Baron Ruthless

**Baron Ruthless** is one of the world’s premier supervillains and has been such for over fifty years. A super-genius, his diabolical mind has been responsible for unleashing numerous terrors upon the world.

## History

Very little of Ruthless’ early life is known about, including his real name or identity. All efforts to trace him have met with failure and dead ends; anyone who seems to get close will meet with an unpleasant end courtesy of the Baron. A few scraps of information suggest that Ruthless was born in the late 1920s or early 1930s in Europe, only to vanish during World War II.

Ruthless himself first appeared in 1954 in a grandiose manner that would become his signature. Using his advanced technology, he took control of radio and television broadcasts worldwide, threatening to shut off all global communication of the world did not surrender to him immediately. Fortunately for the world, a group of Superheroes were able to track him to his secret castle lair and destroy his weapons before they could be unleashed. However, the Baron himself escaped, vowing revenge against not only the heroes who had stopped him, but the world as a whole.

Ruthless re-appeared in November 1957 when he became the second power in the world (after the Soviet Union) to launch a satellite into space. Again taking control of the world’s communications, he threatened the United Nations into handing over power to him before he destroyed a major city with the power of his new Z-Ray lasers that the vessel carried. Once again, he was defeated, again escaping but not before Professor Science was accidentally caught in his experimental time vortex and propelled to the present day.

This set the pattern of events to come; Ruthless, ever at the leading edge of science and technology would continually appear to threaten the world with some new device, such as mutated radioactive dinosaurs, atomic robots, giant gorillas, weather controllers, earthquake machines, various energy weapons (both land and space based), asteroid cannons, space stations, lunar bases, city saws and so forth. He has cooperated with other supervillains, formed councils of evil and even in past, manipulated hostile aliens into doing his bidding. While he was often defeated, Ruthless was never deterred and rarely captured; to date, he has only been imprisoned twice, for six months in 1984 and two days in 1976, both times before escaping.

Over the course of his career he has clashed with various superhumans, albeit very rarely indirectly. Using both his technological might and his vast wealth, he has raised an army of soldiers equipped with the latest in portable energy weapons (and in more recent years, powered armour) as well as hiring supervillains for his own purposes.

He has also used his resources to create his own super-powered minions, albeit not always deliberately. Roboskull was initially created by him before turning renegade in 1985 (although some maintain that the robot is still under his control and working to further his own agenda). Similarly, a meltdown at a secret nuclear reactor he controlled created the supervillain Desolator. He has also sponsored several secret supervillain training programs to ensure himself a future supply of minions.

Unusually, Baron Ruthless has been quiet for the last five years; there have been no recorded sightings and certainly no new attempts by him to take over the world. While some have suggested that the Baron may have put his supervillain life behind him or even died of old age, others remain concerned that he may be biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike and launch his newest plan for world domination.

## Powers/Abilities

Baron Ruthless has no innate superpowers; in fact, he is only an average physical specimen at best. However, it would be foolish to underestimate him based on his physical abilities.

Ruthless has been diagnosed with ‘’Malign Hypercognative Disorder’’; in the top 1% of intellects on the planet, he is also irrevocably twisted and evil. His genius knows no limits, allowing him to master numerous fields of science and study and make incredible breakthroughs and developments that are otherwise unmatched. His genius is such that many his devices seem to break the laws of physics, their operations incomprehensible to all but a few.

Furthermore, Ruthless never operates alone and never exposes himself to his enemy directly. He will always be protected, weather by his armies of soldiers or his hired supervillains. They are the footsoldiers in his crusade, the ones who implement his plans while he controls them from his latest secret volcano lair, safe halfway across the world form the scene of his latest criminal masterstroke.

In the advent that a hero does penetrate his lair, he will always be prepared; he will almost certainly have some new weapon or device on hand to, at the very least, allow him to temporarily waylay his foe while he makes his escape.

Interestingly enough, while having no true super powers as such, Ruthless does appear to have resisted the effects of aging to some degree; while he should be in his eighties, he seems to be far more fit and healthy then someone of his age would normally be.

## Personality

Baron Ruthless is a classical megalomaniac. Egotistical and grandstanding, he feels that he and he alone is suited to rule the world. To his mind, the nations of the globe should bow down before him and acknowledge his superiority so that he can lead all mankind into a glorious golden age. However, as they have not yet done so, he feels that he must force them to do such so that he may asset his right to rule.

While he is a scientific genius, he is rather prone to letting his ego get the better of him. Should he have his foe at a disadvantage, he will not hesitate to make a grandstanding speech about how he is superior and the inevitability of his triumph (or whatever), often giving his opponent a chance to escape. Likewise, he tends to underestimate his foes and overlook things that should be obvious, possibly because such mundane matters are so far beneath him.

Ruthless seems to detest physical combat, seeing it as being below him; furthermore, he feels that there are other people to do that for him. While not a coward, he will prefer to avoid combat and make his escape then fight someone directly.

Curiously, Ruthless disappeared not too long before Supremeus arrived in this world; one of the few details that Supremeus has been able to give about his homeworld is that it definitely doesn’t have a counterpart to Ruthless.

## Appearance

Baron Ruthless is a tall, lean man in who appears to be in his late sixties. He has sharp, angular features and sports a bald head and a pointy goatee beard. His eyes are always covered by a pair of red-tinted goggles. His attire is strangely subdued, being a white jacket, black slacks, boots and black gloves, as well as a utility belt.