Woods (Earth-1731)

## Affiliation and Relationships

### Affiliation

 Ronins; formerly Requiem, Ad Astra, Black Ops, Project Crusader, USMC, Team 19, Bruiser Brigade, NextWave, X-Force, New Avengers, Woods' Group

### Relatives

 Parents:
Samantha Woods (mother, deceased);
Marc Shaw (father, missing; presumed deceased);
Elias Chase (adoptive father, deceased)
Siblings:
Dean (half-brother, alive)
Spouses:
Leslie Malcolms (wife, deceased)
Jones (ex-fiancée, deceased)
Children:
Kendrick (daughter, deceased)
Other Relatives:
Sky (clone, deceased);
Nathan Fiasco (nephew, alive)

## Physical Characteristics

### Height

6′3″ (1.91 m) (post-Project Crusader),
5′9″ (1.75 m) (pre-Project Crusader)

### Weight

230 lbs (104.33 kg) (post-Project Crusader),
167 lbs (75.75 kg) (pre-Project Crusader)

### Eyes

Irises:

* Brown

### Hair

Black,
Grey-Haired peppered throughout

## Origin and Living Status

### Origin

Maruta; Later infected with the Techno-Organic Virus

### Reality

Earth-1731, (currently displaced to Earth-10)

### Cause of Death

1. Bled out (resurrected by Nathan Fiasco)

## Personal Information

### Occupation

Fixer
FormerlyGovernment Spy, Government Operative, Marine, Spacefarer

### Education

High school diploma; Military & Espionage Training

### Base of Operations

Terminal Warehouse, Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City
FormerlyCilvia City, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, Omega.1, Orbit

## Creators and Appearances

### First

Sprawl #1
(January, 2016)

 **Solace.** [...] That's what I found in the trench. Solace between **me and my nibbling conscious.**
—**Woods**[src]
**Woods**, also known as Ronin and briefly, Recon, is an amnesiac maruta who has lived a long life that feels even longer. Born in a government black site called Terminus in 1922, Woods was the product of cloning to produce an artificial mutant from Levi's DNA, done by Unit 347. Deemed a failure as they couldn't replicate the X-Gene, he would be saved by Elias Chase as an infant and named Woods. Following this, Woods' memory would be suppressed by Elias to protect him from Unit 347 as he enlisted in the military. Here, with no memory of who Elias was, he would be recruited by Elias to participate in a volunteer experiment called Project Crusader. After the procedure, he gained superhuman abilities and joined three other survivors who gained powers to form Black Ops.

Woods eventually left Black Ops after an incident dubbed "Nacht der Untoten," where he was infected with the Techno-Organic Virus. This event led to him being recruited by the Air Force to participate in a space task force called Ad Astra, and after one mission against a hostile alien race, Woods returned to Black Ops, now Requiem. As the superhero community grew, he ingratiated himself with it. He joined several teams, such as Bruiser Brigade, X-Force, and the New Avengers, eventually forming his group called NextWave out of members of Black Ops.

However, after retiring from a life of war, Woods married his former Ad Astra squadmate, Leslie Malcolms. Sadly, she was diagnosed with cancer, and Woods began to die from the TO Virus slowly. However, when the Chicago Incident occurred, he moved them both to Cilvia City to live out their remaining days. However, through several different experiences throughout his life, Woods' healing factor was restored, which prevented the TO Virus from spreading within him. With a new lease on life, Woods is a hero again while still working as a Fixer in the past to prevent his dark future.

## History

### Early Life

Woods was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1922 as a product of attempted cloning through the usage of his father's DNA, Levi, and the womb of his mother, Samantha Woods. Unit 347, the organization behind this, wanted to create a mutant artificially but failed when they couldn't replicate the X-Gene. As a result, Dr. Harrison Maxis deemed it a failure and ordered Woods, as an infant, and his mother to be killed.

However, after Elias Chase raided Unit 347's black site, Terminus, he freed Levi and saved the infant but failed to save the mother. Without a mother and a father who wasn't mentally there enough to raise a child, Elias adopted the infant named Woods after his mother. The rest of Woods' childhood and adolescence is mainly unknown as Woods doesn't remember these events, including the origin above, Elias Chase, and Unit 347. All Woods remembers is that he enlisted in the military right before graduating from high school.

### Change Is Constant

#### USMC, Project Crusader, & Black Ops

Woods was placed in the United States Marine Corps, where he ran several missions and eventually joined a specialized recon squad that scouted ahead for the breacher squads. However, in 1955, he was introduced to Elias Chase, who offered him a chance to help serve his country better. It was a volunteer program, and while Elias wanted Woods to be part of it, he didn't sugarcoat that Woods would experience more pain than he could imagine. Knowing that the Cold War was fast approaching and fearing nuclear annihilation, Woods agreed to join Project Crusader.

Woods became one of twelve individuals who were placed into Project Crusader. However, Woods was the first test subject for everything because he was the first recruited; thus, his experimentation was the worst. They dissected him and put him back together, tortured him, experimented with various toxins and materials from the dimension of Paradise Lost, and more. It wasn't until Woods gained his healing factor that they stopped and redid the process for the other eleven. However, only a select few lived. Three of eleven individuals emerged with a regenerative healing factor and different abilities, while Woods only had a healing factor. Seeing this as a success, Elias brought the four of them together and formed Black Ops, a specialized task force equipped to handle threats worldwide.

As Black Ops, Maya, Alexi, Woods, and Amelia would undergo memory suppression to remove the possibility of enemies utilizing their family against them. They would run several missions as a group and work together closely, seeing each other as family. However, Woods would be sent on a solo mission to an abandoned airstrip in Germany in response to a Black Ops SOS sent by an ally in 1972.

This incident became known as the Nacht der Untoten incident and deeply haunts Woods today. It was rendered a highly classified operation that the President could not read. It is entirely unknown what occurred that night in Germany, but through bits and pieces, it was revealed that Dr. Harrison Maxis was involved, and it led to his capture and arrest. It also resulted in Woods' genetic signature being spread across the Multiverse, which allowed for the further evolution of Marutas in his reality and others. It was also here that Woods became infected with a variant of the Techno-Organic Virus. However, his healing factor kept it at bay.

This incident, while secret, garnered much praise from several influential individuals worldwide. Amelia would lobby her decorated combat record into a successful position as the head of her branch of the CIA named Requiem, and most members of Black Ops joined. However, Woods retired after the Nacht der Untoten incident and moved back to Las Vegas to settle down for a while.

#### Ad Astra

In the late 90s, Woods would be contacted by an Air Force General to act as protection for a human-crewed mission to the stars through what retroactively became known as the USSF (United States Space Force). The mission was called Ad Astra, and through drunken conversations and nightmares, it is somewhat revealed that Woods was forced to combat a hostile alien race onboard a space station called The Omega.1. However, the most significant part of this is that with Ad Astra, Woods met Leslie Malcolms who eventually became his wife.

#### Requiem

At some point in the 2000s, Woods would come out of retirement after marrying Leslie and join Requiem again. This is where Woods' past becomes murky as it is the least talked about period in his life. At an undetermined point in his time with Requiem, Woods would be forced to fight a Predator in the Amazonian Rainforest. However, Woods has commented on how Requiem became a haven for other Marutas and had expanded considerably, housing several different teams and factions.

#### Joining The Superhero Community

In the mid-2010s, the world began to change. As a result, Amelia ushered in an initiative to have members of Requiem join the growing superhero community to allow Marutas to be more accepted by the general public. Woods became associated with the Las Vegas-based superhero team, Bruiser Brigade. While Woods was somewhat indifferent towards them initially, they quickly became his most incredible friends and newfound family. During this time, he was given the alias "Mantis," by Shay Daniels.

Eventually, due to his work with Bruiser Brigade, Woods gained recognition within the superhero community and was invited to join X-Force to bridge the gap between Mutants and Marutas. He spent several years with X-Force until Woods was asked to join the New Avengers, leading him to move to New York. During his time in New York, the original members of Black Ops would reform but under the name NextWave. However, Woods was close to retirement as Leslie was getting older, and Woods' healing factor began to wane, which led to him beginning to look older but still having the physicality of a man in his prime. He would fully retire once Leslie was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he decided to spend as much time as he could with her. He even burned his old Mantis costume.

### The Chicago Incident of 2029

In 2029, Woods, Black Thought, and Leslie witnessed the most significant loss of life on American soil during the Chicago incident. Nearly all of the superhero community was slaughtered by a staged alien invasion. The same day it happened, Leslie used some of her contacts to discover that it was done by a megacorporation known as Codex, who released a bio-weapon in the form of a contaminant that targeted specific parts of the body that allowed for super-powers to exist. Grief-stricken by the believed death of all of his friends (Woods would find out later that a handful of them survive: I.E., Shay Daniels & Madame X), he moved with his wife to Cilvia City with Black Thought, who ended up going his own way. Two years later, Leslie died from cancer, and Woods became a Fixer for movie studios and businesses to fill time and to avoid dealing with her death.

### Dark Future

#### Fathers & Daughters

Now, in 2045, Woods has become a bitter, drunken, belligerent older man as his healing factor has fully begun to fail him. The Techno-Organic Virus has slowly started killing him, which he learned from spending two years in Los Angeles with an old friend and doctor, Michelle Hawthorne. Back in Cilvia City, Woods returned to his job as a Fixer, but it was here that he got a call from Black Thought, who was asking for his help. Woods arrived at Black Thought's safehouse only to find that Black Thought was hired to protect a young girl named Kendrick and a man named Ethan Park. Initially refusing to get involved after seeing Black Thought injured, Ethan revealed that Lazarus was hunting them because Kendrick was an escaped laboratory experiment on Marutas.

Frustrated by the idea of being dragged back into the business of helping people, Woods reluctantly agrees to help. The group set their sights on Helena, Montana, as Ethan claims there is a group that protects people with superhuman abilities from the megacorps. However, outside Cilvia City, they are attacked by Lazarus Agents Blackhand and Silas. This results in the death of Ethan, but Woods and Black Thought kill Silas before fleeing into the desert. However, amidst their escape, Woods encounters Elias Chase, who is revealed to be alive and tags along on their journey.

The group makes it to Utah, but after Woods' car stalls, they are forced to accept help from a family of locals, The Lenore Family. They offer them a place to stay, but this turns out to be a bad idea as Lazarus catches up with the group. They unleash the clone of Woods named Sky, who slaughters The Lenore Family, Elias Chase, and Black Thought. Woods attempts to have a final confrontation with Sky but nearly dies. He is only saved by Kendrick, who forces him into a truck, puts the bodies of Elias and Black Thought in the trunk, and drives them away from the ranch. After having a moment to recover, Woods buries Black Thought and Elias in unmarked graves in a clearing near a forest and breaks down into tears, passing out under a tree from blood loss.

Woods would wake up in a hotel room in Boulder, Montana, where he finds that Kendrick has brought them to safety and patched up his wounds. The two talk about their lives here, and Kendrick reveals she is his daughter. The two bond while Woods shows affection and wants her to have a life after this. While drunk, Woods regales her with stories about her mother, and they both cry because of it. Woods weeps for missing his wife and Kendrick for not knowing her mother. The following day, the two drive to Helena.

In Helena, Woods discovers that Ethan was telling the truth as the Children of the Atom have taken up residence in an old Requiem base. The group is led by none other than Maya from Black Ops. The two have a moment to enjoy that they are alive, and Woods begins to think about staying in Kendrick's life more. However, they are besieged by Lazarus, who has tracked their location due to shooting both Woods and Kendrick with tracker bullets back at the ranch in Utah. Forced to make a final stand, a Children of the Atom member, Dr. Elijah Gordon, gives Woods the V-26 Enhancer, nicknamed "Doomsayer Serum," which acts as an enhancer for superhuman abilities.

Enraged, Woods, Kendrick, Maya, and Matthew fight Lazarus, but as Blackhand calls in reinforcements to capture Kendrick alive, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice. Having stolen Woods' TO Virus bullet, she loads it into a revolver and kills herself to stop Lazarus from attacking the Children of the Atom. While it worked and Lazarus stopped, deeming the project a failure, Woods lost it and killed the remaining Lazarus agents by himself, Blackhand and his clone included. He would pass out shortly after that from his unhealing wounds and V-26 wearing off.

#### Long Drive

Following the momentary defeat of Lazarus and the death of his daughter, Woods fully recovers due to Dr. Elijah Gordon's serum in smaller doses, helping his healing factor. Ready to leave, Maya offers a suggestion and tells Woods that he should visit their former Black Ops teammate, Amelia Williams, who had become President. Woods agrees and is given a Plymouth Road Runner to replace his former Porsche 911 and heads off to Washington with nothing else to do.

During the drive, Woods begins to reminisce about his life, how Black Ops was formed, and how he gained abilities. Throughout the trek, Maya calls him every five hours to talk to him about everything and keeps offering him a spot with the Children of the Atom, but he declines, not wanting to get back into the hero business. When he finally reaches Washington, however, Maya warns Woods that Amelia has become more secretive in her older years and tells him to watch out.

#### View from the Edge

When Woods arrives in Washington, D.C., and checks into his hotel room, he gets a knock at his door, and it is Secret Service with Amelia, who now goes by Amelia Williams. Surprised to see her, Woods and her talk in his room for a while before traveling to the White House, where Woods is introduced to Sybil Grey and Nathan Fiasco, Amelia's right and left hand from Requiem in the Oval Office. However, Naomi Maxis enters the room, having set an appointment with Amelia.

At first, Woods is asked to leave, but Amelia asks for Woods to stay with Nathan and Sybil. Here, Naomi reveals her plans for future technology, known as The Voices from the Edge, which would remove the need for human soldiers to elevate life expectancy and reduce war casualties. Sybil and Nathan are on board, but when Woods and Amelia look at the plans, they recognize that the robots are based on the Super Adaptoids that the pair fought during the heroic age. Amelia lets Naomi know that she will think about it, but the moment she leaves, Amelia denies her request, much to the confusion of Sybil and Nathan. Woods explains the Super Adaptoids to them, and that is when Alexi Markov, the fourth and final member of Blacks Ops, steps through the door as he is the Vice President. After explaining it to everyone, Woods and Amelia devise a plan to sneak into Lazarus Headquarters to investigate The Voices from the Edge.

Inside Lazarus Headquarters, Woods and Amelia find several vials of a strange serum called the Inferus Pathogen. Amelia steals one, but the two quickly hide in the vents after nearly being caught. Attempting to escape the facility, they end up right over an examination room. Here, Woods identifies the deceased body as Dr. Harrison Maxis, but Naomi enters the room and injects him with the Inferus Pathogen. After a few moments of nothing happening, Harrison reanimates and stands up, coherent and mentally intact, as if he didn't die. Fearful of this, Woods and Amelia quickly leave the facility and return to The White House with their findings.

After regrouping with Alexi, Nathan, and Sybil, the group discusses their findings and the Inferus Pathogen. However, Alexi mentions that Elias worked on something similar when Black Ops was still operational. Nathan, Amelia, and Woods travel to the first Black Ops base, Revelations, in Portland, Maine, with no other lead. At the facility, Woods remembers why he hated the place, as all he could hear was his screams throughout the halls. However, Amelia learns how bad the experimentation was for Woods.

Reluctant to talk about it, Amelia finds Nathan in the file room of Revelations, where he discovers that he is Woods' nephew as he was experimented on in the 80s rather than the 50s like the rest of them. Grimly, their trip down memory lane is cut short when a Wendigo attacks them but speaks English, warning them to beware of The Voices from the Edge. Woods attacks Wendigo head-on, but their fight results in Wendigo retreating and Woods nearly dying. However, Nathan discovers that Wendigo was a failed experiment by Lazarus to see if they could combine the supernatural with genetics, which is why Wendigo has the appearance of his namesake but speaks English. As they are walking out of the facility, Woods collapses and slips into a coma as his wounds are more severe than he let on.

In a coma, Woods has a vision of Leslie Malcolms. The two talk about Woods' current life, and while it begins sweet, it ends abruptly when she warns Woods of The Voices from the Edge. As she leaves his vision, Woods returns to the Omega.1 and is forced to fight the hostile alien race to get to Leslie. However, he fails, and the aliens get to her. Woods wakes up from his coma, screaming as Amelia runs into the hospital room of the White House to try and wake up Woods. Lazarus had begun to attack The White House after they noticed one of their vials was missing, and Amelia's fingerprint was at the scene. Still injured from his fight with Wendigo, Woods helps defend the White House alongside Sybil, Nathan, and Alexi.

Following the first attack, Woods decided that it was time to leave Washington as he didn't plan on stopping terrorists or megacorporations. This decision enrages Amelia and Nathan, but Sybil agrees that Woods should go if he needs to. Amelia tries to argue with Woods, but Woods doesn't engage in the conversation. He just packed his bags, got into his Road Runner, and left. Just outside of D.C., Woods stops at a Coffee Bean to get a coffee for the long drive back to Cilvia City.

However, he stops and watches a family enter the Coffee Bean, a father and mother with their teenage daughter. The daughter ranted about a specific coffee that her father needed to try, and that black pit within Woods tore wide open again but only confirmed his decision to leave. Just as Woods was getting on Interstate 695, the radio came on and spoke about how the White House was attacked again. However, in the middle of his listening, the power went out all over the city, and out of instinct, Woods turned around to see if Amelia was still alive.

#### Voices from the Edge

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#### By the Time I Get to Phoenix

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### Never Fade Away - (The Past)

#### The Bat or the Claws

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#### When the People Cheer

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#### Interlude Addendum

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#### Days Gone Bye

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## Personality

 My mercy prevails over my wrath..
—Woods[src]
In his youth, Woods had much of a personality and was far from autonomous. He joked, not often, but he did. Woods often talked about movies and pop culture during stakeouts or missions when nothing was happening. He is charismatically infectious, able to get even the most stoic of soldiers to talk and joke in the face of danger or among his squad mates. Woods would talk about anything due to abhorring silence unless it were necessary. Psychological evaluations reveal that it is due to the noise-induced trauma that he has survived throughout the years that Woods needs noise to function. This need for noise is apparent as he will play music for his squad whenever they are doing workouts, lounging around, and sometimes even during missions. His music playing is why some people he's worked with have called him "Jukebox."

However, later in life, Woods has become a very broken person, cited as being quite nihilistic and cynical. He uses his vices as a coping mechanism to deal with the years of trauma and the loss of nearly everyone he cared about. He teeters the line of being suicidal due to this; Woods even began - and still does - carry around a Techno-Organic Virus bullet with the idea of killing himself. His charisma was replaced with a temper directed at the world, taken out on the people around him, sometimes accidentally. He has become belligerent and is often alone on nearly every occasion, as the hate he harbors for the world stems from self-hatred at being unable to stop the incident that claimed the lives of almost all his found family. He still trusts people but has become highly intolerable towards people who annoy or frustrate him. For all intended purposes, Woods has become a very broken individual and a dark shell of his former self.

He has become reluctant to help people and only does so for money, seeking only a small measure of solace in cigars and bottles. His job as a Fixer has led to Woods becoming a drifter, never thoroughly having a home. Part of his old personality shined through with the revelation of his daughter, Kendrick. However, her passing only pushed him further into this spiral, but to try to be what she thought he was, Woods began helping people again, although he does so begrudgingly.

However, after having undergone the effects of the V-26 Enhancer, Woods was permanently altered mentally. It is not an understatement to say that his mind has been fractured. While he is still himself, Woods has begun to struggle with maintaining his emotions, and his former quiet rage and pain have bubbled to the surface. Maya Simmons has described that Woods has an emotions bottle where he stores all of his feelings, pain, and suffering, but V-26 took the bottle cap and never put it back on, resulting in all of Woods' pent-up feelings since Black Ops pouring out. Woods doesn't know what to do with it because he has never processed or dealt with these emotions, leading to him being upset and, more so, mad about how upset he is. Woods doesn't have a rage that permeates every aspect of his life, but it is more of an emotional distress and torment.

Woods wants to die. This is evident in every interaction Woods has had since the Chicago incident. Surface level, his death wish could be interpreted as him wanting to die to end the chronic pain he feels from the Techno-Organic Virus, but it's more depressing than that. As stated before, Woods is alone more often than not and is reluctant to help people. That is born out of Woods' fear of being alone. Every friend he has ever had has been a hero, nearly all of them dead. Woods doesn't want to die because his life is on a clock or for any other arbitrary reason. Woods wants to die because he doesn't want to be alone anymore. A highlight of this was when Shay Daniels and Madame X were revealed to be alive because Woods' old personality shined through, and for the first time in nearly two decades, Woods smiled and laughed. He furthered this by accepting the fact that he is a hero, albeit a very different one. After dying and returning, he has gained a new sense of purpose and acceptance toward helping people but is still Woods. Hence, his lack of patience, horrible bedside manner, and ongoing suicidal tendencies are still very much prevalent.

Throughout his return to heroics, Woods has evolved into a battle-hardened older man who protects those who decide to ingratiate themselves with him without question. He has become an anti-hero in many ways, ready to destroy all threats to himself and the people close to him and lacking empathy toward those who mistreated them. His morals have radically shifted to the point that he has accepted that this is who he is now, claiming that he is a blunt instrument and that what people do with him as an instrument isn't very nice. Beyond this, though, in social interaction with people who don't know him, Woods comes off as a well-meaning, quiet, crotchety old man.

However, after the tire war between Stone Age Racing and Key Motors, Woods broke down to Sybil Grey about how, after the death of Shay and ending up in an alternative past, this is the lowest he has ever been. He claimed that it was the first time in his life that he didn't know what to do and was trying to keep going but kept sinking lower into his desolation. He even scared Sybil by telling her he is as lost as they are and wondered if the future is worth saving.

### Relationships

 My family's gone now, kid... **[...]** I don't know how but... You learn to live with it.
—Woods[src]
While Woods is violently anti-social in his older age, he has had many friends and love interests throughout his life and career as a hero and a Fixer. Several of his relationships are based on the fact that Woods began to trust them, or they impacted him, leading him to remember things they have said for the rest of his life.

Friendship-wise, Woods has claimed that his best friends are Madame X, Shay Daniels, Jones, and Black Thought. However, he has a deeper connection with Jones and Shay Daniels for different reasons. Shay taught Woods what it meant to be a hero, and while Woods was older than him, he looked up to Shay and saw him as the greatest hero to do it. Regarding Jones, Woods had some unknown connection to her that transcended both the physical and emotional bond they had for each other. She was his best friend and more. While they had a very romantic relationship, they agreed they should be friends, which deepened their friendship. He was shown to be more comfortable and less self-deprecating with Jones than anyone else. This was very prevalent in the past when Woods' Group encountered her, revealing that the timeline's been changed drastically.

In terms of love, Woods was a one-woman kind of guy. He had a couple of love interests, such as Jones mentioned above, Maya briefly, and Leslie Malcolms, who became his wife. With Leslie, Woods showed a more caring and nurturing side to her, revealing a more vulnerable aspect of his personality, but eventually, when she died, Woods claimed that this side died with her.

### Religious Views

 Science made me a monster. My powers made me live too long... And **God stopped caring halfway through.**
—**Woods**[src]
Woods is far from religious but has dabbled in religion heavily. As a child, Woods was raised Catholic and was devout until he underwent Project Crusader. With the revelation of Paradise Lost, his faith was shaken to the point that he became an agnostic for many years. However, when he met Jones, she introduced him to her Japanese culture, and Woods began to believe again, slowly but only on the surface level, which was the Samurai Bushido.

However, when Woods married Leslie Malcolms, a devout Catholic, he regained his faith somewhat. However, this was after years of fighting as a vigilante and seeing the absolute vastness of the cosmos, different dimensions, and the Multiverse. Though, he went to Mass with her because it made her happy. After she died, Woods would sporadically go to their church in Cilvia City and Las Vegas to remind himself of his wife, but he never fully believed again.

However, this drastically changed when he met The Stranger, who informed him that God was real and that he had not given up on Woods. Believing The Stranger, when Woods was sent to the past, he made a brief pit-stop at what would be his and Leslie's church in the past and did confusion, something he hadn't done in over forty years. While not devout and not attending Mass every Sunday, he has begun to believe in God again.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Maruta/Techno-Organic Physiology:** Woods willingly volunteered for Project Crusader, a covert program that would make soldiers superhuman. Woods was the first experiment; thus, his experience was worse than others, resulting in him having an exceptionally accelerated healing factor. This was Woods' only ability for a long time, but coupled with his training, the ability made Woods a highly dangerous individual. However, Woods would be infected with a variation of the Techno-Organic Virus from the Paradise Lost dimension during the Nacht der Untoten incident. While his healing factor prevented the spread of the virus, Woods gained the ability to manipulate the virus that swims within his blood, which led to the creation of the claws that come from his forearms.

* **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Due to Woods' experimentation in Project Crusader, he gained an unrivaled, highly experimental, and extremely potent healing factor, which heightened his physiology and mental processing. Any damaged parts of his body heal within seconds of sustaining the injury, even forcing embedded foreign objects out to heal correctly, such as bullets, shrapnel, and more. Woods' healing factor has allowed him to survive explosions, gunshots, nuclear fallout, and even being torn apart by extra-dimensional energies. The healing factor also grants Woods a litany of other abilities that are off-shoots or casualties of the power. Woods cannot die by any normal means; his body will resurrect itself if he flatlines. Decapitation doesn't work as he will grow a new head, or his body will find his head and reattach it. His unkillable nature has granted Woods a pseudo-immortality because he stopped physically aging the day he gained the ability. He stopped aging because he is actively filtering out and killing the aging cells to keep his body at peak condition and healthy. His agelessness is part of a more significant cycle because Woods' body doesn't allow toxins to exist within it. Certain ones, such as fatigue, must be there for the body to function. However, cancer from smoking or alcohol doesn't affect him, leading to Woods having an extremely powerful tolerance to substances that otherwise would render ordinary people discombobulated. These substances include toxic gases, radiation, medical liquids, and more. However, his toxic immunity doesn't stop here, as his body has become adaptable to any situation, allowing Woods to exist in all climates without discomfort (the notable exception being space because... it's space). All of this further extends to his stamina, which is seemingly boundless. Woods can exert himself for prolonged periods with an unfound upper limit. While he still needs to eat and sleep, Woods can exist for much longer without needing substance or sleep and be in combat for days or weeks before starting to feel the effects of fatigue, truly making Woods the perfect soldier. However, as Woods aged chronologically, his healing factor weakened significantly, and he now looks like a man in his 50s. What used to take seconds to heal (gunshot and stab wounds) can take up to several minutes or hours, depending on the severity of it. If his injuries are too significant, it could take days for Woods to fully return to normal. Interestingly, Woods also gets physically tired now, his stamina returning to that of what he had when he was a Marine. Interstingly, after being revived by the Suijin Trench, Woods' healing factor returned to how it was when he was young and still stayed this way even as his physical appearance regressed to that of his signature look. As a result, his stamina has recently become what it used to be again.

* **Reactive Techno-Organic Virus:** When Woods contracted a strain of the Techno-Organic Virus from Dr. Harrison Maxis during the Nacht der Untoten event, it was initially believed to be the typical virus. However, after his romp in Japan with Jones, Woods discovered it was a highly unstable and unknown virus variant that reacted to Woods' thoughts. However, due to the variant not altering his physical appearance and only his internal biology, he could only use this ability in a specific fashion, which resulted in Woods' claws.
	+ **Retractable Techno-Organic Claws:** Woods' Techno-Organic claws are a by-product of being able to manipulate the TO Virus strain within his body. As his skeleton and some internal organs have been converted to the metallic substance that the virus naturally generates, these claws are a direct result of this. Woods can produce six retractable foot-long metallic claws, with three in each hand. These claws are highly durable and can cut through most known metals on Earth, with several exceptions, such as Vibranium, Adamantium, other Techno-Organic Weapons, and others. The claws are virtually indestructible but can be damaged, such as when Woods lost one in his fight against Lucian, revealing that they restored themselves as the claw returned the moment it disappeared. The claw's restoration ability is because of the virus living within Woods and actively spreading and killing him.

### Abilities

* **Gifted Marksmen:** Woods was ranked highly within his sharpshooter class with the USMC and then later, rated the most excellent shot in Black Ops and subsequently became highly regarded for his marksmanship skill with Requiem. All of this to say, Woods is exceptionally deadly with all manner of firearms. While being a licensed instructor, Woods has lethal accuracy, able to hit targets that are both moving and still with equal precision and still take into account bullet drop, wind resistance, and various other factors. Woods was trained to utilize a litany of weapons but eventually settled on handguns being his most used and preferred weapon of choice. It has been stated by numerous sources that Woods is as lethal with a pistol as two people with assault rifles. For a long time, Woods exclusively used an M1911, customized to his liking, but after Nacht der Untoten, he swapped to a Colt Python as his preferred weapon. Since then, Woods has only used revolvers and claims anything else feels off, as all Woods had during Nacht der Untoten was a rusty Colt Frontier.

* **Violent Combatant:** There is a degree of separation between Woods and the other members of Black Ops, then later Requiem, in terms of combat. It is not an understatement to say that out of the group of people that surrounded Woods, he was the greatest fighter among them. His hand-to-hand capabilities are highly regarded, and some of his moves are still taught at Requiem. In his youth, Woods didn't have a defined style, nor did he primarily rely on a specific school, as Woods had tailored his combat to himself, which was violent, gruesome, and bloody. Woods would tank attacks as his healing factor would instantly heal him. He incorporates Boxing, MCMA, Jeet Kune Do elements, and more to create a style specific to Woods. His style has allowed Woods to gain the upper hand in various encounters, and while he doesn't rely on it, he does lean towards Boxing for a lot of his footwork, body movements, and standing attacks. However, as he got older, his fighting style became more of an older Boxer, using his arms to block attacks and attack when there was an opening. Woods has been shown to rely on boxing more and has been seen training through the sport.

* **Vehicle Enthusiast:** Furthermore, Woods is also an excellent driver. His driving capacity has been shown repeatedly, as every time he and his team are near vehicles, he is typically the one driving or handling vehicles. His expertise is also sought for knowledge as Woods is often asked about exfiltration vehicles for missions, for which he gives recommendations. His vehicle knowledge also extends to mechanics, as Woods was a vehicle mechanic in the USMC before joining Black Ops. In his civilian life, Woods drives a customized 1996 Toyota Supra RZ. Later, at some undetermined point, Woods would drive a Porsche 911 (938) Turbo II but that was destroyed and replaced with a Plymouth Road Runner.

* **Gifted Spy:** Another significant aspect of Woods' skills is that he is a highly trained and resounding spy. His espionage and stealth ability rank highly amongst the greats, able to disappear from view without needing external sources. He could sneak up on a Selven (the hostile alien race onboard the Omega.1), even with their enhanced senses. Woods has repeatedly been shown to be able to sneak up on people, disappear from a room without anyone realizing, blend in with the civilian population, and hide in an empty room by clinging to the ceiling.

* **Enhanced Deduction Capabilities:** Throughout Woods' life, it has been repeatedly shown that he has a highly keen deductive ability. Trained into him by Elias, Woods typically gains information by accessing his environment and people. He takes mental notes of people by their clothes, their hair, their hands, their mannerisms, all of it. Even down to minute details like photos on a wall or how they interact throughout the conversation. Woods doesn't explode with this information or audibly tell anybody but instead keeps it to himself and uses it to predict or make his conclusions about people and their actions.

* **Musicianship:** Despite his personality and everything else to the contrary, Woods is a surprisingly gifted pianist. He was classically trained in his youth, even though he doesn't remember by whom, but the training left Woods with muscle memory for the piano. Woods can play highly complicated pieces such as The Tempest or Gnossienne No. 1 but often freestyles when presented with a piano. He doesn't play publicly and only plays at home or with family and loved ones. This was showcased when Nathan woke up one morning to find Woods playing the piano. In Woods' more drunk and sentimental moments, Woods claims that he loves the piano and uses it to work through his issues. However, that morning with Nathan was the first time Woods touched the piano in decades, as he stopped playing shortly after Leslie died.

### Weaknesses

* **Suppressed Memory:** It is important to note that Project Crusader was a volunteer program for the best soldiers of the USMC and other organizations. Woods' memory was not removed as if he had amnesia; they were instead suppressed deep within his mind. Over the years, Woods learned bits and pieces of his life before the military, either through stories told to him or by simply remembering. His memory suppression was done willingly by Black Ops to remove the chance of enemies tormenting him by using the people he cared about. However, when Woods regained parts of his memory, he learned that his memory suppression runs much deeper than that of anyone else in Black Ops, as it was first done to him when he was in high school, moments before enlisting in the military. However, Woods still is an amnesiac as he doesn't remember anything prior to signing the enlistment papers.

* **Techno-Organic Virus:** The Techno-Organic Virus is a hazardous and lethal virus that corrupts the biological body and converts it to that of a machine. However, Woods possesses a variant of this virus, which doesn't alter its hosts to a hive mind but kills the host by turning them into a full technology-based lifeform. The variation kills the "organic" part of the virus from within before moving outward, leaving only a humanoid computer waiting for input. Initially, Woods' healing factor stopped the spread of the virus entirely, but as he got older and his healing factor weakened, the virus began to start killing him slowly. A quicker way to kill Woods is by weaponizing the Techno-Organic Virus or using a material more substantial than the metal the virus naturally produces. An example of weaponized TO is the bullet Woods carries; for denser materials, it would be Vibranium, Adamantium, and more. However, after being revived by the Suijin Trench, Woods' healing factor was restored to what it was when he was a young man which has completely stopped the spread of the TO Virus once more.

* **Alcoholism:** As stated previously, one of Woods' coping mechanisms to deal with his life is alcohol, to the point that Woods has developed an alcohol use disorder. He claims that it helps with the chronic pain he feels from the Techno-Organic Virus, which is true, but it also helps him sleep at night. Woods has essentially developed a "my liver will handle what my heart can't" mentality. Woods drinks throughout the day but doesn't get drunk until the night and when he is going to sleep. His healing factor would've prevented this, but as it is failing, Woods has been able to get drunk but not blackout. Throughout the day, Woods will drink and get buzzed, but at night, to sleep, he gets roaring drunk and passes out. Cited by Kendrick, Woods will kill a few bottles a day, which should kill him, but his healing factor heals his liver in the morning.

* **Mental Illness:** Before his life ended up on a clock, Woods was already a broken and mentally ill individual. Psychological evaluations showed that he had PTSD and noise-induced trauma, which resulted in Woods needing audible stimulation to function due to having fought in loud noise scenarios. This is why he listens to music so frequently, as he can't stand silence and will become highly paranoid unless necessary, but even then, he needs another physical person there. However, after the Nacht der Untoten incident, followed by the Chicago incident, Woods has fallen into a deep depression and is essentially suicidal. He seeks death in every encounter, but later, when he takes the V-26 Enhancer, his mental state only worsens as it forces all of the bottled negative emotions and rage he had at the world to the surface, exploding into what has become "Berserker Rage" or "Warrior's Madness." Even after being removed from V-26, Woods still can enter this trance-like state again as the enhancer permanently altered his brain chemistry to the point that his self-hatred and fear of himself only grew, hating himself for being able to do that and fearing for those around him. These anxieties and fears of entering that state again have led Woods to try and isolate himself further from people because while he may be suicidal, he doesn't want to take anyone with him when he dies. While not dying anymore and less suicidal, Woods still does have his ever-present rage and deep depression.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* **Techno-Organic Bullet:** As stated, Woods carries around a bullet made out of the same variant of the Techno-Organic Virus within him. It was given to him by Elias Chase to remember who he was and what he had become, but eventually, Woods kept it throughout his life and into his later years with hopes of using it to kill himself.

* **Black Ops/Ad Astra/Requiem Uniforms:** Throughout the years, Woods has had several different uniforms from the various organizations he was a part of. While he still has each of them, he doesn't wear them anymore and tends to stick to his suit and tie. Regardless, they are there if he needs to wear them, which has been once in 2045 when he needed to maneuver through a lake.

### Transportation

* **Woods' Garage:** Given to him as a Christmas present from Jones, Woods owns the Terminal Warehouse, where he has a garage filled with cars, such as a Porsche 918 Spyder, a 2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S, a 2018 Porsche 718 Cayman, a 2017 Porsche Panamera, a 1988 Nissan Silvia K's, a 1967 Camaro SS, and a 1967 Mercury Cougar. Woods utilizes these cars interchangeably and works on them all in his spare time, having customized most of them. However, other people also use the garage, such as Morgan for his motorcycles.

## Notes

* Woods (Earth-1731), and by extension, Legacy exist outside of mainstream Marvel Universe continuity. Themselves, their stories, and other characters are unrelated and not connected to the Marvel Multiverse and exist within solely within The Donuts Multiverse.
* Funny enough, Woods' story is the inverse of Frank Miller's *Ronin* comic book. Whereas the nameless Samurai traveled to the future, Woods traveled to the past in order to hunt down various megacorporations instead of demons.

## Trivia

* Woods enjoys Marlboro Reds but when push comes to shove, he isn't picky and will smoke any cigarette if he doesn’t have a choice. He also is seen smoking cigars often.
* Woods' favorite movie is Blade Runner. However, he is a fan of some westerns but primarily sticks with Sci-fi.
* Woods has two favorite genres of music: Rap and Blues. However, he dabbles in every genre.
* Ironically, Woods' favorite book is F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Though, also cites that he enjoys Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.
* Woods specifically only drinks Jameson. However, he will take any other variation of whiskey, bourbon, or rum.
	+ He also claims to hate clear liquor.
* Woods has a strong dislike of seafood.
* In terms of sports, Woods specifically only watches and follows NASCAR. In both the future and the past, even though he knows who is going to win.
* Woods wears either a pair of dusty black suede Chelsea or Chukka boots that he never takes off unless it is to sleep, shower, or change. He wears these constantly, to the point of annoyance to anyone who has noticed it.
* Chronologically, Woods is 124-years-old.
* Woods has a tell for when he is about to do something he regrets (i.e.. murder or some other hardcore variation). He has a signature head-tilt that gives it away.
* As revealed in Sprawl #18, Woods was formerly catholic and only went to please his wife. Following her death, he has since stopped going to mass. However, according to Sprawl #20, Woods believes in the Samurai Bushido but admits to have been failing it in recent decades.
* Woods gets bad Vertigo when he flies and thus prefers to drive everywhere.
* Woods claims that he got the idea of using his TO Virus ability in the form of claws from a friend of his. This old friend being the Wolverine of Earth-1731.
* Woods' catchphrase of, "The bat or the claws?" first appeared in Sprawl #29 and has since become his primary question and catchphrase toward people. However, the narrative device of, "Woods said nothing," first debuted in Sprawl #37.
* Woods' favorite decade that he lived through was the 2000s.
* Woods is a very secretive but big Transformers fan.
* As clearly shown, Woods has a penchant for Porsche's.
* According to Sprawl #37, Woods rarely sleeps or eats due to his time with Black Ops.

## See Also

* 46 appearance(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 1 minor appearance(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 1 mention(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 44 image(s) of Woods (Earth-1731)
* 30 quotation(s) by or about Woods (Earth-1731)
* 2 victim(s) killed by Woods (Earth-1731)
* 1 item(s) used/owned by Woods (Earth-1731)

### References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sprawl #17
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Sprawl #35
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sprawl #32
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Sprawl #7
5. ↑ Sprawl: Dark Victory #1
6. ↑ Sprawl #16
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sprawl #1
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Sprawl: Origins #3
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Sprawl #3
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Sprawl #6
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Sprawl #4
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Sprawl #5
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Sprawl #12
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Sprawl: Origins #4
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Sprawl #8
16. ↑ Sprawl: Black Ops
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Voices from the Edge #1
18. ↑ Echoes of Silence
19. ↑ This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
20. ↑ View from the Edge
21. ↑ In Bitterness, Not Far From Death
22. ↑ By the Time I Get to Phoenix
23. ↑ The Bat or the Claws
24. ↑ When the People Cheer
25. ↑ Sprawl #2
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Sprawl #9
27. ↑ Sprawl #10
28. ↑ Sprawl #11
29. ↑ Sprawl #13
30. ↑ Sprawl #14
31. ↑ Sprawl #15
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Sprawl #30
33. ↑ Sprawl: Dark Victory #3
34. ↑ Sprawl #26
35. ↑ Sprawl: Dark Victory #4