Gorgon (Tomi Shishido)

For the Inhuman, see Gorgon.

The Gorgon (Tomi Shishido) is a character in Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The Gorgon first appeared in Wolverine (vol.3) #20, and was created by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The character was killed in Wolverine (vol.3) #31, only to be resurrected later in Secret Warriors #2.

Fictional character biography

The Gorgon's real name is Tomi Shishido. He is a member of the Hand and Hydra and a powerful mutant, leading the extremist mutant society Dawn of the White Light. As a child, he possessed near superhuman levels of intelligence. He said his first words at two weeks of age, could walk at three months, and was able to read and write by his first birthday. He became an accomplished painter by age four, among the top artists in all of Japan; and composed an opera at age six. This is also the age when he attempted a second suicide.

At age 13, he formulated a mathematical formula that proves the existence of One-Above-All and manifested the mutant ability to turn people to stone just by looking at them. The media dubbed him "The Gorgon", after the Gorgon of Greek mythology. Shortly after, he became the leader of a mutant death-cult called the Dawn of the White Light, which committed terrorist attacks throughout Japan. By age 18, he sought out the Hand. Before leaving his home, he killed his entire family and his only friend to prove that he was ruthless enough to join the terrorist organization.

After finding the Hand sanctuary and slaying all of its guards while blindfolded, the Gorgon went inside and pledged his allegiance to the Hand's Jonin. When the master questioned his dedication, the Gorgon impaled himself with his own sword, fatally injuring himself, and told the master to resurrect him. The Jonin were impressed and brought him into the fold.

Later, the Gorgon became connected to Hydra and formed a relationship with Elsbeth Von Strucker, the wife of Hydra leader Baron Strucker. He was responsible for the capture and brain washing of Wolverine. Although Wolverine was eventually freed from their control, he managed to infiltrate the Baxter Building and steal technological blueprints from Reed Richards that were very useful to Hydra. Wolverine, under the brain washing, committed a number of terrorist attacks resulting in the deaths of numerous costumed heroes and hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before he was finally caught during an assault on the X-Mansion and subsequently deprogrammed.

Eventually, the Gorgon attempted to assassinate Nick Fury after S.H.I.E.L.D. launched an attack which destroyed his safe-house and killed Elsbeth Von Strucker in the process. He was intercepted by Wolverine before he could complete the objective. The two engaged in a brutal battle, inflicting devastating injuries upon one another. The Gorgon managed to gain the upper hand and attempted to use his mutant ability to transform Wolverine into stone; Wolverine extruded his claws at the last moment, forcing the Gorgon to see his own reflection in them. As a result, the Gorgon's power was reflected back upon him. Once the Gorgon had been turned into stone, Wolverine shattered his body.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Hydra forced The Hand to resurrect the Gorgon using the rock fragments of his body. He is also given the sword Godkiller.

The Godkiller is destroyed in a battle against Phobos, who wields Grasscutter. Gorgon uses the broken blade to slay Phobos with a mortal chest stab and takes Grasscutter as his own, citing "a red sword for a red lord".

Following the Fear Itself storyline, Gorgon joins up with H.A.M.M.E.R. after Norman Osborn reclaims leadership upon escaping from the Raft. Gorgon ends up becoming a member of the second incarnation of the Dark Avengers as the new Dark Wolverine. He and Madame Hydra secretly plan that once Norman Osborn proves to be too dangerous to lead the Dark Avengers, they will kill him and use the Dark Avengers to cause discord by serving as a voice of the "disenfranchised" unsatisfied with the status quo. Although he is generally a suitable "Dark Wolverine" due to his skills and healing powers, Gorgon lacks the real Wolverine's claws instead relying on fake claws that are a part of his costume. Gorgon and the other members of the Dark Avengers are defeated when their teammate Skaar reveals himself as the Avengers' double-agent and summons both Avengers teams to defeat the Dark Avengers.

Powers and abilities

The Gorgon possesses a variety of superhuman abilities as a result of genetic mutation and mystical enhancement from the Hand and Hydra.

The Gorgon's primary mutant ability is the ability to transform an individual to stone by making eye contact with them. Gorgon's eyes have no visible pupils and glow with a bright green energy. The Gorgon always wears a pair of dark sunglasses in order to see without affecting those around him. Whether the sunglasses possess any sort of special properties or are composed of some special material designed to block his power has not been revealed.

He was also born with, or soon achieved, extraordinary level of intelligence, possibly at a superhuman level, and psionic abilities.

After his resurrection, the Gorgon's strength, speed, reflexes/reactions, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance are all heightened to superhuman levels, the exact limits of which are unrevealed. The Gorgon also possesses an accelerated healing factor that enables him to repair damaged or destroyed tissue with extraordinary speed and efficiency. He is capable of healing from massive trauma inflicted by Wolverine's adamantium claws, bludgeoning, and falling from great heights while continuing to fight.

Aside from his physical advantages, the Gorgon possesses some level of telepathy/empathy allowing him to hear the thoughts and feel the emotions of others. Much like his physical capabilities, the exact limits of the Gorgon's psionic powers remain unknown.

The Gorgon is an extraordinary hand to hand combatant, even before his resurrection, trained in multiple forms of martial arts. He is an expert swordsman and typically prefers to use a katana during combat. Also, he typically uses his psionic abilities to read the minds of his opponents during combat situations (even highly trained minds like Wolverine's and Elektra's), enabling him to predict and counter their every move. He has used swords and a personal teleportation device. He currently wields Godkiller, a sword that has killed many kings, emperors, and also made a god bleed.

The Gorgon is extraordinarily intelligent and possesses advanced knowledge in multiple academic and artistic fields. This intellect makes him extremely arrogant when dealing with non-mutants, to the point that Gorgon dismisses Mister Fantastic as simply the equivalent of a parrot that can mimic a human voice after Hydra raided the Baxter Building to steal some of his plans, despite the fact that Gorgon was actually impressed by Richards' ideas on the plans, simply because Richards isn't a mutant.

In other media

Television

Gorgon is referenced in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Widow's Sting". He was mentioned to be the head of the Yashida Clan. Madame Hydra mentions to Baron Strucker that Gorgon and the Yashida Clan have pledged their allegiance to Hydra.

Gorgon (Tomi Shishido)

Saturday, May 9, 2015