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| Master of the World | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Alpha Flight #2 (Sept. 1983) |
| Created by | John Byrne |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Eshu |
| Team affiliations | Omega Flight |
| Notable aliases | Joshua Lord, Forever Man, Master of Time, Master of Life, Phillipe Beaulieu |
| Abilities | Genius-level intellect Repressed aging Battlesuit contains advanced technology and weapons Superhuman speed, reflexes, stamina, strength, agility and durability |
Master of the World (real nameEshu) is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. He is a recurring villain of thesuperhero teamAlpha Flight.[1]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2016) |
Master of the World first appeared inAlpha Flight #2 and was created byJohn Byrne.[2]
Forty thousand years ago, acaveman warrior named Eshu was cast out of his tribe in what is now northern Asia after he killed another caveman against his tribe's laws. He wanders the Earth and is soonpsionically called to the beacon of analienship.
The ship was owned by thePlodex race. After it crashed on theNorth Pole, it sent out a message, to seek out the dominant life form onEarth. After an exhausting journey, the hunter Eshu finds the ship and is captured upon entering it. For thousands of years Eshu wasexperimented on by the Plodex ship. The experiments were excruciating. He was dissected and reassembled, just to be dissected again. His intelligence increased over the years until his mind and body were developed to the peak of perfection. After some time he learned to tap into the ship's systems with his mind, which eventually enables him to take them all over. He finds he is actually unable to leave the ship. He sends out a signal to a member of the Plodex race calledMarrina. She responds and brings the superhero team Alpha Flight with her to his starship base in the Arctic. By this time, Eshu is calling himself The Master of the World. He took Marrina captive, and revealed his origin. He was confronted byNamor the Sub-Mariner and theInvisible Woman, and his starship exploded during the confrontation with Alpha Flight. His plans succeed and the Master is able to escape the ship by submarine.[3]
He was no longer bound to the alien ship and sought to be a conqueror, but in order to execute his plans for world domination, he would still need the ship'stechnology. Using his knowledge of the alien technologies, he gains control of Marrina and her Plodex Mate. The Master caused Marrina to revert to savagery, and captured Namor and Alpha Flight'sPuck. The Master plotted to destroy theAtlanteans. His helmet was torn from his head by Puck, severely injuring him; the upper half of his head was severely scarred due to Puck's forcible removal of his helmet, which had been physically joined to his flesh. The Master's submarine exploded, thwarting his plans to dominate the world.[4]
It turned out that he escaped, and in order to preserve his body, entered a state ofsuspended animation. He was revived from that state byLlan the Sorcerer.[5] With the help ofenzymes from the corpse ofScramble, the Mixed Up Man, the resulting mutagenic fluid rebuilds his body to a perfect human specimen.[6] His next plan was to take over theCanadian government with the alias Joshua Lord, because of thechaos that was triggered by the Super Power Registration Act. During that time The Master reformsOmega Flight to stop Alpha Flight from getting in his way. The Master findsJames MacDonald Hudson entrapped in some sort of dimensional limbo. He returns him from the dead as The Antiguard, in order for The Guardian to kill Alpha Flight and his wife. However, The Guardian, with the help of his wife Heather Hudson, managed to break out of the Master's mental control. The Master seemingly kills himself to avoid prison.[7]
He returns, to cross paths withHeroes for Hire and the mercenary team headed bySilver Sable. One of his goals was to killIron Fist. This is because the mystical land ofK'un-L'un, which manifests where Iron Fist is, poses a threat to his plans. He again apparently kills himself,[volume & issue needed] but his death was proven false again.
He appears during the "Kang Dynasty" storyline, where Marrina is glimpsed inside a stasis tube in his laboratory. His alien technology is used in an attempt to protect the cities of the world, but this does not stop Earth from being conquered.[8] The Master seemingly dies again, at the hands ofWarbird, when she kills him so that theAvengers can use his weapons to help attackKang the Conqueror's forces.[9] Although Warbird requested that she be tried for the Master's death after Kang has been defeated, a tribunal headed byCaptain America concluded that there would be no punishment, as Warbird was acting as a soldier during a time of war as well as an Avenger, and had simply taken the only available course of action at a time when timing was critical and no alternatives were available, as Earth needed the Master's technology to oppose Kang.[10]
During the "Fear Itself" storyline, it was revealed that Master of the World was behind the motives of the Unity Party which targeted Alpha Flight. When Alpha Flight had escaped fromDepartment H, he used his powers to have Vindicator and Department H assemble Alpha Strike (consisting ofPersuasion, Ranark, aWendigo, and a brainwashedCitadel) to spread the "Unity" program and take down Alpha Flight. He even introduces himself to a kidnapped Kyle Jinadu.[11] At the end of theAlpha Flight 2011 series, he is killed once again in a final battle with Alpha Flight.[12]
During the "Civil War II" storyline, Master of the World resurfaces and assumes the alias of Phillipe Beaulieu, working for the Board of Governors for the Alpha Flight Space Program representing Canada. Master of the World plans to corrupt the evidence in order to isolate Captain Marvel and gain control of the justice system.[13] When it is discovered that Aurora was framed and Captain Marvel confronts Phillipe Beaulieu, he sheds his disguise. Empowering himself withThundersword's sword, Master of the World battles Captain Marvel until Thundersword appears and reclaims his sword.[14]
The Master of the World is approximately 40,000 years old. After he was experimented on by the Plodex ship, he underwent the reconstruction of his entire body (except for his brain) by Plodex technology, granting him superhuman powers. The master has theagility beyond that of a normal human, which he gained after he altered his body. He has enhancedreflexes, that were fast enough to sliceWarbird with a sword. His speed can reach 61–65 mph (105 km/h). Hisstamina is so high that he can sustain peak physical exertion for several hours before fatigue impairs performance. Also, his strength is enhanced, and he was able to breakSasquatch's arm by, after dodging Sasquatch's attack, grabbing it with both hands and breaking it. He is also a master of hand-to-hand combat, as he learned the techniques 40,000 years ago, retaining his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat from his days as a tribal warrior. He knows all human pressure points, which was shown when he knocked out Namor the Sub-Mariner with a single punch. The Master is virtually immortal, having lived for forty thousand years; although not invulnerable, he ages at a very slow rate. The Master was once mentally integrated with his Plodex starship base, so that he was physically unable to leave it until it was destroyed in a conflict with Alpha Flight. He then underwent further reconstruction of his entire body by a mutagenic fluid concocted from the remains of Scramble the Mixed-Up Man.
His suit also has many benefits, allowing himteleportation and flight. His helmet and battlesuit are composed of an unknown metal, including cyberneticmesh enabling the Master to control Plodex technology through mental commands. Devices within the Master’s helmet and battlesuit enable him to castillusions disguising his appearance. He is able to create aforce field that can ward off attacks. Also, he is able to shoot energy blasts with his suit, and it enables him to disperse electromagnetism, which was shown when he was able to control Guardian I's suit. The Master designed this battlesuit using his knowledge of Plodex technology. He is self-educated in all recorded knowledge of Earth humanity up to the present, and of the alien Plodex (as of forty thousand years ago) through mental linkage with computers in the starship base. He has utilized various skycraft and underwater craft.
