soviet-supersoldier

[soviet-supersoldier]

Well, Omega Red got name-dropped in X-men #9, which reveals that he is still locked up in prison here. However, Kurt’s dialogue is very unfortunate:

I shall indeed call you a poor mutant liberationist Kurt. You have seen what this prison is doing to people. Omega Red was an ally on Krakoa and a teammate to Wolverine. You are seriously going to leave him to suffer in this place? Why? Because you still think he's a "bad mutant?" You don't think he changed while on Krakoa? Whatever happened to seeing the good in people Kurt? Second chances? Belief in redemption? You'd think Kurt of all people would be decent enough to show kindness. Especially when cruelty is being shown to another human being, to a fellow mutant.

Like so many times before this, the X-men continue to show that they only care about their own core group, with no regard for mercy towards their less fortunate mutant brothers and sisters. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up leaving Blob here too because of his past Brotherhood ties. Recent ties and character growth when former villains are finally given an opportunity to change simply doesn't matter, I guess.

You guys are supposed to be heroes, Kurt. To stand against injustice wherever it occurs no matter who is the one experiencing the injustice. This prison is enancting cruel and unusual punishment on its inmates. Are you going to let such a prison stand? Even if you don't care about Arkady, shouldn't you at least care about what this prison represents? What allowing it to stand will lead to? "First they came for the undesirables, and I did not speak out..."

Knowingly abandoning someone like Omega Red like this is only going to cause the little trust he had started to build with the X-Men on Krakoa to be shattered again. Omega Red values trust and honesty. That's how Sage was able to reach him and help him change. But with the way you're treating him now, Arkady is never going to trust you people again. And with the way X-men like you look down on him and treat him as undeserving of even the smallest kindness, Arkady has more than enough good reason to believe you will never actually care. You've proven time and time again that you don't.

What an incredible shame. You really could have gotten a powerful and loyal ally here if you had just taken the chance on him. He doesn't have to be a villain anymore, but you still insist that he deserves being tortured and left behind to suffer even while you hypocritically say that people in your special friends group don't deserve to be in the same place. So what? You're the judge and jury on who deserves to be saved or not? Are you going to walk through this prison letting certain people free while leaving the others because you don't like them? That's not what a hero does. You should know better. Shame on you, Kurt and Psylocke. Shame on you.

[soviet-supersoldier]

I didn't intend for this to happen, but this idea for a Christmas fic was rather persistent! Here then, for the enjoyment of anyone who would like to read, is a special Christmas one shot featuring Arkady and Sage:

[soviet-supersoldier]

These two have so much in common! Both of them using unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with their respective issues, both of them used by the world and only considered for what they can do rather than who they are as people. And when they were no longer viewed as an assest? They were discarded and left to struggle alone, Omega Red with the C-Synthesizer and Sage with being stuck in the Hellfire Club.

I really wanted more with these two. I wanted to see them deepen their bond and the whole rehabilitation process Arkady would have undergone under Sage’s care. That would have been an amazing story focus rather than seeing teases of moments like this and then later on shrugging and saying, "Ok. Arkady is just better now." I wanted to SEE it dammit!!! I wanted to see the change as it happened!!! I wanted to see the friendship/relationship between Arkady and Sage grow and what it could have led to. We could have gotten that story. I'm upset that we didn't. I need more with them.

Of the many plots X-Force introduced and then went absolutely nowhere with, this one was by far the most horny.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Hooray!!! I'm not alone!!!!

I loved what they were starting to build up between Arkady and Sage and I really do feel robbed of what could have been with regards to X-Force (part of the reason why I started writing my fanfiction in the first place). They had and still have so much potential together. They started out as complete strangers with no reason to trust or relate to each other, but yet they eventually bonded all the same. They even had their own special commlink/data system they shared (which I hope to see used or mentioned at some future point again). I also still think it's cute that the artist had them sit next to each other for a good chunk of the team meetings they were a part of:

I had really hoped they were building up to more with them. Sage really brought Arkady out if his shell and I think Arkady did a lot to silently support her and boost Sage's confidence on being a leader. We really were robbed by having the plot revolve around Logan instead of them (or Hank or anyone else in the cast besides Quentin).

And I'm still upset that they were separated at the end of X-Force. There was so much potential for more than what we got, and I can't say I currently like the direction of where the current story is going. I don't like that Arkady is currently in prison while Sage is stuck dealing with Forge (who is starting to remind me a lot of how evil Hank was acting before he jumped off the deep end). Sage had real potential as a leader that I wanted to see and I don't like her being forced back into a second in command role where she has to just go along with doing what she's told. And I don't like the idea of Arkady being abandoned like this, especially after Sage went through so much effort to break him and the others out of Mikhail's prison just a short time ago even when no one else cared to try.

Sage is the only person to have ever come back for Arkady after he was in trouble, and I would like to think that she would do so again if she knew where he was right now. Until I'm told otherwise, I'm headcanoning that the "Omega Red wanted" poster we saw in the Astonishing X-men Infinity comic is part of Sage's efforts to try to find Arkady again. No one else would care enough about him to try to look for him and if Sage ended up having a mental breakdown after what happened with Sabretooth War to the point where she needed to go to a mental institution, she probably wasn't made aware of where Arkady had gone and now has to try to find him. I would be beyond elated if they were reunited and could continue from where they had left off. I really would love to see a proper relationship between them explored.

Until then, at the very least, we still have fanfiction where we can try to satiate our needs.

As anyone reading my fanfic will tell you, Omega Red/Sage has completely infected my brain. I love them together. There's just something about them and their dynamic that is just so special to me. The relationship they had in Krakoa's X-Force was just so much fun to read. The art only added to it:

The way these two managed to connect to each other and relate their struggles to each other despite no prior history together whatsoever is really incredible in hindsight. Sage took a chance on a man no one else bothered to consider. She helped him get the one thing that he always asked for and gave him opportunities no X-man ever cared to let him try. She saw what no one else did or cared to and, as a result, helped Arkady become a better person. The journey they had together in that story was the best part of the X-Force series.

I miss seeing them together. I hope someday soon they will be reunited again.

[soviet-supersoldier]

As anyone reading my fanfic will tell you, Omega Red/Sage has completely infected my brain. I love them together. There's just something about them and their dynamic that is just so special to me. The relationship they had in Krakoa's X-Force was just so much fun to read. The art only added to it:

The way these two managed to connect to each other and relate their struggles to each other despite no prior history together whatsoever is really incredible in hindsight. Sage took a chance on a man no one else bothered to consider. She helped him get the one thing that he always asked for and gave him opportunities no X-man ever cared to let him try. She saw what no one else did or cared to and, as a result, helped Arkady become a better person. The journey they had together in that story was the best part of the X-Force series.

I miss seeing them together. I hope someday soon they will be reunited again.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Looks like the masses have spoken!!! Omega Red and Captain America will be the next big one! Thank you everyone who voted! I hope that I will be able to start getting more of these planned stories written and up for your reading pleasure in the near future!!

[soviet-supersoldier]

X-Men: from the ashes

Accidentally reading this out of order because i already read Sentinels 2024 but had to go back. This part hurt!! but it was worth it to see the church scene that comes immediately before sentinels

[soviet-supersoldier]

And may we be blessed with even more lore for him in 2025 (please Marvel give him an origins book. Please give him his own solo).

X-men: From the ashes (infinity comic)

blessed with omega red lore in the year 2024 let’s hear it for my boy folks

[soviet-supersoldier]

At this point, Marvel should be giving him more stories. I know that we have been getting more with Arkady than we have in the past (which does make me happy), but there is so much more they could be doing with him that they're just not doing. He's been a comic book character for more than three decades. He has an iconic design and a ton of potential in his backstory to make him stand out more than he does. Marvel is quite literally sitting on a goldmine with him.

We know Arkady sells comic books. He's been featured on a ton of covers, and was featured prominently in Krakoa's X-Force. People say that Wolverine was the one selling that book, but they forget how Logan wasn't present in that book for a good chunk of it. Who was the character guaranteeing the books sold? I think we know who.

At this point, I think Arkady deserves his own solo. It can be a mini, a one-shot, whatever. He just needs a book with his own name on it that tells his stories. We get plenty with Sabretooth. Mystique even gets some. Hell, somehow, Carnage has his own series that people find an interest in reading. Villains can carry books. Villains can have engaging stories. And Omega Red is a character that is ripe with potential. Let his origins be fully fleshed out in a book. Let him bump into Captain America. Let him stand on his own two feet and have his story told away from Wolverine. It's high time that he gets his day in the spotlight. Omega Red deserves it.

Why yes I do indeed take it personally when Omega Red is left off a tier list or when he’s on a cover and then only in the actual book for one or two panels.

They really love doing that with him too. They’ll give him maybe two panels and a singular line of dialogue if he’s lucky, then they’ll slap him all over the cover.

It’s marketing, I know, but it feels very disingenuous. Like you know people care enough about this character that they’ll buy a book if he’s on the cover, like he’s enough of a draw for that, yet you don’t care enough to give him more stories or decent screen time? Okay then 🙄

[soviet-supersoldier]

Finally managed to track down an image of the page in question from the Marvel Handbook that has sullied Arkady’s reputation among fans. As you can see from the page, it is horrendously outdated (doesn't go past the 90s on his history) and includes a birthplace that's never mentioned in those online wiki entries that still use the rapist line. And with the other information we know now about him, from his true birthplace to information about his extended family and his skin being naturally albino, this book entry should be discarded and revised with information that is from the comic books only. If we are ever given an Omega Red Origins book (Marvel, I am begging you to let Alex Paknadel write one!), that should hopefully allow this page to finally be left in the trashbin of bad writing.

@fehlerderkorrektur @kazunewolfwood-blog

The bane of my existence: the misinformation contained on Omega Red’s online wiki page that calls him a rapist. Can't tell you how many times I've seen people bring that crap up in the past two days. Thanks a lot, old outdated 1990s Marvel Handbook that shouldn't still be used as an accurate source for character origins over the comics themselves. You are a continual source of pain in online circles like Reddit that gives haters an easy way to sully Arkady’s character (since most haters are too lazy to read the actual comics he's featured in and don't check sources) and turns off people who may otherwise be interested in reading stories about him because they check out his online bio and find this:

Curse you stupid 1990s Marvel Handbook!!!!!! And Marvel, get with the program and update Omega Red’s wikis with actual sources from the comics!!!! You have more of his origns now, stop leaving misinformation like this up!!!!

Damn you, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Damn you.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Well, we got a little bit of dialogue at last from Omega Red in the new Ultimate Universe: One Year In comic. Nothing told in the pages gives us any real clue as to the dynamic between him, Colossus, and Magik. They're all still collectivly called "The Rasputins," so one has to wonder how he fits with them. Is he their brother in this universe? A lover? Their father? There's no indication given at all.

Thry all seen equally hardened in this universe, so I'm casting my doubt on any sort of romance between any of them. If I were to guess, they're probably all blood relatives in this universe, so the question remains as to exactly how that is. Given that we've seen that Omega Red was operating in the 1960s, we have to assume he's the oldest of the group, and the art does make him look rather old. His spoken dialogue also reflects this a bit, as his attitude reminds me a lot of very old Soviet tactics to keep people in line.

Omega Red sounds like he's from an older generation here. And in just a few lines comes off as far more cruel and dark than his 616 counterpart. The same can be said on Colossus and Magik. I doubt any of them are going to be having a change of heart in this universe. Their purpose will be to die to advance the narrative. Better make them as evil as possible then!

Overall, an intriguing start. We should see more of them in the upcoming Ultimate Wolverine comic, so maybe we'll get a better idea on Omega Red, Colossus and Magik hopefully soon.

[soviet-supersoldier]

With all the online shopping deals from Black Friday and Cyber Monday for Omega Red-themed products (couldn't resist), I'm going to be going to the post office in a few days like this:

[soviet-supersoldier]

Wow. This is just beautiful. Arkady looks amazing! I'm stunned.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Although X-Force had its flaws, it's inclusion and usage of Omega Red was not one of them. I loved getting to see more of Arkady as his own person with his own thoughts, feelings, and dreams, and I loved the dynamic he had with Sage in the series. It's not one I ever thought of. In fact, I barely knew of Sage as a character before X-Force, but they surprisingly worked very well together, and she brought out more of his softer side after she worked to give him a second chance like she did. I really do miss seeing them together already and hope they get reunited on a new team one day.

Also enjoyed him and Deadpool. We got to see more of his humorous side thanks to Wade with all the goofiness Wade injected into their interactions. Overall, X-Force was a positive direction to take Omega Red, and I know a lot of people have grown to appreciate him as a character more because of the series, being a highlight for many reading the book. I hope the increased usage of Arkady translates to more great stories featuring him and maybe an actual origin story. After 30+ years as a Marvel character, he deserves it.

oooh he’s so pretty

i really loved arkadys personality in x-force I think it was amazing to see a character whose been on the sidelines for decades actually get to interact as a person and not just a fight scene. I hope we get to see more of him in the future and they continue to flesh him out fully because he really deserves it.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Arkady spotted!!! Or at least, his photograph in the new Astonishing X-men Infinity comic shown on the lefthand side of this page. It looks like a pretty big poster, but I can’t quite figure out what it's supposed to say. My guess is it might be a wanted poster, a "Have you seen this mutant" kind of thing. Have to wonder who put it up and why. Is someone looking for him? (Please be Sage, please be Sage). Or is it an anti-mutant propaganda poster to combat the Dazzler one on the other side of the panel? Has Arkady been made the face of "bad mutants?" If so, poor Arkady.

Seeing his face here is making me wonder if he might show up in one of these upcoming issues. He does have some past history with Sean Cassidy, and we do know that he's in Greymalkin with Theresa. Is Arkady being sent out to kill mutants? I'm just spitballing ideas, trying to think of where he's next going to show up and what he might be doing. Since Alex Paknadel is writing this, I wouldn't be surprised if he did try to include Arkady somehow. Added to the list of things to read to watch for an appearance of our special Soviet.

[soviet-supersoldier]

Character Examination: Omega Red

Part 3: X-men (1991) #5

Alright, tackling part two of Omega Red’s introductory arc into Marvel Comics. X-men #5 has this awesome cover, which has actually been made into t-shirts that are now sold online and in other locations as well (I own one, I'm very happy with it).

I love this cover. Wolverine and Omega Red are both locked in battle, and the detail is incredible. You can see the cybernetics that are underneath Arkady’s hair here on the cover, something that used to be quite common to see in his earliest appearances. As the technology for his implants became more and more advanced (and likely smaller), I imagine that they became less noticeable as an in-universe reason for the detail of his skull cybernetics to be lost. Out of universe, cybernetics just seemed to lose their detail after the turn of the century (Lady Deathstrike was a victim of this loss of detail as well), and artists probably just didn't want to draw it anymore.

As this is before the bone claw retcon, you can also see the housing of what would have been Logan's claw implants inside his forearm. I always thought that was a neat detail, although with the retcon, the implant housing no longer makes sense.

So, the first part of issue #5 focuses on the X-men discovering the attack made by Omega Red and the Hand and the rescue that is made to retrieve everyone not named Wolverine. How exactly did he and Omega Red get away at the beginning of this issue? It's not shown nor properly explained how, but presumably, there was another vehicle that the X-men did not find when they were making their rescue that Omega Red and the Hand used to spirit Wolverine away.

While the X-men are regrouping, Wolverine and Omega Red speedily make the 8-hour flight (approximately, according to Google) to get from New York to Berlin (must have been one interesting plane ride. How did Arkady keep his powers/Carbonadium poisoning in check during the long flight? Used Logan?), where the next phase of Matsu'o's plan takes place. We jump into the middle of said plan, which is focused on wearing Logan down both physically and mentally so he won't be able to resist the mental probing they're doing to dig into his memories to find out what he remembers about what happened to the C-Synthesizer.

While they are fighting in the snow, it does seem that Arkady and Logan are fighting in a simulated room similar to the danger room rather than an actual snowy environment.

When reading the dialogue exchanged between Omega Red and Wolverine here, it does read rather weird with the knowledge of everything we know about their history now. They're speaking as if they know each other and their fighting styles well, saying things like "How very unlike you..." or, "You're as fast as you ever were..." This, along with snippets of dialogue in other parts here make me believe that there were originally plans to have had Wolverine and Omega Red fight at some other point in the past between Arkady’s debut here and the flashback to the Team X mission. But those plans (if that was the original plan anyway) ultimately never went anywhere, instead having the Team X mission being the one and only encounter Logan had with Arkady before the modern day. So, the dialogue reads a bit weirdly as a result. But hey, it's Omega Red’s debut, and his character is in the earliest stages of being fleshed out. Even today, so much of his story is wrapped up in mystery. I can forgive the writers for having little direction to start out with here. Every character has to start somewhere, even if it's "generic bad-guy of the week #1."

The fight between Logan and Arkady continues, and we are shown that it is being observed by Matsu'o and his crew. They note that the fight has been going on for the past 18 hours or so and they all talk about how remarkable Arkady’s stamina is. He's still going, and it's likely that he could have kept going for quite a while even after this, as he's not shown to be tired at all, while Logan is completely spent. That's probably due to Omega Red stealing energy from Logan as they fought, making Logan weaker faster while he remained strong.

Omega Red is also shown to be indulging himself a little here, as he's laughing as he's pretty much gutting Logan. As the first time that he's been able to work out in 30-ish years, Arkady probably enjoyed getting a chance to cut loose a bit and get some exercise (we'll see a bit more of his thoughts on the exercise a bit later in the issue, so I'll discuss this part more there), and this was both a performance run and a method to really tire out Logan more than anything else. I do also want to point out that there's a bit of "karmic justice" Arkady ends up facing years later in X-Lives of Wolverine #4, which seems to mirror this moment where Omega Red guts Logan:

Here, Arkady is actually possessing Logan's body and feels his guts get ripped out by Sabretooth in a moment that parallels X-men #5. He's quite literally placed in Logan's shoes even for just a moment. So, this moment in X-men #5 does seem to get at least artisticly referenced nearly three decades later, which is a detail I'm not sure people caught when they read X-Lives.

The last thing I will note on this page of issue #5 before I move on is how Omega Red immediately obeys orders when he's asked to. He doesn't continue to beat on Logan, but stops the exercise when he's told to. This really shows his military training and how it's ingrained in him to obey commands. He's a soldier first and foremost, his desires are secondary.

The process that the Matsu'o and crew are using on Logan seems to be working, as Logan's fight with Omega Red is starting to jar things loose in his memory. The most interesting thing of note is of this image we see on this page:

This is presumably a part of a collection of information Team X acquired about Omega Red’s weaponization project, and it includes a photo of Arkady in his Red Army uniform. I believe this is one of only two photos we have of Arkady as an adult before he was weaponized. The yellow colorization of the flashback always made me think that Arkady had normal skin prior to his weaponization, but we now know that he is in fact naturally albino and would have looked this pale regardless of the color of the flashback.

So Omega Red appears on this page but says nothing with regards to the conversation we hear the villains discussing. We never do learn what Arkady thinks of Matsu'o, Fenris or the others, but given that Fenris are Nazis and Omega Red is a Soviet, I doubt he has any love for being under these people's control, given what happened in World War II. After this arc, Omega Red is not shown to be associated with Fenris, staying entirety with Matsu'o. And while that has a lot to do with Matsu'o being the one who bankrolled Arkady’s return, I imagine that there were things that happened behind the scenes that forced Matsu'o to break off with them. At the moment here, Arkady does seem to be tolerating them enough to get what he needs to live. Keep in mind, Arkady was sold to these people for an undisclosed amount back in X-men #2, and he does have very strong motivation to keep working with these people regardless of personal preference. He needs to have a cure, and their treatments (whatever they are) are the only things that have been stabilizing him this far. He's not in a very good position to complain, since these people were the only ones who were willing to fix him. Use and discard when you have what you want from them and move on.

So, after a lot of action, we finally get some real pieces of introspective dialogue here from Arkady. You can tell, based on what he is telling Logan here, that he is very angry about what Logan’s actions did to him. "Let him try to sleep, if there is sleep for one whose dreams are places of darkness and despair," he says. While this could have been a reference to his own struggles, his next line of dialogue suggests this is more about his desire for Logan to be experiencing these sort of restless nights: "At least, they are if there is any justice in this world."

Arkady wants to see Logan punished. He's suffered at the hands of his Soviet handlers, experiencing many things that we are still to this day not fully aware of. He was thrown into cyrogenic stasis, and he tells Logan here that it was an experience similar to the drug-induced state that he's currently in. "Oblivion," he calls it.

One thing that often gets overlooked when people think about Omega Red is the time jump he experienced. 30 years is a long time, and a lot can and does change. Advances in technology. Culture. How world politics change. Arkady woke up to a world so unlike the one he left. The Soviet Union he was born and raised in was gone. We never are shown what his initial experience was like trying to adjust to all the change, but my guess is, based on his habits and what we know of them, Arkady presented a cold exterior that showed he wasn't affected by all the confusing, frustrating changes that he had to suddenly adapt to. But inside would have been turmoil. He would have been grieving his losses on some level but unable to openly express it, to express any sort of weakness whatsoever with regards to suddenly waking up in the future as the property of a bunch of rich foreigners. They wanted a weapon, not a man, and he had been trained to act as such. Once again, his personal preferences had to be cast aside for bigger goals.

So Maverick interferes here and allows Wolverine to make his escape. I do find it rather funny that Arkady calls Logan an "old friend," here. Buddy, you met and interacted with the guy once for maybe 4 hours 30 years ago. You got attached pretty quickly. It's probably just a turn of expression rather than anything with real meaning (and lends more credence to the idea that more of a past was originally planned between Logan and Arkady), and most likely used ironically here in light of what we known now about their connected past.

Logan gains some real speed despite his condition and runs away with his canister of goodies, all while Arkady is demanding a fight. It becomes more clear that Arkady is angry and frustrated on the next page, while Logan is quite busy stumbling around trying to stay on his own two feet. All the while, he's having flashbacks, no doubt due to all the memory treatments he's getting here:

So here we get to hear Arkady’s real thoughts about those exercises he had to perform. He's eager to start again, this time, "Without the drugs, without the watchful eyes." Based on what he's saying, he is frustrated and angry about not being able to do more to hurt Logan. He knew the whole fight in the snowy simulation was a sham, a performance run. He wasn't allowed to really hurt Logan, not in the way he really wanted. He had to hold himself in check in the whole course of that fight to please his new handlers, giving them what they wanted to see rather than showing fully what he was capable of. Once again, this shows his soldier tendencies and training. Arkady knows what the expectations are. He knows that he was bought by these people and they want their money's worth. Otherwise, he won't get the treatment he needs. So he has to perform to their standards, be their little dancing monkey. This is made all the more clear by Matsu'o's dialogue to Omega Red when he unleashes his frustrated outburst on the man after Logan escapes. Arkady owes Matsu'o everything right now, and he is the one offering him the cure he needs to live. If Arkady wants it, he has to put up with whatever he's told to.

So, the comic ends with Maverick getting a full reveal and rescuing Wolverine while the X-men break into Matsu'o's headquarters (and some wasted pages on Mojo stuff, but none of that matters for anything we care about here). It all sets up things for the next issue of the arc where we will learn even more of Team X's background and what role they played in the loss of the C-Synthesizer.