Ajax (comics)

Publication history

Ajax first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #379 (March 1991), and was created by writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown.

Fictional character biography

Ajax is a member of the Pantheon, and is one of the descendants of the immortal Agamemnon, along with Achilles, Atalanta, Cassiopeia, Delphi, Hector, Paris, Perseus, Prometheus, and Ulysses. Ajax was born in Texas. He was named after Ajax, a Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War.

When the warriors of the Pantheon first encounter the Hulk, for the purpose of inviting him to join them, Ajax attacks the Hulk after he believes the Hulk has struck Atalanta, for whom Ajax bears an unrequited crush. To prevent injuries to nearby civilians, Hulk pretends to be rendered unconscious so that the Pantheon will take him captive.^[1] When the Pantheon returns to their headquarters, The Mount, the formerly captive Hulk frees himself, and Ajax fights him again but this time is defeated by him.^[2] After the Hulk accepts the Pantheon's offer to join them Ajax attacks him again, but Atalanta, to whom Ajax is submissive, tells him that the Hulk is now a member of the Pantheon, and that he must now regard him as a friend.^[3]

Ajax serves on many of the Pantheon's missions while the Hulk is part of the team. Ajax fights rioters in New York City alongside Atalanta, killing some of them because his companion ordered this.^[4] Alongside the Hulk and the Pantheon, he battles S.H.I.E.L.D. and the forces of Farnoq Dahn in the Trans-Sabal war,^[5][6] and battled the People's Protectorate.^[7] After Atalanta is injured Ajax visits her in the Mount's hospital.^[8] He battles Dracchiss alongside the Pantheon,^[9] and is badly burned in a fight with the U-Foes.^[10]

When he discovered Atalanta and Achilles in a romantic interlude, Ajax flies into a jealous rage, threatening to hurt both of them. He is eventually restrained and calmed by the Hulk.^[11]

Powers and abilities

Ajax is so massive that he cannot move quickly without a special exoskeleton battle-suit, which grants him superhuman strength, durability and reflexes. His strength increases as his anger builds, much like that of the Hulk. Like other members of the Pantheon, Ajax has a fast healing ability and an extended lifespan. Without support from his battle-suit, Ajax's legs and spine would collapse under his tremendous weight. His body is disproportionate in shape. He also has poor vision.

Personality

He has the mentality of a young child, making him sometimes difficult to control. Atalanta has always been able to calm him down, as he idolizes her and will do anything she says. Of course, this sometimes leads to other problems. For a time, he did not understand the difference between romantic love and platonic friendship love and this drove him into a rampage, where he even threatened Atalanta herself. The rampage was ended before anyone was seriously hurt (in Pantheon terms) or killed. Ajax took his rage out on an inanimate mountain, not realizing he was endangering himself as well. The Hulk managed to talk him into calming down.

The Hulk has also gotten into trouble when he fails to treat Ajax with the proper mind frame. At first he attacks Ajax again when he mistakes a simple hug for another threat against Atalanta. Then the Hulk let it slip that Bambi's mother had died, distressing Ajax who had been told, by Atalanta, she had run away and come back after the movie had ended.

Publication history

Ajax (Francis "Fanny" Freeman) first appeared in Deadpool #14 (cover-dated March 1998) and was created by writer Joe Kelly and artist Walter McDaniel.

Fictional character biography

The man known as "The Attending" was the former enforcer at Dr. Killebrew's laboratory, known as the Workshop, part of the Hospice for failed supersoldiers at the Weapon X Project. Francis acted as the strongarm for Killebrew, reining in the project's "washouts" that were fodder for Killebrew's sadistic experiments whenever they stepped out of line. This included Wade Wilson, who would later be known as the mercenary Deadpool.^[13]

Having had his nerves removed by Killebrew for better pain management, Francis would later have enhanced strength and intuitive capability, as well as receiving subcutaneous implants for super-speed and agility.^[13]

After endless taunting from Wilson, Francis was given permission by Killebrew to kill him. Francis orchestrated events so that Wilson would perform a mercy killing on another inmate, which was against the rules; the inmate Deadpool was to kill was one to whom he had grown particularly close. After Francis removed Wilson's heart, his healing factor manifested itself for the first time by regenerating a new heart for the mercenary. However, the entire series of events cost him his sanity. Taking the codename Deadpool, he hunted down and seemingly killed Francis.^[13]

Revealed to have survived, Francis resurfaced years later using the codename of Ajax. He hunted down and killed many of the surviving members of the Weapon X project to exact his revenge on Deadpool. Ajax tortured Killebrew at his mountain home in the Alps in order to obtain Wade's teleporter frequency; after which he teleported Wade next to a nearby cliff and sucker-punched him, sending Deadpool to his apparent death.^[13]

In a near death experience, however, it was revealed that because Wade came back from the dead once to kill Francis, he was now bound by honor and destiny to finish the job he began those many years ago, urged on by the ghosts of Francis' victims who had also been Wilson's friends. The battle continued as Deadpool rescued Killebrew and sought shelter at Killebrew's neighbor's house. This was owned by Ilaney Bruckner who was reluctantly dragged into the conflict when Deadpool destroyed the house to slow down Francis.^[14]

Francis caught up with the trio and proceeded to punch Deadpool repeatedly at super-speed. Before he could kill Deadpool, however, Killebrew doused him with gasoline and lit up a flare, destroying Francis' head and neck protection. For doing this, Killebrew was shredded at super speed.^[15]

Once again catching up with the fleeing Deadpool, Ajax fell victim to a trap laid by his intended victim which resulted in his armor's circuitry being exposed. Taking advantage of this, Deadpool arranged for Ajax to plunge both of them into a lake, short-circuiting his armor and giving Deadpool the opportunity to kill him, which he did by snapping his neck.^[15] Ajax "re-appeared" years later in one of Deadpool's nightmares, more specifically on a television set.^[16]

Blackheart releases Ajax from Hell in an attempt to prevent Deadpool and Thanos from meddling in his latest plot to overthrow Mephisto. Ajax, now calling himself Abyss Man, locates and attempts to kill the pair, but the duo subdue him and turn him into a gateway to Hell with the help of Black Talon.^[12]

Powers and abilities

Francis has enhanced strength and intuitive capacity, as a result of genetic modifications by Doctor Killebrew. After receiving implants, he gained superhuman speed and agility. His nerves were also removed to dramatically increase his tolerance for pain.^[13]

Film

• The Francis version of Ajax appears in Deadpool, portrayed by Ed Skrein.^[17] According to co-writer Rhett Reese, the character was selected to act as the film's antagonist due to his "sadistic quality and his imperviousness to pain and what that implied about him" which "lands very hard on Wade Wilson and creates the fun antagonism".^[18] In the film, Ajax works in an underground facility (in which he had also been a patient) and tortures Wade Wilson to bring out his mutant genes and be sold as a super slave. He is annoyed by Wade's constant mocking, especially when Wade discovers his real name and claims he got the name Ajax from the cleaning product. His experiments result in Wade's hideous mutation and the destruction of the facility he worked in. He is injured by Wade (now known as "Deadpool") on a freeway, and escapes when his enemy is distracted by Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. He and his partner Angel Dust retaliate by kidnapping Wade's girlfriend Vanessa. Deadpool and the two X-Men confront Ajax and his team at a scrapyard, where Ajax loses and is killed by Wade after he reveals that he cannot fix Wade's disfigurement.