Niles Van Roekel

"I promise you this won't take long!"

- Niles Van Roekel - Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (2005)

Niles Van Roekel is a Marvel Comics villain. He fist appeared in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects #1 (November 2005). In the video game, he was voiced by Michael Dobson.

Before Marvel Nemesis
Van Roekel was a top level scientist in his alien world. A highly respected academic, and a patriot, Van Roekel proudly served his people. He was a leading authority in the areas of DNA research, sociology, biology, and art - the Leonardo Da Vinci of his race. His people, the Turlin - a semi-transparent, hovering, squid-like race - were a peaceful race who had never been to war. One day his people were visited by aliens who said they were refugees in need of their assistance. The Turlins agreed to help only to realize too late that the refugees were actually invaders who came to conquer their planet. With his home world under oppresion from occupying force, Van Roekel and a contingent of military and scientific support staff, fled their world with one objective in mind-to return with a weapon/army capable of overthrowing the enemy. No matter what it would take, what personal sacrifices would be required, Van Roekel was dedicate to the cause. Their search led them to earth where they learned of the versatility of the genes inherent within the planet's most dominant race - humanity, making them the ideal test subjects for experimentation.

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects
Van Roekel came to Earth looking for potential subjects to experiment with, often by evaluating the most suitable subjects before equipping them with technological innovation that he created. Van Roekel's first works failed, as frightening genetic mutations often led to the host's horrific death. When a new plan was implemented, Solara, Johnny Ohm, Hazmat, Brigade, Fault Zone, and The Wink were all recruited. They were considered imperfect works in progress but still deemed highly successful in the long term scheme. Constant failures did not deter Roekel, for he was determined to acquire the perfect entity to be converted into the ultimate weapon. Finally, development of the warrior Paragon went into effect. Paragon was a fusion of an Amazonian warrior named Maya and Van Roekel's science. With Paragon exceeding all of her creator's performance anticipations, Roekel became highly satisfied with his ultimate masterpiece. All that was left required to do was for Paragon to be mass-produced into an army that would liberate his home world. Unfortunately, around the time that Roekel's working on a method to multiply his greatet work, did he fail to realize that Paragon was becoming more self-aware. It was too late when he realized it that Paragon escaped from captivity.

Van Roekel built the Minutemen suit of armor. His alien race's genetic makeup denies him the instinct and talent for aggression and war - but the Minutemen suit provides Roekel with an artificial nervous system based on his experiments with violent human subjects. Now Roekel himself can become a true warrior - and woe to any Imperfects who challenge his authority. It was a chance for him to look and feel like the victor and warrior he always wanted to be. The only thing that could ever get in Roekel's way was his own ego.

Van Roekel built the Turlin Power Suit which gives the aggression and strength necessary to fight any adversary. The Turlin Power Suit is so powerful that Van Roekel was able to defeat Iron Man at the Avengers Mansion with it. During his experiments, he captured heroes such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, The Thing, and other notable heroes to test his creations on. Iron Man accompanied by the other survivors from the alien invasion raided Van Roekel's lab and freed the heroes. This meant little intrest through to Van Roekel after the escape of Paragon during a particularly intense neural reprogramming session. In the final battle to decide the fate of both Earth and the Turlin homeworld, Paragon killed Van Roekel, deciding the fate of his people.