POWERS
Makkari possesses the conventional abilities of the Eternals of Earth. His body is augmented by cosmic energy and he has total mental control over his entire molecular structure. He is virtually immune to injury, can regenerate his entire body as need be, and is immune to disease, aging and extreme temperatures. Only total molecular dispersal can kill an Eternal. Makkari has altered his physical features over the years, including alterations to his pigmentation, hair and eye color, and musculature.
Makkari is the fastest Eternal known to exist. Prior to his regeneration by the Dreaming Celestial, Makkari could travel beyond the speed of light, but risked placing himself out of sync with normal space/time by reaching his highest speeds. Makkari sacrificed most of his powers (including molecular rearrangement, flight and energy projection) to achieve these higher speeds. Since his regeneration, Makkari’s optimum speed is not known, but is likely Mach 3. Makkari normally wears a bodysuit with helmet that can withstand the rigors of high velocity movement. Via pure manipulation of gravitons, he can levitate himself and others at up to 850 mph. Additionally, he can teleport, but seldom utilizes this power because of the discomfort it causes him.
Makkari is telepathic, able to cast low-level illusions, and can rearrange the molecules of other substances, including his uniforms. In combat, Makkari can wield cosmic energy to enhance his physical strength (lifting up to 50 tons) and durability and can release energy from his hands and eyes in the form of heat, light or concussive force. At maximum intensity, he can vaporize solid matter. Like most of his fellow Eternals, thanks to Sprite’s manipulation, Makkari is currently mortal and his powers are not at full strength, though they remain formidable compared to most superhumans. He will regain his full abilities after his next death, when he will be reborn in an Eternal body again.
ORIGIN
Makkari is one of the Eternals, an evolutionary offshoot of humanity created by experiments performed by the enigmatic Celestials. Born around 2500 BC in the capital of Olympia to Verona and Mara of the Technologists’ Guild, Makkari took an interest in speed at an early age, allegedly learning to run before he could walk. Makkari often joined his fellow Eternals in clashes with their enemies the Deviants and was evidently present during the Trojan War (13th century BC). Although Makkari learned engineering from his parents and was even tutored by the human philosopher Plato (423-348 BC), he primarily applied the sciences to his passion for speed, designing various high-speed vessels for travel. In the times of ancient Greece and Rome, Makkari was often mistaken for the Olympian god Hermes (Roman name Mercury). Makkari was occasionally diverted by a repeated romantic involvement with Sersi, a fellow Eternal, and once saved her from the Great Fire of Rome (64 AD). In the 6th century AD, Makkari served some time as charioteer to Darius, governor of Persia. Other events in human history Makkari was said to have witnessed include the reign of Vlad the Impaler, now the vampire Dracula (1448-1476), and the Battle of the Alamo (1836).
In 1940, the Deviant Warlord Kro had taken up various guises amongst humanity to sow discord, including the role of Rudolph Hendler, dictator of Prussland. The leader of the Eternals, Zuras, assigned Makkari to guard humanity from Kro’s schemes. To conceal his true nature Makkari at first called himself Mercury, but soon adopted the alias Hurricane and pretended to be one of the Olympian gods. During his 1940s adventures, Makkari used the human guise “Harry Kane” and befriended the rotund “Speedy” Scriggles, who admired his friend’s superhuman speed. In addition to his repeated clashes with Kro, Makkari also investigated a crooked carnival, held back criminals with designs on the Midville Daily Star newspaper, halted construction saboteurs and defended heiress Florence Grey from would-be killers. Makkari continued his pursuit of Kro into the 1950s, taking a brief respite to educate the soon-to-be-famous performer Elvis Presley. By the late 1950s, Makkari became Jake Curtiss of the National Security Agency and gathered Ulysses Bloodstone, Dr. Druid and Zawadi into the Monster Hunters in order to halt Kro’s schemes to breed armies of rampaging monsters. At one point in this adventure, Makkari claimed to be Adam Clayton, a man afflicted with superhuman speed which ultimately claimed his life, but later revealed himself to the Monster Hunters as Hurricane. The Monster Hunters remained active as late as 1958 when they aided the heroes who would later become the First Line in battling super-criminals hired by the Skrull invader Zuhn. In the late 1960s, Makkari was invited to join the First Line by team member Pixie, a fellow Eternal; he called himself Major Mercury during this time.
In recent years, Makkari joined the Eternals in probing the Fourth Host of the Celestials, which had come to judge humanity’s worthiness. As tensions over the Celestials’ presence flared, the Olympian Gods were led into a war with the Eternals, during which Makkari clashed with Hermes. The battle was ultimately called off and the Fourth Host eventually judged in mankind’s favor. Soon after, many Eternals elected to leave Earth and seek a new destiny among the stars. Makkari was among those who remained behind and sought out the Eternal philosopher Master Elo to teach him how to challenge the limits of his speed abilities; Makkari eventually streamlined his abilities, sacrificing many of his powers to become faster. In his first test run after increasing his powers, he encountered the hero Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), who later helped him rescue Master Elo from the Deviants. Makkari took the human guise of Mike Khary in order to move amongst Quasar’s civilian friends. During this time, Makkari was among the speedsters recruited by the Runner, an extraterrestrial racing enthusiast. The Runner pitted many of Earth’s fastest runners against each other in a race to the moon; though he outraced other notable speedsters such as Speed Demon, Whizzer (Stanley Stewart) and Quicksilver, Makkari narrowly lost the contest when the extradimensional racer “Buried Alien” appeared and claimed victory.
In Makkari’s time with Quasar he aided his friend against menaces including Maelstrom and the Soul-Eater (K’rll), but eventually departed so that he could investigate the herd-like people of Grosgumbeek, among the fastest species known to exist. Schooling at the feet of native Huyenneyuh, Makkari unlocked new secrets to increase his speed. He enlisted in another of the Runner’s races and was reunited with “Buried Alien,” now called Fastforward. In this race, Makkari was challenged by the Runner himself but won using the Grosgumbeek technique. Unfortunately, Makkari found that due to a side effect of this power, he had difficulty returning to the normal speed of the space/time continuum. The Grandmaster, one of the Runner’s fellow Elders of the Universe, offered to cure Makkari’s condition at the cost of 3,000 years of servitude. Makkari declined, instead receiving aid from Fastforward in monitoring his condition.
In recent years, the mischievous Eternal Sprite sought to become mortal by tapping into the power of the Dreaming Celestial (Tiamut the Communicator), a rogue Celestial that slumbered beneath San Francisco for 20,000 years. Using the Celestial’s power to warp reality, Sprite transformed himself into a mortal and simultaneously converted the rest of the Eternals’ population into human-like forms with no memory of their prior lives. Makkari became Dr. Mark Curry, a physician. Makkari’s old friend Ikaris retained some sense of his true self and sought out “Curry,” but did little more than intrigue him. While attending a party at the Vorozheikan Embassy alongside fellow amnesiac Eternals Druig, Sersi and Thena, Curry’s life was threatened by terrorists, resulting in a partial reactivation of his powers. Curry pieced together a link between himself and Sprite and sought answers from him. Sprite led Curry to the Dreaming Celestial and tricked him into attacking it, setting off a feedback system that prevented Eternals from harming Celestials. Awakened, the Dreaming Celestial established a telepathic rapport with Makkari, restoring his memories. The Dreaming Celestial claimed that it had personally created Makkari in ages past and thus retained an interest in him, choosing him to communicate with rather than Ajak, the Eternal who normally conversed with Celestials. The Dreaming Celestial warned Makkari that a species of extraterrestrial “locusts” called the Horde were on their way to Earth and that only a judgment from the Celestial in Earth’s favor would save it. Makkari elected to remain as the Celestial’s communicator as his fellow Eternals continued to seek out and awaken the remainder of their ranks. Makkari took up residence with Sersi in her San Francisco loft for the duration. While his communion with the Celestial has placed a great physical and psychic strain on Makkari, the Celestial insists he will not harm the speedster and that he has specially modified Makkari for this task, also enhancing Sersi’s powers so she can serve as Makkari’s protector. Meanwhile, jealous of Makkari’s new rapport with this Celestial, a treacherous Ajak has sought Makkari’s destruction, aided by his pawn Gilgamesh the Forgotten One.
