Living Laser
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The Living Laser (Arthur Parks) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe, and an enemy of Avengers.
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[edit] Character history
Arthur Parks was in love with Lucy Barton until she left him to marry another man with greater wealth. This caused him to lose his mind. Blinded by jealousy, he thought that to win a woman's heart he needed to have power. He created his alter ego The Living Laser. He then met and fell in love at first sight with the Wasp. He captured her and began a battle with Avengers. He lost this battle, but not his thirst for power. After he had served some time in prison in New York, The Mandarin helped him escape. He began his team up with Mandarin's Minions which allowed him to attempt revenge on the Avengers. Thor and Hawkeye prevented any of his efforts of following through on his plans. This failure led to being a member of Batroc's Brigade lead by Batroc the Leaper and then a couple incarnations of the Lethal Legion. After finding out that Count Nefaria had double crossed him, he realized that the laser diodes implanted in his skin were unstable. He sought out help and found East German agents who were able to divert/drain excess power into East German satellites.
His human form was eventually destroyed while battling Iron Man. With the help of Jim Rhodes, Iron Man destroyed the satellites that were used to keep the laser diodes stable. This transformed the Living Laser into a being of sentient light. He was taken to the West Coast Avengers compound where Henry Pym was working to restore him to normal.
The Living Laser subsequently escaped, and his increasing confidence and experience with his newfound abilities made him a greater threat than ever before. He sought out and fought Iron Man to a standstill, but only due to the mistaken belief that Iron Man had collapsed from injuries. In their second battle, with the help of Wonder Man and Henry Pym, Iron Man exploited one of the Living Laser's critical weaknesses to temporarily disperse the latter's energy-based body.
Upon reintegrating his body, Arthur Parks fought Jim Rhodes (who had temporarily become the new Iron Man), but was convinced by Rhodes to work for him. When Rhodes became convinced that the Living Laser was too dangerous, he lured Parks into a Laser Focusing Chamber aimed at the Andromeda galaxy, and then activated it. The Living Laser has not been seen in the mainstream Marvel continuity since.
His enemies include Avengers, Iron Man, War Machine, Captain America, and Quasar.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Arthur Parks was a gifted research scientist until turning to villainy. He is steeped in knowledge, design, & construction of lasers. He began with wrist-mounted laser guns (which were the smallest lasers ever made), then implanted laser diodes into his skin with the help of fellow scientist Jonas Harrow and the funding of Count Nefaria (as well as a promise to have his power doubled).
While in the form of a sentient light being, he can assume almost any identity by refracting light and creating holographic illusions. He can also concentrate his power as a single beam of light or he can become even deadlier by intensifying himself into laser beams.
[edit] In Other Media
In the 1994 Iron Man animated series, Living Laser served as one of the minions of the Mandarin. He was also a villain in the video game Captain America and the Avengers
