MAINSPRING
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human cyborg technology user
Occupation: Would-be-conqueror; former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Group Membership: None; formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.
Affiliations: Gatekeepers, Template (Bastion/Nimrod/Master Mold)
Enemies: Avengers (Giant-Man/Henry Pym, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Warbird/Carol Danvers, Wasp/Janet Van Dyne), Chi-Chee, Hope (Esparanza Ling), Psi-Cops (Check, Fielder, Psimon, Psiren, Relay, Scene Stealer, others), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Warlock, Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: An orbiting satellite near Earth
First Appearance: Warlock V#1 (October, 1999)
Powers/Abilities: Mainspring was a cyborg, who designed a micro-reactor he called the mainspring, to keep him alive and serve as an extreme power source to any technology he interfaced with and was under his control. Mainspring has additional technological upgrades, including the ability to fire massive energy blasts and to shield himself from physical and psionic attacks. Mainspring also has technological resources that have allowed him to interface with tracking targets across the planet and to infect the systems of Wall Street. Experimenting with the Transmode Virus, or Techno-Organic Virus, and later the Techno-Mechanic Virus, Mainspring launched a massive company with vast resources, including orbiting satellites, and he designed dozens of powerful robots, called Gatekeepers, to work for him. Later, Mainspring reprogrammed and manipulated the head of Bastion, or Master Mold, into the form of Template.
Height: Unrevealed (8'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (200 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Bald
History:
(Warlock V#8 (fb) - BTS) - Under unknown circumstances, an
ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent suffered an accident, which somehow changed him.
He would later reference human error responsible for the disaster that
nearly destroyed him. The agent desired to shed the himself of the
humanity that still remained in him and designed himself a mini-reactor
to be his power source, then gave himself some upgrades to gain
complete control over a satellite in Earth's orbit. Calling himself
Mainspring after the reactor, the agent became obsessed with the idea
of conquering the planet to protect humanity from itself.
(Warlock V#1 (fb) - BTS) - Mainspring launched Project Mainspring, in order to study the Transmode Virus and the remnants of the Phalanx. Mainspring bases were set up around the globe.
(Warlock V#5 (fb) - BTS) - Mainspring sought to control the Transmode Virus and wanted to alter it so it could infect non-organic objects as well as organic life, which would give him the power to conquer the entire planet.
(Warlock V#2 (fb) - BTS) - Mainspring apprehended a young woman named Hope (Esperanza Ling), who had been infected by the Transmode Virus. She lost her memories until she woke up in a Project Mainspring cage. Scientists experimented on her, forcing her to touch things and infect them with the virus. One of the animals she touched was a monkey named Chi-Chee. Mainspring began experimenting to find ways to infect non-organic material with the Transmode Virus.
(Warlock V#1 (fb) - BTS) - Hope and Chi-Chee were kept in cages in the New Jersey facility. Mainspring went off to perform some experiments and left explicit instructions to not interrupt him for any reason.
(Warlock V#1) - Later, Mainspring grew angry when he learned his New Jersey facility had been destroyed in an incident that left some Psi-Cops dead. He considered wording his orders more carefully in the future. He was informed that the head had been found off of one of his Gatekeeper robots (which he'd left behind to guard the facility). Accessing footage from the Gatekeeper, they saw that Warlock had helped rescue Hope and destroyed the building. Mainspring ordered Hope brought to him and Warlock killed.
(Warlock V#2 - BTS) - Gatekeepers pursued Warlock, Hope, and Chi-Chee, but they triumphed over the robots with the help of Iron Man and the Psi-Cops.
(Warlock V#3) - Mainspring reviewed the footage of the Gatekeepers' defeat and ordered all of his satellite resources be put into tracking Hope's use of her powers. When Hope activated her powers, Mainspring led his Gatekeepers to apprehend her, and he found she and Warlock fighting the Psi-Cops. Mainspring ordered Hope captured alive and the others exterminated. Warlock and Hope escaped, but Mainspring captured Chi-Chee, and he was pleased, knowing that Chi-Chee was psychically linked to Hope and she would try to save him if they caused him harm because she would feel the monkey's agony.
(Warlock V#4) - Mainspring tortured Chi-Chee, knowing that the animal's distress would notify Hope. Just as they honed in on Hope's signal, Mainspring witnessed the Transmode Virus expand from the monkey like a wave, transforming one of the Gatekeepers in the process. Mainspring realized that he didn't need Hope anymore and instead could just use the transformed Gatekeeper to control the unique strain of the Transmode Virus Hope had infected the monkey with to create an army of infected Gatekeepers and then transform the world.
(Warlock V#5) - Aboard an orbiting satellite, Mainspring called the mutated virus the Techno-Mechanic Virus. Mainspring attempt to use the infected Gatekeeper robot to infect others, but the robot was inert and couldn't follow his commands. Mainspring was unsure why and wondered if the reason was because it lacked the sufficient power or because it was never really alive and the virus needed an act of will behind it to infect others.
(Warlock V#5 - BTS) - Mainspring asked once again not to be disturbed while he tried to find a way to use the transformed Gatekeeper for his plan.
(Warlock V#5) - When the Gatekeepers tracked Hope, Mainspring ordered them to capture her.
(Warlock V#6) - Overwhelmed by the amount of energy it was taking to power up the Techno-Mechanic components, he ordered his Gatekeepers to retrieve the severed head of Bastion he saw on one of his videoscreens. Bastion took over the form of one of the Gatekeepers, went to Manhattan and battled Hope and Warlock, but was defeated. Mainspring retrieved Bastion's head, planning to use it again.
(Warlock V#8 (fb) - BTS) - Mainspring wired Bastion's power source directly to his heart, or the mainspring reactor that kept Mainspring operating.
(Warlock V#7) - Mainspring experimented on Bastion, soon activating him. After deleting the Bastion identity and the Nimrod identity underneath it, Mainspring discovered the programming of Master Mold, whose mission had been to create Sentinels to save humanity. Mainspring super-imposed his own mission over Master Mold's, getting him to comply with Mainspring's goals. Mainspring then attached Bastion to the control station of his own satellite, and believed this power source would allow him to finally control the full Transmode and Techno-Mechanic Virus and renamed Bastion Transmode.
Days laster, Mainspring began looking for a target to test Template's power. When someone tried hacking his programs from Muir Island, Mainspring chose the island as his target. Template attacked Muir Island, but was stopped by Warlock, Hope, Wolfsbane, and Psimon of the Psi-Cops. The four teens then attacked the satellite, finding Mainspring waiting.
(Warlock V#8) - Mainspring sparred with the four teens, who evaded him and freed Chi-Chee. Mainspring apprehended the teens, placing them in force bubbles, while attacking the New York Stock Exchange with Template, who fought Spider-Man and the Avengers. As he spread his Virus on Earth, Mainspring heard Warlock predict that Template was betraying him and building a Babel Tower to summon the Technarchy, who would then come to destroy the planet. Panicking, Mainspring ordered Template to stop functioning, but Template refused, obeying his primary Phalanx directive. The teens escaped and Mainspring had his Gatekeepers fight them. When Hope tried convincing Mainspring to turn against Template, Mainspring refused, determined to assert his control over Template again because he still considered him a viable failsafe to protect humanity from their own mistakes and preserve them, but Template was too strong. Despairing, Mainspring ripped out his own heart, the Mainspring reactor that kept him going, and broke it in half to end the power source, which would render Template inert. The teens escaped as Mainspring's satellite exploded, presumably killing him.
Comments: Created by Louise Simonson, Pasqual Ferry, and Mark Morales.
In Warlock V#8, it references the fact that Mainspring has an origin, then kind of says it doesn't matter as it focuses on the action of the story.
Main image scanned by Markus Raymond.
This profile was completed 7/27/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Chadman.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mainspring has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Warlock V#3, p21, pan5 (main)
Warlock V#3, p24, pan5 (face)
Warlock V#3, p1, pan1 (sleeveless)
Appearances:
Warlock V#1-6 (October, 1999-April,
2000) - Louise Simonson (writer), Pasqual Ferry (penciler), Mark
Morales (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Warlock V#7 (April, 2000) - Louise Simonson (writer), Pasqual Ferry
(penciler), Mark Morales, Al Milgrom, Harry Candelario (inkers), Bobbie
Chase (editor)
Warlock V#8-9 (May-June, 2000) - Louise Simonson (writer), Pasqual Ferry (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 09/17/2021
Last updated: 09/16/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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