Devos the Devastator

Background

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Powers and Abilities

Devos the Devastator wields a large arsenal of advanced weaponry. Much of it is housed in his powerful (and visually impressive) suit of power armour. He’s a highly skilled warrior, from javelin to blaster to his bare hands.

Devos’ armour

• A power armature allowing him to engage the Thing himself in hand-to-hand combat.
• Armour plating allowing him to withstand tremendous amounts of firepower.
• A “luminator” (a wide-effect red burst, in DC Heroes RPG terms Flash) and a thermal imager in the visor.
• A left bracer with :
  • A pair of Wolverine-like vibroclaws (only jagged like harpoons, and apparently non-retractable).
  • A discharger of gray stun gas.
  • A launcher of micro-grenades (including “frost grenades” that could put the Human Torch’s flame out).
• The right bracer may include claws (though it might be artistic error) and has a system that allow both bracers to discharge force pulses (Mental Blast).

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• Devices that allowed him to speak and understand English, apparently within minutes of encountering the language for the first time. His communication systems apparently have galactic range.
• Psi-Lord mentioned that the armour could withstand psionic  blasts. It likely incorporates psi-shields.
• Generators to electrify the surface of his armour to repel somebody grappling him. These were powerful enough to inflict significant pain to the Thing.
• Antigravity generators enabling him to fly. Although he generally flies at around 7 APs of speed, those generators are powerful enough to propel him into orbit.
• The spikes on his shoulder pads can be shot of opponents — those are actually stubby, miniature rockets. They are often shot as a volley. The right shoulder also includes a deployable energy cannon, which seems mostly intended to be used while in flight.
• A special weapon of mass destruction is a huge, green, coruscating energy fields that builds up around his armour before it explosively radiates outward. This weapon could have razed five Manhattan city blocks.

Devos’ original Mothership also included a sort of portal he could stand in to supercharge his armour. What it could actually do is unknown, as he was prevented from using it. He stated it was the first time he encountered such force that he had to use this device.

History

Devos is an humanoid extraterrestrial from an unspecified (and possibly extinct) race. His planet was ravaged by high-tech raiders from space, and he was left to survive alone in the ruins as a child.

Although he was utterly alone and without any apparent future, he persevered and survived for years. That lasted until another kind of troopers came from space. Those soldiers adopted Devos as one of their own, and the indomitable survivor became their mightiest trooper, an incredible fighting machine who received the best equipment and harshest missions.

However, traumatized by the slaughter of everything he knew when he was a child, Devos was merely waiting to launch his master plan.

As the elite of the armed forces, Devos was selected for “the great experiment”. That was a program conducted by female military scientist Symka, who dreamed of creating the ultimate super-soldier. She successfully transformed Devos’s very genetic structure. Then he was encased into powerful battle armour.

Symka and the other later learned, though, that Devos was merely bidding his time so he could use his great firepower to go on a deranged crusade for galactic peace. Whether he fought off and killed his former comrades or simply left is unknown.

Space crusade

Early in his career, Devos was teleported in space and time by Aron, the rogue Watcher. Devos was to fight the Fantastic Four and Fantastic Force along with other various villains, most of whom also came from the past. Although he did not understand why his opponents recognized him, he tried to kill them and dueled with Psi-Lord.

Devos’ deathcruiser.

Huntara eventually opened a wormhole to “an unpopulated dimension”, into which Devos accidentally dove. How he eventually got back to the Earth-616  dimension is unrevealed.

The first lengthy encounter Devos had with humans was when he stumbled, somewhere in deep space, on the Fantastic Four. The Four had just rescued Alicia Masters from the Skrulls, but the hyperdrive on their spaceship was shot and they were stranded in space.

Devos’s ship swallowed theirs with its tractor beam. He dropped them in separate cells in his specimen-holding facility, probably to study them and determine whether they were a risk.

Concerned with Alicia’s well-being, the Invisible Woman burst everyone out of their cell. Giant robots intervened, and the Thing moved in. The situation quickly escalated as some specimens were broken free of their containment bubbles by the brawl.

This was far more than enough to convince Devos that humans were major threats for other species. But even with his incredible armament, he found out that the foursome outclassed him. He tried to supercharge his armour to take them out, but a fastball special from the Thing using Reed as the projectile knocked him out of alignment. Thus, the energy damaged his armour instead of boosting it.

Lost but not stranded yet

Devos triggered the destruction of the ship and fled. His thousands of specimen were released, only to be exposed to vast quantities of gas laced with innumerable toxins. However, the ever-unstoppable Fantastic Four survived everything, took control of the ship, and stopped the self-destruction sequence. Reed Richards then learned how to pilot it, and they used it to return to Earth.

Devos’ mothership.

Eventually, Devos stumbled upon a Skrull cruiser, which took him in. Devos prepared to thank his rescuer before terminating him. He had killed numerous Skrulls before, given their warlike nature. However, the Skrull piloting the ship was no ordinary Skrull. He was Paibok the Power Skrull, and was aware of Devos’ reputation as a genocidal madman.

They did not fight, though — when Paibok realized they shared an hatred for the Fantastic Four, he offered him an alliance.

Devos would have refused, but Paibok made a point by showing him the “weapon” he transported, which could indeed shatter the foursome. It was Lyja, a Skrull who long shared the life of FF member Johnny Storm after she took the place of Alicia Masters.

As the wary Devos was watching, Paibok moved to the next phase of his plan and turned Lyja into a superskrull somewhat similar to himself (Lyja would later adopt the nom de guerre Lazerfist).

With super-Skrulls at my side

Since their plan hinged on the psychological advantage Lyja gave them against the Human Torch, Paibok and Devos attacked Johnny Storm when he was away from the others. After the initial clash and chase, they unleashed the vengeful Lyja.

In a surprising fit of maturity, the battered Torch shot up a flare to signal for help. Paibok and Devos reacted by joining the fight to bring him down as quickly as possible. Johnny went nova to save his life, but inflicted tremendous damage to the buildings of Empire State University in so doing.

One of Devos’ bouncer-type robots.

Devos, Paibok and Lyja retreated. Paibok continued with his sadistic and convoluted plan to destroy the Human Torch. Meanwhile Devos mostly stayed his hand and waited for an opportunity to kill anyone and then ravage Earth. The plan failed, however, when Lyja came to her senses and switched sides.

Paibok seized the next opportunity during Johnny Storm’s public trial for the devastation he had brought to the Empire State campus. The Skrull knew that Storm and his friends could ill-afford to use excessive violence in front of the judge or camera. He and Devos barged into the tribunal to take out the FF and Lyja.

Enemy to the fantastic ones

Coincidentally, Huntara and Klaw, who were stalking the Four for reasons of their own, attacked at the same moment. The four villains allied out of convenience. Devos proceeded to viciously pound and claw the Thing in the face, aggravating the considerable damage Wolverine had inflicted in a previous encounter. However, he was stopped by the intervention of Silver Sable and the Sandman.

The Devastator then lost patience. He took to the air to activate a weapon of mass destruction in his armour. But the blast was contained by the Invisible Woman, who passed out under the strain.

The undaunted Devos returned to the fray. But at this point the Avengers joined the fight. The four villains retreated after Devos’ force pulses hammered the Thing so hard he was buried under the sidewalk.

Still allied, the four foes of the Fantastic Four witnessed Reed Richards seemingly dying while confronting Doctor Doom. They leveraged the situation and infiltrated the FF’s HQ, but then parted ways. Huntara went after Psi-Lord, and Klaw took the comatose Sharon Ventura with him.

Devos and Paibok used the building’s security systems to capture the Invisible Woman, the Thing, the Human Torch and Lyja. They then flew back to the Skrull Throne World with their prisoners.

Throne World

This was, of course, a tragic mistake on Paibok’s part. While he was basking in the glory of being hailed as a hero of the empire for his victory and the imminent execution of the Four, he had brought Devos to the heart of the Skrull’s military-industrial complex. This occasion was too good for the ominously-armoured madman to pass.

Paibok thought he could simply arrest Devos for his numerous crimes against the Skrulls and have him executed too, but Devos revealed he had an entire planet stocked with ships and weapons. Thus, a gargantuan warship warped in above the Skrull Throne World, launching a planetary bombardment based on the intelligence Devos had accumulated.

As the Throne World was plunged into utter chaos, Devos sheared through the guards. He soon faced Paibok the Power Skrull.

Thinking this was a power grab from Paibok, the Empress ordered his death. Thus, Skrull soldiers broke up the fight between Devos and Paibok to try to kill the latter, and Devos seized the opportunity to fly to his cruiser to take personal command of the devastation.

However, the shapeshifting Paibok shadowed him, infiltrated the cruiser as Devos was entering it, and sabotaged its stardrive. Paibok and Devos were glimpsed ferociously fighting as the cruiser randomly rotated itself into sub-space due to the damaged drive. This saved the throneworld from further destruction.

Road to the Annihilation

Devos reappeared on Goothab Omega, in the slums called the Abyss. The planet experiencing an odd series of coincidences and visitations by powerful space warriors, including Devos. Those strange events were engineered by Glorian, trying to accumulate enough super-energy to become the new Shaper of Worlds.

The Devastator had found a perfect place, for everyone here was a deadly enemy of peace by his standards.

He was seen fighting the powerful Skrull warrior, Talos the Untamed, against whom he eventually triumphed. Before Devos could kill Talos, Ronan intervened and tried to negotiate an alliance with Devos, who chose to listen to him. As he did, however, the stealthy Gamora, who was hunting Ronan down, ran her powerful sword through Devos and engaged Ronan.

Devos survived the terrible wound. He and Talos were taken prisoner by Glorian, who had finally gained the energy he needed from Ronan and Gamora fighting.

At this moment, the Annihilation Wave attacked the entire planet. Given the circumstances, Devos and Talos allied themselves with Ronan and another Kree, Korath the Pursuer. They formed a powerful fighting cadre against the endless hordes of warrior insects from the Negative Zone.

Description

Inside the armour, Devos is a quasi-human with a bronze/orange skin colour and numerous cybernetic implants, presumably intended to control his power armour.

Personality

Devos is either insane or using an alien form of logic. In either case, he’s dedicated to exterminating anything that could conceivable be, or become, a threat to other forms of life. Which includes nearly everything.But’s not an irrational compulsion. He is willing to strike alliances with obviously warlike beings to eliminate greater threats.

The Devastator rarely just speaks. He tends to shout threats and grandiose declarations instead.

Devos is a hardcore survivor, and is used to bidding his time when he needs to achieve large-scale results. It may be that his race is particularly long-lived.

Quotes

“I am not deceived, my pretties ! Others may see your life form as harmless, but I know the truth ! Though you presently lack the ability to form coherent thoughts, your incredible speed and razor-sharp talons mark you as a potential hazard ! If left unchecked, future generations of your race could conceivably evolve into a threat to the galactic peace !”

“I am the ultimate guardian of the peace ! It is my responsibility — my sacred duty — to eliminate every life form that has any prospect of ever waging war !”

“Another ship is in the vicinity ! Any species capable of space travel must certainly have the capacity for conflict !”

“Remain motionless… or DIE ! I am Devos, the supreme protector of the galactic peace !”

“Find comfort in the fact that your death serves a noble cause !”

(When asked for help in repairing a starship) “Do you take me for a total fool ? You obviously want to spirit my advanced technology back to your warlike hordes ! I have a duty… a sacred responsibility… to rid the universe of you !”

“You ignorant, insolent clod—! I am Devos the Devastator… The most skilled and feared warrior of all !”

“Devos is amused by one thing only, Skrull… violence and death !”

“After careful and objective study I deem humanity a potential threat to galactic peace ! It is my sacred responsibility to eliminate any race capable of waging war ! Your entire species is targeted for extinction ! You, however, will have the distinct honor of being the first to die !”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Marvel Universe (mostly Fantastic Four stuff).

Helper(s): Kal El el Vigilante, Gareth Lewis.