Shrapnel (DC)
Shrapnel is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
Origin
Mark Scheffer
After being taken into custody, he remained doped to prevent the use of his powers but his abilities managed to gradually restore themselves over the next few months.
During the Imperiex War, Shrapnel came to be one of a number of villains assigned to a new iteration of the Suicide Squad alongside Plasmus and Chemo. The four were placed under the direction of Manchester Black where they were tasked with attacking a military base to draw out Superman in order to test their capabilities. Despite their numbers, they were unable to defeat the Man of Steel who defeated them but they later managed to escape back to headquarters. The attack was also a distraction that allowed the U.S. military to acquire Mongul who was added to the Squad's ranks. (Adventures of Superman v1 #593)
Shrapnel came to be one of a number of supervillains apprehended and exiled to a distant alien world. (Salvation Run v1 #1)
He came to infiltrate the Pequod that was the mobile headquarters of the Outsiders after being hired to take out the superhero team. He was confronted by Shift and Indigo where initially the two destroyed his body. However, Shrapnel simply reformed and captured Shift who he began to hurt causing a vengeful Indigo to seemingly destroy the supervillain mercenary. (Outsiders v3 #20)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Shrapnel later came to be hired by a new crime boss operating in Central City. This saw him targeting other gangs in the area where he was sent to eliminate the Road Reapers. He began to chase them where they attempted to flee but he ultimately caught up with them and killed them right before the Flash. (The Flash v5 #28) Barry narrowly won a fight with Shrapnel by using a new aspect of his Negative Speed Force powers. (The Flash v5 #29)
Overview
Personality and attributes
As a superpowered assassin, he came to take the name Shrapnel for himself. (Doom Patrol v2 #7)
As an assassin, he longed to secure his reputation. (Doom Patrol v2 #7)
Powers and abilities
The assassin known as Shrapnel is a mutated human whose flesh and bone have been transformed into hundreds of separate razor-sharp pieces of metal.
With his power, he could separate his numerous parts and send them exploding from his body like shrapnel. He could have them then gather back together to reform a body for himself. Such an ability could be used to help escape from people attempting to catch him by reforming himself elsewhere. Alternatively, he could use this power offensively by sending shrapnel at his targets in order to kill or injure a person. (Doom Patrol v2 #7)
Shrapnel's body apparently consists of sharp, hard scales which are organic in nature but resemble metal. Each scale seems to be an individual living organism controlled by Shrapnel's consciousness. Shrapnel can fire scales from his body will great explosive force. In fact, he can blow apart his entire body into individual scaly parts. Traveling with explosive speed, the sharp, hard scales are formidable weapons. Shrapnel can reform his individual parts into his whole humanoid form at will. Sufficient force directed against Shrapnel will cause him to explode into his individual parts, but he can reform within seconds. The individual organisms composing Shrapnel seem to gain sustenance from blood. Those that Shrapnel loses will eventually die, but he can regenerate new ones.
Shrapnel metal body allowed him to survive a blast of heat vision from Superman. (Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths v1 #6)
Notes
- Shrapnel was created by Paul Kupperberg and Erik Larsen where he made his first appearance in Doom Patrol v2 #7 (April, 1988).
In other media
Television
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Shrapnel appeared in the animated television series in the episode "When OMAC Attacks!" where he was voiced by actor Greg Ellis. This version had a different backstory that was modelled on General Kafka who was a villain of OMAC with him accidently being transformed into Shrapnel. In this version, Kafka was a Russian war criminal who claims to have hailed from a poor Russian village that was razed during an unspecified conflict, which doomed the survivors to poverty and famine, and seeks revenge for this. He is unknowingly manipulated by Equinox into fighting OMAC and attempting to cause a meltdown in New York City, during which he is transformed into an organic metal being with the ability to metabolize any form of physical assault used against him to empower himself amidst a lab accident. With Batman's help, OMAC ended the battle by raising his shield and tricking Shrapnel into tiring himself out.
- In Arrow, Mark Scheffer appeared in the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse where he appeared in the episode "Blast Radius" and was portrayed by actor Sean Maher. This version was a human anti-government serial bomber who is part of a terrorist militia group under the alias of Shrapnel. After bombing two government buildings in Starling City, Scheffer targets Sebastian Blood's Unity Rally, but is thwarted and captured by the Arrow. In the episode "Suicide Squad", Scheffer becomes a reluctant member of the titular team. While attempting to abandon them on their first mission, he is killed by Amanda Waller via a nano-bomb implanted in the squad members' heads to keep them in line.
Appearances
- Doom Patrol v2: (1988)
- Adventures of Superman v1:
- Outsiders v3:
- Supergirl v5:
- The Flash v5:
External Links
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