ARCHITECT

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Shining Ones) (active between Post-Hyborian era to modern era) (see comments)

Occupation: Sadhu

Group Membership: Shining Ones

Affiliations: Architect's servants, Blacklash, Boomerang, Bullet (Buck Cashman), Bullseye, Bushwacker, Homer, Killer Shrike, Machete, Mary Mason, Hugo Natchios, Razor-Fist, Shatterhead, Taskmaster, unnamed assassins, Konrad Weiss, Zaran

Enemies: "Agamemnon", Dr. Strange, Elektra, Gregg, Judy, Mr. Mason

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Center of the Fire, "Clytemnestra," The Glowing One, "Judy", Lord of Treachery and Illusions, Master of Snakes and Ladders, The Shining One, "Konrad Weiss"

Base of Operations: Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Greenwich Village, New York;
    formerly New York City, New York;
    formerly Goa, India (post-Hyborian era to modern era)

First Appearance: (BTS) Elektra I#1 (November, 1996);
    (mentioned) Elektra I#3 (January, 1997);
    (seen) Elektra I#4 (February, 1997)

Powers/Abilities: The Architect had the power to control the minds of others and to generate intense flames, both abilities that he could use over very long distances. He could project energy from his hands capable of disintegrating a victim. He could pull others toward his presence, and force their astral forms out of their bodies. He could bring spirits back from the dead, and return them at will. He could temporarily put his essence into a human host, but this host needed to be scorched by his fire in order to be a suitable vessel, and would usually die when the Architect left. Over the years his powers waned, and he needed to be killed and reborn to regain the full extent of his power. He needed to perform unspecified actions to prepare the unborn child into which he would be reincarnated.

History: (Elektra I#6 (fb) - BTS) - <thousands of years ago> The Architect and his compatriots landed on planet Earth. The Shining Ones enjoyed a time of great prosperity, but eventually they started dying out, until the Architect was the only one left.

(Elektra I#6 (fb) - BTS) - <thousands of years ago> He claimed to have met some of the poets who would be remembered by history as Homer. He also claimed to have killed a man who provided the inspiration for the theatrical version of Agamemnon.

(Elektra I#8 (fb) - BTS) - The Architect used his powers to impregnate a girl named Mary Mason. He planned on using her future child as his new permanent vessel.

(Elektra I#2 (fb) - BTS / Elektra I#1, 2 - BTS) - The Architect sent his servants to offer a contract to Bullseye, on the condition that he first kill Elektra a second time. His servants gave Bullseye all the information he had acquired about Elektra, as well as a necklace that once belonged to her father Hugo Natchios. Bullseye failed to kill Elektra, but told her all about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the hit.

(Elektra I#3 - BTS) - The Architect sent a message to Elektra through some mind-controlled pawns. They told her she had proven her worth by defeating Bullseye, and that the Architect was bringing an army of assassins to New York City. The message delivered, the Architect set his pawns on fire, burning down the nightclub where they were talking to Elektra.

(Elektra I#4 (fb) - BTS) - The Architect began orchestrating a series of battles between super-powered assassins to see which one of them was fit to kill him. He summoned Shatterhead, Killer Shrike, Bullet, Blacklash, Bushwacker, Razor-Fist, Fatale and several other killers.

(Elektra I#4) - The Architect was annoyed that two passing tourists in India were taking pictures of him. He showed his displeasure by disintegrating the pair. The Architect transferred his essence into a homeless man in New York City to see how his plan was progressing. Seeing a battle between Killer Shrike and Shatterhead, he summoned Elektra to see how she would react to the rampant bloodshed he was responsible for. Later he brought Elektra's astral form to India, and raised her father from the dead for a brief reunion. He offered Elektra weekly visits from her fathers' spirit, as well as calling off the assassins in New York if she would only kill him.

(Elektra I#5) - The Architect gave Elektra fourteen days to decide if she would kill him. After some soul-searching Elektra answered his proposition with a definitive "no".

(Elektra I#6) - The Architect transferred his essence into an American tourist named Judy. Using this unassuming guise he returned to America, and attended the opening of Elektra's play "Reading Gaol." He left her roses and a simple card that said, "Now It Begins."

(Elektra I#7 (fb) - BTS) - The Architect arranged another battle of assassins at an art show called "Death and Architecture." He also sent an invitation to Elektra to the battle.

(Elektra I#7) - The Architect temporarily cured the club foot of Elektra's friend Konrad Weiss. He promised the foot would be permanently healed if he performed one simple task. Konrad told him he would do whatever was asked of him.

(Elektra I#8) - The Architect explained his plan to Konrad. He would replace an actress in Elektra's play who was doing the part of "Clytemnestra." In one scene Elektra would stab Clytemnestra with a fake sword. He ordered Konrad to replace the play sword with a real one. During the play Konrad changed his mind and warned Elektra before she could deliver the killing blow. The Architect then transferred his essence into Konrad Weiss' body. It was in this form that Elektra finally slew him. Unknown to the Architect, Dr. Strange had woven a spell that would prevent him from entering the newborn body of Mary Mason's baby. Instead he was reborn as a tiny helpless monster that Dr. Strange created using "certain samples" from Mary Mason. Dr Strange placed the Architect in a protective orb and hid it within his Sanctum Sanctorum.

Comments: Created by Peter Milligan, Mike Deodato Jr. & Deodato Studios.

I take the Architect's claims about "Homer" and "Agamemnon" with a grain of salt, after all he is the Lord of Treachery and Illusions.

Technically the Architect would be BTS in all appearances of Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum after Elektra I#8.

Judy's body later became the home for Konrad Weiss' mind. If Konrad ever gets a profile, she'll be covered in that one, as will her boyfriend Gregg.

Dr. Strange noted that "Shining Ones" was one of the names the Vedic gods went under, and the Architect reminisced about the former glory of the Shining Ones when he visited a temple of Ganesh. The Vedic Age was 1500-1000 B.C. so I would place the Architect's arrival on Earth during this period, although if he truly met Homer and "Agamemnon" perhaps he arrived earlier. Here's Will U with some information on Vedic gods, and a good take on the Architect's connection to them.
The Vedic gods were the gods adapted into Hinduism just as the Romans adapted the Greek gods, the Aztecs adapted the Mayan gods and the Scandinavians adapted the Teutonic gods. The Vedic/Hindu architect god was named Tvashtri, but he was also called a sun god (explaining the shining thing). Vishnu was a minor Vedic figure until Hinduism. There's even a few Hindu gods listed in their entry. In the Marvel Universe, some aliens might have masqueraded as them (just as the Eternals did for the Olympian Gods) without knowing they really existed.---Will U

PROFILE BY FUTURE

CLARIFICATIONS:
Shatterhead has no known connection to:

• Architect, Punisher foe, @ Punisher War Zone#17
• Architect, Elder of the Universe, @ [Quasar#17]
• Architect 2099, founder of Oasis, former agent of Feng Huang, @ X-Men 2099: Oasis

Architect's servants

Contacted Bullseye and gave him all the information the Architect had acquired about Elektra. After Elektra defeated Bullseye she found one of them at Bullseye's apartment, but the servant eluded her.

--Elektra I#2(fb) (3

Mary Mason

Sixteen year old girl. She passed out after meeting the Architect, and later found out that she was pregnant. Dr. Strange got "certain samples" from her in order to trap the Architect in a body of Strange's choosing. Mary's baby was stillborn because the Architect was unable to reincarnate himself in its' body.

--Elektra I#8 (8 (fb) - BTS

Mr. Mason

His daughter was impregnated by the Architect. He told Dr. Strange and Elektra that he didn't know who the father of Mary's future baby was, but would gladly strangle him if he found out.

--Elektra I#8

images:
Elektra I#4, p7;
Elektra I#6, p11, pan2;
(Architect's servants) Elektra I#2, p12, pan4;
(Gregg) Elektra I#6, p12, pan6;
(Mary Mason) Elektra I#8, p6, pan1;
(Mr. Mason) Elektra I#8, p5, pan6