The Dark Defender
Real Name: Alexander "Alex" Russo
Place of Birth: Albany, New York, United States of America
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral
Date of Birth: 30 July 1980
Age: 36
Relatives: Peter Russo (Father), Nicole Russo (Mother), Stephen Russo (Uncle; Paternal)
Affiliation: CIA, STRIKE (Formerly), Himself (Currently)
Education: College Degree, Special Forces Training
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Species: Human
Height: 6 feet 3 inches (1. 90 cms)
Weight: 270 lbs
Bio: Born in Albany to Nicole and Peter Russo, Alexander lived a comfortable life in one of the cities many upper class neighborhoods. His last name has Italian roots, but his father's family also has German heritage, his mother by contrast though is English, Scottish, and Irish. The Russo family had a heavy military and political background on the Eastern Seaboard, his uncle and Peter's brother, Stephen was a State Senator who served in the Vietnam War back in his youth. Though his uncle had moved into politics, his father had stayed largely associated with the army.
Alex had served his country faithfully since he was 18 years old
With that history in his family, Alex was expected to also serve his country which he did. At age 18 he was enlisted with the help of his father into the United States Marine Corps. Alex had preformed very well and graduated the top of his class being enlisted into the army with flying colors, making his father and mother very proud. After serving for five years Alex's reputation became well-known and he was approached by STIRKE to join their forces as a special agent, doing good across the world. He could hardly refuse and was given a College Education in addition to special training. At age 25 he was one of the youngest members of the STRIKE Task Force, working in the Triskelion and under Tyrus herself. He later learned three years later that his father had also worked for STRIKE and had personally recommended his son to work with them. His uncle however, the Stephen found out about his son's inclusion in STIRKE and became jealous his brother and now nephew's success. He had Military training as well but was never accepted into those prestigious ranks into STIRKE or the CIA. Out of spite, he wanted to get revenge on them he eventually associated with Hydra and used his Political Connections in exchange for them to personally go after Alex and Peter Russo.
During a resting period though, tragedy stuck as Alexander with his parents were hit by a Hydra strike. The attack had slain both of them and completely disintegrated Alex's arm. He was in recovery for months and hit very deeply by the loss of his parents, especially his father, whom he looked up to so much. STRIKE tried to rehabilitate him and use this anger to help fight Hydra, but he was not only physically weakened but mentally disturbed by what had happened to him. He couldn't make peace with the world, and started questioning the institutions he thought his whole life were just. He started to become obsessed with finding out who had ruined his life like this, and making them suffer like he did. He almost became indifferent to the whole world wanting to just get revenge. His research made his deduce that the man who was associated with the Hydra strike was his uncle, who was jealous of their success in STRIKE and the Marines. He demanded that Justice be brought to his uncle and showed the evidence against him, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he was involved with Hydra. At first STRIKE responded as he wanted them to, by arresting Stephen and preparing to put him on trial for treason against the United States of America.
After tragedy stuck, he grew Disillusioned with STRIKE & society as a whole even.
But he was soon released because of Hydra bribing off a Judge, considering him a useful alley because of his involvement in politics. It looked as though legally STIRKE could not do anything to Stephen despite it being known of his criminal actions in the past. Alexander was disillusioned with the entire democratic legal system, and bitter of his uncle cruelty. He realized how the legal system allowed multiple evil villains to escape because of loopholes, and how people there simply didn't care and only did it because of their own personal delusions of "doing good". He realized it STRIKE and the Law were not going to punish Stephen Russo, he would have to. With his skills he had managed to get through the security in the building and find his uncle. After torturing him demanding answers for exactly why he decided to ruin Alex's life, he explained that he has untreated military PTSD and has these sociopathic tenacities. He said he was jealous of his brother and nephew, but really just needed an excuse to be violent. After Alex killed him, he realized that his uncle had now passed that trait onto Alex, he obviously suffered from PTSD and lacked any remorse for his actions, he was a definition Psychopath, in a way just like his uncle the man he hated more than anyone. STRIKE had attacked the building trying to stop their "rogue Agent" and Alexander had faked his demise after a fire inside Stephen's office.
After he was in hiding, he knew that he was a monster now but wanted anything but to be like his uncle. But he wanted his talents, intelligence, and new desired urges to be put to some sort of helpful use to society, at least how he saw it. He created his own manifesto and ideology called "The Code" where he acknowledged how corrupt the legal system was and how many people out there were just as bad as Stephen was, who needed to be dealt with, someone needed to take out the trash around the world. Working for STRIKE he knew of so many who would deserve his wrath, others who got away, and wanted to deal with them. The Code also gave emphasis on not using his psychopathic urges to hurt the innocents, that could only release/feed his inner monster of the scum of society who he deemed "deserved" it. Due to his missing appendage, Alexander grew an interest in transhumanism, and mechanical evolution. With his wealth he replaced his fake arm with a much more powerful, super strong metal grasper that he designed himself. With the creation of other weapons, protection, supplies and more Transhumanist alterations, he donned the secret identity, The Dark Defender, defender of the innocent, punisher of the Guilty.
Alexander Russo, is The Dark Defender!
Special Powers/Abilities
- Amazing hand-to-hand combatant. From his time in the Marines and serving as an Agent of STRIKE the Dark Defender has picked up many different fighting techniques and styles from around the world. Including Guerrilla Warfare multiple martial arts styles. He has trained himself while taking up Vigilante lifestyle to become a peak human in strength, speed and agility.
- Advanced skills in almost every type of firearm, and some melee weaponry. He was specifically trained in Marksman within the Marines and is a talented shot, but by contrast is also skilled with a Machine Gun or basic rifles or handguns.
- Skilled Hacker and computer analyst. Though it is not his strongest suit, the Dark Defender is still able to manage his way through computers and hack through the majority of firewalls but up by websites he might try to hack, usually as a way to find information about his suspects or organizations he wants to take down.
- Educated in Detective skills. Due to his dedication to enforce The Code the Dark Defender has trained himself to think like a Detective. He has knowledge on multiple poisons, animals, blood splatter techniques, motives and interrogation that might be used to try and hurt people or further criminal activity. Which he must stop at all costs.
- Unbelievable will and pain resistance. Because of his refusal to be like his uncle, and new found Psychopathic desires, The Dark Defender is completely obsessed and all consumed with his need to "take out the trash" (as he calls it). If he sees someone as enemy or a threat that "fits his code" there is almost nothing that can stop him using all his strength and resources to stop that other monster from hurting again. He is also very unmoved by physical or mental torture, having no family or loved ones that could be held over him and a naturally strong resistance to physical injury.
- Extreme mental feats. Has trained himself to have an amazing memory for both his detective work and his own ideas on how to better his Dark Defender persona, he has also trained himself to be fluent in multiple languages to further his war against the ever-growing ethnic mafias across the country
Equipment
- Bionic left arm. The Dark Defender's left arm was tragically blown off in the same attack by Hydra that had slain his mother and father. After he defeated his uncle and escaped from Washington D.C. he used transhumanism to create a solid Vibranium bionic limb for himself that has multiple purposes: It has extreme strength, alone being able to lift 10 tons and pack an extremely powerful punch. Because of the metal being able to absorb vibrations it can also be dubbed as a Shield in the heat of battle. It also contains on the palm, a brander in the sharp of a star, an insignia of the Dark Defender's wrath.
- Steel encasing on chest, arms, legs and small parts of head. Because Vibranium is toxic, any additions to it inside of a human body could poison him, so he had to settle with Steel instead. His entire chest, a large part of his upper arms, and shins are coated with metal plates from his Transhumanist ideology. It makes near bulletproof even without any other equipment, and very difficult to seriously injure in hand-to-hand combat.
- Cloaking Device. One of the technologies that Dark Defender uses very often is his cloaking belt, that can cause him to temporarily become almost invisible. Though it is not as good as pure invisibility, since the belt only manipulates shadows and bends light around him, he can be noticed in an illuminated room. But in dark alleyways, or dimly lit hallways he is more than capable of sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies
- Heat-Resistant-thermal body suit. He is usually endowed with a heat-resistant-thermal body suit that protects his vital organs and face. It allows him to go into warm areas and resist Pyrokinetic Mutants/Metahumans Flamethrowers (for example), and it gives him a stronger resistance to any fire based injuries he may have.
- Special Multi-purpose goggles. His goggles can grant The Dark Defender night vision in dark areas, being able to detect heat off of enemies. It also can grant him minor X-Ray vision through thin-walls and ceilings for a limited amount of time.
- Multiple different firearms and melee weapons. Simply on his person are a multitude of Rifles, Pistols, Sniper Rifles, Machine Guns, and knifes.
- Defender Mobile at access. The Defender mobile is special vehicle used by the Dark Defender to travel across the country, it only can be used by "his" fingerprints (the mechanically designed ones on his Bionic limb), and contains multiple guns in above all four of it's tire bases. It uses jets to be able to go at intense speeds if need be, but has advanced breaks to almost make complete stops when he needs to. It contains backups of any equipment that might be useful. It has an autopilot feature, a TV screen with cable, a fold out bed, a Telephone, an advanced computer and a radio transmission. The Car can also dub as a boat for a short period of time, going similar speeds as well. The entire machine is jet black and coated with titanium.
Weaknesses
- Extremes of heat or cold. Because of the internal meat coating his body and organs, as well as his bionic arm, intense fire or ice can be detrimental to Dark Defender's physical state. If any of the metal inside of him or acting as parts of his body is damaged by fire or ice it can be very painful and hard to mend quickly. Fire especially cause the steel plating to roast his essential organs. Even with his heat-resistant suit, it's tricky to be around fire. Ice can cause the metal to expand and shatter, breaking his arm of metal plating, potentially leading to sharps damaging vital organs. He has no way to fight against Frost based attacks.
- Electricity. Because of the all of the metal that is used, and placed inside of him, electricity can seriously cause a huge amount of damage. Similar to heat, if the Dark Defender is electrocuted it can jump through all the metal in his system burning up his vital organs and even brain. His heat-resistant suit cannot protect against any attacks that are electrical based. This makes electricity one of his great weaknesses, his Kryptonite even.
- Vibrations. With the exception of his Vibranium arm (that is by extension resistant to Vibration) the metal extensions to his inner-body can possibly be damaged or knocked out of place with extensive vibration. Though this can be blocked by his cyborg limb
- Mental instability. Because of the Dark Defenders traumatic origins, he is very mentally unstable and despite being clever as a Detective, can be manipulated when played upon his emotional states and sometimes cannot act logically under emotional duress. Occasionally, he can suffer PTSD based hallucinations. He will never kill someone who doesn't fit the code, for any reason ever, regardless of how much it would or would not benefit him in the long run.
- Unprotected skull. Because of it being the base of his brain (and eyes too) there is a limited amount of steel implants there. In addition it is uncovered by any suits he uses in the field. Though he sometimes can avoid this by being very fast that no one can actually aim or successfully shot his head.
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