Amadeus Cho's History
Early Life
Amadeus Cho was a Korean-American born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. Above average was insufficient to define this extraordinary teen. His parents Helen and Phil emigrated from South Korea before he was born. They had quite a passion for historical names, something they showed the moment they had to name their two children named after the composer Mozart, and a daughter, Madame Curie Cho, called Maddy for short. The Cho's lived a normal and happy life, but Amadeus showed from his very childhood that he was different: he was incredibly smart for such a young boy, and learned a lot of things by himself, becoming highly cultured and increasing his already remarkable intelligence. Helen supported her genius son and tried to go along with his talent. The more Amadeus grew up, the more his parents realized he was a genius.
When the boy was fifteen years old, the Excello, a soap corporation, announced an online game to reward young geniuses, a quiz show named Brain Fight. Amadeus participated, and he easily won the $5,000 reward, placing first. Helen and Philip, of course, were happy for their son�??s results, but they didn't know this was just the beginning of the end for their family. The person who had organized Brain Fight, in fact, was another genius and former child prodigy, Pythagoras Dupree, whose real aim was to search the world for other people whose intellect might rival his own�?�and to eliminate them as unwanted rivals. By winning his game, Amadeus Cho had been awarded the title of Mastermind Excello and the position of �??7th Smartest Man in the World�?� (Pythagoras, by his own claim, was the 6th), and that was more than enough a reason to be killed. Dupree had his men attack Amadeus�?? house, and in the following explosion, Helen, and her husband got killed. Amadeus ran away with his only companion being a coyote pup Kirby.
The Hulk
Agents tracked him down but not before Amadeus ran into to another misunderstood genius with awesome power: the Hulk. The Hulk protected Mastermind, who then considered him his friend.
Some time later, a terrible accident involving super-heroes in Stamford, Connecticut killed 612 including the school children. The "Stamford Incident" gave rise to the Superhuman Registration Act. S.H.I.E.L.D. went to apprehend the unregistered Mastermind Excello. After outsmarting some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Amadeus discovered a hide-out in New Mexico that once belonged to his friend the Hulk. There Amadeus hacked into the Baxter Building security network and discovered that a group of heroes called the Illuminati. including Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four and the Avenger Iron Man, had sent the Hulk into exile in outer space. Using a special phone line, he informed Reed Richards about his discovery. A satellite revealed that the Hulk wasn't where the Illuminati thought they had sent their former friend. Amadeus left Reed thinking about his betrayal of his former ally and friend while Amadeus set off to find the Hulk.
The Hulk soon returned to earth with his Warbound looking for revenge. Cho restored She-Hulk's powers after finding her de-powered by Tony Stark's S.P.I.N. tech. Cho tried to recruit her to his cause. She-Hulk declined, choosing instead to get revenge on Stark using the legal system, but put him in contact with Hercules and Angel who owed the Hulk due to an altercation from when they were part of the Champions. Cho used Angel�??s money to buy a submarine. The trio went off to recruit Namor. Wanting no part of the Illuminati�??s plot to begin with, Namor dismissed Cho's idea. Namora decided to join the three in her cousin's place.
Cho�??s group offered their help to Hulk, but he dismissed them but was forced to accept help due to General Ross's attack. S.H.I.E.L.D. eventually recruited Cho�??s team to protect the non-evacuated civilians. Cho eventually met Rick Jones but didn't see eye-to-eye with him. Cho�??s group met up with Scorpion to find and free the heroes captured by the Warbound. Seeing the way the heroes were being treated caused Cho to confront the Hulk alone. Cho attempted to show Hulk that he wished to create a safe haven for him but he was attacked, causing Hercules and his crew to come to Cho�??s aid.The Hulk left after Cho�??s argued that his anger was what killed his loved ones and that Banner was what kept them loving him. When Zom possessed Stark�??s Hulkbuster armor, Cho and his crew captured the demon with Wong's help. When Hulk was defeated, Cho and Hercules became prisoners of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hercules
During his imprisonment, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided that Cho�??s intelligence was going to be beneficial in moving the evacuated New Yorkers back to their homes. He declined, believing that if he did they would eventually make him a tool their militaristic plans. Hercules also didn't like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plans for him rescued Cho and escaped. With Ares on their trail, his coyote dying, and Hercules hallucinating, Cho became fed up with all that S.H.I.E.L.D. had done. He used Hercules' crazed state to take over a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel and upload a virus that would destroy all S.H.I.E.L.D. tech. When Hercules regained his sound state of mind he convinced Cho that he was in danger of being labeled as a villain for the rest of his life. Cho restored all the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech and continued on with Hercules.
Upon meeting up with Athena the trio set out to San Francisco to assemble a team of gods from Earth (Snowbird, Tecumotzin, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, and Atum the God Eater) to battle and defeat the Skrull Gods Kly'Bn and Sl'gur't. In route to Skrull space through the Dream Realm, they battled Nightmare and received his map of the dream realm.
Delphyne
Cho and Hercules battle Amazons, led by Princess Artume, who need him to decipher an Atlantean tablet that will lead to the Omphalos. Cho became attracted to the Amazon Delphyne Gorgon. The attraction was mutual. The two began a relationship, but upon becoming queen she ended the relationship.
Underworld
Cho, Hercules and Athena confront Hera the newly appointed leader of the Olympians and travel to the Underworld to rescue Zeus. While Hercules battled hordes of vengeful enemies in Tartarus, Amadeus ended up in the Elysian Fields (the Greek version of Heaven), where he met his parents again. Before he could finish apologizing for having "caused" their death by winning Brain Fight, Helen and Philip interrupted him and hugged him, happy and proud of what their son had become. Before he could come back to Earth, however, Helen told Amadeus something he didn't know yet: Maddy didn't die in the explosion, and was still alive, taken by the Excello and kept somewhere, needing his help. She would have watched over her children from the Elysian Fields, but she couldn't have done much else: it was up to Amadeus to make things right and to reunite what remained of their family.
The Mighty Avengers
In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, the activities of the Elder God Chthon created a series of freak events that Cho dubbed the "Chaos Cascade", and concluded the Avengers would be necessary to deal with the events. Hercules and Cho located Edwin Jarvis, and then Henry Pym and Jocasta. Loki in the guise of Wanda Maximoff, arrived in an astral form to greet them and supply the gathered forces with an "army" to form the new Mighty Avengers (later aided by Iron Man), which Hercules chose to remain with. Loki covertly used them to form and widen cracks in Osborn's armor, and which Norman Osborn sought to crush. Chthon was banished through their combined efforts with Pietro Maximoff, with Hercules explaining to the others that the death of the Demogorge with the Skrullian gods was the factor Chthon used to attack the universe.
Mastermind Excello
In the town of Excello, Utah Cho met with FBI Agent Sexton, who had contacted him just after the death of his parents, and does battle with Pythagoras Dupree, who claimed to be the sixth-smartest man in the world. He realized his brain could serve as a "Hypercomputer", and figured out that Agent Sexton was really Athena in disguise.
Fall of the Hulks
Cho found himself in the crossfire when Red She-Hulk attacked the Mighty Avengers in an attempt to capture Hank Pym. While considered a possible target for the Intelligencia's hunt for the eight greatest minds of in the world, Bruce Banner confirmed Cho's drop to tenth. However, Banner would retract his statement, claiming Cho was always one of the eight. Cho helped Banner disable War Machine's armor, saving Pym's life, only to have the super-scientist stolen from under their noses. Later Cho joined Banner and a select team of superheroes in an assault on the Intelligencia's secret headquarters in an attempt to save Betty Ross.
After Hercules fell in battle, Cho had to fight to prevent the takeover of the Olympian pantheon by the most terrifying god on the planet. With Banner, Skaar, Thor, and Namor swept into the conflict.
Prince of Power
Cho discovered that the Olympus Group's Continuum plan is to overwrite all of reality with an artificial one the gods have created in a pocket universe. Cho and Athena reunited with Hercules to prevent it from happening, and he called upon the Avengers to help him storm Olympus. During the battle, Cho found himself battling against Delphyne, working for the Olympus Group. She sought revenge on Athena for the gorgon curse. Hercules and Cho try to stop Continuum but when Cho found Hercules again he appeared to be dead. Athena claimed that Hercules died to stop Continuum from spilling out into reality. However, it was revealed that she betrayed Hercules in order for Amadeus to become the new "Prince of Power."
Chaos War
After what happened to Nightmare, Cho helped Hercules and Thor gather Venus, Sersi, Daimon Hellstrom, Silver Surfer, and Galactus together as the second incarnation of the God Squad. Cho calculates that Amatsu-Mikaboshi by now has consumed most of the Multiverse. Cho urges humanity to escape to a non-populated and sealed off continuum of which he discovered. While the God Squad, Alpha Flight, and the surviving Avengers fight Amatsu-Mikaboshi's forces, Cho and Galactus build a device that will transfer Earth to the continuum, but Amatsu-Mikaboshi is eventually defeated and sent to the continuum instead.
Amadeus Cho met Bruce Banner in the middle of Lake Michigan. They then teleport to Milwaukee, where a trio of Centaurs have gone amok. After a battle, they send the Centaurs back to Cho then hits them with a stun beam, from an orbiting satellite. Cho then turned to the Hulk and asked him what he needs help with. The Hulk asked if he could help with the Hulk family.
Tyrannus
Cho teamed up with the Hulk and Red She-Hulk. Together they battled Tyrannus and his Tyrannoids which lead to a fight with the Knights of Rome. He then released Bi-Beast, Umar, Fin Fang Foom, Wendigo, and Arm'Cheddon to battle the heroes.
Fear Itself
Cho ended up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with Spider-Girl, X-23, Thunderstrike, and Power Man. The heroes battled a group of Samurai Shark-Men. After the battle it was revealed that Cho had brought together the young heroes in the hopes that they would join his new super team. The young heroes were not happy that he had manipulated them, and they turned his offer down.
Savage Land
Amadeus made himself a suit, affording him abilities like enhanced durability and strength, limited flight and universal translation, with an A.I. named Calvin. He found himself stuck on a mysterious island in the Savage Land thanks to a damping field. Using his powers, Amadeus was able to convince the natives that he was a god. Their chief explained to him that there was a machine on the island that imprisoned a hostile alien creature and that they were sworn to protect it. This machine generated the damping field that kept Amadeus on the island.
After learning from the natives that Shanna and Wolverine were on the island, Amadeus set out to stop them before they could destroy the machine. Unfortunately, Shanna was killed in a fight with the natives and Wolverine set off in a rage to destroy the machine. Cho urged the natives to help Shanna, and they used the Man-Thing of the Savage Land to resurrect her.
Amadeus explained to her the situation with the machine and they set off to stop Wolverine from destroying it. Shanna arrived first and was able to save the machine. Cho arrived after her, as Shanna's physical capabilities had been enhanced by the resurrection. To the surprise of them all, the Hulk suddenly appeared.
When Hulk wondered where Amadeus Cho was and told him that he is in the Savage Land and told Hulk and Wolverine to stand down. Just as he did they are attacked by giant gorillas. During the fight with the giant gorillas, the dampening field is accidentally damaged during the fight which freed the alien Morrigon (who was the "Dark Walker") who fled from Earth. Morrigon returned to his master Visher-Rakk, an alien with the same planet-eating motive as Galactus. Morrigon told Visher-Rakk of a galaxy filled with planets for him to feed on.
Time Runs Out
Amadeus joined the Illuminati and went into hiding with them due to the Avengers being on the hunt for them. He broke into the Avengers Tower, now the S.H.I.E.L.D. Station: Golgotha to retrieve Tony Stark's files. However he was found, and a disrupting field was projected so he couldn't teleport using a translocator. He was forced to break out of the tower, but he was soon chased by the Avengers, who managed to corner and let the Invisible Woman trap him. She then interrogated him about the current location of the Illuminati.
Totally Awesome Hulk
Some time after the problem the Illuminati were tackling, the incursions, were no more, Amadeus assisted the Hulk when he got stuck with a dangerous amount of a new type of radiation that could've caused him to melt down and kill countless innocent people. Using special nanites, Amadeus absorbed the Hulk's powers, becoming a gamma-powered monster and the new Hulk. Amadeus attempted to distance himself from Banner, in the sense that he tried to maintain control over his Hulk persona, and prided himself of being a better and smarter Hulk. During his tenure as the Hulk, Amadeus joined forces with many heroes, and even became part of the Champions.
However, very early into his adventures, Amadeus showed difficulty in keeping his range under control when pushing his strength to incalculable levels to save the day. In addition to this, Amadeus' condition as the Hulk forced him to repress his emotions to control his powers. Amadeus' self-control was particularly put to the test following Banner's death at the hands of Hawkeye during the second superhuman civil war. After travelling to his own subconscious and failing to subdue his Hulk persona, Amadeus exiled himself to a satellite in deep space in hopes of studying himself and find a way to contain the Hulk.
Amadeus' self-quarantine was interrupted by a distress call from the planet Sakaar, which had once been freed by his predecessor. The many nomadic tribes of Sakaar were either absorbed or threatened by the forces of the Warlord of Fillia. Hulk was called by the Doka'abi Clan to represent them in a series of trials for survival. Amadeus became their champion and eventually defeated the Warlord himself. Despite his best efforts, Amadeus eventually gave in to the Hulk's rage, allowing his Hulk pesona to take control of his body while Amadeus' normal self became a prisoner of his own mind. Once he returned to Earth, Hulk made quick show of his new ruthless behavior, declaring war on his enemies. The Hulk even turned against his allies when they tried to talk sense into him. Amadeus' Hulk personality was finally subdued when his allies injected him with an array of nanobots to break down those that allowed Amadeus' body to retain gamma energy, which gave Amadeus' psyche a chance to fight back against his other self. However, Amadeus realized he couldn't just destroy the darker side of his personality, and decided to embrace it. With his mind having become whole again, Amadeus retained a portion of his Hulk powers permanently.
