Cold-Blooded Lizard (Vol. 1)

**Publisher**: Age of Marvels

**Line**: Archive

**Status**: Concluded

## Details

**Note:** This title was set in the original AOM continuity, prior to the reset of the CBR forums in April of 2014 and the AOM reboot.

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD**

Writer: Mike Costa

Artist: Ryan Stegman

Location: Wherever it's warm

Concept: Once one of the world’s foremost scientific minds, Dr. Curt Connors' disastrous self-experimentation re-grew his lost arm, but indelibly transformed him into the Cold-Blooded Lizard! The Lizard destroyed Curt's family and his life when it ate his son, and it was only after Curt had nothing left and his reputation was irreversibly destroyed that he finally managed to establish control again. Now, Curt uses his mind and empowered body to try and make up for the damage he's done in the past – doing good and fighting evil while evading the authorities who relentlessly pursue him for the Lizard’s crimes.

Cast:

1. The Lizard (Dr. Curt Connors)

Supporting: Gwen Stacy, Dominic Fortune, Dr. Kavita Rao

Antagonists: Dr. Evelyn Necker, Heinrich Zemo, Machete, Stegron, Vulture

## Issues

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #1**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“Law of the Jungle”

Dr. Curt Connors has finally gained control of his reptilian alter ego, but he can’t erase his villainous past… he can only run from it. Relentlessly pursued by Dominic Fortune, who leads a taskforce dedicated to bringing him in, Connors runs to where he thinks he can do the most good: the war-torn South American nation of San Diablo! Setting up a lab in the rainforest, he helps the locals with vaccines while studying the native wildlife in an attempt to perfect his own signature serum. But would-be revolutionary Ferdinand “Machete” Lopez and his gang of mercenaries are looking to close down Connors’ free pharmacy with extreme prejudice, and when they bring the violence to Connors’ patients, they come face to face with the wrath of the Cold-Blooded Lizard! Welcome to the jungle, you’re gonna die!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #2**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“Rise, Quetzalcoatl!”

Dominic Fortune arrives in the South American nation of San Diablo where he finds a vengeful Machete who is more than willing to help him track down the Lizard – especially after Dominic explains that he’s been tasked by S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring the Lizard in because, before he fled the States, the Lizard savagely killed his own son, the young Billy Connors! Or so Dominic believes… Meanwhile, Curt Connors flees north and, despite efforts, is spotted by locals who mistake him for the reborn reptilian demigod, Quetzalcoatl! Belief in that deity had nearly completely ceased, especially after the apocalypse failed to be ushered in by its return in 2012, but Curt’s presence rekindles the faith. However, when it becomes apparent that the Lizard is not the rebirth of divinity, a discouraged zealot steals and ingests the serum that Curt was trying unsuccessfully to perfect! Transformed into an enormous cold-blooded monster, the zealot assumes the role of Quetzalcoatl himself and begins to violently end the world - one life at a time! Can the Lizard put down this new Quetzalcoatl and stop his indiscriminate slaughter, or is the apocalypse back on schedule?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #3**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“The Machete Movement”

Dominic Fortune begins to question who the real monster is: the Cold-Blooded Lizard, whom he and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team have been tasked with apprehending, or Ferdinand “Machete” Lopez, with whom he has reluctantly allied. When Dominic decides to sever his ties with the would-be revolutionary of San Diablo after witnessing his brutality first hand, Machete doesn’t take it well. He uses the presence of both the S.H.I.E.L.D. team and the Lizard in San Diablo to galvanize support for his cause, painting them as imperialistic American agents brought in by the nation’s cruel right-wing dictatorship to crush the common man. Rallying against the apparent foreign imperialism, a now popular resistance chases Dominic and his team into the jungles where their only hope for survival… is Curt Connors! It’s the Lizard and the team sworn to bring him to justice against a full-fledged South American revolution. Can Connors and Fortune coexist, even when their lives depend on it? Or will Machete carry out his coup d'état wearing a lizard skin vest?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #4**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“Extraction”

After Curt Connors saved Dominic Fortune’s life last issue, the two have reached an uneasy accord. Rather than turning him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Fortune has disregarded orders and agreed to bring Connors to meet an old colleague and the one biochemist Curt thinks can stabilize his Lizard formula… Dr. Kavita Rao! In flight, Curt learns of the recent upheaval in the Middle Eastern nation of Aqiria and flashes back to where his destiny was first written: when he lost his arm. A U.S. Army medic during Operation Desert Storm, the young Private Connors was assigned to a special operations unit tasked with escorting Farouk Al-Fasaud out of Iraq and across the border into the neighboring nation of Aqiria, a nation Farouk would one day rule. It was supposed to be as simple as getting the future leader onto a secure train and riding it to safety, but everything went completely FUBAR. His unit dead, the railway obliterated, and Scud missiles falling like rain, it was up to Private Connors to get Farouk five hard miles through enemy territory to the border! They would not get there without great sacrifice… This is that story. Find out how it will come back to haunt the Lizard today!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #5**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“The Emperor Lizard” Part 1: “Endangered Species”

With the help of foe turned friend Dominic Fortune, Curt Connors has finally reached the lab of biologist Dr. Kavita Rao. Things get awkward. Dominic knew the doctors were former colleagues, but what he didn’t know was that they had a brief romantic fling during a time when they were both married to other people. It didn’t exactly end well… nonetheless Kavita took the Hippocratic Oath, so she reluctantly agrees to help her former paramour and assist Curt in stabilizing his Lizard formula. The uncomfortable work comes to an abrupt halt when the lab is attacked! A single zealot using some seriously advanced weaponry descends upon the lab with both Connors and Rao in her crosshairs! Revealing herself to be Dr. Evelyn Necker from the year 2020, she proclaims that the Connors-Rao Formula crafted in the coming weeks ultimately results in a world where humanity becomes an endangered species, hunted both for prey and for sport by Earth’s new dominant race: Lizards! In this grim future, Connors rules - the Lizard part of his brain once more ascendant, with Rao as his reptilian queen! In a last-ditch effort to prevent a Lizard epidemic, Necker travelled back in time to kill Connors and Rao before their reign could begin! Possessing a single-minded focus, will Necker succeed in assassinating the Cold-Blooded Lizard before he becomes the Emperor Lizard? Moreover, with Connors fearing that she is telling the truth about what he is capable of, will he let her?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #6**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“The Emperor Lizard” Part 2: “Onward Lizard Soldiers”

Dr. Evelyn Necker came back in time from the year 2020 to kill Curt Connors and Kavita Rao before their scientific experimentation transformed most of humanity into Lizard-like monsters. She failed. But before she was beaten, she engaged her time disc to bring Connors, Rao, and their reluctant accomplice Dominic Fortune back to 2020 with her.
Just six years from now, repto sapiens are the dominant species on Earth. In this world gone mad, Connors of 2020 rules as the First One, the great cold-blooded Emperor Lizard! His minions patrol everywhere, scouring the planet for humans to subjugate… or worse. This was the ultimate goal of the Lizard fully realized, but it was always Connors’ worst nightmare. He had sworn upon everything he held dear, including the memory of his son, that he would never let the Lizard persona take control again, but in 2020 he is confronted with his obvious and complete failure to do so.

Only a small band of human resistance remains, including Captain Marvel, Taskmaster, Ursa Major, and a man Connors has a great deal of history with… the amazing Spider-Man! All of them are scarred by the tragic events of recent years. Overcome with guilt, Connors’ volunteers to let them execute him to prevent all this. Necker stops Taskmaster from taking Curt up on his offer, explaining that everything that has befallen the world has already happened, and therefore killing Connors in 2020 would solve nothing. No, the only solution is to return Connors to the past and stop him there. But Necker’s time discs are depleted, and the only place to recharge them is her old laboratory… which is in downtown Orlando, the seat of the Emperor Lizard’s power! Can the rebels possibly survive the bold infiltration necessary to save humanity, or will 2014 be a year that lives forever in reptilian infamy?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #7**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“The Emperor Lizard” Part 3: “Year of the Dragon”

Curt Connors, Kavita Rao, and Dominic Fortune have been brought forward in time. In the grim darkness of the year 2020, there are only cold-blooded Lizards. The only hope they have of returning to the present and averting this catastrophe is to join forces with the woman who trapped them in the future, Dr. Evelyn Necker, in a bold effort to infiltrate of the Emperor Lizard’s seat of power: Downtown Orlando! The group is quickly separated, with Rao and Connors being captured and brought before the Emperor Lizard himself: Curt Connors of 2020! What will the Emperor’s punishment be for the man who for so-long prevented the Lizard from dominating both his own consciousness and the planet?

Meanwhile, Fortune and Necker reach their destination: Necker’s hidden laboratory. It is only then that Dominic realizes he’s been played… there are no additional time travel discs and the place Necker used him to reach is not a lab at all, but rather a warehouse containing a stock-piled army of android Evelyn Necker duplicates - all awaiting activation! Necker had obviously been planning this for years before the Lizard Outbreak. Have they just traded one nightmare future dominated by one monster for another?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

**THE COLD-BLOODED LIZARD #8**

Written by MIKE COSTA

Plot by EXCITER

Art by RYAN STEGMAN

“The Emperor Lizard” Part 4: “Welcome to Now”

In the year 2020, the Lizard has taken over the world and replaced humanity with repto sapiens. Through time travel, the mad-scientist Dr. Evelyn Necker brought Curt Connors, Kavita Rao, and Dominic Fortune to this not-too-distant future and tricked them into helping her activate her long-dormant army of androids! Now its future lizards versus killing machines, fighting for control of an already dystopian future! Necker’s power play draws out the Emperor Lizard himself, Connors of 2020, and while the two engage in battle, Connors of 2014 springs into action. Stealing Necker’s time disc, he manages to transport himself, Rao, Fortune, Necker, and future Connors back to 2014 before destroying the device! In the present, back in Rao’s secluded laboratory, the fight has just begun and not all of the parties will walk away alive! Can Curt kill the Emperor Lizard, his own future self? If he does, is he sealing his own fate? Or will the Lizard of the future emerge victorious and have six extra years to enact his plan? Can Necker kill Connors and prevent the future they all foresaw? And what happens when Connors’ former assistant, still determined to cure him of his affliction, shows up at the lab at just the wrong moment? Enter: Gwen Stacy!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

## Gallery

The Cold-Blooded Lizard Vol. 1The Cold-Blooded Lizard #1The Cold-Blooded Lizard #2The Cold-Blooded Lizard #3The Cold-Blooded Lizard #4The Cold-Blooded Lizard #5The Cold-Blooded Lizard #6The Cold-Blooded Lizard #7The Cold-Blooded Lizard #8The Cold-Blooded Lizard Promo Art