LOTUS NEWMARK

Real Name: Lotus Newmark

Identity/Class: Human;
    Lotus would appear to be Chinese-American (and an American citizen), but she's never actually confirmed as such

Occupation: Professional criminal, mob leader, drug dealer

Group Membership: Leader of own criminal network (consisting of most of organized crime in Los Angeles)

Affiliations: Armed Response, Troy Donahue, Li Fong, Gamma-Burn, Goliath (Josten), Trevor Madsden, Phoenix Triads, Poison Memories, Rampage, Recession Raiders, Neal Saroyan, Splice, Auggie Slater, the Tong, Andrew, Charles, Flaco, Freddie, Gordo
    formerly Reynaldo Cortizar, It the Living Colossus, Bob O'Bryan, Prince Charming, Sol Sterling, the Stone Perfs, Tolliver (Tyler);
    possibly Black Talon, Man-Ape, Mephisto

Enemies: Beast, Andrew Chord, Diane Cummings, Enchantress, the Crazy Eight (Auteur, Argus/Visionary, Attractive Lad, Snap, Glamour Girl, Dreamer, Buff, Stat), Hawkeye, Night Thrasher, Sol Sterling, the Stone Perfs, Terminizer, Tolliver, Wonder Man;
    possibly Black Talon

Known Relatives: Jerome (father, deceased), mother (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Various bases in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Sunland, California;
    formerly Hong Kong, China

First Appearance: Avengers Spotlight#30 (March, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: Lotus is a shrewd businesswoman and a deadly warrior. She is well educated and is extensively trained in the martial arts. Though she is not superhuman, she is exceedingly swift, able to strike with sufficient force to drive her fingertips through an adult male's ribcage. She is able to hypnotize others via direct eye contact.

    Lotus is willing to do whatever she needs to get a job done. She can separate her mind and emotions from her body, allowing her use the arts carnal to manipulate others. She does not particularly care for loyalty or trust; the quality she prizes most in herself and others is reliability.

Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black

History:
(Avengers Spotlight#36 (fb) / Wonder Man II#16 (fb)) - Lotus was born in Los Angeles. When she was six, her father moved their family to Hong Kong, hoping to ascend a rung in the ladder as a jobber of imported goods, such as gray market textiles. Her father did well for the first years, not concerned with the ethical implications of working with sweatshops, etc. One day, a runaway taxicab rushed toward her family, and her father grabbed her hand to get her to safety before going back for her mother. However, her mother twisted her ankle, and her father couldn't get to her in time; both Lotus and her father watched her die (see comments).
    Lotus' father never recovered from the trauma. He spent every day at his wife's grave, begging her forgiveness while he stopped talking to Lotus. Her father began drinking heavily and ran up heavy gambling debts. Eventually, Li Fong approached him demanding payment; as punishment for his delinquency, Fong demanded that Jerome either surrender two of his own fingers or his own daughter. Jerome kept his fingers and surrendered Lotus to Fong.
     Fong's agents trained Lotus in academics and the martial arts, and when she became older, he demanded...favors in return. Lotus (who quickly learned to separate her mind from her body) did not mind this treatment, as there was genuine affection between them; she felt as if he'd given her much more than he had taken. On her 21st birthday, Li Fong complemented her on her progress and skills, granted her her freedom, and offered to give her a parting gift. She requested her father's address, and she tracked him down to Los Angeles, where she cut off two of his fingers and held his fingers in front of his face for a minute. She then drove her bare hand through his chest and into his heart, killing him.

(Avengers Spotlight#30 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus established a drug selling crime network in California, working out of a front company known as Lotus Realtors in Beverly Hills.

(Avengers Spotlight#34 (fb) - BTS) - As the trade of cocaine derivatives continued to decline, Lotus positioned her organization to dominate the West Coast market for synthetic recreational substances.

(Avengers Spotlight#33) - A doctor lost his license after performing a few unnecessary surgeries to cover a gambling debt to Lotus, who kept him on retainer for medical services.

She worked with a street gang known as the Stone Perfs.

(Avengers Spotlight#30) - Lotus criticized (and scratched) Stone Perfs member Slice after he drew attention to them by leaving their neighborhood and going to Hollywood to get revenge on the Blanks gang. As the Stone Perfs had encountered Hawkeye, Lotus told him they would repair the situation by further attracting the Avengers attention so that they would focus on the Stone Perfs to the exclusion of all else. The Stone Perfs then ambushed Hawkeye, nearly killing him.
    Three weeks later, a recovered Hawkeye in a redesigned costume began taking out Stone Perfs members.

 

(Avengers Spotlight#31) - Lotus sent her lawyer, Auggie Slater, to bail Stone Perfs member Prince out of jail. Allegedly impressed by the way he had stood up to Hawkeye, she saw him as someone she could use to her advantage. Lotus sent Prince and Reynaldo Cortizar to ambush Hawkeye. Prince fled the scene after Hawkeye stunned Cortizar, however, Cortizar nearly succeeded in killing Hawkeye before being slain himself by the Terminizer.

(Avengers Spotlight#32) - Lotus criticized Prince for failing to take out Hawkeye himself, and then she easily overpowered him and stabbed her fingers into his abdominal muscles, punishing him for his failure and attitude, and warning him that she could have just as easily killed him.

(Avengers Spotlight#33) - Lotus' unlicensed doctor treated Prince's wound, after which Auggie took him for a makeover. As the Terminizer continued to execute Stone Perfs, Lotus decided that the group had become a liability. She instructed Prince to help her kill his former gang members.

(Avengers Spotlight#34) - Prince led the Stone Perfs to a meeting in the Korman Quarry in the Mojave Desert. Lotus' agents dropped firebombs into the Quarry, killing all of the other members, after which Prince left evidence to frame the Terminizer for the murders. Lotus gave Prince a physical reward to help him get over the trauma from killing his former friends. She then had Slater tell Prince that she wanted him to run her synthetic narcotics projects.

(Avengers Spotlight#36) - Lotus took Prince to her mansion in Beverly Hills, showing him her father's fingers and telling him of her past. The next day, Prince got into trouble with Hawkeye and fled, stealing Hawkeye's sky cycle and crashing it at Lotus' mansion. Furious, Lotus slashed open his face and told him that if he was gone in the next 30 seconds then she would report that he had died in the crash (meaning she would have killed him then and there).

(Wonder Man II#21 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus found Andrew when he was a washed-up shell of a man. She taught him about survival, about turning the world's cruelties into one's own strength, and she made him her second-in-command.

(Nomad II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus made an alliance with Tolliver that went sour; both sides lost a great deal and there were bad feelings between the two as a result.

(Wonder Man II#1 - BTS / #17 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus had part in sending Goliath (Josten) on a rampage as part of her preparation of the population for the need for Armed Response.

(Wonder Man II#3 - BTS / #17 (fb) - BTS ) - Lotus had part in sending Gamma-Burn on a rampage as part of her preparation of the population for the need for Armed Response.

(Wonder Man II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus began working as a film producer. She and her men sought to take over a studio in which Helen Eve worked.

(Wonder Man II#2 - BTS) - The Enchantress, a.k.a. Helen Eve, took control of Wonder Man and sent him to destroy expensive mechanical dinosaurs on Lotus' set, intending to cause increases in Lotus' insurance rates, causing her film to be put on the shelf and leaving her vulnerable to the Enchantress.

(Wonder Man II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Unaware that Wonder Man had attacked her set under the control of the Enchantress, Lotus assumed that he was aware of her criminal activities (perhaps due to his connection to Hawkeye), and she plotted against him.

(Wonder Man II#4) - Lotus and Andrew arranged a fake meeting with Wonder Man via his agent, Neal Saroyan. She then sent Splice to ambush and kill Wonder Man, though he was defeated. She decided not to immediately spring Splice from the authorities, but rather to allow him to stew for awhile while she looked into other alternatives.

(Wonder Man II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Andrew told Saroyan that Lotus' organization had been innocent dupes of the Maggia and that they were not responsible for his attack.

(Wonder Man II#6) - After Wonder Man and the Beast defeated Rampage, Lotus had Andrew arrange his bail, defense, and employment, though she instructed Andrew to be sure to keep her name out of it.

(Wonder Man II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus' agents bailed out Splice from prison.

(Wonder Man II#10) - Lotus' men trailed Wonder Man, reporting as he approached a Cambodian Buddhist temple. Lotus was suspicious that Wonder Man knew that she was connected to the Hong Kong Phoenix Triad and that that group ran a Vietnamese gang in that part of town. With Splice still out of action, she ordered the activation of Armed Response. To make it appear that Armed Response was necessary, she first sent Flaco and Gordo to use rocket launchers to attack Beverly Hills. She also sent a squad to question the monks that Wonder Man had visited, but they were incinerated by Angkor.

(Wonder Man II#11) - Lotus' agents reported the battle between Wonder Man and Angkor, annoying Lotus, who wished all apocalyptic paranoia to be focused on her supposed gang attacks in Beverly Hills. She hoped that Angkor might slay Wonder Man, ridding her of her rival, and she would then send in Armed Response against him.

(Nomad II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus sent her agent Troy Donahue to Las Vegas to take part in the "Dead Man's Hand," the dividing up of the empire of the recently toppled Kingpin.

(Nomad II#4 - BTS) - Donahue attended the meeting, but ran into trouble from Bushwacker, Deadpool, and Nomad. It was Deadpool (sent by Tolliver to slay Lotus' agent) who killed him.

(Wonder Man II#13) - Frustrated by the Beverly Hills attacks not making as big an impact as she had intended, Lotus had Andrew send out another group for more assaults.

(Wonder Man II#16) - Lotus' agents assaulted Beverly Hills. Meanwhile she romanced movie producer Sol Sterling in exchange for his financial backing of Armed Response. She then flirted with her agents, after which she had them execute Sterling to prevent him from using his knowledge of her true activities against him. Armed Response prepared to fly in to put an end to the attackers, but Wonder Man arrived first, beating the attackers savagely.

(Wonder Man II#17 (fb) - BTS) - Armed Response stopped a series of Lotus' agents assaults on Beverly Hills.

(Wonder Man II#17) - Lotus (with her involvement kept secret) used Armed Response as a protection racket, advertising its services for a price to prevent attacks similar to what had been going on Beverly Hills. She then sent both Rampage and Splice to end Wonder Man's perceived threat to her activities; Wonder Man fought them off. Armed Response slew several of Lotus' agents to prevent their revealing her involvement in the other attacks.

(Wonder Man II#18) - Lotus listened to her agent Andrew's advice not to send Rampage after Wonder Man to prevent others from connecting Rampage's armor to that of Armed Response. Lotus instead made plans to involve him in a film they were making out of town in order to keep him from interfering with her activities. She then made the offer, via Neal Saroyan, for him to star in his dream role: MacBeth. Meanwhile, Armed Response continued to advertise its services, earning support across the city of Los Angeles.

(Night Thrasher: Four Control#2 (fb) - BTS) - Lotus was employed by Trevor Madsden to kidnap Andrew Chord so that Madsden could use him to leverage Dwayne Taylor into backing him in his attempted takeover of the Taylor Foundation.

(Night Thrasher: Four Control#1 - BTS) - Lotus sent the gang known as the Poison Memories to kidnap Chord.

(Night Thrasher: Four Control#2) - Night Thrasher confronted Lotus, overpowering her. Lotus confirmed his suspicions of who had arranged the kidnapping in order to prevent further fighting which would damage her valuable possessions.

(Wonder Man II#19) - The Crazy Eight spied on Armed Response, learning that they were actually just a protection racket, information they caught on film. They were caught in the act by Armed Response, but narrowly managed to escape. They passed the tape on to Beverly Fairfax, a news anchorperson. After the news was aired, Lotus romanced Splice and then sent him to take out the Crazy Eight.

(Wonder Man II#20 - BTS) - Rampage and Splice assaulted the Crazy Eight, a group of people mutated by and affiliated with Wonder Man.

(Wonder Man II#21) - As Lotus acted as dominatrix to a powerful L.A. councilman, Andrew interrupted, telling her that Wonder Man was foiling Splice and Rampage's efforts against Crazy Eight. Not wanting Wonder Man to ruin her plot, she instructed Andrew to send in Armed Response to assist Splice and Rampage. Wonder Man defeated the first two and intimidated Armed Response into backing down by threatening to kill them all.
    Lotus responded to this defeat by instructing Andrew to take the blame for Armed Response and all related activities.

(Wonder Man II#24) - (see comments) - After another one of Lotus' sets was demolished by Wonder Man (in battle with demons of Mephisto), she contacted Mephisto, organizing a new Masters of Evil (Black Talon, Goliath, Man-Ape) to oppose Wonder Man and his temporary allies, Blackheart and the Grim Reaper.

(Wonder Man II#25) - (see comments) - Lotus sat atop Mephisto's lap as he teleported Wonder Man and the Beast to Hell. She revealed her involvement in a number of his recent struggles, including Goliath, Rampage, Angkor, and Armed Response. However, when Blackheart and the Grim Reaper arrived alongside an army of demons, Mephisto casually gave Lotus to the Black Talon as a sacrifice to gain the power to help against the invading demons. The Black Talon ripped out her throat, seemingly killing her.

(Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#3 (fb)) - Lotus contacted Bob O'Bryan, allegedly to work on a new film, but she used the contact to put him under his spell. Via weeks of concentration, she helped him to reform It the Living Colossu, whom she intended to use as muscle for her extortion ring.

(Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#1) - Two months later, Lotus was notified when Wonder Man and the Beast arrived in Los Angeles, and she made plans to use Bob O'Bryan and It to deal with him.

(Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#2) - Bob O'Bryan spied on Wonder Man for Lotus, after which she deployed Armed Response against Wonder Man and the Beast. The two defeated their attackers and later ran into Lotus at a literacy benefit (she had planned to tail him after the charity and then send It after him). Wonder Man was shocked to see her as he had seen her die, but she feigned ignorance (though she was surprised to hear him announce her past crimes). She signaled O'Bryan to reform It and direct it to attack Wonder Man.

(Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#3) - After It stunned Wonder Man and the Beast, Lotus had Bob make It take the two of them and flee. Wonder Man and the Beast pursued them; while Wonder Man battled It, the Beast confronted Lotus, who tried to hypnotize him. Trained against mind control by Xavier, the Beast easily resisted her control and took her out with a nerve pinch. Bob regained his own mind and ceased It's attack, and Lotus was blindfolded and taken away by the police. She denied knowledge of the Black Talon or the events he had seen in Hell, but she vowed to see him dead (permanently!) for exposing her covert empire.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Al Milgrom, and Don Heck.
    Her Wonder Man stories were by Gerard Jones, et. al.

    The story arc in Wonder Man II#22-25 had a couple errors in it, including the appearance of the ghost of Martha Williams (Wonder Man's mother), who was still alive at the time of the story. Because of this, and the fact that Wonder Man didn't remember his mom still being alive in those stories, the information contained therein has been called into question. It's possible that the Lotus seen in Wonder Man II#24+25 was just an illusion of Mephisto or Blackheart, or someone else, for uncertain purposes. It is also possible that it was the true Lotus, mentally enslaved by one of the above, and it is also possible that it was the true Lotus with her true alliances actually revealed. Lotus was legitimately surprised when Wonder Man revealed that he knew her involvement with Armed Response, but what that means is uncertain. It is possible that she was indeed slain by the Black Talon, but subsequently resurrected by any of a number of beings.
    My impression from reading Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#1-3 is that it was not actually the true Lotus in Wonder Man#24 & 25, but nothing was confirmed or clarified.

    Avengers Disassemble? The story with Wonder Man losing control of his ionic powers and attacking the other (West Coast) Avengers in Wonder Man#19 was called Avengers Dissemble.

    According to Wonder Man II#16, it was actually Li Fong (or his agents) who killed Lotus' mother. The origins aren't really contradictory, but they do seem to be slightly different. In the Wonder Man origin, Li Fong was more abusive to her. Lotus certainly is prone to lie to serve her own ends, so it's not clear whether all information she revealed is 100% true, and which information about Li Fong is closest to the truth.

I may well have missed an appearance or two in Wonder Man. Let me know, and I'll add them, thanks.
The chronological placement of the Nomad and Night Thrasher issues is based on the information on the Marvel Chronology Project.

Lotus Newmark received an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update#2.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

 

images:
Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#1
Avengers Spotlight#32, p9, panel 1
        panel 3

Avengers Spotlight#31-34 (April - July, 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Don Heck (#31, #33-34), Hajek Satter Lee (#32), (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Avengers Spotlight#36 (September, 1990) - Steve Gerber (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Don Heck (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Wonder Man II#2 (October, 1991) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#4 (December, 1991) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Jan Harps (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#6 (February 1992) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Jan Harps (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#10-11 (June-July 1992) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (#10) & Mike Parobeck (#11) (pencils), Dan Panosian (#10) & Andrew Pepoy (#11) (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#13 (September, 1992) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#16 (December, 1992 - January, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#18-21 (February-May, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Tim Hamilton (#18, 20-21) & Jeff Johnson (#19) (pencils), Brad Vancata (#18, 20), Dan Panosian (#19) & Ian Akin (#21) (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Wonder Man II#24-25 (August-September, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson, Fred Reyes (#25) & Fred Haynes (#25) (pencils), Jon Holdredge, Ron Boyd (#25), John Lowe (#25), Mark McKenna (#25), Jim Amash (#25), Keith Aiken (#25), Andrew Pepoy (#25) & Dan Panosian (#25) (inks), Fabian Nicieza (editor)
Nomad II#4 (August, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Pat Olliffe (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Glenn Herdling (editor)
Night Thrasher: Four Control#1-2 (October - November, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Dave Hoover (pencils/inks), Danny Fingeroth (#1) & Rob Tokar (#2) (editor)
Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast#1-3 (May - July, 2000) - Roger Stern (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

Last updated: 09/04/04

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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