Halflife (comics)

There are two fictional characters in the Marvel Universe that are named Halflife with two distinct origins. They are detailed separately below.

Halflife (alien)

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caption=Halflife
Whilce Portacio, Art
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Half-Life
real_name=Unknown
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="West Coast Avengers" vol.2 #12 (Sep. 1986)
creators=Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
status=inactive
alliances=Captain Atlas, Doctor Minerva, Graviton, Quantum, Zzzzax
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=unrevealed; would have to be deceased
powers=Heat generation
Radiation immunity
Ability to cause living matter to rapidly age/decay|

Halflife is a Marvel Comics supervillain. She first appeared in "West Coast Avengers" vol. 2 #12 (Sep. 1986).

Fictional character biography

Halflife is a humanoid extraterrestrial would-be conqueror with the ability to age any living being via physical contact. She has green skin with black hair and gray temples. Halflife annihilated the entire population of her home world, and was summoned to the planet Earth by the maniacal Graviton to assist him in conquering the Earth.

In the story of her first appearance, she was part of a team assembled by Graviton to resemble the Unified Field Theory. Halflife represented the Weak force, Quantum represented the Strong force, while Zzaax represented Electromagnetism. Graviton himself represented gravity. This team attacked the West Coast Avengers. The alliance was defeated when the Avenger Tigra, in disguise, convinced Halflife that Quantum was out to kill her. Halflife battled Quantum and Graviton, and was knocked unconscious. In the resulting fight, Halflife was propelled into space aboard Graviton's floating fortress the villains were using, which destroyed the fortress. ["West Coast Avengers" Vol. 2 #12]

Halflife was later apprehended by Quasar, and she was imprisoned in the Vault (a prison facility for supervillains). ["Quasar" #10]

Powers and abilities

Halflife is an extraterrestrial with the ability to age any living being, through touching, halfway to the point that he or she would eventually die of old age, through their full life span (one would presume "remaining" lifespan, thus stealing half of their life). Multiple contacts with Halflife result in death for the victim. However, the aging effect she has is not immediately permanent and if she loses consciousness fast enough (within a few minutes) her victims will revert to their normal ages.

Halflife also has the ability to manipulate the "weak force" to disintegrate inorganic material, including matter/energy constructs.

She has the ability to generate unspecified intense radiation, producing sufficient heat to melt steel.

Halflife possesses invulnerability to the effects of her own powers, as well as intense heat and atomic radiation. Her costume is made of alien materials that are proof against the effects of her power.

Half-Life (Anthony Masterson)

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caption =
character_name = Halflife
publisher = Marvel Comics
debut = "The Incredible Hulk" vol. 1 #334
creators =
alter_ego = Anthony Masterson
full_name =
species =
homeworld =
alliances =
aliases =
powers= Absorbing gamma energyThe second character in the Marvel universe to take the name Half-Life was a gamma-irradiated fiend and enemy of the Hulk. He first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" vol. 1 #334. He was a lackey of the Leader. His real name was Anthony Masterson.

Fictional character biography

Half-life was just a normal English schoolteacher who was accidentally exposed to gamma radiation during testing of Gamma Bombs by the US government. The radiation appeared to kill Tony, but he arose every night hungry for the energy he could drain from living bodies.

Half-Life was a vampire-like creature who drained gamma energy from infected people in order to sustain himself. In his natural state, he looked like a zombie, but when he absorbed a life he would temporarily appear young and handsome. He was even able to absorb the Hulk's superhuman strength. The Hulk still managed to defeat the creature by outsmarting it.

Through keen powers of observation, the Grey Hulk noticed that Half-Life was mentally ill and had ambivalent feelings about needing to kill innocent people to sustain his existence. The Hulk then used psychology to convince Tony Masterson to kill himself.

Powers and abilities

Half-Life is a vampire-like creature who drains life energy from living beings in order to sustain himself. In his natural state, he looked like a zombie, but when he absorbs a life he temporarily appears young and handsome.

Appearances in other media

Video games

The second Half-Life was also featured in the Hulk video game for the PlayStation 2, Gamecube and Xbox. This incarnation was the first level boss, and looked different from his comic incarnation: looking more like a bald-headed, vampire-like creature rather than the green-skinned zombie of the comics. In the game, Hulk must defeat Half-Life by throwing heavy objects at the vampire, because Half-Life can drain Hulk's strength through his three-fingered hands. Hulk believes he has killed Half-Life after gaining knowledge that Alcatraz is holding a hostage. Hulk throws the vampire into the water surrounding the prison, although Half-Life manages to swim to an underground set of tunnels, run by Hulk's nemesis, The Leader, where the brainy foe is creating gamma-irradiated soldiers. Half-Life II is later fought by the Hulk, simultaneously with Madman, later on in the game, when Hulk storms the Leader's complex. Half-Life may have been killed when the cavern's ceiling collapsed and destroyed everything in the complex, although it is far more likely that Half-Life reached a transportation device to instantly transport out of the cavern.

References

External links

* [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/halflifewca.htm Halflife at the Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe]