Heroes

From humble beginnings, Marcus Adze built success. A brilliant mechanical engineer by his late teens, he started the design firm ARA with his two closest friends. The company took off, soon growing so large that the founders handed control over to a board of directors in order to remain focused on technical work. Adze was their star, an unparalleled inventor on track to revolutionize the energy industry.

Eventually, however, Adze learned that the directors had sold out to Halcyon Security, a secretive private military company. Further investigation revealed that Halcyon had been adapting his tech into advanced weaponry, and conducting illegal experimentation with it on captured superhumans. Adze took his findings to the directors, threatening to reassert control over the company if they didn't extricate themselves from Halcyon.

He had underestimated Halcyon's stake in his work. That night, they sent teams of assassins to kill him and the other founders. The world thought Adze and his friends had died in tragic accidents, and Halcyon quietly completed the assimilation of ARA's tech for their own uses.

Unbeknownst to them, Adze survived. He remained hidden from the world, observing how Halcyon avoided any repercussions for their attack. They were not the only twisted company using ill-gotten technology to enforce their will, thinking themselves untouchable because they had power.

Even as a presumed corpse, Adze, had plenty of money and gear stashed away. He decided to remain dead, and focus solely on a new project. He would destroy the weapons that Halcyon had stolen from ARA. He would strike fear into their soldiers, and every other corrupt organization out there. He would take back the power they thought they had.

2199 promo: A faceless vigilante known as Gargoyle haunted the towering edifices of Highwind City, 2199. In this alternate reality, he had once been a promising engineer in the early 21st century, until an act of corporate sabotage left him near death. He was forced to design an energy absorption suit to stay alive, and became an immortal specter of vengeance, prowling the night for eternity.

Wasteland Ronin promo: As Gargoyle, Adze kept his past a closely-guarded secret. Occasionally, with some reluctance, he worked with others in the fight for justice, but he never took off his mask. One misadventure, involving an attempt to deactivate a dangerous time machine, left Gargoyle and 4 other heroes marooned in the distant future. Even then, as they fought together to find a way back, he kept mostly to himself. But the glimpse of camaraderie did begin to reawaken his memories of his old life, before the world left him for dead, before revenge became his only mission...

Dragon Ranger promo (Halloween 2020): Gargoyle worked hard to ensure that he remained but a shadow: a terrifying story to frighten criminals and supervillains, his reputation known more widely than his mask. Still, not everyone found his legend intimidating. He eventually learned that a Japanese action show had been created using his likeness, where the Dragon Ranger Gargoyle and his Tiamat mecha battled all manor of over-the-top foes. Of course, the real Gargoyle would never admit to finding the show entertaining, or owning any of its merchandise...

Infiltrator promo: As part of his mission to take down the Halcyon Security Corporation, and other corrupt weapons dealers, Adze spent a fair amount of off-duty time doing recon and research as another faceless consumer, his identity and achievements unknown. Social engineering and the occasional picked lock or hacked terminal usually gave him the leads he needed. But sometimes, such work had to be done in costume, with a goal of stealth over terror. So he set to work designing a secondary suit with a lower profile...