ANNEX

Real Name: Alexander Ellis

Identity/Class: Human, cyborg/technology user

Occupation: Former soldier in US Army

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Hillman and Melanie Barto, Spider-Man, Vengeance

Enemies: Adarco, Sam Buchanan, Big Game Posse, Brace, Abner Dunson, Platoon, Ren-Tech

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27 (1993)

Powers/Abilities: Annex possesses the ability to tap into the BREW--Bio-Regenerative Energy Well--which is filled with transmissible biological material, living matter that can be transmitted over ultra high frequency radio waves and configured into any shape. Initially he required the Annex armor to do this, but he later had implants installed that allowed him to directly tap the BREW and recreate the armor at will.
Theoretically, the BREW enables him to form any shape or mechanical device, providing two things: 1) the component molecules of the device exist within the BREW, 2) the armor has analyzed a replica or schematic of its target creation. Using the BREW, he forms a prosthetic limb to replace his missing lower leg. He can access the extensive munitions design files from Adarco. He can generate a variety of weapons and devices, including even high-tech/magical devices such as Linda/the Exorcist, the gun formerly used by Frank Drake, which uses nanotechnology to attack beings of magical nature. He has also formed inertia dampening shields, energy nets, a variety of energy weapons, etc.
The majority of the armor's powers require transmissions to and from the BREW, but it has a few inherent abilities. The armor also allows him to fly, protects him from a certain degree of injury, and granting him superhuman strength (Class 10?). It can also magnetize its surface, with sufficient power to tear a weapon from a foe's hand.

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185 (without armor), 300 lbs (in armored form)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27 (fb)) - During a US military action in the Middle East, Alex Ellis took a bullet in the calf muscle. He helped his friend Davey Dunson to safety, but Davey died anyway, and Alex ended up needing to have his leg amputated due to the extensive damage and delayed treatment. Back in the US, Alex was very disappointed in the prostheses available to him, but was eventually put in touch with Adarco, where Dr. Hillman Barto introduced him to the Annexing unit. Upon donning the armor, Ellis was able to form a new leg, suddenly, however, a large amount of softwarebegan to download into Ellis' mind, submerging his personality and allowing the armor's programming to dominate. Annex then went on a rampage.

(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#27) - Spider-Man encountered Annex, and after a brief skirmish followed him back to Barto's lab. Barto helped Ellis regain his own mind, and they learned that the mass software download was actually the brain patterns and memories of Davey Dunson. Davey's father, Abner, was the president of Adarco, and had designed the Annexing unit and placed the software placed in an effort to restore his son to life. After learning this, Annex went after Abner Dunson, who donned a similar Annexing unit helmet. Dunson tried to force Annex to allow Davey's personality to be downloaded, but as this happened, Davey told his father that his grief had corrupted him and that what he was doing was wrong. Abner Dunson madly fired at Annex, but instead destroyed one of the computer terminals from which he was accessing files. Gigabytes of gibberish were downloaded into Abner's brain, incapacitating him.

(Spider-Man Unlimited#3/3) - Ellis again activated the Annex unit, to stop Ren-Tech from stealing the weapons stores from Adarco. Ren-Tech member Theodore Bolton correctly deduced that Annex's powers required a connection to the BREW, and jammed those transmissions. With the majority of his abilities blocked, Annex still managed to magnetize his armor, pulling Ren-Tech's weapons from their hand. He then destroyed the jammer and captured them with a stun pistol.

(Marvel Comics Presents#153/3-155/3) - Annex came across a struggle between Vengeance and the Big Game Posse. The Posse activated their cloaking devices to make it appear as if Annex had assaulted Rebecca Taylor. After the usual mistaken super-hero battle, Annex took Rebecca to the hospital. However, the Big Gam Posse then captured Annex and hooked his armor into their computers, enabling them to replicate the Exorcist anti-occult gun, which they had obtained from Sam Buchanan.
The Posse used these weapons against Vengeance, nearly destroying him. Annex found himself unable to reduce the power flow from the BREW, but he did manage to amplify it beyond the Posse's control, lighting them up with energy and effectively neutralizing their cloaking ability. Now able to see his foes, Vengeance defeated the rest of the Posse. As their leader fled, Annex broke free and destroyed their base to prevent them from replicating the Exorcist or accessing the BREW in the future.

(Annex#1-2) - Adarco attempted to capture or kill Dr. Hillman Barto to regain the lost Annexing technology. In the process, Annex encountered and battled their assassin, Brace; received an implant that enabled him to recreate the armor at will so that he no longer had to travel to Barto's lab to don and remove the armor; and learned that the Annexing technology was actually designed to be used as a weapon rather than for prostheses.

(Annex#3-4) - Annex fought off one of AIM/ARMS' Platoon agents, who had been hired by Adarco to capture him. He used a hyper-sonic weapon to incapacitate Platoon and force him to reveal where Barto and his family were being held. Annex morphed a copy of the Platoon armor to try to sneak back into Adarco unsuspected, but they quickly discovered the truth and sent Brace after him again. While Annex battled Brace, Spider-Man (who had followed what he thought was Platoon to Adarco's base) freed Dr. Barto. Brace donned Annex's original armor, but Barto began overriding its control, restoring Brace's organic body parts, which had been replaced by cybernetic ones by Adarco. As Brace regained his humanity--which Adarco had told him was forever lost--he turned against Adarco and attacked them. When Adarco tried to deactivate Brace, a feedback resulted which killed both Brace and his former superiors. Annex formed a shield which protected he and Barto, but Barto died from his injuries anyway. Alex vowed that Barto's ideals would live on in Annex.