General Wade Eiling

Publication history

Wade Eiling first appeared in Captain Atom #1 (March 1987) and was created by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick.

Captain Atom

Wade Eiling is a military tactician who blackmails the accused Nathaniel Adam into participating in the atomic experiment that turns Nathaniel into the nuclear being Captain Atom, and causes Adam to disappear for 18 years. This is considered a failure by Eiling and Heinrich Megala, the project's main scientist. They would attempt the experiment again, which ends up with the creation of Major Force.

During the 18 years in which Adam is gone, Eiling marries Adam's wife and acts as father to his two children. Eiling also manipulates Captain Atom into serving the military. His first attempts, a chance for Adam to view his children in exchange for retrieving a lost submarine, falls apart in issue #3 of the 1980s Captain Atom series. This embarrasses Eiling in front of his superiors. The same issue details the cover story for Captain Atom that Eiling helps create, one that is, in his words, "a scenario just far-fetched and hokey enough to sound authentic". His continuing conflicts with the title character were a major focus of the 1980s Captain Atom series. Eiling would also form an intensely adversarial relationship with Megala.

Hacker Files

General Wade Eiling makes a cameo appearance in SoftWar, the very first story arc of 1993 maxi-series The Hacker Files.

JLA

In JLA #24 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, Eiling sends a military team to salvage the indestructible body of the second Shaggy Man from the Pacific Ocean where he has its body shaved. Green Lantern and Aquaman attempt to stop the Corps from retrieving the body, but their efforts are thwarted.

The General returns to his base of operations, Threshold. From there he orchestrates a military assault on the JLA. Answering a call for help in Phoenix, Arizona, the Justice League are attacked by American military forces. Spearheading the offensive is a new superhero team called the Ultramarine Corps. Recruited and genetically enhanced by Eiling's lab team, The Ultramarines already exhibit signs of terminal illness. Meanwhile, Batman, the Huntress and Plastic Man track Eiling to Threshold, where they discover that the general transferred his brain patterns into the indestructible body of the Shaggy Man.

The JLA battle the military and the Corps until JLA #26 (Feb 1999). Eiling's forces consider mutiny as doubts against attacking the League come to a head. Superman, whose super-senses have diagnosed the Ultramarine's disease, persuades the Ultramarine Corps that Eiling has used and betrayed them. The Corps members, who volunteered for service in good faith, switch sides and speed with the JLA toward Threshold.

Even against the combined might of the JLA and the Ultramarines, the General is unstoppable. Batman notices that Eiling's tactical edge and focus are diminished in his new artificial form. Working together, the team fights the monster onto a bulk-matter teleport platform. Eiling is transported to 433 Eros, a 'rocky needle', six miles in length, at the heart of the Sol system's asteroid belt.

General Eiling has also appeared in issue number 5 of the Justice League Unlimited spin-off comic book.

The Injustice Gang

He stays there for several months until Queen Bee recruits him into Lex Luthor's new Injustice Gang. Eiling battles against the Justice League a second time as part of a coordinated attack, this time utilizing a large-scale machine gun. He declares that the League was wrong to banish him to the asteroid with no trial. The battle moves to one of the White Martian warships that is currently inside the Phantom Zone. There, Eiling states his plan to utilize the weapons of mass destruction on Earth itself. Orion's war dog Sturmer participates in a trick against Eiling. The canine tackles the man through a ship's airlock, into the Phantom Zone. This naturally distresses Superman but Orion assures him that Sturmer has willingly made this choice.

Back as a threat

Having somehow escaped, he has since appeared in the JSA comics fighting Hal Jordan. He is one of the hundreds of villains recruited into The Society. He is a participant in the Battle of Metropolis, the first step of the Society's war on the heroes. This effort fails. Later, he is recruited into the Suicide Squad, where his regenerative powers are significantly diminished. He betrays the team to their intended target. Rick Flag detonates a bomb implanted in Eiling's head, ending the threat. His head and brain eventually regenerate, but results in some amnesia. Eiling continues to serve as a Squad member through Salvation Run. This is the name for a program that exiles supervillains to a distant, earth-like planet without a trial.

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), General Wade Eiling and his men in radiation suits flank Captain Atom. General Eiling tells Captain Atom to fall in line as he is a super-weapon that will keep America on the top. When Captain Atom tells them that he will be just another atomic bomb for them, General Eiling attempts to quarantine Captain Atom. While stating that he can't eat or drink, Captain Atom counters everything that the military throws at him.

Powers and abilities

General Wade Eiling is a military expert.

In the shaved body of a Shaggy Man, Eiling has superhuman strength, durability, speed and endurance as well as a regenerative healing factor.

JLA/Avengers

Television

Video games