LANCER

Real Name: Samantha Dunbar

Identity/Class: Human mutate; citizen of former U.S.A., Counter-Earth

Occupation: Prisoner;
   former regent of Doom's forces on Counter-Earth

Group Membership: Dr. Doom's Generals (also referred to as Dr. Doom's Lieutenants)

Affiliations: Close friend to Wakanda's prince;
   formerly regent of Dr. Doom's Counter-Earth holdings, one of her higher underlings was Breegan (now deceased)

Enemies: Counter-Earth's Atlans, Dezerkers, Divinity, Dorma, Iron Men, Maggia, S.H.I.E.L.D. (including General Otto Octavius), Shakti, Technarx, Thraxis, Tomazooma, Weaponeers of Achmed Al-Khalad; Earth's Fantastic Four

Known Relatives: Husband (name unrevealed, presumed deceased), at least two other unidentified family members (also presumed deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
   formerly Baxter Building (a.k.a Doom Central), New York Bay, Counter-Earth

First Appearance: Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (January, 2000)

Powers/Abilities: Samantha possesses exceptional intellect, tactical skills, insight, and honor. Before becoming Lancer, Samantha wore multiple daggers strapped to her wrists for protection. As Lancer, Samantha can generate and hurl lances of raw nuclear plasma, and can increase or decrease the force behind these lances at will. By generating but not throwing them, they can act as plasma "claws." She possesses enhanced reflexes and musculature (apparently at enhanced human level). Lancer possesses an innate near-immunity to a number of energy forms, including but not limited to radiation, magic, and techno-organic transformations, though it may take a few minutes for her body to adapt to these energies after initial exposure. The nanites inside Lancer act as a bio-cybernet linked to data networks accessed through Doom's armor, giving him the ability to monitor and analyze her actions. The bio-cybernet also allowed Lancer to access Doom's files and programs. Lancer speaks the Atlan language, an ability learned via her bio-cybernet.

Height: 6'0"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History: (Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (fb) - BTS) - On what would become known as Counter-Earth, Samantha Dunbar was a New Yorker, born and bred.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lancer's husband had been a San Francisco native.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (fb) - BTS) - Samantha and her family were sailing in an "around Long Island" race when a Celestial appeared in the sky and the heroes of Earth apparently went to confront him. The Celestial vanished, and shortly thereafter a tidal wave engulfed her boat and the city; the boat was smashed by an out-of-control submarine and Samantha miraculously survived when she was caught on a window-washing scaffold on Wall Street. Her family presumably died.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (fb) - BTS) - The heroes never returned, and the Atlantic coastline decreased in elevation by about 200 feet. Following New York's flooding, the new "New York Bay" was invaded by sharks feeding on the millions of bodies; Samantha then swore that she and death would be enemies and that she wouldn't surrender anyone to death without a fight.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (fb) - BTS) - An experiment was being conducted on Counter-Earth as a whole, destabilizing society by throwing into chaos and limiting its resources.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1) - The force behind this experiment was revealed as the Dreaming Celestial, also known as the Apostate.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1) - Three months after the flooding of New York, Samantha Dunbar was living in a New York Bay designer loft, having taken up residence there following the death/disappearance of its owner. A colorful explosion high in the sky was followed by a man plummeting from the air and falling into the waters of New York, and Samantha donned a mask and dove into the water after him. She recognized him as Dr. Doom, one of Counter-Earth's most brilliant men, and attempted to rescue him, knocking out the first two Atlan (formerly Atlantean) warriors who came after them. Surfacing briefly for air she returned to Doom, but more Atlan warriors attacked. After giving Doom air in an attempt to save his life, she battled the warriors and was losing despite disabling several until Doom recovered and carried both of them into the air.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1) - Doom revived Samantha via a combination of defibrillation and artificial respiration, and before again collapsing Samantha briefly attacked Doom for what she saw as his (and the heroes') betrayal of her world by abandoning it. Doom then claimed the Baxter Building as his new home, and told Samantha the truth about where the heroes had vanished to and why, and that Counter-Earth had truly only existed less than a couple of years. That afternoon, while Samantha slept, Doom injected her with nanite catalysts which gave her powers, and she aided Doom in driving off the possessed Atlans who were assaulting the building. Doom then named her his Lancer, saying he needed someone to watch his back while he fought to restore order to, and claim sovereignty of, Counter-Earth. Despite her anger at Doom's highhandedness, Lancer chose to cooperate with Doom.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1) - On a rooftop not far from the Baxter Building, the malleable Divinity chased and possessed a psychic projection of the now-human former Celestial, Ashema. Seeing only a woman in trouble, Lancer came to her aid and drove divinity away, though the projection was also destroyed. Returning to Doom, Samantha learned that through nanites in her body he could now monitor her at all times (and that she could access Doom's files via this bio-cybernet); when she angrily objected he told her that she had his gratitude but had yet to earn his respect.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1) - Having learned Atlan via the bio-cybernet, Lancer accompanied Doom as he recruited Atlan's Queen Dorma as one of his new generals. Her analysis of Dorma and Doom and she began acting as his bodyguard while becoming his closest companion on Counter-Earth. She accompanied him to the North America southwest, where Doom had located Ashema, and defeated the giant robotic Tomazooma while Doom defeated and recruited Divinity during the process of freeing Ashema.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1) - With Doom, Lancer defeated the Weaponeers of Achmed Al-Khalad, also known as the Arabian Knights, who had invaded Wakanda. The pair was aided by Dorma, Divinity, and two new Generals, Shakti and Technarx. After Doom annexed Wakanda, Lancer prevented the young crown prince of Wakanda from assassinating Doom, and was subsequently tasked with making the young prince feel at home. In San Francisco, Lancer and the Prince were attacked by Shakti, Technarx, and then Divinity when Doom's other generals attempted a Dorma-led coup (influenced by the Dreaming Celestial), but Lancer easily defeated the trio. Immediately thereafter, Doom moved Counter-Earth from its location in a pocket universe to the same dimension as Earth-616, placing it in orbit exactly opposite the sun from that Earth, where a previous Counter-Earth had once been.

(Fantastic Four III#25) - Now in a starship in the American southwest of the "true" Earth, Lancer was surprised when Valeria von Doom (Marvel Girl, an alternate future child of Doom and Susan Richards) popped into the ship and apparently recognized Lancer. The Fantastic Four soon followed, and Lancer held Valeria out of the battle while Doom's other generals (pardoned after their attempted coup) battled the Four. The fight was interrupted when the Dreaming Celestial destroyed the ship, and Lancer angrily told off the Fantastic Four for their abandoning her Earth to the Celestial, defending Doom as the only one of the "heroes' to have returned. Doom and the Four allied to invade the Dreaming Celestials' Tomb, and the Generals and Fantastic Four occupied the Celestial's guardians while Doom and Mr. Fantastic went inside; Lancer was the last to fall, though she and the others were all restored (as was Doom's starship) when Doom and Mr. Fantastic stopped the Celestial, apparently resulting in Mr. Fantastic's death.

(Fantastic Four III#26) - Mr. Fantastic was trapped in Dr. Doom's armor, but masquerading as Doom. Lancer was the first to realize the truth, and confronted him once she was alone with him. Ultimately, she agreed to maintain the charade, simply because "Doom" maintained control over the other Generals, and the false Doom was better than the chaos which would result from his exposure. Lancer was present when "Doom" agreed to marry Susan Richards at Dorma's insistence.

(Fantastic Four III#28) - Dorma led her fellow Generals in an attack on Earth, which was immediately detected by Lancer and "Doom." Using her plasma lances, Samantha destroyed the starship's main weapons and prevented a devastating preemptive strike, but the Avengers quickly invaded the ship in response. Lancer battled Captain America in defense of "Doom," but the battled ended when Doom asked for a truce. He then named Lancer as regent, in charge of all Doom's forces, and ordered her and the starship to return to Counter-Earth and locate the real Dr. Doom.

(Doom#1) - On Counter-Earth, the Baxter Building (now also known as Doom Central) was invaded by a cyborg impostor pretending to be Dr. Doom; Lancer fried him and placed him outside as a warning to others, vowing to an underling (Breegan) to maintain Doom's holdings until his return.

(Doom#2) - Lancer entered shortly after Breegan had cut off another Doom claimant who was in actuality the true Doom; not long afterwards the Baxter Building was assaulted by Prince Byrrah-led Atlan forces including a sorcery-raised tentacled giant monster.

(Doom#3) - Lancer's forces were slowly falling to the Atlans when Doom returned and turned the tide, crippling Atlan as an enemy. After killing Breegan (who was secretly working for Byrrah), Doom returned to his own Earth, telling Lancer that his forces were hers, and that her world was her responsibility.

(Doom: the Emperor Returns#1) - Doom returned to Counter-Earth, to find most of his forces in rebellion. Those allied against him included S.H.I.E.L.D., Maggia, and the Iron Men. When one of Doom's men finds a pocket of alien technology beneath Counter-Earth's surface, Doom went to investigate, leaving Lancer to face the overwhelming forces. After holding off the Iron Men, she was defeated by General Otto Octavius.

(All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#3) - Lancer was arrested to stand trial for crimes against the American government.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Mark McKenna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor).

   Lancer apparently appeared in Doom: the Emperor Returns#2 as a saber-wielding squire to Doom on a Counter-Earth that he'd apparently recreated by reprogramming the world, which apparently was just a big machine. However, the machinery which Doom "controlled" to do this was later revealed to be the extradimensional spaceship which was shown to infest Counter-Earth in Thunderbolts. So in actuality the events of Emperor Returns#2 were all in Doom's mind - Counter-Earth is not one big machine, the world was not reprogrammed to Doom's specifications, and thus the Lancer in Doom: the Emperor Returns#2 was not truly Lancer. This was intentionally hinted at in Thunderbolts and confirmed, after consultation with Tom Brevoort, in the Counter-Earth (Franklin Richards) entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2005: Alternate Universe.

   Counter-Earth in a nutshell: The High Evolutionary once created a near-duplicate of Earth and placed it in orbit around the sun precisely opposite Earth (Marvel Premiere#1). This Counter-Earth remained there for several years, until removed by the Beyonders (Marvel Two-in-One#61-63). Years later, when his family was in danger from Onslaught, Franklin Richards removed them and their allies into an Earth that his unconscious mind created in a pocket dimension (Onslaught: Marvel Universe). Those heroes remained there for a while before returning to their original Earth (Heroes Reborn: The Return#1-4), and this pocket dimension Earth was what Doom would later move to the old Counter-Earth's position in his universe, as the new Counter-Earth.

   We know that Samantha had a husband at one point, and we know that she was on a sailboat with three family members when the tidal wave hit. We can assume that her husband was on the boat with her, but that's just an assumption - for all we know they were divorced years ago.

   Though Lancer served Doom, it seems important to note that she did so only because she thought he had the best and only hope of bringing her world out of chaos; she frequently took objection to both his manner and actions. She repeatedly stood up to Doom, at one point telling him that if wanted a slave he may as well kill her instead (Heroes Reborn: Doom#1). Despite working with Dr. Doom, Lancer is not a villain; its Lancer's honor and hope that brings the Wakandan prince around to working with her and Doom.

   Lancer moved from noble under Chris Claremont (Heroes Reborn and the Fantastic Four stories) to very dark under Chuck Dixon (the two Doom series). However, she was completely abandoned by the one person she'd been able to believe in, and left to try to rule a fractious Counter-Earth on her own, so this may be understandable!

   It's conceivable that Samantha Dunbar may have an as-of-yet unseen counterpart in the New York City of Earth-616.

   Lancer received a half-page entry (pg 124) in 2004's Marvel Encyclopedia#6: The Fantastic Four. Her height and weight were established there. Doctor Doom's Generals had an entry in the All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#3 (March, 2006). Her arrest is noted there.

   Lancer had a fairly normal look until her final appearance in Doom: The Emperor Returns#1, where she suddenly had a very punk appearance, with circuitry appearing on her skin. Unfortunately, this one-time appearance has been used to depict her in the Fantastic Four Encyclopedia and in the Official Handbook entry for Doctor Doom's Generals.

Profile by SQUEAK

CLARIFICATIONS:
LANCER has no known connections to

• Corporal Freddy Lancer, us army, enemy of James Scully, @ Skull the Slayer#1
• Lancer, Roberta, Camarilla of the N'Garai, @ Marvel Preview#7
• or anyone else with a similar name

images: (without ads)
Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1, pg 22, p1 (crouching image)
Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1, pg 22, p1 (standing image)
Doom: the Emperor Returns#1, pg 5, p1 (punk appearance)

Other Appearances:
Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Mark McKenna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor).
Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (penciler), Don Hillsman (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor).
Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Mark McKenna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor).
Fantastic Four III#25 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Art Thibert & Mark Pennington (inkers), Bobbie Chase (editor).
Fantastic Four III#26, 28 (February, April, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca(penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor).
Doom#1-3 (October, 2000) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Leonardo Manco (penciler/inker), Bobbie Chase (editor).
Doom: the Emperor Returns#1-2 (January-February, 2002) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Leonardo Manco (penciler/inker), Bobbie Chase & Tom Brevoort (editors).