Ruby Thursday

Ruby Thursday's History

Ruby's origin is probably unknown outside of the Headmen. Dr. Arthur Nagan (AKA Gorilla Man II) inducted her into the Headmen -- a group of megalomaniacal villains that also includes Dr. Jerold Morgan (AKA Shrunken Bones) and Chondu the Mystic -- shortly before their second entanglement with the Defenders. (If anyone has details about that appearance, please add them here.) (Defenders Volume 1 #32-#35, Defenders Annual #1) A few years later, Ruby perpetrated some sort of crime in the Las Vegas area that brought Omega the Unknown in pursuit of her. Introduced here as her (new?) servant was the Dybbuk, a demonlike creature. In the midst of their confrontation, Las Vegas police officers arrived on the scene. The officers believed that Omega was criminally assaulting Ruby -- perhaps because of duplicity on Ruby's part -- and they shot him dead. (Omega the Unknown #10) The Defenders traveled to Las Vegas to investigate Omega's death, and encountered Ruby and the Dybbuk. During their confrontation, the Wasp shattered Ruby's head with a sting blast, thereby killing her. The Dybbuk sorrowfully collected her corpse and teleported away. (Defenders Volume 1 #76-#77) Ruby reappeared with the Headmen several years later in their plot to replace Chondu's monstrous body with a clone of She-Hulk's body. Due to a miscalculation by Dr. Nagan, Spider-Man learned of the Headmen's activity and confronted them. Ruby revealed to Spider-Man that she had recovered from death. (Neat trick, eh?) She-Hulk and Spider-Man defeated the Headmen and handed them over to New York authorities. (Sensational She-Hulk #1-#3) A few years after that, Ruby reappeared with the Headmen to once again pursue the prospect of attaching Chondu's head to Spider-Man's body (despite Dr. Morgan's earlier determination that it wasn't feasible). They tracked Spider-Man to an art gallery event that coincidentally had the Human Torch in attendance. With the Human Torch's help, Spider-Man subdued the Headmen for submission to New York authorities. (Web of Spider-Man #73) (Ruby appeared in Marvel Comics Presents #97 next. If anyone has details about her appearance, please add them here.) A few years later, a Doombot (robot built by Doctor Doom) formed its own will and personality. Calling itself Mechadoom, it began using Capturebots to subdue cyborgs (e.g. Ruby, Forge and Bushwhacker) and other 'sentient' robots (e.g. Machine Man and Ultron) for the purpose of dismantling and analyzing them with the hope of learning how to adapt to its selfhood. Ruby came under Mechadoom's scrutiny and became one of its unwilling cyborg captives. Deathlok and members of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men defeated Mechadoom and convinced it to release its captives. Having been a victim of crime rather than a perpetrator in this case, Ruby was presumably allowed to go her own way upon release. (Deathlok Volume 2 #2-#5) A few years later, the Headmen learned of and sought out a mystical idol called the God from Beyond. Soon afterwards, they used another mystical artifact, the Star of Capistan, to power the idol in order to summon and control the monstrous and powerful extraterrestrial Orrgo. In the midst of this they incidentally rescued MODOK from extradimensional exile; in exchange, he availed himself and his organization, Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), to them. Per Dr. Nagan's instruction, Orrgo seized mental control of all life (or at least all humans) on Earth except those who had previously touched the idol (which Orrgo couldn't affect) and MODOK and the operatives of AIM. Fortunately, the Defenders had previously touched the idol and thus were free to oppose the Headmen. During their period of control over life on Earth, Ruby interfaced with some AIM computers and researched the ramifications of introducing seventh-dimensional objects into the three-dimensional universe. Thanks to Nighthawk's quick thinking, the weaker contingent of the Defenders defeated the Headmen and scared Orrgo away from Earth; MODOK and the AIM operatives presumably escaped in the confusion. (Defenders Volume 2 #5, #9-#10)