Kobik
| Kobik | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance |
Marvel NOW! Point One Vol 1 #1 (June, 2015) (first full appearance) |
| Created by | Chris Bachalo |
Kobik is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics during the events of the 2015 event Avengers: Standoff!. Kobik's name derives from the word "cubic", chosen because the character's backstory is that S.H.I.E.L.D. created her when experimenting with shards of the Cosmic Cube.
Appearances
Backstory
Kobik originated from the proposal of a S.H.I.E.L.D. project to use fragments of Cosmic Cubes to reshape reality as the agency would deem necessary. The erratic behavior caused the pieces to violently merge together into a single being. The being that hatched from their union suffered from a damaged and splintered sense of consciousness, and decided to adopt the form it felt it most resembled in its confusion, a child.
Avengers: Standoff
Following the death of the program's leader Dr. Karen Fowler, another expert in Cosmic Cubes named Erik Selvig was called in to help S.H.I.E.L.D. understand and control Kobik. Motivated by the desire of being truly loved, Kobik decided to go to one person who had held dear one of the Cosmic Cubes that now partially composed Kobik, the Red Skull. The Red Skull took advantage of the child's affinity and naivety and taught her the ways of Hydra. Kobik began to lead a double life, using her omnipresence to be in the company of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Red Skull at the same time, while keeping the latter a secret.
Kobik's innocently deranged set of values caused her to rewrite the past of Selvig's life, inserting a life-long loyalty to Hydra into it, believing that turning a person into a Hydra zealot was a positive thing. Red Skull's discovery of what Kobik had done to Selvig inspired him to put into motion a plan to turn his biggest enemy, Steve Rogers, to Hydra's ranks.
Under the command of the Red Skull, Erik Selvig proposed the creation of Pleasant Hill, a picture-perfect town inhabited by reformed super-villains, whose appearance and memories were tampered with using Kobik's power. As a consequence of the Red Skull's manipulations, one of the villains, the Fixer, subconsciously created a device that returned him to his true self, and he then proceeded to use it on several other inmates, who, being led by Baron Zemo, unleashed a coordinated assault on the town to wreak havoc in revenge for having their lives tampered with.
Scared by the sudden destruction being sown by the villains, Kobik ran away and took refuge in her favorite bowling alley. She was found by Steve Rogers, who at the time had been drained of the Super-Soldier Serum that gave him powers, in an attempt to get her to use her powers to end the villain's assault. Selvig and the Red Skull, who was posing as one of the town's inhabitants, facilitated Rogers' encounter with Kobik, but for a different reason. When he was trying to reason with Kobik, Steve was brutally attacked by Crossbones. With Rogers on the brink of death, Kobik intervened, and restored him to his prime. Kobik's actions also affected Rogers' life. She had turned him into the most perfect version of himself, and she believed Hydra to be perfection. Thus, she rewrote his history into one of loyalty to Hydra.
When two Avengers teams, the Avengers and the Unity Division arrived to Pleasant Hill to help contain the situation, Kobik captured them and turned them into inhabitants of the town in an attempt to fix the commotion. The heroes eventually broke free from Kobik's influence and returned to being their true selves. However, the villains mercilessly attacked them after learning of their presence, heavily injuring and even killing some of them. Deadpool managed to reach out to Kobik and get her to empathize with him based on their shared past of being manipulated beyond their control. Kobik proceeded to do right by the heroes, reviving and healing them, returning them to their prime.
After helping the heroes, Kobik disappeared once again. The villains set out to find her, for which Kraven the Hunter set up a bait to lure her with her childish personality in mind, using a picnic tea party. After getting Kobik to trust him, Kraven had her walk into a containment device created by the Fixer, and brought her to the town hall, where Baron Zemo had set up the base of operations of his rebellion.
The Avengers took the fight to Zemo, and managed to stop him from stripping Kobik of her sentience to use her in the form of a regular Cosmic Cube, so he could rewrite reality as he pleased. Once she was freed from the device, Kobik showed her dissatisfaction with the events transpiring in the town due to Zemo's actions, and her disillusion with her experience among humans due to the way S.H.I.E.L.D. used her. She blasted away the Winter Soldier, who had tried to put her down for considering her too dangerous, and teleported both Baron Zemo and Erik Selvig away from Pleasant Hill before disappearing herself.
Kobik later appeared before the Winter Soldier, and set out to show him that she could do good. When Bucky agreed to take Kobik with him, she also asked him to bring some of the "friends" she had made in Pleasant Hill.
Thunderbolts
Following the events of Avengers: Standoff, Kobik and her "friends" formed the latest version of the Thunderbolts.[1]
Powers and Abilities
Unlike most other Marvel comic book characters, Kobik has the power of omnipresence, being able to be in the company of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Red Skull at the same time.[2] Kobik has been described as a being of near-absolute power. The way she uses her powers has been described as seeking what's pure and good in anything, and giving it life. Her abilities involved changing someone's appearance and reviving the dead.[3]