As the owner of Power Broker, Inc., a company that recruits and sells the services of Super Villains, the Power Broker is a businessman through and through...and will stop at nothing to win over clients and strike lucrative deals.
Origin
A true businessman, the Power Broker brokers deals in powers, literally offering super powers to anyone who was willing to give him a share of 70 percent of whatever they make, no matter the means they use, criminal or otherwise. Of course, he's also given himself abilities to occasionally increase his bargaining power.
The Power of Manipulation
While Power Broker offers powers to others, he also gives himself powers—he possesses the ability to manipulate energy such as lightning or flames from his hands. He can also fly and is an expert in business, negotiation, and manipulation.
It’s Not Personal, It’s Business
The Power Broker not only allies with his clients, but he also turns his enemies into his pawns through manipulative means. When anyone gets upset with him, he offers them powers as well, to become whatever it is they want to be and it’s a hard offer to refuse for most.
When the Power Broker creates a mobile app, called Hench X, to recruit Super Villains—giving anyone who passed the application process powers and a costume—his idea ends up getting stolen by one of his prospective investors, Darren Cross of Cross Technologies. This theft leads the Power Broker to hire out help to steal back what was stolen from him. He allies with de-powered Young Avenger and Super Hero, Cassie Lang, daughter to Scott Lang, AKA Ant-Man, to take down the Cross empire.
A History of Creating Super Villains
In giving wrestler Paul Brokeridge powers to defeat his opponents, Power Broker also gave his opponents powers, which left Paul in the hospital badly beaten. Once his brother Roger discovered it was the Broker that gave his brother powers, he hunted him down and threatened him with a gun. Power Broker deflected it with his energy powers and offered Roger a deal—to become truly powerful and all that he needed from him was 70 percent of whatever fees he’d be paid, whatever goods he could steal, and whatever cons he could pull off. Roger agreed and Power Broker held up his end of the bargain. Roger inadvertently became a hero known as Hardball and signed up with the Initiative and registered as a Super Hero, becoming deeply entrenched in the Avengers training complex. Power Broker couldn't see how he could profit from this project any longer, so he sold Hardball’s contract to Hydra.
In searching for investors for his app, Hench X, that gives people powers as long as they become Super Villains, he pitched his idea to Darren Cross and his son Augustine. Offering him a demonstration of the product, he showed him in a demonstration how he could easily hire a hench to take out Cross’ enemy Scott Lang, AKA Ant-Man. When Cross heard how much he was asking for ($1.2 billion), he refused him and the Power Broker ended the assassination with the click of a button. Shortly thereafter, Cross stole the idea and executed it at a criminal rate, undercutting his competition, Hench X. Furious, Power Broker sought a solution.
Luckily, Hench X also attracted super heroes such as Cassie Lang, who had lost her powers. When approached by her, Power Broker found an ally against Cross. He of course questioned her sincerity since she was a former hero as a Young Avenger, which likely let down her guard, and despite her denial about why she was really there, he offered her a deal. He revealed the truth behind her latest heart surgery, that Augustine Cross, figured out that a heart like Cassie’s (one that had been infused with Pym Particles) could cure his father’s condition, a condition that left him shrunken in size. He explained further that Augustine sent his uncle, William Cross, AKA Crossfire, to abduct Cassie and force her heart doctor to perform the transplant. The Power Broker told Cassie that Cross also stole something from him and needed her help to make things right. Power Broker then offered Cassie a trade, if she worked for him then she could get revenge on Cross for stealing her heart. Learning this new information, feeling lied to by her father Ant-Man who told her she passed out, and vengeful, Cassie signed the dotted line. Cassie received powers and became known as Stinger.
While at a convention demonstrating to an audience how he gives people powers, Ant-Man interrupted and fought one of Power Broker’s latest creations. Ant-Man believed that the Power Broker abducted his daughter, Cassie. Once Ant-Man had the upper hand on Power Broker’s henchman, the Power Broker chastised his social media following and then electrocuted him with his energy bolts. He denied abducting Cassie and flew away.
Empowered with Pym Particles yet again, Cassie used her shrinking abilities to infiltrate Cross Technologies to implant a virus that would take down the Cross family business. With Power Broker on her communication device, he reminded her not to get too over-confident, but alas, she got caught then sort of saved by her dad, Ant-Man, and they helped each other escape, only to have her father end up in prison.
The Power Broker eventually ran out of the funding required to keep Hench going. His wheeling and dealings, however, continued. He proposed Lair, a travel booking app that specialized in shuttered Super Villain Headquarters, testing one out on an island. Stinger found him and calling herself a disgruntled employee, knocked him out, fulfilling her original intention when first contacting him after all.
