Achilles

Origin

Helmut was born a son of Agamemnon, in Germany, 1909, a Jew and a survivor of the Holocaust. He was recruited by Agamemnon to serve as an operative for the Pantheon. Helmut and his family were captured by the Nazi’s. When they tried to tattoo Helmut the needle broke. Helmut’s wife and three children were gassed in the German concentration camp Dachau. Achilles realized he was immortal when he was gassed and thrown into a mass grave containing the corpses of the other victims of the camp. Agamemnon recruited Helmut near the end of World War II while Agamemnon was on one of his hiatuses from the Pantheon which he usually takes every 50 years or so. Helmut took the name Achilles due to his powers, Helmut became a member of the Pantheon’s elite fighting team, often participating in field missions.

Creation

Achilles was created by Peter David and Dale Keown in 1991 and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk # 379.

Major Story Arcs

Pantheon

After being with the Pantheon longer than almost everybody else, he began to want someone to train. Achilles was the one who recruited Walter Charles into the Pantheon becoming his mentor. Agamemnon had ordered Jason to murder the original Ulysses. Achilles took the job instead and arranged for Ulysses and Walter Charles to find Nathan Taylor (Paris) during the Watts Riots in 1959. Achilles used a Pantheon weapon to kill Ulysses. Achilles then ensured that Walter would take Ulysses’s codename and place within the Pantheon.

Achilles resented Agamemnon inviting the Hulk to join the Pantheon. Achilles weakness turned out to be low level gamma rays. After Hulk joined, Achilles had to stay out of most battles due to his gamma vulnerability.

Achilles fell in love with Atalanta and they began secretly seeing each other, Paris noticed this and told Ajax to go see Atalanta when they were together. Ajax started beating on Achilles and he was just going to let it happen, but Hulk heard the destruction and went to go see what it was. The gamma radiation his body produced turned off his powers and he was nearly killed. Achilles held a grudge over this and plotted his revenge. During the Trojan War arc when the Hulk is fighting Trauma in space, Achilles prevents Prometheus from helping him in the hopes that Hulk would be killed.

When it was discovered that Agamemnon had betrayed the Pantheon only Achilles stayed loyal to Agamemnon. Agamemnon died during a duel with Ulysses.When Agamemnon is put on trial it is revealed that Achilles was the man who killed the original Ulysses on Agamemnon’s orders. Achilles is killed by Ulysses for his betrayal.

Powers Abilities

Powers

Helmut possesses a high degree of invulnerability. Helmut’s skin, soft tissue, and skeletal structure is more dense than normal and provides him with increased protection from physical damage, allows him to heal faster than normal, and retards the effects of aging.

Weaknesses

Helmut is sensitive to a specific low-level gamma radiation, such as was found in the body of the Hulk, which breaks down his invulnerability.