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This article, Darren Cross (Earth-61615), is property of MarvelousMarty. |
(father; deceased),
Unnamed woman
(mother; deceased)
Ant-Man Vol 1 1
Ultimate War Vol 1 8
History
Just imagine a soldier the size of an insect. The ultimate secret weapon...
- — Darren Cross
- — Darren Cross
Early Years
Darren Agonistes Cross was born in New York City in 1976 to an unnamed scientist and an unnamed saleswoman. Throughout his teenage years, he learned at high school and gained high levels of popularity as he became a scientific genius, gaining him a proficient scholarship into Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he later graduated as valedictorian at the age of nineteen.
Starting up his own business industry, Cross became a self-made millionaire due to his mastery of science, eventually creating and heading his company, Cross Technologies. He made it a success to rival its top competitors, all thanks to the advice and counseling his former mentor and close friend, Hank Pym. However, he became obsessed with learning the secrets of Pym's Ant-Man Suit, and his size-reducing Pym Particle technology, despite Pym's constant attempts to convince Cross that it was nothing more than an urban legend and should not be taken seriously.
Yellowjacket, Recreated
For several years, Cross continued to obsess over Pym's previous experiments that had remained hidden from the world, focusing much of his energy into understanding the science behind the fabled Ant-Man Suit. Eventually, Cross' obsession paid off and he was able to make his own weaponized version of the Ant-Man Suit that was called the Yellowjacket Suit. Little did everyone else knew at his own company, Pym already had the exact idea of the Yellowjacket way before Darren did, which would later reveal that Darren has indeed, loosely stolen the mantle of the Yellowjacket in secret.
Facing the New Ant-Man
After having to successfully recreate the Yellowjacket Suit, he ultimately commenced his schemes to sell the suit for military and terrorist use, and among those costumers he found the most pleasing and trusting was the ruthless terrorist organization Hydra. Because of this, a momentarily retired and recovering Hank and his wife Janet decided to recruit and train the ex-con Scott Lang to be able to don the mantle of the Ant-Man in order to stop Darren's plot, which ultimately resulted in the Pym Technologies facility being destroyed.
Humiliating Defeat
Enraged by their heroic heist and his ultimate failure, Darren donned the Yellowjacket armor and tried to kill Scott, who had become the new Ant-Man. He attempted to kidnap and possibly even kill Scott's daughter Cassie as payback, leading to a final confrontation between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket. Scott ultimately managed to shrink down and sabotage the Yellowjacket Suit from inside, destroying the suit's weapons, and the suit itself, without having to extremely damage the internal mainframe and miraculously not killing Cross.
Later on, Pym had help from S.H.I.E.L.D. in creating a cover story regarding Cross' whereabouts since the incident in the Cross Technological Enterprises Facility, claiming to the public that Cross committed suicide inside the bathroom of his mansion located in San Francisco, the night after the incident out of depression, though in actuality, he was alive but not that well, currently being imprisoned at a classified S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, where he was being questioned about the possible duplicates for the Yellowjacket Suit, and where it could be hidden.
Cross remained silent during the long interrogation, smirked, and answered nothing, implying that there were secret duplicates of the suit. Later on, it was revealed that the rest of the Yellowjacket suits were located in a secret vault below the destroyed headquarters of Cross Technologies, and was eventually found by the operatives of his most trusted customers, Hydra, led by Hydra superior Mitchell Carson, as Cross has once promised them before.
Hydra's Recruitment
After the events of Hydra Uprising, Darren's prison facility was suddenly infiltrated by Hydra forces and his cell was destroyed, freeing Cross from his supposedly lifelong imprisonment. Finally freed by his former business partners, he was confronted by Baron von Strucker and convinced to join their organization (since they already had a partnership regarding the Yellowjacket deal, and since Cross and Strucker had the same ideologies regarding the new world order). Cross immediately agreed to join and was now a powerful lieutenant of Hydra so he could eventually seek his revenge against Lang, Pym, van Dyne, and everyone else who had ruined his unethical career and his entire life.
Ultimate War
During the start of the Ultimate War, Cross unleashed his ultimate power for the very first time, leading an entire army of his own, composed of volunteered operatives from the Movement Alliance, wearing the duplicates of his designed Yellowjacket Suits, to which he dubbed his lethal army as the Swarm of Yellowjackets. Little did anyone else know, Cross and his little Yellowjacket army were held responsible for secretly bombing several historical monuments and other sacred structures all around the Eastern world that ultimately started the Movement, done as an act of temporarily framing the United States of America, the European Union, and even their superheroes in the process, gaining them extra time so that the Movement Alliance could prepare a little bit more.
Enraged and saddened by the deaths of countless civilians, several countries all around the world did blame and accused the Western countries, as planned, most especially the United States for being so irresponsible with their country's heroes by not giving them any limit or given any government supervision. Several days after the worldwide bombings incident, the peak of the Movement was finally brought about by the Alliance, just as expected. The war lasted for several weeks, and unfortunately, more and more bodies from both sides started falling, as each day passed.
Survival
During the chaotic and devastating battle caused by the Movement Alliance, Darren, while still battling every single defense, suddenly attacked a courageous journalist and a cameraman who were trying to risk their lives addressing all the events on live television, only to be horrifyingly approached by Cross himself in the most terrifying fashion. Cross then "kindly" borrowed the camera from the two, so that he could reveal himself on live television after taking off his helmet, declaring to the public that he couldn't be more alive than ever.
Recalling the events of the infiltration on his company's headquarters, Cross insanely ranted about the false promises of the government and the authorities regarding the country's freedom and protection and publicly blamed S.H.I.E.L.D. and his old friend Hank Pym for ruining his life, for falsely declaring that he committed suicide, followed by his imprisonment, which he deemed unconscionable for "not considering his rights" as a citizen of the country. After his brief rant on the failure of the country and the rest of the United Nations due to the previous events of the Hydra Uprising, he gave the camera back to the cameraman and the journalist, only for the two of them to be shot by Cross using his suit's deadly stingers, instantly killing them in cold blood.
Killing Spree
Later on during the non-stop skirmish on New York, Cross led his Yellowjacket army once again in order to decimate all of the defensive forces from the U.S. Army, the New York City Police Department, and many more in order to infiltrate to the secured evacuated areas. Unluckily enough, the authorities started to become defenseless overtime, and eventually they had no other choice but to retreat back as they tried protecting all the civilians, having the Yellowjackets' power extremely surpassed and destroyed most of their defenses effortlessly, like they were nothing.
As days passed, the city's defenses were only left in the last few designated units of the NYPD. Having no other solution regarding the protection of the civilians, the current commander of the NYPD, Lieutenant Kris Keating, along with most of his men, agreed to fully surrender themselves to the Yellowjackets as their prisoners, as long as the civilians were left unharmed. At first, Cross accepted their surrender, only to reveal that he intentionally lied to them, as they were all disintegrated while they were still on their way to the established mega-prison, with Cross' oversimplified "explanation" that the prison was already filled with filthy authorities just like them.
Now that there were no other defensive forces remaining across the city, Cross and his army returned to the evacuated areas, and according to a demented and deranged Cross, he was looking forward to massacring all the helpless, frightened, innocent civilians. Arriving at the now unsecured evacuation area, Cross strode out after the screaming crowd who tried to escape, where he and his army surrounded the entire place, trapping all the people and demanding that they stay right where they were.
Final Stand
When Cross and his men were prepared to massacre the entire place, a hooded man from the crowd suddenly stood up, revealed to be Hank Pym. Seeing Hank, Cross slowly walks towards him and taunted him what kind of heist he was planning at the time. Smiling at Cross' specific question, Pym told him that the heist they were working on this time was for stopping whatever his scheme was once more, followed by Pym giving Cross a hard fist to the face for the second time. Cross tried to grab his throat, but Pym suddenly shrinks down, revealing that he has finally returned into taking on the mantle of the Ant-Man.
As the result of his return, Cross shrank himself and the two finally engaged in a duel. While fighting Pym in a level match, Cross then called and ordered his men to keep surrounding the place and proceed to killing the civilians, only for their plan to be immediately foiled by another three men from the crowd, revealing themselves as the other Ant-Men: Scott Lang, Eric O'Grady, and Chris McCarthy. The three battled the rest of the Yellowjackets, resulting in their eventual victory, freeing all the evacuees inside the area to safety, before proceeding to help a weakened Pym against Cross, who was close to getting killed by the villain.
Facing the Ant-Men
As the four Ant-Men engaged in a final duel against Cross outside the city, which was also currently a final battleground between the Movement Alliance and the Ultimates, the heroic four neared towards defeating the villain, right until Cross unexpectedly took the battle towards a higher level and activated all of his suit's full capabilities, continuously releasing an unstable energy pulse from his suit's stingers, giving him the upper advantage against the Ant-Men.
Having no other choice but to go full subatomic, McCarthy unthinkably tried to shrink his suit, only to be stopped by Pym and Lang, explaining that he couldn't survive without the proper suit needed to enter the Quantum Realm. McCarthy, who was still hesitating on whether he would truly go subatomic or not, was unluckily shot by Cross' stingers in a split-second, hitting him straight in his heart, fatally injuring him. McCarthy's teammate, O'Grady, immediately out of sheer panic and concern for his dying friend, went to him. As McCarthy slowly died in his arms, O'Grady greatly mourned for the death of his teammate and closest friend.
Unexpected Death
As Cross prepared to murder a weakened Lang, O'Grady, and and an unconscious Pym to torment his defeated foes and gain an accomplished and rewarding victory in this Movement, the Iron Avenger himself, Iron Man suddenly flew out of nowhere in order to save the Ant-Men and shot Cross from the back of his titanium armor using his powered repulsor beam, extremely damaging the internal mainframe of the Yellowjacket Suit.
Realizing that the internal mainframe had been permanently damaged, Cross screamed in horrific pain and doubting that he could get out of his suit, one last time before the suit then collapsed into itself, smashing the glass in his helmet and crushing his limbs until Cross' body was completely destroyed, causing Cross to shrink fatally into the Quantum Realm, finally killing him.
Completely surprised and bewildered by what just Stark has unintentionally done to Cross, Stark asked Pym and the Ant-Men what the hell just happened, confidently telling him that he was a big fan of his. Realizing that he didn't get any information from what actually happened to Cross, Stark awkwardly accepted Lang's handshake before telling Pym that they should both discuss what happened to Cross, after the end of the conflict. Stark then flew off, still confused, continuing to help in ending the ongoing conflict across the city.
Compelling Legacy
Though he was finally killed during the final battle of Ultimate War, Cross' public rant on live television that occurred earlier entirely revolutionized the way most people think and their views on the government, with some people pointing out that he was right all along, believing that the United Nations seemed to have mistaken full protection with fear and discreet surveillance, along with the idea that there were too many super-powered individuals flourishing all around the world without any sort of supervision on them, instead always having to supervise just the civilian community, where they felt like they were being oppressed because they were nothing but ordinary people.
As a consequence of the entire world, the Superhuman Registration Act was eventually implemented, which were a set of legal documents designed to regulate the activities of enhanced individuals, specifically those who work for either government agencies such as S.H.I.E.L.D. or for private organizations such as the Avengers, Defenders, and many more. Established by the United Nations and ratified by 117 nations, the act serves as a "middle point" between the Avengers' desire to secure world peace and the international community's concern over the repercussions of the actions caused by many superheroes all around the world. However, this led to a major schism and conflict among the super-powered community, with one side (led by Captain America) opposed to the act resisting registration and the other side (led by Iron Man) supporting registration and trying to enforce the new law.
It took a long while after the conflict eventually ended, and even after finding out that Helmut Zemo had been the true mastermind and the perpetrator of causing both the Ultimate War and Civil War, the legislative bill remained implemented right until the events of the Secret Invasion has occurred, where both leaders of both sides demanded the United Nations to finally abolish the act, after both sides reunited into saving the Earth from the Skrull's invasion, ultimately ending the heroic superhuman civil war, once and for all.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Size Manipulation: With the Pym Particles, Darren can reduce his size down to less than one inch tall and possibly increase his size above normal, approximately sixty feet tall and above.
- Size Enhancement
- Enhanced Durability
- Size Reduction
- Superhuman Strength
- Mutated by Pym Particles
| Power Grid [1] | |||||
| Intelligence |
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| Strength* |
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| Speed* |
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| Durability* |
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| Energy Projection* |
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| Fighting Skills |
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| * Darren is powered by Pym Particles and was using a modified, upgraded Yellowjacket's Suit | |||||
Abilities
- Genius Level Intellect
- Master Scientist
- Expert Businessman
- Multilingual
Strength level
Class 10+ (Variable)
Weaknesses
- Mentally Unstable
- Insanity
- Insanity
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- Yellowjacket Suit (formerly; destroyed)
Transportation:
- Flight
Weapons:
- Glock 17
- Beretta 92FS Inox
- The Stinger
- Yellowjacket's Energy Pulse Stingers
Notes
- No special notes.
- ↑ Modern Comics: Ant-Man Vol 1 5
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- Appearances of Darren Cross (Earth-61615)
- Character Gallery: Darren Cross (Earth-61615)
- Quotations by Darren Cross (Earth-61615)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Yellowjacket · Darren Agonistes Cross · Darren Cross (Earth-61615)
Links and References
- None.