FORCES OF NATURE

HISTORY

The original Forces of Nature were assembled by OMEGA and set against the New Enforcers of Justice. This team was made up mainly of metahumans with a pro-environmental philosophy. They were defeated and it was learned that OMEGA had only intended for them to serve as a distraction to keep the Enforcers from interfering in his plan.

The second Forces of Nature were a one-off team assembled by Dust Devil. Seeking to participate in the upcoming Enemy Awards, Dust Devil turned to the Exchange who provided a team of villains which, like the original Forces of Nature, had nature and weather-themed powers.

Captured after facing off against the New Adventurers, the second Forces of Nature were imprisoned in Mercy Island Prison where they were then recruited by the villain Carnage for his scheme of revenge against Superior City.

STORM KING

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Nick Wilson was a storm chaser, a meteorologist who would investigate and report on tornados from close proximity. During one violent storm Nick was caught in a freak electromagnetic phenomenon that may have been some kind of ball lightning or superbolt. Nick survived the encounter and discovered that he had gained metahuman powers as a result. Overwhelmed by his new powers, Nick lost control of them and caused some damage across the Midwest. These actions caused him to be hunted by the authorities and he panicked and fled, causing more damage. Nick was found by OMEGA, who helped him to gain a measure of control over his powers. Outfitted with a costume and a new name, Storm King, a grateful Nick became part of the Forces of Nature and participated in the team's attacks in Superior City.

After the Forces of Nature were defeated by the Enforcers of Justice and incarcerated, Nick came to regret his actions. He became a model prisoner and was granted early parole. After he was paroled Nick went to work for KSCO-TV News in Superior City as their weatherman. The conditions of his parole prevent Nick from using his powers to influence the weather but he is still sensitive to meteorological phenomenon, an ability which makes his weather forecasts uncannily accurate.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The accident gave Nick a number of weather-related powers. As Storm King he can project massive gusts of wind, strong enough to rival a hurricane. He can control his wind gusts in order to lift himself off the ground and fly. Storm King can also project powerful bolts of lightning. With concentration, Nick can exert control over the local weather conditions including raising or lowering the temperature, or causing various forms of precipitation. His control is strong enough that he can cause tornados to appear on a clear and sunny day.

CORAL

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Katy Andrews was a marine biologist in the 1950s. Born in Australia and Oxford-educated, Katy was ahead of her time for environmental activism. She was especially involved in opposition to above-ground nuclear testing in the South Pacific due to the effects on marine life. When she learned the details of an upcoming test at a South Pacific atoll Katy decided to take a more active role in protesting the bomb. With help from other activists she was able to sneak past the US Navy cordon around the bomb site several days in advance of the test and reach the target island. On the day of the test she lit a bonfire on the beach and showed herself to the military observers, intending for her presence there to force them to cancel the test (and for the resultant publicity to draw attention to her cause).

Frustrated by the disruption the head of the test, Dr. Henry Glass, had himself flown over to the island to deal with the problem personally. Katy was able to evade Dr. Glass and prevented him from finding her. Eventually Glass was forced to leave and boarded the plane and flew off back to the control area. Katy was overjoyed that they would now have to cancel the test. That was when the bomb went off.

Katy Andrews was obliterated in the explosion, but was not actually dead. Somehow, through some unusual properties of the radiation given off by the bomb, Katy's consciousness had survived. Her individual atoms and molecules, scattered and transformed by the explosion and radiation, retained a sense of identity and through force of will Katy slowly began to unconsciously reassemble herself.

The process took decades, slowly pulling the nanoscopic components of her body from across the oceans and seas, until finally there was enough of Katy's body reformed for her to regain consciousness. Her body was now mostly water, but she discovered she could transform it into a form resembling her original self. After the shock of what had happened wore off, Katy became enraged. Not only had they dropped the bomb on her, they had killed all the life on the atoll. Discovering that her new water form came with other water-based powers, Katy decided to set off and get revenge for what had been done to her and the other marine life.

Katy's first task was to track down the man she blamed for the bombing, Dr. Henry Glass. Since the bombing, however, Glass had developed powers of his own and had become the super-villain Doctor Radiation. Katy tracked him down to the Central American nation where he was now based out of, but Doctor Radiation had years of experience using his powers and Katy was no match for him.

Surprisingly, Doctor Radiation took pity on Katy and spared her. Pointing out that he had been as much a victim of the detonation as she had (ignoring the fact he was one of the bomb's designers), Doctor Radiation managed to turn Katy's anger towards those who were a greater threat to the ecosystem. While she had been reforming her body, Katy had subconsciously become aware of the growing levels of pollution in the world's oceans, so the prompting from Doctor Radiation was enough to set her on a new path - as an eco-terrorist. Calling herself Coral, Katy now began to attack ships and factories that were dumping pollutants. After a while she also began targeting the corporations and governments behind those polluters.

OMEGA was able to manipulate Coral into becoming a member of the original Forces of Nature and she participated in the team's attack on Superior City. She and the others were defeated, but the authorities did not realize the true nature of Katy's powers and she was able to escape. Realizing she had been duped, Coral abandoned the rest of the Forces of Nature and has since resumed her solo eco-terrorism efforts.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Coral's powers make her ideal for the water. She can move through the water with complete freedom, as smoothly as moving through the air. Though she typically resembles her original body, Coral is still made mostly of water and, if she drops the façade of appearing human she is virtually invisible when under the water. Her control of water extends beyond her own body; Coral can manipulate any source of water, shaping it and moving it in ways that gravity and other forces would usually prevent.

PLANTMASTER

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Forestry professor Douglas Clearwater was conducting research in the Amazon jungle when his team were attacked by mercenaries hired by logging firms who were performing illegal clearcutting. Most of the group were killed, and Douglas was mortally wounded. Douglas' body was dumped into a river and he was left for dead. Douglas' body drifted along the river until he was deposited deep in the jungle. By chance or by fate, Douglas had arrived at the home of the Parliament of Trees, the final destination for Earth's Plant Elementals since the beginning of life on the planet. Seeing the potential in the scientist and ecologist, the Parliament healed Douglas and granted him plant-related powers.

Thus transformed, Douglas emerged from the jungles and, using his new abilities, he took vengeance on the mercenaries and the logging company responsible for the attack on he and his team. Tracking the trail of money behind the loggers, Douglas made his way back to the United States. Calling himself the Plantmaster he began attacking the parent companies that were ultimately behind the attack. He soon expanded his crusade to include any company that was responsible for destruction of forests.

OMEGA approached the Plantmaster and recruited him into the first Forces of Nature. When they were defeated he and the other members of the Forces of Nature were arrested and imprisoned. Plantmaster was at the heart of an extradition fight, as he had committed his crimes across multiple countries across South, Central, and North America. He was broken out of jail by a group of eco-terrorists and was last spotted in Canada, battling against logging efforts in British Columbia.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The Parliament of Trees transformed Douglas into a human-plant hybrid. His skin turned green and his hair took on a mossy texture, and Douglas gained superhuman strength and resilience. As Plantmaster he can also increase his size, growing to a height of up to 30 feet tall; and Douglas can rapidly heal from almost any injury. The Parliament also gave Douglas the power to control all plant life; he can rapidly increase the rate of growth and expansion of plants near him, and can manipulate plants to move on their own, using them to entwine, trap, or impede his opponents.

SCORCHER

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

A scientist working on ways to combat global warming, Enrica Diego was caught in a lab accident that gave her superhuman powers. Enrica had been helping to develop radically advanced thermal control technology when the prototype exploded, bombarding her with the exotic particles the device was based on. Feeling that somehow the accident was a sort of punishment for trying to help the planet, Enrica decided she could use her powers for personal gain.

Calling herself Scorcher, Enrica started offering her services to those who could meet her price, while also taking advantage of her powers to make money on her own. Despite her decision to work purely for herself, Scorcher's jobs tended to be for pro-environmental groups. On her own she would also periodically attack oil drilling and processing facilities, then extort money from the oil companies with the threat of more attacks.

With her mercenary attitude it was easy for OMEGA to recruit Scorcher for the Forces of Nature. Since the team's defeat Scorcher has been in prison, awaiting trial for her multiple crimes.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Scorcher has the ability to manipulate thermal energy. She can raise or lower the temperature in her vicinity, with a preference towards making things very hot, on the order of hundreds of degrees. She herself is immune to the effects of extreme temperatures. Scorcher's control over thermal energy includes the ability to manipulate open flame, shaping the fire to her will. By focusing her control she can emit beams of intense heat, or concentrating massive spikes in temperature to generate spontaneous explosions.

TREMOR

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

As a low-level hood, Reg Travers often found himself doing the dirty jobs no one else in his crew wanted. One time this meant it was Reg who drew the short straw and had to help illegally dispose of some toxic waste. It had been raining for several days prior to the night Reg was to bury the barrels of waste, and the rain was still coming down hard when he set out in the van loaded with the waste. Reg had barely finished digging the hole to dump the waste in when the rains triggered a mudslide. An entire hillside broke loose, slid down, and buried Reg, the van and the barrels of toxic waste.

Somehow Reg had survived the initial deluge, but was buried alive and slowly suffocating. He panicked and began scrambling at the tons of mud covering him. Suddenly he found himself in the open, breathing the fresh air as the rain continued to pour down. He gave little thought to how he managed to survive, simply being glad he did. It was a few days later that Reg discovered that the incident had changed him. When a fight broke out between Reg and a few other members of his crew, not an unusual event, he tossed aside the others with a wave of his hand. Reg went to an old quarry and after some experimenting discovered that he had gained superhuman powers related to the earth.

Seeing his powers as a ticket to the big time, Reg started calling himself Tremor and immediately tried to use his powers to rob a bank. His powers let him tear off the vault door, and he fled with several sacks of money, but was having trouble shaking the pursuing police. OMEGA intervened and helped Tremor escape, and in gratitude Reg agreed to join the first Forces of Nature. After he and the others were defeated by the Enforcers of Justice, Tremor found himself arrested and incarcerated.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The accident that transformed Reg gave him increased strength and a range of earth-centric powers. As Tremor he can move massive volumes of earth, letting him create tunnels or manipulate the earth into rough shapes he can use to strike blows or grapple opponents. He can ride along a wave of moving earth at high speed, like surfing a wave of water. Tremor can also generate shockwaves that he fires from his hands as blasts of kinetic force. Tremor's one weakness is that his powers seem to disappear if he is not physically connected with the ground, either directly or standing on a surface that is in contact with it.

DUST DEVIL

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Giovanni was a low-ranking figure in the Superior City organized crime families when he was chosen by the A.I. OMEGA to be part of the group of villains known as the Forces of Nature. The criminal was given his powers by OMEGA and sent with his teammates to battle the Enforcers of Justice. Defeated, Dust Devil and the others went to prison but he escaped during a prison break organized by the Crime Cartel. He went on the form a second Forces of Nature team that was again defeated.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Dust Devil can move at superhuman speeds, but does so by spinning at high speed. While he is spinning he can travel at high speed, is protected from attacks by a wall of air, can generate powerful gusts of wind, and create vacuums by sucking the air out of an area.

EVERGREEN

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Frederick Argosi was a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who was attempting to reverse engineer some of the biotechnology used by Jason Woodrue, aka the Floronic Man, in an effort to discover radical new medical breakthroughs. When Frederick's project was under threat of being cancelled, he rushed to show results and decided to test his developments on himself. The experiment had an effect, but not what Frederick expected; wracked with pain, his whole body began changing. When the pain finally subsided, Frederick was horrified to discover he had been transformed into some kind of plant-being that looked like a humanoid tree.

Argosi's mind snapped and he went on a rampage, trashing the lab and leaving a swathe of destruction as he fled into a nearby forest. He eventually regained his senses, but realized that with his lab now destroyed there was likely no way for him to reverse what had happened to him. Argosi decided he would take revenge on society, specifically the capitalist mindset that led to the threat to cancel his research. Calling himself Evergreen he began targeting private research firms, claiming that science should be free from the shackles of capitalism.

Needing money, Evergreen reluctantly signed up with the Exchange and his first offer was for the Forces of Nature. He is currently imprisoned awaiting trial.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Evergreen is a human-plant hybrid who looks like a humanoid tree. He has the general shape of a person but with bark-like skin and leaves and smaller branches growing out of different parts of his body. Evergreen can communicate with all plant life, and can control all types of plants, from increasing their rate of growth to making them move around. This includes some of the plant life growing out of himself, and Evergreen often grows out vines that act as extra limbs for himself. He can also use his power over plants on his own hybrid body, which lets him rapidly heal wounds.

DEEP FREEZE

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

A world leading expert in cryogenics, Dr. Simon Grant attempted to develop technology to slow his own aging process. Instead the experimental technology gave him a variety of cold-based powers. Grant's powers have caused him to develop, or perhaps simply enhanced existing tendencies for, sociopathic behavior. He seems singularly focused on continuing his research into cryogenics, but has no concerns for ethics. He commits crimes to fund his scientific endeavors and the press dubbed him Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze's activities brought him to the attention of the Exchange which in turn led to him joining the new Forces of Nature. He is in custody after the team's latest defeat.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Deep Freeze has the ability to generate and control ice. He can form the ice into a variety of useful shapes, including using it to sheathe himself in ice armor. He can fire streams of ice to freeze opponents, or create ice slides for rapid transit.

MONSOON

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Get a few drinks in him and Anthony Price will be glad to tell you how he got his powers. Unfortunately the story seems to be different every time. He was struck by lightning during a storm when he was a child; he was struck by lightning while riding in a hot air balloon that strayed into a rainstorm, he was hit by radiation from an experimental weather controlling machine being used by a super-villain, he was blessed by the rain gods, he is a rain god; Anthony has given all of these as his origin. Whatever the source of his powers, the man who calls himself Monsoon has decided to use those powers to make himself rich, no matter how many laws he has to break in the process.

Monsoon started out In Los Angeles, robbing high-end jewelry stores. He then proceeded to Pacific City, where he barely escaped being captured by the Manhunter when he attempted to rob an armored car. After that he was in Gateway City, where he again had to flee to evade capture, this time from Wonder Woman. Deciding he needed to better plan his jobs he got in contact with the Exchange, who got him his position in the new Forces of Nature. Since the team’s last defeat he is in prison awaiting extradition back to California.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Monsoon is a living storm generator. He can manifest all types of storm phenomena, from dense fog banks to driving sheets of rain as well as powerful winds and cyclones and destructive bolts of lightning.

TUNDRA

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Jason Philips was a demolitions engineer working for a mining company that was strip mining a region in Central America. When the miners came across the ruins of a temple from an unknown Pre-Columbian culture they knew it would put a stop to their work, so the company opted to hide the discovery. Jason was ordered to destroy the temple to erase any evidence of the discovery, and was in the process of setting his demolition charges when he and the men with him were attacked by a stone giant. The giant killed the others and was about to kill him when a desperate Jason threw several of his explosives at his attacker. When Jason triggered the charges the giant was shattered into a thousand pieces, apparently killing it. Before he could recover from the close call, Jason was confronted by a ghostly figure.

Jason could not understand what the ghost was saying, but realized he was in trouble when the figure raised a hand and pointed at him. The ground around Jason surged up, piling around him until he was completely encased in a cocoon of earth. Jason struggled hard as he gasped for breath, and with a burst of strength he didn't know he had he managed to shatter the cocoon. Jason's elation at being free turned to shock when he realized that his skin had turned to stone. When more of the mining company's men arrived the assumed that Jason was the thing that had killed the others and opened fire with their guns. The guns had no effect, and Jason lashed out to defend himself, killing or injury the men. He fled into the jungle before more men could arrive.

Keeping hidden and only traveling by night, disguising his appearance as best he could, Jason made his way back to the United States. Needing money, Jason leveraged some underworld connections to put him in touch with the Exchange. They gave him the name Tundra and began arranging for opportunities to use his new powers to earn some cash. Between jobs Jason started trying to research the mysterious temple where he had been cursed into becoming a stone man. His most recent work has been as part of the new Forces of Nature, and now that he is incarcerated after the team's latest defeat he is making the best by using prison library resources to try and continue his research in the hopes of finding a way to reverse his transformation.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Tundra is physically linked with the Earth. He possesses superhuman strength and resistance, with his skin having a rock-like texture. He can also manipulate the earth, moving and shaping it to his will. As long as he is in contact with the ground Tundra is effectively immovable unless he wants to move and he can draw on the earth to regenerate damage to his body.