Sam's follow up thingy

I couldn't resist.
Deadpool

Deadpool, the "Merc with a Mouth" Pretty much the same powers as Wolverine (See Aled's Post, only a little faster and sans the Admantium skeleton. He does make up for the lack of claws with a huge arsenal of weapons.
Another upside to Deadpool is the comedy. Unlike the dark stories of Wolverine and Hulk, Deadpool's tales set out to make you get the giggles.
Pour Example,

Anyhoo, the product of Weapon X (Responsible for Wolverine, Sabretooth etc.) he recieved his healing powers from DNA meddling, based on wolverine's powers.
There's a couple of Marvel characters with the "Healing factor", notably Sabretooth, Maverick, Omega Red, Kestral and Silver Fox, most of which were in Team X (Weapon X's Black Ops Team, Led by Wolverine. Even Professor X and Iron Man have Healing Factors now.
Well, thats all i can be bothered to write. If you want to know more, just wait till the Wolverine movie. Pretty much all of the above are in it.
(Note, these are NOT from the Ultimate Universe. I cannot be bothered and it would complicate things if i went through each of the above's counterparts. That's what Wiki is for)
PS. Wolverine's Origin has been revealed. It's in a graphic novel cleverly named "Wolverine : Origin"

Power Trip 5 - Rapid Cellular Regeneration

One of the key Heroes in the show is Claire Bennet. From early on in season one her magnificent and gross stunts made her popular as well as the catchphrase "save the cheerleader, save the world" which became synonymous with the show. Even after she was saved she is still a key character and her relationship with her "normal" family and the friends around her have been of much interest. But Claire's ability, while a protection, also makes her a target for those who want to possess such a great gift.

Claire's ability is rapid cellular regeneration, that is the ability to rapidly regrow and repair any part of her body when injured. This extraordinary gift means she can survive even the most grievous injury. She has been seen surviving falls, burns, bone breakages and even a car crash. Claire has had some of the most gripping scenes in the show, such as when she wakes up with her chest cut open for surgery, recovers from a nuclear fire or in series 2 when she successfully cuts off and regrows her toe. She has pushed her ability to the limits, and yet she may be capable of much more...


















Part of the genius of series 2 was to introduce some character who had the same abilities as others as well as new powers. This gave the series a more grounded feel, like it wasn't just a crazy diversifying bunch of wild traits, but that there was some kind of regularity to the so called "evolution" of humanity. The introduction of Adam Monroe, alias Takezo Kensei, ads a new dimension to the ability. He is centuries old, meaning that 'powers' aren't necessarily a new phase in humanity and also that his ability (and quite possibly Claire's) means that he doesn't age and can live healthily for a long time. Another development showed that his and Claire's blood could be used to heal the injuries of others, which has much potential for the future. But then Adam carried out his cliched plan to end the world and got himself locked in a box forever (which totally doesn't work - he'd just suffocate, you can't "regenerate" air!!!) and Claire has recovered her father, but at a price.

Well let's have a look at where this power comes from. It almost undoubtedly has it's roots in nature where animals such as certain lizards, starfish and other creatures are able to regrow limbs when needed. However the creatures are usually limited to limb regrowth and don't have the complete death defying self-repair ability that most regenerators in comics do. While mythological character may have been able to access healing, it has always been through some form of magic, and often with a cost. Creatures such as the hydra has rapis regenearation, probably inspired by the aforementioned creatures.

I like to quickly make a bible reference here, but off the top of my head I can't think of anyone who healed themselves, there are certainly many healings, but they all come from God, demonstrating that we cannot fix our own sickness, the great sickness of sin, but we need to rely on God for he alone can heal us. The only character who definitely could have healed himself, Jesus, was the one person who actively chose to suffer as one of us, identifying with the human race in all it's aspects. And when the ultimate suffering came on the cross, even though he sweat blood with fear at the prospect, he still chose to face it to save undeserving sinners. There's been a lot of talk about the maturity and development of heroes recenlty - if you want to find the ultimate hero you need look no further than the heroic sacrifice on the cross. This is something I want to develop more, but I'll leave it for now and move on to popular fiction.
















The power of regeneration or self healing is by no means new, though it is explored well in the show. There are a number of character whop posess the same ability to come back healed from the most dangerous as it is quite a useful gift when fighting other superpowered enemies. The most popular and dynamic of these is undoubtedly Wolverine a popularity renforced by dramatic demonstrations of his abilities in the X-Men movie trilogy. Wolverine's longevity and origins are also a mystery and his metallic claws (only convievable with a healer) make him an iconic figure. Wolverine was part of a Weapon X program which features other healer such as Sabretooth, Deadpool and Lady Deathstrike. There are also characters who can heal in adition to other powers such as the Hulk. I trust Sam to bring more of these to light - I know he's a Deadpool fan so surely he can't resist!

So there's a rooted tradition behind Claire's ability, coming from nature, comic books and a desire to be invincible hidden within us all. We know how fragile the human body is how potentially weak it can be and how the slightest accident can cause injury or death to any one of us. Is it any wondee then that we create characters who can bounce back from all this and fight another day, is it any wonder we want to be like these heroes?

SF at the Movies - September 08

Well let's see what September has in store for us eh? Oh also apologies for missing out Babylon A.D. last month, it's still out, but I'm undecided as to whether to go and see it. Anyway, moving on to September, what's out then...

And basically nothing is the answer! September seems to be a surprisingly slow month movie wise, especially in the Science Fiction department, about the only thing I could find was slightly dystopian "Death Race" where convicts have to race armoured cars to gain the prize of freedom - basically Running Man with cars by the looks of it - haven't seen the trailer, not sure if I will.

Well that was rubbish, I'll have to think of something else to say now!

Star Wars Legacy #25-26: Updates and Review

Star Wars Legacy 25-26 (The Hidden Temple)

It's been a while, but I'll bring you briefly back to the world of Legacy where in this two-parter Cade Skywalker takes a trip to the ultra secret Hidden Temple of the Jedi. Cadw wants the help of the Jedi so that he can stop running from Krayt and the Empire, but when he arrives he naturally finds more than he bargained for.

The Sith don't really feature in these issues so I'll move on to the Jedi, naturally there are a stack of new Jedi what with it being a Jedi temple and all so I'll update that in a follow-on post soon, but for now I'll just update the Jedi already featured in the series.

Jedi Updates

K'kruhk

Severely injured in Darth Stryfe's decimation of the Jedi temple he was nonetheless able to keep his friends alive. In need of healing he revealed the location of the hidden temple to his companions. Still recovering from his injuries, the Whiphid had been appointed to the temporary Jedi Council at the temple when Cade arrived.

Shado Vao and Wolf Sazen

These two travelled with master K'kruhk to the hidden temple after the Ossus temple was destroyed. Both were glad to see Cade, but were troubled by his plan to assassinate Krayt - Shado confronted Cade, intending to show him his own darkness, but Cade refused to be goaded.

Nat Skywalker

Nat agreed to take Cade to the temple and was welcomed by the Jedi council despite having left the order many years previous. He discussed Cade's plan with the Jedi, reluctantly accepting that his drastic plan might be right.

Imperial Knight Updates

Marasiah Fel and Company

Sia, Antares and Ganner act together in this one so I may as well update their story in one go - actually, these updates might be getting old, I'll have to think about it. Sia and her crew tail Cade's ship to the hidden temple and land near them in their cloaked shuttle. This displeased Cade who along with Shado, attacked the Knights for their intrusion until the Masters arrived and halted the dispute. They then proposed an alliance between the Jedi and the Imperial Knights, which had a mixed reception

Azlyn Rae

She succesfully led the Imperial Knight team to the base, earning the respect of her fellow Knights, but angering Cade and concerning the Jedi, who wanted to reconsider joining the order. She questioned this, but Marasiah mentioned that the only Knight to leave the Imperial order died shortly after.

Well that's most of the story, Cade and co get to the hidden temple, a collection of old starships embedded in a swamp hidden in an asteroid. The Imperial Knights follow, but are cautiously welcomed by the Jedi council. Cade then brings up his plan to assassinate Lord Krayt, which disturbs the council, but intrigues others. Jariah Syn, cade's crewmate sees the Jedi who killed his father and confronts him, but is defeated and forced to see the truth about his father, that he was a criminal with no honour who killed and pillaged for fun. The council eventually decided not to pursue Cade's path, but the Imperial Knights agreed and Antares, Ganner and Azlyn joined Cade's crew, along with Shado to go and cut off the head of the Sith.

I think I'm gonna have to rethink how I do these, with more categories being added the "updates take up most of the space now, I might just leave it for new characters or if one of them dies or something. We'll see - I'll update the new Jedi from the temple soon.