Megatak (Thor/Punisher/Venom foe)

MEGATAK

Real Name: Gregory Nettles

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Assassin, industrial spy

Group Membership: Savage Six (Crime-Master/Bennett Brant, Death Adder, Human Fly/Richard Deacon, Jack O'Lantern, Toxin/Eddie Brock);
formerly the Hood (Parker Robbins)'s army of resurrected Scourge victims aka. Deadly Dozen (Basilisk/Basil Elks, Bird-Man/Achille DiBacco, Black Abbott, Blue Streak/Don Thomas, Cheetah/Esteban Carracus, Cyclone/André Gerard, Death Adder/Roland Burroughs, Firebrand/Gary Gilbert, Hijacker/Howard Mitchell, Human Fly/Richard Deacon, Lascivious/Davida DeVito (formerly Titania), Letha/Helen Feliciano, Mind-Wave/Erik Gelden, Miracle Man/Joshua Ayers, Mirage/Desmond Charne, Turner D. Century/Clifford F. Michaels, Wraith/Brian DeWolff), Scourge victims

Affiliations: Blue Streak, the Hood, Microchip

Enemies: Betty Brant, Punisher (Frank Castle), Henry Russo, Scourge I, Sif, Thor, Venom (Flash Thompson)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, USA;
formerly Chicago, USA

First Appearance: Thor I#328 (February, 1983)

Powers: Megatak possessed "electro-kinesis," the ability to mentally control electricity and electronic components. Megatak could use this power for a variety of bizarre effects. Megatak could absorb electricity from his surroundings, and use it to enable him to fly and project bolts of sheer electrical energy, though his energy-draining abilities were far weaker than Thor's. He could greatly amplify the power level of electrical devices, making speakers play at incredibly high volumes, for example. He could generate electromagnetic constructs, usually modeled on video game characters. The constructs could project bolts of electrical energy, and were solid. Megatak initially wielded a wand-like device as part of his costume, and may have used it to focus his powers.

After resurrection and upgraded to "v.4.5", he was augmented to be able to travel and carry through people across an electronic interface (e.g., between computers across the Internet, mobile phones) and had morphed into a living computer program capable of electrokinesis, flight and energy constructs. Highly intelligent, emotionless and very strong, his processing speed exceeds that of anything built by Reed Richards, but Megatak has become less personally driven and more a device to be used.

History: Almost nothing is known of Gregory Nettles prior to his first recorded activity.

Original costume (Thor I#328) - Gregory Nettles was hired to steal the circuitry of a revoutionary new videogame, "Megatak", a product of the Nogari Corporation, at an electronics trade show in McCormick Place. Nettles ambushed and replaced a man costumed as the eponymous hero of the game, and attempted to remove circuitry from a large display model of the game as the game was turned on for the demonstration. Oddly, Nettles was apparently transformed into electrical energy and was absorbed by the game. As the demonstration of the game's more innovative features began, the figure of Nettles as Megatak seemed to fall towards the screen and finally burst explosively from it. Driven insane, Nettles apparently believed he was Megatak, and began using his powers to bring the characters from all the games at the show to life and attack the attendees.

However, the Asgardian Sif had gone to the show to alleviate her boredom at being on Earth, and she began battling Megatak's constructs. Thor, in his Don Blake identity, heard about the battle on the radio and swiftly changed to his godlike form and flew to McCormick Place himself. Sif had just reached Megatak when Thor arrived, but she grudgingly allowed him to take on Megatak, prompting Megatak to absorb all his constructs and most of the ambient energy. Thor warded off Megatak's energy blasts and the assaults of the electronic equipment he controlled, and then used his hammer's own power to absorb energy to simply siphon away all of Nettles' energy and cast it into space. Nettles was left unconscious and seemingly depowered on the floor in the Megatak costume.

(Thor I#358) - Months later, Megatak emerged from an alleyway shortly after Beta Ray Bill (in his Thor form) and Sif had finished a battle with the original Titanium Man. Nettles planned to launch some kind of attack, but he had no sooner made his boast when he was fatally shot by the vigilante Scourge with an explosive bullet.

(Punisher VII#5) - Aided by Dormammu's dark magic, the Hood resurrected Megatak along with several other of Scourge's victims to fight the Punisher.

(Punisher VII#6) - The Hood addressed the assembled resurrected villains (including Megatak), warning them that failure to kill the Punisher would leave them dead again after 30 days, but lying to them that it was the Punisher disguised as Scourge who had killed them. Megatak had been augmented, armed and costumed by the Hood (presumably with additional tweaking by Microchip).

(Punisher VII#7) - Microchip stated that he considered Megatak to be the most valuable of those resurrected and had upgraded the now living computer program to v.4.5 interfaceable with current software. He was instructed by Microchip to dive into the datastream to find the Punisher's new hacker, his face submerged into the computer screen.

Megatak attacks Henry (Punisher VII#8) - Having found the Punisher's accomplice, Henry Russo, Megatak's "bio-binary" form crossed the computer interface from the Hood's hideout to Henry Russo's computer-laden van, physically emerging out of the screens, then stomping on the hacker's head.

(Punisher VII#9) - Megatak quickly cracked the encryption and uploaded the Punisher's electronic war journal, but Henry recovered and escaped. Megatak then reached in and hauled Blue Streak through to apprehend Henry.

(Venom II#17 (fb) - BTS) - The new Crime-Master recruited Megatak to be part of his Savage Six group marshaled against Venom (Flash Thompson).

(Venom II#17) - Crime-Master introduced the Fly to his existing team of Megatak, Death Adder and Jack O'Lantern. Unwittingly warned by Eddie Brock, Megatak generated multi-bricked shields to stop bullets fired by Venom, who escaped despite the group's violent retaliation.

(Venom II#18) - Megatak transported himself via a smart cell phone and, alongside Jack O'Lantern, fought Venom, who managed to get away again.

(Venom II#19) - Smelling Venom on the data strings, Megatak reached through Betty Brant's smart phone as Venom swung them across rooftops, but she tossed the phone away before Megatak could reach them.

(Venom II#20) - Standing next to Megatak, Toxin and Jack O'Lantern, Crime-Master told the captive Betty Brant he was actually her brother, Bennett Brant.

(Venom II#21) - Venom attacked Crime-Master's hideout, dodging Megatak's energy blasts, but Megatak showed mercy, much to Toxin's anger. Megatak's head was then bitten off by Toxin, his body dissipating.

Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Alan Kupperburg

Megatak may or may not have regained his powers after his first appearance, but I'm not sure anyone really cares.

Either way, the Hood and Microchip amped up his powers... He would have survived the 30-day deadline with Daken's brutal slaying of the Punisher.
Added powers info supplied at the back of the Punisher tpb. And "cheers" to Rick Remender for resurrecting him!
---Grendel Prime

The Thor issue was from the early 1980s, and the videogames are of the Atari 2600 type. "Pac-Man" is mentioned...topical, as the old Marvel Indices would put it. The plot is also quite similar to that of the movie "Tron," in which Jeff Bridges' character is absorbed by an Atari-esque video game.

He later generates a Tetris-patterned shield composed of colored bricks in Venom. Topical too, I guess.
---Grendel Prime

Profile by Omar Karindu. Updated by Grendel Prime (from Punisher onward).

Clarifications:
Megatak has no known connections to:

any other "Megatak" characters.

For further clarifications, see also Scourge I-1

images: (without ads)
Venom II#18, p10, pan4 (main image)
Thor I#328 (headshot)
Thor I#328, cover (first costume)
Punisher VII#8, p21, pan3 (emerging from screen)

Apearances:
Thor I#328 (February, 1983) - Doug Moench (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Thor I#358 (August, 1985) - Walt Simonson (writer, pencils, inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Punisher VII#5 (July, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opena (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Punisher VII#6-9 (August-November, 2009) - Rick Remender (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art), Axel Alonso (editor)
Venom II#17 (July, 2012) - Rick Remender & Cullen Bunn (writers), Kev Walker (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Venom II#18-19 (July-August, 2012) - Rick Remender & Cullen Bunn (writers), Lan Medina (pencils), Nelson DeCastro (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Venom II#20 (September, 2012) - Cullen Bunn & Rick Remender (writers), Lan Medina & Robert Atkins (pencils), Nelson DeCastro & Rick Ketcham (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)
Venom II#21 (September, 2012) - Cullen Bunn & Rick Remender (writers), Lan Medina (pencils), Pallot, Soto & Kesel (inks), Tom Brennan (editor)

First Posted: 11/08/2001
Last updated: 08/24/2013

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