| “ | "Heartless, indestructible, and ready to feed on mankind's misery and rage – per your specifications." | „ |
| ~ Hephaestus to Ares |
The Annihilator was an automated battlesuit created by Hephaestus for Ares in the animated TV series Justice League Unlimited. It is an enemy of Wonder Woman, Hawk, Dove, Shayera Hol (formerly Hawkgirl), Hades, and the Justice League. It was featured in the episodes "Hawk and Dove", "Task Force X" and "The Balance" as well as mentioned in "The Doomsday Sanction".
History[]
"Hawk and Dove"[]
Annihilator was forged by Hephaestus as per Ares' orders in order to exacerbate the civil war in Kaznia. Satisfied to see it worked like its intended specifications, Ares then brought it to Nardoc, the leader of the hard-pressed Northern tribes, and offered it to him free-of-charge, touting it as the perfect aid to their cause. Convinced by the deal after overseeing its demonstration of power, Nardoc put it to good use, using it to spearhead a counterattack against the Southern forces that successfully drove them away.
Annihilator continued tearing through several units of the Southern army by the time Wonder Woman, Hawk, and Dove showed up to mediate both sides of the conflict. The three heroes battle the behemoth upon seeing its presence would jeopardize their mission, but Annihilator proved too much for them to handle. Despite this, the three figured out their opponent being an enchanted suit of armor all along instead of hi-tech robot its appearance suggested with Wonder Woman even noticed Hephaestus' symbol on its chest, leading the Amazonian superheroine to bring her allies to the safety and suggest to change their plans. As Dove and Hawk set out to abduct the leaders of the two factions and bring them face-to-face to negotiate, Wonder Woman personally confronted Hephaestus for unveiling his latest creation's weaknesses due to dangers it pose. Upon arriving at Hephaestus' workshop, however, she only received vague hints of information she seek where he remarked her temper and bad mood at the time would prevent her from figuring it out.
Hawk and Dove's plan failed miserably because of Ares' interference and insistence on Northern tribes of Kaznia to press on combating Southeners with Annihilator continuing its rampage. By this point, however, Wonder Woman figured out what Hephaestus meant earlier when she nearly brawled against one of angry soldiers; Annihilator is fueled by rage and aggression from anyone in its vicinity. With that newfound information, she, Hawk, and Dove rallied everyone to cease fire. To Hawk's horror, Annihilator closed in upon Dove by the time the latter convinced the guards of Southerners' camp to lower their weapons, but is stopped by Wonder Woman knowing his would-be attempt to save his brother would not improve their predicament. True to this, Annihilator shut down before it could slam its fist against Dove due to deprived of its energy source and fuel.
"The Doomsday Sanction"[]
The Annihilator is briefly mentioned by Tala during a Cadmus meeting and she discusses about stealing "the armor", which foreshadows the events of "Task Force X".
"Task Force X"[]
It's revealed that Justice League has confiscated the inert Annihilator and stored it abroad the Watchtower until Task Force X (the Suicide Squad) reactivated it for Project Cadmus. Under their command, it assisted them in escaping the Watchtower and defeated some of superheroes that tried to prevent them from leaving. Afterwards, it was then delivered to Amanda Waller and Tala.
"The Balance"[]
The Annihilator would later be experimented on by Tala in order to terminate its weakness to no avail. Eventually, Felix Faust, her mentor who had become a disembodied soul at that point, tricked her into speaking an incantation that released him from his confinement and allowed him to possess the Annihilator. As a result, Annihilator became Faust's new body, with which he immediately traveled to Themyscira and defeated the Amazons, stormed into Tartarus, and overcame Hades, thus making himself master of the underworld.
It didn't take long for Faust/Annihilator to be confronted by Wonder Woman and Shayera Hol, along with Hades himself. Although Faust managed to remove the Annihilator's weakness, its invulnerability proved useless to counter Nth metal-based weapons as discovered through Shayera's use with her mace that forged from the same alloy. With that, Wonder Woman took up the mace and destroyed the armor, ending Annihilator once and for all as well as forced a small portion of Faust's soul drifting loose.
Personality and Traits[]
Other than relentlessness and tenacity in destroying the enemy within its reach, Annihilator had no distinct personality, only act and follow based on the command of those who controlled it. It did however, had enough capacity to differentiate friend and foe, as it wreaked havoc upon it's master's enemies and would attack those who challenged its might, even its own master, either of which until they instructed it to stand down.
Upon being possessed by Faust who used it as a durable body, on the other hand, it instead acted as the extension of his will.
Despite its seemingly futuristic appearance, Annihilator was actually an enchanted suit of armor and its design was intentional in both Ares and Hephaestus' part to conceal its nature from Nardoc. It has black and grey color scheme, and its visor would glow in white when active. While it lacks any built-in weapons, that won't be a meaningful issue for Annihilator as it can use its sheer brute force and resilience to damage for its advantage. Annihilator is not without weaknesses, however; the animated battlesuit is powered by rage from the hearts of those involved in the conflict it participated in and that should either sides ceased the fighting, it would be rendered inert. This weakness was mitigated by Faust since he controlled Annihilator from the inside like armor/body, thought that unfortunately doesn't prevent the protection from Nth metal-based weapons that can negate magic thus bypasses enchantments that made Annihilator nearly-indestructible.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- In addition of reminiscent to mythological Talos (a giant sentient automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders), Annihilator can be compared to Destroyer in terms of being advanced, indestructible suits of armor forged by gods and acts in accordance of its controller.
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