Major Force

MAJOR FORCE

Real Name: Clifford Zmeck

Class: Human mutate

Occupation: U.S. Government secret agent

Group Affiliation: formerly Atom Project, Legion of Doom

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington, D.C.

First Appearance: Captain Atom II #12 (February, 1988)

Powers: Major Force could tap into the quantum field to project a black solid substance with which he bombarded his opponents. His quantum link gave him superhuman strength, and the alien metal alloy that coated his body made him virtually invincible. Given time Force could recover from any injury, even the dispersal of his molecules.

History: Sgt. Clifford Zmeck was a certified psychopath, court-martialed by the Air Force in 1969 and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Project Atom gave him a chance to be pardoned. Experiments had performed the previous year subjecting an alien metal to a nuclear blast with a test subject encapsulated by the metal. Nathanial Adam was the first volunteer, and he was apparently killed by the blas, so Zmeck was given a triple layer of the alien metal to protect him before being subjected to a nuclear blast. The "Major Force Project" was deemed a failure after Zmeck was apparently killed in the blast. In truth the force of the explosion had catapulted him into the quantum field and shot him decades forward in time. Zmeck re-entered the timestream and found that the alien metal was now fused to his body, giving him superhuman powers. General Wade Eiling (current head of Project Atom) recruited Zmeck as a new operative. Zmeck was spirited to an Air Force base where scientists implanted remote-control devices under his skin that could keep in line by releasing a nerve gas or exploding on command. Technicians laser-etched his alloy coating into a "costume," and he was given the code name Major Force . Major Force has been working as a government sanctioned superhero, but has proven to be dangerously reckless with his powers. Nevertheless, he distinguished himself in service during the invasion of Earth by the Dominators.

(Green Lantern III #52) - Major Force was among the meta-human prisoners freed from Slabside Island Penitentiary by Mongul.

(Green Lantern II #53-55) - Force was hired by the shadowy federal agency Quorum to retrieve Green Lantern Kyle Rayner's power ring, and given cart blanche to do whatever he had to to get it. He confronted Kyle's girlfriend Alex DeWitt to find out where Kyle was, and when she refused to help him he strangled her, stuffed her in a refrigerator and waited for Kyle to return to her apartment. Kyle was livid when he saw his dead girlfriend, and attacked Force, who made it clear he'd kill Kyle to claim the ring. Kyle defeated Force, but the fight alerted local authorities. Kyle fled and Force told them to make a call to the feds, as he was a government employee and demanded to be set free.

(Guy Gardner: Warrior #27, 28, Green Lantern III #60, Resurrection Man #21 (fb,BTS)) - Under orders from Quorum Major Force broke into Guy Gardner's childhood home to wait for Guy to arrive. While waiting he killed Thelma, a woman who was house-sitting, and put her in the fridge for Guy to find. When Guy arrived they fought, and Force bragged about killing Guy's mother, not knowing the person he killed was a stranger to Guy. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner joined Guy's fight against Force, so Force tossed a school bus from a bridge, forcing the heroes to save the children and let him escape. Quorum put Force in a safe house to wait for the heat his actions caused to die down, but Guy and Kyle learned of the location and attacked him. Force was backed up by Quorum and Militia, but they soon found themselves on the losing side. Force located the comatose Mace, the brother of Guy Gardner, and threatened to destroy his life support him if Kyle Rayner didn't hand his ring over to the Quorum. The heroes thought he was bluffing, but Force was not, and killed Mace. Kyle defeated Force and almost killed him to avenge Alex DeWitt, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Guy stepped in and stabbed Force with his hand, apparently killing him. In truth he had quantum jumped into the near future where Mr. Skism had created a reality warp in Metropolis.

(Resurrection Man #21) - Force was confused by the fact that he was no longer fighting Guy Gardner, but this did not diminish his anger, so he began wrecking havoc in Metropolis. He was defeated by Resurrection Man and the JLA when Resurrection Man disassembled him at a molecular level.

(Superman II #185) -

(JSA #33-35) - The Ultra-Humanite used Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt to conquer the world, and imprisoned Major Force and virtually every superhuman on Earth in stasis tubes, only reviving them when he needed mind-controlled slaves to serve in his personal guard the Thunderfront. Force served as a member of the Thunderfront when they attacked the JSA, the only heroes not under the Humanite’s control. The JSA used a device that disrupted the braincaps Humanite used to control the Thunderfront, leaving them unconscious but freed from Humanite’s mental domination. The JSA later defeated Humanite.

(Superman / Batman Secret Files 2003) - Mexico City; Under orders from General Wynn, Major Force killed three terrorist bombing suspects. Force had to be physically restrained from killing a fourth suspect by Captain Atom and Superman, who wanted to apprehend the suspect without lethal force.

(Superman / Batman #1) - President Luthor informed Major Force and his other super-powered aides that a kryptonite asteroid was on a collision course with Earth.

(Superman / Batman #3, 4) - Luthor sent Force and his other aides to place Superman in federal custody. Force’s teammate Katana switched sides midway through a battle with Superman and Batman, and she cut off Force’s hands with her sword. Force couldn’t control the energy leaking from his wrists, and he would have exploded if Captain Atom didn’t absorb the energy into his own body.

Comments: Created by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman & Pat Broderick

Major Force received profiles in Who’s Who Update ’88 #2 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #7.

Major Force had a cameo in Aztek: The Ultimate Man #2.