War Chess came into existence on Super Earth One in the Infiniverse Reality, some time before the Hyper-Human War, which ravaged the planet and left it populated by strictly hyper-beings. Born with enhanced strength and durability, as well as four arms, perhaps his most dangerous weapon was his extreme intelligence. Despite numerous opportunities to use his brilliant mind for good, he decided to use it far war. He spent several decades training himself in battle strategies and combat techniques. He also worked incessantly to improve the potency of his natural hyper-abilities, while turning to science and sorcery to gain new ones.
Most notably, he would kidnap other hyper-beings, and figure out ways to either mimic their powers or extract them for himself. The most useful of which was the healing factor he cribbed from young Lady Dilemma, who would go on to become the mighty leader of the Army of Shadows, Madam Zero. He kept her captive for nearly 10 quantics (years), conducting near-constant torturous experiments, before he was able to unlock the secret of her ability. He then left her for dead. She did not die, though, and she vowed revenge. In that way, War Chess had the dubious honor of being hunted by both the heroes and the villains.
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War Chess is extremely intelligent, and expertly versed in war strategy and combat techniques. He was born with four arms, all of which are imbued with enhanced strength. He also possesses increased durability and enhanced reflexes. Additionally, he has used scientific experimentation, alchemy and hyper-technology to develop new hyper-abilities, such as telekinesis, energy absorption, hyper-healing ability, and more. He is also well-versed in a variety of weapons.
Despite his diabolical mind and penchant for villainy, War Chess never had the desire to join the Army of Shadows. Instead, he created his own villain squad named Prophylaxis, comprised of exactly 16 members, including himself, and representing the pieces on a chessboard. Along with himself as the king, he had a queen, two knights, two rooks, two bishops, and eight pawns – all hyper-beings, and all completely loyal to him. Whenever one was captured by the heroes or destroyed in battle, he would recruit others to take their place. And he was a master at using each piece to their fullest potential, making it insanely difficult for Captain Infinity and the Infinity Force to rid Super Earth One of him.
War Chess eventually took up residence on Marz Zeta, where he devised a plan to destroy Super Earth One and all its inhabitants once and for all, by building a stockpile of nuclear missiles. But before he could launch the bombs, his base was attacked by Captain Infinity, Max Galaxy, Decibel, and Spectra. He sent out his Prophylaxis squad to confront them, including his newest knights, Captain Zero and Madam Infinity, whom he created from stolen essence samples of Captain Infinity and Madam Zero.
War Chess and his knights proved to be extremely formidable, but the Infinity Force warriors were able to destroy Captain Zero and Madam Infinity, disarm the missiles, and cast War Chess into deep space, where it would be impossible for him to cause any more trouble on Super Earth One. War Chess was adrift in deep space for many quantics, unable to gain his bearings or orientate himself in any meaningful way, as he was unknowingly caught in a spatial slipstream. After some time, he was forced to resign to his fate of floating through space, until the prophesied annihilation of the Infiniverse took place.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Infiniverse Timeline collided with the Core Reality Timeline, and the space around him began to implode. Then, suddenly everything stopped mid-implosion. War Chess was confused beyond belief, as he found himself trapped between oblivion and nothingness. That’s when he saw a woman flying toward him… it was the heroic Infinity Force warrior Spectra.
As Captain Infinity, the Infinity Force, and all followers of The Light had found safe passage into the Core Reality, (22nd-century Earth, to be exact), Spectra had chosen to stay behind in the midst of annihilation, and attempt to save the residents of Super Earth One who had not given their lives and allegiance over to The Light. To that end, she had used Captain Infinity’s Sabre and Centuria’s Infinity Rings to produce a Chronicle Wave throughout the Infiniverse, giving her the ability to manipulate time and space for a short time.
She had used this time to collect all of the those who’d been left behind, and deposit them in a pocket realm where they could stave off eternal annihilation. War Chess was the final one in the Infiniverse, and when Spectra saw that it was him, she hesitated, as she wondered if it would do the entire multiverse well to just let him dissolve into oblivion. Against her better judgment she scooped him up, and moments later they found themselves in the pocket realm.
To War Chess’s surprise – and delight – the pocket realm they had ended up in was actually the Shadow Realm, which was a plane of existence in the afterlife that was meant to house the departed souls of the evilest entities from Super Earth One, Marz Zeta, and the rest of the Infiniverse. The place was in absolute chaos. And not for the obvious reasons of it being a replica of the popular depiction of hell, but because an all-out war was waging between Madam Zero and her Army of Shadows, and Madam Infinity, Captain Zero, and their legion of Shadow Dwellers.
War Chess was incredibly excited to rejoin his minions, and fight alongside them. And Madam Zero, who had actually sacrificed her own potential freedom, so that Captain Infinity and the Infinity Force could escape the Shadow Realm, was beyond stoked that she had a chance to exact some revenge on the man who had tortured her in her youth. After securing the non-warrior Super Earth One refugees, Spectra jumped in, and fought alongside The Army of Shadows, as finding a way to escape the Shadow Realm with the SEO refugees was most likely dependent on victory over the Shadow Realm’s most dominant entities. Furthermore, time was short, for the power levels of the Shadow Dwellers increased with each passing moment. Before long, Madam Infinity and Captain Zero would be utterly invincible.
War Chess relished the destruction and carnage, as his perfectly tuned war acumen heavily tipped the scales to his side’s favor. Before long, however, he found himself face to face with Madam Zero. The two mortal enemies clashed in a vicious and brutal affair. The Madam wielded her ax with precision, landing a number of crushing blows, but War Chess used his extra limbs to deflect her attacks, and strike back with fury of his own. Eventually, War Chess gained the upper hand and prepared to finish her off, but Spectra jumped in and saved her. The two women then worked in tandem, putting the vile villain on the defense and eventually cornering him, with help from a number of other Army of Shadows members, including Touchscreen, Arrowhead and Infrared. But before they could land the finishing blows, War Chess suddenly vanished.
The four-armed warrior found himself on Earth in the 23rd century, in the southeast section of the United States. New Orleans, to be exact. He was knee-deep in muddy water, and surrounded by thousands of trees. His utter confusion didn’t last long, however, as he was soon approached by The Queen Immortal. She was an other-worldly super-villain, who had been similarly dropped into the 23rd century unexpectedly.
She explained to War Chess who she was, and that she was attempting to gain enough power to travel through space, time, and dimensions. War Chess was very sympathetic to the idea of increasing in power and hyper-abilities. The Queen then told him that the key to obtaining this was chronokinetic energy; it was chronokinetic energy that had allowed her to escape oblivion, and it was a burst of chronokinetic energy that allowed her to transport him out of the Shadow Realm, for she had found a small creature in the swamp that contained a decent amount of the time-traveling energy source.
She then told him about a little girl name Kina, who possessed a near-infinite amount of chronokinetic energy, and that if they obtained her and absorbed her abilities and essence, they could pretty much have god-like powers. War Chess loved the sound of that. The Queen, however, told him that Kina was being protected by a team of superheroes she was unable to defeat alone. War Chess, of course, offered his services, and the two of them set out to become gods…