetles was a woman, she became interested in prying the armor open, "to see if she was cute."

(Thunderbolts II#104) - Joystick, Blizzard and the Fixer went on a mission to collect the U-Foes for Zemo and recruit them into the Thunderbolts. They had a wager against MACH-4 and Songbird's field teams, but Songbird came in with her recruits first.

(Thunderbolts II#105) - Joystick, Fixer and MACH-4 went to capture Iron Maiden as she attempted to flee to Canada. The Fixer and MACH-4 both held back to wager on Joystick's performance.

(Civil War#3) - Joystick stood alongside the Thunderbolts and other pro-registration heroes as they confronted Captain America and his dissidents. Although Iron Man attempted to prevent a fight, he was unsuccessful and the two sides fell into a major skirmish.

(Thunderbolts II#106-108) - The Thunderbolts finally defeated the Squadron Sinister at the site of the last Wellspring. Although Zemo knew that Joystick was going to betray him, she surprised him by dispersing the Wellspring's energy with her staff, causing people across the Earth to gain superhuman powers. Zemo ultimately slew the Grandmaster, and Speed Demon returned to defeat Joystick.

(Thunderbolts II#109) - Joystick was placed into federal custody. She attempted to dare Blizzard and Swordsman into releasing her. Blizzard said goodbye to her before he left the Thunderbolts. She called him a loser.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Ravencroft#4) - Joystick escaped Ravencroft during a mass breakout after all prisoners released from their cells by Bud Adams and the Unwanted.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Mark Bagley.

Profile by: Omar Karindu and Prime Eternal