The New Puppeteer

One of my favorite classic marvel villains was the Puppeteer. First off, he had the brass balls to go against the Fantastic Four on his lonesome. Secondly, he was freaky looking and hardly some 90's era steroidal freak. Thirdly, despite being a villain there was still an air of innocence about him, maybe because he got his powers mainly from playing with toys. Finally, there was the soap opera value that his daughter had a thing for Ben Grimm aka the ever lovin' blue eyed Thing! All made for good stories, and it just makes me want to have my own version of the Puppeteer.

In my version, I would have him be black and hailing from South Africa. He suffers from AIDs and that explains his scrawny, and haggard look. With no money and nothing to lose he turns to crime. He looks out and manages to steal from a convoy that was returning from a recent UFO landing. That's where he got the empathy gloves. The empathy glove can form a psychic link between him and another person either by direct contact or by holding on to something that the target had touched. The more the target cared about the object the stronger the hold. So if the puppeteer, for example, grabbed a stryofoam cup the target had just used he can get the target to move but in a clearly "I'm being controlled" jerky way. If it was, on the other hand, the necklace she has had since she was nine the control can run so deep as to be true possession. With two gloves, he can control two victims but that would weaken his level of control on both greatly.

Armed with the gloves he has become an international villain. It takes some planning to find the perfect talisman to use, but if he has the right key he has no problems emptying out the target's bank accounts and safe and leaving them with no memory about how it happened.

Still, he is still dying from AIDs. His one real wish is to find his kids. His wife left him years ago and he has not found them yet. When he does he hopes to give them everything they want.