James Costello

"So you have arrived. I figured you wouldn't just give up after you realized what happened. I knew you'd come for me. As soon as I saw the people you gathered up I knew exactly what I had to do. Everything that happened up until this point was strategized by me, and now there is only one step left before I can achieve my vision of world peace." - James Costello to Lee
Joseph Andrey Costello, The Head of the Snake is a New God that currently resides in Universe Prime's United States of America and serves as the president of the country.
== History ==
Joseph Costello, born Andrey Zbyszko, was born in a village in Poland. He grew up unlike all the other kids, he was constantly curious and seeking answers about things he didn't understand. He was also much stronger than all of the other kids; for example, in his teens, he was able to best adults that were twice his height. He was looked at as an outcast, but also was respected. His mother was a very quiet woman, who never spoke much, and never really paid much attention to Costello and never really seemed proud or happy for him. He had no father that he knew of, though he would eventually figure out just who his father was. They were a relatively poor family, but still had basic luxuries, such as a home, food, and water. A little bit of time goes on and Andrey decides to join the military, but unfortunately during training, he suffers a horrific accident, that leaves him dead, but this wasn't the end. Costello woke up day in small medical building. He could hear people talking, saying that they just found him lying in the woods and that they didn't know what to do with him. Costello walking out of the room and approached the people. They told him that what they were discussing and Costello was confused, but not by what they said, but rather that he could have sworn he remembered himself dying. He left the village a few days later and went to him home village, which had become noticeably bigger. He went towards the graveyard and sure enough, he found his own grave, but it was empty. A million questions ran through his head, all that he wanted answers to, so he went out to go search for them, but never could find them. He eventually died again from an illness he had caught on his travels, but he woke up once more, this time in a different area. How was this happening? He has died twice now, yet he is still clearly alive. He decided that the only explanation to this was that he was immortal, but he had no idea of knowing how this had happen, he then came to the realization that perhaps his parents in his first life were immortal, but he had no definitive way of confirming this. So he continued, living lives, and dying and repeating the same cycle, eventually developing his relations with Lee, who had murdered him in a previous life and friends of his. He swore that that day that he would seek out Lee to kill him, only to figure out that Lee was like him in the sense that he was immortal. The hatred between these two men became great and the war between them never seemed like it would end. The closest it came to ending was when during one lifetime which happened to be the lifetime before The Endless War Arc. Costello had met a women during his younger years and they eventually fell deeply in love with one another and they ended up getting engaged and even had a child on the way. This though, would become a tragedy as during their honeymoon, a terrorist group would raid the restaurant they were at and she was killed as well as their unborn child. Costello was seriously injured but eventually recovered. Costello, though, would never recover psychologically from this, as he for once had finally found something worth being happy about in his existence, yet it was ripped away from him in an instant. The mental damage he suffered from this was so significant that he would eventually take his own life. However, since he was still immortal, he eventually would be reborn. It was at this moment that Costello became obsessed with the idea of changing the world so that what happened to his wife would never happen again, however, he would become so invested in this idea that he would do whatever he had to do to the world and its people to accomplish this goal. His entire existence he lived off the philosophy of an equal world being a perfect world and he finally decided that something needed to be done. During his time in the military he encountered Lee once more and would eventually get to know him enough to know that Lee had found love of his own, except he got married to her and had a child with her, who was 13. Costello finally lost it at this point. The man who had made him suffer his entire existence, the man who took his parents lives in his first life, the man who he had initiated a war across his numerous lifetimes got to watch his son grow, got to marry his wife, and he did not. This is what lead to the beginning of the Endless War Story, where Costello would plan events that would eventually lead Harrison to obtaining the HUNT-6 document to get Lee's best friend killed, expose Lee's actions during the Shenzhen Scourge to get him labeled as a traitor which would inadvertently get his children killed, murdered Lee's wife, and then kill everybody connected to Lee. This twisted sense of justice allowed for Costello to finally label Lee as his "equal" for he could not only match Costello in strength and intelligence, but now pain.
== Personality ==
James is a man who wears a blank expression most of the time, yet has a calm demeanor and usually does not raise his voice. He is extremely cunning and quite manipulative and cares little for his subordinates and allies viewing them more as tools or pawns rather than comrades. The only ally he seems to have any care or respect for is Bill, who he has stated multiple times is the most useful member of his cabinet. He showed his lack of care after he shot and killed Jared Duffy after Mech managed to take away his powers so that Duffy could live a normal life. Towards the end of the Endless War Arc, James assumes a much more cold and expressionless demeanor, and at the end, he becomes quite erratic and extremely temperamental. James throughout his existence went from somebody who went from big ambitions and somebody who wanted to save the world and preserve life to a person who cares very little about taking the lives of people if it means the world can be a safer place in the grand scheme of things.
== Quotes ==
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! What do you know about suffering!? You got to get married! You got to hear your son's first words and watch his first steps! You got to live! I NEVER GOT THAT LUXURY! How do you think I FELT when I watched the man who took everything from me so long ago get to enjoy what I SHOULD HAVE HAD?! I killed your wife and got your son killed so that we could be EQUAL AGAIN! Then once I have killed you, I will create a utopia where nobody will have to experience the HORROR of terrorism and war! Where death can only occur by the effects of nature! Where a man can live a life with his family peacefully and not have to worry about the condition of his country! Where EVERYBODY is EQUAL! IT WILL FINALLY BE A WORLD WORTH LIVING IN! That is why I can't lose! That is why I WON'T lose. I REFUSE TO BE LEFT IN THE DARK AGAIN!" - James' speech to Lee moments before the end of their final battle.
"What is wrong with you? You're the "great" Lee Oxford. You were in the military for 40 fucking years and have been killing people for almost 2,000! One kid suddenly makes you tuck your tail between your legs? I've killed countless people to get where I am now and I will kill 1,000 or even a fucking million more if it means that this world can be a better place. Fuck what happened to your family, fuck the thugs you got involved with, fuck the smear campaign against your name, it made you a better man. A man with the ability to change the world for the better if I couldn't be the one to do it, but you never did. So the question is this... how many more people am I gonna have to remove from your life before we finally get on the same page?" - James to Lee after he gained his memories back.