Backlash (Wildstorm)

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Backlash

Backlash #1 1994. Art by Brett Booth and Sal Regla .

Publisher	Wildstorm Comics
First appearance	StormWatch (Volume 1) #3 (1993)
Created by	Jim Lee Brett Booth

Characteristics
Alter ego	Marc Slayton
Affiliations	I.O., Team One Team Zero Team 7 StormWatch Wildcore Department PSI
Notable aliases	Alex
Abilities	generating psionic whips turning into mist immortality superhuman agility

Backlash is the name of a fictional character from the Wildstorm universe that first appeared in StormWatch #3 in 1993 and was featured in his own comic book series until 1997.

[edit] History

Marc Slayton was born in Atlantis, the son of a human mother and Lord S'lyton, an enhanced Kherubim lord of the alien colony Atlantis. When his father sacrificed his life to imprison one time allies the D'rahn, a race of hostile aliens whose attack led to the sinking of Atlantis, young Marc was spirited away by Ferrian, his father's former advisor. Ferrian raised the child to adulthood, tutoring him in fighting skills for his protection. Once Marc was old enough to look after himself Ferrian dropped out of sight and left him to fend for himself.

Marc spent the next three thousand years travelling around the world, living a life of adventure. He has only fragmented memories of his long life. At one point he was a ninja, at another he was a medieval knight. In World War II, he was recruited for a mission to be led by that era's Deathblow as an intelligence specialist. No rank is seen until the 1960s as an Air Force Colonel, working as part of the extra-terrestrial threats squad Team One. Later, using the codename Backlash, he joined Team 7, a special ops unit which was deliberately exposed to a mutagenic chemical called the Gen-Factor. All of the members developed superhuman powers - in Marc's case some of these were the result of his alien heritage being fully activated. Team 7 finished their final mission and then went AWOL, but Marc made a deal with their bosses, brokering his (and John Lynch and Michael Cray's) services in return for the rest of the squad and their families being left alone.

Backlash was assigned to join and spy on StormWatch, the U.N.'s Crisis Intervention superteam. He worked as the group's field leader and instructor until he lost several members of the first team (later dubbed Stormwatch Prime) during a mission in Kuwait, after which he switched to being the full time instructor. When a Daemonite called S'Yrn put Marc's girlfriend, Major Diane LaSalle into a coma, he deserted StormWatch to track her down, breaking a Cabal agent, Taboo, out of prison to help him on his quest. While he eventually caught his prey and revived Diane, he and Taboo had become lovers, and both had become fugitives.

Subsequent to this, Marc discovered he had fathered twin children by an old girlfriend from Japan, when one of them, Jodi, tracked him down when her mother died. Like her father, Jodi's alien genes gave her superhuman powers, and she took the identity of Crimson so she could adventure with him. Backlash and Taboo arranged a pardon for their crimes in return for working for America's Department of Paranormal Science Investigations (PSI). It was around this point Marc finally learned of his Kherubim ancestry - for reasons best known to himself, Ferrian had never told Marc. Marc was placed in charge of forming a team of superpowered operatives for them, codenamed Wildcore.

He worked with this new team until most of them were killed trying to stop a breakout at the Purgatory Max facility. Marc survived thanks to the assistance of former DV8 member Evo who had been imprisoned for the murder of an NYPD officer. Marc lost a leg, which has yet to heal (if it ever will). He has returned to active duty, his missing limb replaced with a bionic one for the time being. According to his daughter, Marc has given up the name "Backlash"; seeking, as she put it, to keep it in the family, Jodi has taken it up.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Thanks to his Kherubim genes, Marc is virtually immortal and has accrued three thousand years of combat experience. He is an expert martial artist and trained in the use of most weapons. His agility is superhuman. Exposure to the Gen-Factor released several latent powers, including the ability to generate psychic energy whips out the backs of his hands. He can use these whips for various purposes; in combat he uses them to constrict his opponents, shocking them with the energy running through the whips or to cut through objects. He can use the energy whips as grappling hooks. He can also transform his body and clothes into mist - as well as being useful for infiltration and defense, this also allows him to swiftly heal most injuries, which tend to vanish after transforming to mist and back. While he could at first use this ability at will, when the Gen-Factor was flushed from his system, his ability to use this power was restricted to only once or twice a day. However, his energy whips had doubled in power as a result. When first exposed to the Gen-Factor, Marc had extensive psionic powers including telepathy and telekinesis, but these powers waned over the years and even completely disappeared together with the Gen-Factor removed from his system.