DC Comics first introduced us to a special adversary in 1988 who seemed to be able to stand up to and combat the entire Justice League of America. Major Force is the name of this villain, and he exudes wickedness. Although he did not have superhuman abilities at birth, the moment he did, he vowed to utilize them for the most heinous purposes and began his mission to become the last Green Lantern’s greatest nightmare.
In truth, his abilities have given him immortality and a connection to the Quantum Field. But what exactly are these supernatural abilities, and how did Major Force get them? We will examine every aspect of this vile DC monster in this video. So let us watch the video now without further ado.
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The intriguing origins of one of DC’s most demented characters
Let us briefly review the Captain Atom Project before moving on to the story of Major Force. The U.S. military discovered an alien entity known as Silver Shield in 1968, which is when it all started. The Dilustel, a highly resilient and extra-dimensional metallic element, was grafted from its skin. They combined it to create a metal vessel large enough to contain a human body.
Then, to make it explode, they would bury a massive nuclear weapon underneath it. The initial test participant for this research was Nathaniel Adam, an officer in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. Nathaniel managed to disappear when the bomb detonated while he was still on the spacecraft. He was therefore seen as having passed away, and the government declared the Captain Atom Project to have failed.
A year later, in 1969, the Captain Atom Project returned with a second test subject, who was also a United States Air Force officer. Sergeant Clifford Zmeck was certainly not an ideal officer one could look up to. He was always a narcissistic sociopath, and in 1969, he was court-martialed and found guilty of murder and rape by the United States Air Force. So, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
However, the United States military reached out to him in the high security prison to offer him the opportunity to be pardoned if he agreed to become their new test subject for the Major Force Project, a new name for the Captain Atom Project. Naturally, Clifford Zmeck viewed it as his win and agreed to the deal. Now, since they believed Nathaniel Adam had died in the first experiment, they decided to increase the amount of metal and gave Zmeck a triple layer of the alien metal to shield him from the nuclear blast.
Unfortunately, they did not get any new results because, just like Nathaniel, Clifford Zmeck also disappeared and was thought to have died. So, the government declared the Major Force Project a failure as well. But they were unaware of the actual hidden results of their experiment. Apparently, the power produced due to the explosion had thrown Clifford Zmeck into the quantum field and sent him decades ahead in the future. The same thing had also happened with the first test subject.
Eventually, after Nathaniel’s return, Zmeck also re-entered the time-stream a year later and discovered that the alien metal had bonded to his body, which gave him superhuman abilities. Soon, he was recruited once again by General Wade Eiling (pronounce:-Wade Eye-Ling), who was then in charge of the Captain Atom Project. They wanted to make him their personal killing machine, so his metal plated body was laser etched by the scientists in order to form a costume. Under his skin, they also inserted remote control devices so that they could keep him in control. He was then assigned the code name, Major Force.
Before gaining these powers, Clifford Zmeck was already a psychopath, and now, he has become the ultimate weapon for many criminal organizations who have a vendetta against the super heroes.
His stint with Suicide Squad, face-offs with Justice League of America, Captain Atom, and Green Lantern
Major Force is seen as the greatest enemy of the newest and the last Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner. Their rivalry began when Major Force took something that meant the world to Kyle; his girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt. At the time, Major Force was working for a governmental organization known as Quorum. They wanted to acquire the Green Lantern Power Ring, so they sent Major Force on a mission to chase after Kyle Rayner.
Before getting his hands on Kyle, Major Force brutally murdered his girlfriend Alex and left her body parts in a refrigerator as a parting gift for Kyle. This incident led to the much-awaited confrontation between Major Force and Green Lantern. During their battle, Kyle had the upper hand and managed to wound Major Force greatly. He was just about to kill the super villain when forces of the LAPD’s Special Crimes Unit stopped him and took Zmeck away.
Well, Kyle Rayner is not the only Green Lantern that Major Force has pissed off. In another mission given by the Quorum organization, Major Force was tasked with convincing Guy Gardner to join their team. But obviously, a super hero was not going to switch sides like that. This led to the murder of Guy’s mother at the hands of Major Force. In the ensuing battle, Guy was visibly getting crushed by Major Force. Eventually, with the use of his Vuldarian powers, he killed Major Force. Well, at least that is what it looked like.
Major Force is not an easy enemy to kill because he is technically made of energy and not matter. Soon enough, the scientists at the Quorum organization were able to bring Major Force back to life and also upgraded him with Guy’s hybrid Vuldarian DNA. Upon returning, he declared war on the former Green Lantern, aka Guy Gardner, by killing his friend Arisia Rrab, another former Green Lantern.
Eventually, the two came face to face in New York, and when Guy Gardner was in a weak state, Major Force managed to land a death blow on him and kill him. But to Force’s surprise, Guy’s body healed him, restored his powers, and brought him back to life. Now, Guy took charge and force-fed an explosive device to Clifford Zmeck while also shooting a hole through his chest and killing him once again. But just like before, Major Force ultimately came back to life due to ripples in the Quantum Field of reality.
This time, his powers were also enhanced, so he began attacking the people of Downtown Metropolis. As a result, he would face the Justice League of America, which has a new quantum powered super hero on their team, the Resurrection Man. In this battle against the Justice League of America, Major Force was sure to be defeated. In fact, with the powers of Resurrection Man, Major Force was disassembled into his composite particles.
Now, the next time we see a revived Major Force is when he is recruited by Amanda Waller, the director of the deadly missions of the Suicide Squad. Amanda sent the Suicide Squad on a mission to Hell in the Infinity Frontier era. Their target was to retrieve Shazam’s source of magical powers, which is known as the rock of eternity. But upon reaching Hell, the Squad faced a horde of super villains and enemies of Amanda. They wanted to take their revenge against her by finishing off her team.
If they had been successful, then Amanda’s mission of getting the rock of eternity would have failed. She wanted her mission to be completed more than the safety of her team. So, she decided to send the arch nemesis of Kyle Rayner, Major Force, as a backup for the Suicide Squad. Naturally, none of the Squad members liked this idea, but they had no option. In the end, Major Force did what he was supposed to and successfully got the Suicide Squad out of hell while also bringing the mission to success.
Much later, Major Force was once again recruited by a government task force which was led by Captain Atom. Their task was to capture Superman, but while pursuing him, it was revealed that two members of Captain Atom’s team were actually double agents and were working for Superman. They attacked Major Force and cut off his hands. This resulted in a surge of atomic energy being released out in the open. It was a threat to the entire city, so, in order to save the people, Captain Atom started absorbing all the energy that was coming out of Major Force. Eventually, this killed him, but after some time, Major Force made a return to continue making Kyle Rayner’s life difficult.
What makes him such a deadly opponent?
The moment Clifford Zmeck became Major Force, everything about his existence changed. Earlier in the video, we discovered how the Dilustel was fused with this body and turned his skin into a metallic shell. The alien metal parts in his body grant him the ability to access the Quantum Field. He can partially or totally cover himself in this new metallic body but cannot turn back to his human appearance.
Now, since Major Force’s metal skin is linked to the Quantum Field, it allows him to receive and control endless quantities of energy. Basically, he has an endless supply and can control the amount of energy based on his will power. Even though both Major Force and Captain Atom have access to the Quantum Field, their powers are different because they are derived from separate spectrums of the field.
This is also because, after the supposed failure of the Captain Atom Project, they used an increased amount of alien metal for Clifford Zmeck. His quantum link also gives him superhuman strength and speed to such a level that he can even catch up with Miss America. His control over energy manipulation also allows him to shoot blasts of energy from any part of his body. He can convert them into several different forms, from simple dark matter blasts to force field bubbles.
At one point, he even used the dark matter from the Quantum field to absorb the solar radiation from Superman. So, energy absorption boosts his powers. Now, after Guy Gardner’s alien Vuldarian DNA was fused into his biometallic physiology, it granted him the ability to transform his body into a lot of various shapes in order to create weapons. Eventually, he also discovered that he could fly and, over time, perfected this new ability so much that now he can even go on a flight contest with Captain Atom.
Apart from energy, Major Force can also create, control, and manipulate dark matter. He is able to generate blasts of dark matter from his hands. In fact, he can also change the dark matter at a subatomic level and physically reshape it. However, the most significant asset he has is the immortality he gained through the Quantum force field. Every time Major Force returns from the quantum field after death, he becomes stronger than ever before. His abilities grow even more powerful than they used to be. Sometimes he also obtains extra powers that are linked to his connection with the Quantum Field, but he could not previously access them.
Major Force appeared in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold
In the 10th episode of the third season of The Brave and the Bold, which is titled “Powerless,” we get a fantastic story of Major Force. His character is voiced by Fred Tatasciore. In this version, Major Force goes up against the entire team of Justice League International which consists of Aquaman, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Guy Gardner, and Ice.
While all the super heroes are having a meeting, Major Force attacks the Pentagon because he is looking for the Quantum Vacuum. Basically, the Quantum Vacuum is a prototype that gives its user the ability to access any source of nuclear power. Now, since Captain Atom has fought Major Force before, he decides to go up against him alone. Unfortunately, Major Force manages to take down Captain Atom with a good beating and is able to get his hands on the Quantum Vacuum.
He then shoots an energy blast at Captain Atom and absorbs all his energy which results in turning him back to his human form. Major Force gets ready to land a final blow on Captain Atom and finish him off for good, but Batman comes to the rescue and flies away with Nathaniel. Since Nathaniel is injured, he asks Martain Manhunter to take the rest of the Justice League International and go after Major Force.
In the meantime, Major Force has already absorbed the entire energy of a nuclear power plant and is equipped to fight. The other team members engage in a battle with him but find it hard to stand their ground. The powers of Major Force have increased so much that he is able to defeat the entire Justice League International by himself. After this information reaches Batman and Nathaniel, they rush to the battle ground to help the team.
Nathaniel goes after Major Force in a plane while he is fighting Martian Manhunter. He then parachutes down after setting its course to collide with the villain. But Major Force handles it and, at the same time, wraps both Batman and Aquaman in energy sheaths. However, it looks like by now, the Quantum Vacuum has become overpowered with the energy, so it explodes. This results in Nathaniel getting his powers back and becoming Captain Atom once again. Major Force soon meets his death as Captain Atom attacks him and lands the final blow.
Superman/Batman Public Enemies featured him in an important role
Major Force made an appearance in the 2009 animated superhero film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, which was directed by Sam Liu. The character of Major Force is voiced by Ricardo Antonio Chavira. In the film, Lex Luthor is the president of the United States, but he is obviously still the evil villain he has always been. In order to serve his own selfish needs, he creates a team of government-employed superheroes that consists of Captain Atom, Katana, Power Girl, Starfire, Black Lightning and Major Force.
So, in this version, even though Major Force poses as a super hero and is technically serving the government, he stays blind to Luthor’s malicious plans. On the other hand, Superman and Batman are always on their guard because they still have their suspicions about Luthor. Now, when the government finds out that a huge Kryptonite meteor is on its way to Earth, Luthor sees it as an opportunity to get rid of Superman.
He hires a super villain named Metallo to fight Superman and Batman and kill them. During the battle, Metallo is able to land a few heavy blows on the two heroes and injure them significantly, but soon someone attacks and kills him. Superman and Batman are left clueless. Luthor takes the advantage of the situation and publicly blames Superman for the death of Metallo.
He then declares Superman a threat and places a one-billion-dollar bounty price on him. Eventually, a lot of villains attack Superman and Batman including Luthor’s superheroes. Major Force finally has a confrontation with them and we also see his ability to fly in this version. Now, it is revealed that he was the one who killed Metallo on orders given by Lex Luthor. Moreover, Major Force’s team member Power Girl is now on Superman’s side.
During Major Force and Superman’s battle, Power Girl punches Major Force in the stomach with so much power that it punctures his containment suit. As a result, Major Force’s radiation starts emanating, which might kill everyone who is present there. So, Captain Atom uses his powers to absorb the energy and stop it from being released. Since he absorbs all the energy, it leads to Major Force’s death, while Captain Atom is also left injured.
Despite being on a supposedly superhero team, Major Force did not do the most heroic thing by helping Luthor frame Superman for a crime he did not commit. Clearly, it does not matter which team he is on, because Major Force will always use his efforts to go against the good guys. But in the process, he manages to give us some excellent fight scenes. It would definitely be a lot more fun if we got to see more versions of this sinister villain in the future.