Abomination (Marvel)

Emil Blonsky - also commonly known as The Abomination - is a monstrous super-villain and mercenary in the Marvel Comics universe. Primarily an adversary of the Hulk, he has fought various other heroes and has been willing to work with any villainous organization for the right price.

Origins
Emil Blonsky was originally a spy working for the communist government of Croatia. He had once been sent to infiltrate the U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico where Dr. Bruce Banner had initially experimented with his gamma bomb, sabotaging nuclear missiles vital to the defense of the United States. While the sabotaged missiles were discovered and repaired, the saboteur was never discovered.

One day, Banner attempted to commit suicide in order to rid himself of the Hulk and intended to subject himself to intense levels of gamma radiation in order to do so. Unknown to Banner, Blonsky was hiding in the laboratory, where he had been photographing Banner's gamma radiation equipment. Security officers burst in and carried Banner off. Unaware of the nature of the machine that Banner was about to use on himself, Blonsky stood in front of the machine and activated it. It bombarded him with a more concentrated and intense dosage of gamma radiation than Banner himself had received from the nuclear explosion that had first turned him into the Hulk. Like Banner, Blonsky had some unknown genetic factor in his body that saved him from being killed by such a great dose of gamma radiation. Instead, the radiation had an immediate mutagenic effect upon Blonsky, transforming him into the green-skinned, Hulk-like monster whom would be dubbed the Abomination.

Villainous career
Since his mutation, Abomination has embarked on a career as a super-powered thug. He abandoned his former occupation as a communist spy and has since spent much of his time working for various terrorist groups and would-be world conquerors, sometimes for money, sometimes against his will and other times purely for the opportunity to settle his rivalry with the Hulk who has consistently remained as his greatest foe.

Abomination's greatest triumph, yet also greatest defeat, was his murder of Betty Ross, life-long love of Bruce Banner. After learning of Banner and Ross' marriage, Blonsky became infuriated. He had long considered himself and the Hulk to be two sides of the same coin: both were hideous, monstrous creatures despised by the world, but now that Banner had at last found happiness with Betty, Blonsky was worse off than the Hulk.

Blonsky learned that Betty was hospitalized, and he killed her by injecting his gamma-irradiated blood into Betty's dialysis machine, although the world thought that the Hulk was responsible. Betty's father, General Ross, discovered this fact by tracking the Hulk and instead, found Blonsky. Blonsky, apparently abandoning his homeless community, had gone on a rampage, destroying a town before being confronted by Ross. The Hulk had somehow tracked the Abomination as well, and Blonsky revealed that Nadia is "gone" to him as well. The Hulk walked away from a confrontation with Blonsky, knowing that his forgiveness would be the one form of retaliation his enemy could not endure. The Abomination could not comprehend and endure his enemy's absolution, and his moment of triumph was twisted into crushing defeat. Blonsky realized he had become what he abhorred the most - it was he who was the rampaging, inhuman monster; not the Hulk as he had religiously believed for so many years.

Death
At some point, Abomination had disappeared to Russia, only to be found by Red Hulk. Red Hulk (unknown at the time to be General Thunderbolt Ross) beat Abomination to within an inch of his life before shooting him with a special gun capable of penetrating his thick hide, killing him in recompense for his hand in Betty's death.

Although Emil Blonsky was dead, his body was recovered and revitalized by an unknown organization. Abomination now exists as a mindless automaton programmed to hunt down and destroy the Hulk.

Personality
Emil Blonsky has few, if any, redeeming qualities. He is thuggish, violent, and has no shred of honour. His loyalty can only be bought or otherwise forced.

While Abomination and the Hulk are commonly compared to the other, one thing that truly sets them apart is Abomination's intelligence. Blonsky has always retained his personality since his mutation whereas the Hulk's mindset has varied between being intelligent or savage and child-like.

Powers and abilities
Abomination possesses superhuman strength and endurance similar to the Hulk whilst retaining his personality and intelligence rather than developing a split personality. However, unlike the Hulk, Abomination has remained trapped in his mutant form and cannot turn back into a normal human. He can also heal injuries at an accelerated rate, breathe underwater for extended periods and enter a state of suspended animation to heal more advanced injuries.

Abomination is also skilled in various military combat tactics and spy techniques, though since his transformation has had little use for them and prefers to use street fighting techniques that enable him to make full use of his great strength.