NRGVerse Villain: Aunty Venom (Patreon)

Another one a long time coming, but here's the full design and origins for the Think Tank's Aunty Venom.

ORIGIN

Amongst Ryker’s aids at his facilities hidden within Saint Martin Sanitarium was Velma Rivera, another prominent member of his alleged “Think Tank” known for her work in harnessing plant and animal toxins to cure diseases, which along with her naturally matronly quirks had earned her the nickname “Aunty Venom”. Like many in the Think Tank, Velma had long been a prominent public figure in her chosen scientific field of medicine, known for her passionate pursuit to end diseases and ailments, specifically cancer. But tragic events within her family affairs had turned Velma’s passion into an obsession, pushing her research to cross more boundaries until ultimately she began turning to more illegal and immoral methods to continue her more questionable experiments in secret, which ultimately led to her discovery and membership within the Think Tank by Ryker.

As Axel de Veyra was put into her care when admitted to Saint Martin, Velma found sick and often perverted pleasure in torturing the future hero; even after he exposed Saint Martin’s illegal operations and forced it’s shut down Velma still continued to plague young Axel when he became Zener. But Zener would only be the first of many NRG heroes Velma faced as a supervillain. In Toonman, for instance, Velma took an interest in the Animated Ace’s healing abilities and almost turned him into a patient zero when she discovered cartoons were susceptible to diseases and poisons/toxins. And more than once Velma has tried to turn Empress into her unwilling puppet to grow endless supplies of toxic plants for her serums. But no hero interested Velma more than the Snakeman. While the Desperado of the Jungle’s unique venom signified untold potential in medicine for Velma, his own unique immunity to nature venoms of the world offered something Velma had not had in a long time… a challenge.

Powers/Abilities

• Scientific genius in the fields of medicine, specializing in diseases, toxins, poisons and venoms.
  • Able to create deadly mutagens and pathogens which she can infect others with and turn them into her monstrous minions
  • Weaponize plant and animal venoms against her opponents.
• Member of the Think Tank.

So, Aunty Venom, like much of the Think Tank, is set to be something of a shared villain between heroes in the NRGverse. She was introduced as a Zener villain, but as we said in her origin we have plans for her to face Toonman, Empress, and Snakeman; the later of which we have plan for Aunty Venom to be a major enemy to. (Which, is funny because Aunty Venom was original conceived to be a Snakeman villain way back when).

Aunty Venom © NRG Comics

Art by Danilo Cassonato https://www.deviantart.com/bilcassonato