NEUT
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extratemporal; possibly extradimensional and/or extraterrestrial
Occupation: Agent of Immortus
Group Membership: None;
formerly Anachronauts (Immortus' version)
Affiliations: Immortus (posing as Kang), Malachi, Mantis imposter, Tobias, unidentified aliens;
formerly Iron Man (Tony Stark), Luna imposter
Enemies: Avengers (Black Widow (Romanova), Crystal, Deathcry, Giant-Man (Pym), Hawkeye, Hercules, Quicksilver, Swordsman (Jarvert), Vision, Wasp), Century, Gilgamesh, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Edwin Jarvis, Masque, Moonraker, X-Men (Mindee Cuckoo, Goldballs/Fabio Medina, Morph/Benjamin Deeds, Tempus/Eva Bell, Triage/Christopher Muse)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Master of Arms
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout outer space (last seen on the planet Calculus);
formerly Castle Tenebrae, Limbo;
formerly mobile throughout time and space
First Appearance: Avengers I#391 (October, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: Neut was a small-sized, blue-skinned warrior with superhuman strength, durability, agility and speed. He possessed immense fighting skills and was an expert in using his double-edged glaive which was filled with technology and emitted an unidentified energy that could be used released in one shot or stored until someone was hit directly by the glaive. It could also reflect blasts from other energy weapons. This weapon could also be used to open temporary portals in the ground to give Neut the chance to escape if needed. He was seemingly trained in martial arts which made it easy for him to beat even opponents of gigantic proportions. It is possible that Neut was the combat trainer of Malachi and Tobias.
History:
(Avengers I#391 (fb) - BTS) - Neut had served Kang (Immortus) and Mantis (a Space Phantom) for a very long time and had never failed them.
(Iron Man Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - Neut was a time travelling warrior as a member of the Anachronauts.
(Avengers I#391) - Neut was sent to kill Gilgamesh in Avengers Mansion. He entered through the mysterious door in the Mansion's sub-basement. He found Gilgamesh lying helpless in the medical station and stabbed him in the chest with his axe. The Avengers heard the noise and came to Gilgamesh's aid, but Neut beat up Quicksilver and Giant-Man with ease. He also avoided Black Widow's attack which hit Hercules instead. Meanwhile Gilgamesh died in Crystal's arms. After that Neut pounded his staff on to the floor and appeared through the whole it created. He did the same with the floors below until he reached the door in the sub-basement. Vision followed him and Neut told him that Vision had to pay for his sins from the past (according to the Crossing these sins would be marrying Scarlet Witch and breaking Mantis' heart). Neut left through the door and it closed behind him.
(Iron Man I#322) - Iron Man stood in front of the mysterious door in Avengers Mansion's sub-basement when Neut came through. They had a brutal fight that ended when Neut just left after Iron Man had impressed him with a few good tactics.
(Avengers I#393) - In Limbo Neut approached Mantis to talk about the border's security, but she wasn't concerned and soon felt annoyed by Neut. When Kang returned Neut welcomed him together with Mantis and Kang ordered him to assign more security to all chronal checkpoints. Neut then watched a dispute between Kang and Mantis about Mantis' recent actions.
(Force Works#19) - Neut was present at Kang's side when Iron Man arrived in Limbo after he was revealed to be the traitor among the Avengers.
(Avengers I#394) - Neut, Tobias, Malachi and a few guards tried to stop Luna from escaping Limbo with Moonraker, but they failed. Neut was sent after her in one of Kang's ships. He entered Avengers Mansion through the walls and attacked all present Avengers. None of them had any chance against him and a short time later Hercules, Deathcry, Vision, Giant-Man, Masque, Swordsman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Century and Deathcry were all defeated. He was going to attack Quicksilver and Crystal when Luna (the impersonator) jumped in the way of his blast, which hit Luna, who died in Crystal's arms. But Neut wasn't done yet with the Avengers. In that moment Wasp rose from her cocoon and knocked out Neut from behind with a blast of her own. Afterwards Neut was put into a high-tech containment unit.
(Iron Man Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - After his master's defeat Neut was replaced as an Anachronaut and forgotten. Left behind in the current era to live out the rest of his life. Travelling through outer space he eventually found a bunch of extraterrestrial warriors as allies.
(Iron Man Special#1) - By coincidence Neut and his warriors ran into Iron Man inside the Flamer's club on the planet Calculus. He blamed Iron Man for ruining his life and assaulted him and the young X-Men posing as SWORD agents. After a quick fight Neut fled the scene, but Iron Man followed him to the outside. He dropped him on another roof and told Neut to stop blaming others for everything that had gone wrong in his life. Iron Man then seemingly shot Neut with a repulsor blast.
Comments: Created by Bob Harras, Terry Kavanagh, Mike Deodato & Tom Palmer.
I see no reason why Neut should've been a Space Phantom. He isn't based on anybody the Avengers knew (like Mantis, Gustav Brandt (Moonraker), Luna) or has any hidden connection to Avengers (like Tuc, Tobias and Malachi). He was likely just an agent of Immortus like Tempus, who knew about Immortus' plan. Or maybe he was really an old agent of Kang, who was tricked into serving Immortus. This could also be a reason for the ridiculous helmet he wore when he was around bigger crowds. It could've been a protection against telepaths.
Neut is one of those characters I'd like to see return. I don't know why, but he was in some way pretty cool.
According to Iron Man Special#1 (September, 2014) Neut actually was a member of the Anachronauts....or at least believed he was.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Neut should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#322, p13, pan3 (main image)
Avengers I#391, p15, pan2 (head shot)
Avengers I#394, p15, pan9 (fight)
Appearances:
Avengers I#391 (October, 1995) - Bob Harras & Terry Kavanagh (writers), Mike Deodato (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man I#322 (November, 1995) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Jimmy Cheung & Sergio Cariello (pencils), Mark McKenna & Hector Collazo (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Avengers I#393 (December, 1995) - Bob Harras, Terry Kavanagh & Ben Raab (writers), Mike Deodato (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Force Works#19 (January, 1996) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Hector Oliveira (pencils), Glass Hous Graphic & Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Avengers I#394 (January, 1996) - Bob Harras, Terry Kavanaugh & Ben Raab (writers), Mike Deodato (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man Special#1 (September, 2014) - Sean Ryan (writer), Rahmat Handoko (pencils), Roberto Poggi, Craig Yeung, Livesay & Norman Lee (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
First Posted: 04/25/2007
Last updated: 10/24/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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