Kingmaker (comics)

Publication history

The first Kingmaker debuted in New X-Men: Hellions #1 and was created by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Clayton Henry.

The second Kingmaker debuted in Dark Reign: Hawkeye #5 and was created by Andy Diggle and Tom Raney.

The third Kingmaker debuted in Osborn #1 and was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios.

Kingmaker

The first Kingmaker is a powerful, but largely unknown villain. Though it isn't apparent whether or not the Kingmaker has any superhuman powers of his own, his personal fortune and resources have allied him with various figures of the supervillain underworld. In essence, the Kingmaker is a high-stakes loan shark, but one who deals in favours rather than money. His standard agreement involves delivering any one wish to an applicant in exchange for a favour to be named later. His network of favours have given him vast financial reserves, business agreements with powerful individuals, and a personal trove of high-tech weaponry for his personal defence. He may even have some magical strength to draw upon. He has a history with Emma Frost, as a result of her rejection of his bid for membership in the Hellfire Club.

When New X-Men member Hellion was denied his family inheritance, he investigated their financial history, eventually discovering their involvement with the Kingmaker. Conducting a peculiar ritual, Hellion and his team-mates were contacted by the Kingmaker, who offered them his standard contract. In exchange for their deepest wishes, the kids were tasked with stealing a device for their benefactor. Unbeknownst to the Hellions, the device was a biological weapon that the Kingmaker was retrieving for none other than Doctor Octopus. The kids managed to retrieve the device, but after a briefing with Nick Fury, the Hellions turned on the Kingmaker. After several losing battles, the Hellions finally managed to defeat the villain, who was then arrested. He was later released by Emma Frost, who convinced him to leave her students alone under threat of using her mental powers to get him sent back to jail.

Bullseye's Father

The second Kingmaker is the father of Bullseye who appeared during the Dark Reign storyline. When Bullseye was fighting an army of Hawkeyes and took them out except for one, he was captured by Solo and brought before Kingmaker. Kingmaker prepares to trade his old burned husk of a body for his son's by placing his brain in Lester's body. Unfortunately, nobody told him that Bullseye's bones are laced with adamantium which not only is impossible to cut, but also blocks Kingmaker's neural inhibitor.

Bullseye fights his way through Solo in order to get to his dad. After Bullseye successfully kills Kingmaker, he frightens Ben Urich from filing a story on Kingmaker.

Pryor Cashman

The third Kingmaker is Pryor Cashman who is described as a "demon entity" who psychically "feeds" off the memory of any humans. He is additionally able to see and alter the memories of others, and has used this ability in the past to create dictators. At some point, he was captured by government officials and incarcerated in a secret location several miles underwater.

When Norman Osborn himself was jailed in the facility after being transferred from the Raft, Kingmaker was among the inmates who staged a break-out following a prison riot alongside Norman Osborn, June Covington, Ai Apaec, and Carny Rives.

Making their way to an escape pod, Norman Osborn and the rest of the inmates were able to go free. Kingmaker was last seen on a beach surrounded by children.

Powers and abilities

The first Kingmaker had a personal force field and his sunglasses have ruby optic blasts similar to Cyclops' optic blasts.

The third Kingmaker can manipulate memories.