CHROME
Real Name: Jennifer "Jenny" Swensen
Identity/Class: Human, Extra-dimensional (Earth-148611)
Occupation: Adventurer, former scientist and secret agent
Group Membership: CIA, "DP7" (not a true group), Codename: Spitfire, Troubleshooters (Eric Chin, Tim Ferris, Eduardo Giotti, Andrew Meadows, Theresa Roberts)
Affiliations: All-American, Kayla Ballantine, Charlotte Beck, Jacob Burnley, Celia Cliff, Nicaraguan Contras, Willy Deere, Chairman Dibble (MIT), Captain Manhattan, Lenore Fenzl, Ben Harrington, Emily Harrington, Jilly Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Det. Jenkins, Justice, Dave Landers, Metallurge, Mutator, Nightmask, dean Norris, Randy O'Brien, Pit Bull, Psi-Hawk, Quasar, Evan Reinger, Edmund Roth, Russian soldiers, Detective Sloan, Merriam Sorenson, Star Brand (Ken Connell), Jake Travest, Philip Nolan Voigt, Jeff Walters, unnamed martial arts sensei
Enemies: Afghani rebels, Brick, Bronson, Colonel MacIntyre Browning, the Club, Famileech, Faylen, Fritz Krotze, Moondancer, Saxon St. John, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Para-Troop, Pit Bull, Spotty, Steel Hawk, the Stranger, Philip Nolan Voigt, War Dogs
Known Relatives: Dr. Karl Swensen (father, deceased)
Aliases: Spitfire, Lady J
Place of Birth: Burlington, Vermont
Base of Operations: Soho, New York (Earth-New Universe)
formerly Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.),
Cambridge, Massachusetts
First Appearance: Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1 (October, 1986)
Powers/Abilities: As Spitfire, Jenny wore the M.A.X. Armor. As Chrome, Jenny's body is covered with a shiny metal finish, which has made her immune to most physical assaults, as well as all narcotics and sedatives. She also possesses enhanced strength.
Height: 5'10"; (MAX armor) 10'
Weight: (Swensen) 145 lbs.; (Chrome) 300 lbs.; (MAX armor) 1145 lbs.
Eyes: (Swensen) Blue; (Chrome) Silver
Hair: (Swensen) Red; (Chrome) Silver
History:
(All-New Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update#3) - Jennifer was born in 1961
in Burlington, Vermont. She gew up moving from one university town to
the next with her father.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1 (fb) - BTS) - As a young girl, Jenny kicked over an ant hill, and she was mortified over the horror she had caused its inhabitants.
(Codename: Spitfire#10 (fb) - BTS) - At the age of six, Jenny was thrown from a pony at her father's farm in Vermont.
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update#3) - By the time she was 10 she studied quantum physics.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1 (fb) - BTS) - As a young girl, Jenny earned the nickname "Spitfire" from her father.
(Codename: Spitfire#12 (fb)) - Karl Swensen lectured Jenny about the evils of violence, making Jenny promise that she understood that there was never justification for the use of violence.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1 (fb) - BTS) - Jenny became a professor at M.I.T., where she established a reputation for high tech pranks, like the "disappearing cafeteria." She eventually became close with a quintet of student prodigies and pranksters nicknamed the Troubleshooters.
(Amazing Fantasy II#19/2) <April 26, 1986> - Jenny piloted the Mark I MAX armor to help contain the radiation at Chernobyl. She encountered the scientist Dmitri, who had absorbed massive amounts of radiation in the process of trying to save everyone else, and was at risk to meltdown himself. Under his guidance, Jenny tunneled into the nearby Pripyat river and immersed him in the waters, preventing the meltdown, and then collapsed the underground cavern on him, covering him in rock.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1)
<August 5-9 1986> -
After her father was killed by agents of his employer, Fritz Krotze, Jenny was
informed of his passing (ruled an accident) by Dets. Jenkins and Sloan.
Two days later she attended her father's funeral, where
Krotze told her she had to 24 hours to collect her father's personal property or
lose it forever. While going through his things she saw part of a file hinting
he may have been killed. She later returned to her father's lab, aided by the
Troubleshooters despite her insistence to the contrary. She located the M.A.X.
(Man-Amplified eXperiment) armor, model II, and stole it from the lab. She was
pursued by Krotze's agent, Bronson, wearing the model I MAX armor. As it Bronson
approached, Jenny was forced to don the MAX armor, which she dubbed Spitfire.
After a heated battle, she overpowered Bronson, after which she confronted
Krotze. She calmed herself before injuring Krotze and left him, fleeing to
Andrew Meadow's family campsite just North of the New Hampshire border.
(Star Brand#2) <August 22, 1986>- Jenny donned the M.A.X. armor to rescue a young boy trapped in a cave-in in Kingston, New Hampshire, unaware that she was followed back to the Troubleshooters by Ken Connell, wielder of the Star Brand. Jenny intended to set after a group of terrorists holding the Ajax cruise ship that evening, but Connell appeared to inform her that the hostages aboard the Ajax had already been rescued, and then warned Jenny to be prepared to take the consequences for her actions.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#2) <August 23, 1986> - Jenny and the Troubleshooters tested the armor in Parker's Hill, New Hampshire, during which time she saved a trio of hunter's who had nearly driven off a cliff. The men's reports alerted Krotze to her location, and he sent the Behemoth, an experimental Department of Defense tank after her. One of the Troubleshooters, Eduardo, had attempted to investigate the tank, but was captured by Krotze's men. Spitfire managed to destroy the tank and free Eduardo. Jenny decided it was time to seek out Krotze herself.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#3)
<September 12, 1986> -
Detectives Sloan and Jenkins questioned Jenny regarding Krotze's accusations of
her stealing his property. Terry used a cybernetic hook-up to locate evidence of
illegal arm sales in Krotze's computers. Jenny wore the armor and broke back
into Krotze Internation, where she was nearly killed by a laser trap set by
Krotze. Saved by the Troubleshooters, she disabled the laser and escaped with
the laser disk containing the information she had sought.
In the process, she accidentally shot army Major Benton in
the shoulder.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#4) <October 10-12, 1986> - Jenny appeared before Congress in the armor, handing over the disk on Krotze as evidence of his activities. However, Krotze's former allies, the Club, had sent Steel Hawk to capture Krotze, and Steel Hawk beat Krotze to death with a metal baseball bat, making it appear that Jenny had killed him in the armor. Steel Hawk tried to kill Jenny to prevent her from denying the charges, and he nearly succeeded, crippling the armor in the process. However, she managed to shatter his shin and ankle, and he fled as the police arrived. Jenkins and Sloan then arrested Jenny, taking her to prison.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#5) <November 13, 1986> - From prison, Jenny was informed by the Troubleshooters of their plans to steal back the MAX armor and to break her out of prison. When Ken Connell visited her in prison, she told him of her suspicions of problems with the suit's power pack. Connell managed to save Giotti from killing himself in the malfunctioning armor, and he hurled the power pack high into the air before it could explode.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#6) <December 19, 1986> - The District attorney dropped charges against Jenny when Detectives Jenkins and Sloan--who suspected Steel Hawk had killed Krotze--agreed to testify for the defense. The Troubleshooters learned where Steel Hawk was working out of, but Jenny insisted they not investigate--which they did anyway.
(Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#7) <January 15, 1987> - Jenny returned to teaching at MIT, and was relieved to hear that the Troubleshooters all planned to retire from field activity. She was informed by Dean Norris that she had lost tenure due to the negative publicity she had brought to the university. Later, she was abducted by agents under the direction of Edmund Roth.
(Spitfire#8) <February 4, 1987> - Pretending to represent a consortium seeking the MAX technology, Roth sent a programmed agent, Brick, to physically beat Jenny every twelve hours unless she supplied them with what they wanted. After continuing to refuse and taking a few beatings, Jenny learned that Brick was controlled by high pitched screeches, she made a whistle that caused him to pause so that she could knock him out. Roth then appeared and told her that she had passed the test and would now work for the CIA.
(Spitfire#9) <February 5, 1987> - When Jenny still refused to help Roth, he showed her a manufactured tape which appeared to be her father, advising her to work with Roth. Seeing that she was still unsure, Roth pretended to send her home, but instead put on a plane that flew her to Afghanistan. Also aboard was Jake Travest, another agent of Roth's who followed Roth's manipulations, causing Jenny to follow Travest as he parachuted out of the plane. Shortly after landing, they encountered Russian soldiers wearing MAX armor.
(Codename: Spitfire#10) <February 6-26, 1987> - Travest managed to overpower a Russian soldier in the MAX armor, and Jenny modified the armor so that when the Russians brought the armor into their base it would neutralize the other armors. However, the Afghani rebels added a bomb to the armor, so that it slew the Russians and destroyed the armors in the base. Despite her anger over the loss of life, Jenny saw what the MAX technology was doing in the wrong hands, and she agreed to join Roth's anti-terrorist operation Codename: Spitfire.
(Codename: Spitfire#11 (fb) - BTS) - Jenny and Project: Spitfire developed the MAX model III armor.
(Codename: Spitfire#11 (fb)) - Spitfire and Travest were sent to rescue a Contra official in Nicuaraga and to investigate the possibility of Soviet MAX technology in the region. However, as soon as they arrived, the Sandinistas used a scrambling device that nearly disabled the MAX Armor. Spitfire took some heavy hits and narrowly escaped, suffering multiple burns and other injuries, while the Contra official was already dead. Travest was captured by the Sandinistas.
(Codename: Spitfire#11) - Codename: Spitfire recovered Jenny, discovered the cause of the malfunction, and proofed the armor against further attack. Despite still being badly injured, Jenny donned the armor and rescued Travest.
(Codename: Spitfire#12) - Jenny found a hidden disk from her father and loaded it into her computer, finding that it contained an interactive simulation of his personality. Jenny's next mission was to recover the experimental F-19A Quicksilver Fighter-Bomber, stolen by freelance agent Evan Reinger. However, her father's program, which opposed violence in any form, managed to infiltrate the Agency's computers and shut down telemetry readings to the armor. Without the full benefit of her armor's computer assistance, Jenny was forced to kill Reinger and destroy the F-19A in order to prevent Reinger from escaping with it. Regretfully, Jenny purged the disk and the program to prevent similar problems in the future.
(Codename: Spitfire#13) - Jenny accompanied Willy Deere to Puerto Rojo, where they found that Saxon St. John, a freelance member of the Club, had been developing his own version of MAX technology and had progressed to the creation of cyborgs. Deere, assisted by a Celia Cliff--former CIA agent enslaved and converted into a cyborg by St. John, managed to kill St. John. Jenny destroyed all records of St. John's Synergy project in order to prevent the CIA or other groups from attempting similar work.
(The Pitt ) <December 22, 1987>- After Pittsburgh was decimated by the Star Brand, Spitfire was ordered in by the military to survey the destruction with the M.A.X. armor's sensors. Along the way, Jenny was able to save the Robinson family, whose car had fallen into the "Pitt juice" in the crater, but the armor was submerged beneath the "juice", and suffered a leak. Jenny brought the family to the military for safety and wanted to search for more survivors, but Colonel MacIntyre Browning ordered against it. Angered, Jenny redonned the armor and departed in defiance of the military.
(DP7#19 <December 24, 1987>)- Jenny encountered the paranormal Merriam Sorenson, and followed her to her friends Randy O'Brien, Mutator, Charlotte Beck and Lenore Fenzl, who had come to the Pitt in search of their friend Jeff Walters. Jenny destroyed one of O'Brien's Anti-Body's with her armor and turned to attack the others, but Charlotte froze the machine up with her powers, causing it to crash. O'Brien confronted Jenny, and they realized they were on the same side. When she learned that their friend Dave Landers was trapped on the edge of a crater, she helped recover him, saving Jeff Walters in the process.
(DP7#20)- The damage the M.A.X. armor took from the crash and a lack of materials to fix it resulted in Jenny sealing it up and leaving it at the Pitt. She assisted O'Brien and his friends in carrying Landers and Walters to a basement where they could rest and heal, and she became attracted to O'Brien-- to the chagrin of Charlotte. When one of O'Brien's Anti-Bodies reported that Mutator had been attacked by raiders, Jenny led Lenore, Charlotte, Merriam and two Anti-Bodies to save them. The raiders turned out to be the War Dogs, agents of the paranormal known as the Pit Bull. Jenny led a spirited offensive against the Pit Bull, and managed to stun him with a grenade, but as they could not seriously harm him, she led Charlotte, Lenore and Mutator to hide, while Merriam bolted back to O'Brien.
(DP7#21 (fb)) <January 1, 1987> - When Jenny, Lenore, Charlotte and Mutator were unable to find the others, Jenny parted ways with them to see if they had been taken as prisoners to an army base.
(DP7#23 (fb, BTS))- Jenny was taken captive by the military, but when she began to develop a strange metallic-like fungus on her body (as a result of her exposure to "Pitt juice"), Jenny began to mutate, and she wound up in the care of the CIA.
(DP7#23) <April 24, 1988> - Lenore Fenzl, having joined the CIA, was brought to Jenny's bedside to see if her powers could sedate her, as Jenny had become immune to sedatives. Jenny begged for Lenore to take her life, but Lenore took only enough energy to knock her out.
(Psi-Force#20/2 (fb), DP7 (#24 (fb, BTS)) - When Stephanie Harrington joined the CIA, they had her use her healing powers to try and help Jenny, but they proved ineffective.
(DP7#24)- A week later Stephanie tried again, but by this time, the metal had fully encased Jenny's body, making her immune to Stephanie's efforts.
(DP7#26 ) <August 4, 1988> - Jenny joined Stephanie, Lenore, Charlotte and Merriam on a mission to Brazil to investigate a biological weapon, which proved to be the so-called "Famileech." Jenny proved to be immune to the creature because of her metal skin, but in the course of the encounter, Lenore was lost, seemingly dead. After conducting a three hour search, Jenny was forced to order the team back to their pick-up site and return home.
(DP7#27) - After being debriefed, Jenny came upon Stephanie destroying her house, angry that her husband had run out on her with their children. Wanting nothing more to do with the C.I.A., Stephanie attacked Jenny, blaming her for Lenore's death. One of Stephanie's punches struck Jenny so hard that she collapsed on the ground, bleeding green blood. Stephanie was aghast at what she had done, and healed Jenny with her powers-- unaware that Jenny was faking unconsciousness.
(DP7#28 ) <September 19-20, 1988> - After Stephanie recovered her children, Jenny met up with her, Merriam and Charlotte to inform them that the C.I.A. had another job for them, spying on presidential candidate Philip Nolan Voigt in New York. However, as they were monitoring him, he appeared in their hotel room and used his powers to take control of their minds, commanding them to not tell their superiors about him, to obey all of his orders, tell no one of their meeting, and to vote for him in November. When Randy O'Brien and Dave Landers sought out Voigt, he unleashed Jenny and the others upon them, and Jenny helped Stephanie pin Landers under a car. Voigt then informed Landers and O'Brien that if they interfered again, he would order the women to commit suicide.
(DP7#29 ) <November 1-2, 1988> - Now sharing an apartment in Soho with the other women, Landers and O'Brien, Jenny helped O'Brien come to terms with his inability to exit his Anti-Body form by teaching him to apply make-up, and covered her own face with make-up so that she could appear more human. Later, Jenny was assaulted with the others by the assassin Deadweight. After they defeated Deadweight, Jenny determined that he had been hired by the C.I.A., and met with her contact Wade at a porno theatre, where she learned that Deadweight had been sent by rogue forces. On her way back to Soho, Jenny saw in a newspaper headline that Voigt was now President of the United States, and wondered what it would mean for the future of paranormals.
(Star Brand#18) - Jenny helped Dave and Stephanie battle the paranormal mugger Spotty, but she unable to defeat him, until the current Star Brand wielder Jacob Burnley appeared and revealed that Spotty had been casting an illusion to trick them.
(DP7#30 ) <December 15, 1988> - As Jenny helped Stephanie and her children bring a Christmas tree back to their apartment, they were attacked by muggers. One of them held a knife to Emily's throat, but he was defeated by the super-hero Captain Manhattan, who was passing by. Jenny was astonished to meet a genuine super-hero, and liked how he looked in spandex, so she accepted his business card, promising to think about becoming a super-hero herself. That evening, Jenny and the others were at Rockefeller Plaza when members of the Para-Troop attempted to steal the Plaza's Christmas tree, just to attract Captain Manhattan's attention so that they could trap him. Jenny stripped down to her underwear and encouraged the others to join her in aiding Captain Manhattan against the villains, and defeated Helter Skelter herself. Afterward, she convinced Captain Manhattan to visit their apartment for a Christmas party.
(DP7#31/2) - Jenny donned the costumed identity of "Chrome", and became Captain Manhattan's sidekick, aiding him in defeating a team of drug dealers. Although Jenny enjoyed the action, her main interest was in getting Captain Manhattan to treat her like a woman.
(DP7#32 ) <February 23-24, 1989> - Chrome joined Captain Manhattan in confronting The Cure, a paranormal who claimed to be able to cure other paranormals of their abilities. Jenny was tempted to have him remove her powers so that she could finally get closer to Captain Manhattan, but simultaneously feared that without her powers, he wouldn't be interested in her at all. Ultimately, she decided to keep her powers.
(The War#4) - Jenny was one of the people who were communicated to by the Starchild, the incarnation of the Star Brand, who claimed responsibility for the creation of paranormals, and prevented World War 3 from breaking out by making all weapons inoperable.
(Quasar#31) - Jenny was present with her friends as they met the Earth-616 native Quasar, who had become stranded in the New Universe. None of them quite believed the background he gave them.
(Quasar#56) - Chrome joined Captain Manhattan, the Pit Bull, Psi-Hawk, Metallurge, Philip Nolan Voigt, the All-American, and Justice in answering Nightmask's call for aid against an alien invasion he had sensed. When Kayla Ballantine, a woman from Earth-616 appeared, Chrome gave her her coat to wear, and they heard her story about possessing the Star Brand, and being Quasar's girlfriend.
(Starblast#4) - Voigt soon returned from investigating the supposed aliens with a hostage-- Quasar. Quasar informed them that were in danger from Skeletron and his Starblasters, and he led them to Skeletron's vessel, the Dark Seed. The Starblasters' Skullhuggers attempted to take control of Chrome after they entered, but Quasar was able to drive it off of her. They were then assaulted by several of Quasar's former allies, who were being controlled by the Stranger, and Chrome fought Moondancer during the battle. The battle ended when the Stranger trapped Skeletron within the New Universe, but brought the New Universe's Earth into the 616 universe.
(Quasar#57) - Chrome and the others heroes of the New Universe attempted to assault the Stranger, but the Living Tribunal then appeared and teleported them back to their world.
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway, Jack Morelli, Eliot R. Brown, Herb Trimpe and Joe Sinnott.
I didn't really care for the Amazing Fantasy "Untold
story" as it had Jenny not only knowing about, but operating a MAX unit prior to
her "discovery" of the Mark II armor in Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1. In
addition, it had another superhuman existing before the White Event.
--Snood
Chrome received an entry in the All-New OHotMU Update#3.
by Prime Eternal and Snood
CLARIFICATIONS:
Jenny Swenson should not be confused with:
Images taken from:
Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#1, cover
Quasar#56, page 3
DP7#19, page 15, panel 6
DP7#30, page 7, panel 2
Appearances:
Spitfire and the
Troubleshooters#1 (October, 1986) - Eliot Brown, John Morelli &
Gerry Conway (writers), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Joe Sinnott & Tom
Morgan (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Star Brand#2 (November, 1986) - Jim Shooter (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Spitfire and the Troubleshooters#2-7 (November, 1986 - April, 1987) -
Gerry Conway (#2-6), Roy Thomas (#5) & Cary Bates (#6-7) (writer),
Herb Trimpe (#2, 5), Ron Wagner (#3), Todd McFarlane (#4), Vince
Giarrano (#6) & Alan Kupperberg (#7) (pencils), Bob McLeod (#2, 4),
Danny Bulanadi (#3) & Tony DeZuniga (#5-7) (inks), Bob Harras
(editor)
Spitfire
and the Troubleshooters#8-9 (May, 1987) - Cary Bates (writer), Alan
Kupperberg (layouts), Tony DeZuniga (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Codename: Spitfire#10-13 (July-October,
1987) - Cary Bates (#10), Fabian Nicieza (#11), Len Kaminski (#12)
& Sandy Plunkett (#13) (writer), Marshall Rogers (#10), Grant Miehm
(#11), Javier Saltares (#12) & Sandy Plunkett (#13) (pencils),
Marshall Rogers (#10), Mike Esposito (#11), Jim Fern (#12) & Dave
Hoover (#13) (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
The Pitt (March, 1988) - John Byrne & Mark Gruenwald (writers), Sal
Buscema, Chris Ivy & Don Hudson (pencils), Stan Drake (inks),
Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#19-21 (May-July, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#23-24 (September-October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul
Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Psi-Force#20 (June, 1988) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
DP7#27-32 (January-June, 1989) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Star Brand#18 (March, 1989) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Tom Morgan (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
The War#4 (1990) - Doug Murray (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Howard Mackie (editor)
Quasar#31 (February, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Quasar#56-57 (March-April, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald & Peter Sanderson
(#57) (writer), John Heebink (pencils), Aaron McClellan (inks), Mike
Rockwitz (editor)
Starblast#4 (April, 1994) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Kong, Palant &
Buckler (pencils), Don Hudson & Ernie Chan (inks), Mike Rockwitz
(editor)
Amazing Fantasty#19 (May, 2006) - Justin Gray (writer), Marshall Rogers (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
First Posted: 05/28/2004
Last updated: 12/05/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff,
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