Torque

"TATTARATTAT!"

Real Name[]

Dudley "Deadly" Soames

Known Aliases[]

None

First DC Appearance[]

Nightwing #1 (October 1996)

First Story Appearance[]

Tales and Randomness: Villain Cafe

Weapons[]

Fond of the Thomas .45 caliber machine gun, better known as the 'Tommy' gun, though any firearm or weapon of destruction will do.

Powers[]

None per say, though Soames' unique condition allows him near 360 degree vision. Soames is also highly skilled in firearms and explosives.

Current Status[]

Unresolved.

History[]

Bludhaven, a city so dark and corrupt that on a bad day it makes Gotham City look like Pleasantville. In a city where you couldn't spit without hitting a dirty cop, Dudley Soames was the dirtiest. When the vigilante Nightwing, sent by Batman to investigate several dozen bodies that had washed down to Gotham via the connecting river of the two cities, arrived in Bludhaven, Bludhaven Police Chief Redhorn ordered Soames to deal with Nightwing (ie. Kill him). Soames, ostensibly aiding Redhorn in the dealings of his corrupt department, let Nightwing live, but not for any noble cause. Soames was in actuality playing all sides, as he seemingly aided both Redhorn and Nightwing while serving as lieutenant to Bludhaven's new crime lord Roland Desmond, aka Blockbuster, though in the end Soames was only out for himself. After a scheme with the villain Scarecrow to kill Nightwing went awry though, Soames found his wheeling and dealing had left him with no friends and a big target on his back. He attempted to turn the tables by confronting Blockbuster while the giant crime lord was visiting his elderly mother. Unfortunately for Soames, Nightwing intervened, and the tables turned as Blockbuster proceeded to threaten innocent lives, forcing Nightwing to go their aid while Blockbuster went after Soames. Despite his gun being loaded with hollowpoint bullets, Soames could not stop the giant crime lord, as Blockbuster seized Soames' head and wrenched it a complete 180 degrees around.

This should have killed Soames.

But by some miracle, Soames survived, his windpipe somehow surviving the trauma long enough for paramedics able to trach him. Faced with absolute paralysis, a doctor called Dr. Sandra Pavaar volunteered Somaes for radical drug therapy. The therapy worked, saving Soames' life and allowing him to walk again, despite his head still being stuck backwards. Soames' re-learned how to move, using special mirrored glasses to see 'backwards' as well as 'forwards'. Unfortunately, the incident had completely unhinged Soames' mind, and once he had fully recovered, he strangled Dr. Pavaar and launched a bloody campaign of revenge against Blockbuster, Nightwing, and everyone else he felt had wronged him, morbidly dubbing himself 'Torque' at the beginning of it (and actually leaving palindromes on the bodies of his first victims). Along the path of this insane revenge, Soames hooked up with the crime syndicate Intergang, supposedly to help Intergang get a foothold in Bludhaven. Unfortunately, Soames' descent into madness had become a full-fledged freefall, because Soames' true motivation was simply to cause chaos and mayhem, and with the use of a super high-tech gun he had acquired from Intergang, Soames did just that, as he attacked the Bludhaven police department and waged a one-man war on the officers and their city. Nightwing's intervention helped save the day again, and Soames was taken into custody.

Soames wasn't done yet though, as he was bunked with the equally psychotic Tad Ryerstad, the copycat vigilante/murderer known as Nite-Wing. Together, with Soames manipulating Ryerstad to hide his true intentions (as Ryerstad considered himself a hero who did his best to stop evil), Soames engineered a breakout in which he and Ryerstad escaped, but Soames' impatience proved his undoing as he wasted no time going back to his own plans upon being freed, even attempting to enlist Ryerstad's aid. Soames' plans clashed with Ryerstad's insane 'morality' though, and the two got into a struggle over a gun...as shots were fired.

And when the body was found later, it was Soames'. He had lost the battle and his life.

...At least in DC Comics.

In the way of things...all it takes is one tiny change for death to become life...

And the Titans may one day find a palindrome waiting for them, just before the explosive sounds of gunfire...