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Overlord (comics)
Encyclopedia
Overlord is a comic-book supervillain created by Erik Larsen
, first appearing in Larsen's Savage Dragon
series and serving as that title's first principal villain. Like many of Larsen's characters, Overlord was based on a character that Larsen had created during his childhood. First conceived as "Bronzeman", a sort of criminal counterpart to Iron Man
, Larsen later found he disliked the name and changed it to Overlord. The character's costume also went through multiple revisions before Larsen was satisfied.
-based crime lord named Antonio Seghetti with extensive ties to the mafia
and the European pocket nation of Lieberheim. As a child, he kills his sister's rapist during the act itself. Though noble, he starts a downward spiral into thuggery. He soon is involved in all sorts of crime, including rape itself.
In the 1990s, the superhuman population of the world skyrockets, resulting in Seghetti's illegal operations being threatened. In response, Saghetti has Sebastian Kahn (a cybernetics
genius) design and construct for him a powerful battlesuit to wear. Donning the armor, Saghetti dubs himself Overlord and recruits countless superhuman thugs into his criminal empire, calling the group the Vicious Circle
. With superhuman agents, he breaks away from his Mafia connections and Overlord soon has the city of Chicago at his mercy. The Overlord's luck changes when the Savage Dragon
becomes a police officer. The Dragon began to dismantle his empire piece by piece. Later the Overlord also has to contend with Kahn, who had been technologically augmented and is now called CyberFace. CyberFace leads a team of superhumans called the Annihilators against the Vicious Circle, but is arrested. After negotiating with the police, CyberFace plans to testify against Overlord and reveal his identity. Overlord panics and dispatched several assassins. Cyberface ended up dead in his cell, having been poisoned through his food. He is soon revived through artificial means.
Dragon's first confrontration with Overlord ends with being thrown off a roof and impaled on a church spire. Later, the Dragon returns with a S.W.A.T. team. The other police officers are killed almost instantly. The Dragon takes apart Overlord's armor and shoots him in the mouth, one of his few vulnerable spots. Overlord falls off the roof, breaking a spire and slamming into the sidewalk.
Since then, Overlord's armor has been used by others who have tried to gain power in the Chicago underworld. Some, such as Brainiape, must deal with literally not being able to fit into the armor. Then there was Victor Nixon, Chicago Police officer. He had developed an attraction to the married Rita Meadermade. His use of the armor to spy on her corrupts Nixon, mixing his thought patterns with Antonio's remnants. Nixon ends up killing Rita's other stalker, her homicidal brother-in-law. He also seemingly kills Dragon's wife, but Jennifer had been replaced by a double. Nixon then gathers a force of villains to go after Dragon. This fails and in a one-on-one confrontation with the Dragon, Nixon is beaten to death. His identity is only discovered after the fact.
Under careful supervision, the armor is destroyed in a fire.
In an alternate dimension, the armor is used by a mysterious figure to keep the Vicious Circle in line with the mutation-granting blood of Dragon. Overlord claims to be trying to turn the Circle 'straight', to become a mutated-beings rights group. As part of this goal, he works unofficially with the police. These stated goals suffer a setback after the Dragon, overcome by his previous persona of evil Emperor Kurr, kills many of the Circle's powered forced.
.
Erik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
, first appearing in Larsen's Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon...
series and serving as that title's first principal villain. Like many of Larsen's characters, Overlord was based on a character that Larsen had created during his childhood. First conceived as "Bronzeman", a sort of criminal counterpart to Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
, Larsen later found he disliked the name and changed it to Overlord. The character's costume also went through multiple revisions before Larsen was satisfied.
Fictional character biography
Overlord is a ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based crime lord named Antonio Seghetti with extensive ties to the mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
and the European pocket nation of Lieberheim. As a child, he kills his sister's rapist during the act itself. Though noble, he starts a downward spiral into thuggery. He soon is involved in all sorts of crime, including rape itself.
In the 1990s, the superhuman population of the world skyrockets, resulting in Seghetti's illegal operations being threatened. In response, Saghetti has Sebastian Kahn (a cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
genius) design and construct for him a powerful battlesuit to wear. Donning the armor, Saghetti dubs himself Overlord and recruits countless superhuman thugs into his criminal empire, calling the group the Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle (comics)
The Vicious Circle is a criminal organization of mutants, cyborgs, monsters, assassins, and magicians that serves as the primary opponents for the superheroes in Erik Larsen's comic-book titles, primarily the Dragon.-Overview:...
. With superhuman agents, he breaks away from his Mafia connections and Overlord soon has the city of Chicago at his mercy. The Overlord's luck changes when the Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon...
becomes a police officer. The Dragon began to dismantle his empire piece by piece. Later the Overlord also has to contend with Kahn, who had been technologically augmented and is now called CyberFace. CyberFace leads a team of superhumans called the Annihilators against the Vicious Circle, but is arrested. After negotiating with the police, CyberFace plans to testify against Overlord and reveal his identity. Overlord panics and dispatched several assassins. Cyberface ended up dead in his cell, having been poisoned through his food. He is soon revived through artificial means.
Dragon's first confrontration with Overlord ends with being thrown off a roof and impaled on a church spire. Later, the Dragon returns with a S.W.A.T. team. The other police officers are killed almost instantly. The Dragon takes apart Overlord's armor and shoots him in the mouth, one of his few vulnerable spots. Overlord falls off the roof, breaking a spire and slamming into the sidewalk.
Armor On
Other forces conspire to send Dragon to hell, though Dragon does not believe it is real. Nevertheless, he viciously torments Antonio when they meet. Antonio has his armor recreated by mystical means. The Dragon bites off Antonio's finger and spits it through the man's head.Since then, Overlord's armor has been used by others who have tried to gain power in the Chicago underworld. Some, such as Brainiape, must deal with literally not being able to fit into the armor. Then there was Victor Nixon, Chicago Police officer. He had developed an attraction to the married Rita Meadermade. His use of the armor to spy on her corrupts Nixon, mixing his thought patterns with Antonio's remnants. Nixon ends up killing Rita's other stalker, her homicidal brother-in-law. He also seemingly kills Dragon's wife, but Jennifer had been replaced by a double. Nixon then gathers a force of villains to go after Dragon. This fails and in a one-on-one confrontation with the Dragon, Nixon is beaten to death. His identity is only discovered after the fact.
Under careful supervision, the armor is destroyed in a fire.
In an alternate dimension, the armor is used by a mysterious figure to keep the Vicious Circle in line with the mutation-granting blood of Dragon. Overlord claims to be trying to turn the Circle 'straight', to become a mutated-beings rights group. As part of this goal, he works unofficially with the police. These stated goals suffer a setback after the Dragon, overcome by his previous persona of evil Emperor Kurr, kills many of the Circle's powered forced.
In other media
Overlord is the main villain in the short lived Savage Dragon animated series, voiced by Tony JayTony Jay
Tony Jay was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games. Jay's distinctive baritone voice often landed him villainous roles...
.