CONTAGION

Real Name: Winsor (either first name or surname (last name), I'd guess the latter; other name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human (possible mutant or mutate, see comments);
    presumptive Latverian citizen

Occupation: Would-be universal conqueror/destroyer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Formerly Dr. Victor von Doom (or a Doombot), Driver Reese (deceased), the Griz, the Unkillables (Marjorie Brink, Mortigan Goth, Madcap, Scavenger (Robert Nicolle), Harry Sikes, Vic Slaughter, Suicide (Chris Daniels), Yi Yang), unidentified doctors & nurses, unidentified mate, unidentified North Carolina hillbillies, unidentified party-goers, unidentified Shi'ar woman, unidentified "siblings," unidentified trainers

Enemies: Marjorie Brink, Corruptor, "Flip," Mortigan Goth, Madcap, Paradox, Scavenger, Harry Sikes, Vic Slaughter, Monark Starstalker, Suicide, Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett), X-Men (Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Emma Frost), Yi Yang, unidentified doctors & nurses, unidentified Shi'ar woman, unidentified "siblings," unidentified random victims (including many Latverians)

Known Relatives: "Flip" (son, deceased), unidentified parents;
    Dr. Victor von Doom ("uncle" - presumably unrelated, but raised him as a ward of the state);
    his "siblings" (presumably just the people he was raised along with, rather than true relations)

Aliases: "Bad Guy," "Sicky Man"; ??? (he is described in various expletives by his enemies) - possibly others

Base of Operations: Unrevealed (possibly his spirit is in some realm of Hell, unless/until he recovers...while his body was apparently eaten, digested, and absorbed by Marjorie Brink, Mortigan Goth, Scavenger, Harry Sikes, Vic Slaughter, Suicide, Wolverine, and Yi Yang, before being partially excreted, presumably into various sewer systems);
    formerly a secret lab associated with a warehouse in Hunter's Point, presumably just north of San Francisco (see comments);
    formerly a facility (possibly within a castle) associated with Dr. Victor von Doom in Latveria

First Appearance: (Winsor) Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (February, 2011); (Contagion) Wolverine: The Best There Is#6? (June?, 2011)

Powers/Abilities: Winsor's body fluids were a "stew of exotic and nigh impossible contagions." If injured, his blood would release a vast legion of plagues and pestilences with perverse consequences. He was also by nature "enormously" anemic (and/or presumably a hemophiliac based on his description of bleeding to death from a paper cut).

    He possessed intense knowledge of virology and non-traditional physics, highly disciplined via meditation, enabling him to control his own infectiousness and to manipulate his own diseases, developing any disease he can conceptualize He previously had a mental limitation preventing him from infecting himself, but he overcame this when Wolverine used the Corruptor compound to command him to heal himself.

    Among the more conventional diseases he has utilized are: AIDS (or, at least, HIV), Australian bat lyssavirus, Black Creek canal virus, Camelpox, Dengue, Echovirus 9, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Hemorrhagic Fever,  Influenza A-D (plus the whole influenza alphabet)Kaposi's, Kilham's rat virus, Klongo, Marsburg, Mengele virus, mumps, Oropouche, Parapox Smallpox, Sowbane, "Strain XV infection,"Syphilis, Toxoplasmosis, UR2 sarcoma, West Nile virus, WVU virus 2937, Xenopus, Zoysia mosaic virus, and many others unspecified.

    Winsor made extensive use of the technonecrotic virus, which came from an unspecified alternate reality, and was apparently a variation of Technarchy DNA that affected organic and non-organic hosts, imbuing them with a semblance of life, making them unliving creatures that further infected and transformed others into similar beings. Winsor used this virus as part of many of the diseases he personally developed.

    Among the contagions he presumably personally developed and/or tailor-made for others are a degenerative carbon disorder that turned diamond into coal, fungal ruby quartz, making his thoughts contagious (killing a victim's own thoughts to make room for themselves), a synesthesia virus (causing a victim to taste everything he or she heard and smell everything he or she saw), a virally absorbent fungus as an organic containment shell, a retrovirus that killed several key bacteria in the lower intestine causing fatal hemorrhagic gastroenteritis to humans within an hour (and even incapacitating most beings with superhuman healing for a day or more).

    Largely via the technonecrotic virus, Winsor granted himself numerous abilities, including adapting a version of the Corruptor formula (which allowed him to control others on contact), as well as invisibility, super-strength, durability, and a healing virus that allowed him to survive being repeatedly stabbed by Wolverine and assaulted by the X-Men.

    Winsor also had sufficient knowledge of computer technology to secretly infiltrate Latveria and access its sub-space communications array to contact one of the Shi'ar.

Height: Perhaps 6'4"?
Weight: Perhaps 195 lbs.?
Eyes: Brown?
Hair: Black

History:
(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor's family tree was a "mess of crossbred flowers." (see comments)

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor was an illegitimate bastard, part of a family line that almost never grew to maturity due to a weak bloodline. (see comments)

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor's DNA was such a cluttered mess of inbred faults, it is a miracle he survived to term. (see comments)

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Inbred beyond all scope of genetic viability, Winsor was "enormously" anemic (and presumably a hemophiliac based on his description of bleeding to death from a paper cut), and his body fluids were a "stew of exotic and nigh impossible contagions." If injured, his blood would release a vast legion of plagues and pestilences with perverse consequences.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - At birth, Winsor's contagions apparently slew the doctors and nurses (and possibly his mother).

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor was kept quarantined in an airtight chamber during his youth, and later in an airtight suit, complete with a bubble-type helmet.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor and his siblings (literal or figurative) did not know their own father, but they were raised by their "uncle," Dr. Victor von Doom.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor survived exposure to something from Dr. Doom that skeletonized several of his siblings, after which he broke off one of his sibling's phalanges and used it to write "THE BEST SURVIVE."

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor believed Doom bred he and his siblings to be better, to discover kernels of strength and ingenuity in their infirmity; as Doom had discovered his own profound inner excellence after his outward fineness had been marred, he sought to find in his state wards, similar diamonds in the rough...sharp stones to help cut the world into the shape he knew would suit it best.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor spent several years in intense study of virology, combined with a course in non-traditional metaphysics suffused in disciplinary meditation. Not only did he gain sufficient control of his own biology to contain his rampant infectiousness, but he also opened his inward gazing third eye and was able to focus its attention on the challenge of learning to manipulate his wonderful sickness.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor spent decades reigning in his natural impulses in an act of concealment, denying himself indulgence in his true nature.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor remained unable to infect himself.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - From Doom, Winsor was enthralled with the idea that one man might strive to remake the entire world.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor released his contagions on the other wards he had been raised beside, then used his power to decay the wall of the building in which he had been contained, before striding through the streets and ending all life he encountered.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor betrayed Doom, who then disappeared fortuitously (for Winsor), and Winsor spent many years in research and planning

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor never meant to have a child, but his "cruel mistress" (who was of no relation to Winsor whatsoever, which Winsor considered most scandalous) ultimately delivered him an illegitimate child, Flip. Being new blood, Flip lacked certain qualities and resistances.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12) - Winsor obtained all of Dazzler (Alison Blaire)'s music on vinyl.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 - BTS) - Winsor captured the Corruptor.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS / Wolverine: The Best There Is#5 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor employed a varied group of virtually unkillable henchmen who could both endure extended stays in his presence, and whose radically varied immune systems and healing factors offered hope of offering antibodies that might cure Winsor (and Flip, as he originally claimed).

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor had large parties at his warehouse base, in which he piped in the Corruptor's sweat, making the people behave without inhibitions. Driver Reese was amongst those parties.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#6 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor piped Corruptor sweat mist throughout his base to make his agents more controllable. He had Marjorie Brink regularly drink a dose (presumably hidden in another drink) to force her to indulge in activities far beyond what her slight moral flexibility would have allowed.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor bought, harvested, and stole a catalogue of infectious and regenerative genetic material.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Via extensive experimentation, Winsor learned that all self-healers healed differently.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor infected each of his Unkillables with a number of custom-designed viruses, then harvested the antibodies each developed to fight off the infections, then infected them with more robust versions, etc. His goal was to distill a virus that would kill anything on Earth, Heaven, or Hell.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Once Winsor learned the technonecrotic virus existed, he secretly returned to Latveria, gained access to Latverian sub-space communications array, and made an arrangement with a Shi'ar dealer in proscribed material.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - As the Shi'ar dealer arrived, Winsor used her as an extraterrestrial test subject, and intended to use her craft as a delivery device.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor found his son's immune system especially pliable, and infected him with a virus that hypertrophied his neural tissues while using a viral mutation of technarchy cells to repattern his brain as a receptor for similar life forms.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor infected Flip with virulent intelligence, causing rapid cellular and synaptic growth beyond the capacity of his skull, which would eventually cause his brain to rupture/explode.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#5 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor purportedly made Flip smarter so Flip could cure Winsor.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) <Months before the main story> - Flip grew psychic neural paths. Reading memories kept him from going insane with boredom. He realized Winsor had never planned to cure him and just wanted to watch while his head exploded.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) - Flip used the time to alter the structure of the technarchy mutation receptor Winsor gave him, turning it into a broadcast antenna.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor used a pair of North Carolina hillbillies and their ally/agent the Griz to draw Wolverine into a nearby gladiatorial arena-style combat, so he would be nearby and could be captured.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor instructed Driver Reese to drive down a particular stretch of highway 37 at a particular time, knowing she would encounter and pick up Wolverine there. She was to bring him to a party, and she agreed to do so, not realizing his intent and thinking only that he wanted an X-Men at his party.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 - BTS) - Winsor's agent Driver Reese picked up Wolverine as a hitchhiker after he had slaughtered the Griz and the hillbillies who had captured him while he was drunk and neutralized his powers with a restraining collar made from plans on an anti-mutant website. She convinced him to go to a party at a warehouse associated with Winsor's base.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1) - Marjorie Brink led Winsor, Suicide, and Vic Slaughter to a swamp in Louisiana's bayou country, from which they retrieved Harry Sikes. Winsor then wiped Sikes' cheek with a "Strain XV infection," which swiftly eroded a full thickness gaping hole in his cheek, only to heal completely within 6.7 seconds. Winsor gave Vic Slaughter permission to devour Sikes, knowing Sikes would regenerate completely. Hearing his helicopter and jet were ready, Winsor was pleased, as he hated being late to his own parties; he instructed Suicide to have Sikes at his facility by morning, and told Brink to allow his event coordinator to supplement the drink supply at his party as she saw fit...as long as she didn't resort to Cristal..."standards must be maintained."

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 - BTS) - Winsor returned to his base.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1) - Winsor covered his hands with Liquatex to protect himself, then burned handprints into the Corruptor's sides as he obtained a large amount of his control chemical/pheromone. Winsor then entered the party and began shaking hands with those present, telling them to be themselves. Reese introduced Wolverine into Winsor, who shook Wolverine's hand and told him to be entirely himself...to deny himself nothing. Peeling off the Liquatex Winsor watched from a balcony alongside Goth, Scavenger, Yi Yang, and Madcap, as Wolverine and the others at the party degenerated into primal behavior. Seeking to prevent himself from harming others, Wolverine twice plunged his claws into his own abdomen.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#2 - BTS) - Beast identified the chemical that had affected Wolverine as having come from the Corruptor. When Wolverine returned to the site of the party and found it deserted, Winsor first had Harry Sikes sent after Wolverine, and Wolverine cut off his arms and legs. Madcap then attempted to psionically drive Wolverine crazy, but Wolverine decapitated both Madcap and Sikes. Within Winsor's base, Wolverine encountered Mortigan Goth, who pointed Wolverine in Winsor's direction, but suffered soul anguish for warning Wolverine to get out of there while he still could. Seeking Winsor behind a closed door, Wolverine instead found the masked Flip (at this point, Wolverine had no idea who he was). Taunted by Slaughter and Suicide, Wolverine skewered them both through the chest, and they both opened fire on him with their automatic weapons.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3) - Wolverine incapacitated both Slaughter and Suicide with his claws, possibly decapitating both. When Scavenger attacked, Wolverine cut off his left foot and left him behind. Yi Yang next confronted Wolverine, kissing him and giving a heavy oral dose of the Corruptor's sweat before he skewered her and left her behind. Via the Corruptor's sweat, Marjorie Brink forced Wolverine into a chamber and commanded he fall asleep, after which Winsor and his recovering minions gathered around him. Winsor expressed his annoyance at Goth for warning Wolverine to get out, and commented on how Goth's better nature survived despite the absence of his soul (which would confound many a theologian). He questioned the absence of Sikes and Scavenger, and instructed Madcap to recover Scavenger's leg after learning Madcap had hidden it. Madcap began explaining how it was amusing that Scavenger was crawling around looking for his leg despite being able to fly, but they were distracted as Wolverine began to recover. Winsor instructed Slaughter to get Wolverine settled (meaning to chain him to a seat in such a position that if he extended his claws he would stab the similarly chained and trembling Flip in the face), and directed Madcap and Yi Yang to recover Scavenger's leg.
    Upon Wolverine's revival, Winsor ignored Wolverine's threats and began explaining his plans. He introduced his unkillable henchmen and announced that he was sane, understood right from wrong, and simply preferred bad over good. He continued on, introducing and unmasking his son, Flip, who was both innocent and mortally ill. He offered Wolverine the choice of putting Flip out of his misery (in which case Wolverine would be rendered unconscious while Winsor and his allies disappeared from Wolverine's life), which Flip requested; or Wolverine could subject himself to an agonizing struggle to save Flip's life, which would most likely result in failure and a hellish death for Flip. Winsor disabused Wolverine of the notion of his leading a quest/mission to find a cure, and instead clarified that Wolverine would stay his prisoner and subjected to experimentation in hopes of learning the means to cure Flip. Winsor then attached an explosive collar on Flip, one that would decapitate Flip if it was tampered with, or if Wolverine tried to leave, attack Winsor or one of his henchmen, withhold his assistance, or in any way undermine Winsor's efforts to kill his son. Winsor further clarified that he would rather kill Flip instantly than see him die in agony, and would do so if he lost the slim chance of being able to cure Flip via studying Wolverine. Winsor revealed his own abilities/nature and admitted that he had infected Flip. With Wolverine having refused to kill Flip and thus having tacitly agreed to serve as his subject, Winsor shot Wolverine in the eye.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Having procured an adaptive healer, Winsor had Wolverine infected over and over again with every possible variation of his core virus he could imagine, knowing that the antibody he would  develop would give him the key to his new virus.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - Marjorie Brink experimented on Wolverine's brain's ability to reconstruct itself and retain his memories. Yi Yang then laid into him, testing the limits of how human anatomy could be stretched.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 - BTS) - As Flip watched, Marjorie reminded Wolverine that this was within his agreement with Winsor.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - Meanwhile, Winsor watched from his office alongside Slaughter, Scavenger, Madcap, Suicide, and Goth; he informed Slaughter he would only be eating a small bit of Wolverine, just enough to see how digestion affected the tissue, and he also admitted to seeing Slaughter's attraction to Yi Yang. When Madcap and Scavenger began an escalating confrontation, Winsor got them to stand down by threatening to give them an extremely virulent case of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (Madcap only passed because he was wearing his last pair of drawers). As Yi Yang finished up, Winsor sent Scavenger to go to work on him; not wanting to waste the disease he had concocted, Winsor sent the others out of the room as he tried it out on Sikes, the only one with a healing factor strong enough to recover quickly. Winsor coughed on Sikes, who began screaming.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 - BTS) - As Flip watched on, Scavenger siphoned Wolverine's life force 11 times, after which it regenerated each time.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 - BTS) - Slaughter presumably consumed some portion of Wolverine.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - Marjorie informed Winsor how Wolverine had recovered progressively more quickly from each time Scavenger siphoned his life force, and also healed more rapidly from each of Yi Yang's ministrations. As Slaughter delivered to Marjorie a sample (presumably urine after having eaten some of Wolverine?), Winsor and Marjorie noted with pleasure their scientific quantifying what was vague and inconsistent in various pop culture references.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4/Wolverine: The Best There Is#6 (fb)) - Winsor gave Marjorie a pair of pencils triple-dipped in the Corruptor compound.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - After Goth gave Wolverine a pep talk and a sip of some vodka, Marjorie and Winsor entered, noting how they had tracked DNA samples from his previous victims and from pieces of him severed by some means and left behind. They further noted how he had begun to heal more rapidly from injuries since shortly after joining the X-Men. Wolverine decided, incorrectly, that Winsor had faked his relationship with Flip and prepared to head out, but Winsor then afflicted him with an allergy virus that made him allergic to Adamantium, and Wolverine collapsed. Flip was disgusted with how wrong Wolverine was.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#5 (fb) - BTS) - A placebo inhibitor collar was placed on Wolverine to make him think he couldn't use his senses or pop his claws to cut his way out of his cell. They further began injecting him full of a glucose solution that was supposed to be Corruptor sweat, which would make him be more compliant (they didn't use real Corruptor sweat because they didn't want it to taint their experimentation). The immense psychological and physical trauma he had undergone made Wolverine believe both effects were real, kept him both docile, and kept him from using his claws or his enhanced senses.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#5 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor also made Wolverine, in succession, allergic to his own hair, to his own blood, to his own skin, to his own lungs, to oxygen, and even to his own thoughts, though Wolverine eventually recovered from each.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#6 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor adopted the alias Contagion.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#5) - Complimented for the latter affliction by Yi Yang or Marjorie, Winsor noted he was uncomfortable with praise, though that last one had taken a special effort. After Marjorie rattled off a list of mental illnesses Wolverine had demonstrated in the last few days, Winsor noted some to be the direct result of specific infections, some as side effects, all receding with increasing rapidity. When Goth noted Wolverine would come out of this with a very healthy ego, Winsor was amused by the thought that Wolverine would "come out of this."
    After Madcap tormented Wolverine, Flip helped Wolverine realize that both the "inhibitor collar" and the "Corruptor sweat" were placebos, and Wolverine overcame the limitations he had been duped into placing on himself. Flip confirmed Winsor to be his real father, but further noted that he didn't want Wolverine to kill his father, no matter how bad he was.
    Arriving alongside Scavenger and Suicide, Winsor congratulated Flip but wished he would stay focused on the task at hand, as splitting his mental energies distracted him and made him chatty with the help. As Wolverine indicated his irritation over the current situation, Windor mocked the pair of goggles Wolverine had donned, and Wolverine noted the goggles were to keep the blood out of his eyes. As Wolverine further commented on not breathing the Corruptor or other fumes Winsor was pumping in, Flip announced that he was just trying to get Wolverine out of there because he was driving him crazy with how stupid he was. The gas materialized into Vic Slaughter, who chomped onto Wolverine's neck, and Winsor sent Scavenger and Suicide after him, but Wolverine forced Scavenger to inhale Slaughter's vaporous form (incapacitating both, Scavenger with Slaughter's vampiric anti-life force). After Wolverine dismembered and stabbed Suicide through the face, Winsor announced his recoilless gun-rocket-launcher-cane, which fired a missile that knocked Wolverine back while Winsor escaped out of the cell. Flip noted things to be almost interesting as Wolverine escaped the cell and encountered Yi Yang.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#6) - As Wolverine cut Yi Yang in half at the torso, Winsor and Marjorie discussed Flip's unexpected introduction of chaos into their plans, and Winsor commented how he'd like to encase Flip in amber at the moment his head finally exploded. Nonetheless, Winsor credited Flip for fulfilling his most essential role by sharing his DNA, and he couldn't fault Flip for boring of the exercise and trying to introduce a greater level of unpredictability. He declined Marjorie's offer of flooding the corridors with Corruptor gas, acknowledging that they had known all along that their system would tend towards entropy at an obscene rate; recapture would simply encourage greater sloppiness and restart the cycle...they were better off pressing to the finale now. Feeling Wolverine was weeding their most unstable elements, Winsor was confident that he and Marjorie could maneuver him as needed. As Wolverine cut their junction box both control their cameras and gas system, Winsor suggested Marjorie considering arming herself.
    Goth provided directions towards Winsor (at the cost of torture to his soul by Mephisto, after which he allowed his soul to take a piece of him in return). Along the way, Wolverine encountered Corruptor, claimed a sample of his sweat and left him imprisoned for the time being. Reviewing their status, with only Madcap left at loose ends, Winsor and Marjorie accepted the latter as his last line of defense; Wolverine mortified Madcap by using the Corruptor sweat to make him dwell on his own actions. Marjorie shot Wolverine as he entered the room, but Wolverine explained that she had been drinking some of the Corruptor's sweat, and Winsor admitted it to have been the truth, and that her triple-dipped pencils were what had kept her going for the last few days. Wolverine stopped Marjorie from shooting herself in the head and pushed her away so he could confront Winsor, who fired a missile at Marjorie to make Wolverine jump in front of it. With Marjorie under the influence of the Corruptor sweat on Wolverine's gloves, Winsor asked her how long it took Wolverine to recover from his last missile strike, then told her to subdue him, but she apparently delayed slightly before noting that his adaptive mutation may allow a quicker recovery, which is exactly what happened. Pushing Marjorie away, Wolverine grabbed Winsor, who reminded him that he was a biological weapon of mass destruction. As Wolverine sheathed his claws, Winsor vomited on Wolverine, dousing him with camelpox, hemorrhagic fever, Kilham's rat virus, syphilis, zoysia mosaic virus, WVU virus 2937, AIDS (or, at least, HIV), Oropouche, and Mengele virus. Wolverine collapsed, but quickly recovered, having been exposed to so much infection recently. As Wolverine knocked him over, Winsor vomited mumps, echovirus 9, Australian bat lyssavirus, Klongo, Marsburg, smallpox, Sowbane, Kaposi's, and dengue. Barely affected, Wolverine continued heading to the Corruptor, and Winsor continued vomiting on him, releasing Black Creek canal virus, UR2 sarcoma, West Nile, Xenopus, and Parapox; then Influenza A-D (plus the whole influenza alphabet); and another unspecified batch. Finally, Wolverine pushed Winsor's face into the Corruptor's sweaty body and told Winsor to brew a new virus, one that ate all of the bad stuff in his DNA, and heal himself. With Winsor's blood apparently no longer a threat to the world, a vastly weakened Wolverine released the Corruptor and told him to make Winsor bleed. Wolverine then wandered out of the warehouse and collapsed, emotionally and physically exhausted, asking for help.
    Marjorie gave Sikes a taste of her Corruptor compound-doused pencil and told him to feel better, and Sikes regained his sanity and intelligence.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Wolverine departed with Winsor's antibody still in him.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Wolverine's command allowed Winsor to infect himself, and he created a virus that healed his DNA by eating the flaws that limited the range of viruses he could create.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#10 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor refined the Corruptor formula within his own sweat.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor reclaimed his minions.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor began incorporating the technonecrotic virus into all the viruses he was making.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor forced Marjorie to record Winsor's every word and action for months.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor infected Driver Reese with a technonecrotic virus (similar to techno-organic virus, but affecting both organic and inorganic material) that would only fully activate with Wolverine's DNA in close proximity to her.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 - BTS) - Wolverine largely recovered from the immense physical, mental, and psychological trauma he had undergone. He then tracked down Driver Reese and told her (erroneously, obviously) that Winsor was dead. She explained how she had no idea of Winsor's motives, but as the technonecrotic virus began to take hold of her, Monark Starstalker and Paradox, a pair of extradimensional bounty hunters sent to track down the virus, arrived, and Monark's falcon decapitated Driver.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#8 - BTS) - Driver Reese's technonecrotic virus formed a massive creature that Wolverine, Monark, and Paradox narrowly destroyed. Wolverine proved resistant to the virus, and Paradox burned it out after morphing into Mercurian form.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Paradox and Monark brought Wolverine to their starship in hopes that he might suspect who had infected Driver Reese.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - While Paradox and Monark had a fix on and were tracking the technonecrotic material, as it absorbed local matter, its signature began to erase itself. They had a read north of San Francisco, but it vanished.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#9) - Wolverine correctly suspected Driver Reese had gotten the technonecrotic virus from Winsor's place. Since he believed Winsor to be dead, he figured it had to be one of his agents that infected Driver Reese. Paradox and Monark's stolen ship was attacked by their alien enemies, and one of the Scatter laid eggs inside Wolverine, which promptly hatched.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#10) - To save Wolverine from the rapidly multiplying Scatter, Monark imbued Wolverine with some of his nanites, which eradicated the Scatter, but also took up residence in Wolverine, hiding from his healing factor and using Wolverine's own cells to continue to build themselves. Monark was in the process of rebooting his nanotech assembly.
    As they headed towards Winsor's base, an invisible Winsor moved in front of their car, turning visible just before slamming a superhuman fist into the car's hood, stopping it suddenly, and launching the occupants through the air and into a densely wooded forest just ahead. Fixing his hair, Winsor confirmed that he had been refining his viruses, giving himself new powers, including invisibility, super-strength (and durability, though he didn't mention it). Winsor was amused at Paradox's Jovian (Jupiter) form and seemed to eagerly anticipate the challenge, but seemed shocked as Paradox hurled Wolverine at him. Nonetheless, Winsor smashed away Wolverine (who had kept his claws sheathed to avoid unleashing the viruses in Winsor's bloodstream; possessing the Corruptor formula within his own sweat, Winsor dosed Wolverine on contact), then planted his foot and stopped the onrushing Paradox. When Ulysses stabbed Winsor with his claws and wings, Wolverine feared the release of the contagions in his bloodstream. Paradox tried to burn Winsor with his Mercurian energies, which at least stopped the infectious diseases from spreading, but Winsor instead incapacitated both Paradox and Ulysses. As Wolverine rushed forward, Winsor ordered him not to stab him; affected by the Corruptor formula, Wolverine stood back. Amused, Winsor courteously asked Wolverine's permission, then laughed maniacally.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11) - Back at his base, Winsor strode past his former henchmen (the "Unkillables") and Monark and Paradox, all incapacitated by Winsor's various pathogens, and taunting his captive audience, Wolverine and Flip (the latter of whom voiced repeatedly that he now hated his dad, while Wolverine told Winsor that he knew how he was going to kill Winsor (and everything)).

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) - Via Flip, Wolverine shared with the Unkillables and the Corruptor how he planned to finish off Winsor.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11) - Winsor then infected himself again, making his tissues pliable and giving himself subtle control over molecular forms. He created microscopic pipettes within his extended, pointed finger, tipping the pipettes with viral molecules that would attract Wolverine's antibodies. Winsor was pleased to isolate an antibody that could fight off any of the infections that had taken Wolverine to the edge of death and would have killed most anyone else. Winsor began to visualize the negative template for a virus that incorporated all things natural, unnatural, technonecrotic, and truly dead.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb)) - Cerebra and Emma Frost both detected a sudden return of Wolverine on their scanning; Beast further noted that no other x-genes were present (meaning none of Winsor's agents were mutants). Correctly reasoning Winsor to be present, Beast suggested they wear oxygen masks, at least, as they lacked proper biohazard suits.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 (fb) - BTS) - Via Flip, Wolverine mentally instructed the X-Men via Emma Frost that they couldn't take Winsor and advised them to drag out the struggle and keep him occupied.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11) - As Winsor mused over how he would soon make the universe like him, Monark re-established himself, skewered Winsor, and infected him with nanites, while also broadcasting a protocol to the nanites in Wolverine's systems, telling them to disassemble the suggestant virus Winsor had hit him with. Surprising Monark by being able to affect robots, Winsor neutralized Monark's control over his right hand. Wolverine then struck Winsor repeatedly with his claws, but the rapidly healing Winsor swiftly recovered, at which point the X-Men (Beast, Cyclops, Dazzler, Emma Frost), wearing oxygen masks, arrived and challenged Winsor as well.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12) - Winsor mocked the X-Men's masks, wondering if there was a costume party. Cyclops demanded his surrender, but Winsor noted the many things he had concocted on the chance the X-Men might follow Wolverine to him. Wolverine impaled Winsor through the chest, and Cyclops blasted them Winsor into a wall, but Winsor then hurled Wolverine into the onrushing Beast, with Wolverine's claws both stabbing Beast's left calf and exposing him to feline immunodeficiency virus and toxoplasmosis. Emma smashed Winsor's ears, but Winsor countered by infecting Emma with a degenerative carbon disorder that turned diamond into coal. Winsor cautioned Cyclops to avoid firing due to Emma's brittle state, and then hurled Wolverine out of the building, preferring to focus his talents on the other X-Men rather than repetitiously infecting Wolverine. Having saved herself by reverting to organic form, Emma drop kicked Winsor in the head and attempted to torment him with his past memories, Winsor made his thoughts contagious, causing Emma to think like him. Cyclops blasted Winsor into the ground, but when he tried to get Emma to transform again and break out of the assault, Winsor, using a blast of kinetic force in wave form as a conduit for infection, caused fungal ruby quartz to grow out of his eyes and back into his brain. Standing over the others, Winsor lamented that he couldn't infect the entire universe via one customized virus after another. Dazzler blasted him with lasers through his chest, but Winsor recovered and infected her with a synesthesia virus, causing her to taste everything she heard and smell everything she saw, causing her to vomit profusely; he added insult to injury by telling her her rap album was absolute muddle.

    Winsor voiced his desire to concentrate on his masterwork, but Wolverine arrived, revealed how he had instructed Emma to drag the fight out. Winsor wondered whether Winsor had used the time to call the Avengers, but Wolverine countered that he had just gotten himself properly costumed, then shot Winsor with his own cane weapon before stabbing him again. Wolverine revealed that he hadn't come up with the idea on his own, and when Winsor demanded to know who had done it, Flip revealed his involvement, telling Winsor that if he had been a tiny bit less of a ####, he probably would have let the others die. Flip then sent a self-destruct signal to all the technonecrotic virals within a mile, which neutralized all of Winsor's recent viruses, including his healing restraints, insectivirals, Corruptor variants, custom x-gene virals, extraterrestrial exotics, and his own healing virus. As Wolverine grabbed Winsor by the neck and raised his claws, Marjorie stopped him, explaining that Winsor was relinquishing control of his genome, so that if he was cut again it would kill everything for miles around.

    Revealing Flip had helped him share his ideas with the Unkillables and the Corruptor, Wolverine gathered them around him and told Winsor that they had taken every infection he could muster and could probably handle anything else Winsor had. When Winsor reminded that his contagions would be released into the atmosphere and groundwater, Wolverine had the Corruptor dump a whole bucket of his sweat on Winsor and command him to contain himself; in response, Winsor generated a virally absorbent fungus as an organic containment shell. Wolverine then advanced on Winsor and apparently carved him up (off panel), as Flip said, "Love you, Dad."

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 - BTS) - Wolverine and the Unkillables apparently consumed Winsor to prevent him from spreading infection anywhere else.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12 - BTS) - Sikes convinced Wolverine to let the group stay together as mercenary problem solvers, and Flip begged Wolverine to end his life before his head exploded; Wolverine apparently complied. As a result of the damage done by all the recent infections, Wolverine's healing factor was greatly reduced, at least temporarily.

Comments: Created by Charlie Huston and Juan Jose Ryp.

    The Credits page to Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 provides Special Thanks to Madison Carter, Jeff Christiansen, Mike Fichera, Rob London, Mike O'Sullivan, Markus Raymond, and Stuart Vandal. This is for providing a list of characters with healing powers, from which which the Wolverine: The Best There Is creative team selected Contagion's henchmen.

    Hunter's Point is a town/location in Long Island (New York), San Francisco (California), and probably several other cities. I'd have guessed Long Island for this story given it was apparently walking distance for Wolverine (he collapsed and asked for help at the end of #6, but was back with the X-Men in #7), but when Monark or Paradox (I forget who) said they had lost contact with the technonecrotic virus north of San Francisco, the fact that it was north of there made Wolverine suspect Winsor was involved.

Chronology around these stories:

The technonecrotic virus:

    Winsor was obviously manipulating everyone to his own ends, and thus his every word might be considered suspect. Nonetheless, a few things were specifically contradictory.
    Winsor refers to his family as inbred and crossbred...Inbreeding refers to breeding within a limited genetic population, such as within a family line.

  1. Inbreeding brings out recessive traits that would be otherwise covered up in more diverse genetics, leading to expression of diseases, defects, etc.
  2. Crossbreeding refers to breeding outside of a genetic population (specifically between two purebreds of different breeds), which increases diversity and helps DECREASE expression of recessive genetic disorders.
  3. (Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (fb)) - Winsor refers to himself as a illegitimate bastard, part of a family line that almost never grew to maturity due to a weak bloodline.
    (Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor and his siblings (literal or figurative) did not know their own father, but they were raised by their "uncle," Dr. Victor von Doom.
    He never knew his father, so all of his claims about being inbred or crossbred don't seem to fit, unless the inbred line refers purely to his mother.
  4. I don't think Doom is a literal relative, nor do I think the family Winsor referred to were actual relatives. I think he and his "family" were orphaned wards of the state raised by Doom...or quite likely a Doombot.

    In Wolverine: The Best There Is#12, Beast notes that Wolverine is the only X-gene in Winsor's base, which would indicate Winsor was not a mutant, though the story seemed to hint that he was born full of his contagious diseases...the definition of mutant has changed in recent years, and people born with powers used to be considered mutants (more along with the true definition of the word)...now it's all about the X-gene, as if they were inheriting powers (more along the lines of homo superior being a separate race). Regardless, if Winsor wasn't born with his powers, then perhaps he gained them from Doom (or an agent of Doom's)'s experimentation. Or maybe Winsor had mutated his own DNA sufficiently that he was no longer recognized as a mutant.
    The same applies to the rest of the Unkillables...I previously thought Scavenger, at least, was a mutant (he, too, was born with at least some of his powers)...and Marjorie Brink's immortality has never been explained...maybe it related to her past with Dr. Strange, or perhaps she is related to some race of gods, or the Eternals, or some other unaging race.

I believe the Unkillables actually ate/consumed Winsor. It wasn't shown on panel, but it was pretty clearly implied (once Markus pointed it out to me, of course):

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:

hillbillies

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - A pair of "North Carolina" hillbillies hooked up with the Griz, apparently giving him a share of the profits in a mutant and mutate pit-fighting ring in which he slaughtered a number of dogs, at least.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - The hillbillies jerry-rigged a mutant restraining collar made from plans on an anti-mutant website.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor apparently used the North Carolina hillbillie, the Griz, and their pit-fighting ring to draw Wolverine close enough to be captured and manipulated.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - Investigating the pit-fight ring, Wolverine got drunk on about a gallon of Everclear (grain alcohol) at a nearby biker bar.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (fb) - BTS) - The hillbillies found Wolverine drunk at the biker bar. Using their jerry-rigged restraining collar, they captured him and locked him naked in a cell.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1) - The two hillbillies roused Wolverine from his cage, stunning him with his shock collar (sufficiently to cause him to defecate) before leading him by the collar into a gladiatorial pit. As several dozen onlookers cheered, a commentator announced the Griz, who emerged from a plague of rats to attack the power-neutralized mutant. The hillbillies used the shock collar to goad Wolverine to fight back, but as soon as the Griz began choking Wolverine around the neck and the Griz's claws crushed the power-neutralizing collar, Wolverine decapitated the Griz, then leapt at and decapitated the hillbillies as well. As the crowd fled in a panic and the rats pulled the Griz's head back on top of his body in hopes of reviving him, Wolverine violently took the commentators tuxedo shirt and pants before departing.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor instructed Driver Reese to drive down a particular stretch of highway 37 at a particular time, knowing she would encounter and pick up Wolverine there. She was to bring him to a party, and she agreed to do so, not realizing his intent and thinking only that he wanted an X-Men at his party.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 - BTS) - Winsor's agent Driver Reese picked up Wolverine as a hitchhiker. She convinced him to go to a party at a warehouse associated with Winsor's base.

--Wolverine: The Best There Is#1 (1 (fb) - BTS, 1

Shi'ar female

 

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Once Winsor learned the technonecrotic virus existed, he secretly returned to Latveria, gained access to Latverian sub-space communications array, and made an arrangement with a Shi'ar dealer in proscribed material.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - As the Shi'ar dealer arrived, Winsor used her as an extraterrestrial test subject, and intended to use her craft as a delivery device to release his ultimate virus/contagion into the universe.

 

--Wolverine: The Best There Is#11

 

 

 

siblings

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor and his siblings (apparently figurative) did not know their own father, but they were raised by their "uncle," Dr. Victor von Doom (presumably as wards of the state).

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor survived exposure to something from Dr. Doom that skeletonized several of his siblings (who were deformed and chained to walls), after which he broke off one of his sibling's phalanges and used it to write "THE BEST SURVIVE."

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor believed Doom bred he and his "siblings" to be better, to discover kernels of strength and ingenuity in their infirmity; as Doom had discovered his own profound inner excellence after his outward fineness had been marred, he sought to find in his state wards, similar diamonds in the rough...sharp stones to help cut the world into the shape he knew would suit it best.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb) - BTS) - From Doom, Winsor was enthralled with the idea that one man might strive to remake the entire world.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor released his contagions on the other wards he had been raised beside, then used his power to decay the wall of the building in which he had been contained, before striding through the streets and ending all life he encountered.

--Wolverine: The Best There Is#11

 

 

 

 

trainers

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11 (fb)) - Winsor spent several years in intense study of virology, combined with a course in non-traditional metaphysics suffused in disciplinary meditation. Not only did he gain sufficient control of his own biology to contain his rampant infectiousness, but he also opened his inward gazing third eye and was able to focus its attention on the challenge of learning to manipulate his wonderful sickness.

--Wolverine: The Best There Is#11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

images: (without ads)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#1, pg.2, panel 1 (hillbillies close-ups);
        pg.3, panel 2 (hillbillies full bodies);
    #3, pg. 12, panel 4 (Winsor with henchmen);
        pg. 13, panel 2 (main);
            panel 5 (face);
    #5, pg. 20, panel 2-5 (gun-cane);
    #6, pg. 17, panel 4 (vomiting);
    #10, pg. 9, panel 2 (car punch);
            pg. 14, panel 5 (fight stance);
    #11, pg. 4, panel 2 (family in shackles);
            pg. 8, panel 4 (family seated at desk);
            pg. 10, panel 4 (trainers);
            pg. 15, panel 5 (Shi;ar);
    #12, pg. 19, panel 1 (fungus)
           

Appearances:
Wolverine: The Best There Is#1-3 (February-April, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Jody Lehup & Sebastian Girner (assistant editors), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#4-5 (May-June, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#6 (July, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner & Jordan D. White (assistant editors), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#7 (August, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#8-10 (September-November, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#11-12 (January, 2012) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor), Nick Lowe (senior editor)

Last updated: 10/12/13

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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