Exemplars (comics)


The Exemplars is a fictional group appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It was made up of eight humans - Bedlam, Carnivore, Conquest, Decay, Inferno, Juggernaut, Stonecutter, and Tempest - who were empowered by the Octessence.

Fictional team history

The eight powerful magical beings known as the Octessense could not agree who amongst them was the most powerful. They decided on a wager wherein each of the eight beings created an artifact which would turn the first human being that touched it into an Exemplar, a being who personified the power of that specific magical being. When all eight Exemplars were formed, they would have a Ceremony of the Octessense, where the Exemplars could battle it out, determining who was the most powerful.
The first Exemplar was the Juggernaut, who had formerly been Cain Marko, stepbrother to Charles Xavier. Marko found the Crimson Ruby of Cytorrak while serving in the Korean War. Unfortunately for the Juggernaut, the Temple of Cytorrak collapsed while he was inside, and it took the Juggernaut many years to dig out.
Seven other humans were transformed into Exemplars: Olisa Kabaki, Count Andreas Zorba, Brigdet Malone, Yoshiro Hachiman, Sam McGee, Utama Somchart and Nicolette Giroux. Despite all eight Exemplars coming from drastically different backgrounds, all share the key detail that they were primarily motivated by their frustration and rage at having failed to get what they wanted out of life. Although each Exemplar committed villainous acts on their own, the first action the Exemplars took as a team was to attack Spider-Man in the basement of the Daily Bugle. As a team, they also fought against Iron Man, Thor and Professor X when they attempted to recruit the Juggernaut in the construction of the 'God Machine' that they would use to take over the world. With the aid of the four gathered heroes- Iron Man and Thor holding off the rest of the Exemplars while Spider-Man tricked them into destroying a vital component of the machine and Xavier used his powers to draw out the true Juggernaut-, Juggernaut was able to destroy the machine, causing an explosion that sent the Exemplars flying all around the world while the heroes only just managed to escape.
Although the Juggernaut resisted Cytorrak's evil influence and eventually switched to the side of good, the other Exemplars did not, each of them determined to continue their respective entity's vendetta against the others. Having come together after the explosion, they tracked Juggernaut to New York, declared him a traitor and captured him, planning on executing him for his crimes against the Octessense. At the last moment, Juggernaut was rescued by the combined force of the Avengers, the team currently consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wonder Man, the Scarlet Witch, Firestar, Justice, the Wasp, and Giant-Man, while being aided by Quicksilver, Hercules, Spider-Man, and Nova. The Exemplars managed to defeat all of the heroes except for Captain America, who made Bedlam realize that she and the other Exemplars had had significant psychological alterations made by the entities that gave them their powers. Bedlam used her psychic powers to broadcast her realization to the other Exemplars, clearing their minds of the evil mystical influence, leaving their original personalities but retaining their powers. After that, they departed until they could figure out what to do next, and haven't been seen since.

The Artifacts

As per the wager of the Octessence each created a relic possessing a fraction of their power causing the first mortal to touch the relics to become living embodiments of said power. The eight artifacts were:

Bedlam