LOTTIE HEDERMAN
Real Name: Charlotte "Lottie" Eikenski (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human (World War II to modern era);
naturalized U.S. citizen; former citizen of Germany
Occupation: Terrorist leader; former death camp commander
Group Membership: Freedomslight (Carter Tenko, others); formerly the Nazi Party, Schutzstaffel
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova), S.H.I.E.L.D.
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Ebon Flame, Herve Hederman
Base of Operations: A house in Portland, Maine;
formerly a concentration camp somewhere in the Third Reich
First Appearance: (Black Widow posing as her) Journey into Mystery I#517 (February, 1998); (actual appearance) Journey into Mystery I#519 (April, 1998)
Powers/Abilities: Lottie was a very old woman, who despite her age was versatile at running a webpage and a whole terrorist organization into following her cause purely by manipulating angry people through two fictional characters of her own creation.
In her younger years she was a ruthless S.S. operative serving the Third Reich.
Height: Unrevealed (5'7"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (150 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White; formerly blonde
History:
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - During World War II Lottie Eikenski was the commander of one of Nazi's death camps and enjoyed her work.
She fled to the United States after the fall of the Third Reich and began a new life in Portland, Maine under the fake identity of Lottie Hederman, but fading into obscurity didn't suit her.
As an elderly woman she noticed how many angry people lived in the United States and founded the anti-government anarchist organization Freedomslight. She invented a sexy female leader named Ebon Flame that nobody ever saw for the group and the identity of her "son" Herve, an anti-government nutjob, who ran Freedomslight's official conspiracy theory web page to trick people into enlisting with Freedomslight.
S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Black Widow to investigate Freedomslight after they learned they were going to strike.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Freedomslight's inside man at the FBI provided Lottie with the locations of the Cerebral Matrix and the fail-safe trigger. She remained unaware of the true identity (Carter Tenko) of her insider.
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb)) - Black Widow went undercover as bank teller Nancy Rushman at the First Trust National Bank in Portland. One day four members of Freedomslight robbed the bank according to Lottie's plan and took Lottie and Nancy hostage. Lottie witnessed Nancy as the Black Widow defeat the robbers and prevent an explosion at the bank that could've killed local police officers.
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb)) - Black Widow visited Lottie at home and accused her of being Freedomslight's insider at the bank until Lottie told her about her son Herve. Lottie showed her Herve's room and Black Widow got to look through his computer and learned that Herve was running the Freedomslight website. Black Widow made Lottie promise to contact her if she heard from Herve.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Black Widow began posing as Freedomslight's enigmatic leader Ebon Flame after learning that nobody had ever seen her before. She hoped to draw out the real leader of Freedomslight, unaware that it was Lottie.
(Journey into Mystery I#518 (fb)) - After freeing the captured Freedomslight members from a police transport to the nearest FBI office, Ebon Flame (Black Widow) sent Freeomslight members to pick up Lottie from her home. Lottie got the chance to meet the woman that up to that point had been nothing more than a legend among Freedomslight. Black Widow claimed as Ebon Flame to Lottie that she had brought Lottie there due to her connection with Herve whom Ebon Flame had fallen in love with or at least with his writing. She claimed that she wanted Lottie with the group as a representative what Herve stood for.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Black Widow alternated between identities and became as Ebon Flame an enemy Black Widow tried to stop. Unaware of the truth Lottie was willing to sit back and watch the woman claiming to be Ebon Flame to continue inspiring her troops to further her goals.
(Journey into Mystery I#518 (fb)) - Lottie was present when Ebon Flame helped Freedomslight steal a special trigger from a warehouse guarded by undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at the docks in Portland.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Ebon Flame (Black Widow) got the trigger and Lottie was elated that her years of planning had finally paid off.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Lottie went with Ebon Flame and Freedomslight to the warehouse where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Cerebral Matrix was kept that the trigger was actually a fail-safe device to, which could kill all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with a sub-cranial scanning device inside their heads.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Black Widow ruined Lottie's plan by presenting Ebon Flame as a traitor to Freedomslight's cause by claiming she was only in it for the money and planned to extort money from S.H.I.E.L.D. to start a new life. She did this to undermine any credibility Ebon Flame had as the terrorist group's leader. Lottie died of a heart attack after seeing her years of planning destroyed by Ebon Flame's claims.
Comments: Created by Scott Lobdell, Randy Green & Rick Ketcham.
Lottie is short for Charlotte, which actually was a popular name in Germany during the 1920s. Do the math and she was in her early to mid 20s during World War II.
Freedomslight was another Neil Diamond inspired group (I think Ronald pointed this out to me)
--Snood
From the song "America":
Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
A lot of the information in this profile has to be taken with a grain of salt because it was a story told to FBI agent Carter Tenko by Black Widow while posing as Lottie. What we know for sure was that Lottie is a former Nazi that founded Freedomslight by creating the fake persona of Ebon Flame and lost everything after Black Widow hijacked the identity and her terrorist organization only to destroy Ebon Flame's standing with the group.
According to the story Lottie was in her 80s, but the sliding timescale makes this less and less possible. Maybe she looked like she was in her 80s, but actually was much older and still alive due to whatever kept her alive.
As a commander of a death camp she had to be part of the S.S., which made her pretty much the worst kind of Nazi.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Lottie Hederman/Eikenski aka. Ebon Flame has no known connection to:
Freedomslight has no known connection to:
Carter Tenko has no known connection to:
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Freedomslight was an anti-government terrorist organization founded by Lottie Hederman.
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb) - BTS) - The followers were mostly men disillusioned with the government and fully believed the anti-government writings of "Herve Hederman's" conspiracy website.
(Journey into Mystery I#517, 519 (fb) - BTS) - They believed in the leadership of their highly elusive (actually never seen before), but sexy female leader Ebon Flame.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb) - BTS) - They were completely unaware that their actual leader was Lottie Hederman.
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb)) - Four members of Freedomslight robbed the First Trust National Bank in Portland, Maine and took bank teller Nancy Rushman and the elderly Lottie Hederman hostage. They were captured by the police after Rushman turned out to be the Black Widow and kicked their butts.
Black Widow interrogated one of them at the police precinct and later visited Lottie Hederman, accusing her of being the group's insider at the bank. Lottie redirected Black Widow's attention to her non-existent son, who allegedly ran the Freedomslight. After learning everything she could about Freedomslight, Black Widow began posing as their never before seen leader Ebon Flame to infiltrate the group. As Ebon Flame she freed the four captured Freedomslight members from a police transport to the closest FBI office.
(Journey into Mystery I#518 (fb)) - Ebon Flame (Black Widow) had Lottie brought to Freedomslight's HQ while switching between identities to continue her attacks on Freedomslight as the Black Widow while also providing a capable leader to them as Ebon Flame. Ebon Flame won over Lottie by telling her that she was a follower of Herve's writings and wanted Lottie with the group as a representative for all Herve stood for.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Lottie was willing to watch the false Ebon Flame help further Freedomslight's cause.
(Journey into Mystery I#518 (fb)) - Under Ebon Flame's leadership Freedomslight attacked a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse at the docks in Portland, Maine. After an alleged confrontation with the Black Widow at the warehouse they got possession of a fail-safe trigger.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb)) - Ebon Flame led an attack on another S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse where the Cerebral Matrix was kept, but then ruined Lottie's plans by claiming that she had merely helped Freedomslight to extort money from S.H.I.E.L.D., which made her a traitor to Freedomslight's cause. Lottie died of a heart attack after Ebon Flame's credibility and her year-long planning had been destroyed.
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb) - BTS) - All members of Freedomslight were arrested by the FBI, but their elusive leader Ebon Flame (because it was actually the Black Widow posing as the fake leader) remained at large.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 - BTS) - Tenko was brought in for debriefing by S.H.I.E.L.D. and suggested to go undercover within Freedomslight.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (ff) - BTS) - He was arrested soon after because S.H.I.E.L.D. were well aware of Tenko's involvement with Freedomslight and his plan to take control over the group following Ebon Flame's fall from grace.
--Journey into Mystery I#517 (517-519
(Journey into Mystery I#517 (fb) - BTS) - Carter Tenko was an agent of the FBI investigating anti-government movements in America.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (fb) - BTS) - Tenko secretly became Freedomslight's insider within the government and provided them with the locations of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Cerebral Matrix and its fail-safe trigger.
He remained unaware of Lottie's true role within Freedomslight and of her death following an attack by Freedomslight on a S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse.
(Journey into Mystery I#517) - Tenko interrogated Lottie Hederman (secretly impersonated by Black Widow) in her home in Portland, Maine about recent events involving her and Freedomslight. He promised her not to worry about the safety of her family, but "Lottie" wasn't afraid and wanted to tell him everything she knew while drinking tea with him. "Lottie" told Tenko about Freedomslight's robbery of the First Trust National Bank and the abduction of the bank teller Nancy Rushman and herself. How Rushman turned out to be Black Widow working undercover and captured the Freedomslight members. How Black Widow accused Lottie of being Freedomslight's insider at the bank until she told her about her son Herve. Lottie also showed Tenko her son's room, which made it obvious to Tenko that Herve was involved with Freedomslight and had planned the bank robbery. "Lottie" continued to tell Tenko how the Ebon Flame freed the captured four Freedomslight from police custody and led them to the rest of the group. Tenko was surprised how Lottie could know about this because she wasn't there, but before "Lottie" could answer she seemingly had a heart attack and Tenko called an ambulance for her.
(Journey into Mystery I#518) - At the hospital "Lottie" continued to tell Tenko how Ebon Flame had brought her into the group as a representative for what her son stood for and how Ebon Flame had fought back Black Widow's attacks on the group. How the group got their hands on a S.H.I.E.L.D. fail-safe trigger following a confrontation between Black Widow and Ebon Flame at a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse at the docks in Portland. Tenko didn't believe "Lottie" that she became that involved with the group, but before she could defend herself she had another heart attack. Tenko waited around for her to get better to get more answers.
(Journey into Mystery I#519) - Tenko continued his interrogation of "Lottie Hederman" and learned how the group made it to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Cerebral Matrix. According to "Lottie" the Black Widow tried to stop them and destroyed the fail-safe trigger during her battle with Ebon Flame. At this point Ebon Flame according to "Lottie" angrily revealed that she had planned to extort money from S.H.I.L.D. with the fail-safe trigger to start a new life, which was a quite disappointing betrayal of Freedomslight's cause. Tenko listened to this with a big smile on his face. "Lottie" seemingly died moments later. Tenko deleted all his recordings of the interrogation and left the hospital whistling.
(Journey into Mystery I#519) - Tenko was brought in for debriefing by S.H.I.E.L.D. and asked to be sent in undercover at Freedomslight because Ebon Flame was still on the run and the movement was growing stronger every day. Unfortunately for him S.H.I.E.L.D. was already aware that he had been working undercover for Freedomslight for some time and only planned to take control over the terrorist organization himself after learning from "Lottie" (Black Widow posing as her) that Ebon Flame had been a traitor.
(Journey into Mystery I#519 (ff)) - Dum-Dum Dugan had Tenko arrested after his interrogation.
--Journey into Mystery I#517 (517-519
images (without ads)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p5, pan1 (main, in "Lottie's" retelling)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p14, pan2 (during World War II)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p14, pan6 (Ebon Flame)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p14, pan7 ("Herve's" computer)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p16, pan2 (dying of heart attack)
Journey into Mystery I#517, p4, pan1 (Freedomslight members robbing bank)
Journey into Mystery I#518, 518, p5, pan2 (Freedomslight members with Ebon Flame, (actually Black Widow) in "Lottie's" retelling)
Journey into Mystery I#519, p11, pan3 (Carter Tenko)
Appearances:
Journey into Mystery I#517-519 (February-April, 1998) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Randy Green (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Joe Andreani (editor)
First Posted: 11/16/2024
Last updated: 11/16/2024
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