ORESTEZ NATCHIOS
Real Name: Orestez Natchios
Identity/Class: Human martial artist;
citizen of Greece
Occupation: Author, orator, terrorist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Elektra Natchios, Roadkillers;
formerly Rostislav Khitrovo, Kofi Maalouf, Akil Shehata, Arthur Vanko
Enemies: Crimson Dynamos, Rostislav Khitrovo, Kofi Maalouf, Christina Natchios, Akil Shehata, Thunderbolts (Deadpool/"Wade Wilson, Elektra Natchios, Punisher/Frank Castle, Red Hulk/Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Red Leader/Samuel Sterns, Venom/Eugene "Flash" Thompson), Arthur Vanko
Known Relatives: Christina Natchios (mother, deceased), Hugo Kostas Natchios (father, deceased), Elektra Natchios (sister), Demetrios Natchios (paternal uncle), Alexia (paternal aunt by marriage)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile;
formerly Greece
First Appearance: (In shadows) Elektra: Root of Evil#2
(April, 1995);
(fully seen) Elektra: Root of Evil#3 (May, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: Orestez is an accomplished warrior and swordsman.
He is also an accomplished author and orator, who gave speeches against terror while secretly using terrorism against the world's governments.
History:
(Elektra: Root of Evil#3 (fb) ) - A drunken Hugo told Orestez that his mother was
a whore and that he wasn't sure that her second child was his own. When Hugo
complained that his mother shamed them both, Orestez told him "Never again..."
(Elektra: Root of Evil#3 (fb) ) - Angered by his mother's open affections and his belief that she had become pregnant by a man other than a husband--and by his father's grief and subsequent drinking--Orestez hired men with a talent for cruelty to punish her.
(Elektra: Root of Evil#3 (fb) - BTS) - Shortly before noon on August 13th, a helicopter flew over the vacationing Hugo and Christina who were relaxing on an isle, firing down on them. Though Christina was the target of the attack, Hugo was shot as well. Christina died, but her baby, Elektra, was born alive.
(Elektra: Root of Evil#3 (fb) ) - Guilt over injuring his father drove Orestez away from his family.
(Elektra: Root of Evil#4 (fb) ) - Nine years later, Orestez
saved the young Elektra from being assaulted by a group of lecherous adults,
slaughtering the men. His father gratefully thanked him and asked him to come
back to his family, but Orestez's shame was as great as the day his mother died,
and he left them, telling Hugo to keep Elektra safe and teach her how to protect
herself.
The next day, Hugo flew in a sensei to begin training Elektra
in the martial arts.
(Thunderbolts III#10 (fb) - BTS) - For some reason Elektra believed Orestez was dead (or at least she later claimed to believe this).
(Thunderbolts III#7 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Orestez wrote the book To Live in Fear about terrorism.
(Thunderbolts III#8) - Orestez met with Arthur Vanko, who had turned mobile phones into bombs for Orestez. If the call was answered the bomb would power down, but if it wasn't answered it would blow up. Vanko was impressed with the gamma-powered batteries Orestez had acquired. Orestez asked Vanko what could be done with them if they were given freely to the people and Vanko revealed that they could be used to create clean, renewable energy for the entire planet.
(Thunderbolts III#7) - Orestez had arms dealers Akil Shehata, Rostislav Khitrovo and Kofi Maalouf captured and asked them to work for him by contacting the leaders to every terrorist organization worldwide and offer them a chance to submit to him or die. An armada of Crimson Dynamos rose behind him powered by the gamma-powered batteries sold to him by Madman (Phil Sterns).
(Thunderbolts III#8) - As part of his publicity tour Orestez gave a speech at the University of Cambridge in England about terrorists.
After the speech a student approached him to sign his book. She told him that his view of terrorism resonated with her especially due to his past experience with terrorism. He assured her that his experience with terrorism was not more traumatic than hers.
(Thunderbolts III#8 - BTS) - Kitrovo met with Sheik Asad in Dagestan, but the meeting was observed by the Thunderbolts. When they attacked the Red Hulk asked Kitrovo for the name of his supplier and was surprised when Kitrovo revealed that he didn't know his name and only had a phone to contact him. At that moment the phone rang.
(Thunderbolts III#9 - BTS) - Red Hulk tossed Kitrovo high into the air where the phone blew up with a powerful gamma explosion.
(Thunderbolts III#8 - BTS) - Red Leader caught the signal and trapped the number that caused the phone to blow up.
(Thunderbolts III#9) - Novelist Orestez Natchios went to the Greek embassy in London and told them that he was searching for his sister and saw her in a video online taken with a phone shortly after the bombing in Dagestan.
Red Leader revealed to Red Hulk that he had the phone number of the person that called Kitrovo before his phone blew up and dialed it. Orestez picked up while Vanko was having dinner.
(Thunderbolts III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Orestez introduced himself to Red Hulk on the phone and they had a conversation.
(Thunderbolts III#10) - Vanko didn't understand why Orestez would even talk to the Red Hulk, but for Orestez it was a matter of gaining an enemy and possibly an army for his war. Vanko pointed out that he had already provided Orestez with an army of Crimson Dynamos, but Orestez made sure that Vanko understood that he was replaceable. Orestez told Vanko that he and his sister were the culmination of a vision and Vanko snidely replied that Orestez should just ask his sister for help. Orestez strangely agreed and broke Vanko's neck with a kick because Vanko was useless to him.
(Thunderbolts III#10 - BTS) - When the news claimed that Vanko had jumped from his hotel balcony the Serbians knew that Orestez had betrayed them. Using a universal override on the Crimson Dynamos they sent them after Orestez.
(Thunderbolts III#11) - At the London Library Orestez gave a speech as part of his publicity tour for To Live in Fear. Thaddeus Ross, Frank Castle and his sister Elektra were in the small audience. Orestez revealed that he was raised by terrorists and this was the reason why he spent a large part of his life spreading fear, anger and mistrust to point out the darkness that flourished in the world's governments. Knowing Elektra was there he addressed his sister's life that turned her into a weapon now wielded by another (looking at Ross intensely). Orestez told Elektra that he could only help her save herself. Castle had enough and pulled his gun on Orestez, but Elektra stopped him because she had just realized that this was a trap. Ross transformed into the Red Hulk and Orestez told the audience that they were now witnessing the true face of terror. The Crimson Dynamo army descended from the sky and attacked the building. Elektra told the Red Hulk that their only way out of this situation was for them to save her brother because otherwise he would use them to become a martyr for his cause. Red Hulk didn't care and told the Punisher and Elektra to kill Orestez and the Crimson Dynamos while Orestez recorded them with his phone. When the Punisher found Orestez's phone he replayed the video and saw Elektra leaving with her brother. He later confronted Elektra and she told him that she had killed Orestez.
(Thunderbolts III#12) - The Punisher didn't believe Elektra and tracked down Orestez to Hollywood. At a party in the Hollywood Hills the Punisher found Orestez, now sporting blond hair. When Orestez saw him he pulled out his gun to shoot the window behind him and jumped out after throwing a concussion grenade into the crowd. The Punisher tossed the grenade into the pool before it blew up, but Orestez escaped.
The Punisher tracked Orestez down to Nevada. Orestez rode his car flanked by a biker gang known as the Roadkillers, who had previously worked with Orestez. The Punisher fired a rocket launcher at Orestez's car, but while the Punisher took out the Roadkillers Orestez once again somehow escaped.
The Punisher kept tracking Orestez down, but he always escaped. He escaped in an underground casino, on a mountain, with a speedboat, in some dungeon protected by swordsmen and in a burning plane. The Punisher never gave up because he only had to kill Orestez once, which meant him escaping over and over again made no difference.
The Punisher tracked down Orestez again, killed his guards and found the panic room Orestez was hiding in. Orestez begged the Punisher to just leave, but the Punisher was willing to wait him out. Orestez agreed to come out if they fought hand-to-hand, but while the Punisher unloaded his gun and dropped it, Orestez secretly loaded his gun and tried to conceal it coming out. As soon as Orestez opened the door the Punisher threw a grenade inside. Orestez jumped out of the way and had no chance to pull his gun. Orestez now agreed to his own terms, unloaded his gun and handed it over to the Punisher. They fought, Orestez broke Punisher's left arm with a kick, but then the Punisher gave Orestez a headbutt, which broke Orestez's neck. Orestez dropped to the ground and once again begged the Punisher to just leave him because he had won, but the Punisher wasn't finished with him yet and even though Orestez was now paralyzed from his neck down, choked him to death.
Comments: Created by D. G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel, and Hector Collazo.
I had TOTALLY forgotten about this guy and came across him while doing research for the Daredevil Handbook's Elektra profile.
Snood was not the only one that had forgotten about Orestez until Daniel Way used him again during his run on Thunderbolts. BTW there was a small mistake in Thunderbolts when Orestez called Elektra his big sister, which she was not. Elektra was only nine years old when he returned home as an adult after years away from the family. This calls also the flashbacks in Thunderbolts III#10 into question.
(Thunderbolts III#10 (fb) ) - Orestez collected sea shells and ran home with them. His older sister Elektra got mad at him because he apparently had abandoned their dog, which was bleeding when he came out of the water.
There were no word balloons describing the situation, but this it the way it looks. This would've also marked an appearance for Elektra's dog, but it didn't even look like the same breed as Agamemnon. Chalk it up to Elektra's faulty memory.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond (Thunderbolts).
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
not so much
images:
Thunderbolts III#9, p20, pan2 (main, body shot, modern)
Elektra: Root of Evil#3, p3, pan3 (head shot, past)
Elektra: Root of Evil#3, p3, pan1 (body shot, past)
Thunderbolts III#11, p5, pan4 (head shot, modern)
Appearances:
Elektra: Root of Evil#2-3 (April-May, 1995) - D.G. Chichester (writer), Scott McDaniel (pencils), Hector Collazo (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Elektra: Root of Evil#4 (June, 1995) - D.G. Chichester (writer), Scott McDaniel (pencils), Hector Collazo & Nando Prude-homme (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Thunderbolts III#7-9 (May-July, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#10-11 (August, 2013) - Daniel Way (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
Thunderbolts III#12 (September, 2013) - Charles Soule (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Jordan D. White (editor)
First Posted: 10/03/2004
Last updated: 06/14/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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