Once a dying man, Thomas Fleck made an ultimately horrific decision when he entrusted S.K.U.L.L. to help cure him of a terminal illness. Transformed into a living weapon, Thomas lost his mind and ravaged the City of Wolfeboro while trying to come to terms with his newfound powers.

Alias: Thomas Fleck

Abilities: Increased healing, resilience, and speed; can release vast amounts of energy in the form of electromagnetic pulses, electric bolts, and laser-vision.

Affiliations: S.K.U.L.L. (formerly); The Peacemakers (non-officially)

Background

Thomas Fleck was diagnoses with a degenerative heart disease and given eight months to live. Desperate, he visited every doctor and naturopath he could, hoping to find a cure. Unsuccessful, he was contacted by Bluebird Pharmaceuticals, a startup organization acting as a front for the radical S.K.U.L.L. organization. Thomas signed up for experimentation–a project codenamed Apocalypse–and was put under anesthesia for the surgery.

Thomas woke up mid-surgery with no memory of who he was or why he was there. Now with cybernetic enhancements and and drugs coursing through his body, Thomas panicked and fled the laboratory, eventually crashing out into downtown Wolfeboro. Unable to make sense of the world around him, Thomas became increasingly erratic, causing increasing damage along the way.

The Wolf-Pack and A.R.C.H.E.R.S. Association were first responders to Thomas’s rampage. Attempts to calm him failed, and Archer eventually gave the kill order. Unable to kill him by traditional or superhuman means, several other individuals including Xero Squadron’s Visionary, Redclaw, and the Stalker all made vain efforts to subdue Thomas. The ensuing chaos would come to be called the Apocalypse of Wolfeboro.

As news of the battle spread, a woman named Dayna Shepard–Thomas’s fiancée–reached out to local authorities and the A.R.C.H.E.R.S. Association. Agent Anya Sylva made the decision to bring Dayna into the battlefield in an attempt to subdue Thomas through emotional recognition. The gamble paid off, and Thomas relaxed enough for the heroes to sedate him.

Transported to the Serpent facility, A.R.C.H.E.R.S. ran multiple tests on Thomas during his stay but couldn’t find a way to reverse his changes. The government opted to transport Fleck to secure holding facility Area 281-01 in the remote wilderness of Colorado–a move which Archer vehemently opposed. While en route to Area 281, a newly augmented Dayna Shepard (who’d gone to S.K.U.L.L. for enhancements under the Eclypse program) attacked Thomas’s carrier, trying to free her fiancée. She succeeded, and brought Thomas into the wilderness of the Midwest where they lied low for several months.

Thomas, after clearing his mind and regaining his memory, would later return with Dayna to the northeast to help combat Abaddon, a S.K.U.L.L. super soldier built under the Apocalypse project. Alongside the Peacemakers and A.R.C.H.E.R.S. Association, Thomas helped stop the threat, earning his judicial pardon in the process.

Thomas would later turn down an offer from Wolf-Man to join the Peacemakers, opting instead for a humbler life with Dayna. Unlike his fiancée, Thomas’s enhancements could never be reversed, but they did keep him alive for many more years as he started a family and reintegrated into society. While horrific, Thomas’s actions are what led the government to withdraw sanctions on superhero activity, permitting the Peacemakers and other independent heroes to step up and fight against general and organized crime.

Related Pages: The Apocalypse of Wolfeboro / Wolf-Man / Archer / A.R.C.H.E.R.S. Association / S.K.U.L.L. / Wolfeboro / Eclypse