Bombshell
(Wendy Conrad)
Context
This profile is meant to be read after the main article about the Death-Throws, which has the history and context.
So you should read that first. Before this one.
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Background
- Real Name: Wendy Conrad.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Death-Throws.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile.
- Height: 6’ (1.81m). Weight: 138 lbs. (62 Kg.).
- Eyes: Blue. Hair: Blonde.
Powers and Abilities
Bombshell is an excellent demolitions expert, able to precisely use a wide range of explosives. Therefore our game stats assume a standard suite of soldierly skills. But this is an *hypothetical* – it was never stated or shown that she’s ex-military.
She has a talent for juggling. Thus, Oddball could train her to be almost as good as the rest of the much more experienced Death-Throws. Once she was good enough she started juggling grenades and the like. These weapons arguably makes her the most dangerous of the lot.
Like the other Death-Throws she is very precise with thrown weapons, and can sometimes catch weapons hurled or shot at her.
Earliest look.
Juggling with explosives for fun and profit
The charges that Bombshell was documented juggling are :
- Offensive Grenade.
- Defensive grenade.
- Smoke grenade.
- Tear gas grenade.
- Flash grenade.
Gauntlets
In 1991 she wore a pair of gauntlets. These could glow with a pink aura that detonated on contact. It wasn’t clear at first whether these were gadgets or she had acquired a power.
However, she later became able to shoot explosive blasts rather than have an explosive touch. This hinted at a gadget. This impression was reinforced when she appeared without her gauntlets and didn’t demonstrate an explosive touch or explosive blasts.
The gauntlets compensate for her chief weakness. Namely, her inability to efficiently engage foes at close range or in the middle of allies. Due to the undiscriminating area of effect of her explosives.
It is possible, but not demonstrated, that she beefed up her hand-to-hand combat skills to use those. If you think so, adding — in DC Heroes RPG terms — Martial Artist: 04 is reasonable.
1980s Death-Throws look.
History
Wendy Conrad was first seen as the pink-clad Bombshell in 1983. That was when Crossfire (William Cross) hired her and her friend Oddball (Elton Healey) to kill Hawkeye (Clint Barton) and Mockingbird (Bobbi Morse).
They first tried to do the deed by booby-trapping the house where the two heroes lived. But Mockingbird’s S.H.I.E.L.D. training allowed her to detect that their apartment had been tampered with. Hawkeye remotely detonated the bomb.
Direct action
Since Bombshell’s approach had failed, they switched to Oddball’s approach. They ambushed the couple in the subway. As Oddball led them on a chase Bombshell, disguised as a nun, ambushed Mockingbird.
She narrowly took Mockingbird down with explosive blasts from her bracer. Bombshell then took Hawkeye out while he was busy interrogating the defeated Oddball. The two criminals delivered the captured heroes to Crossfire.
But they were later knocked out when Hawkeye managed to escape.
Learning a marketable skill
Oddball then trained Bombshell to juggle. That reportedly was in the hope that she’d become his girlfriend.
Conrad demonstrated a genuine talent for juggling. She soon qualified to join the Death-Throws, a group of criminal jugglers Oddball belonged to.
For more about this era, see our Death-Throws team profile.
Later career
Like Oddball, during the 1990s Bombshell was chiefly working without the Death-Throws.
Along with a large number of female costumed criminals, she was invited to a free luxury cruise by Superia (Deidre Wentworth) to hear her pitch her Femizons project. But that plot was derailed by Captain America (Steve Rogers) and his allies.
In 1992, Bombshell joined a small army of costumed criminals assembled by Justin Hammer. These battled Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and the New Warriors. Conrad fought well, employing a mix of power blasts, explosive touch and grenades.
Along with the Rhino and Stiletto they captured Silhouette (in large part thanks to a flash grenade thrown by Conrad). But Bombshell was then knocked out by Spider-Man.
The costumed mercenaries fled when Hammer’s base was demolished in a later fight.
Throw again
Bombshell wasn’t seen again in action before 2006. The Death-Throws — allied or perhaps even commanded by Crossfire — were hired by RAID (Radically Advanced Ideas in Destruction). They took part in a terror attack on London, as recounted in our Death-Throws profile.
The woman seen during the incident was a blonde using explosives. And she wore the 1980s Bombshell costume. Yet she seemed to be a different person than Wendy Conrad. She was significantly less assured and aggressive.
A possible scenario is that Oddball and Bombshell broke up and left the Death-Throws, leading the Death-Throws to recruit replacements. Oddball is thought to be a different man than before, since the original apparently died in 2001.
Personality
Conrad appears calm, professional and disciplined. Though a non-trivial part of this comes from the contrast with the flamboyant and chaotic Oddball.
She seemed to hate Mockingbird. The reason for this wasn’t explained, but they may have clashed in the past. Perhaps Conrad was one of the renegade S.H.I.EL.D. agents exposed by Mockingbird ?
1990s look.
Quotes
“Settle down, Oddball. The money’s not ours till their smouldering corpses are hauled out of the debris and identified.”
“Hurry boys… the fuse is not that long !”
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DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Bombshell
| Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 04 |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 03 | Min: 04 |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 03 |
| Init: 010 | HP: 020 |
Skills:
Artist (Juggling); 07, Evasion (Subvelocity ranged only): 06, Military science (Demolitions): 06, Vehicles (Land): 03, Weaponry (Thrown weapons, Bracer): 05, Weaponry (Firearms): 03
Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols).
Connections:
Death-Throws (Low), Underworld (Low).
Drawbacks:
None demonstrated.
Motivation:
Mercenary.
Occupation:
Mercenary.
Wealth:
004
Equipment:
Bombshell’s ordnance has varied over the years. In chronological order:
- Early on she uses conventional explosive charges (which need to be calculated, placed, set up, etc.). A large quantity of explosives could have up to Bomb: 13. She stopped using those as she acquired specialised weapons.
- Another early piece of equipment was a Black Widow-like BRACER, which apparently shot explosive blasts. BRACER [BODY 03, Mental blast: 08, Ammo: 04, Range: 01, Advantage: Scattershot, Limitation: Mental Blast has No Range, use the listed Range instead]. This BRACER was never seen again after her first appearance, which is odd since it was a potent weapon. Maybe the recoil was damaging her wrists.
- After Oddball trained her, she started juggling a mix of grenades and home-made hand bombs. She carries specialised grenades depending upon the situation – smoke and tear gas grenades when freeing Crossfire, flash grenades to deny cover to the shadows-using Silhouette. Her mission payload will usually be seven or eight grenades, with about five of those being offensive ones and the rest selected to fit the situation.
- Offensive Grenade [BODY 01, EV 07 (Area of Effect 1 AP), R#03, Grenade drawback].
- Defensive grenade [BODY 01, Bomb: 08, R#03, Grenade drawback].
- Smoke grenade [BODY 01, Fog: 06, R#03, Grenade drawback].
- Tear gas grenade [BODY 01, Fog: 03, Chemical attack: 04, R#03, Grenade drawback, Bonus: Chemical attack is Combined With and Active Throughout the Fog].
- Flash grenade [BODY 02, Flash: 07, Grenade Drawback]. This likely was her Omni-grenade for that game.
- Omni-grenade [BODY 02, ABC Omi-Gadget: 07, Grenade Drawback, Minor Marginal].
- During the Femizons cruise, Bombshell had EXPLOSIVE TOUCH GLOVES [BODY 06, Flash (steady illum. only): 01, Mental blast: 08, Limitation: Mental Blast has a Range of Touch, Note: Ammo: 06 or so is likely].
- Those were upgraded as EXPLOSIVE BLAST GLOVES [BODY 06, Flash (steady illum. only): 01, Mental blast (Diminishing): 08, Note: Ammo: 06 or so is likely]. However, by the 2006 battle in London, she didn’t have gauntlets of either kind. Since she was seen working for Justin Hammer not too long after acquiring the gauntlets, they may have been built by Hammer Industries.
DC Adventures RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Bombshell (Wendy Conrad) — Averaged PL 5
| STR | STA | AGL | DEX |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | 02 | 01 | 02 |
| FGT | INT | AWE | PRE |
| 01 | 02 | 00 | 01 |
Powers:
Catch! ● 2 points ● Descriptor: Skill
Enhanced Dodge 4 (Limited 1 to subvelocity objects).
Devices:
Explosive weapons ● Budget varies ● Descriptor: Technology
Bombshell’s ordnance has varied over the years. In chronological order:
- Early on she uses conventional explosive charges (which need to be calculated, placed, set up, etc.). Use plastic explosive stats from the DCA Hero’s Handbook, p154 (Burst Area Damage 10). She stopped using those as she acquired specialised weapons.
- Another early piece of equipment was a Black Widow-like BRACER, which apparently shot explosive blasts. Close explosive Damage 7, Reach 4, Limited 1 (four uses) ● 8 points. This BRACER was never seen again after her first appearance, which is odd since it was a potent weapon. Maybe the recoil was damaging her wrists.
- After Oddball trained her, she started juggling a mix of grenades and home-made hand bombs. She carries specialised grenades depending upon the situation – smoke and tear gas grenades when freeing Crossfire, flash grenades to deny cover to the shadows-using Silhouette. Her mission payload will usually be seven or eight grenades, with about five of those being offensive ones and the rest selected to fit the situation.
All stats for grenades per handbook, deployed as an Array, with the most expensive line being frag grenades (Burst Area Damage 5). - During the Femizons cruise, Bombshell had Explosive Touch Gloves – Close explosive Damage 7 and Feature 1 (can provide some illumination from the glowing energy field).
- Those were upgraded as Explosive Blast Gloves – Ranged explosive Damage 7, Limited 1 (loses 1 Rank of Damage per Rank of distance to the target), same Feature as above.
Since she was seen working for Justin Hammer not too long after acquiring the gauntlets, they may have been built by Hammer Industries.
By the 2006 battle in London, she didn’t have gauntlets of either kind.
Combat Advantages:
Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 1, Ranged Attack 2.
Other Advantages:
None demonstrated.
Skills:
Athletics 1 (+1), Expertise (Juggling) 8 (+10), Insight 1 (+1), Perception 3 (+3), Ranged combat (Bracer blasters) 4 (+8), Ranged combat (Thrown weapons) 4 (+8), Technology 8 (+10) (Limited 2 to the Demolitions application), Vehicles 2 (+4) (Limited 2 to common ground vehicles).
Offence:
| Initiative +1 |
| Unarmed +3, Close, Damage 0. |
| Thrown weapons +8, by type. |
| Bracers +8, by type. |
Defence:
| Dodge | 04 |
| Fortitude | 06 |
| Parry | 03 |
| Toughness | 02*/03 |
| Will | 03 |
* Without Defensive Roll.
Complications:
- Merc for money Bombshell gets paid to do bad things for and/or with dangerous people.
Powers Levels:
- Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 7, Dodge/Toughness PL 5, Parry/Toughness PL 3, Fort/Will PL 5.
- Points total 70. Abilities 18, Defences 12, Skills 12, Powers 2, Devices 20, Advantages 6. Equiv. PL 5.
Notes
She may have an Expertise (4 ?) about infantry work or as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but this is *hypothetical*.
She may also have beefed up her hand-to-hand combat skills after getting her gauntlets, but this too is hazy.
Source of Character: Marvel comics.