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    Justine Hammer

    Character » Justine Hammer appears in 105 issues.

    Justine Hammer, aka "The Crimson Cowl", was the leader of the Masters of Evil and battled the Thunderbolts. The daughter of Justin Hammer and mother to Sasha Hammer she has recently followed in her fathers footsteps and took control of Hammer industries. She was ultimately killed by Zeke Stane.

    Short summary describing this character.

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    Note: this is the second possessor of the mantle of the Crimson Cowl

    For the original Crimson Cowl: Ultron

    Origin

    The current Crimson Cowl is Justine Hammer the daughter of businessman, industrialist and criminal financier Justin Hammer. Her father didn't make anything easy for Justine growing up, he insisted that she prove herself by fighting for and earning everything she'd get. At some point she lived in Symkaria and became friends with Silver Sable the famous mercenary and leader of the Wild Pack. After the disappearances of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four battling Onslaught she became the Crimson Cowl and gathered a team of super-villains to become the latest incarnation of the Masters Of Evil.

    Major Story Arcs

    Against the Thunderbolts

    Her first team consisted of Klaw, Tiger Shark, Flying Tiger, Man-Killer and the second Cyclone and were first seen fighting Black Widow. When the Thunderbolts, who were all former Masters of Evil themselves, heard someone else was using their name they rushed out to confront these usurpers. Justine hired out her Masters of Evil to a HYDRA who was looking to take charge of the New York underworld. The Masters of Evil were sent to confiscate the contents of a warehouse from a mob boss who wouldn't submit to the new leadership. However when the Thunderbolts showed up she knew that their objective was unattainable so Justine teleported her team away in a flash of light.

    The next job for her Masters of Evil was providing security for the purchase of some high tech weapons that would make HYDRA's foot-soldiers more formidable. The Thunderbolts found out about the exchange and attacked but this time the Crimson Cowl didn't run, she and her Masters of Evil fought. The Masters of Evil seemed to have the upper hand until Techno (aka the Fixer) got a hold of the weapons that Crimson Cowl was supposed to ensure were delivered to her employer. Seeing again that the operation was lost Crimson Cowl teleported her team away to safety. At this point Crimson Cowl established a base within an old Factor 3 facility located in Mount Charteris that had been used by numerous others since it was built. She removed any mention of the facility from all government and SHIELD files ensuring that they could operate from there in complete secrecy. After it was revealed that the Thunderbolts were in fact criminals in disguise Crimson Cowl sent Cyclone to attack them and lure them into a meeting where she offered them a place within her new Masters of Evil. Unlike some previous Masters of Evil with a specific agenda she ran her team like a business offering base salaries, profit-sharing and a pension plan. She also showed them a glimpse of her headquarters with all the amenities including labs, saunas and even their own movie theatre while the Thunderbolts were living in a cabin in the woods. If they refused Crimson Cowl would tell every single one of the Thunderbolts enemies where they could find them. Justine and her team allowed the Thunderbolts to leave in order to think about their offer. In the meantime the Thunderbolts continued trying to be heroes while thinking about her offer but Justine couldn't let them keep playing both sides trying to find another way out of their predicament. Crimson Cowl sent her Masters of Evil to send the Thunderbolts a message that they had to make their decision join the Masters of Evil or go down hard.

    The Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil were at the Western Currency Facility of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving where they were stealing money, printing plates, ink and paper as well as destroying records. The Thunderbolts found them again and Justine was disappointed with the choice they made by attacking her team. Like before she was ready to teleport her team and their stolen goods away but Jolt managed to temporarily overload the teleportation circuits of her cowl so she told her team to kill the Thunderbolts. The Masters of Evil succeeded in subduing the Thunderbolts and Justine had just ordered Klaw to kill them when they were freed by the arrival of Hawkeye in the guise of the Dreadknight. With the arrival of the authorities as well, called by the Thunderbolts, the Crimson Cowl ordered Klaw to get them all out of there since her teleportation circuits were still damaged. Hawkeye began leading the Thunderbolts and swore that they were going to take down Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil or die trying giving Justine just a little bit of concern but she was still confident in her plan. In order to draw the Thunderbolts into a trap the Masters of Evil attacked a small town called Robinette Nebraska. Once they arrived Crimson Cowl activated a weather device creating an instant hurricane over the town and teleported her team away. While the Thunderbolts saved the townspeople the new Citizen V ( Dallas Riordan) tried to disable the weather device but was instead captured by Crimson Cowl.

    The New Masters of Evil

    Justine had gathered the largest ever team of Masters of Evil at her base within Mount Charteris and enacted a plan to hold the entire world for ransom. She expanded her previous team of Flying Tiger, Klaw, Tiger Shark, Man-Killer, Cyclone with Quicksand, Lodestone, Icemaster, Blackwing, Constrictor, Man-Ape, Shatterfist, Eel, Supercharger, Bison, Shockwave, Cardinal, Joystick, Scorcher, Sunstroke, Aqueduct, Slyde, Dragonfly and Boomerang. It turned out that all of the jobs the Masters of Evil had done was in order to gain the capital, components and super-villains necessary to build weather modulators all around the world. Once in place she caused the weather all over the world to become destructive and told the world governments she'd turn it off if they gave her a trillion dollars. The Thunderbolts infiltrated Mount Charteris and took the place of some of her Masters of Evil while Moonstone tried to infiltrate them by offering to join up. Moonstone was kept close to Cowl after she pointed out that the Thunderbolts had taken the place of some of her Masters but it was all so she could destroy the master control unit of the weather machine at the crucial time. Crimson Cowl's command pod ship crashed but Justine teleported away while leaving Dallas Riordan in an inactive copy of her Crimson Cowl to take the blame in the aftermath. Still angry that the Thunderbolts betrayed her trust and that they believed she was the Crimson Cowl Dallas didn't even speak out in her own defense leaving Justine to continue to plan behind the scenes.

    When Dallas revealed herself as having been the new Citizen V the whole time Justine kidnapped her again and kept her prisoner within her complex in Symkaria. It was Cowl's hope that it would cause the V-Battalion and the Thunderbolts would fight and not destroy each other but damage each other enough for her to destroy them both easily. Eventually Dallas escaped from her cell and found her Citizen V equipment allowing her to disable Justine's cowl when she finally found her. The two women fought with whatever weapons they could find and Dallas was surprised at how capable a fighter Justine was without her prehensile cape. While trying to escape to her jet-craft Justine was pursued by Dallas but Justine gained the upperhand and flung Dallas over the railing. With Dallas hanging over a chasm hanging on to the cowl Justine unclasped it causing Dallas to fall to the river below revealing her face in the process. After her father had died Justine decided to enact a failsafe plan he had created and sent Cyclone to steal a disk containing the information necessary to activate the plan. Crimson Cowl needed a new team to capture Plant-Man who was instrumental to the plan so she assembled Cyclone, Man-Killer, Gypsy Moth, Hydro-Man, Machinesmith and Black Mamba. The final member of the team would be Cardinal who Justine promised the chance for vengeance against Hawkeye whom he blamed for the death of his daughter the Redeemer called Meteorite. Justin Hammer secretly infected every person he came in contact with with a biological agent that could be turned into a toxin when activated, Plant-Man was the only one who could activate it. Hawkeye and Songbird told some of Justine's Masters of Evil about this toxin so they joined the heroes in attacking her Symkarian home. Silver Sable confronted Justine at her home which escalated into a fight between the two groups with Hydro-Man, Machinesmith and Black Mamba still following the Crimson Cowl. They captured most of Hawkeye's team but it was a ruse and they managed to distract the Masters of Evil while Plant-Man neutralized the biological toxin. Gypsy Moth returned just in time to use her telekinesis to turn Crimson Cowl's cowl against herself and Machinesmith leaving Justine without her powers and surrounded by heroes, villains she betrayed and SHIELD agents. Justine was taken into custody.

    She currently works with

    The Hood

    and his own gang of super-villains.

    Powers

    The Crimson Cowl is a brilliant criminal strategist and capable fighter even without her cybernetic cowl. Her cowl has a number of abilities including being able to stretch, expand to attack and grapple opponents by her mental command it seems even remotely. It also has circuitry within it that allows her to levitate and teleport seemingly anywhere on Earth since she has teleported from Colorado to Symkaria in a single port. When she teleports it creates an incredible burst of light to dazzle and distract her opponents. It seems the brightness of this light can be adjusted from a mild flash to nearly causing permanent damage to unprotected eyes.

    Weaknesses

    It seems the circuitry of the cowl can be disabled or overloaded by electrical attacks. An attack from Jolt managed to disable her teleporting circuits though her cape's prehensile capabilities were still active. Citizen V managed to use an EMP device to completely disable her cowl for an estimated twenty minutes.

    Alternate Realities

    Earth-1610: Ultimate Universe

    Ultimate Justine Hammer
    Ultimate Justine Hammer

    Justin Hammer incorporates nanobot components into her daughter Justine's body, thus giving her superpowers. But every time she tries to use her powers, her health deteriorates.

    After the events of Ultimatum, Tony Stark gets news that his secure database has been stolen and sold and everyone is cloning his Iron Man technology. As he goes into his underground lab, he comes face to face with Justine, but does not hurt her. Shortly afterwards, Ghost steals a box from Tony's lab, which Tony claims is important. Justine is treated by Tony's medical experts, replenishing and upgrading her nanobots. Together, they embark upon a mission to find out the mastermind and beneficiaries of the stolen Iron Man technology. Their efforts ultimately lead Tony to his re-animated grandfather, Howard Stark Sr. Howard explains that he is proud of Tony and that Justine has done a great job in bringing Tony to him. Tony feels betrayed and Justine is sorry. However, when commanded by Howard, Tony unlocks the mysterious box that Ghost had stolen earlier. The alien tech inside it kills all of them except Tony, because the alien attacks machines, and Tony does not need machines to live.

    Other Media

    Games

    Marvel: Avengers Alliance

    Marvel: Avengers Alliance
    Marvel: Avengers Alliance

    Justine Hammer appears in the facebook game, Marvel: Avengers Alliance. She appears as a recurring boss in the game. She'll be fought at "Command Performance" as a mini-boss then as a final boss in "Tentacular".

    Her bio says: Justine Hammer took up the mantle of the Cowl, a prehensile technological marvel with the ability to levitate and teleport. She led the revamped Masters of Evil in an effort to prove herself to her father, Justin Hammer.

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