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JONATHAN CARDINAL

Real Name: Jonathan Cardinal

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Head of Cardinal Technologies

Group Membership: Cardinal Technologies

Affiliations: Cardinal's Guard, Higher Path faction, Colonel Malcom Ksweyzu, People's Hope faction, Vibranium Guard, Major Ashur Zutu

Enemies: Afrikaa, Black Axe, Black Panther (T'Challa)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile internationally, notably Mohannda

First Appearance: Black Axe#5 (August, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Jonathan Cardinal is an unscrupulous businessman, keen for profits. He is an excellent weapons engineer and armored suit designer.

Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: 180 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Light blue
Hair: Blonde

History:

(Black Axe#5 (fb) - BTS) - Jonathan Cardinal led Cardinal Technologies munitions company. He established his Cardinal's Guard of heavily armored and armed enforcers. Cardinal sold his advanced guns to both sides in Mohannda's civil war, using the war as a testing ground for a new prototype gun. However, the two opposing sides, the Higher Path (led by Malcom Ksweyzu) and the People's Hope (led by Ashur Zutu), had become exhausted from bloodshed and sought peace, but that threatened Cardinal Technologies' income.

(Black Axe#5) - Cardinal led a sales pitch of his company's CT-130 automatic gun, dubbed "the ripper", to T'Challa of Wakanda (Mohannda's southern neighbor), but the ruler was appalled by Cardinal's amorality. T'Challa also refused Cardinal's application to purchase Vibranium, infuriating Cardinal, who later secretly ordered the Cardinal's Guard to steal a Vibranium shipment and assassinate Ksweyzu.

(Black Axe#6) - The Black Panther (T'Challa), captured during the Vibranium theft, was shackled in an aircraft before Cardinal, who revealed he planned to involve Wakanda in the Mohanndan conflict and make it a Cardinal Technologies customer. However, the Black Panther broke free and fell out while battling one of Cardinal's remote-operated Guard suits. Cardinal later landed and met with Zutu, lying to him that Afrikaa had killed his rival and the Black Panther, and that Afrikaa had allied with Wakanda to destroy his faction; believing the lie, Zutu authorized more Cardinal weaponry be imported.

(Black Axe#7) - Several days later, Zutu reported to Cardinal of minor border skirmishes with Wakandan forces and voiced concerns that peace talks might achieve more. Cardinal dismissed this and assigned a Cardinal's Guard unit for Zutu's personal protection. Cardinal and Zutu watched the remote video feed from the new Vibranium Guard, coated with the stolen on Vibranium on Cardinal's instructions, as they fought the Black Panther and Afrikaa when Black Axe arrived and revealed the footage showing Cardinal Technologies' murder of Ksweyzu. Realizing he'd been found out, Cardinal escaped in a Cardinal Guard's suit that proved too fast for local air force. Zutu issued a cease-fire and war was averted.

Comments: Created by Simon Jowett (writer), Edmund Perryman (pencils) & Rod Ramos (inks).

Cardinal's red suit's design suggested limited armor and/or life-sustaining capabilities.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Jonathan Cardinal has no known connections to:

Cardinal's Guard

Cardinal's Guard

The Cardinal's Guard comprised Jonathan Cardinal's heavily armored and armed enforcers. They were actively involved in promoting the civil war in Mohannda and carried out covert activities in Cardinal Technologies' interests, such as stealing a Vibranium shipment (later used for the Vibranium Guard) and assassinating Colonel Ksweyzu to continue the civil war, unsuccessfully targeting Black Axe and Afrikaa also in that attempt. One empty suit was later used for escape by Cardinal.

   Standing around 8' high, the armored suits are capable of jet-powered flight and can carry lethal discharge weaponry. They can be individually fitted with specialized weaponry, including smokescreen (indicating infrared and/or thermal vision), electrified netting, and meter-long arm-mounted claw-like blades. Every suit is semi-autonomous, the wearer only provides the final impetus for operation. Some were modified to work on a remote-sensing system, including control of several empty suits at once.

 

--Black Axe#5 (6-7

Vibranium Guard

Vibranium Guard

The Vibranium Guard comprised several upgraded units of the Cardinal's Guard augmented with Vibranium armor. They were supplied to Mohannda before the expected war with Wakanda, but were incapacitated by the armed joint efforts of the Black Panther, Black Axe and Afrikaa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Black Axe#7

Colonel Ksweyzu

Colonel Malcom Ksweyzu

A wily tactician, Colonel Ksweyzu led the coup that resulted in the assassination of Mohannda's dictator, Bobulu Ngala, who had sought the nation's modernization in competition against Wakanda. Ksweyzu railed against foreign corporate involvement although his coup led to the deaths of thousands in the ensuing civil war. He led the Higher Path faction that vied for power and used Cardinal Technologies' popular "ripper" gun. He did not view the mystical peace-keeper Afrikaa as an immediate threat, but as Ksweyzu now sought peace, he did see the war profiteer Cardinal as dangerous and sought the mercenary Black Axe to act as his bodyguard. However, the Cardinal's Guard killed him; the recording of this later exonerated Afrikaa of any wrongdoing that Cardinal had lied about.

 

 

 

 

--Black Axe#5 (6

Major Zutu

Major Ashur Zutu

Major Zutu led the People's Hope faction in the Mohanndan civil war following Ngala's death. Like his opponent, his forces were trained and supplied with Cardinal Technologies' weaponry. Cardinal lied to him that his opponent, Ksweyzu, had been killed by the mystical peace-keeper Afrikaa, who had allied with Wakanda and intended to eliminate his faction; believing the lie, Zutu authorized more Cardinal weaponry. Still hopeful for peace, he was bullied by Cardinal into war and was later discussing strategy with Cardinal when Black Axe arrived and revealed Cardinal's treachery. Once Cardinal absconded, Zutu issued a cease-fire with Wakanda and sought immediate peace talks with the opposing faction in Mohannda.

 

 

 

 

--Black Axe#6 (7

images: (without ads),
Black Axe#6, p5, pan2 (main image)
Black Axe#7, p8, pan3 (headshot)
Black Axe#7, p21, pan1 (escaping in armored suit)
Black Axe#5, p22, pan3 (Cardinal's Guard)
Black Axe#7, p13 (Vibranium Guard)
Black Axe#5, p20, pan1 (Ksweyzu)
Black Axe#7, p8, pan4 (Zutu)

Appearances:
Black Axe#5-7 (August-September 1993) - Simon Jowett (writer), Edmund Perryman (pencils), Rod Ramos (inks), Michael W. Bennent (editor)

Last updated: 08/05/17

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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