CRULE
Real Name: Crule
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: (Formerly) Nazi death camp employee
Group Membership: The Externals (Absalom, Burke, Candra, Gideon, Nicodemus, Saul, Selene)
Affiliations: (Loosely) The Externals, Gideon
Enemies: The Externals, Hydra (Lt. Cassandra Romulus, Lt. Saltz), Selene, S.H.I.E.L.D. (G.W. Bridge, Nick Fury, Kate Neville, Alexander Goodwin Pierce), X-Force (Boom Boom, Cannonball, Feral, Rictor, Shatterstar, Siryn, Sunspot, Warpath)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Krule (see comments)
Base of Operations: (Formerly)
Madripoor
(formerly) Germany
First Appearance: X-Force I#12 (July, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: Crule possessed superhuman strength and durability. As an External, he also enjoyed an unnaturally long life.
History: (X-Force I#12 (fb)-BTS) - Crule was
employed by the Nazis during World War II, operating the death ovens.
(X-Force I#10-BTS) - As the other Externals/High
Lords discussed the "awakening" of Samuel Guthrie as one of them,
Gideon offered to contact Crule to retrieve him.
(X-Force I#12) - Gideon found Crule in a bar in
Madripoor, where the External was destroying a bar. The two
fought briefly before Gideon convinced Crule to do his bidding: find
Cannonball (Guthrie) and kill Cable. The two returned to Gideon's
home, where they were met by Roberto DaCosta, aka Sunspot. Crule
watched as Gideon severely beat Sunspot.
(X-Force I#14) - Crule attacked X-Force on their
aircraft.
(X-Force I#15) - Crule fought X-Force to a stand-off,
but after revealing that Gideon had turned on Sunspot, Rictor used his
powers to knock the External out of the plane and he fell miles to the
Earth.
(X-Force I#23) - Trying to find the Externals,
X-Force was forced to retrieve Crule from St. Anthony's Hospital, where
he was recovering from his injuries. Filled with anger towards
his fellow High Lords, he led them straight to Gideon's base of
operations.
(X-Force I#24) - Still encased in a full-body
fiberglass cast, Crule was dropped into the Pacific Ocean by nervous
members of X-Force, where he was seen floating in the water.
(Nick Fury, Agent of
S.H.I.E.L.D. II#46) - Crule was reunited
with Gideon at his base in Denver, and Gideon was surprised to see that
he had survived his fall. Crule's bones were still knitting, but
he was eager to have his revenge upon X-Force. However, the two
Externals were interrupted when a team of Hydra agents led by Lt. Saltz
and Lt. Cassandra Romulus broke into the building, and declared that
Gideon either join Hydra or die. Crule was offended, and went into
battle against them, only for Lt. Romulus to break one of his
still-mending legs. The
battle was joined by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury, Kate Neville, G.W.
Bridge and Alexander Goodwin Pierce, but they were as unwelcome to the
Externals as Hydra, and Crule attacked them as well. The Hydra agents
were soon defeated, but Gideon then ordered Crule to contain the
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
(Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. II#47) - As Crule mopped up the last
of the Hydra agents, Fury prepared to pull out, deciding that since
Gideon and Crule had nothing to do with Hydra that they shouldn't
bother with them. Crule was determined to continue fighting them, but
Gideon brushed him aside, not wanting any further fighting that day.
(X-Force I#53-54) - Crule believed Sunspot and
Cannonball to be responsible for the death of Gideon and, along with
Absalom, attacked them. The rest of X-Force arrived and joined
the battle. However it was Selene, also an External, who was revealed
as Gideon's killer. She then killed Absalom and Crule.
Comments:
Created by Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Pacella and Dan Panosian.
Much thanks to Prime Eternal for the
Nick Fury issues. By the way, these came out just prior to the
X-Force I#23-24 appearances, but chronologically look like they follow
them, as Crule is further along in his recuperation (which is
acknowledged) than he was in the X-Force issues.
Crule's name was spelled "Krule"
throughout X-Force I#10, but by the time he actually appeared, it was
changed to "Crule." This was a common blight on early issues of
X-Force, where names of new characters constantly changed without
explanation. The Toy Biz action figure of Crule (yes, they made
figures of just about every X-character during the 1990's) has his name
spelled Krule as well.
The Externals are listed as group membership, affiliation and enemy. This is because they are a group by nature, not by choice. Also, while they, or some of the members, often work together, they do not like each other and often plot against one another.
Crule actually invoked Mitra (X-Force I#23) and Ishtar (X-Force I#12).
--John McDonagh
Clarifications:
Crule has no known connections to
images:
X-Force I#12, page 1, panel 2
X-Force I#53, cover
Appearances:
X-Force I#12 (July, 1992) - Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza (writers), Mark Pacella (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Force I#14-15 (September-October, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Terry Shoemaker (#14) & Greg Capullo (#15) (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Force I#23-24 (June -July, 1993) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry Candelario (#23) & Richard Bennett (#24) (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Nick Fury : Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. II#46-47 (April-May, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), John Heebink (pencils), Don Hudson (#46) & Brian Garvey (#47) (inks)
X-Force I#53-54 (April-May, 1996) - Jeph Loeb (writer), Adam Pollina (pencils), Mark Morales (#53) & Bud LaRosa (#54) (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
First Posted: 09/28/2005
Last updated: 09/28/2005
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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