Persuader (comics)

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caption =
character_name = The Persuader
publisher = DC Comics
debut = (Ti) "Adventure Comics" #352, (January 1967)
(Parker) "Adventures of Superman" #598, (January 2002)
creators = (Ti) Jim Shooter (writer)
Curt Swan (artist) (Parker) Joe Casey (writer)
Pete Woods (artist)
real_name = Nyeun Chun Ti Cole Parker Elise
species =
homeworld =
alliances = (Ti) Fatal Five (Parker) Suicide Squad (Elise) Terror Titans
aliases =
supports=
powers = Atomic axe can cut through anything

The Persuader is the name of three fictional characters featured in comic books published by DC Comics. Nyeun Chun Ti first appeared in "Adventure Comics" #352 (January 1967), and was created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan. Cole Parker first appeared in "Adventures of Superman" #598 (January 2002), and was created by Joe Casey and Pete Woods.

Fictional character biography

Nyeun Chun Ti

The first Persuader (born Nyeun Chun Ti) was created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan and first appeared in "Adventure Comics" #352 (January 1967). The Persuader was one of five outlaws recruited by the Legion of Super-Heroes to help them combat the Sun-Eater in exchange for amnesty for their crimes. The villains later turned on the Legion and formed the Fatal Five, becoming one of the Legion's most notable threats. The Persuader wielded an "atomic axe" on a long shaft, resembling a halberd. This axe could reportedly cut through anything, occasionally including purely metaphoric or intangible things, such as a person's air supply, the force of gravity, or the separation between dimensions, and followed the Persuader's mental commands. The Persuader came from a heavy-gravity planet and while he possessed no superpower per se, he had enhanced strength and endurance.

He was relatively unchanged following the Legion Reboot.

In the "Teen Titans/Legion" crossover that ended the Reboot Legion, the Persuader had used his axe to cut through Hypertime, thereby teaming Fatal Fives from various universes as the Fatal Five Hundred.

The Persuader has not yet been seen in the current Legion continuity.

Cole Parker

The second Persuader (the second to appear in the comics, but in-story the "first"), first appeared in "Adventures of Superman" #598 (January 2002). Cole Parker was a factory worker who had lost his job in the wake of the Brainiac-13 upgrade and blamed the Daily Planet. Inspired by images of Superman fighting a holographic Fatal Five, he led a fire-axe wielding riot against the Planet (the "Cult of Persuasion") and was imprisoned.

While imprisoned, a mysterious stranger appeared and gave him an "Atomic Axe" to help him fulfill his need for vengeance. He escaped prison and fought Superman, but in the midst of battle a miscalculation with the Axe opened an interdimensional portal, through which the Persuader was cast. The Mxyzptlk twins decide to rewrite history so that it was they who supplied the axe ["Adventures of Superman" #617] .

Parker was accidentally killed on a mission with the Suicide Squad by teen hero Osiris when Osiris flew directly through Parker's body in order to save his sister Isis ["52" #34] .

Elise

Recently in "Teen Titans" #56, a new Persuader, named Elise has appeared as a member of Clock King's "Terror Titans". According to "Terror Titans" #1, Clock King has told her that she is supposedly an ascendant of the original Persuader of the 31st Century. She wears the same mask as the other Persuaders, and likewise carries an atomic axe, her weapon of choice. Her atomic axe cuts objects on a molecular level, allowing her to cleanly shear flesh, bone, steel, wood and any other object except for Ravager's energy swords.

Final Crisis

An original Persuader (alongside the other Fatal Five members) was among the supervillains in Superman-Prime's Legion of Super-Villains.

Other media

* The Persuader appeared in an episode of "Justice League Unlimited" with the other Fatal Five against the Legion. His first appearance in the episode, alongside Emerald Empress, referred back to their relationship in the original Legion continuity following the death of Tharok, and is also reminiscent of Marvel Comics' Enchantress and Executioner.
* He is a member of the Fatal Five in the "Legion of Super Heroes" voiced by David Sobolov. In "Who Am I?," Brainiac 5 had downloaded some of Persuader's mind when it came for Chameleon Boy to infiltrate Imperiex's ranks.

References