| “ | Your defeat is inevitable! | „ |
| ~ The Reichman |
The Reichsman is a version of the Statesman from a universe where America was taken over by Nazi Germany and a villain from City of Heroes/City of Villains.
Biography[]
Past[]
The Reichsman being freed
In an alternate universe, Marcus Cole was a mercenary that was exposed to mustard gas in World War I. He sought to find a cure for the damage the gas had inflicted on him, which led to Marcus seeking out the Well of the Furies. After drinking from it, he gained great powers, becoming the Reichsman and aided the Axis Powers in taking over the world during World War II. The Reichsman became leader of the Amerika Korps, an elite super powered group that worked for the Nazis, preserving their rule over America.
Coming to Paragon City[]
After the Reichsman became aware of interlopers from another universe, he became intrigued by the idea of alternate worlds. He captured Dr. Webb and his explorers and tortured them, learning much about the dimension they had came from, before the interrogation finally killed them. Deciding he wanted to see this other universe for himself, the Reichsman led the Amerika Korps through the portal Webb had come through, arriving in Portal Corp in Paragon City.
The Reichsman and his comrades quickly got the attention of the Freedom Phalanx and first faced off against Queen Comet, who’d been a friend of Dr. Webb. She saw the alternate version of her comrade come through and was briefed on the universe Webb and his explorers had been investigating.
Queen Comet engaged the Reichsman and his forces after calling for reinforcements and managed to hold them off until the Statesman and the rest of the Phalanx showed up, despite gaining heavy injuries. A huge battle began in Portal Corp labs, eventually spilling out into the streets of Paragon City. The Reichsman was able to fight the Statesman on equal ground and the two eventually tried to just beat each other into the ground.
However the Amerika Korps weren’t able to match the Freedom Phalanx and with his forces defeated, the Reichsman quickly followed. He was frozen in suspended animation and placed in the Freedom Phalanx’s headquarters, but the Reichsman was later freed by Roderick Mueller and continued to be a threat to Paragon City.
Barracuda's Strike Force[]
Villains are sent by the villainess, Barracuda to raid the storage faciflity Reichman was being kept in. The raid accidently allows Reichman to get free. The villains need to deal with Reichman, as Lord Recluse - leader of the Arachnos, is also an Incarnate and Reichman was a possible threat to him. Though unapplogeticly evil, Lord Recluse also has very specific philisophical confliction of Nazis and wanted Reichman taken care of after he was freed from statius. Roderick Muelller had used an Arachnos raid as an excuse to free Reichman and so Lord Recluse wanted the damage undone quickly. Reichman had a device that absorbed the powers of other super-villains including Nemsis, Countess Crey and Vanessa DeVore, but to overwhelm him, others needed to be sacrificed to the machines to overide Reichman's power-boost. The villain will ask Lord Recluse to send his four Patrons, Ghost Widow, Captain Mako, Scirocco and Black Scorpion to deal with Reichman. Each patron is fought and thrown into the machine to bring the villains up to Reichman's power and defeat him. Lord Recluse suspected such a plan was in-play but all he cares about is Reichman is defeated and so he rewards the villain for the betrayal rather than punishing them.
Dark Astoria[]
Reichman makes a re-emergence in the revamped Dark Astoria arch. The God, Mot - Incarnate God of Undeath, worshiped by the Banished Pantheon, awoke in the town of Dark Astoria - long since haunted but more recently the site of the awakened dread-god. The 5th Column - left overs from Mussolini's Nazis are contacted by Reichman and he recruits primal Earth's version of his people to move in to try absorb Mot's power. Since Reichman absorbed the powers of an Incarnate to get his powers he believes he can do the same to Mot. Both Reichman and the Pratoria Earth version of Marcus Cole - Tyrant, have their attentions bought to Primal Earth to try to absorb the new Incarnate of Undeath. While dealing with the fall out of Mot awakening, the Heroes/Villains meet a man called Max, who is a go between for the villainous mercenaries, the Malta Iniviatives. The Malta and thus Max were aware of their rival's movements and so before dealing with Mot, Heroes and Villains make up their minds to confront Reichman and The 5th Column first before things get progressively worse. Reichman meeting with The 5th Column leader, Requiem, to begin their plans to get him close enough to Mot to act as a beacon for the Incarnate power but the Hero/Villain will arrive before the plans can be finalized. With the serious threat of having an Incarnate absorbing Nazi walking around the Player will not be arresting Reichman this time, but killing him. Though Requiem manages to survive, defeating Reichman means killing him and the mad-demigod Nazi is put down for good as a precaution before plans with Mot move forward.
Powers[]
The Reichsman possesses all the same powers as the Statesman, the most prominent of which are super strength and invulnerability. Thus there are very few things that can harm him and he can also fly and unleash lightning bolts. With the Machine, Reichman can absorb the powers of others to add to his own, but the machine only works for as long as others are held captive. As an Incarnate, upon realizing that he could potentially apply his machine to a much larger scale against Mot, Reichman could have potentially became a true God, however he was defeated before he could enact his scheme.
Trivia[]
- The Reichsman’s origin (becoming chronically ill from mustard gas during World War I and seeking out the Well of the Furies to heal himself, as well as gain great power) is the same as that of Lord Recluse.