Crock likely was, like Hazzard, an elite soldier - perhaps also from the USMC. I have assumed he had all the usual military training, with a high degree of expertise.

The Backwards Man’s capabilities are different from those of Hazzard.Project Reptile made him able to let his consciousness sink to the level of his lizard brain, fighting with extraordinary rage and power, and a very high tolerance for pain. He does not, however, lose access to his hand-to-hand combat training (since this was the 80s, it is likely LINE training), making him very dangerous. However, it seems that he cannot use weapons while letting his lizard brain take over, except maybe for a stick or knife (wielded at a Martial Artist weapon). He could unhesitatingly beat up an adult crocodile with a simple stick.

History

Crock is another soldier who was experimented upon by the doctor heading Project Reptile - see the writeup of Agent Hazzard for more data about this. The enhancements resulting from his torture were less weird than those of Hazzard, and close to what one would have expect given the nature of the project - perhaps the experience acquired experimenting on Hazzard gave a greater mastery of the process to the doctor running the project.

Most of the memories Crock had were erased, and he only got to keep a variety of traumatic ones so he had a number of ways to induce his ’reptilian state‘, his mind entering a state of fugue under the stress of a perfect recollection. The selection included his mother throwing away his pet baby crocodile, or little Suzie Hughs refusing to kiss him on the playground around age 7 or so.

A key memory, a white one, was a confrontation with his lover Mary, who would not commit to a relationship with him. Apparently having an irrational episode, he met her near the top of the cliff, stood at the edge and started tilting his body toward the void, telling her that if she truly loved him she just had to catch his arm to prevent him from falling backward. Horrified by his behaviour, Mary froze and Crock fell. He barely survived the massive damage, and was poached by Project Reptile from his previous assignment to be healed and turned into an agent.

After Hazzard was shot between the eyes by the Black Widow using Hazard’s own gun, Project Reptile started readying Crock to reel the Widow in as a test, but he escaped before the treatment was finished for unclear reason. Following his orders he went to New York City and managed to find the Widow, who was still suffering from PTSD after having killed Hazzard and found herself unable to fight Crock, fearing she would kill him too. She requested Daredevil’s help, who forced her to confront her trauma. The Widow managed to save Crock’s life as he was about to fall in very similar circumstances to his fall in front of Mary, which assuaged her Guilt about Hazzard ; Crock just collapsed crying in her arms in a Traumatic Flashback, thinking she was Mary.

What happened next is unclear, but Project Reptile was likely destroyed and Crock handed over to S.H.I.E.L.D. for treatment.

Description

See illustrations.

Personality

Crock has suffered severe trauma, and his abilities are powered by the worst memories from his distant pasts cycling in his head, too vivid to be ever forgotten. He was nicknamed “the backwards man” by the doctor heading Project Reptile since he’s forever attracted toward his ever-receding past and faces life in the wrong direction.

He’s actually addicted to his memories, and will often twitch the wires attached to his brain to voluntarily induce a Traumatic Flashback. To him his traumatic memories are colour-coded according to the wire that can feed them, so he will refer, for instance, to a “blue memory” or a “white memory”, and his flashback-induced hallucinations have become visually colour-coded too. The red wire is the one sending him in his combat state.

Unless he’s in the red, Crock is not really aggressive - but he’s obviously psychotic and confused, constantly mumbling to himself about the wires and his memories.