Centurius

Centurius
Centurius from Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, art by Jim Steranko
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (July 1968)
Created by	Jim Steranko (artist and writer) Frank Giacoia (inker)
In-story information
Full name	Noah Black
Team affiliations	The Conspiracy Thunderbolts
Notable aliases	Centurius, Doc Century
Abilities	Extraordinary genius Advanced knowledge of genetic engineering and physics Peak physical condition Slowed aging Possesses advanced aircraft and spacecraft, and a thermalic suppression beam Use of stun-discs and ray guns As Centurius: Wears body armor

Centurius (Noah Black) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Centurius first appeared in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (July 1968), and was created by writer and artist Jim Steranko with inker Frank Giacoia.

He has appeared as a regular character in Thunderbolts since issue #157, and has remained with the team since the title transitioned into Dark Avengers beginning with issue #175.

Doctor Noah Black is a prize-winning African American geneticist who receives a Nobel Prize in the 1930s. He attends a conference on genetics in the 1930s along with other noted geneticists in the Marvel Universe such as Herbert Wyndham, Arnim Zola, and Wladyslav Shinsky of the Enclave.

Sometime after winning the Prize, Black goes mad, takes the name "Centurius", and seeing himself as the self-proclaimed savior of Earth, retreats to remote Valhalla Island to conduct genetic experiments. On the island, he is successful in evolving numerous monstrous creatures. During the transport of his newly created life forms to an orbiting space ark, secret agents Nick Fury and Jimmy Woo by chance discover Centurius' island when they are forced to crash land their aircraft. The pair of agents initially attempt to convince Centurius to return to civilization with them, but when the geneticist's plot to destroy all life on Earth is revealed, Fury and his companion attack. In a ploy to defeat the agents, Centurius attempts to transform himself into a "superior being" using a device called the "Evolutionizer", but instead of evolving he "de-evolves" into a handful of protoplasmic slime.

Later, Centurius somehow "re-evolves" into human form and as a member of the group known as the Conspiracy, he clashes with the heroic monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone when the Conspiracy tries to gain untold power by gathering and reuniting the lost fragments of the Bloodgem, a mystic jewel from another dimension. However, The Conspiracy's efforts ultimately fail when their essences are absorbed by an enormous crystalline creature created from the Bloodgem. Ulysses Bloodstone succeeds in shattering the Bloodgem creature which apparently kills Centurius and the other members of the Conspiracy. Years later, Captain America discovers the skeletal remains of Centurius while exploring the Conspiracy's abandoned underground base.