Nuke (Marvel)
Nuke is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Frank Simpson was a male human who was the son of a wealthy though abusive and alcoholic upper-class woman where she was married to her husband named Charles Simpson. By 1953, the family lived in Dayton, Ohio where she regularly told off her son. The family came to hire a babysitter named Betsy to tend to the house and look after their son. A young Frank though developed an unhealthy affection towards Betsy claiming to had loved her and she came to be the only maternal figure in his life. One day, the Simpsons left the house to attend a party where an angry Betsy voiced that she wished Frank's mother was gone forever. On that night, Frank's mother was drunk when she returned home whilst his father drove Betsy back home. Alone in the house, he came to murder his mother after following Betsy's instructions. It was then that his home was visited by a mysterious policeman who proceeded to abduct the child per his orders. The same individual was responsible for having killed Betsy and caused Charles Simpson to commit suicide after being framed for the murder. Meanwhile, the young Frank Simpson was taken to be part of a secret government project. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #3)
Simpson became a major in the U.S. Marines and was stationed in the Quang Ngai province in Vietnam. In 1968, Major Frank Simpson was caught in the Quang Ngai province in South Vietnam and tortured by Logan with electric shocks and a knife. Two Vietcong, who thought Logan was a Russian advisor, watched him while he sliced the American flag into Frank's face. Logan repeatedly told Frank "No V.C." during the torture. Logan left and let the two Vietcong continue with the torture, but Frank bit one Vietcong's ear while being electrocuted and the electricity was passed on to the Vietcong. The other Vietcong stabbed Frank and was electrocuted as well (the poor idiot). Frank broke free and stabbed another Vietcong, who just entered the cave with a machine gun, in the head. More Vietcong entered and were shot by Frank. Heavily armed Frank left the cave and the people that saw him all screamed "No Vee-See". He remembered these words from the torture and like a good trained dog Frank attacked and killed everyone in the village Lai Chi. After Nuke was finished Logan returned in a helicopter. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #2) Despite his training, Simpson was inspired by an interview with Captain America he had heard as a child to protect the troops because they were there to win the war and he was only their support. The result was him being more interested in protecting American soldiers than killing Vietcong when he was first deployed as Nuke. He was blown to pieces while saving saving PFC Franklin Lamia and his company, whose location was given away by Officer Klutz. (Captain America v7 #15)
Frank was chosen to take part in a government experiment tasked with creating a new supersoldier following the loss of Captain America alongside the secrets of the Super-Soldier Serum. Simpson was one of 20 men, including James McPherson, Michael Labash, Andrew Perlmutter and John Walsh, who were chosen by the U.S. government to take part in the new super-soldier program. (Daredevil v1 #233) It was actually an iteration of the Weapon Plus program that sought to use medication as a means of controlling the aggression of the subject but this was ultimately deemed to be a failure. (New X-Men v1 #145) He proved to be the only candidate to had survived the project. (Daredevil v1 #233) Simpson was trained to win wars no matter the body count. (Captain America v7 #15) At some point, Horace Littleton came to befriend Frank Simpson, whom he warned of the lengths his superiors would go to turn him into a weapon for their wars. (Captain America v7 #17)
Nuke
Nuke resurfaced, employed by Generalissimo Felix Guillermo Caridad, of Tierra Verde, to destroy a rebel base. Caridad was impressed with his skills, and he enjoyed using Nuke periodically as a superhuman iconic symbol. (Daredevil v1 #232)
After Wolverine discovered his full past and set out to take care of loose ends, the U.S. government dispatched Nuke, who was kept at the United States embassy in Chile, to hunt down Wolverine. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #2) Wolverine, with some efforts, quickly dispatched his foe, seeking a way to redeem, or kill him. After the battle he discovered that Nuke's enhanced physiology was further mutated, and he has become a cyborg, with artificial limbs, bones and skull, able to survive and being rebuilt after the most gruesome injuries, yet devoid of any personality or conscience. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #3) Acknowledging that now he was beyond any hope of redemption, he tried to kill him, only to be stopped by Captain America, who had arrived because he believed that Nuke was a failed subject of the Super Soldier Program. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #4) Now without any legs, the leftovers of Nuke's body were handed over to Emma Frost by Wolverine, who wanted Emma to try to restore Nuke's broken mind if possible. Logan also told Emma Frost that should restoring Nuke's mind be impossible, she was to call Logan so that he could come back to kill Nuke. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #5)
He was dispatched to assassinate President Duarte of the Republic of Santo Marco but was captured in the attempt. Upon examining him, the President decided to make copies of Simpson that consisted of soldiers who became the Nuke Platoon. All members wore the American flag on their faces and were outfitted with the special pills Nuke had used to amplify their abilities. Afterwards, they were dispatched on a spree to eliminate any Mutants in the country. Simpson himself was kept locked up and contained until Sabretooth freed him. Upon seeing the Nuke Platoon, Frank snapped and started to massacre their ranks whilst they were attacking Old Man Logan and his allies. However, Frank did not stop and attacked Logan along with his comrades as he came to believe that everyone was trying to steal his pills. Simpson then rallied the remaining members of the Nuke Platoon to follow him where they attacked the building to secure the pills for him. (Weapon X v3 #13) Ezekiel Stane used his knowledge as a bio-engineer to create an army of Nuke warriors from ordinary American soldiers to create havoc for the country on behalf of Power Enterprises. (Captain America v9 #3)
Overview
Personality and attributes
On his face was tattooed the American flag. In the field, Agent Simpson came to be referred to by the name of Nuke. (Daredevil v1 #232)
Mentally, he saw himself that he was still fighting in Vietnam and looked to rescue MIAs. (Daredevil v1 #232)
Powers and abilities
As a result of the program, he came to be transformed into a supersoldier. (Daredevil v1 #232) His skin came to contain several kinds of plastic that was very tough and did not burn easily. Meanwhile, his skeleton and muscles were only partly human. (Daredevil v1 #233)
He was provided a number of pills that better helped manage his operations in the field. (Daredevil v1 #232)
In the field, he made use of a range of military grade ordnance. Among these was a multi-weapon rifle that he called Betsy. (Daredevil v1 #232) This was seemingly named after a babysitter that used to look after him when he was a child. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #3)
Notes
- Nuke was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli where he made his first appearance in Daredevil v1 #232 (July, 1986).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Jessica Jones, Will Simpson appeared as a character in the live-action Netflix television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Wil Traval. He was a former Special Ops soldier involved with a black ops paramiliary group named IGH that provided performance enhancing drugs. After his service, he became a police sergeant and worked at the 15th Precinct in New York. At some point, he encountered Kilgrave who used his powers of control to send Simpson to kill Trish Walker.
Appearances
- Daredevil v1: (1986)
- Wolverine: Origins v1:
- Captain America v7:
- Weapon X v3:
- Captain America v9:
External Links
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