| Lash | |
|---|---|
 Lash as seen inInhuman #1. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Inhuman #1 (June 2014) |
| Created by | Charles Soule Joe Madureira |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Inhuman |
| Team affiliations | Inhumans The Lor Tribe |
| Abilities |
|
Lash is afictionalsupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character is anInhuman. Created by writerCharles Soule and artistJoe Madureira, he first appeared inInhuman #1 (June 2014), and plays a key role after the release of theTerrigen Mists around the globe at the conclusion of the "Infinity" storyline.[1]
Lash appeared in thethird andfifth seasons of theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed byMatt Willig as Lash andBlair Underwood as his human alter-egoAndrew Garner, previously introduced in thesecond season.
Lash was created by writerCharles Soule and artistJoe Madureira, and first appeared inInhuman #1 (June 2014).
According to Charles Soule, the character comes from Orollan, another Inhuman city:
The idea was that that city only has one tiny splinter of Terrigen Crystal, which meant it couldn't do the Terrigenesis ritual that Inhumans go through at maturity to sort of figure out what their powers are going to be. People of Orollan had to be very, very selective about it and could only grant that to people they thought would get good powers. So it was almost more of a religious thing for them, more than it was just a part of Inhuman life.[1]
Soule has said that "He's trying to do what he can to both collect strong Inhumans to help his own society, but also cleanse the planet of Inhumans who should never have received Terrigenesis in the first place",[2] because "the idea is that not everyone on Earth sees all these new Inhumans popping up as a good thing."[3]
He also appears inAll-New Invaders Issues # 14 to recruit more Inhumans.
Born in the hiddenInhuman city of Orollan (which is somewhere inGreenland), Lash was among the few Inhumans of his generation chosen to undergo Terrigenesis. When the Inhuman KingBlack Bolt activated a Terrigen Bomb above New York flooding the world withTerrigen Mist and awakening the powers of Inhuman descendants living among humanity (as seen at the end of the "Infinity" storyline and the start of theInhumanity storyline), Lash embarked on a mission to find all the individuals affected and judge for himself whether they were worthy to live with their new abilities. Upon arriving inIllinois, Lash encountered a newly created Inhuman namedDante Pertuz. He attempted to persuade Dante to join him at Orollan until he was stopped by the Inhuman QueenMedusa.[4]
Recruiting a NuHuman namedJason inMinnesota, Lash teleports them both to Orollan. There, he explains that Jason and his family were descendants of the Inhumans and while his family may have died during Terrigenesis, Jason has survived and will now have a home among his fellow survivors. With their gifts, they can rebuild the city and perform wonders. Lash shows Jason the most sacred space in Orollan—the Terrigenesis chamber. Here, they hoarded the crystals that bestow Terrigenesis that will show the worthy their true form. Lash says Jason must call himself Korvostax now and introduces him to other NuHumans who explain that humans have formed mobs and attacked them in their communities. The other NuHumans in Lash's group blame Medusa. Lash's new recruits are rebuilding a wall despite a near-total lack of prior experience. Jason asks why Lash isn't showing them how to do this, and the others tell him it isn't wise to speak like that—there used to be two more NuHumans in the group. The New Attilan group teleports nearby, looking to capture Lash at the advice ofLineage. Lash tells the others that Queen Medusa means to kill them, and urges them to fight. As the battle develops between the New Attilan group and Lash's group, Jason taps into his powers for the first time and begins throwing rocks atGorgon. Lash absorbs the energy of a volcanic spring to power energy blasts that he fires randomly into the scrum. Jason is saved from death by Gorgon who then stuns Lash with a small earth tremor. Taking hold of Lash, Medusa pins him, then invites Lineage to step forward and tell Lash what he told her. Lineage explains that Black Bolt originally released the Terrigen Cloud because something is coming for the Inhumans and they need everyone to hold it back with as many hidden bloodlines from every nation on Earth united. If they cannot prepare, their species (and maybe humans as well) will become extinct. Medusa gathers the NuHumans and tells Lash that he can either help her, stay away, or face defeat. It is also mentioned that Lash can tell Ennilux and the others from her what has transpired.[5]
During theCivil War II storyline, Lash is told aboutIron Man abductingUlysses Cain from New Attilan byMaximus. He considered what Iron Man did as an act of war against all Inhumans. This led to Lash's group destroying the Stark Manufacturing Facility SZ-4 near Zurich, Switzerland so that they can force Medusa's hand for an attack on Iron Man. This led to Medusa and theUltimates fighting Lash's group until Medusa teleports them to the Triskelion where Lash and his followers are taken into custody.[6]
After escaping from the Triskelion, Lash and his followers learn that Black Bolt is back on Earth and that he is no longer as powerful as before. They take advantage of this and attack Black Bolt. After Lash abducted Blinky and took him to Orollan, Black Bolt surrendered to him as Lash states that he will use Black Bolt's blood to make his own Terrigen bomb to make new Inhumans. Before Lash can go ahead with this plan, he and Jack Chain were killed by Blinky who was possessed by the Jailer.[7]
Lash has various energy conversion abilities:
According to Soule "Let's say someone's running at him — that's kinetic energy. Lash can change all of that into heat — and whoosh! — the other guy goes up in flames."[2]
Lash appears in thethird season ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. portrayed byMatt Willig.[8] Executive producerJed Whedon explains that the show's adaptation of the character is different from the comics, but some elements are inspired from the source material.[9] This version of Lash is depicted as having black skin. Lash first appeared in the episode "Laws of Nature"[10] and the episode "Devils You Know" revealed that he can transform into a human form.[11] The episode "Among Us Hide..." revealed thatAndrew Garner (portrayed byBlair Underwood), a psychologist at Culver University working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and ex-husband of AgentMelinda May (portrayed byMing-Na Wen), is Lash's human form who went throughTerrigenesis while investigating an Inhuman genealogy ledger that was kept byJiaying (portrayed byDichen Lachman).[12] The show explains Lash's ability to return to his human form as his transition phase before he fully becomes an Inhuman.[13] Similar to his comics' version, Lash searches for and kills every unworthy Inhuman without prejudice. Lash even enlisted an Inhuman named Dwight Frye who can react to any nearby Inhumans to help find any worthy and unworthy ones. While he has attempted to kill Lincoln Campbell, Lash's victim included Alisha Whitely's clone, levitating Inhuman Shane Henson, pyrokinetic Inhuman Lori Henson, Dwight Frye after he served his purpose, and an assortment of unnamed Inhumans and Hydra Agents.[11] Garner later surrenders himself to S.H.I.E.L.D. before the transformation becomes permanent and manages to say goodbye to May before completely becoming Lash.[14] After savingDaisy Johnson (portrayed byChloe Bennet) fromHive in Grant Ward's body (portrayed byBrett Dalton) and his "Inhuman Primitives" in the episode "Emancipation," he purged her of Hive's control and killed at least three Inhuman primitives before dying upon being impaled byHellfire's chain. May later mourned his death.[15] In the episode "The Real Deal," a fear manifestation of Lash is among the fear manifestations released when the Kree Beacon exploded near the three monoliths. It was destroyed by Phil Coulson andDeathlok.[16]
Lash is a playable character inMarvel: Future Fight.[17]
Lash is an Inhuman. He is one of those hidden Inhumans, who is not part of the royal family. He did not live on Attilan. He is basically emerging into the light now as a result of the events in Infinity, particularly the release of the Terrigen Cloud. So he lives in a city that we saw inInfinity called Orollan, which was whereThane, son ofThanos, was found. ... The idea was that that city only has one tiny splinter of Terrigen Crystal, which meant it couldn't do the Terrigenesis ritual that Inhumans go through at maturity to sort of figure out what their powers are going to be. People of Orollan had to be very, very selective about it and could only grant that to people they thought would get good powers. So it was almost more of a religious thing for them, more than it was just a part of Inhuman life.
So now that Terrigen Mists are circulating around the world and any Tom, Dick and Harry with Inhuman genetic code can go through Terrigenesis, he finds that to be blasphemy and heretical. So what he is doing is essentially travelling the world and trying to do what he can to stop that heresy and to bring things back in line with how he thinks Terrigenesis should be approached in the world.