Mark Shaw (DC)
Mark Shaw is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Mark Shaw was a male human who was born in the modern age on Earth. (1st Issue Special v1 #5)
He came to be a public defender where he was assigned to be assigned to clients who could not afford a lawyer. In one case, he was assigned to Joe Burk in a criminal matter but the client refused to cooperate on the matter. Shaw determined that this was because Burk was being forced to take the fall for someone else and was frustrated that he could not help the man. It was then that his uncle revealed to him the existence of the 'Shan' Manhunters who were a secret order of vigilantes that fought against injustice for many years in secret. He then encouraged his nephew to use a Lion Medallion of the sect and become one of their number in the fight against crime. (1st Issue Special v1 #5)
The Manhunter sect were later revealed to be comprised of androids who had been created billions of years before by the Guardians of Oa to police the galaxy. For millennia, they served the Guardians well. However, the Manhunters became obsessed with the act of 'hunting' criminals. Their code, "No Man Escapes The Manhunters", became more important to them than seeing justice done. Eventually, the androids rebelled against the Guardians, but were swiftly defeated by their creators. Those that survived went into hiding. (Justice League of America v1 #140)
After learning the truth, Shaw turned against the Grandmaster who triggered a self-destruct system on himself after being damaged thus revealing his android nature. This showed that his pursuit of justice whilst in service to the Manhunter cause was simply a lie. Despite that, Mark Shaw had no intention of retiring and instead looked to continue the mantle of the Manhunter by making sure true justice was served on criminals. (Justice League of America v1 #141)
This led to him being sent to Belle Reve where he was placed under the care of the prison psychologist Simon LaGrieve. With his help, Shaw came to be freed from the Manhunter cult's influence and later took part in a special government program that would reduce his sentence. (Manhunter v1 #2) Thus, as the Privateer he came to join the Suicide Squad for a mission where he got into a fight with Rick Flag who was suffering emotionally after a recent mission to Russia. (Suicide Squad v1 #8)
Manhunter
Afterwards, he resumed being a hunter of criminals and worked to bring villains to justice. (Manhunter v1 #1)
He came to hear about the theft of a set of jewels called the Roc's Eggs where he learnt from his informants that the perpetrator was the Penguin who intended to give them to his fiancée. Ambushing the criminal, he succeeded in arresting him and turning him over to the authorities whereupon he claimed his reward on the bounty. His next bounty was Captain Cold who ended up fighting Shaw and losing leading to his arrest. (Manhunter v1 #1) Afterwards, his brother James attempted to convince Mark to part with the Manhunter mask but he refused as instead he needed it for his missions. The next assignment took Shaw to Japan where he was on the hunt for Stephen Lee. He though came to be ambushed by the master assassin Dumas with Manhunter barely escaping from his foe. It was then that he learnt that his identity of Mark Shaw had been framed leading to the authorities in pursuit of him. (Manhunter v1 #2)
Amanda Waller came to recruit Shaw to be part of a black-ops teams called the Shadow Fighters who were assembled to hunt down the villain Eclipso. (Eclipso v1 #12)
At some point Sarge Steel recruited Shaw to act to act as a double-agent among various terrorist networks. For this, Shaw took on the identity of his fallen foe Dumas, and asserted control of the shapeshifter's operations. It was later revealed that this was but one of many episodes of manipulation at the hands of the US Government, as most of Shaw's memories and personal history were actually the result of mental programming. (Manhunter v3 #13)
It was revealed that Shaw's time as Dumas and the mental manipulation of the US Government had adversely effected his psyche. He developed a split personality, believing himself to truly be Dumas. This Dumas personality asserted control over Shaw attempting to kill anyone who had ever used the Manhunter title. He succeeded in killing Dan Richards, Chase Lawler, and Kirk DePaul before targeting the newest Manhunter, Kate Spencer, and even himself.
Whilst in the Himalayas, Shaw was met with members of the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas who was exposed to the living history of the organization. They had wanted him to take the mantle of Azrael and be their champion in the world. (Manhunter v3 #28)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Mark Shaw
By adulthood, he came to be a member of the United States Marshals Service and was noted to be among their best manhunters. He came to be tasked with hunting down the Cheetah Barbara Ann Minerva. (Wonder Woman v4 #23.1) He came to join the Manhunter cult on Earth where he continued their goal of trying to liberate the planet from chaos though this was never achieved. Afterwards, Shaw worked with the Suicide Squad, Checkmate and was even partners with Sam Lane. In time, Mark came to believe he needed to save the Earth from the chaos that infested it and saw the plans made by General Lane that looked towards reworking all the intelligence agencies into one unified group. (Event Leviathan v1 #6)
Around 2 years ago, he went to the League of Assassins headquarters in Nepal where he was told that his talents were sought in promoting Leviathan on the global stage. (Checkmate v3 #6) Shaw then under an assumed identity was recruited by Talia al Ghul and joined her Leviathan organisation where he came to usurp control of it from her. As Leviathan, he had the group target the various intelligence organisations around the world where he absorbed their assets and sought to change the world by creating an Earth with no secrets or lies. (Event Leviathan v1 #6)
Shaw knew Clark Kent was Superman and freed him when Talia kidnapped him, thinking Superman will come to rescue Clark and could be used indirectly to help her take down Shaw. He later threw Talia from aboard his ship for treason. His first act as the new leader was to destroy all the other shadow organizations such as D.E.O, A.R.G.U.S, Checkmate, and Spyral. Sam Lane and Amanda Waller were also nearly assassinated. After Superman went off-world, Shaw put his plans in further motion. He believed that the world had become a broken mess with a lot of dirty secrets that he decided to expose. His actions led to the assembly of Lois Lane and a team of detectives consisting of Batman, Green Arrow, Kate Spencer, Question and Plastic Man in order to stop him. He later found and confronted Waller in Cuba. Superman found Waller and confronted Leviathan, but Shaw easily stopped him with an energy matrix that drained his powers in seconds before disappearing with Waller. After Superman recovered in the Batcave, Lois Lane met her other team of detectives consisting of Deathstroke, Elongated Man, Harvey Bullock, John Constantine and The Question. Superman while trying to locate Batgirl, who had pretended to join Leviathan after being captured, was teleported by Shaw to his location and de-powered with the help of Spyral technology. Shaw also succeeded in having Sam Lane killed after a Leviathan agent blew up the room of hospital he was in. Meanwhile, he talked to Clark, stating they both wanted a better world and showed how the government has created weapons against his son despite all the good he has done. He confessed he already knows he'll never join him and told Clark he knew about his recent experiences with Jor-El, asking him to let him fix the world before revealing his identity as Leviathan to him. Thanking him for all he has done, he also informed him of Sam's death and his plan to reveal all the official secrets. His plan however backfired as Batman's and Lois' teams were able to discover his location with Kate's Manhunter staff, causing Shaw and the rest of the organization to escape. Batgirl however had stolen Leviathan's hard drive containing all government secrets, thus spoiling his plans on exposing them. Lois was later able to expose him with the help of Superman, causing him to reevaluate his options and begin a campaign of destruction to achieve his goals.
Shaw then forged an alliance with Lex Luthor and his Legion of Doom as they decided to unite against Superman with them joined by the Red Cloud. The Legion of Doom joined by Red Cloud then launched their attack on the Man of Steel at Metropolis. It was then that Red Cloud turned against Luthor with Leviathan similarly joining her as he used his teleportation technology to send the Legion of Doom away. Leviathan used this as an example to show how his methods were less destructive and could bring about a more peaceful world. (Action Comics v1 #2021)
Sometime after the battle in Metropolis, Shaw came to learn that Dr. Netz had been responsible for leaking Leviathan's teleportation technology to Waller. In response, Shaw used the same technology away and potentially killing the traitorous Dr. Netz. For the next stage of his plans, Leviathan came to buy out the nation of Markovia and appealed to everyone around the Earth for help in fixing the world. (Leviathan Dawn v1 #1)
The ambush of Lois Lane and Daemon Rose though was a distraction that kept Shaw busy. He came to be injured and used his teleportation technology to retreat back to Markovia. However, he came to find that his cyberetics were actually sabotaged by his own followers in Leviathan. They had concluded that whilst Shaw's vision was perfect that he himself was not fit to execute it. Thus, they had sided with Talia al Ghul instead with Nakamura triggering Shaw's cybernetic components into killing him. His dead body was recovered by Guardian who mourned the loss of Shaw as Superman arrived on the scene. With Shaw's death, Markovia fell from the control of Leviathan who returned to Talia's side and decided to bide their time in the shadows. (Checkmate v3 #6)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He came to take the identity of Leviathan when he headed the Leviathan organisation. (Event Leviathan v1 #6)
Shaw had dedicated himself to the tenets of justice for every man and woman. (1st Issue Special v1 #5)
He came to be inspired after encountered by the Justice League where he claimed to had learnt more about justice from them than all his years of being a lawyer. It was then that he decided to use his uniform and training to turn the Manhunter into a real symbol of justice. (Justice League of America v1 #141) As such, he decided that he wanted to re-define the Manhunter name on his terms after being freed from the cult. This saw him re-making the identity to be that of a masked bounty hunter of masked supervillains. He decided to keep the name Manhunter to remind himself of his desire for justice and as a warning to avoid his past actions. (Manhunter v1 #2)
Mark had said that he enjoyed catching his quarries unaware as it avoided any further scenes from them. (Manhunter v1 #1)
His biological mother was Rose Shaw who raised her son by herself until she re-married and became the wife of Eliot Shaw. From that marriage, Mark came to gain half-siblings in the form of a brother named James Shaw and a half-sister named Eleanor Shaw. (Manhunter v1 #1)
He had an uncle who had claimed to had spent years as an archaeologist and had a collection of artifacts. It was said that his uncle had jealously guarded his finds and hid them even from his nephew. (1st Issue Special v1 #5)
Powers and abilities
He had said that one needed to be at their best to fight someone trained by the Manhunters. (Suicide Squad v1 #8) Despite his training, he was not prepared for fighting an entire team of superheroes by himself. (Justice League of America v1 #140)
The mask was said to be fitted with a range of equipment that gave him an edge in the field. Among these included a unidirectional mic that allowed him to pick up conversations out on the streets. (Manhunter v1 #2)
He was armed with a baton that could fire chemical bullets at his targets with these paralysis shells able to knock out his quarry. (1st Issue Special v1 #5)
Shaw came to make some modifications to it according to his own specifications when he began to operate on his own. He could activate a magnetic pulse from it that would assisted jumps and then reverse the polarity to get reverse momentum. (Manhunter v1 #1) Among the alterations to it included it gaining a self-regenerating power source for the modular attachments. Once exhausted, it took 3 hours for the power source to replenish itself. (Manhunter v1 #2)
Being an ex-con granted contacts and access to information not available to the police. (Manhunter v1 #2)
Notes
- Mark Shaw was created by Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in 1st Issue Special v1 #5 (August, 1975).
In other media
Television
- In Arrow, the character made his first appearance in the live action television series set in the Arrowverse in the episode "Corto Maltese" where he was portrayed by actor David Cubitt. He was said to be an old friend of Lyla Michaels and an agent of A.R.G.U.S. who was dispatched to Corta Maltese on a mission but failed to report back. Lyla would ask John Diggle to join Oliver Queen to Corto Maltese to help Shaw who was on a mission to recover lost A.R.G.U.S. data files that were taken by a criminal cartel. In reality, he was attempting to sell data to secure his freedom from Amanda Waller who he claimed drove him to insubordination.
Appearances
- 1st Issue Special v1: (1975)
- Suicide Squad v1:
- Manhunter v1:
- Manhunter v3:
- Wonder Woman v4:
- Event Leviathan v1:
- Action Comics v1:
External Links
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