Cyber (Marvel Comics)

Cyber is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Wolverine from the X-Men.

Cyber
Cyber (upper right) on the cover to Wolverine: Origins #15. Art by Marko Djurdjevic.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Comics Presents #85 (September 1991)
Created by	Peter David Sam Kieth
In-story information
Full name	Silas Burr (mind and first body) Milo Gunderson (second body)
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Pinkerton National Detective Agency Undisclosed Canadian Paramilitary Training Facility Unnamed Drug Cartel Hell's Belles The Coven
Notable aliases	Hornet[1]
Abilities	Original Body: Superhuman strength and stamina Adamantium skin Retractable claws tipped with powerful hallucinogens or poisons Psionic ability to track individual brain patterns Second Body: Superhuman strength Adamantium skin and retractable claws Psionic ability to track individual brain patterns Third Body: Peak human physique Superhuman strength Adamantium skin and retractable claws Psionic abilities Hornet suit Demon summoning Wrist lasers

Publication history

Created by writer Peter David and artist Sam Kieth, Cyber first appeared in Marvel Comics Presents #85 (Sept. 1991), though his physical appearance was obscured by a trench coat and hat. He was first fully seen and named in Marvel Comics Presents #86 (Sept. 1991).

Fictional character biography

Origin

Silas Burr is a former agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. In 1912, Burr escapes execution after being found guilty on 22 counts of murder. He travels to a Canadian military base, where employer Frederick Hudson took a special interest in Burr's ability to push the men under his command beyond their moral and emotional limits.

In 1959, Burr trains Daken, who is ordered to destroy the training camp. Burr is mortally wounded by Daken, but is saved by Romulus, who chooses him to be the prototype for a process that binds adamantium to his skin.^[2][3]

Modern era

In the modern era, Cyber resurfaces in Madripoor, as an enforcer for an unnamed drug cartel, where he interferes between the rival crime cartels of Wolverine's ally Tiger Tyger and General Coy. Tyger bites out the villain's left eye before he falls into a truck containing hallucinogens he had earlier used on Wolverine, leading Cyber to run into the forest and disappear at the ocean's edge.^[4]

Resurrection

Cyber resurfaced in astral form and possesses the mutant Milo Gunderson, who possesses superhuman strength and childlike intelligence. Intent on revenge, he sets off for the Tinkerer, who bonds adamantium to his new body. Unbeknownst to Cyber, Milo's body has a weak heart, which causes him to have a heart attack during a battle. His condition worsens, and Wolverine is forced to bring him to the Tinkerer to treat him. The Tinkerer agrees to construct a pacemaker to stabilize Cyber's heart condition in exchange for the use of Logan's carbonadium synthesizer.^[5]

Cyber is later killed by Ogun, who tries to sell his adamantium carapace to Abraham Cornelius after dissolving the rest of his body in an acid bath.^[6]

Hornet

Under unknown circumstances, Cyber returns to life and masquerades as "Hornet" from the Slingers. He is first seen in Las Vegas following Hydra's takeover of America, having been hired by Forbidden City casino owner Silas Thorne to stage a robbery of a mass food delivery meant for his sister Cassandra Mercury's rival casino Mercury Rising. Hornet is able to defeat most of the Mercury casino security before he is intercepted by the Scarlet Spider, but he declines to answer questions about his apparent resurrection and flees.^[7] Scarlet Spider and Ricochet, who begins to suspect his former friend's Hornet's identity, chase after him but Hornet uses a magical amulet to summon a demonic Fhtagn to fight them off.^[8] Hornet is forced to work with the other heroes to stop the Fhtagn when it becomes uncontrollable until Dusk teleports it away, but the Scarlet Spider uses the opportunity to slip away and assault Thorne.^[9] Hornet uses this to convince the other Slingers of his heroism and to bring Scarlet Spider to justice. With Prodigy joining them, Hornet has the Slingers capture Mercury as bait for the Scarlet Spider but when he and the other Scarlet Spider track Mercury down, Cyber's identity is revealed during the ensuing fight.^[10] It's then revealed Cyber was resurrected by a demon that had been impersonating the Slingers' mentor Black Marvel. While the Scarlet Spiders deal with the demon, the other Slingers chase after Cyber, who manages to escape from them.^[11]

Possessed by Adamantine

Sometime after abandoning his Hornet identity, Cyber decides to hunt down Wolverine to settle the score with his old foe just before Wolverine relocates to Krakoa. Despite him and all other mutants being granted amnesty on Krakoa, Cyber does not visit Krakoa due to the presence of more powerful mutants in Wolverine's company. After Krakoa's fall and Wolverine returns, Cyber ambushes Wolverine while he is living in solitude in Canada but is fought off. The fight between the two unearths a mass of sentient Adamantine, which then possesses Cyber and turns his adamantium implants into golden Adamantine.^[12] Hoping to rid the world of adamantium for being a "false metal", the Adamantine has Cyber target those with adamantium weapons including Lady Deathstrike, Constrictor and Donald Pierce, who are also possessed and transformed like Cyber.^[13] Hoping to prove himself as the Adamantine's champion, Romulus has Cyber and the others attack several adamantium factories across the United States to lure Wolverine to kill him for the Adamantine. When Wolverine and Laura Kinney are drawn into a battle, Romulus absorbs the Adamantine from Cyber and the others to empower himself, which knocks Cyber and hosts unconscious but Romulus is still defeated by Wolverine.^[14]

Powers and abilities

Original body

Silas Burr is a mutant who possesses a number of superhuman abilities, some due to his natural mutation and some due to artificial enhancement. Burr possesses some degree of superhuman strength. Though no limit has been explicitly given, his strength was sufficient to destroy a jeep with a single blow or slash open a bank vault door with ease.^[15]

Cyber's skin was bonded with a layer of the near indestructible alloy adamantium, with the exception of his face, using an unknown arc welding technique. As a result, most of Cyber's body is virtually invulnerable and resistant to physical injury.

Housed within each of Cyber's fingers is a retractable adamantium claw. Each talon is tipped in either powerful hallucinogens or poisons that have proven capable of incapacitating Wolverine before his mutant healing factor can filter them out. The poisons are designed to affect Wolverine and are fatal to ordinary humans within seconds.

Cyber also possesses a psionic ability that allows him to track specific brainwave patterns across great distances. The exact limit of Cyber's range is unknown, though it was greatly amplified by exposure to the hallucinogens that coat his claws. Cyber's psionic abilities enabled him to survive in astral form following the attack by the Dark Riders.^[16]

Second body

His consciousness has taken possession of the body of Milo Gunderson, a large, muscular mutant with childlike intelligence.^[17] Milo is a mutant possessing some degree of superhuman strength, the limits of which are not known. However, his strength is sufficient to kill a fully grown horse with a single punch.^[17]

Cyber also apparently retains his brainwave tracking ability within his new body. Cyber has undergone a process in which adamantium has been laced to Milo's skin, with only his face left uncovered, as well as retractable talons on his fingertips.^{[volume & issue needed]} As a result, his body is highly resistant to all forms of injury, including assaults from weapons composed of adamantium.

Third body

Cyber's third body possesses superhuman strength, durability, and adamantium skin, similar to his past bodies.^[18] He possesses retractable claws and wrist mounted laser guns implanted on his forearms.^[19] Cyber utilizes the Hornet suit, which is outfitted with high-tech gadgetry and weapons systems and can generate a short-range bio-electrostatic discharge.^[20][21]

The demon who resurrected Cyber gave him a special pendant that enables him to summon a Fhtagn, an extra-dimensional creature which feeds on wickedness.^[20]

Other versions

A possible future version of Cyber appears in "Age of Revelation". This version is a member of Revelation's Seraphims who is later killed by Leonard Two Bears.^[22]

In other media

• Cyber appears as a boss in Wolverine: Adamantium Rage.^{[citation needed]}
• Cyber appears as a boss in X-Men: Wolverine's Rage.^{[citation needed]}