Despite all the fun and jokes, Strong Guy is actually a rather dangerous opponent. He’s extremely strong and durable (Val Cooper accurately likened him to a tank), and has the ability to absorb kinetic energy and to use it to enhance his physical strength. No punch or explosion has ever been known to hurt him (he can be wounded by cutting attacks, though), and the limits of his strength when powered by kinetic energy are unknown.

Strong Guy is also a very intelligent, creative and strong-willed man. Last but not least, he’s a talented musical comedy actor and stand-up comedian, gifts which at times have proven even more redoubtable to his opponents than his physical might.

History

Guido Carosella was a nerdy kid who was painfully shy with girls and was regularly beat up by bullies. He endured this until puberty - and then it got worse. He started steadily gaining in size and strength - much to his delight - but was accidentally hit by a car. Guido wasn’t really wounded, but the accident sent his kinetic absorption ability, which he didn’t know he had, into overdrive and massively distorted his body, making him a freak. His eyes became weak, and he now lived in constant pain. 

Guido coped by acquiring his current, over-the-top personality. This personality also helped him to deal with his parents, whose miserliness was amazing and who despised him for is spending habits. They were killed in a strange accident involving a falling satellite. Guido inherited every penny they had put away, and managed to sue the owners of the satellite for a fortune.

Guido has long been involved in the show-business, and his most well-known job was bodyguarding the teleporting mutant/rock star/galactic thief Lila Cheney for several months. At one point, he was involved in the fight between the Shadow King and the X-Men as a mental slave for the King. After the nefarious telepathic entity was defeated, he joined with the new X-Factor, a mutant team assembled by the US Government as a police force.

Guide chose his codename within X-Factor II after some media person explained that “you’ll be the team’s strong guy. Every super hero team needs a strong guy”.

X-Factor II’s career was relatively short, but quite spectacular. It started rather strangely due to an attempt by Mister Sinister to destroy them before they ever started their job ; Sinister’s manipulations lead to Strong Guy leveling the Washington Monument in front of national TV. The team, however, was up to the daunting task of recuperating from the media damage, and Guido even managed to become a regular, charismatic media attraction. He even coined the term “genetically challenged”, or “geecee”, to refer to mutants in a PC way.

X-Factor II handled everything that was thrown at them, including a mean crisis involving the mutant guru Haven and the death of Jamie Madrox. That case was the twilight of X-Factor II and, shortly after, Strong Guy had to be put in suspended animation after his heart was severely damaged after he absorbed too much kinetic energy in Madripoor. Much later, Forge built him a specialized pacemaker to counter the stress his heart receives from his own powers, and Guido went back to being a bodyguard and aide for Lila Cheney.

Personality

Guido’s personality is so peculiar that only Peter David could write his dialog :-). Physically distorted and experiencing constant pain has a result, Guido has managed to overcompensate this to become a flamboyant Epicurean and comedian. He loves luxury, babes, fame, babes, comedy, babes, the show business and babes. He’s rarely serious, always cracking excellent jokes and puns (which echoed Havok’s cold humor, Polaris’s dry wit, Quicksilver’s aggressive humor and Madrox’s cartoony jokes) and generally acts like a stand-up comedian on a roll. Role-playing him is not an experience for the soft-hearted. :-)

Underneath the jokes, he’s a nice, warm, sensitive guy who cares about people (especially babes) and strongly support the outcast and underdog. And, underneath this self-described “nineties guy” personality, there is a very serious, very strong man with a powerful mind and great courage facing great hardship.

Description

Strong Guy is clad in the gold and dark blue uniform of X-Factor II. While he has normal legs and head, his upper torso, shoulders and arms are massively out of proportion. He’s almost bald, except for a tuft of blonde hair on his forehead, and always wears small round sunglass-type goggles.