SCRAMBLERSCRAMBLER
Classification: Terrestrial technology (time travel)
Creator: Charles Czarkowski
First Appearance: She-Hulk II#1 (December, 2005)
Powers/Abilities/Functions:The Scrambler alters a
time-traveler's DNA, facial features, and anything else that could be
used to identify him or her in order to prevent corruption of the
timestream in the event that the time-traveler was discovered in his or
her own past.
The process created a very uniform look, as Peace and "John Doe" were virtually identical in appearance to any time traveler who had used the scrambler.
History:
(She-Hulk II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Czarkowski developed time-travel technology, including the Chrono-Phone, allowing sending of messages into the past or future, and the Scrambler.
(She-Hulk
II#2 (fb) - BTS) <22 days before the trial in #2> - Czarkowski
received a message via his Chrono-Phone of a man apparently warning him
that he would kill him within 6 hours.
(She-Hulk
II#1 (fb) - BTS / She-Hulk
II#2 (fb) - BTS) - When the man from the Chrono-Phone call appeared before him on Manhattan's 7th Avenue, Czarkowski
seemingly shot a defenseless man in the back in broad daylight in front
of a dozen eyewitnesses, and the shooting was captured on film.
(She-Hulk
II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The man Czarkowski shot was kept alive on life support.
(She-Hulk
II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Czarkowski was charged with attempted murder.
(She-Hulk II#2) - The doctor (see comments)
examining the victim found that the victim's photograph/facial features, fingerprints, and
dental records failed to show up in any
database he and/or his associates could find, and his DNA was unlike
anything the medical
examiner had ever seen. The victim was classified as a "John Doe,"
because his true identity could not be determined.
(She-Hulk II#1 (fb) - BTS ) - The Time Variance Authority (TVA) approved and supervised the idea of bringing in jurors from the past so they would not be biased by media portrayals of Czarkowski as a murderer.
(She-Hulk II#2) - Defending attorney Jen Walters called Justice Peace to the stand, and Peace confirmed that the DNA of "John Doe" was consistent with someone who had gone through a scrambler, a device that scrambles a time-traveler's DNA, facial features, and anything else that could be used to identify him or her, which prevented corruption of the timestream in the event that the time-traveler was discovered in his or her own past. The process created a very uniform look, as Peace and "John Doe" were virtually identical in appearance to any time traveler who had used the scrambler. Walters concluded that this was proof that "John Doe" was a time-traveler.
(She-Hulk II#2 - BTS) - Using a remote device, Czarkowski summoned his robot from the past, creating a distraction, during which he escaped.
(She-Hulk II#2) - Arriving at Czarko Industries, Czarkowski set some random coordinates on his time machine and used the scrambler so that the TVA would not be able to find him. Before departing, he sent a message to his past self, warning him of the impending attempt on his life. As he left the message, however, he realized that his scrambled self was the form of the man he shot, and, in his shocked and confused state, verbalized that he was the one to kill Charles Czarkowski.
After the message concluded and was sent., Czarkowski realized what he had done, and he prepared to send another message to clarify things to his past self. However, Justice Peace then stopped him, intending for him to fulfill the temporal paradox. To complete this, Peace sent the scrambled Czarkowski 22 days into the past, and he emerged a short distance in front of his past self, who recognized him as his seeming would-be killer and then shot him in the back.
Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo, and Marcelo Sosa.
I would think it highly likely that Justice Peace confiscated Czarkowski's Chrono-Phone, Time Machine, and possibly the Scrambler for the Time Variance Authority, but this was not confirmed in-story.
Further, the fact that Justice Peace had apparently used a scrambler pretty much confirmed that the Time Variance Authority possessed and utilized a Scrambler. Is this because they confiscated Czarkowski's or because they had their own? If the latter, it may be that Czarkowski was the original inventor.
The name Czarkowski seems too close to Zarrko (as
in the Tomorrow Man) for the fact that they are both time-travelers to
be coincidence, especially with continuity-conscious Dan Slott as the
writer. Even more clearly, Czarkowski's business was called Czarko
Industries.
2006' All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe#12 and 2010's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z
hardcover#14 not Czarkowski as a possible ancestor and included this
note:
Any relationship to Charles Czarkowski of Czarko Industries — who
became the 9th wealthiest man in the world via stock tips from his
future self before unwittingly shooting his disguised future self in
the head, rendering him comatose — is unconfirmed.
Two
definite errors with that…(1) He shot his future self in the back, not the head; (2) He
wasn’t comatose, as he was making inarticulate vocalization. I think
semi-comatose or stuporous would be OK.
The doctor who examined the "John Doe" victim was described in-story as a medical examiner. That term is typically used for a doctor that examines victims after their deaths.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Charles Czarkowski's Scrambler should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads):
She-Hulk
II#2, pg. 21, panel 3 (entering scrambler);
panel 4 (within scrambler);
pg. 22, panel 2 (realizing scrambled self was the time-traveler);
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 10/02/2022
Last updated: 10/02/2022
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