Iron Man 2: Justin Hammer

It seems like only yesterday that Iron Man flew into theaters and stole our hearts. Aww. The first film was enough of a rousing success that a sequel was warranted and this time, there's more of everything. Some of the new characters you may not be familiar with, so every Tuesday and Thursday until the film's release Omnicomic will be profiling one of the characters in the film.

Real Name: Justin Hammer

Origin: Unrevealed, but was born in Surrey, England

Powers: none in the superhero sense, but he is a top notch businessman and strategist.

First Comic Appearance: Iron Man #120 (1979)

Backstory: This is a man that knows how to take advantage of a good situation and with his companies selling arms he was in the business to make money. It all took off big time once Stark Industries stopped selling and Hammer Industries became the top seller of weapons. He managed this with a successful front that allowed him to be involved with numerous illegal activities while never getting caught. It wasn’t until a business transaction that both Hammer and Stark were vying for did they get ugly with each other.

Hammer had it set up for a device to cause Iron Man’s suit to malfunction and kill an ambassador of Carnelia, where the two were competing to build a power plant. Iron Man is able to play it cool and is able to track Hammer back to a sort of hideout in the Mediterranean, learning of his misdeeds. What ensues is a huge battle with Hammer escaping from Iron Man’s grasp and from being caught and prosecuted for his illegal activities of financing supervillians. He supports the supervillains with advanced technology like high-tech battle suits at a price of one fourth of all the profits they make. Over the years some of the villains he has aided have been Blizzard, Constrictor, Blue Streak, Beetle, the Scorpion and, of course, Whiplash.

Black Widow
Iron Maiden
Iron Man
Nick Fury
Pepper Potts
War Machine
Whiplash