Frankenstein

Current Events

With the 2011 reboot of the DC Universe into the New 52, Frankenstein was chosen as the leader of S.H.A.D.E.'s special operations team, the Creature Commandos. Following the successfully quelled revolt of the Humanids, it was revealed that the child of Frankenstein and his wife is still alive, despite being shot dead back in 1959 by Frank himself. He escaped the Zoo with Nina Mazursky's children, the original Creature Commandos, but while they've decided to pay a visit to their mother, Frank's son forced one of the Psychics teleport him somewhere in Europe where he wreaked a great havoc making his way to Castle Frankenstein - the birth place of his parents. The two of them tracked him down, but the abomination begged for death. Frank, remembering the first time doing this, felt remorse over killing his own child, but, unexpectedly, his wife did it herself. Upon the completion of the act she confronted the remainder of her team and Father Time and informed him that she was quitting the team effective immediately, leaving Frank with the team as his only family.

Origin

Frankenstein grew up in a loving and gentle Swiss family with especially close ties to his adopted cousin, Elizabeth, and his friend Henry Clerval. As a young boy, Frankenstein becomes obsessed with studying outdated theories about what gives humans life. In college at Ingolstadt, he creates what he considers a paragon of humanity from scavenged body parts, but upon bringing it to life, realizes the creature is hideous. Disgusted by and fearful of the monster's appearance, Frankenstein flees.

Henry Clerval comes to Ingolstadt to study with Frankenstein, but ends up nursing him after his exhausting and secretive efforts to create a human life. While Frankenstein recovers from his illness over many months and then studies languages with Clerval at the college, the monster wanders around looking for friendship. After several harsh encounters with humans, the monster becomes afraid of them and spends a year time living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there.

Through these observations he becomes educated and self-aware and realizes that he is very different in physical appearance from the humans he watches. In loneliness, the monster seeks the friendship of this family, but they are afraid of him, and this rejection makes him seek vengeance against his creator. He travels to Geneva and meets a little boy in the woods. In the vain hope that because the boy is still young and potentially unaffected by older humans' perception of his hideousness, the monster hopes to kidnap him and keep him as a companion, but the boy reveals himself as Frankenstein's younger brother, so the monster kills him in his first act of vengeance against his creator. The monster plants a necklace he removes from the child's body on a girl, who is later executed for the crime.

He then seeks out his creator, hoping to find someone who will understand him. The monster delves into an exhaustive narrative of his short life, beginning with his creation, which fashions an impression of him as an initially harmless innocent whom humans abused into wretchedness. He concludes his story with a demand that Frankenstein must create for him a female counterpart, reasoning that no human will accept his existence and character due to his hideous outer appearance. He argues that as a living thing, he has a right to happiness and that Frankenstein, as his creator, has the duty to facilitate it.

Frankenstein, fearing for his family, reluctantly agrees and travels to England to do his work. Clerval accompanies Frankenstein, but they separate in Scotland. In the process of creating a second being, Frankenstein becomes plagued by the notion of the carnage another monster could wreak and destroys the unfinished project. The monster vows revenge on Frankenstein's upcoming wedding night. Before Frankenstein returns home, the monster murders Clerval.

Once home, Frankenstein marries his cousin Elizabeth and, in full knowledge of and belief in the monster's threat, prepares for his death. Instead, the monster kills Elizabeth; the grief of her death killed Frankenstein's father. After that, Frankenstein vowed to pursue the monster until one destroyed the other. Over months of pursuit, the two end up near in the Arctic Circle near the North Pole. Here, Frankenstein's narrative ends and Captain Walton assumes the telling of the story again.

A few days after Frankenstein finishes his story, Walton and his crew decide to turn back and go home. Before they leave, Frankenstein dies and the monster appears in his room. Walton hears the monster's sorrowful justification for his vengeance as well as expressions of remorse before he leaves the ship and travels toward the Pole to destroy himself so that none would ever know of his existence.

Frankenstein's Creature was assumed dead in Europe when he sank beneath the ice. However, he survived and swam to America, having 'many adventures'. In 1870, he fought Melmoth, the Ringmaster of the Circus of Maggots, and stopped him from destroying a town with maggot-hominids. Exhausted, he sank into the ground.

Creation

Frankenstein was created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke. Originally created by Mary Shelley.

Character Evolution

Post-Infinite Crisis / New Earth

In 2005, a high school student, referred to as Uglyhead by all the other children, acquires telepathic abilities, which he uses to torment his peers. At the senior prom, the now-docile students are killed by the Sheeda maggot-hominids. This causes the return of Frankenstein who makes short work of the maggots and the boy before burning down the school to cover the bodies. Afterwards, Frankenstein makes his way to Mars through an Erdel Gate, where he confronts Melmoth once again. Frankenstein frees the children Melmoth has enslaved to work in his gold mines and feeds Melmoth to the flesh-eating, praying mantis-like horses of Mars. Yet before he is consumed, Melmoth reveals that it was not lightning that brought the monster to life, but several drops of his own immortal blood, sold to Frankenstein's creator, that still course through Frankenstein's veins.

Post-Flashpoint / Earth 0

In the New 52, Frankenstein is an agent of S.H.A.D.E. and the leader of Creature Commandos. He and his team answer to Father Time, and take on any weird, supernatural threat that comes Earth's way.

Rebirth

Super Monster

Frankenstein's debut during the Rebirth era is in the story arc Super Monster. It appears that both Frankenstein and his bride are after the Kroog. Due to Frank and Lady Frankenstein's feud, Kroog can take advantage of this situation by executing his escape plan. Nevertheless, Frankenstein, his bride and Superman eventually find him. Once they have tracked down Kroog, they let Lady Frankenstein handle the rest. Frankenstein wants to start a new chapter with Lady Frankenstein, showing her a ring as a start. Lady Frankenstein rejects the offer and doesn't want to be his wife. Superman wants to cheer him up, but doesn't really know what to say. Frankenstein responds there's nothing left to say and leaves.

Major Story Arcs

Post-Infinite Crisis / New Earth:

Seven Soldiers

Soon afterwards, Frankenstein meets an old acquaintance whom greatly resembles the Bride (of Frankenstein) seen in James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, albeit with four arms. She is now working as an agent of S.H.A.D.E. (Super Human Advanced Defense Executive - a play on Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.). She addresses their history together and past relationship by saying, "It's nothing personal, but you were never my type". The agency then drafts Frank and establishes him as a field agent; he is armed with a 3-foot broadsword (he claims it once belonged to the Archangel Michael), an antique pistol and he has an implant in his head the allows him to mental access to the entire S.H.A.D.E. database. His adventures with S.H.A.D.E. take him all over the world and many locales even the future. Frank hides in a time ship to travel to the Sheeda realm in order to prevent their assault on the present. He dispatches most of their army, destroys their fleet of "world destroying" machines, he then kills the captain of the Sheeda-Queen's "time yacht" and hijacks it in order to return to the present. Shortly after returning from the Sheeda intervention he was betrayed and controlled by Klarion. Klarion, who was also part of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, used a witch brand to usurp control of Frankenstein in order to gain control of the Sheeda floating castle, Castle Revolving, so he could be the king of the Sheeda.

Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis

Frankenstein is next seen during the Infinite Crisis, not long after his time with fighting alongside the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Frank is next seen battling the brute, General Eiling. This is where we first see Frankenstein wielding his trusty sword and custom pistol (which he calls his "steam gun"). Some time later during Final Crisis, Frankenstein and the S.H.A.D.E. organization are seen leading a battalion of heroes against a group of Darkseid's forces led by Kalibak. He also took part in the last stand of humanity against Darkseid and his army.

Solomon Grundy/Blackest Night

On the 2nd to last day that Cyrus Gold had to find the one that initiated the transformation of himself into Solomon Grundy, Gold was ambushed and tranquilized by Frankenstein and SHADE agents, determined to bring in the resurrected killer. However, while on route to their headquarters, Cyrus Gold awoke. Dazed and frightened, he attacked the crew and

disabled the helicopter. However, as he tried to leap to safety from the falling wreckage, he was impaled on a charred tree (a souvenir from the devastating attack he had endured by the android Amazo). The impalement triggered his to transform into Solomon Grundy, who then proceeded to attack the SHADE agents that had encircled him.

Attacking the Bride after she shot off his hand, Grundy is then shot in the head by Frankenstein, but not before being attacked by a misguided Bizarro, who was desperate to save Grundy, his only friend. Frankenstein then manages to stab Solomon Grundy through the chest and heart, burning out the evil inside him. The wounded zombie, whimpering in pain, collapses as blood spews in gallons out of the hole in his chest. Solomon Grundy then de-materializes into dust and slips away from the grasp of Bizarro as he tried to help his friend. Saddened by the loss of Grundy, Bizarro floats away, with Frankenstein letting him go due to there not being a warrant out for his arrest.

Soon after the events of the Solomon Grundy miniseries, during Blackest Night, Frankenstein, Bride and S.H.A.D.E. respond to a brawl between Bizarro, Man-Bat and Solomon Grundy (who had been re-animated without the soul of Cyrus Gold as a mindless Black Lantern). Grundy was attempting to elicit an emotional response but fails. While fighting Solomon Grundy Frankenstein stabs Grundy but while in close he rips out Frank's heart. Luckily, since Frankenstein consists of many body parts taken from corpses Frankenstein actually had two hearts in his chest and that is how he survived Grundy's attack.

Powers & Abilities

Super Strength

Frankenstein's most famous and recognizable powers are his incredible strength and durability.

Immortal

Frankenstein is immortal; this immortality stems from his nature: he is neither dead nor alive.This is due to his creator's work as well as Melmoth's blood coursing through his veins.

Healing Factor

Since Frank is not quite alive so he replaces his impaired or damaged limbs (it can be assumed he heals from smaller wounds or he ignores them, i.e. bullet wounds, stabbings, cuts and scrapes or if due to the blood of Melmoth that he has flowing through him if he has a healing factor).

Weaponry

Over his hundreds of years of life he has acquired a lot of knowledge of combat and weaponry.

Other Versions

Flashpoint

Frankenstein played a part in Flashpoint. During this event, Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos search out details of who they are and where they came from. Frankenstein ends up joining the ranks of S.H.A.D.E. (Super Human Advanced Defense Executive) and heads off to join the battle between the Amazons and Atlanteans.