MARQUIS RADUMARQUIS RADU
Real Name: Presumably Radu
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Microverse) magic-user and advanced technology-user
Occupation: Conquerer, scientist, mystic
Group Membership: Leader of an army/troops and commander of an unidentified group of assassins/agents (Centivros, Krevius Trell, Null-Tron, Raidus Dren, Verus, Xerxes);
Affiliations: Baron Karza,
formerly Carnage (Cletus Kasady);
he intended the Klyntar/symbiote clones to be his
agents, but they were immediately controlled by Carnage and used
against him
Enemies: Carnage (Cletus Kasady), Enigma Force, Enigma Force team (Bug, Flare, Marionette/Mari, Quark, Arcturus Rann), Katy Kiernan, Lord Gouldar, Psycho-Man, Redeemer, Scarlet Spider (Kaine), Klyntar/Symbiote clones, Venom (Flash Thompson); countless armies and monsters;
indirectly Nell Fletcher, Dr. and Ryan Ketola, the
guards at Thunderbolts mountain maximum security prison and those
civilians injured, slain, and/or terrorized by Carnage following his
escape as well as upon his return with the Klyntar/symbiote clones
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Avatar of Chaos;
see comments
Base of Operations: Mobile fortress, last seen on an unzoned world in the Microverse;
presumably mobile throughout the Microverse
First Appearance: (Behind-the-scenes) Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (December, 2012);
(unidentified, lateral and posterior views) Scarlet Spider II#11 (December 2012);
(identified) Venom II#26 (December 2012);
(full appearance, but face remaining cloaked); Scarlet Spider II#12 (January, 2013)
Powers/Abilities: Marquis Radu is apparently extremely powerful, although only a few of his abilities have been glimpsed.
He is powerful enough to smash
Carnage unconscious with a single strike that seemed to be of no
apparent strain. He can at least hold his own against if not defeat the
entire Enigma Force team.
Although his head and lower body
have not been clearly seen (he appears to have some armor on the back
of his head that extends through or acts as the point of attachment for
his cloak/hood). He has an armored chest/abdominal plate, and has
clawed, bionic four finger/one thumb gauntlets, the entirety of which
can be launched, fly through the air, and redirected under his remote
control (although this does not occupy much of his attention). Despite
Klyntar/symbiotes being deadly to the nature of the Microverse, Radu's
gauntlets can withstand their touch and incapacitate or slay symbiotes
or their clones.
He can project powerful energy blasts from his gauntlet-less wrists (and presumably from his attached gauntlets as well).
He can teleport unspecified
distances. He was only shown to teleport himself out of a room, but he
may or may not have traveled out of a building, into an orbiting ship,
or perhaps to another planet. It is unrevealed whether he can transport
other objects or beings with him.
As a student of Karza, he likely
has certain mystic abilities; it is unrevealed whether his
teleportation or ability to easily subdue Carnage are technological,
mystic, or of another nature.
Radu controls at least some of the
Body Banks, which allow him to break down, transform, or rebuild others
as he sees fit.
He controls a number of armored troops, many of whom are constructed in the Body Banks
He operated out of an immense Mobile Fortress
Height: Unrevealed (at least 6'10" tall; he's several inches taller than the 6'2" Venom/Flash); as we've never seen him on Earth, any Earth equivalent is pure speculation.
Weight: Unrevealed (he's tall and broad-shouldered within his
cloak, and he's some sort of cyborg, with an armored chest/abdomen
plate, and some sort of armored plate on the back of his hood, but
we've not got much to base a weight on); as we've never seen him on
Earth, any Earth equivalent is pure speculation.
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Venom II#26 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu was a student and follower of one of the most vile conquerors who ever lived (presumably Baron Karza).
(Minimum Carnage Omega#1 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu
was a mad scientist turned despot, becoming the diabolical leader of
the Microverse's most evil factions.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu considered the Enigma Force to be holding back the Microverse's potential.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Radu defeated the Arcturus Rann's Enigma Force team.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu pushed back the Psycho-Man.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu battled Lord Gouldar.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu crushed countless armies and monsters.
(Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - Radu
apparently battled the Enigma Force team on multiple occasions, often
at the most inopportune time.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Radu was aware of the Klyntar/symbiotes history with the Microverse: They had invaded the Microverse (at least) millennia ago, their natures proving to be a poison that broke down structures in the Microverse, and the symbiotes had tried to bond with and consume the Enigma Force before the Force destroyed and expelled the symbiotes.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking
to become God of the Microverse, Radu considered that in order to be
the new god, the old god (the Enigma Force) had to die. 
As killing the old god was against his religion, Radu resolved to summon a symbiote to the Microverse to destroy the Enigma Force.
(Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - Radu
further considered that after he ruled the Microverse, the "Macroverse"
(Universe-616) would be next.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS / Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - Radu sought to both slay the Redeemer (the
former Acroyear), the living embodiment of the Enigma Force, and to
destroy the Enigma Force itself, after which he would rekindle the
Enigma Force under his control.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - With the goal of
using Carnage to destroy the Redeemer and to replicate Carnage's
symbiote via the Body Banks, Radu sent his agents/assassins to the
Earth dimension.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (fb) - BTS) - Radu's agents broke Carnage out of Thunderbolts Mountain maximum security prison in Colorado.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (fb) - BTS) - Footage of Carnage's escaped showed insect-sized agents killing the prison guards.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 - BTS) - Radu's agents slew police officers who discovered Kasady driving on I-25.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (fb) - BTS) - Based on the footage of Carnage's escape, Venom had his reporter friend Katy Kiernan investigate tiny killers, which led them to a report on the Prometheus Pit being built in Houston Texas by Dr. Ketola at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (fb) -
BTS) - Seeking Dr. Ketola to travel to the Microverse, Carnage and the
assassins confronted Dr. Ketola's husband, Ryan, and slew her mother,
Nell Fletcher.
(Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 - BTS) - Rescuing Ryan Ketola, the Scarlet Spider learned of and sought out Dr. Ketola as well.
As Carnage confronted Ketola, the Scarlet Spider tried to fight him off but was knocked out by Radu's agents, who subsequently forced Ketola to activate the Prometheus Pit and allow them and Carnage (who brought Kiernan along, too) to travel to the Microverse.
(Scarlet Spider II#10 - BTS) - Affected by exposure to the Microverse following his approaching the Prometheus Pit, Venom temporarily lost control but subsequently traveled alongside the Scarlet Spider via having Dr. Ketola transport them to the Microverse to stop Carnage.
(Venom II#26 (fb) - BTS) - The Redeemer sought Marquis Radu in order to heal him.
(Scarlet Spider II#10) -
Marquis Radu communicated with Verus via some sort of holoprojection
projected by Krevius, noting their successful return with Carnage.
After Radu noted that base had found the Redeemer on one of the unzoned
planets, Verus shared that Carnage killed excessively and was unstable.
Radu interrupted her, noting that Carnage would do his job and
instructed her to do hers.
(Scarlet Spider II#10 - BTS) - Verus' forces, with Carnage and Kiernan, headed to their ship to seek out the Redeemer.
(Scarlet Spider II#10 - BTS) - At the instruction of the Redeemer, the Enigma Force recruited Venom on Tropica, where he was noted to be "the Corruptor."
(Scarlet Spider II#10 - BTS) -
Scarlet Spider arrived on the Obsidian Wastelands in an unzoned world
where he encountered the Redeemer.
(Venom II#26 - BTS) - When Verus' forces brought Carnage to a Body Banks annexing station associated with Homeworld and Verus danced around Carnage's questions noting, "the Redeemer has been targeted for death, yes, and you will be the instrument of his destruction," Katy Kiernan suggested to Carnage that he was intended to be raw material for the Body Banks.
(Venom II#26 (fb) - BTS) - Carnage apparently slaughtered Centivros, Krevius, and Null-Tron and bound Raidus against the wall
(Venom II#26 - BTS) - As the Enigma Force prepared to
bring Venom to the Redeemer, they were confronted by two dozen ships
from Radu's armada. The sonic weapons used in the struggle caused Venom
to lose control and turn into a rampaging monster.
(Venom II#26 - BTS) - Carnage slew Xerxes and tore the serpents off of Verus' head when they challenged him, then instructed Raidus to lead him to Marquis Radu. They took Radu's agents' ship.
As the Redeemer led the Scarlet Spider toward Radu's craft, Carnage leapt to the attack.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 - BTS) - Flare's song helped Venom regain control, after which Venom and the Enigma Force were captured by Radu's troops.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Radu's men informed him of the finding of a second symbiote in the Microverse.
When the Scarlet Spider fell to seeming doom while trying to save the Redeemer, Radu's troops showed up in force and ordered Carnage to stand down, after which Raidus instructed the troops to take Carnage to the Marquis.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Raidus informed Radu that Katy Kiernan was a historian from the Macroverse.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Venom and the Enigma Force were bound and brought aboard Radu's craft.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 - BTS) - Arcturus Rand told Venom that Radu was going to kill them.
(Scarlet Spider II#11) - Radu then arrived, noting that he intended Venom to consume a god for him: Radu explained that he considered this to be his world and his universe, and that he would not share it with anyone, not even a god.
When Rann commented that Radu had lost, as the
Redeemer was still free and far from his grasp, Radu countered than
Rann's limited mind could not begin to imagine his grasp. Radu then
turned to Venom and noted his surprise upon learning of a second
symbiote being in the Microverse as he had only ordered one.
When Raidus and Radu's troops arrived with Carnage, Kasady broke free and charged Radu, remarking that nothing would make him happier than killing for him. However, Radu simply caught Carnage's hand and face with his hands and smashed him to the ground, replying that he was not interested in his happiness.
Radu then instructed his men to put the Enigma Force in holding cells and to take the symbiotes to the Body Banks, after which he asked Katy to confirm her role as historian and then had her take a walk with him. She asked if he was going to kill her, and he asked if he should and/or if she was a threat to him. When both agreed they could not imagine how she could be a threat to him, he noted that he had no interest in senseless slaughter.
When Katy asked if that meant that his slaughter made sense, he confirmed that it did, as he believed the Microverse had always been chaos and war overseen by a mad god, and he intended to end that. To clarify his point, he shoved her head into a beam of light that showed her the past involvement of the symbiotes in the Microverse, and then he detailed his plans to use them to destroy the Enigma Force and usurp its role as God of the Microverse.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 - BTS) -
The Redeemer explained to the Scarlet Spider how the symbiotes were an
anathema to the Enigma Force, and he, as the living embodiment of that
force, was dying as a result; and if the Enigma Force died, the
Microverse would die, which would also destroy the "Macroverse"
(Universe-616).
As Carnage and Venom were brought
into the Body Banks, Venom realized that Radu was going to build an
army out of them.
(Venom II#27) - When Katy Kiernan asked Radu why he was telling her his plans, he explained his intent of taking over her universe after conquering the Microverse, and that she would serve as the instrument of his understanding (her realm). When she less-than-politely refused his offer, he noted that there was not need for further discourse and had her taken to her cell; noting that they would speak again after she'd spent some time in a cell, he advised her that her anger and indignation would serve her well in coping with the utter destruction of all she held dear.
(Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - When
Radu's guards put their hands on Katy, she was able to take and pocket
a sonic key before being locked up with the Enigma Force team.
(Venom II#27 - BTS) - Symbiotes
cloned from Carnage and Venom consumed/necrosed the Body Banks
generated hosts. Carnage and Venom's symbiote natures also corroded
their restraints, allowing them to get free, after which Carnage took
control of the symbiote clones.
(Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - Radu soon found himself battling the symbiote clones.
From a prison cell, Bug advised Katy that she would stay there with them until she decided to cooperate or they were all executed, after which Radu would most likely harvest her brain and clone it over and over again until he "cooked up one" with a more agreeable attitude.
However, Katy shared her purloined sonic key, and the Enigma Force then used the sonic key to escape their cell.
Scarlet Spider and Venom teamed up against Carnage, who was growing stronger by feeding on the essence of the Microverse.
(Venom II#27 - BTS) - The Enigma Force team joined the fight against the symbiote clones and then sought out the creatures' source.
(Venom II#27) - As Radu slaughtered the attacking symbiote clones, the Enigma Force team arrived, and Radu assured them if they waited patiently, he'd make their endings pleasurable. As the heroes attacked him, Radu fought back, telling them that disorder was the natural state of the Microverse, that he was the avatar of chaos, and that they could not hope to kill them. As Radu attacked in return, he told them that they would soon be naught but a victim of his machinations, after which he teleported away, leaving them to face the symbiote clones.
(Venom II#27 - BTS) - Advised by the Redeemer, Venom/Thompson reconnected with the pain in his past and incapacitated the symbiote clones.
However, Carnage escaped back to Earth, taking an army of the symbiote clones with him.
(Minimum Carnage Omega#1 (fb) - BTS) - Marquis Radu remained at large.
(Minimum Carnage Omega#1 - BTS) - Backed by the symbiote clones, Carnage attacked the population of Houston.
The Enigma Force team flew the Endeavor as close to the Spacewall as possible and then -- after Mari gave Venom and Scarlet Spider sonic weapons -- the Redeemer guided Venom to have his symbiote bring them (and Katy Kiernan) back to Earth.
After Carnage bonded with the
symbiote clones tried to consume Venom, Thompson briefly incapacitated
him with a sonic weapon, after which the Scarlet Spider stabbed Kasady
in the brain, apparently rendering him catatonic.
Comments: Created by Christopher Yost +/- Cullen Bun, Khoi Pham and/or Reilly Brown, & Tom Palmer and/or Chris Sotomayor.
His green armor and clawed gauntlets makes me wonder if he might not be from Kaliklak, or perhaps one of the Kronos or Phobos...but maybe he just likes green armor?
For future reference
In Venom#27, Bug called Radu, "Baron Radu," which was presumably a mistaken, conflating him with Baron Karza, but perhaps it was an alias he used sometimes.
This profile was completed 1/16/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Marquis Radu should be distinguished from:
Marquis (Louis Le Blanc) - nobleman and torturer with Nubian guard Molki; encountered Namor the Sub-Mariner--Marvel Mystery Comics#64
Marquis Radu's troops(Scarlet Spider II#11 - BTS) - Flare's song helped Venom regain control, after which Venom and the Enigma Force were captured by Radu's troops.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Radu's men informed him of the finding of a second symbiote in the Microverse.
Radu's troops showed up in force on the unzoned planet where Carnage had battled the Scarlet Spider.
They ordered Carnage to stand down, after which Raidus instructed the troops to take Carnage to the Marquis.
(Scarlet Spider II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Venom and the Enigma Force were bound and brought aboard Radu's craft.
(Scarlet Spider II#11) - As Radu's troops guarded the Enigma Force and Venom, Radu arrived.
When Raidus and Radu's troops arrived with Carnage, Kasady broke free and charged Radu, remarking that nothing would make him happier than killing for him.
However, Radu swiftly subdued Carnage.
Radu then had his troops to put the Enigma Force
in holding cells and to take the symbiotes to the Body Banks.
As Carnage and Venom were brought into the Body Banks, Venom realized that Radu was going to build an army out of them.
(Venom II#27 (fb) - BTS) - When Radu's guards put their hands on Katy, she was able to take and pocket a sonic key before being locked up with the Enigma Force team.
(Venom II#27 - BTS) - Radu's troops aboard the mobile fortress were presumably slaughtered by the Klyntar/symbiote clones under Carnage's control.
images: (without ads)
Scarlet Spider II#10, story pg. 13, panel 2-3 (projection)
Venom II#26, pg. 15, panel 2 (Radu's troops);
pg. 18, panel 4 (mobile Fortress);
Scarlet Spider II#11, pg. 13, panel 1 (main/full);
pg. 15, panel 3 (smashing Carnage);
pg. 20, panel 3 (Body Banks)
Venom II#27, story pg. 1, panel 2 (mobile Fortress interior);
pg. 15, panel 4 (battling symbiote clones);
pg. 16, panel 3-4 (battling Enigma Force)
Appearances:
Minimum Carnage Alpha#1 (December, 2012) -
Christopher Yost & Cullen Bunn (writers), Lan Medina (penciler),
Karl Kesel, Cam Smith, & Walden Wong (inkers), Tom Brennan
(editor), Stephen Wacker
(senior editor)
Scarlet Spider II#10 (December 2012) -
Christopher Yost (writer), Khoi Pham & Reilly Brown (pencilers),
Tom Palmer & Chris Sotomayor (inkers), Tom Brennan (editor),
Stephen Wacker (senior editor)
Venom II#26 (December 2012) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Tom Brennan (editor), Stephen Wacker (senior editor)
Scarlet Spider II#11 (January 2013) -
Christopher Yost (writer), Khoi Pham & Reilly Brown (pencilers),
Tom Palmer & Chris Sotomayor (inkers), Tom Brennan (editor),
Stephen Wacker (senior editor)
Venom II#27 (January 2013) - Cullen
Bunn (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Tom Brennan (editor), Stephen
Wacker (senior editor)
Minimum Carnage Omega#1 (January, 2013) -
Christopher Yost & Cullen Bunn (writers), Lan Medina, Declan
Shalvey, & Khoi Pham (pencilers), Karl Kesel, Walden Wong, Jaime
Mendoza & Bit (inkers), Tom Brennan (editor), Stephen Wacker
(senior editor)
First posted: 09/26/2021
Last updated: 09/25/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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