OVERKILL
Real Name: Overkill (legally changed by High Sister); formerly Taserface
Identity/Class: Extratemporal (reality-691, 31st century) extraterrestrial (Stark) cyborg
Occupation: Warrior
Group Membership: The Stark
Affiliations: High Sister, Rancor, Side-Step, Skellig, Slagg
Enemies: Courga, Firelord (Pyreus Kril), Guardians of the Galaxy (Major Victory/Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Aleta Ogord, Starhawk/Stakar Ogord, Yondu), Hollywood (Simon Williams)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Nameless One, Taserface, Field Unit 17
Base of Operations: The planet Stark
First Appearance: (As Taserface) Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 (June, 1990); (as Overkill) Guardians of the Galaxy I#10 (March, 1991)
Powers/Abilities: As Overkill he was given additional bionic implants and the newest generation of reverse-engineered Iron Man-based armor of the Stark, which made him almost invulnerable against intense cold, heat or acid, enabled him to destroy hard light barriers, absorb the Power Cosmic and enhanced his reflexes (quick enough to capture a Yaka arrow in mid-flight) and strength (lifting 100 tons) to superhuman levels. The armor was armed with repulsor blasters inside the gloves and after further upgrades received a backpack with hidden heat blasters and am energy-based shoulder cannon. The armor was equipped with a teleporter and a self-destruct sequence that used the armor's massive power source to cause an explosion large enough to destroy half a quadrant. Overkill additionally used a multi-mode gun arm, which could fire fire blasts with the heat of a solar flare, plasma blast and repulsor rays.
As Taserface he was equipped with bionic implants including a powerful face-mounted electromagnetic energy emitter that could fire a deadly energy blast. He wore reverse-engineered Iron Man-based armor and was armed with an energy pistol and a multi-functional gun arm with repulsor blasters and harpoons.
Like all members of his race he possessed fanged teeth, pointed ears, contracted nasal ridges and an extremely durable purple-skinned body.
Height: (Overkill) 6'4"; (Taserface) 6'2"; (Stark, no armor) 6'
Weight: (Overkill) 500 lbs.; (Taserface) 300 lbs.; (Stark, no armor) 200 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Violet
History:
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) ) - Taserface was the preeminent cyborg scout of the Stark race. He was stationed at the planet Courg, which was targeted for conquest by the Stark.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 (fb) - BTS) <3017 AD> - Unknown assailants (it was Force, who later appeared in #3) caused some trouble on Courg. Taserface reported the incident to his superiors as field report 057022.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1) - A few days later gun turrets built on Courg by the Stark were destroyed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. The destroyed weapon's distress signal reached Taserface's spaceship. He couldn't believe that within a few days two disturbances would occur on this insignificant planet. Considering Courg his property Taserface teleported down to deal with whoever was trespassing. He gave them three seconds to leave Courg and attacked when they didn't comply immediately. Though he was powerful the Guardians of the Galaxy managed to defeat Taserface with teamwork. A signal was received by his superiors, who were surprised one of their most powerful warriors could be defeated. Commander Blackhand decided to change course to investigate the situation because it was the second incident within a few days on Courg as reported by Taserface. The Guardians notice that Taserface's armor and blasters resembled those of 20th century's Iron Man and planned to wake him up to learn more, but before they could a group of Stark warriors landed on Courg and faced off with the Guardians.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#2) - During the battle between the Stark and the Guardians of the Galaxy the Stark's Commander Blackhand sent Flyer Goldenwing to retrieve the disgraced, unconscious Taserface to her. General Quickfist then chewed out Taserface in her tent for being defeated and told him he and his descendants would be shamed for generations. When Communicator Bloodywing reported to Quicklfist that Lieutenant Darkeyes had been killed by the Guardians' flyer (Aleta at this point, not Starhawk...they had switched places during the battle). Distraught over Darkeyes' death Quickfist told Taserface, whom she now called the Nameless One, that it should've been him dying in Darkeyes' place. She asked the Nameless One if he was prepared to win back the privilege of name and ordered him to bring back the Guardians' leader to her alive. The nameless Taserface took the opportunity given to him and stealthily ran through the battlefield until he managed to surprise Nikki of the Guardians, whom he threatened to kill if the Guardians didn't surrender.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#3) - Martinex encased Taserface and Nikki in a block of solid ice before setting up a wall of fire around the perimeter. The Guardians continued their battle against the Stark while the firewall slowly melted the ice block. Astro saw the block melting and Martinex decided to regulate how it melted. As soon as the heads of Nikki and Taserface were free Astro knocked Taserface out with a brain blast. Even though Taserface was on the ground already Nikki took revenge on him by blasting him point blank with her laser, which was set for stun.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#4) - The disgraced Taserface attacked the Guardians once again after they had driven back the Stark fleet from Courg. He used all he had in his disposal including his face blast and nearly defeated them, but then Firelord arrived on Courg. He burnt Taserface's right weapon arm, resisted his face blast and then burnt Taserface's whole armor and body, leaving behind his charred form. The Guardians soon left the planet alongside Firelord, but Taserface was still alive and swore revenge on them because they had taken everything from him including his honor and name.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#8 (fb) - BTS) - The Stark picked up the disgraced Taserface and returned him to their homeworld.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) - BTS) - The former Taserface was tortured for months by the High Sister's Iron Maidens on the Stark homeworld. He endured the torture.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#8/Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) - BTS) - The High Sister took pleasure in his torture, but didn't want him to die. She instead ordered him to be brought to the Reconstruction Chamber to give him enough power to avenge the Stark honor and win back his name.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) ) - The Nameless One was rebuilt as Overkill.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#10) - The Nameless One's reconstruction was a full success. The High Sister considered him the crowning achievement of her reign and asked him if he was ready to lay down his life for the glory of the Stark. He was ready and kneeling down before her received the new name Overkill from the High Sister.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) ) - Overkill was sent out to test the Stark's latest generation of advanced armor and lure the Guardians of the Galaxy into a trap.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#12) - Overkill assaulted Firelord in deep space and showed no mercy. Firelord was unable to fight back because Overkill's armor absorbed his energies. Overkill made sure Firelord remembered how Firelord had left him for dead as Taserface and robbed him of his honor. When Firelord's communicator signal stopped the Guardians homed in on his last location and came to his aid against Overkill. Their arrival was noticed by Overkill's superior High Sister, who had waited for their arrival because the Guardians had stolen their current vessel (the Captain America II as the Guardians named it) from the Stark on Courg. The Guardians blasted Overkill with their ship's weapons, but couldn't take him down. Martinex, Aleta, Nikki, Yondu and Charlie-27 attacked him. Overkill absorbed Martinex's thermal blasts and sent them right back at him, then broke through Aleta's solid light structure around his repulsors with ease. After blasting her he revealed to the Guardians that he had been vastly improved since their last meeting when he was still known as Taserface. Charlie-27 called his new name an improvement to mock Overkill, who unleashed his power against him and Major Victory, who could barely block the blast with Captain America's shield. Yondu shot a Yaka arrow, which Overkill caught with ease and tossed back at him. Nikki had finally managed to get behind Overkill, but he casually elbowed her in the face. Her arrival was still distraction enough for Starhawk to come down and bring Firelord to a nearby star to replenish his energies. Faced with the combined powers of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Firelord Overkill revealed that they had all been fooled by him. He teleported back to the Stark mother ship. Overkill knew he could've defeated them on his own and the High Sister promised to reward Overkill's restraint not to kill them because his fight with them had given Commander Swifthand the time to plant a bomb on the Guardians' stolen Stark ship. Overkill called it a fitting end for them because the Guardians were not worthy to die in battle according to him. (Bomb goes boom in #13, but the Guardians survive because the bomb didn't take out much. It caused a hull breach and destroyed their gym.)
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48 (fb) - BTS) - Over time Overkill received many further augmentations.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#44) - Overkill eavesdropped on Hollywood's interrogation of a criminal about Doctor Doom's whereabouts. After Hollywood had flown away, Overkill took the Viz-Disk Hollywood had given to the criminal and destroyed it after threatening the alien's life.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#45 - BTS) - After the criminal Slagg was humiliated by Hollywood he decided to take revenge on everyone wearing the Guardian star. He contacted Overkill to tell him about Hollywood's whereabouts.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#46 (fb) - BTS) - Overkill missed Hollywood at an alien bar where the hero beat up pirates and other criminals and freed the owner's concubines.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#46) - Overkill waited at the bar for the mutant Side-Step, who arrived to do business with Overkill, who demanded from her to give him the device she had brought as payment first. Overkill was impressed at Side-Step's attempt to intimidate him when she threatened to teleport him into the core of the nearest sun if he didn't play nice. Overkill handed over a evidence against Ripjak (which was then tampered with by Rancor and handed over to the authorities by Mindscan in #49...who arrested the Guardians' Charlie-27 because they believed he was Ripjak due to the tampered evidence in Guardians Annual#4) and Side-Step gave him the Realitee-Vee nasal implant hidden in her earring, which would be the perfect bait to lure the Galactic Guardian Hollywood into a trap.
(Galactic Guardians#1 (fb) - BTS) - Overkill paid the criminal Skellig well to lure Hollywood to him.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#47 (fb) - BTS) - Word got out about the Realitee-Vee nasal implant and Hollywood found out where to buy it.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#47) - Working together with the criminal Skellig Overkill set up a trap on an abandoned planet inside the depths of a Crystalpha mine. Posing as a frail old man he had Hollywood brought to him by Skellig. Overkill claimed the Realitee-Vee implant was recently designed by Doctor Doom. He handed it over to Hollywood, who recognized it as the real deal and knew it would put him on Doom's trail. He asked the frail old man what he owed him and Overkill shot him with the cannon on his right arm, which hurled Hollywood through the wall back to the surface. Overkill then revealed himself to the surprised Hollywood and swore Hollywood would only be the first to die on Overkill's road to revenge on everyone wearing a Guardians star.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#48) - Even though Hollywood didn't know what Overkill's problem with the Guardians was he fought back. After a kick to the head Overkill tried to incinerate Hollywood and failed, but Hollywood's overconfidence provided an opening for Overkill to punch Hollywood again. Hollywood took a pulse burst from Overkill's hand cannon before fighting Overkill to the ground and demanding answers from him. Overkill complied and told about his history as Taserface with the Guardians and how he was rebuilt as Overkill and lured them into a trap as his first mission. Overkill finally got Hollywood off his back by blasting him with hidden blasters on his back, then fired at him with his shoulder cannon. Ripping up the ground to block some of the blasts Hollywood then tossed rubble at Overkill until one of them hit the power relay chamber on Overkill's armature. It overloaded, exploded and Overkill took the remnants of the destroyed weapon off and switched to hand-to-hand combat. overkill hit Hollywood with numerous plasma blasts before mocking him for failing humanity when the Martians attacked, which drove Hollywood over the edge. Hollywood fought back, blocked a punch by Overkill and crushed his right hand. Overkill had enough and activated his armor's self-destruct sequence. Fearing the explosion of the armor could vaporize half the quadrant Hollywood flew Overkill away from all nearby inhabited planets, but Overkill made sure the explosion would still kill trillions of people. Hollywood decided to bearhug Overkill to block the brunt of the explosion, but unlike Overkill he survived.
Comments: Created by Jim Valentino (writer/pencils) & Steve Montano (inks).
Taserface or at least a character named after him appeared in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy II (2017) movie as a member of Yondu's crew of Ravagers.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Annual I#2 (1992) Nikki made a list of the Guardians of the Galaxy's top ten thugs for Talon and Overkill was on #4. The top ten list was by Jim Valentino (writer/pencils) and Michael Bair (inks).
Surprisingly I came up with the physical stats independently from Stuart, who informed me that they were almost identical to the ones he came up with for Taserface's Marvel Fact Files profile. I had to add the Taserface stats though.
--Markus Raymond
Thanks to Donald Campbell for the following information. Jim Valentino revealed in posts on ImageComics.com (later collected on the Guardians of the Worlds website) the following:
My son, Aaron, had created the character Taserface when he was 5 years old. I knew the name was lame, but justified it by likening it to the old Dick Tracy villain, Prune-Face or the Batman villains Clayface and Two-Face. At any rate, it gave the kid a thrill to say that he was the youngest person to ever create a Marvel character. (Okay, so I'm a doting parent, sue me).
Thanks to James Cope for pointing out that I accidentally identified Quickfist as Blackhand in most of Guardians of the Galaxy I#2's section.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Overkill of reality-691 should not be confused with:
images (without ads)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#47, p22 (main)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#4, p11, pan1 (face blast)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#1, p5, pan7 (Taserface)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#8, p6, pan1 (disgraced and tortured)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#48, p8, pan1 (rebuilt as Overkill)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#10, p8, pan4 (Overkill)
Appearances:
Guardians of the Galaxy I#1-4 (June-September, 1990) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#8 (January, 1991) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#10 (March, 1991) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#12 (May, 1991) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#44 (January, 1994) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Jeff Moore (pencils), Steve Montana with Mark McKenna & J.J. Birch (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#45-48 (February-May, 1994) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Kevin West (pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Galactic Guardians#1 (July, 1994) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Kevin West (pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
First Posted: 06/06/2017
Last updated: 01/13/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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