JEREMIAH WARRICK

Real Name: Jeremiah Warrick

Identity/Class: Human technology and magic-user

Occupation: S.H.I.E.L.D. agent

Group Membership: S.H.I.E.L.D.

Affiliations: Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange), Howard the Duck (loose alliance), Howling Commandos (Frankenstein's monster, Living Mummy/N'Kantu, Man-Thing/Ted Sallis, Zombie/Simon Garth), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Phil Coulson, ESPer unite, Leo Fitz, Maria Hill, Melinda May, presumably others);
    indirectly Beast (Hank McCoy), Amadeus Cho (presumably), Dr. Doom (Victor von Doom; presumably), Iron Man (Tony Stark), MODOK (George Tarleton), Reed Richards, Valeria Richards, Jemma Simmons, and every one else saved from the Mindless Plague;
    indirectly Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange) all of the sorcerers saved from incapacitation by the Black Dechantment;
    indirectly the Legion of Howards;
    loose/temporary alliance with the Absorbing Man (Carl Creel)

Enemies: Dormammu, Mindless Ones, the "Mindless Plague" spell, unidentified flying assailants and other extradimensional beings summoned via the "Spider-Geddon"-induced reality warp;
    indirectly Ducanard of Earth-15110, Liverer

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unidentified S.H.I.E.L.D. base

First Appearance: S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (July, 2015)

Powers/Abilities: Warrick is highly skilled in computer programming and data entry.

    Experienced in categorizing and archiving arcane texts, Warrick has gained significant knowledge of magical beings, items, and places (or he, at least, knows where to find the needed information). He has additionally utilized computers to perform arcane rituals and spells, using complex programs to replace other requirements of classics spells, such as candles and blood. Amongst the spells he utilized thusly was opening an interdimensional portal between Earth and the Dark Dimension via a series of five computers, with the various cords manipulated into the form of a pentagram. He could further use the spell to transport beings from specific locations through the portal.

    Warrick's arcane research has caused an unspecified number of bodily (and perhaps other) transformations.

    With his owl head and neck, he can rotate his neck nearly 360 degrees around. Despite having an owl beak (and presumably an owl-like tongue and larynx), he speaks English clearly and easily. He appears to be able to independently change the size of his pupils.

    He previously had the form of a sparkly unicorn, which would presumably have granted him a sharp horn and four hard hooves, as well as superhuman strength (mostly in kicking) and speed. Any other abilities are speculative.

    Self-conscious about his transformations, Warrick requires some peace and quiet to concentrate, and he becomes very irritated with distractions.

    He briefly possessed the Zipper Unripper, whose function he deduced, although he never apparently utilized it.

    He also utilized a magic wand, which could be used to transport those it struck to other dimensions, although Warrick did not know how to fully operate it.

Height: Unrevealed; approximately 5'3"
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 170 lbs. (he's got a bit of a belly)
Eyes: Yellow (original color unrevealed)
Hair: None; brown feathers on head (original hair color unrevealed)

History:
(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - After Dr. Strange began sharing records -- numerous volumes, case files, metaphysical histories, and aracane secrets -- with S.H.I.E.L.D., agent Jeremiah Warrick was placed in charge of these.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Warrick transcribed the information he received into a computer archive.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Working with Strange's archives sometimes changed Warrick into different forms...Warrick was sensitive about his transformations.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Warrick had the door to his facilities labeled, "Never, ever disturb."

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At one point, Warrick turned into a sparkly unicorn.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Warrick input data on the Mindless Ones into the archive.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Warrick was transformed into the form of a man with an owl's head and neck.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - After obtaining the Black Dechantment (while plumbing the depths of prehistory), Dormammu apparently used them to form a number of magic bullets, which were used to incapacitate all of Earth's sorcerers and network them into a sort of conduit that began transforming the most intelligent people on Earth into forms mimicking the destructive Mindless Ones (after the highest super-geniuses were affected, the energies began working their way down to other super-geniuses and then to regular geniuses, etc.). Dr. Strange was brought to the Dark Dimension where he was imprisoned, conscious but impaled on a spiked mass of Black Dechantment.
    The Black Dechantment was apparently also used to shatter the Bifrost, severing the primary means of transport between Asgard from Earth.

    Learning of this "Mindless Plague," S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson had the S.H.I.E.L.D. ESPer unit put mental blocks on all essential unaffected agents to hold off transformation.

    As Coulson, Maria Hill, and Melinda May prepared to meet with Warrick, Coulson warned them that he was "touchy" about his changes.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6) - As Hill opened the door, Warrick chastised her for not knocking, noting that his work required concentration and questioning how they expected him to transcribe with constant interruptions. Upon turning and seeing director Hill, Warrick immediately apologized, explaining that he was particular about his work, and that when keyboarding a magic spell, typos were murder (likely literally).

    When Hill avoided looking him in the face while telling him they needed everything he had on the Mindless Ones, Warrick confronted Coulson, asking if he had told her to act "normal," which was even more insulting...Noting they were pressed for time, Coulson asked for the intel, and Warrick invited them in, asking them to watch their step as the documents he had were on loan.

    As Warrick started his search, Coulson noted that Dr. Strange had been taken captive and asked if he could locate the Mindless Ones, but Warrick snapped "let me focus for one minute!"

    Warrick subsequently explained that the Mindless Ones were "in the Dark Dimension, which is kind of like a magical North Korea ruled by a despot named Dormammu. The Mindless Ones are the things that keep him in business. His protective spell holds them at bay, which gives the people a simple choice: They can (A) Keep propping Dormammu up as their demon-king, or (B) Get their arms and legs torn off by Mindless Ones. So far, "A" is a pretty consistent winner."

    Maria Hill informed him of how Earth's sorcerers had been incapacitation and networked into an energy causing the Mindless Plague, and she showed him the magic bullet they had obtained, Warrick noted that with Mindless Ones on Earth they would be begging Dormammu to save them. When he questioned how they would conquer a magical threat in a world with no magicians, Coulson answered that they would improvise, and he asked how portable Warrick's equipment was.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Over the next 20 minutes, Warrick arranged to have a pentagram formed from the power and other cords connected to five laptops.

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6) - As he prepared to start his spell, Warrick requested silence, but once the process started and a dimensional portal opened, he exclaimed, "Behold, the future of magic. Laptops running a special program that takes the place of candles and goat's blood."

    When Warrick queried how they were going to guard their only beacon into and out of the Dark Dimension, Coulson revealed a new incarnation of the Howling Commandos -- Frankenstein's monster, Living Mummy/N'Kantu, Man-Thing/Ted Sallis, Zombie/Simon Garth -- guided by S.H.I.E.L.D. ESPers implantation of a simple suggestion in what passed for their minds -- "Hold the line and show no mercy" -- facilitated their alliance.

    Warrick then joined Coulson and May in passing through the portal. When they immediately encountered Dormammu (with Strange bound at his side), Warrick noted, "Uh-Oh," before asking "What the Hell is that black stuff?" Coulson started to explain that it was the same ore that had shattered Bifrost and made the magic-users into plague conduits, but when they were confronted by Mindless Ones, he instructed Warrick to get them home. However, as Warrick worked his handheld device, Dormammu blasted it from his hands.

    After Dormammu exhorted the power of the Black Dechantment, Coulson loaded the magic bullet and fired it into Dormammu's hand, clearly paining the demon-sorcerer-whatever. During the distraction, Warrick recovered his handheld device, and Coulson had him summon the Absorbing Man from the S.H.I.E.L.D. cell in which he had recently been imprisoned.

    Offered a full pardon by Coulson, the Absorbing Man adapted the power of the Black Dechantment and devastated not only the Mindless Ones but incapacitated Dormammu as well. When the Absorbing Man considered using his new power to destroy Thor, the Hulk, etc., Coulson manipulated him into destroying the Black Dechantment (which freed Earth's sorcerers from its influence and ended the Mindless Plague) while Warrick got them (and Dr. Strange) home just in time to avoid the backlash.

    Three hours later, back on Earth, Warrick asked Dr. Strange if he could restore his humanity. When Strange gave him a phone number and noted he could fit him in in November, Warrick replied with a sarcastic, "Gee, thanks."

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Multiversal "Spider-Verse" conflict involving numerous alternate reality Spider-beings fighting the spider-totem-eating Inheritors led to progressive spatial anomalies -- an epidemic of strange coincidences, probability distortions, shifting spatial anomalies, etc. -- that apparently threatened the entire Multiverse.

    After the "Zipper Unripper" (a talisman from a parallel Earth that could be used to mend the "Omniversal zipper") was spat out by the chaos, Earth-616's S.H.I.E.L.D. mystic agent Jeremiah Warrick determined that it could only be utilized to mend the damage by a being from an alternate reality.

    It was determined that Howard the Duck could be that being.

    Playing into Howard's quirk of being better able to deal with big emergencies if they were "seasoned with a dash of the comically mundane," S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Leo Fitz arranged to have Warrick package the Unripper as if it were a commercial item sold conventionally (as seen on TV). S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agent Phil Coulson further advised them to draft Howard as -- while he had a noble heart -- he was always at his most effective when he felt hard done by: "The fuel that revs his motor is resentment."

    Warrick calibrated the Zipper Unripper and considered it ready for use.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - While fleeing from armored/costumed attackers (presumably spawned by the reality distortions), Warrick showed Fitz the packaged Unripper, noting that the packaging seemed to undersell it. Fitz explained to him how it and their methods were suited to Howard.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Fitz and Warrick then traveled to their planned meeting place.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - On Earth-616, Warrick and fellow agent Leo Fitz met with (616-dwelling) Howard the Duck, gave him the packaged Unripper, and informed him of his role. 

    As Fitz asked Howard to at least consider  the mission, Warrick magically transported Howard via a magic wand (without waiting for his acceptance) to an alternate Earth (or perhaps a location where realities were crossing-over) to utilize the Zipper Unripper.

    Warrick then accidentally touched Fitz with the wand, transported Fitz there as well.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Warrick severe bent the magic wand while trying to use it to return Fitz and Howard.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - Warrick spoke to Coulson, noting his inability to return Fitz and Howard as well as his fear that the entire Multiverse was in peril.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 - BTS) - Aided by the cross-dimensional Legion of Howards, Howard and Fitz used the Zipper Unripper to close the Omniversal Zipper on the powerful Liverer before returning to Earth-616.

(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - Fitz and Howard then returned, and Warrick told Coulson "False alarm? Nevermind? I'll call you back." Warrick then informed them that all of the interdimensional chaos banished a second before their reappearance.

    After Howard -- lamenting having missed a chance to go to a reality where he would have a happy family -- refused Fitz's offer to drop him off somewhere, Warrick asked what was eating him?

Comments: Created by Mark Waid and Paul Renaud.

    Warrick's owl appearance makes me wonder if that transformation wasn't related to the Eyekillers.

    The following owl features may or may not be relevent to Jeremiah Warrick, courtesy of Wikipedia (while I'm a veterinarian, I don't generally work on birds, and I'm certainly no ornithologist, so I'm posting the information as I saw it. Let me know if you can confirm any erroneous information in need of correction):

Neck
Owls can rotate their heads and necks as much as 270°. Owls have 14 neck vertebrae compared to seven in humans, which makes their necks more flexible. They also have adaptations to their circulatory systems, permitting rotation without cutting off blood to the brain: the foramina in their vertebrae through which the vertebral arteries pass are about 10 times the diameter of the artery, instead of about the same size as the artery as in humans; the vertebral arteries enter the cervical vertebrae higher than in other birds, giving the vessels some slack, and the carotid arteries unite in a very large anastomosis or junction, the largest of any bird's, preventing blood supply from being cut off while they rotate their necks. Other anastomoses between the carotid and vertebral arteries support this effect

Vision

Eyesight is a particular characteristic of the owl that aids in nocturnal prey capture. Owls are part of a small group of birds that live nocturnally, but do not use echolocation to guide them in flight in low-light situations. Owls are known for their disproportionally large eyes in comparison to their skulls. An apparent consequence of the evolution of an absolutely large eye in a relatively small skull is that the eye of the owl has become tubular in shape. This shape is found in other so-called nocturnal eyes, such as the eyes of strepsirrhine primates and bathypelagic fishes. Since the eyes are fixed into these sclerotic tubes, they are unable to move the eyes in any direction. Instead of moving their eyes, owls swivel their heads to view their surroundings. Owls' heads are capable of swiveling through an angle of roughly 270°, easily enabling them to see behind them without relocating the torso. This ability keeps bodily movement at a minimum, thus reduces the amount of sound the owl makes as it waits for its prey. Owls are regarded as having the most frontally placed eyes among all avian groups, which gives them some of the largest binocular fields of vision. However, owls are farsighted and cannot focus on objects within a few centimeters of their eyes. These mechanisms are only able to function due to the large-sized retinal image. Thus, the primary nocturnal function in the vision of the owl is due to its large posterior nodal distance; retinal image brightness is only maximized to the owl within secondary neural functions. These attributes of the owl cause its nocturnal eyesight to be far superior to that of its average prey.

Hearing

Owls exhibit specialized hearing functions and ear shapes that also aid in hunting. They are noted for asymmetrical ear placements on the skull in some genera. Owls can have either internal or external ears, both of which are asymmetrical. Asymmetry has not been reported to extend to the middle or internal ear of the owl. Asymmetrical ear placement on the skull allows the owl to pinpoint the location of its prey. This is especially true for strictly nocturnal species such as the barn owls Tyto or Tengmalm's owl. With ears set at different places on its skull, an owl is able to determine the direction from which the sound is coming by the minute difference in time that it takes for the sound waves to penetrate the left and right ears. The owl turns its head until the sound reaches both ears at the same time, at which point it is directly facing the source of the sound. This time difference between ears is about 30 microseconds. Behind the ear openings are modified, dense feathers, densely packed to form a facial ruff, which creates an anterior-facing, concave wall that cups the sound into the ear structure. This facial ruff is poorly defined in some species, and prominent, nearly encircling the face, in other species. The facial disk also acts to direct sound into the ears, and a downward-facing, sharply triangular beak minimizes sound reflection away from the face. The shape of the facial disk is adjustable at will to focus sounds more effectively.

The prominences above a great horned owl's head are commonly mistaken as its ears. This is not the case; they are merely feather tufts. The ears are on the sides of the head in the usual location (in two different locations as described above).

Beak

The beak of the owl is short, curved, and downward-facing, and typically hooked at the tip for gripping and tearing its prey. Once prey is captured, the scissor motion of the top and lower bill is used to tear the tissue and kill. The sharp lower edge of the upper bill works in coordination with the sharp upper edge of the lower bill to deliver this motion. The downward-facing beak allows the owl's field of vision to be clear, as well as directing sound into the ears without deflecting sound waves away from the face

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jeremiah Warrick should be distinguished from:

• Other Warrick" characters (I don't find any in my search)
• other "Jeremiah" characters, including the one who was a bullfrog, from Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World."
  

(S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Over 20 minutes, Warrick arranged to have a pentagram formed from the power and other cords connected to five laptops. (S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6) - As he prepared to start his spell, Warrick requested silence, but once the process started and a dimensional portal opened, he exclaimed, "Behold, the future of magic. Laptops running a special program that takes the place of candles and goat's blood."     When Warrick queried how they were going to guard their only beacon into and out of the Dark Dimension, Coulson revealed a new incarnation of the Howling Commandos -- Frankenstein's monster, Living Mummy/N'Kantu, Man-Thing/Ted Sallis, Zombie/Simon Garth -- guided by S.H.I.E.L.D.     ESPers implantation of a simple suggestion in what passed for their minds -- "Hold the line and show no mercy" -- facilitated their alliance.     Warrick then joined Coulson and May in passing through the portal.

Appearances:
S.H.I.E.L.D. III#6 (July, 2015) - Mark Waid (writer), Paul Renaud (artist), Jon Moissan (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 09/05/2021
Last updated: 09/04/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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