Shadow Cabinet (comics)
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In the fictional universe of Milestone Comics, the Shadow Cabinet is a secret organization of superhuman beings acting to protect the world by neutralizing potential threats while they are still relatively harmless - "to save humanity from itself, no matter what that requires". The covert nature and dubious morality of many of these clandestine missions led to their being described as "the JLA as run by the CIA".
The Cabinet's eponymous comic book began in 1995 and lasted nineteen issues (#0-#18).
Members
As various Cabinet members may be sent on "deep-cover" missions lasting months, or even years (during which time some choose to defect), their total membership at any time is known only to their leader.
- Harry Chawney, a.k.a. Dharma, is the Shadow Cabinet's current leader. Recruited by Red Dog (the founder of the Cabinet's 19th-century incarnation), Chawney is able to perceive the past and future of any object he touches. He has perceived countless apocalypses, and is ruthless in acting to prevent them, whatever the cost. In theory, he knows the ultimate consequences of whatever action he sends his operatives to perform; however, the impossibility of considering every factor has led to his fear that he may be causing the very disasters he is trying to prevent - in the words of one agent, "What about the man who died? His future could have been important too. Did you check?", to which he was forced to respond "I can't think about that right now".
Other members of the Shadow Cabinet:
- Kahina Eskandari, a.k.a. Iron Butterfly, is a Palestinian ferrokinetic (telekinetic control of any and all metallic substances).
- Mechanic is a Vietnam veteran, and a powerful telekinetic. He does not go on field missions, and instead stays in the Shadowspire, the Cabinet's Himalayan base, operating the Shadowslide, and administerating maintenance on the base when things need repairing.
- Isadora Wellington-Smythe, a.k.a. Iota, is an international jewel thief with the ability to shrink herself and other objects.
- Gerri Brauer, a.k.a. Donner, is superhumanly strong and resistant to injury. The granddaughter of a Nazi geneticist, she is married to Blitzen.
- Valerie Kameya, a.k.a. Blitzen, is superhumanly fast as the result of a substance she developed herself. A biochemist, she is married to Donner.
- Ramon Rand, a.k.a. Sideshow, is a photojournalist who is able to transform any part of his body into the equivalent body part of another species; this enables him to recover instantly from intoxication. It has been speculated that he is unable to be completely of any one species at a time.
- Kevin Franklin, a.k.a. Payback, is a bureaucrat who is able to transform into a large greenish-brown monster. He is a Bang Baby. He tried to kill Major Jefferson in attempt to get revenge for what happened to him. He was stopped by Icon, who convinced Payback to stand down. In exchange, Icon promised to investigate the truth behind the Big Bang. When Icon found out about the role Dharma played in Big Bang, he helped Payback join Shadow Cabinet, where Payback became Icon's mole.
- Stella Maxwell, a.k.a. Starlight, is an astronomer with various electromagnetic abilities.
- Bina and Aputra Chawney, a.k.a. Plus, are the teenage sisters of Harry Chawney. Aputra is an energy being and lacks physical form; Bina uses this energy to fly and manipulate objects.
- Oro - a cop who was affected by Quantum Juice during the Big Bang; he later became affiliated with the Blood Syndicate after the Cabinet expelled him for reasons which were not explained before the comics were cancelled.
- Slag - super-strong, pyrokinetic abilities; defected to the "Star Chamber", a rogue faction which disagreed with Dharma
- Wytch - defected to the Star Chamber
- Transit - teleporter; defected to the Star Chamber
- Funyl - teleporter; defected to the Star Chamber
- Headmaster - psychic abilities including mind control, characterized by a number of white spheres which floated around his head; defected to the Star Chamber
- Rainsaw - a living cloud of several million microscopic razor-sharp fragments of metal; defected to the Star Chamber
- Ash - able to artificially induce rapid aging in objects she touched; defected to the Star Chamber
- Windshear - flight abilities; appeared only once, upon being recalled from a deep-cover mission
- Epiphany - appeared only once, upon being recalled from a deep-cover mission
- Bad Betty - a cyborg who was sent on a deep-cover mission to infiltrate organized crime.
- Twilight - both a living portal into another dimension, and the man forever trapped within that dimension, Twilight resembles a silhouette of a chubby man wearing a top hat. His whole body is covered in a texture that resembles the cloudy sky. He therefore strongly resembles a walking Magritte painting. His personal dimension is also home to a collection of peculiar supernatural creatures which he has painstakingly acquired over the years; he can, at will, release them in the hopes that they will carry out his wishes (however, he has no direct control over them). At one point, other operatives entered Twilight in the hopes that Dharma would not be able to perceive them; however, whether this worked is not known.
- Ramjet - appeared only once, upon being recalled from a deep-cover mission
- Artemis - veterinarian and animal-rights activist; had mind-control abilities over animals; defected from the Cabinet; was later killed in self-defence by another operative
- Red Dog - A powerful Irish sorcerer, Red Dog was the leader of the Shadow Cabinet from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century, at which point he recruited Dharma as his replacement. When Dharma was killed by one of his own operatives, Red Dog resurrected him; he later reconvened his own Cabinet to prevent Dharma taking over the world. He led his old Shadow Cabinet members to stop Dharma (because of Dharma's actions, his attempt to take over the world) and to save some of the Shadow Cabinet from Dharma in issue 17.
- Ether - a member of the 19th-century version of the Cabinet.
- Munition - a member of the 19th-century version of the Cabinet.
- Bent Nature - a member of the 19th-century version of the Cabinet.
- The Magnate - a member of the 19th-century version of the Cabinet.
External links
- [Shadow Cabinet Bios] - Shadow Cabinet Bios page, part of [Milestone] the Milestone section of International Hero .co.uk
- [The Milestone Rave] - includes a Shadow Cabinet comic book index and issue details.
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